Eliot signing autographs for his adoring public for anonymous.
Haaaaa, so here are some things i have to say about this:
Look at Hardison in that second gif, aka when he is sure that Eliot is not looking at him. Look at his pleased little smile. Look at his little thumbs up. Look at his delight at Eliot’s delight, which he of course quickly conceals once Eliot turns around, because he knows Eliot will have more fun if the more Hardison pretends to be bothered about it. Look how right he is about that. Look.
Actually though this episode contains my second least-favorite Alec Hardison character beat in the series, topped only by the horrible tipping scene (which I talked about here as an addition to an amazing post that you should read anyway, regardless of my attached rant about the horrible tipping scene, because it’s incredible). But look, okay, I am sorry, but here is the thing: this is Alec ‘Hearteyes’ Hardison we’re talking about here. Alec ‘Don’t Worry About The Cloud Of Love That Extends Around Me Six Feet In Every Direction, It’s Always Like That, There’s Just Too Much Of It To Fit Inside My Body’ Hardison. Alec ‘I Canonically Spend My Weekends Making You Guys Costumes For Potential Cons’ Hardison! Alec ‘I Love Parker And Eliot So Much That Sometimes It Is Literally Painful To Watch The Way My Face Lights Up When I Look At Them,’ Hardison, okay! That is the guy we are talking about, and there is no way that guy would ever, in one million years, walk out of a baseball game that Eliot was playing and kicking ass in. SORRY CHARLIE, THAT JUST WOULD NOT HAPPEN. Alec would be glued to his seat and shoving popcorn in his mouth while nudging the complete stranger next to him and being like, “Hey, hey! Did you see that? That amazing triple? That’s my – he’s – that’s my dude out there. That is my boy.” The ONLY reason Alec could have for walking out of a baseball game in which Eliot was playing is if he was going home to get, like, his DSLR and his decent video equipment in order to record this for posterity, or possibly because he wanted throw Eliot off the trail so he wouldn’t be expecting Alec to show up at the NEXT game, with said DSLR and video equipment, to record it for posterity. POSTERITY WOULD BE INVOLVED, THOUGH. Posterity or bust.
And this is why, in my head, there is a missing scene in The Three Strikes Job where Hardison and Parker go to one of Eliot’s game in like, super ridiculous obnoxious fan clothes, Hardison with his camera basically glued to his hand and Parker with a ring of blue cotton candy sugar around her mouth because she’s eaten like 14 of the stupid things. And they sit just behind first base, and every time Eliot comes up to bat Parker leans a little too far over the railing and screams “AY BATTER BATTER BATTER,” at the top of her lungs, and Hardison has to like, do a super shitty half-assed job of hiding his camera while Eliot glares at them. But he doesn’t actually try that hard to hide it, and Eliot isn’t doing a very good job with the hiding thing either since posterity is TOTALLY going to see all those little grins Eliot can’t quite manage to suppress, and when Hardison says to the guy next to him, “That’s my dude, okay, that’s my boy,” he doesn’t both concealing his pride even though the dude looks a little uncomfortable, especially when Parker nods happily and adds, “He’s really good at hitting stuff.” And when the game ends they wait around for Eliot in the parking lot, and he pretends he’s all mad – “You’re going to blow the con,” he says, clearly not meaning it, and then “Jesus, Parker, how many cotton candies did you eat,” which he clearly means a little more – and Hardison just grins and slings his camera bag over his shoulder, laughing outright when Parker climbs onto Eliot’s back and kisses him on the cheek, because while posterity doesn’t need Eliot’s outraged squawk of “Damn it, Parker! You’re all sticky, I swear to god, I’m telling the cotton candy vendors not to fucking serve you next time,” Alec himself is really, really enjoying it.
