The Perk- Saturday evening

[throughaphase]

Kitty kind of hadn't felt like working this week. It'd taken a lot out of her, and she'd been away for a few days, so there was plenty she had to get done. But she also hadn't felt like locking herself in her office with stuff to do, either.

So she'd brought her laptop to the Perk, where she could sip on an iced coffee and still get nothing done, but in a different location.

[Open!]

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[vdistinctive]

Eliot stopped in with Val on her evening walk, and seeing Kitty there, picked up two coffees. He'd run into her here often enough to know her order.

"Got you a refill," he said. "You the kind who likes to brood quietly, or would you rather a friendly distraction?"

He listened to radio religiously. He'd heard about her losing someone.

[throughaphase]

"I'm a terrible brooder. It really becomes more of a sulk. Not a good look," Kitty admitted, waving him to the other seat. "You didn't have to get me anything, but thank you."

[vdistinctive]

"'Course not," Eliot said, grabbing a seat. Friendly distraction it was. "Wanted to. So you teachin' at all this summer?"

[throughaphase]

"Nope. I'm being good to myself and taking the summer off. You? I haven't even paid attention to the classes." Oops.

[vdistinctive]

"Teachin' cooking at the community center," Eliot said. "Which I thought might be a good break from teenagers, but I ain't sure it's that much of a difference anymore."

[throughaphase]

"Oh, no. Adults who can't cook are just as bad as teenagers who can't cook, I think," she told him. "Is it that bad?"

[vdistinctive]

"Not bein' able to cook?" Eliot asked. "Or bein' just like a teenager?" He shrugged. "Ain't about bad or good, it's just a useful skill. People see all the terminology and get intimidated, I'm kinda just hopin' to get 'em past that so they'll actually try stuff."

[throughaphase]

"It can happen. I didn't used to know what I was doing, but then once I figured out I could do one thing, then I could do a lot of things," she shrugged. "And a lot of it's just following instructions."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "Exactly. And not bein' afraid of doin' it a little bit wrong. If you ain't a chef in a fancy restaurant, there ain't that much of a difference between a rough chop and a dice." He knew several people who would be horrified by that statement, but there was a reason why Eliot ended up in a brew pub and a diner, and it wasn't lack of skill. "The students ain't bad, really. It's only two weeks in, so they're still pretty enthusiastic. If no one manages to set anything on fire by week seven, I'll call it a success."

[throughaphase]

"That is a lofty goal, my friend," Kitty pointed out. "I've never set a fire myself but I've watched a lot of reality TV and that seems standard."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot laughed. "Yeah, but I threaten to kill 'em at the end of each lecture if they do it, so I'm thinkin' we'll be okay."

[throughaphase]

"Is that what happens when you can't give detention?" she grinned.

[vdistinctive]

"Oh, right, detention's a thing," Eliot said, all wide-eyed innocence. "I kinda just like casually threatenin' people."

His whole initial friendship with Hardison was built on casual, meaningless threats of bodily harm, after all.

[throughaphase]

"It does have its perks," Kitty said. "It's a weird catharsis when you're in a bad mood, too."

[vdistinctive]

"When you ain't allowed to punch anything, definitely."

They had such healthy coping mechanisms.

[throughaphase]

"Not allowed? My biggest problem is usually lack of opportunity at that moment," she said.

[vdistinctive]

"Hardison and Parker get grumpy at me if I 'don't have a good reason'."

[throughaphase]

"I feel like you need a punching bag and then your reason is 'because it was there.'" Kitty was helpful!

[vdistinctive]

"That's not the same." He totally wasn't whining. "And ever since that reunion thing last year, they've been extra clingy and protective. Just 'cause I'm gonna need a cane when I'm, like, 60."

[throughaphase]

"You've got a ton of time till then," Kitty reasoned, like only a 23-year-old can.

[vdistinctive]

"Definitely." 20 years was still a pretty long time when you were 40, too. "And hell, a cane at 60 is pretty much best case scenario for a guy in my line of work."

[throughaphase]

Kitty paused. "Cooking?"

[vdistinctive]

"That's a hobby," Eliot said. "Not my vocation." Cooking was what he did when his real job got to be too heavy. Hence how he'd gotten so good at it. "Fancy name for what I do is 'retrieval specialist'. I get sent into tight spots to get merchandise or individuals back out. And by tight spots, I mean, like, war zones. Mafia bases. Once got shot on the DC subway by a terrorist with a flu-bomb. The stuff I do on the island? When we're not getting invaded? Passes the time."

[throughaphase]

It should probably worry Kitty a little that hearing something like that didn't surprise her even a little anymore. "Oh, so you fit right in with my friends then."

Or more accurately, it was closer to what Clint did, but she let him be the one to talk about that.

[vdistinctive]

"Might do," Eliot said. He could tell Kitty had a significant amount of fighting training, so her comment didn't surprise her, either. "I don't have any fancy mutant abilities or anything, but I can make do."

His endurance level was only almost superhuman. Because sliding through a gun fight on your knees on a trail of industrial lubricant, dodging bullets the whole way, was totally within the normal limits of human ability.

[throughaphase]

"Do you still do a lot of that? The retrieval specializing?" she wondered.

[vdistinctive]

"Not as much as I used to. We're a smaller team, now, so we're more selective of what jobs we pick up." And Parker worried more about them getting hurt than Nate had, let's be real. "Never know when an emergency might come along, though, so I try to keep in shape."

[throughaphase]

"Another reason for punching!"

See, helpful.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot grinned. "Right. Do me a favor and mention that to Parker too, will ya?"