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Parker has always kept her sealskin with her. When she was a child, it was small enough that Bunny kept it hidden, but as she grew and it grew, she found new hiding places. She always kept it close though. Parker knew that she was fine, as long as she kept it on her.When she realizes she left it out in the living room of her and Hardison’s apartment— it’s one of five places she has in the city they set up camp in and it’s the only one she’d regret leaving if they had to go on the run again—her first instinct is to hide it, but that feels wrong. She doesn’t want to hide it. So she doesn’t. Of course Hardison notices it right away.“Parker, what is this?” Harrison asks poking at it with the remote, like he’s afraid to touch it and she’s struck by the realization she wouldn’t mind if he did. She doesn’t know what to do with that so she ignores it. “It’s my sealskin,” she says. Hardison gives her a look of disbelief. “Your sealskin. It’s creepy is what it is.” She makes a face at him and switches tracks slightly, but doesn’t stop. “Okay. Well your sealskin doesn’t go with the overall decor of the room, where did you even get this? Did you do another museum job without telling us? You know you’re supposed to tell us, we’re a team, Parker.”“I’ll put it in the bedroom,” she says, ignoring the rest of Hardison’s rambling. It’s probably safer to have it less visible anyway. Not that they let anyone but Eliot in their living room, but she’s taking baby steps. —The next time she sees Hardison with her sealskin, he’s in bed, wrapped in it, the glow from his computer illuminating his face.“What are you doing?” she asks. It’s not like he could become a seal, at least she doesn’t think he could. She’s never let a human wrap themself in her skin before so she doesn’t know for sure. “I’m cold!” Hardison says. “You’re the one who put it on the foot of our bed.”“You said it was creepy,” she accuses. “I did and it is but it’s also warm and since you insist on keeping the apartment at 68 degrees—”“It keeps the blood flowing,” Parker explains for what feels like the millionth time “— I need something warm.” Hardison seems like he’s winding down but then he adds, “it’s cozy and it feels like you’re hugging me.”“It is my sealskin,” she says. “No orange soda while you’re wearing it.” Hardison’s hand had been sneaking towards the bottle on the nightstand but when she says that, he pulls it back under her skin. He’ll probably drink it after she’s gone anyway, but hopefully he’ll be a little more careful. She doesn’t like it when her skin is dirty when she changes. “No snacks, either,” she says and grabs the bag of gummy frogs he has in his lap, ignoring his protests. She doesn’t want any frogs stuck to her sealskin or in their bed for that matter. The last time she’d ended up with frogs stuck in her hair which, while it had convenient during the one job, had led to her having to get her hair cut just too short to stay securely in a ponytail.—Eliot recognizes it the first time he sees it. “Parker,” he says in a growly voice. “What are you doing leaving that out?”Parker and Hardison follow Eliot’s gaze to her sealskin. Hardison has been leaving it all over the place and if she didn’t enjoy seeing him wrapped in it so much, she probably would have started hiding it again. “Listen, I know, it doesn’t go with the color scheme at all, but it grows on you. It feels like a hug or something, I don’t even know, man, but just try it on and you’ll see.”“Parker,” Eliot says. “He doesn’t know.”“I told him!” she says defensively. She feels about two seconds away from going to hang out in the ceiling. “Told me what, baby girl?” Hardison asks gently. “It’s my sealskin.”Eliot gives him a meaningful look. “She did tell me,” Hardison agrees. “Not which museum she got it from though unless— tell me you weren’t going after diamonds without us again. Which one was it? Not the Cullinan.”“It’s a fake,” she says. She’s not going to go to all that trouble to steal a fake and she’s trying not to remember where the real one is so she won’t be tempted because they don’t do that. Oooh, unless someone evil stole the diamond and they had to rescue it. That’s a definite possibility. “Parker’s a selkie, man,” Eliot interrupts exasperated. “That’s her sealskin.”“I know it’s her— wait, what?”"It's a very distinctive--" Eliot starts. At that Parker does retreat to the ceiling with her skin while Eliot explains to Hardison. There’s some shouting, but not quite as much as she expected.After, when they’ve both calmed down, she drops to the floor gracefully. “I would have never touched it if I’d known,” Hardison says and Parker knows that. It’s why she didn’t mind him touching it because she knew the second she asked for it back, he’d let it go. “I don’t mind,” she says. She can see the arguments on Hardison’s face. “I like it.”“She trusts you,” Eliot says and she can tell he both thinks it’s dangerous of her and understands. He trusts them the same way.“You can hold it too,” she says and pushes it at him. There’s something in her that aches at how carefully he holds her skin, the way he holds it to his cheek.“I’m going to upgrade our security systems,” Hardison announces. “No one’s gonna get their hands on your skin unless you want them to.”Parker smiles big for him, but doesn’t look away from Eliot, and when Hardison goes to leave, she grabs him by the arm, pulls him in and says, “group hug,” and there aren’t even any mock complaints this time, just the three of them, one less secret between them.