This is not a game

Game Over: Stalking

"Eli? What are you doing here?"

Silver is standing two steps away from him, in front of the door that had just closed behind him — effectively blocking it. He glances around disdainfully, wrinkling his nose, as if merely being in this place is unpleasant for him. Eli pinches his arm hard, just to be sure this is real. It hurts, and Silver doesn't disappear. Then again, Eli has felt pain in dreams before and slept right through it. This is too absurd even for a dream though. Even when they were together, Silver had flat-out refused to step foot in this place with him. Outside of their apartments and the team HQ he'd flat-out refused to go anywhere with Eli, let alone to a run-down Chinese diner. Eli would never have made this up. Therefore, it cannot a dream.

"What are you doing here?"

"Emma called."

As if that explains everything. As if that explains anything at all. Silver should be anywhere but here right now. Emma has no idea where Eli is at this moment. She didn't put a tracker on him, did she? Silver didn't either... oh. Oh. They had once shared their location with each other on their iPhones. Maybe it wasn't enough to just change his number and phone if the Apple ID remained the same. Maybe Silver found another way while he had access. Eli thinks he'll take his phone to Reggie tomorrow and ask him to erase all traces of Silver from it.

"What are you doing here?" Eli repeats, a bit hysterically.

He had turned his phone back on when he was discharged from the hospital — almost a month ago. Right after returning home. It wasn't hard to find him. So why the hell is Silver standing in front of him now, on New Year's Eve?

"We need to talk," Silver says, taking a step toward him.

Eli takes two steps back, bumping into a table and gripping it tightly.

"We have nothing to talk about."

They have nothing to talk about, right... It's such an obvious lie that Eli winces the moment the words leave his mouth. Of course, they have things to talk about! Plenty of things. But Eli doesn't want to talk to Silver. Not now, at least. Well, actually it's more complicated than that — he both wants to and is terrified of it. It's a path that leads somewhere dark, full of false hopes and bitterness and a whole mess of other things Eli isn't ready to deal with right now. He might never be ready.

Of course, Silver isn't fooled by the lie either.

"Stop running away," Silver says. "Emma read me your messages. Don't you think we should clear things up? You abandoned the team. You abandoned me. What the hell, Eli?"

Eli thinks about laughing, but it catches in his throat. God, what a mess! A very convincing mess. Silver had always had a way of turning situations upside down until Eli began doubting himself.

"Leave me alone," Eli raises his voice, "God, just leave me alone!"

"Eli..." Silver starts again, stepping toward him, and Eli sucks in a shaky breath, feeling panic rising. He is desperately trying to calm down, when his view is suddenly blocked by someone's back.

"He said he doesn't want to talk," comes a calm voice.

Eli lifts his gaze from the man's white shirt to his dark hair. The grumpy guy who had fed him soup is now standing between him and Silver, blocking him from Silver (shielding him from Silver), instead of throwing them both out for their drama.

"Everything's fine, just a little argument between friends," Silver responds just as calmly. Eli closes his eyes and lets out a nervous chuckle. Between friends. Even now, Silver is concerned about his precious reputation. God forbid anyone finds out he's gay.

"Get out if you don't want me to..." Eli doesn't catch the rest of the sentence.

He understands a little Mandarin, which the guy from Good Fortune suddenly switches to, but not enough to grasp the exact nature of the threat. Fortunately, whatever it is, it works. Silver backs off.

"We'll talk later," he says. It's not a promise, not a threat — he is simply stating a fact, completely certain in the inevitability of it. Eli had once loved that certainty in him. Now it makes him sick.

Silver doesn't wait for an answer; he leaves, slamming the door behind him. Eli swallows hard and opens his eyes. Finally, he relaxes. Almost collapses, in fact — his legs give out from the sudden release of tension, and it's a good thing he's still holding on to the table behind him. It also saves the grumpy guy from having to scrape him off the floor after quickly turning back at the sound. Eli gives him a pale smile and straightens up. He hadn't meant to bring his drama to someone else's doorstep, but in a way, he's a little glad it caught up to him here.