The first time Hardison thinks about it, heâs doing their regular, seasonal ID clean up.
The team burns through IDs so quickly that he has to take the time to maintain them, even when there hasnât necessarily been an emergency. Whether itâs burning identities theyâve destroyed, or just solidifying someâa Facebook post here, an updated LinkedIn profile, some new online friends, filing their taxesâthey need maintenance.
He makes IDs practically every day, tailoring them to fit cons. These are moreâŚthese are like old favorites, he thinks, to continue the clothes metaphor. Tailored already, well-worn, in the back of the closet for when theyâre needed again. Taken in or let out as needed.
The adjustments usually arenât too big, by design. These are, for the most part, boring people. Each of them has one more outlandish ID, but most passports they keep under their bed are for boring people, people who could get on a plane without causing any fuss, people who could get a loan just fine without being extraordinary. Ordinary, every day people donât need many major life updates.Â
Except Parker had just torn her ACL on a job, and the hospital hadnât told him anything while she was unconscious. Nothing. Not a damn word.Â
So he quietly marries Alice White and Didi Grant to Alexander Smith and Luke Waters.Â
And then he goes and marries Jane Smith and Michelle Frank to Derek Jones and Kurt Dowe. He even frames up some nice Honeymoon pictures for Parker and Eliot.
And then, while heâs at it, he marries Matthew Smith to David Price.
When heâs done, most of their most significant IDs are married to one or the other of their little trio. Heâs doctored well over a hundred picturesâwedding shots for fancy ceremonies, and little elopements, and private, small, intimate weddings, and honeymoon shots, and dates, and everything else to make these relationships realâand heâs filed their taxes jointly. Heâs legally changed some last names, filed change of address forms, and gotten official marriage licenses sent to him.
In short, heâs spent more time on this little fantasy world than he would ever care to admit.
Parker and Eliot donât really monitor their IDs, he knows, other than keeping track of whose licenses and passports they plan on carrying at any given time. They probably donât know what he did.
But he does. And he can tell himself all he wants that itâs just in case one of them gets hurt, but that doesnât make it any more true.
Good thieves donât lie to themselves, after all.
They say the words for the first time when theyâre in DC together, and Parker is good enough with people now to know that they donât understand them the same way she does.
Maybe Alec does. The way he looks in her eyes, the small smile he gives her afterâŚSheâd have to ask Sophie, to be sure, but she knows. Alec gets it.
Alec gets everything, has since the very beginning. He got pretzels and got her, even when he doesnât really understand whatâs going on inside her brain. He still gets her.
EliotâŚhe gets whatâs going on inside her brain. Theyâre too alike, she knows. And itâs good, that theyâre both on the team, that they do what they can do. But he doesnât get it, because a few months ago, she wouldnât have gotten it.
Still, the way Eliotâs eyes soften when she reminds him of their agreement, of how theyâre in this together, for better or worse, the way he doesnât send them away even when he wants toâŚmaybe heâs getting it too.
Eliot doesnât get it the same way she and Alec do. Theyâve made their promises, said their words aready. EliotâŚEliot sleeps in their bed and kisses them sometimes and doesnât leave, never leaves. Itâs enough.
She wants more. She let them take down her walls, like Sophie said. She fell into love like jumping off a building, and she knows theyâre always there to catch her. She just wishes they could all jump into this together.
Still. Alec was patient with her. She can be patient with Eliot.
Several months later, Eliot looks at the two of them with a softness in his eyes sheâs never seen before and says heâs never needed anything but them, and promises to be with them until his dying day. Parker watches him back, catches his eyes. He doesnât look away.
Parker looks away first, heart thrumming in a way it gets during a particularly good robbery. Like the diamonds are in her hand. Like she cracked the whole vault.
Forever, she wants to say. For better or worse, forever.
Some people might argue different, and, to be fair, it has taken him a while to figure it out.Â
Sophie sends them a gift for their anniversary. Itâs a painting, of course, and it probably could keep the Brew pub afloat for years if they sold it on the back market. Hardison hangs it in the apartment.
EliotâŚEliot is aware he works here, both in the Pub and doing his real job. He sleeps here, too. As a matter of fact, he sleeps in their bed, and has forâŚwell, since long before Nate and Sophie left. Pretending he was handling the Pubâs business was a good enough excuse to always be there.
He kisses them, too, in that soft way they like, Hardison always overly affectionate and Parker letting down her walls enough to demand the affection she was denied so long. With any other friends it would be strange, or wrong, but not with them. It justâŚis.
He loves them with his whole heart, will love them until his dying day, and thatâs enough.Â
And then the painting comes. And then the painting comes addressed to them and their aliases, to not one, not two, but six married couples.
Eliot blinks at it a bit, but doesnât say anything, just uses the computer Hardison set him up on to search up those names.
Pictures of them, doctored by Hardison, on honeymoons and anniversaries, romantic dinners and walks on the beach. Couples, just like Sophie said.Â
For better or worse, we change together.
Eliot swallows, and goes shopping.
Alec stares at the rings. âForâŚfor Matthew and David? Orââ
Eliotâs already shaking his head. âFor Alec Hardison. And Parker. And me,â he clarifies. Eliot doesnât get nervous anymore. That was beaten out of him long ago. Somehow, he still feels it, his heart seizing, waiting for its absolution. He could have read this wrong. Theyâre a team, the IDs are convenient, the words mean family and team too. They could want to get married. They could love him as they always have, and he could have ruined it, because theyâll never be convinced heâs okay with that again.
Heâs not convinced heâll be okay with that again. He will be, for them, of course he will be when the alternative is being lost again, butâÂ
Parker, he realizes, has already stolen the band from his hand, the one with the diamonds he knows sheâd appreciate, and slid it on her left hand, studying it in the setting sunlight. âI like it.â
Alec takes his own band, but doesnât put it on. âNo going back now,â he warns.
Eliot slides the band on for him. âHavenât you heard?â He says, and then has to stop a moment when Alec picks up the last band, then takes Eliotâs hand, âIâm in this for the rest of my life.â
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