„Move it, man!" With a smile of satisfaction so bright it made Eliot's danger instincts go wild at once, Hardison flung himself onto the couch beside him.
"What did you do?"
"Who, me? Nothing." The hacker's smile got even wider as he opened a small plastic bag and started stuffing the contents in his mouth. Eliot raised his eyebrows, unsure if he really wanted to know what was going on or not.
Probably not.
"Oh no." A gasp of horror came from the kitchen. "That is not true. It is. Not. True." Parker's voice was high pitched, close to her panicking tone – which she never showed in actual cases of emergency, so Eliot decided to let it go unasked and concentrate on his friend whose smile had become so wide and joyful his lips must hurt by now.
"Don't be stupid. What…"
"Hardison!" The panic in Parker's voice turned to blind anger, and suddenly Eliot understood. "You didn't."
"Do what?" Hardison coughed on the last bite as he tried to stifle a laugh. His hands moved slightly, revealing the scripture on the bag. KELLY'S ORIGINAL PRETZELS, printed in blue, and BELONGING TO: PARKER. DO NOT EAT UNLESS YOU ARE ME, scribbled in black ink underneath.
"You stole from a thief? From me? I will… I will…"
When he saw Parker approaching, her face contorted with anger, the smugness disappeared from the hacker's face. "I woke the harpy." He quickly crouched into Eliot's side, only half mocking. "Save me."
Parker stood in front of the couch, calm now – ready to kill. "Leave, Eliot. This is not your fight."
Eliot bit his lips not to laugh. "Thank you, Parker. Bleach is underneath the sink if you need it."
"Bleach? Hey! Hey, are you…" Bereft of his protector, Hardison found himself staring at the most terrifying, most beautiful face he had ever seen and asking himself if he had just gone too far. "Hey, Parker." He thought about getting up but she already leant over him, forcing him to recline to the pillows.
"These are mine."
He nodded, wondering if she knew how close her face had come to his. "I know" he whispered, staring at her lips.
Parker hissed. "Then why did you take them?"
It was one of those split-second-ideas that either saved or doomed you. "To hide them in a new safe. I wanted to see if you could break into it."
Parker raised her eyebrows. "Of course I can. I can break into anything."
"Really?" He had her. Grinning, Hardison swooped a pretzel out of the bag and into his mouth, closing his lips around it. "Mmmh hmm?"
Parker paled, and for a moment he was sure she would run away. Then her mouth touched his, her tongue softly stroking his lower lip, playfully biting him. Hardison closed his eyes as the world disappeared around him.
A heartbeat later, it was over. Parker leaned back, smiling and chewing. "See?"
"Wow." Hardison touched his lips, trying to savor the feeling. "That was… amazing."
Definitely worth dying for.
"I am amazing" Parker said, smiling as smug as he had before. Then her expression softened, and almost shyly she added, "but I might need some training on this. It's… not… I mean, I…"
He moved forward and kisser her again, this time gently running his hands over her shoulders, not exactly locking her in but holding her. A second later Parker pushed forward, leaning fully into him without ever letting go of his mouth. It was only the need for air that parted them, gasping.
Hardison stared at the blonde woman in awe. "Parker, I…
"You forgot the pretzels this time."