Work Text:
Hardison always kept his stash of Orange Jones Soda hidden around the office. It was a little annoying to actually find the bottles laying all over the office, and round sticky rings dotting all the wood surfaces, but Eliot wasn’t about to complain. He had is own favorite flavor of the sweet nectar.
Fufu Berry Jones Soda.
Eliot generally avoided anything with that amount of sugar in it, because it was important for him to stay in the best physical condition possible considering his line of work. But, he just couldn’t help himself, the stuff was amazing, and he always kept his own personal stash around the office as well. His was, of course, much better hidden than Hardison’s own stash, and he always made sure to take the bottles with him when he left. At least he though he did.
The next day, when Eliot walked into the office, Hardison was sitting in the conference room playing that game, World of Warcraft, on the monitor wall. Eliot still didn’t understand his fascination with it, but if it kept Hardison from trying to get him to watch any more reruns of Doctor Who, Eliot sure wasn’t going to complain. That’s when he saw it, another empty bottle of Jones Soda sitting on the wooden surface of their conference table.
“Hey, Hardison, man, why don’t use a coaster like any civilized human being?” Eliot asked, as he sauntered into the conference room.
“I should ask you the same thing, heck, my mama told me never to complain about something, if you can’t even follow your own rules.” Hardison replied smartly without even turning away from his game.
Eliot didn’t really pay any attention to what Hardison was saying until he actually got into the room and looked in astonishment at the empty bottle of Fufu Berry Jones Soda sitting on the conference table, leaving a perfectly concentric ring of sticky cane sugar.
“Umm…” Eliot didn’t really know what to say, seeing as he’d just been caught red handed with his little indulgence, and admonishing himself for even being so thoughtless as to forget to pick the bottle up as he left for the night after watching the game.
“Hey forget it man, I won’t tell anybody about your addiction, if you promise to trade with me every now and then. I hate how they only come in packs with the same flavor. Sometimes, ya just need a little variety. So what do you say?” Hardison asked, finally turning away from the game that was taking up the entire wall.
Knowing there wasn’t much he could do about it, and secretly thinking that the Orange Jones Sodas weren’t half bad, and heck, he couldn’t have any of the others finding out that their resident chef secretly indulged in such a sugary, processed substance, Eliot, only semi-reluctantly agreed to Hardison’s terms. “Sure man, sounds good to me.”
Eliot walked back to his office grabbed a couple of the Fufu Berry Jones Sodas from his hidden stash behind the action books on the bottom shelf of his book case, and walked back to the conference room. Opening one, and sliding the other over to Hardison, Eliot asked, “So, how do you play this game anyway?”