the warmth of your doorways

The battle-scarred hitter, the brilliant hacker, the fearless thief. Three damaged souls drawn together by something neither fully understands nor can resist. Eliot Spencer has spent a lifetime running from vulnerability, but Hardison and Parker keep showing up—on street corners, in freezing cells, at his lowest moments—with a warmth he never knew he craved. This is the story of how walls crumble, how trust is built in trembling increments, and how three people learn that safety isn't found in isolation, but in the courage to let others see your wounds... and still choose to stay.

the warmth of your doorways

The battle-scarred hitter, the brilliant hacker, the fearless thief. Three damaged souls drawn together by something neither fully understands nor can resist. Eliot Spencer has spent a lifetime running from vulnerability, but Hardison and Parker keep showing up—on street corners, in freezing cells, at his lowest moments—with a warmth he never knew he craved. This is the story of how walls crumble, how trust is built in trembling increments, and how three people learn that safety isn't found in isolation, but in the courage to let others see your wounds... and still choose to stay.

The night air bites at my exposed skin as I lean against the brick wall of the alley, catching my breath after the job. We took down a particularly nasty CEO tonight, but not before he sent his security detail after us. My knuckles still throb from the last guy who thought he could take me.

The sound of approaching footsteps has my hand going to my pocket for a weapon before I recognize the rhythm—Hardison's longer strides paired with Parker's lighter, quicker steps. They round the corner, silhouettes against the streetlights.

Parker spots me first. "Eliot," she says, her voice carrying that directness that always cuts through my defenses. She moves closer, her eyes scanning me for injuries in that way she has, like she's assessing a security system but with more personal investment.

Hardison stops beside her, his expression soft in the dim light. Concern radiates from him like heat. "Hey man, you all right?" he asks, using those same words that have become a refrain between us—spoken on street corners and in safe houses, after fights and near misses, a simple question that somehow manages to cut to the core of everything I'm trying to hide.