#Eliot and hardisons interactions I just love

[independent-fics]

Leverage (2008-2012)

01x03 The Wedding Job

Bonus:

[leverage-ot3]

not going to give the blog any attention or time of day but this is your reminder that the leverage crew would never be zionists or support israel whatsoever

I wasn't going to engage with it because I value my mental health but yeah. absolutely fucking NOT

y'all really think that this group of people that actively go out of their way to go against the rich and powerful, who make it their goal to help people that are oppressed, devalued by society and taken advantage by those more powerful would at all EVER align themselves with israel? bffrrn

I'm going to go off for a few paragraphs about why this is such a horrendously ridiculous and delusional idea, but I'm not going to clog up your dash so it's going under the cut. I want to respect people who already participate in activism and need fandom space for lighter things

tw for discussion of the atrocities and war crimes happening in palestine

over 25 THOUSAND innocent people have died as a result of israeli terror the last few months alone. over 10 thousand children. entire family lines have been erased from the world forever- grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren all martyred, often together as they are sheltering from bombs and bullets until they are murdered by soldiers that laugh as they shoot and detonate bombs.

you really think that eliot 'I adopt every child I see' spencer would support a regime that let a child stay trapped in a car where her family members were martyred, not let paramedics in for days and then when they finally let the paramedics approach they kill both her AND the EMS? you think he would stand with the government that arrests children as young as 6 years old for *checks hand* being terrorists (because what fucking 6 year old is a terrorist let alone any kind of national threat. they're fucking SIX). that snipes children for throwing rocks at tanks and their apartheid walls

he and all of them would weep at the picture released the other day of the little girl handing from rubble with her legs blown off.

all of them would be horrified of the bombardment that has murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians, women, children, men, elderly alike with no fucking care. that shoots people with their hands up waving white flags. that bulldozes graveyards and digs up bodies and probably steals organs from they dying and deceased. that bombs hospitals, governmental and archival buildings, mosques, churches, holy sites, schools and universities. whose soldiers have a trend where they go through women's underwear drawers and make lewd comments about their lingerie and how kinky they must be. who make tiktoks of them playing in decimated playgrounds and signing their children's names on bombs. who force parents to collect pieces of their children in plastic bags because they have been blown apart by relentless bombing. who shoot a grandmother holding a child's hand. who murdered a woman that dared say that she was older than the 'state' of israel.

the fact that you're posting this as israel relentlessly bombs rafa, the place they were told would be the only safe place to be, where 1.6 million people are living in tents living off animal feed because no sufficient humanitarian aid (if any) has been let through

these people that advocate for comeuppance and exposing wrongs would not support a regime that actively targets and murders journalists and their entire families.

you really think any of them would actively support a genocidal sociopathic government? fucking delusional

to a certain extent, I know that people want to keep fandom and advocacy spaces separate and I acknowledge and relate to that- when we are logged on every moment of the day we sometimes need to take breaks and engage with something else for our mental health. I need that too. and there is a very thin line when you try to apply fandom to current events because in all honesty, making headcanons about how your faves would react to X horrendous event can come off as extremely tone-deaf. I get you love your blorbos (I do too!), but actual people are suffering and it can come off as disingenuous to a lot of folks when you try to talk about your characters instead of the very real harm that is going on. HOWEVER, the other account posted in the leverage tag that the crew would be zionists and started that discourse and since it was already out there in our space I wanted to make sure that people know that this blog does not support that whatsoever.

and before this gets misconstrued: antizionism is not antisemitism. I have a lot of love for my jewish friends and followers, but saying that we can't be critical of war crimes and incessant aggression because it is a jewish state is fucking ridiculous. we should be able to hold any and all governments accountable when they do bad things (this absolutely also means I think we should hold the US accountable for enabling them and I live here. every country that is complicit needs to face consequences). saying that israel is exempt from criticism because jewish people deserve a right to a homeland isn't a great take. I completely understand fear of antisemitism and discrimination, but at some point we have to think critically and acknowledge that people are dying by the thousands and standing up for that and calling out atrocities takes precedence. jewish voices for peace has some really good content about this topic

anyways there's a random blog out there posting about how your faves are zionists splattering their rancid sponge and I want to make sure my stance on this subject is very clear: fuck israel, free palestine, and no one is free until everyone is free

[thirteenashmctrash]

okay so i have gained a new species of spore for my collective brainrot and i have found the perfect selling pitch to drag everyone i care about down with me. if you know the show this is hilarious. if you haven't watched it pay attention:

the show's called leverage. you know how there's those crime serials that aren't good at all but we've all watched a little too much of at least one of them even though they are blatant copaganda which is morally terrible? take your favorite one of those, but remover the copaganda. all the characters are criminals but their only victim is capitalism. every cop in the show is stupid at best and blatantly corrupt to a disgusting level most of the time. there is just as much genuine and intelligent social commentary as this premise demands.

i sense i already have you hooked. i can make this better. stick with me for a minute on this: the character dynamic is a muppet movie but also the Scooby gang

stick with me here!

You have Parker, who fit into the Scooby gang as Scooby and would be played by Gonzo. her crime thing is that she is a cat burglar and she is very good at it. her skill with it is borderline slapstick (hence Scooby) and she is very autistic coded and misunderstood (hence Gonzo)

You've got Eliot, who is the Shaggy and is played by Sam Eagle. He is the brute force of the team and he wants you to think he is all serious and grimdark. but he loves making the employees and victims of their capitalist targets aware of unions and he is a big himbo. i say he is shaggy because he plays Parker's straight man, he has the second most cartoonlike abilities, and he has a passion for cooking

Hardison is Velma as played by Kermit. he is a geeky hacker with a passion for orange soda and he is the heart of the team. he gets overlooked as leader even though he is the driving force of everything they do. like Velma. he also has that trademark Kermit brand of slapstick and deadpanned humor in balance.

Sophie is Daphne as played by miss piggy. she is basically the world's best grifter, she usually the front man interacting with the target the most. she has that crazy streak and the self defense capacity that miss piggy and Daphne (when she's done right) both have. she also has the confidence and style.

Nate is Fred and he is the human character. Fred has "let's split up gang" and Nate has "then we have to steal *fill in the blank with something comedically unfit to finish the sentence*" Fred and Nate are both flat characters with the main trait "i think I'm the leader but my smart friend does all the work" and the main interest of "trapping and screwing over capitalists" he mainly gets to call himself the leader because he's the idea guy and he has an apartment. his role in the muppet analogy is the peak of my pitch if you're still here. because while this is definitely not the Christmas Carol, Nate is the human character because he is Ebenezer Scrooge if instead of being a capitalist, Scrooge was an alcoholic and instead of character growth he was just steadily losing his mind. his moral compass and general intelligence are on a roulette wheel that is spun at random intervals lasting from seconds to the occasional few hours. also he and Sophie have divorced parents of grown children syndrome and the other three are said children. in vibes, of course, they aren't actually related.

if anyone stayed with me through all of that you should seriously watch it. even if i sound like i pulled this all out of my ass. it's so good.

it's an actively anticapitalist, copaganda free crime show where you get to see fun characters beat up every thing bad in society and fuck it all over. it balances fun comedy and wild characters with serious topics and moments in a way that is very natural and genuine. it also has one of my favorite autistic coded characters, a positive and healthy relationship that develops in a way that feels natural to the characters (as well as a rockier one if you're into drama) and it is in the midst of what looks to be an actually well handled revival series with the original cast. i haven't caught up yet but I'm so excited for it. the original had 5 seasons and the revival is waiting to be renewed for season 3.

please go watch leverage. it's so good and it deserves more fans. also i want more fic and that next season

[unloneliest]

im so fucking good at making sexy little leverage aus and then never writing them. this is my ma spencer au, which has been lifted directly from my twitter with minimal editing, & which i am haunted by always.

ok so the au. this is going to be very long. every time i listen to spent gladiator 2 by tmg i think abt the leverage team/eliot specifically.

lyrics for context:

so i was thinking abt an au where eliot was never on the team, bc like. eliot fully got Out of the game, but interacts w them on an early case and ends up falling in with them anyways? BUT i also think a lot about how hard it'd be for any of them to retire bc there's people who hate them who know their faces, yknow? so how WOULD eliot be able to have retired &what has to change for eliot to be that comfortable getting out?

so i figure he maybe got out of the moreau situation earlier. maybe he broke up with the horse girl but they stayed on good terms, and maybe he never did the worst things he ever did for moreau because he had his Getting Out Of There chef connection moment sooner.

but that doesn't undo how recognizable eliot would be to various parties and i was like. well then. what if the chef who was that pivotal person for eliot was a trans woman and was as pivotal with eliot being gendery as she was with eliot retiring?

so like. early 2000s nonbinary/transfeminine he/she eliot spencer finding a few small towns to live in pretty at random but having a home in each one and cycling through them with no discernable pattern?? and being a loved part of the local queer community in all of them?

it's similar to my "eliot never left home and is luke gilmore girls but also co-created a queer bar in his town" au (aside: thank you @lycanqueer for pointing out that connection ages ago, i have been unwell about it ever since).

like . eliot!!!!! eliot probably first connecting with the team bc of the two horse job and slowly begrudgingly helping, joining in on the tap out job, etc.

eliot being like a parent figure to various queer kids in the different towns and they call him "ma spencer" and she wears his practical boots with flannels still but maybe they're with a more feminine tank top and maybe you're as likely to see ma spencer in a no nonsense knee length skirt as a sturdy pair of jeans. and maybe sometimes he braids her hair . and she's mr. spencer too and well respected by the folks of whatever town he's staying in, too stubborn and helpful and intimidating not to be!

eliot being openly down for a casual relationship both with parker and hardison from when she first gets to know them onward—and him keeping his past quiet still, but it getting harder to keep the parts of her life seperate as he finds herself getting closer with the team & with more serious feelings for parker and hardison.

maybe the team's hitter is Tara? i feel like she's capable of that? but she has to be the grifter when sophie goes on her break and eliot joins in "Just Once" but it ends up being more than that.

eliot would have a lot of complicated feelings abt joining in—like, both being happy with the peace she found & not wanting to risk that but still feeling like he needs to pay penance and that this is a way to do that.

and then season 3 hits completely different. i think this eliot would talk about his past once she found out they were targeting moreau, but i think team dynamics would overall be super different in general. the team would be way less of a unit with nate than when you see things from his perspective—espeicially without eliot always there to insulate the team from the worst of him.

anyways im gonna be thinking about this for the next 800 years. will i ever write this fic? probably no. but ma spencer is so real to me

[thebiballerina]

Suggestions for More Varied Polyamorous Ship Tournaments

For me, half the fun of fandom-focused brackets is to learn about media that people are passionate about, maybe even ones that you are totally unfamiliar with. While I love Leverage (2008) with all my heart, it has gotten a little repetitive to see Hardison/Parker/Eliot win or place in so many OT3 or polyamory poll tournaments (at least five that I know of—see footnote), when I know there are so many interesting polyamorous ships out there. Since I understand the appeal of the H/P/E OT3 and I know Leverage fans will be dedicated no matter what, I propose that it could be helpful (and fun) to see a wider variety in types of polyamory poll tournaments. After all, there are many different ways that fans might consider a ship to be "best".

Thus I have developed a list of suggestions (thank you @doctorbeverlycrusher and @mary-louise4760 for your assistance here). This includes a mix of aspects that a ship can be ranked as "best" in, and specific ship dynamics. Feel free to ask for clarification or examples of any of the list items, add your own suggestions, and use these as inspiration for poll tournaments. (Some of these might need to be combined/altered to get enough potential contestants.)

Aspects/Dynamics to Rank Polycules By

"Do not separate them.": It is difficult to imagine any relationship within the group without the whole set being involved, whether romantically or queerplatonically. e.g. Many fans say this is why they would favor the Leverage OT3 over other polyamorous ships.

"Please do separate them.": Two or more partners should keep other partners firmly in-between them at all times. Keeping the polycule together is essential to continued civil interaction.

Rejection of canon love triangle/infidelity: Fandom took one look at that plotline and said, "No way. They have two hands." Or whatever the equivalent statement is when one runs out of hands for applicable partners.

Shipping Wars: The best resolution. Fixes many things.

Shipping Wars: The best non-resolution. Fixes nothing, but is good anyway.

Shipping Wars: Worst but technically effective resolution. Fixes the war, but creates new issues.

Shipping Wars: The funniest resolution. May overlap with some of the above three.

In-Universe Wars (or Conflict/Politics): The best resolution. Diplomatic!

In-Universe Wars: The best non-resolution. Undiplomatic!

In-Universe Wars: Worst but technically effective resolution. Diplomatic with respect to this issue, but also creates new ones.

Unexpected package deal: Essentially, the opposite of the identity porn trope where someone has feelings for multiple people that turn out to be a single person.

Seduction plans rapid-pivot: e.g. Sometimes your plans require seducing someone that turns out to be happily in a relationship, so clearly the only choice is to seduce both them and their partner.

Jealousy plot rapid-resolution: Sometimes you think someone will be angry or jealous about you having feelings for or ending up in an encounter with someone they also have feelings for, but they are very much not upset. Maybe even the opposite of upset.

Fake relationship rapid-resolution: Life hack! Turn the fake/arranged partner(s) into additional real partner(s). Often a subset of the above bullet point.

Hands-on instruction: So dedicated to helping their friend with romance/sex that they end up demonstrating. Thoroughly.

Couples (or established polycule) bonding exercise: We can fix them. Or make them worse. Or just seduce them.

Couples (or established polycule) unbonding exercise: Have you ever seen a couple mildly argue about how one of them caught up on a TV show alone when they were supposed to be watching it together? This, but with seduction.

Organization/scheduling proficiency: Have you ever tried to handle finding overlaps between multiple schedules? It's difficult. So I think there should be a competition for polycules that handle that best.

Sneak attack potential: "What's this? It's their third, with the steel chair!"

Heist crew

Band: This one can work for many different sizes of polycules, if you are flexible with the type of music group.

Ship^2: The ship crew. Works for ocean ships, starships, airships, and any other varieties.

Witch coven or assorted magical circle

Supernatural leaders: e.g. vampire colony, fairy council, werewolf pack where the alpha wolf only exists as much as it does in real wolves, etc.

Competition champions: The ideal team. Could be sports. Could be trivia night. Could be that they are just killing it at karaoke.

Competition contestants that somehow make everyone lose

Accidental legal polygamy: They weren't trying to all end up legally intertwined, but untangling that seems more effort than it is worth.

Canon co-parents: A canon plot means a kid has 3+ parents or parental figures. The ship writes itself.

"It takes a village," ("and the village takes each other"): One child (or set of children) takes so much wrangling that the polycule is just efficient.

Most awkward stepparent(s) configuration

Most chaotic potential family gatherings: e.g. In-laws who have to awkwardly try to get along when they hate each other, now with even more in-laws!

Best pet owners: Sometimes joint custody of a pet is a lot of work, and consolidation is ideal.

Using These Suggestions

All are welcome to use these ideas, altered or unaltered, in your own poll tournaments/games. No additional permission is required, though I would appreciate it if you linked this post somewhere on the poll blog, so others can find it. Also, if you let me know you have a tournament along these lines (whether directly inspired by this list or not), I will be happy to give you a shout out in the notes.

Footnote

Here are the poll tournaments I'm referencing when I say Leverage's H/P/E has won or placed in five that I know of.

Champions

@powerpolyculeshowdown (2023-03-09): Won in the final against Yoo Jonghyuk/Han Sooyoung/Kim Dokja from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

@polyam-ship-showdown (2023-02-28): Won in the final against Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler/Jack Harkness from Doctor Who.

@throuple-tournament (2024-04-04): Won in the final against Thanatos/Zagreus/Megaera from Hades and Nathan/Vlad/Ursula from Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites.

Placed

@ot3showdown (2023-05-12): Runner-up, lost in the final 49%-51% to Kirk/McCoy/Spock.

Ongoing

@bestpolyshipbracket: Currently in the final round, so H/P/E will either be in second or first place.

[aardvaark]

Who's your favorite Leverage side character? Like Tara, Hurley, Quinn, etc.

hi! ooh its hard to pick, i really like how leverage often gives a fair amount of personality to even just single-episode characters, let alone recurring ones. i love tara, love some of their villains-turned-kinda-allies like sterling & cha0s, etc.

however, maggie is probably my overall favourite. well, more accurately, parker is my favourite main character and her interactions with maggie are very sweet & funny, and therefore that makes me like maggie even more lol. it’s sweet how parker immediately becomes sort of attached to maggie when they meet properly in the second david job. see the following Q&A from john roger’s blog post about the zanzibar marketplace job:

aw parker <3

but anyway, maggie is great just in general, too! i like how she can spot the con stuff that no one else in the leverageverse seems to see. she notices the button camera, mentions that "the receptionist" (parker) at the plane hangar disappeared, recognises sophie & doesn’t just brush it off when sophie pretends to be someone else, hears the difference in nate’s normal speaking vs talking into comms, etc. she’s very perceptive probably bc her whole job is spotting inconsistencies - seeing the little details that mean an art piece is a forgery.

i like to imagine that the leverage team runs into her about once every year or two, some way or another. like "ah no maggie got kidnapped again ://" or "why are YOU at this art auction??" etc. and i think parker, hardison & eliot would occasionally check in on her post-nate & sophie’s exit. she’d get christmas cards, you know? sometimes the team is in town and maggie knows this because parker has inexplicably appeared in her living room in the dead of night. etc. about 99% of the time, maggie lives a pretty normal life, and then occasionally she’s watching tv and eliot is on the news holding a puppy or hardison is advertising some children’s toy and she just has to exist with that knowledge lol.

recently i’ve also been thinking about peggy & hurley a bit too. in the girls/boys night out jobs, they met and it seemed like they might get together. and in redemption, parker has mentioned that peggy and hurley are still her friends. we’ve also seen that hurley has become part of leverage international. it would be cool if peggy & hurley were still together, and at some point peggy has had to learn a bit more about her friend alice white and what her bf/husband does for work! i mean, even if peggy & hurley are not together, i kinda wanna know what parker’s friendship with peggy is like now! it’s been over a decade, does she know what alice/parker does? or does parker like keeping that part of her life, her alice identity, somewhat separate? plus not knowing would probably help prevent endangering peggy. idk! thoughts anyone??

thank you for the ask!!

[glorious-spoon]

☕ Eddie/Buck/Tommy as an OT3

honestly, i love OT3s in general, but this one mostly doesn't (yet) land for me. i've read a couple of fics that really sold me on it, but in general, what little we see of eddie and tommy interacting just doesn't strike me as sexually or romantically charged at all, and also we haven't seen the three of them functioning together as a unit, which is usually the thing that gets me invested in the OT3 dynamics that i really love (kirk/spock/bones; eliot/parker/hardison; peggy/jack/daniel; etc). i could change my mind! but i don't currently have enough of a feel for how the three of them would fit together to be completely sold on it.

now, something like a poly v/open relationship situation where both tommy and eddie are dating buck but not each other? that could be really interesting. but i find that fandom really likes its poly ships to be closed triads, so it's not something i expect to see much of.

that, or a very fraught one-time threesome. mostly because i think it would be hot, and also emotionally messy on like six different entertaining levels.

(send me a ☕ and a topic and i'll talk about how i feel about it)

[loisfreakinglane]

@queenofattolia OOOOH MY FAVORITE THROUPLES!!!!!!!!! SMASH THAT READ MORE BUTTON

ben/maddie/ryn ~ siren (never forgive never forget that breakup, they were PERFECT. that show ended with season 2 and i will NEVER EVER EVER forgive season 3's crimes)

kala/rajan/wolfgang ~ sense8 (we were denied a full series arc of them getting together, but frankly i didn't feel it was rushed in the finale. it still felt organic TO ME, largely bc the chemistry between rajan and wolfgang was impeccable immediately)

eliot/hardison/parker ~ leverage (can you believe there's people who watch leverage that don't ship this?!!?!?! there are human beings out there who ship eliot/parker with zero hardison involvement. BAFFLED, FRIENDS)

angel/buffy/cordy ~ btvs/ats (i'm sorry this is based on my own brain falling into the depths of madness when s6/s3 were airing and i was banned from watching buffy so i was reading the transcripts on buffyworld and left to stew over how much i wanted buffy and dawn and tara to flee to la and never look back, while also falling in love with cangel and thinking about how much those three would fit perfectly together, buffy and cordy as two sides of the same coin, just always out of step with the others parallel heroic journey, how much bangel would work so much more for me when it's damaged adults coming together and also raising their impossible blue eyed kids together also connors never kidnapped also also faith moves into the hyperion too and gunn and fred never break up the end okay i'll stop now)

the princess, the prince, and the mermaid ~ the little mermaid (i was infected by the novel mermaid: a twist on the classic tail (heh) in my youth- christopher, lenia, and margrethe had a fascinating relationship i fell in love with. and now!!!!!!!! watching older adaptations of tlm, seeing the interactions between the three of them always intrigue me so hard. pre-disney the princess is allowed to be sweet and kind to the mermaid, if somewhat patronizing to the mute young girl. and when the mermaid fades away, her body in foam and her soul off to heaven, she lays a kiss on the grieving princess's head AND I DIE)

elizabeth/neal/peter ~ white collar (IT WAS SUCH A FUN TRIO I STAND BY THIS CHOICE! also at the time it was extraordinarily refreshing of fandom to not immediately despise and vilify the woman standing between their slash ship. and i adored the canon and the fanon so tbh! this will always stick out as a classique ot3 to me!)

irma/marion/miranda ~ picnic at hanging rock (why aren't we frolicking in oz, wearing white gowns and eating picnic treats RIGHT NOW? anyway they're in love, they're so in love they fell into an alternate dimension)

ann/ben/leslie ~ parks and recreation (am I the only person who was tearing my hair out during ann's search for a sperm donor bc why did leslie never offer up ben's specimen!?!?! she is OBSESSED with ann and way too invasive and beyond controlling and I think way too much about that episode where ben and ann are fighting over the wafflemaker for one of leslie's insane random holidays, then end it off by coming together to make leslie STOP with the incessant celebrations and presents? anyway they should have all wound up together. and not just bc chris was terrible)

huoxin/jing/xiaowei ~ painted skin the resurrection (the lady demon, the princess, and the bodyguard. this trio was EVERYTHING. the demon fixated on the princess and her heart, the princess desperately in love with her bodyguard turned general but clinging to shame over her facial scars, the general who runs from his failure to protect her. ADD IN BODYSWAP SHENANIGANS AND I LOSE MY MIND EVERY TIME.)

ezra/jules/richie ~ imposters (possibly partially queerplatonic bc i'm not exactly sure where jules lies on ye olde kinsey scale, but even if it's platonic on her part i'm incredibly in love with this trio and i SO see it as a working throuple LEAVE ME ALONE)

elizabeth/olive/william ~ professor marston and the wonder women (whether you believe the historical accuracy of this movie or not, this throuple is fucking awesome and i adooooooore them)

gwen/mj/peter ~ marvel comics (i'm so sick of thinking about spider-man rn bc *waves hand at mcu* HOWEVER it would feel disingenous to leave this off my list. i love these three, i love them together so much.)

alex/hal/tom ~ being human uk (the way these characters brought new life to this era of bhuk. these three are in LOVE)

chel/miguel/tulio ~ the road to el dorado (baby's first ot3)

kirk/spock/uhura ~ star trek (THE KELVIN TIMELINE!!!!!!!!!!! THEY'RE SO MUCH. still mourning a fic that was deleted off ao3....... sad bean bear city)

art/patrick/tashi ~ challengers (THEEEEEEEEEEEE PINNACLE! there are ppl who cast tashi as the villain of the story and think art and patrick will flee her when the credits roll, and i am so glad i am not surrounded by those types. this is a love story where every person is desperately needed to complete the triad. they just don't work without all 3 of them)

clark/lana/lex ~ smallville (LOOK LOOK LOOK. SHUT UP. anyway i rewatched this show with my father at the height of the pandemic and lana/lex hit hard in a way it never had before, so now i'm p equally obsessed with every side of this triangle and now i want to smash them all together so bad. THIS IS HOW TO FIX EVERYTHING.)

gaby/ilya/napoleon ~ the man from uncle (ready made ot3, i can't be mad)

mylene/shaolin/zeke ~ the get down (did mylene and shaolin hate each other? uhhhhhhh yep. HOWEVER. THAT ALLOWED FOR SOME FUCKING GREAT TENSION. and they were both equally in love with zeke so like............ i wanted it so bad

i'm SURE i'm missing very important ones, but these are my broad strokes 💗💗💗

ALSO LOOK AT THEM!!!!!!!!! TELL ME YOU DON'T SHIP THEM IMMEDIATELY

[running-in-the-dark]

For the character ask: about whoever is your profile picture (don't think I'm in that fandom so I'm curious)

thanks for asking! and aaah okay okay okay - that's Eliot Spencer from Leverage 😌

character: hate them | don’t really care | like them | LOVE them | THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS

ship with: I don't really ship people usually but I do sort of ship him with Hardison (not Parker though). and honestly just. pretty much any tall man he interacts with :') (because he's short and it's cute and)

general opinions: I love him I love him he's my baby I love him. he's good at everything, he's a grumpy jerk, he's the sweetest, he loves his friends (family), he would do anything to keep them safe. I like it when he hits people, and his hair is very pretty (sometimes. straightening it should be illegal). he's a beautiful boy, he's an asshole, he's killed lots of people, he's everything.

[independent-fics]

Ahhh Parker’s little smile hello to Eliot after she drops in in “The (Very) Big Bird Job”.

[leverage-ot3]

okay I absolutely get and adore harry being oblivious about ot3 developments, but consider:

after breanna makes it explicitly clear she’s queer in the card game job, harry starts Researching™

he’s trying to be good, be better. he likes this girl and wants to be there to support her and be her friend, someone she can trust. it doesn’t help that she’s around the same age as his daughter, who barely wants to associate with him anymore

he learns breanna is queer and dives into researching. watching TED talks in his spare time. reading ebooks on his phone in between playing roles in a con (bringing a physical book is less convenient and he doesn’t want to wave around the fact that he’s researching like he’s trying to be performative about it). he reads about legislation and book bans and wonders about how they could work their magic through a con to fix those things. he reads about asexuality and recognizes the flag colors from the sticker on breanna’s laptop, which he files away for later

he learns a lot! he has been peripherally aware of queer stuff- it’s kind of hard not to be in the 2020s, but now he is much more informed on a lot of issues. he has memorized at least 50 different labels and terms and has an index of resources in his head (and on his phone) if anyone might need them. he wants to understand the people he loves and cares about, whether it’s breanna or one of his daughter’s friends, or anyone in his life that is queer and he doesn’t know it yet. he wants to be ready and prepared to support them!

he learns about sapphicness and bisexuality and intersex rights and the gender spectrum. he learns about karyotypes and stonewall and other queer history. he learns about kink (blushing, but still reads because it’s important!) and relationship diversity… which leads him to discover the term polyamory

he tries not to actively apply the terms he has learned on the people in his life because he knows it’s wrong to assume things about other people. BUT. harry spends a few days reflecting on parker, hardison and eliot’s interactions and wonders. he thinks about the long hugs and lack of personal space and near telepathic communication not just between parker and hardison, but parker and eliot AND hardison and eliot. how parker knows how to make eliot take care of himself, how he knows when she forgets to eat because she’s so hyperfixated on planning a con. how parker jumps on his back for fun and no matter what, he always catches her. hardison’s absence is felt when he’s gone, deeply by the both of them.

it could just be a deep friendship, he knows. they have been working and living together for over a decade, of course they would be close!!! maybe they could even be queerplatonic! (another new word he learned!)

but. still. he quietly observes, watches closely, and thinks.

[faejilly]

*barges through the door* PARKER POV OF ELLIOT FINDING OUT THAT HARDISON GOT HIM OMEGA PREGNANT

This made me snort-laugh in delight, and then I pictured it, and then I swapped it around in my head that Hardison was pregnant, and both versions were AMAZING? Pregnant!Eliot, all grumpy and nesting, and then pregnant!Hardison who is only grumpy when someone makes him drink something besides orange soda and THEN! BECAUSE HE'S SO TALL, HE COULD BE SO SO PREGNANT BEFORE HE STARTED SHOWING, and then I wished I could art instead of fic.

But then I attempted to fic again, (only I had lost track of the prompt and kept going with pregnant!Hardison) and I feel as if Parker would actually have figured it out before Hardison even and then think because she figured it out (and she's bad at figuring out relationship/people cues so often) she's think that Hardison and Eliot would both HAVE to have already known and she's just waiting for them to tell her and she gets why they wouldn't immediately, like, obviously, she's not good with kids, she doesn't know how to interact with anyone normally and it'd be so easy to fuck up a child, they need so much, and she'd hate if they ended up with a childhood like hers...

(And then I stopped laughing because I'd made myself sad, join me in the Parker feels y'all.)

And then she's made herself worried and wonders if that's really why they haven't told her, they don't know how to tell her that they're worried about her and their kids, but they'd be their kids, she'd love their kids so much!

Only then, maybe they wouldn't be hers, too? Maybe the problem is Hardison and Eliot think they'd just be 'their' kids and she'd only be... Aunt Parker or something.

(And she's been DELIGHTED at being an Aunt to some of Nana's fosters, but this is different, and she's not sure why, or how to explain it, and Eliot and Hardison still haven't said anything and like. What if she's got everything about their relationships wrong and it's not that they don't know how to tell her, it's that it never even OCCURRED to them to tell her anything because it's not about her at all?!?!?!?!?)

and Hardison and Eliot are all trying to figure out how to ask what's wrong with Parker to the point that Hardison STILL hasn't actually realized he's pregnant and he's getting all flustered and they're having the weirdest almost-argument because he's worried about her but trying so hard not to push but he's clearly just getting more and more upset and she keeps trying to get him to calm down and rest it can't be good for him and Hardison's all what the fuck are you talking about?

And that's when Eliot finally gets it.

*Insert his italicized oh here*

(And then they're all a little emotional and melodramatic and kind of yelling but in a good way until they all figure out what's going on and they're all on the same page and they're a little scary in the baby stores as they go shopping to decide how to set up the nursery, and they end up having even more kids on purpose via a couple different combinations of parents and foundlings and they're all very happy and ridiculous, the end.)

But I never did manage to write it, so I guess this is all you're going to get. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[anarchypumpkincowboy]

*hands Hardison a gun* “don’t play with that” *Hardison immediately and repeatedly tells Eliot to move so he can shoot them* “I told you not to play with that thing” gods I love them 😂 their interactions with just each other are gold I eat it up everytime

“Hey we beat up some dancers” *arguing* “Twinkle toes back here knows a little more than how to do the tango. Those aren’t dancers” “We messed up. they whole career all screwed up”

[tracing-lines-in-the-infinite]

re: blow up my inbox rb

who are your fave characters from person of interest, bones & leverage, and why? :) !!

Ooh!! Thank you for asking I'm so excited to talk about my guys.I'll talk about my fav main & side character for each (though I had to force myself not to just keep typing because I adore all of these shows and characters.)

Person Of Interest:

John Reese is probably my favourite character, with Root and Sameen Shaw as second and third. Honorable mention that Root's line about the universe being chaotic and cold and there not being a plan before the machine from / (Root Path) is what I put on my cap when I graduated. And Shaw's a fav because I love her loyalty and that its tough to earn- I wish we could have seen her and Cole more but her and Lionel's relationship is probably one of my favourite from the show. In the Crossing(i think?) she saved his kid because she thought about what he would prefer she do and the way that she's careful with him and he thanks her.

Reese is my favourite for several reasons. The first of which is summarized in one of my fav episodes of the show, SNAFU, where Finch says "John has the heaviest heart of us all but he's trying his hardest to be good". To be honest I feel like he's just such a sad guy and yet even when he's trying to be good he's constantly failing in certain respects (though the show doesn't often take that perspective.) He's definitely helping people but he's also hurting a lot as well. There's just something about a character that's supposed to be dead trying to do life better while on borrowed time. The episode where we see a world without the machine and John is dead really hit home how the entire show is his attempt to make up for the sins of his life and it ends with him feeling accomplished that he's done something good (save Finch.)

My fav side character is Peter Collier. I will forever be mad that he died via Greer/Jeremy. He's a character that I want to rewatch season 3 and give my full attention to analyzing. This is in large part due to Leslie Odom Jr's incredible acting, but the fact that I truly believe he was right makes him all the more interesting to me that he was both a pawn and an antagonist. The fact that he made it a priority to not hurt innocent people in so important to me and the fact that Vigilance got framed for the explosion at the end of S3 makes me so mad. I will never forgive Decima/Greer for it.

In general I'll also say that the antagonists in POI was always great. I absolutely hate Greer and Martine which I think speaks to how well they were written as 'villains'. Elias, Anthony, Mini, Simmons, Alonzo Quinn, and all the members of HR, Vigilance, and the Brotherhood were such full characters that I enjoyed watching them interact with and antagonize team machine and each other throughout the show.

Leverage:

My fav main characters are the OT3, and I truly cycle through them all as my favourite so I'll just talk about everyone.

Parker is Parker and the way that's everything is so incredibly important to me. I adore her purely because of how incredibly written and developed she is. Her "I want to do the right thing" speech from The Long Way Down Job makes me cry just thinking about it.

Alec Hardison. Age of the Geek baby! As a black person ins STEM he's an inspiration for me. I just love how he's such a complete person. He's kind. He's soft. He's the smartest man Eliot has EVER known. He got to go to space! He started doing crime to pay for his foster mom's healthcare. Thinking about him makes me cry.

Eliot Spencer. He reminds me of John Reese but I don't cry as often with Eliot because to me he's much more settled(I don't think that's the right word so I'll be thinking about it more and lyk if i figure out what I mean). That said I think the fact that we don't get a full backstory on him (the least info of anyone besides Sophie iirc) makes him such an interesting character because he could have truly done ANYTHING! He's a chef. He plays guitar and sings. He's a baseball star. When he knocks people out they tend to stay knocked out. He can identify anything of important through its most distinctive quality and is right every time. All of these things come together to make a man that has done terrible things and knows- not believes but knows- that he will never be clean of them and decides to wake up everyday and help others.

Fav side character is Sterling. I love him and I love to hate him. He's just such a good antagonist. I absolutely adore him especially the justice vs order debacle during the long goodbye job. The fact that he's the one of them that understands Nate the best at the start and I find the dynamic between him and Eliot really entertaining.

Bones:

Hodgins is my favourite guy of all time. I truly adore how invested he is in his bugs and plants and spores & how excited he gets every single time they're able to help him solve a mystery. He's my inspiration for wanting to do something that I have a passion in and I cannot put words to how much I adore all of his antics. The ease with which he gave up his money as if it wasn't a question was something that made me appreciate him so much more and the development that happened afterwards was really lovely.

Side character(s)-wise I love the squinterns. I could maybe do some kind of ranking but I do think my top two would be Daisy and Edison. Honestly the more I think about them, the more indecisive I feel because I adored Wendell and Nigel-Murray and Arastoo and Fisher (and Zack tho I don't consider him a squintern).

Edison I connect to because his first and last name are two towns near where I grew up and he's so focused & serious with his work that it ostracizes him- which I felt with dance when I was younger.

Daisy I connect to a lot because she's unapologetically herself and refuses to change who she is- especially when it comes to her work! Her deciding to prioritize her career over her romantic relationship/Sweets meant a lot to me because it was such an in-character decision for her that a lot of others shows wouldn't have allowed to happen.

Thanks for the ask! Always happy to ramble about these guys.

[klaus-littlestwolf]

Random Thought:Klaus Mikaelson

I know most people probably don’t know what Leverage is but if you do please tell me you agree cause this has been in my head for a LONG time.

Leverage

I know this one is really different and idk how many people will even know what I’m talking about but I thought I would write it since it’s been in my head for literally 2 years now after the first episode dropped July 2021.

I was In Love with a show called Leverage when I was a kid, it started when I was like 11 and ran for 5 seasons where they worked in Boston and Portland and other places but Leverage Redemption is set in New Orleans…you know where I’m going with this!

I have a near constant fanfic playing in my head where Klaus Mikaelson meets the Leverage team and it’s awesome!

Sophie would be so intrigued by him, and his accent! She would be asking him a BILLION questions about fine art! Klaus would enjoy the ability to talk to her in depth as she’s so intelligent when it comes to historical art.

Parker would love that he’s indestructible! She would push him off buildings like Hardison…just without the harness. I believe Klaus would enjoy how insane Parker is and he would learn everything he could about being a thief from her. And don’t tell me she wouldn’t be obsessed with his ability to compel people.

Hardison would be frustrated that he doesn’t have ANY internet presence, he’s a literally ghost and it irks him! Hardison would amuse Klaus and he would absolutely use him to make him fake IDs from then on.

Harry would be terrified of him and you cannot change my mind, he would avoid Klaus like the plague and our Hybrid would have so much fun fucking with him, scaring him almost constantly. Eventually I think he would chill out but it would take a while…poor Harry.

And Breanna? Klaus would be Breannas new best friend! She would Love to play pranks with him, teach him all kinds of video games, she would show him all the gadgets she makes and teach him about hacking. I truly believe he would come to view her like his child the way he did Marcel, I want to see them interact more than Anything!

Eliot is the only mystery to me honestly, it could go several ways where he never trusts him or where they grow to be friends. Personally I believe he would be cautious, of course. Eliot wouldn’t trust Klaus for a second and Klaus would feel the same. Eliot knows he’s a vampire and he does all the research he can into Klaus’ past, legends about him and such and what he finds doesn’t calm him. Seeing how much Breanna, Parker and Sophie love him would ease his worries a bit, clearly Klaus has no intention of harming them but he doesn’t trust him. I believe Klaus would slowly grow on him, especially the first time Klaus heals him from his painful injuries after a bad job.

Klaus would enjoy the team a lot! He would love to watch them con corrupt assholes and even try to be of assistance when they allowed it.

I want to write a fic about another member of the team and Klaus falling for her, I think him being inducted into their little Found Family would be the most precious thing in the world!

Klaus Mikaelson Masterlist

Random Thoughts

[kitkatt0430]

I love Blanche and Eliot bonding over their spy skills ^_^ Finishing each other's sentences... it's cute and I love their interactions so much in this episode. Especially with how we get some more backstory on Eliot's dad out of it. This season has done a great job of carrying the implication from the end of S5 of the OG show that Eliot and his dad left things in a not particularly good place.

But I also like the subplot with Harry trying to redeem his mentor one more time. Talking about how he was taught to deal with law the right way... and having his many sins thrown back in his face for it. Harry might be ready to turn over a new leaf but it's harder for him to accept the people he cares about and respects... aren't necessarily the good people he thought they were. His mentor/former boss blames Harry for the path the firm went down, but I doubt it was really that simple. Not with how much this guy clearly likes what he does now.

And then the reveal at the end that the library kid who asked them to help Mr. Blanche... was sent by Hardison, Merry Christmas.

(The person Eliot is texting with at the end... just a J but my brain immediately starts trying to make Librarian connections)