#but unfortunately his past actions have eliminated any chance of 'normalcy' for him forever and ever

[leveragedlibrarians]

Ok I was going to put this in the tags but it was too long so uh

Look. Everyone is going to point to nate and say that obviously he's the normal one but you're WRONG. The series premiere he tells us he used to run game on criminals to get stolen merch back. We all saw what happened between s1 and s2. Not to mention his father, his childhood, and the fact he was going to be a priest. Nate Ford may be an unseasoned piece of plain white bread of a man, but he has never ever been 'normal.'

Sophie lives for the drama. The glamor. The chase. Her 'normal' would probably be retiring to a little island off the coast of Sicily in a mansion full of art she stole and every now and again going off to some charity event as whatever fake identity she feels like pulling out of the closet.

Parker never had a normal to start with, not that she'd ever want one. She was born to commit crimes. Not just raised to (Archie my nemesis) but she /chose/ crimes. The earliest memory we see is of her stealing. She loves it, she lives it. She'll be in a retirement home stealing tapioca pudding for the kicks.

Hardison would never even consider a 'normal' life, okay? He'd be insulted at the prospect. He's /gifted/. Hacking is an art and he is an artist. He is the greatest hacker in the world and takes so so so much pride in that. I don't think Hardison could stop hacking if you paid him.

But Eliot? I think not only is Eliot the only one capable of normalcy, but I think part of him craves it. It's important to note that of all of them, he didn't initially seek out his role of being a hitter. The rest of them chose their roles, but Eliot didn't sign up for his. He joined the army. He didn't do it for the violence either, he did it because he wanted to be like his dad. Then he was just too good at his job, and kept getting pulled down darker and darker roads by his commanding officers.

I fully believe Eliot had a totally different life planned out. He was going to join the army, marry Amy, have 2.5 kids and settle down, maybe inherit his dad's shop. In s4 he tells Nate that he used to be someone completely different "before all of this started." He wasn't born a killer or a hitter. He was a kid who joined the army and "had god in his heart" and, importantly, Eliot still keeps looking for the person he used to be. We never see the rest of them lamenting the 'good ole days,' we never hear hardison talk about before he learned to hack except that he played the violin before /choosing/ to hack instead. Of all of them, I think that if Eliot could go back in time and change it all he absolutely would.

Over and over we see Eliot bonding with every kid and middle class character in the series. He throws himself into his grifting roles- miner, chef, singer- because I think on some level he /wants/ that. He wants to be the chef who owns the lil restaurant down the street, the guy you could grab a beer with. He wants to settle down, maybe get married, and leave the violence behind (except maybe to play hockey or box). I'm not saying he doesn't like his life with them at all- I think that after all he's been through already that Leverage is probably the happiest ending he could get- but I am saying that the middle part, between the army and when we meet him s1, is probably something that makes Eliot genuinely hate himself. He didn't want to be a killer. He doesn't like it. He tries desperately to save Nate from what he couldn't save himself from. If he liked killing, liked any part of the wetwork he used to do, he wouldn't have quit. Wouldn't have tried so desperately to get away from it. He never wanted to be a killer, he was just so Good at it.

Eliot was the normal kid next door who got pulled into a life that he hated by people far far more powerful and dangerous than him, and I think that he regrets that every day.

Sophie: Who would live a normal life outside of this job?

Eliot: Me. It would be me.

Me: *thinking about it*