Who: Alec (As Hardison) and Mary What: Hardison wakes up in a white girl’s bed and she’s not Parker When: May 12 Where: Alec’s Apartment Rating: low
Hardison had a great night sleep, but as he slowly came to consciousness - the morning sort where you were awake, but not fully awake yet - he thought it was weird that some part of Parker wasn’t draped over him. Parker moved a lot in bed and it usually meant some body part was on him. It had taken him a while to get used to it - especially when he got slapped in the face - but now it was comforting which meant that the lack of it was kind of troubling.
He opened up his eyes, one first and then the other, because the thought occurred to him that Parker had set up some trap or was waiting to pie him in the face or… something. Sure, it didn’t make a lot of sense, but Parker could be unpredictable. He did feel her beside him though so he turned his face and… that was not Parker.
He sat up in bed quickly then realized he had no clothes on and quickly pulled the covers up over his chest. “Uh…” He was speechless. Hardison was certain he didn’t go to sleep with some random white girl. He hadn’t even drank last night.
–
Though Mary spent the night with Alec frequently, she still wasn’t one to wrap herself around him during sleep. Maybe it was because she was use to sleeping alone and having someone next to her was still foreign to her. Then again, maybe she still considered the relationship with Alec to still be a dream of sorts.
She was curled up on her side, naked from last night, and slumbering peacefully. She actually hadn’t had any nightmares last night. It was nice, refreshing, and Mary clung to that like a life vest. It was rare for her to sleep through the night. Then she felt the bed shift as Alec stirred followed by an unfamiliar voice.
Immediately Mary bolted up in bed, blue eyes wide when they landed on the man beside her. That was not Alec. Grabbing the sheets, she wrapped them around her waist and jumped out of bed, putting distance between them.
“Who the hell are you and where is Alec?” Part of Mary wondered if this was some sick Madison joke or worse, something Lucifer did. He could come back at any time after all.
She took the sheets which left Hardison very naked which meant he panicked and he dove off the side of the bed on the other side of where the woman was. He grabbed the first thing he could find and stood back up holding a pink penguin stuffed animal in front of himself to keep him ‘decent’.
“What?” He looked confused. “I am Alec.” Though no one called him that. “Who are you?”
Mary blushed brightly, eyes wide, and she quickly looked away. Maybe she shouldn’t have taken all the sheets with her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him pick up a pink penguin stuffed animal and put it in front of himself. The entire scene might have made Mary laugh if she wasn’t involved in it.
“You’re definitely not Alec,” Mary replied quickly. Once he was “decent” she managed to look at him, keeping her eyes zeroed in on his face. There was absolutely no reason to look anywhere else.
“Alec would know that I’m Mary.”
He looked a little insulted. "Uh, I think I know my own name. Not that anyone calls me that." There were very few, actually. It was a good sign that this woman didn't know him.
"Am I in some Get Out thing? Should I be worried for my life?" He paused, then looked around and then shouted. "Parker? Eliot? If this is a joke, it's not very funny!"
Mary arched a brow at his words. “Okay…so then what do they call you?” Because it was painfully clear for both of them that he wasn’t her Alec and since she had no idea where her Alec was, she wanted to get as much information about the stranger that replaced him as possible.
At the reference, which Mary herself didn’t get, she looked confused. “You should only be worried for your life if you did something to my boyfriend,” she replied coolly. “And your friends too. Whoever the hell they are.”
“Hardison. And I definitely did not do anything to your boyfriend. I don’t even know who your boyfriend is! Except apparently he has the same name as me which means he has good taste because it is a good name.” He paused, then looked down at the penguin he was holding, then back up to her. “Can we, uh, threaten each other and stuff some more after we both have some clothes on?”
Despite her naturally suspicious nature, Mary was starting to believe this Alec actually had nothing to do with her boyfriend missing out of their bed. Which meant it had everything to do with Madison Valley. Damn it.
The blond nodded towards the closet. “Some of his stuff is in there, but I don’t know how well it will fit you. Maybe just stick to sweatpants?” Mary offered as she fumbled for her nightgown and robe, still discarded on the floor from last night.
“I hope that’s not a slight to my physique.” Hardison was pretty built for being a hacker nerd, but he was lean as well. Still, he turned and hoped Mary wasn’t looking at his bare butt as he went to the closet and grabbed the first sweat pants out like she suggested. He definitely felt better with the clothes on, though it was weird to be in some other dude’s clothes.
Once he was ‘clothed’ he paused. “Uh… you good?” He realized he didn’t want to turn around while she was still getting dressed.
“Hardly.” Mary was figuring more along the line of size than build. Also, it wasn’t as if she was looking at Hardison either. Once he went digging through the closet, Mary focused on pulling on her own clothes and had just knotted her robe when he asked if she was good. Well, at least he had manners enough to ask before just turning around.
“I’m good.” Part of Mary felt a little bad for him. If this was a trick of the Dome, it was no doubt made worse by him being in someone else’s clothes right now. Well, at least he wasn’t naked anymore.
He turned around, having used the time to think as well. “Okay, so…I’m not your Alec and somehow I ended up in your bed. Which, sorry, by the way.” Parker was going to kill him. “Sooooo, not sure where your Alec is, but maybe you could tell me where I am? And then I’ll get out of your hair and try to find my people who are probably very worried about me.” Eliot might be hitting a bunch of people right now and making them very bruised.
No, this was definitely the fault of the Dome and not the man standing across from her. He was just as confused as her, but that didn’t explain where her Alec had disappeared to. Had they just…traded places? Was it permanent if they had? The thought slightly panicked Mary; she was at the point where she didn’t want to imagine life without Alec here. If he didn’t come back…
No, Mary wouldn’t think like that. She sucked at having hope, but she was desperately clinging to the notion of it now.
Mary wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s fine. It’s not your fault. I think it’s this place's fault.” Mary wasn’t sure how Hardison would take knowing that the town he woke up in was also a weird town with abilities or whatever.
“You’re in a town in Indiana called Madison Valley, but it’s surrounded by an invisible barrier so unless your friends are here, you won’t be able to go to them.” And who knew if it was even the same year from when he left his world.
He blinked. Was she being White Woman Crazy right now? No, she wasn’t calling the cops and she seemed pretty serious. Thankfully or not, he’d seen enough sci-fi to understand sort of most of it. “You know you basically just describe a Stephen King novel, right? Except that we’re in Indiana except for Maine.” That was troubling. “Which, I don’t know if you know, but Stephen King does not write happy go-lucky books and things never go well in them.” They were officially screwed.
“I’ve become aware, yeah.” Technically, Mary liked to think her entire life was a Stephen King novel before he even started to write them. She’d seen enough crazy, dangerous supernatural shit that she could easily write her own novel and it would be all true.
“But, lucky for us, it isn’t always that bad,” Mary added quickly. “I mean what is happening now isn’t great, but there have seriously been worse things that happened here.” Yeah, that was comforting probably, but Mary dealt in being realistic. If he was stuck he permanently, he’d figure it out on his own anyway.
Alec had been around enough people to be generally good at spotting a lie. Sure, there were a few people who could get him - Sophie, for one - but generally he was pretty good at finding BS. His BS meter was not going off right now. “Okay, well… This sucks.” He should have probably thought something heroic like ‘I hope the others don’t show up here’ but he didn’t. He did want the others to show up. If he was going to be stuck in a weird sci-fi dome, he wanted to be stuck together.
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, so, I’m assuming this is Alec’s place since I just saw guy stuff in the closet. So does that mean I’m supposed to stay here? Find somewhere else?” He paused as he looked at Mary. “I don’t know why I’m asking you. You obviously didn’t do this.” Had he switched with her boyfriend? Was this other Alec running around back home? “Does he have a laptop? I could probably find my answers there.”
“That’s putting it lightly.” Mary remembered when she first arrived and how confused she felt. This place was in the future on top of the fact that she was trapped in a town. This Alec was no doubt going through the same mindset and hoping his friends were here too. It was always easier if there were people from your world already here. It softened the blow a little bit. Mary would try to help him the best she could despite how worried she was about her own Alec.
“You could probably get your own place if you wanted,” Mary replied. “But you could stay here too. It’s up to you. I don’t live with Alec currently so you wouldn’t have to worry about me ending up in your bed again.” Somehow she doubted Alec would do anything to her Alec’s stuff. Right now, he was more just trying to figure everything out for himself and for that? Mary couldn’t blame him.
“I think he has one, but good luck cracking that code.” Mary replied, leading him out of the bedroom. “And I don’t know how many answers you’ll find on it if you do. Madison Valley doesn’t exactly give us a lot to work with.”
He almost bragged about how he was pretty sure hacking into a laptop, but decided that would be a stupid idea since he didn’t want to be kicked out of this place or accused of stealing or something. “Probably, but nothing hurts in trying, right?” He flashed her a smile as he followed her out of the bedroom.
“I think I’ll stay here until I get my feet under me and then move out. I’m not really good with living off of other people.” Well, unless those people were evil corporations, but then that was different.
“Thank you, Mary. And uh, sorry about before. I promise to erase any images in my brain. Otherwise Parker will know and she’ll kick my ass.”
“If it helps, then it’s worth it,” Mary replied honestly. Alec’s laptop was sitting out on the table in the living room. The blond nodded towards it. “There it is. Good luck. Maybe it’ll help you figure out how to live here.” Or at least survive until this place potentially switched them back. As much as Hardison seemed like a decent guy, Mary wanted Alec back. She had no idea where he was and that scared her more than anything.
At his words, Mary nodded. “I don’t think Alec would mind too much given the circumstances. Both of us have been here long enough to know Madison Valley can be a lot to handle.” She felt Alec might have even felt a bit bad for Hardison like she did. It wasn’t easy to deal with being displaced from your home and friends.
Mary laughed at his statement and shook her head. “And I promise to do the same. In fact, I’m already working on it. I’m going to get my stuff and get out of here in a moment. But if you need anything, just reach out. I’ll be more than happy to help in any way I can.”
Hardison nodded. He was definitely going to wait until she was gone before he started to use the laptop since he did not want to give away his capabilities not to mention if the other Alec came back, he did not want to be accused of hacking accounts or something - he’d only do that if this guy was a rich douchebag and the way Mary talked about him, he didn’t seem to be. Plus while there were nice things in the apartment, it didn’t scream ‘opulence’.
“Thanks, I appreciate it. And if I can do anything for you once I get settled, let me know. I’m good at fixing problems that seem unfixable.” That wasn’t the best way of saying it, but it was true.
Given how they met, it was a generous offer and Mary nodded. “I’ll let you know, but just focus on settling in the best you can for now. And I hope your friends are here. Having people here definitely helps in becoming comfortable here.”
She gave him another smile before heading back into the bedroom to gather her things. Deep down, she hoped Alec came back soon. Hardison was a decent guy it seemed, but she still wanted her boyfriend back, safe.