#meanwhile like. hardison is SO intelligent but he's also really young and trusts eliot and if nothing else is. soft. he's really soft.

[darkfinch]

So I stumbled onto your Worst au, aka the undercover eliot au and now all I can think is how Monroe Knows the team. Specifically, Hardison. Hardison who pulls off not-so minor miracles on the daily and is fundamentally Soft. Someone Monroe could Break. And pilot Parker is too feral to control but season 3 Parker isn’t. He knows he's losing Eliot, two birds one stone. So he tells Eliot he wants to meet Hardison. And for Eliot to decide to bring Parker or leave her. And Eliot Knows what it means.

I imagine Monroe wanting to Have Hardison (and Parker) would snap Eliot right out of the last of his Monroe-loyalty because. It's Hardison. And Parker. They're Good. They're People. (it also might shock eliot into realizing how toxic Monroe is in that a member of the team dying is an acceptable risk (never Acceptable, never Okay, but acceptable Risk) but under Monroe's Control just full stop is Not. Not a risk Eliot's ever taking with any of them) Sorry for chucking an emotional bomb at you

1) i have 2 commend you for referring to criminal financier and overall demon damien moreau exclusively as "monroe" here, idk if it lessened or increased the psychic damage but if definitely added something to the experience of perceiving this ask

2) YEAH

i think you might be right about it kind of shocking eliot out of his internal justifications of moreau's whole Situation by making him apply it to someone who isn't himself? like, uh oh, it's completely fine and normal until put into the context of Happens To Hardison and suddenly its Deeply Fucked Up And Not Allowed

moreau treats me well-> if the team has to die for him, that's fine-> if he wants to meet the team, that's fine-> if he wants to keep some of them, then that absolutely cannot happen, because he'll treat them like he treats me and what happened to me will happen to them-> ???-> but if moreau treats me well—

(i am imagining eliot in his moreau-funded-and-decorated apartment lying on his zillion thread-count sheets and staring blankly at the ceiling like...okay so why would hardison being under moreau's thumb be worse than him dying. why would parker being me be worse than if she Died. hang on a second)

like. uh oh. he is going in circles and it is not lining up but he can't quite close the gap there? eliot's made peace with the fact that moreau might kill them, eliot's mostly made peace with the fact that moreau might ask him to kill them, moreau casually expresses interest in Acquiring hardison and eliot's like....im terrified.... because..........im panicking BECAUSE.............!!!! fuck. and it clicks. and then he has to figure out how he's going to stop that from happening. hhhhh

(though i can also see him doing the mental backflip strategy of "well it'd be terrible if this happened to Them, because they're People, but it's fine if it's me because i'm [ominous mental blank spot] and damien's never done anything he hasn't been able to Justify later")

but YEAH of the four of them, i Do think hardison would be the one moreau (and eliot) would focus in on as a potential asset, because like. sophie's unpredictable, nate's more someone to keep tabs on and keep out of the way, parker's isolated but too independent, but hardison!! hardison's young and could be receptive to moreau's whole "we're friends and as long as you do what needs to be done we're fine" act. and would Also be easily intimidated/kept in line. and is ALSO Extremely Useful

and. hm. and especially if eliot's already built up trust and a relationship with hardison by the time moreau starts suspecting that eliot might be slipping, that could be like...1) eliot works as a bridge between moreau and alec and can help Acquire alec, because alec trusts him and/or gives him the benefit of the doubt and 2) telling eliot that he can keep one of his cute little crime friends might keep eliot focused and closer to home :) with the added benefit of alec being an excellent tool for keeping eliot in line :)

its a great strategy! it's win-win! hardison's a fantastic potential addition to the moreau empire and eliot should absolutely bring him by the hotel for a surprise meeting! meanwhile eliot's just screaming into his pillow in 20 minute bursts every single night,