Work Text:
“Hey, Hardison?”
Alec looks up to see Parker standing in front of him, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable. He immediately pushes the earbuds to the side of the table. “What’s up? You good?”
She fidgets for a second, eyes flicking over to the earbuds. “I have a question about normal-people-things, and I usually go to Sophie about these, but I don’t really want to this time, and Eliot said he wouldn’t talk to me about it, and I definitely can’t ask Nate, so I wanted to ask you, but if you’re busy I can always ask another time, or-“
In all the time Alec has known Parker, he doesn’t know that she has ever sounded this nervous or ramble-y. “Hey, don’t worry about it, we can talk now. I was just messing with the earbuds to get them to work better in places where cell signals are jammed, like Wakefield, but it’s not urgent. They worked mostly fine anyway.” He cracks a smile, hoping it would set her at ease, and pats the seat next to him. She briefly gives him a grateful smile and sits down.
Silence settles between them, but it isn’t as awkward as it would have been when they first started working together. Now it’s more comfortable, even though Alec is burning with curiosity as to what Parker wants to talk to him about. To distract himself, he grabs his bottle of orange soda.
After a beat, she takes a deep breath and turns to him. “What’s sexting?”
Alec’s eyes widen comically and he chokes on his soda. Whatever he had been imagining, it sure as hell wasn’t that.
“Excuse me?!”
Parker’s eyes slide to the side again. “This guy in Wakefield said we had been sexting, because he thought I was the real cubicle 27, and he seemed really weird about me. I don’t really know what that is, but I had to tell him Eliot was my boyfriend to get him off my back.”
Alec fights back the jealousy that surges through him at the mental image of Parker and Eliot dating, and takes a deep breath. “Okay, uh. Sexting is when, uh. Two people- or I guess it could be more than two- who like each other, um. Basically take photos of themselves in like, sexy poses, or wearing- uh, not a lot of clothes, or sometimes no clothes- god help me- and they send it to each other.”
Parker frowns. “Why? What’s the point?”
“It’s for uh, personal purposes?” Alec tries.
“Like what?”
“Porn, Parker!” Eliot groans from the doorway. Alec and Parker both jump slightly, having not heard him come in. “It’s basically people sending porn of themselves to each other.”
“Ohhh.” Parker says, frown melting off her face. And then her face twists as understanding finally dawns on her. “Oh. That’s weird. Is that why he looked so disappointed when I said you were my boyfriend?”
Eliot nods. “People usually don’t sext people when they’re dating someone else.”
“Huh, okay,” Parker says, looking thoughtful. She looks like she’s about to say something else, but then Nate and Sophie enter, arguing about something, and the conversation turns to Nate’s god complex.
Alec has never been so grateful for said complex. At least that godawful conversation is over.
Or so he thought.
The rest of the day passes without incident, and Alec is excited to roll into his bed and get a good night’s sleep. The brief time between jobs is never long enough, and given how often they can’t rest well during a job, Alec loves to sleep as much as possible when he can.
He’s just getting ready to turn off the lights when his phone chimes. While he’s tempted to ignore the text (Nate will always call him if the have a job or if it’s urgent), he ultimately decides to check it, just in case.
“A photo message from Parker?” he mutters, peering at the notification. It wasn’t unheard of for Parker to text anyone, but it was certainly rare.
Alec opens the message- and promptly lets out a very unmanly squeak.
He fumbles to close it as quickly as possible while averting his eyes from the image- an image of Parker wearing nothing but her underwear- when he notices the contact list at the top of the screen.
“She sent it to me and Eliot???”
At that moment, another text comes through, this time from Eliot.
Eliot: PARKER WHAT THE HELL?!
Alec spares a brief second to be relieved that Eliot is as shocked as him. Before he can do much more than that, more texts start coming through.
Parker: Do you guys not like it
Eliot: That’s not relevant, we’re not dating, and also why is Hardison in this chat?
Parker: You said you don’t send these when you’re dating someone else, but I’m not dating anyone, so this should be fine right??
Eliot: People also usually ONLY send these to people they’re dating! Or at least, someone they’re interested in! Not just your coworkers!
Parker: But you guys aren’t just my coworkers, I’m interested in you
Eliot: No, I mean interested sexually!
The texts momentarily stop at that point. Alec stares at his phone, brain completely blank, as time ticks by. It’s obvious that Parker misunderstood the nature of sexting, and even if Alec has been pining after her for months, maybe even years, he doesn’t want this if she doesn’t know what she’s doing.
All of that goes out the window with the next text.
Parker: Well yeah that’s what I meant
Alec’s brain just stops. When he was just starting out as a hacker, he would often draw parallels between his brain and a computer. Now he once again feels as though he’s blue screened. Null pointer reference, memory leak, infinite recursive loop- every possible event that could cause a crash just simultaneously occurred in his mind.
Did Parker just say she was attracted to him?
And Eliot at the same time?
He waited for the jealousy to take over. Surely he would experience the same jealousy from earlier today, when he thought of Eliot and Parker together? And he doesn’t know how Eliot feels about Parker, but would he be jealous at the thought of her with Alec?
His phone chimed with a new text.
Eliot: Can we talk about this tomorrow? I need some time.
Parker replies immediately.
Parker: Yeah sure that’s fine
Alec sighs deeply and falls into bed, plugging his phone in next to him and preparing for a weird night’s sleep.
It isn’t until he’s mostly asleep that he realizes he hasn’t felt a single lick of jealousy.
Oddly enough, he’s the first one to arrive at Nate’s the next morning. Usually both Parker and Eliot beat him here by an hour, if not more.
Then again, it is 4 am.
“It’s kind of early, Parker,” Nate groggily calls from upstairs.
“Sorry, it’s me!” Alec calls back up. “Sorry, I wanted to get some work done and I couldn’t focus at my place!” It’s only kind of a lie.
Nate grumbles something that could have been a coherent thought if he put any effort into it, and Alec hears the floorboards creak slightly as he presumably drags himself back to bed.
He settles in with some tea (it’s too damn early for orange soda, but at least the tea is citrus flavored) and busies himself by halfheartedly researching more potential clients.
He’s only half an hour into it when the door opens, and Eliot enters, looking exhausted and annoyed. He stops short when he sees Alec, who probably doesn’t look any less exhausted.
“You here for the same reason I am?” he asks. Alec nods.
Eliot visibly relaxes, though a frown remains on his face. “Man, why didn’t you respond to any of those messages yesterday? I almost had a heart attack! Could’ve used the backup.”
“I didn’t?” Alec asks. A glance at the group text message (that he hadn’t even closed from last night) shows that Eliot is right. “Huh, you’re right… I guess I was too shocked to form a real thought.”
“Listen, man…” Eliot says, looking uncomfortable. Eliot doesn’t usually get this serious outside of a con, Alec thinks. “I know that you like Parker. A lot. And I want you to know that I would never threaten that, if you and her wanted to be together.”
Alec’s eyebrows shoot into the atmosphere. “Thanks, man, but you know, I don’t know if she really knows the, uh, significance of what she sent? I really think this is a misunderstanding of some kind. Plus, who’s to say she’s even actually interested in me? She might be interested in you! And if you two wanted to be together, I’d be happy as hell for you.”
Eliot chuckles. “I mean, I appreciate that, but have you seen how she looks at you?”
“Have you seen how you look at her?” Alec shoots back.
He frowns, pulling back a little. “I don’t look at anyone like that. I can’t- I don’t have feelings like that.”
“Can’t?” Alec asks, catching Eliot’s slip. “Why can’t you?”
“I just can’t, okay?” Eliot grits out, eyes flickering away from Alec. “In my line of work, it’s dangerous.”
Alec can’t ignore the hurt that flashes through him. “So what, you don’t care about us?”
“What?” Eliot asks, gaze snapping back to him. “Of course I- that’s not what I- I meant that it’s not good for you!”
“Me?” Alec asked.
A nervous expression flashed across Eliot’s face before he had time to mask it. “Not you! I meant anyone!”
But the gears had started turning in Alec’s head. Eliot, in this conversation, seemed to be okay with her and Alec being together, but also didn’t deny that he had feelings for her. Furthermore, he indicated that Alec himself was someone he cared about.
Did Eliot… like both him and Parker?
Alec inhaled, ready to ask-
And then Parker pops up behind the couch, seemingly out of nowhere. “Hey guys!”
“Jesus, Parker!” Eliot growls, stalking away from them.
Alec has a hand on his chest. “Woman, you just scared the hell out of me!”
“Sorry!” she chirps, sounding way too happy with herself. She comes around and nonchalantly plonks down onto the couch, so close to Alec he can smell her shampoo. “What’re you guys talking about?”
“You, pretty much,” Eliot says, reappearing with his own mug of tea. Alec nods.
“Oh right, you said you wanted to talk to me,” Parker says, trying to appear unaffected. Alec knows her well enough by now to know that she’s actually extremely wary of how this conversation will go, and is trying to protect herself by hiding.
Evidently, Eliot knows this as well.
Sighing, he sits down on Parker’s other side. “Listen,” he starts. “I’m really flattered, okay, by what happened last night. But you know what it means to…” he stumbles slightly, “Uh, send those kinds of messages to someone, right?”
Parker shrugs, shoulders slightly tense. “I know. I meant what I said.”
“You… both of us?” Eliot asks. And then, so softly Alec almost misses it, “Me?”
“Yeah,” she says. “You.” And then she takes Eliot’s free hand in one of hers.
Alec is momentarily blindsided by how tender the scene makes him feel. Eliot and Parker are holding hands. Eliot looks… emotional.
By all accounts, this should fill him to the brim with jealousy.
But it doesn’t.
Actually, Alec is moved primarily by the expression on Eliot’s face. He looks so open, so soft, like he’s letting Alec into his own world-
And then it slams into him like a freight train.
Parker likes both him and Eliot.
Eliot, if he’s read him correctly, likes both him and Parker.
And Alec?
Alec is head over heels for both of them too. Has been for a long time.
While Alec is having this mind-blowing revelation, Parker grabs one of his hands with her free one. She pulls both their hands close, so she can look down at them while she speaks.
“I knew about Hardison for a while,” she starts. Eliot and Alec hang onto every syllable. “But it really hit me when we did that job with Pallagen, and I got jealous.”
“About me and our client?” Alec asks.
“Yeah,” Parker says, “But it wasn’t just that. I… actually ended up feeling the same way about Eliot and the FDA rep, too. Not to the same extent because I never saw them together, and I knew Eliot was faking it for the con, but I was really irritated by it. When Sophie told me I was jealous of the client, I realized it was the same with Eliot.”
She raises her head to look at Eliot, then Alec.
“I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t know how confused you’d both be, and I probably should have just talked to you first. But I really didn’t know about sexting until yesterday, and it seemed like a good opportunity, so…”
Parker trails off, looking down at their hands again. Eliot is quiet, evidently processing everything Parker has just said.
Frankly, Alec is still processing his newfound polyamory.
But with every passing moment of silence, Parker tenses more and more, to the point where Alec wonders if she’ll pull away if no one says anything. If she’ll retreat back into her shell from perceived rejection.
It would take forever to ease her back out of there. And, Alec finally realizes, he wants the same thing she does.
He exhales.
“You know, something weird happened just now,” he says. Parker looks at him, slightly confused. Eliot doesn’t move, eyes far away. Alec continues. “Yesterday, when you were talking about how you had to tell that Wakefield guy you were dating Eliot, I got super jealous. Like, it was really bad. And I figured, well, yeah, I really like Parker, so of course I’d be jealous. And when you sent us those messages, I thought I’d be jealous again that you sent them to Eliot too, not just me.” He pauses briefly, wondering how to phrase his thoughts. “But I never got jealous. And I didn’t know why until just now.”
Alec reaches around Parker, resting his free hand on Eliot’s seat.
“It’s because I feel the same way about both of you. I think I always knew, but I wasn’t conscious of it until today. I just like both of you, so much.”
Eliot looks up, his eyes rimmed slightly red. He is not crying, Alec knows, but he probably isn’t too far off.
“I really like you, Parker,” Alec says. “And Eliot, I think you’ve always meant just as much to me. I like you the same way. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it until now.”
Parker squeezes his hand. He looks at her, finding her eyes filled with softness.
Eliot wrenches his hand out of Parker’s and stands up, facing away from them. Alec and Parker both startle.
“Eliot?” Parker asks quietly. “Do you not…?”
He takes a harsh breath. “You guys shouldn’t think about me like this. You don’t know what I’ve done, what I’m capable of. I-“ He shudders, barely enough for them to notice. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Alec stands up. “You’d never hurt us. I know you wouldn’t.”
Parker nods from the couch. “Even when we do things that piss you off, or you have to get us out of things we got ourselves into, you’ve never once hurt us.”
“You’re right,” Eliot says. “But there are things I’ve done- people I’ve hurt before- who might come after me. I can’t let you guys get mixed up in something I started. If you’re too close to me, you could get caught in the crossfire.”
A moment of silence.
“I’m sorry.” Eliot breaks it. “It’s not that I don’t want to- but I would rather die than let you guys get hurt because of me. I can’t.”
He makes to walk away. Alec barely has time to register the pain of rejection when-
“Are you serious?” Parker hisses. She stands up and follows him, venom in her eyes.
“What?” Eliot spins around, immediately getting startled by her eyes as well.
“You’re not the only one with enemies, Eliot!” she all but yells. “Sure, I haven’t ever been mixed up in government conspiracies or killed people to get my way before, but so what? Hardison’s robbed entire national banks, I’ve stolen countless priceless works of art, and both of us have taken on tons of corrupt people, powerful corrupt people, since we joined this team. We probably have just as many enemies who want us dead as you! So don’t give me the ‘I’m doing it to protect you’ crap! You know what would protect us? Knowing you trust us!”
Parker is almost crying by the end of her rant, shoulders heaving from emotional exertion. Eliot just looks stunned.
Damage control time, Alec thinks.
“I know you have some messed up stuff in your past, man, but isn’t it too late to not get attached to us? Even just, taking this whole mess out of it, we as a team are so tightly knit now that if anyone from your past knew, it wouldn’t be that hard to target any of us.”
Eliot flinches. Alec hurriedly finishes his thoughts.
“What I’m saying is that you can protect us better if you trust us, and can be honest with yourself. Whatever problems come up from your past, we’ll take care of it together. Like we always do.”
“It’s my job to protect you-“ Eliot tries, but the argument is noticeably weaker than before.
“It’s our job to protect each other.” Alec retorts firmly. “If you don’t want to do this because you don’t like us in that way, that’s another thing, but don’t miss out on this because you’re afraid of ghosts from your past. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“To us.” Parker adds.
Eliot lets out a sharp breath. He shuts his eyes and, after a second, nods once.
“I didn’t think I had a chance in hell of this happening,” he says. Opening his eyes, he gives them maybe the softest smile Alec has ever seen. “I didn’t want to believe I felt like this about either of you, never mind both of you, but… I’d like nothing more than this.”
He's barely finished speaking when Parker launches herself at him. Alec watches with baited breath as their faces draw closer together, closer- and then Parker whispers something, Eliot nods, and they kiss.
Once again, Alec is stunned by the warmth that spreads through him at the sight. He feels a stupid smile make its way onto his face, and he does absolutely nothing to fight it.
They break apart, breathing ragged. Alec is struck by the intense urge to go over to them.
So he does.
“C’mere,” Parker mutters, and after a second where their eyes meet, searching for something, she kisses Alec.
God help me, Alec thinks. Kissing Parker is fire, heat and sparks traveling all through his body, electrifying his soul.
It’s positively addicting. He never wants it to end.
But the need for air eventually trumps everything else, and they have to stop.
“Damn,” Eliot mutters from beside them. “That’s just hot.”
Alec looks over and is immediately drawn to Eliot’s eyes, blown wide from watching them.
“Shut up,” Alec mutters moving to hold him. He briefly scans Eliot’s face, looking for any sign he’s uncomfortable. “Can… can I…?”
Eliot rolls his eyes and drags Alec in, finally kissing him.
The difference is both massive and completely nonexistent. Where kissing Parker was passionate and electric, something traveling through him, kissing Eliot feels like drowning in emotion, like his whole being is engulfed in security and safety and familiarity.
This, too, is addicting. In the back of his mind, Alec wonders how he’s ever lived without either of them kissing him senseless on a daily basis.
When they break apart, Parker is watching them with a smile.
Eliot laughs breathlessly. Alec smothers a laugh of his own.
None of them ever thought this could happen, but it has. They all look at each other, wondering what to do next.
“I wonder if I should send that guy from Wakefield a gift basket,” Parker eventually says. “You know, for telling me about sexting?”
Alec bursts out laughing, the image so absurd that even Eliot joins in after a failed attempt to frown at the idea.
This is how it should be, Alec thinks as Parker wanders off to raid Nate’s cereal cabinet, Eliot still laughing by his side. This is how it was always going to end up.
He feels Eliot’s hand in his, sees Parker trying to hide her smile at them, and Alec feels content, truly content, for the first time since he was a child.