eliot has funky feelings about father's day. of course he does. sometimes he wants to talk about it, and sometimes he doesn't. this is a year where he doesn't. on years where he doesn't, him and parker and hardison have a routine: they get up and they go pick up breakfast from their favorite coffee shop because eliot doesn't have it in him to cook, and then they come home and watch some a-team reruns while they eat. after that, they have options - maybe they put on a movie, or maybe hardison plays a video game while parker and eliot watch. either way they're all cuddled up, and sometimes that's enough to send eliot into a doze. today he stays up while hardison wanders around in skyrim because he doesn't want to lose the soothing sensation of parker combing her fingers through his hair and the comforting sound of hardison humming along to the occasional flourishes of the game's score. when his chest suddenly starts feeling a little tight because he just has one of those moments where the weight of the day hits him, he tucks his face into parker's neck; she makes a sympathetic sound and kisses his forehead, and that helps. he stays there for a couple minutes, and then he's feeling okay enough that he can return his attention to the tv. hardison's picking his way through the forest, and when he spots the entrance to a cave up ahead he starts jogging over there.
when hardison's done playing they do watch a movie. then they take a nap, eliot sandwiched in the middle between a parker who's vacuum-sealed to his back and a hardison who's holding him to his chest, and after that it's approaching time for dinner. takeout again because eliot still doesn't feel like cooking - they walk a couple blocks to their favorite middle eastern place, and they split gyros and shawarma and fries while they chat with nick, who's both the owner and also a good friend by this point. on the way home they stop for ice cream. parker dots a smear of her cookies and cream on the end of eliot's nose so she can lick it off, and when that makes eliot laugh (just like she'd been hoping for), hardison copies her, and then they're all smearing ice cream all over each other's faces. then they get back and take a long, hot shower to unwind. hardison washes eliot's hair, and parker rubs his shoulders until he almost can't stand. then it's into pajamas and back on the couch for one more movie before bed.
the whole day, eliot's been see-sawing between feeling sad and feeling pissed off, and also wishing he didn't care either way. sometimes he wonders what his old man would think of him now, and then he kinda hates that he wonders, because what the hell does he care anyway? shouldn't matter to him anymore. and regardless, he figures that at this point he'll never know: the last time he tried to stretch out a hand it was met with nothing, and he's not sure he's got it in him to try again. aaaand there it is, so much for the "what the hell does he care" - that thought still makes him a little sick. it's just... god. it's hard. all of it is so hard. and mixed-up, and messy, and... yeah. not great. makes his eyes start to sting, and his throat feel tight.
but then parker laughs at something in the movie and hardison just happens to rub a hand over his arm, and he's reminded that he's got a family entirely of his own now. and even if that doesn't tie up every loose end of the old one, it still means a lot. a hell of a lot. actually, more than he feels like he can handle in this very second. it's a good thing he's laying down because he's sure that if he'd been standing up he would've stumbled. his heart twinges, and he buries his face in hardison's chest reflexively.
"hey," hardison says softly, hand rubbing over his arm again. "you good?"
ain't that the question. "good" maybe isn't quite the word, but he does feel a bit better, even in the overwhelm. he's got people he chose who chose him right back. people who've taken care of him all day and been there when he needed it. people who'll always be around, if he's to believe everything they've told him (and he does - they don't lie, not to him). and at the end of the day, that's really the most important thing, isn't it? parker and hardison are who he's got now. that's the thing he wants to focus on.
so eliot nods into hardison's shoulder, and when parker's arm curls further around his middle, he finds her wrist and squeezes it.
"yeah," he says, "i'm alright." and he's relieved to find that he means it.