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Eliot stops at the door to the apartment and stares.
It's...pink. It's very, very pink.
Pink heart pillows, pink balloons, pink stuffed animals, pink flowers, just...pink.
"What," he says to no one in particular, because he can't actually see if Parker or Hardison are home through all the freaking pink.
Hardison pops up from behind a bouquet of pink and Mylar balloons. "Heeeeeeeey, Eliot," he says in a voice that means there's an explanation coming that Eliot is probably not going to like. "So, uh, happy Valentine's Day?"
"Happy—" Eliot snaps his mouth shut and gestures around the room. "Seriously?"
"Parker wanted to celebrate." Hardison picks his way over a series of gigantic pink teddy bears that are taking up the entire couch and half the living room floor. "So, uh, she got a little enthusiastic—"
"Overwhelmed!" Parker calls out from above.
Eliot looks up to see that she's hiding in the air duct, with only her head poking out through the opening.
He stifles a sigh and hopes he looks patient. "Overwhelmed?"
"There's so much stuff!" Parker buries her face in her elbow. "There's so much stuff to buy and ninety percent of it is stuff to give your girlfriend and they don't tell you what you're supposed to buy when you have two boyfriends and I've never celebrated Valentine's Day before and I just...sort of..."
She trails off, and Eliot drags his hand over his face. The hell of it is, he can totally picture it. Parker already gets into holidays as-is; Eliot's not terribly surprised to find that she would go overboard on Valentine's.
"Come on, get down here," he says.
"No. I screwed up. I'm always—"
"You didn't screw up," Eliot cuts in, and gives Hardison a glare that says back me up.
"You didn't!" Hardison nearly breaks his neck trying to get across the living room to the air vent, but thankfully he doesn't. "You didn't screw up at all, baby girl."
She peeks out at them. "But it's too much."
"So?" Hardison says. "That's you, Parker. And it's part of why we love you."
Parker looks so damn hopeful and unsure that it breaks Eliot's heart. "Really?"
"Yes, really," Eliot says. "When you love someone, you love with your whole heart. And that's," he sweeps his arm around the room, "what this is."
Parker smiles tremulously.
"Now get down here so we can hug you, and then you can help me find the kitchen so I can make dinner," Eliot says.
Parker's eyes light up. "Chicken parmigiana?"
Eliot nods. "Chicken parmigiana."
Hardison fist-pumps. "Yessss!"
Parker rappels down from the air duct, and as soon as she touches the ground, Eliot and Hardison smother her in a hug. He can't see her whole face, but Eliot can see the edge of her smile.
He kisses the side of her head. "Happy Valentine's Day, Parker."