hardison wakes up early this morning from another nightmare where he was buried alive again. itās been a while since the last one, so this oneās getting to him more than usualāshaky hands, pounding heart, cold sweat on his brow. parkerās awake and all over him instantly, of course: she scoops him in close and tickles her nails over his scalp and tells him heās okay, sheās here and sheās with him and everythingās okay, and he should squeeze her as tight as he can, itāll help. he doesnāt have to worry about hurting her, she can handle it. so hardison does squeeze her tight, to the point that parker wonders if he might leave bruises; sheād like that, honestly, the imprint of hardisonās hands on her as he grips at her waist. itād remind her of how she took care of him and how much he trusts her. he squeezes and squeezes and squeezes until his arms burn with the effort, and then he finally loosens his grip with a heavy exhale. parker tells him there, thatās it, he did so good, and hardisonās eyes prickle with tears because just like that, he feels about 50% better. parkerās really a bit of a miracle worker isnāt she? itās wild.
eliot doesnāt make it in to the bedroom until after hardisonās mostly calmed down because he was in the kitchen working on breakfast (heād stopped by to grab a sweatshirt), but when he sees hardison all bundled up in parkerās arms, he joins the two of them and sandwiches hardison in tight. no one moves or says anything until eliot regrettably has to get up because he needs to put the casserole in the oven. parker and hardison end up following him out because hardison wants to move to the couch, and he says itās because he wants to watch parker play video games as a distraction but itās also because he doesnāt want to be as far from eliot as heād be in the bedroom. parker plays some tears of the kingdom because she likes finding and rummaging through caves, and jumping off sky islands so she can plummet to the ground and pull out her paraglider only at the very last second, and making link eat dubious food just because she thinks itās funny. hardisonās glued to her side the whole time, head on her chest and an arm over her stomach and one of her legs squeezed between his own. heās half-watching, the other half of his attention on the up and down of parkerās chest beneath his cheek as she breathes, the warmth of her body. it brings him back to the present every time his thoughts try to run off. now parkerās down in a well and sheās trying to sneak up on some lizards; much like in real life, sheās good at sneaking around in games. he usually manages to scare the lizards off, but she catches them every time.
eliot drifts in eventually with a cup of coffee and a piece of toast; normally heād discourage snacks before breakfast because he doesnāt want anyone to ruin their appetite, but he can tell hardisonās shaken and the casserole still has half an hour left, so toast it is. man needs to keep his strength up. when he drops it off on the coffee table, he also takes a brief moment to rub a soothing hand over hardisonās thigh and lean down to kiss his temple. hardison finds his fingers and clutches them tight and asks him to stay, and he debates for a second before he figures eh, what the hell. heās cleaned up all his dishes for now and thereās nothing to do but let the casserole bakeāthereās no reason for him not to linger. so he sits himself down on the couch and scooches in to sandwich hardison again, and when hardison clearly relaxes at his presence, his heart clenches. he canāt not encourage that with a kiss to the nape of hardisonās neck and an arm wrapping around him so he can rub a hand over hardisonās stomach now instead. a sigh, and hardison clearly melts further into parkerās side, and back into him too. thank god. thingsāll be okay, eliot has no doubt about thatāheāll get some food in hardison, get him back on the couch, make sure he doesnāt get up for the rest of the day. and parker will undoubtedly help him with all of it because sheās as particular about that kinda stuff as he is. woman can fuss like nobodyās business. which is perfect for situations like this. theyāll get hardison all taken care of, no problem. heāll be okay in no time.
parker snatches another lizard, and not for the first time, she laments that she canāt eat them just by themselves. eliot says well lizards arenāt food, sweetheart, thatās probably why, and parker says but itās a video game and youāre supposed to be able to do anything in video games, and i want to eat a lizard. then she goes on to start listening all of the other things she should be able to eat on account of this being a video game (gemstonesātheyād taste like jolly ranchers; creature eyeballsāmochi; creature hornsābugles; beetlesātheyād crunch like the critters in the lion king; you get the picture), and this is where hardison starts to drift off. he knows it wonāt be long because breakfast is coming soon, but thatās okayāitāll be nice just to close his eyes for a bit. and to listen to parker complain. he thinks sheās right, honestly. he would never eat an eyeball or a beetle, but let link do whatever the hell he wants. let him slurp down a lizard tail. no rules just right, baby. maybe he could mod the game for her, actuallyā¦ now thatās a thought. that could be his project for the day, something else for his thoughts to focus on. and if he does good and gets lucky, maybe parker will even love him forever. just kiddingāhe knows she already does. and eliot too. speaking of which, eliot can he have his toast plā ah, thank you. mm, thatās good. the famous spencer sourdough. can he just have toast for breakfast, actually? kidding, just kidding. heās excited for the casserole. yes, he promises. he canāt wait. (the nightmare is miles away now. he can hardly even remember it. all he knows is how lucky he is to have these two in his life.)
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