Luke's, Thursday Afternoon

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison hadn't exactly been avoiding Luke's for the past few weeks as he had been...coming up with excellent reasons not to go to there. Which was totally different for reasons he didn't have to explain to you, thank you very much. But the island was getting chilly and he hadn't been able to resist the siren song of the Special's Board after a few hours of wandering around, trying to catch enough pocket monsters to be able to evolve one of the Santa-hatted ones he had.

Today's Specials
Erwtensoep (Dutch pea soup)
Honey Buttermilk Bread
Caramel Mocha Coffee

Hardison was going to have a pleasant afternoon dunking bread into his pea soup and sometimes startling at random noises in the diner.

[Luke's is open, no OCD]

Comments

[vdistinctive]

Eliot didn't make any random noise. He possibly didn't manage to make enough of any noise to not startle Hardison, anyway. Sorry, Hardison, your partners tended to stealth habitually.

"Huh. You know, I haven't actually tried a lot of Dutch cooking."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Ah!" His mocha coffee went pouring across the table and Hardison had to snatch up his laptop to keep it from getting wet. "Dammit, Eliot, make some damn noise to warn a body you're there!"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot caught the cup and righted it -- though not in time to save any of the actual contents. He grabbed up a handful of napkins to start mopping the mess up, wincing. He really hoped that didn't fry Hardison's laptop.

"Sorry, man. Habit. Was surprised enough to see you down here I didn't think. . . ."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison had gotten it off the table in time to protect it from getting doused, but you'd never know it from the way he was cooing at it and meticulously checking it over.

"S'cool," he said, finally glancing up and offering Eliot a smile. It wasn't his normal 'happy-to-see-Eliot' smile because he was still on edge, but it was real. That was something. "I just came in to get somethin' warm to eat. An', you know, I mean, it just makes sense. Stupid to be scared of some buildin' or whatever."

AND SEE HE WASN'T. HE WAS HERE. EATING. TOTALLY FINE.

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah." Eliot finished mopping up the mess and slid into the booth opposite Hardison, where he could keep a good eye on his expression. He was putting on a brave face, and Eliot wasn't about to call him on it (and risk being called on his own lingering issues), but that didn't mean he didn't notice how much Hardison was still on edge. "Soup smells pretty good, too. Y'all got most of your stuff packed up yet?"

No longer officially living right upstairs from said building could only help.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"A good chunk of it, yeah," Hardison said. The busboy brought him an orange soda to replace the coffee, because it was a unanimous kitchen decision that Hardison did not need more caffeine. "I'm tryna be better about stuff than mostly throwin' it into boxes an' everythin'. Figure it'll be easier to unpack later."

[vdistinctive]

"Probably a good idea." Eliot hadn't really had a lot to pack through most of his life, so it wasn't like he had a system of his own or anything. "House is all ready whenever you guys are. Got rid of all the bear traps and everything."

Thank god Kanan had offered to take those off his hands, or they might still be sitting in a box on his stoop.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"...How'd you get rid of those things?" Hardison would assume Craig's list, but...Eliot.

[vdistinctive]

"Gave 'em to Kanan. He seemed to think he'd find a use for 'em."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Well, that's unsettlin'," Hardison noted. "Y'all are aware that there ain't no bears on the island, right? An', like, he knows you were crazy when you bought 'em an' that's the only reason they're here?"

[vdistinctive]

"Aren't any right now," Eliot grumbled. "And yeah, I mentioned that. He didn't seem much put out by it."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Next time the island goes crazy, if bears show up, I'll owe you an apology," Hardison snarked.

...Dammit, Hardison. Now there were totally going to BE bears.

[vdistinctive]

"You know I literally got attacked by a bear in my own home right after I cleaned all those up."

It was a teddy bear. That hugged him.

It counted.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You mean the walkin' teddy bears that just wanted everyone to know they were loved?"

HE WASN'T COUNTING THAT, ELIOT.

[vdistinctive]

"It just walked right in and grabbed me, man!"

That wasn't a 'no'.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

It was explicitly not a no.

"An' then did what?" Hardison asked, eyebrow up. "Do tell me all about the next few perilous moments."

On the plus side? He hadn't flinched in minutes.

[vdistinctive]

So long as Eliot's pain was for a good cause.

"If I hadn't still been recoverin' I woulda ripped its head off."

That wasn't an answer to his question, Eliot.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Riiiiiiiiiiight," Hardison said with a nod. "But, justa be clear, in this instance, you were bested by a teddy bear."

[vdistinctive]

"Fucker was seven feet tall."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"An' gave out hugs."

[vdistinctive]

"I didn't ask it for a hug."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Still, callin' that gettin' attacked by a bear is pushin' it, just a bit."

[vdistinctive]

"You gonna argue that bear traps wouldn't've worked on it?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You'd'a been cleanin' plush outta those teeth for a month," Hardison said. "What if teddy bears don't feel pain?"

They shouldn't. In Hardison's world, even walking, hug-forcing teddy bears shouldn't have the concept of pain. That was just wrong.

[vdistinctive]

"Doesn't need to feel pain. Gettin' its foot ripped off would still slow it down."

Wasn't this a joyous conversation.