#leverage headcanons

[evasleveragefanshit]

Okay, here’s my favorite crack leverage headcanon:

The reason everyone ignores Hardison and just makes up identities on the fly is because they know they have to get there first if they don’t want him to stick them with the most ridiculous names imaginable.

I mean it’s already basically canon! The way Eliot grumbles about getting named *insert dr.who/ appropriately geeky reference*

But then we get to the other half of this theory. It’s a game. They’re all trying to one up Hardison. Nate says it’s immature and refuses to admit he’s playing but also took first place with “Gnar Slabdash”

[my-beloved-lakes]

Headcanon: Hardison, Eliot and Parker's lock, key and guitar pick necklaces have a built-in GPS tracker in them in case something happens and one of them goes missing.

Maybe Hardison and Parker got their necklaces (and put a tracker on Eliot's) after a job went wrong and Hardison and Parker got kidnapped. Maybe Eliot almost wasn't able to find them on time because the earbuds were broken so he decided they needed a backup option for tracking them. Hardison made sure to set it up so it would be easy for Parker and Eliot to pull up the tracker on their phones.

It's not 100% foolproof but it's better than nothing and it's saved their lives a few times.

[make-me-imagine]

Ways he says and shows he loves you (Alec Hardison)

Headcanons: Ways he says and shows that he loves you.

Pairing: Alec Hardison x Gn!Reader

Requested by: Anonymous

Warnings: Brief mentions of physical affection (hugs/kisses)

-

Alec isn't really shy when it comes to expressing love to his partner.

His giving love languages are words of affirmation, and acts or service

So he will always tell you how he feels. Reminding you how important you are to him, and how much he loves you.

"You're the most important person in my life. "I love you more than anything"

"More than orange soda?" "If I had to choose between you and Orange soda, I'd choose you"

"More than Star Trek?" "Well now don't push i- OW!"

He is very supportive, and the best hype-man a boyfriend could be lol

"You're doing great babe!" "That was awesome!" "That was hot" "You're amazing you know that?" etc.

When his words fail him or he isn't sure exactly what you need to hear, he does things for you.

He will bring you coffee, tea, water, food or snacks.

He'll run you a nice bath after a long day, or bring you a blanket or pillow to cuddle with on the couch (unless you want to cuddle him, in that case he is ready and willing)

If you are so busy and overwhelmed, he will help you with the tasks he can, to take some of the stress away.

He is alway a shouder to cry on, or an ear when you need to rant about something stressing you out.

He shows you he loves you by giving you the attention you need and deserve.

And making sure you know what is making you upset, whether its big or small is valid.

"It's stupid I know" "If it's hurting you it's not stupid"

If you need help with a solution he will talk you through it. If you just need someone to listen, he will give you all the attention you need.

Besides words, he is a fan of physical affection.

So he will show you how he feels with hugs, kisses and more.

Hugs from behind when you are trying to do something. Kisses on your cheek temple and shoulder.

He will sway you back and forth as he holds you tightly in his arms.

Hand holding in public, or an arm across your shoulders.

It's his way of showing you he is always there. And he just loves being close to you.

xx

Sorry its so short

General Taglist: @criminaly-supernatural, @imaginesfire, @onuen, @rexit-mo, @witchygagirl, @alexxavicry

Leverage Taglist: @groovy-lady, @aaannabbanana, @peoniarose, @fablesrose, @spuffyfan394, @malindacath, @winnifredburkleismyhero, @that-marvel-simp, @gatefleet, @bthtallmadge2 (<i'm not sure if you wanted to be added to only Eliot's taglist or Leverage in general)

[wildechild17]

"I've seen Sophie Devareux play a dozen people, drunk" -Sterling, more or less. I couldn't remember the exact quote, but i love that headcanon

Unsolicited Leverage headcanons in no particular order:

- Eliot actually does need glasses and he only suspiciously squints so much at people because he can't see them properly - Part of the reason Eliot didn't tell the group about Moreau in season 3 is because he was thinking about it, but then Nate hypnotised Hardison and Eliot knew, if Nate found out that Eliot has intel and believes it would grant them an edge, it would not be unlikely he'd suffer a similar fate, and he can't have that Not me ascribing more consequences to Schehezarade, that's crazy

- due to a Parker and Con related mix up, Peggy and McSweeten end up going on a date together, with all the miscommunication issues that entails - The interpol pretzel cart shows up at the brewpub before the three are ready to leave the brewpub postcanon. Luckily, Hardison's anti-surveillance equipment is state of the art. The interpol pretzel cart people become regulars at the brewpub and actually start liking the coffee and the staff there, while Parker and Hardison (and the rest of the brewpub staff) keep buying pretzels at the cart with increasing glee, and Eliot absolutely cannot stop them - Eliot buys them too, he just doesn't want anyone to know and is a bit awkward about it, but he and one of the pretzel cart people start swapping recipes, its anyone's guess if those are actually coded messages (they aren't, but Eliot and the interpol agent act as if they are) - Every agency has a different cool nick/codename for Parker, since for all they know, "Parker" is just an alias - None of the agencies have cool codenames for Hardison, since they know his real name and face, and Hardison will die mad about it - Sophie is absolutely the reason Tara left the FBI - Maggie used to have a crush on Sophie - Sterling and Sophie actually met off the job for the first time, kinda went on a date, and got so engrossed with trying to outwit the other that they never actually spend the night together, but the night absolutely ended in something that both only refer to as 'an incident on a job' and only when drunk - Sophie has killed a non zero number of people and Nate will never find out about them - Hardison was part of the group that started the whole Gamestop stock thing in early 2021

[actualshonenprotagonist]

Of course Eliot knows how to sew, between his military service, medical skills, and the likelihood that he's slept with a seamstress or two. He can, at minimum, hem a pair of pants and do most types of repairs.

Hardison, though? Sure, word of God is that he makes the disguises that the team uses during cons, which could just mean he's ironing "FBI" transfer letters onto windbreakers.

HOWEVER.

Hardison is a cosplayer in the early 2010s. I did my first con cosplay at AnimeNext in '08. Before 2013 or so, you could not Google a character and find sales listings for a ready-made cosplay. If you wanted to cosplay a character who doesn't wear readily available normal clothes, you had two options: you either found someone who could sew and were very, very nice to them, or you learned how to make stuff yourself. I know several people who taught themselves how to sew by taking apart thriftstore finds for cosplay, and I had a side hustle taking on sewing and patterning commissions.

Hardison could have commissioned his first cosplay, but I think he'd get sucked in. He'd get really excited about computerized sewing machines. He'd get himself a machine that he can hack and reprogram so it's got extra stitches, multiple buttonhole settings, automatic seam guidance, a controlled heat setting that does a fused edge finish on synthetic fabrics. He digitizes his own embroidery patterns.

At some point Eliot asks to borrow a sewing machine because his job is as rough on his clothes as it is on his body, and he nearly has an aneurysm trying to do a basic darning patch on Hardison's beeping whistling computer-monster. A couple days later, a second sewing machine shows up. It's an old one with sturdy metal innards and mechanical dials to set stitch length and width. It has no screen, no control buttons, and only a handful of settings. One of them is a darning stitch.

[transsophiedevereaux]

"how is Hardison the gamer nerd who doesn't even like to go outside so buff??" Easy. he loves to Just Dance. he has reached Superstar level in wii sports table tennis. he revolutionized Dance Dance Revolution.

[anartisticnerd]

GUYS GUYS GUYS NEW LEVERAGE HEADCANON I CAME UP WITH IN THE SHOWER

Eliot knows how to dance ballet.

It's canon Eliot was a football player in highschool. Football players sometimes take ballet to improve athletic performance. He's pretty rusty since he hasn't danced in years, but he knows what a good ballet performance looks like.

[geeky-nightphilosopher]

Parker definitely cried watching Inside Out

Eliot Spencer definitely cried when he saw Ratatouille

[schrijverr]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, as a fandom we don’t do enough with the fact that Hardison is canonically the forger and he made Old Nate. Like he is skilled. And I feel we can make cute OT3 fics with that.

Like Hardison needing to make a fake in a genre, not a specific painting and having Eliot and/or Parker pose for him.

Or make it sexy (semi-failed) where he’s like “pose naked for me” and his partners are like “sure weirdo (affectionate)” and he thinks it’s going to be sexy, but live nude drawing isn’t really sexy, but it can be very intimate, so it’s still nice and he gets emotional about how much they trust him and how they can be vulnerable with him.

Or Eliot has banned screens and Hardison is pouting about it, but then he finds a notepad, so he settles in on the couch and observes Eliot and Parker being domestic and starts sketching them. (Maybe Eliot later finds the drawing and gets emotional about it, because this is how Hardison sees him, not a murdering monster, but this soft, happy cook).

Or he makes a little drawing of Parker and gives it to her, because he’s sappy. And he doesn’t expect anything of it, because Parker is more of the money as a gift kind of person, but then they need emergency cash, so he goes into one of her safes and it’s in there on pillow in a nice frame surrounded by diamonds, because that little drawing he made her is as precious to her, like im crying that is so soft.

Anyways, Hardison is the forger! The possibilities are endless!!!

[evasleveragefanshit]

I wanted to talk about The Broken Wing Job and a thing I noticed about Parker.

I think we all know that Parker is definitely Autistic-coded, though to exactly what extent that was directly intentional depends largely on who you ask.

What I noticed is Parker's initial hostility toward Amy. She gets upset because Amy is trying to be friendly towards her in a way Parker interprets as insincere.

I think a lot of Autistic people can relate to the experience of being suspicious towards people who act friendly, especially if it might be insincere, because social interaction can be filled with invisible landmines. This can result in people who do the opposite of masking. Basically, seeing conversation/ friendly overtures as a type of conflict and refusing to play the game. Rather than try to figure out the rules for optimal conversation (and risk getting them wrong and being ostracized), they just skip to choosing to make things as uncomfortable for the other person to avoid trying and failing.

I think we see Parker do this a lot throughout the series. I mean, her first instinct when she feels social conflict while grifting is literally to start stabbing. She never masks to make the team more comfortable, even when she learns how to play the game to grift.

So, when it comes to The Broken Wing Job, Parker acts as weirdly as possible. See: "Best meal I ever had was in French prison." I see this as her trying to communicate 'I am not like you' in an attempt to get Amy to acknowledge the communication barrier and leave her alone.

HOWEVER, as the episode goes along, Amy not only accepts all the strange Parker gives off, but shows Parker some of her own strangeness back. (See: all of the people watching).

Amy met Parker on her level and communicated in a way Parker understood.

This is really important because even her teammates sometimes fail to do this. They don't always 'get' Parker, and because of this they can sometimes dismiss her. I think Eliot and Sophie are the worst about this.

Sophie gets Parker sometimes, but as a grifter she relies on the rules of neurotypical interaction, and can sometimes get frustrated with Parker, or try to get her to do it the "normal" way.

Eliot out of all of them is the most stereotypical man out of all of them, and as such he has a strong tendency to enforce this worldview. He does this to Hardison, at least originally, when he sincerely does not value computer skills because he deems them "geeky/ nerdy". Similarly, he is the one who most frequently chides Parker to get her to be less weird. That said, he tends to speak straight forwardly, say what he means, and honor his word. So out of all of them, he may be the one she understands the best.

Anyway, that's all.

[leverage-ot3]

bonus:

[my-beloved-lakes]

Leverage Headcanon Ask Game

Send me an emoji and I'll respond with a headcanon about:

🗝️The OG team

🛟 The Lev. Redemption team

💅 Sophie Devereaux

🐺 Eliot Spencer

🍫 Parker

🍺 Nate Ford

⌨️ Alec Hardison

🔧 Breanna Casey

📜 Harry Wilson

💕Nate x Sophie

🥨 Parker x Hardison

🍩Parker/Eliot/Hardison

Feel free to specify if you want something angsty or fluffy

[make-me-imagine]

Comfort Headcanons {Harry Wilson}

Headcanons: How Harry comforts you when you are sad/hurt/etc.

Pairing: Harry Wilson x Gn!Reader (pre and established relationship)

Requested By: @spuffyfan394

Warnings: Brief/subtle mentions of trauma sad events, depression, general bad days, illness, etc.

A/N: These aren't very long, but I'm just trying to get something out, whether it be short or simple.

Harry often feels the urge to help anyone who is having a bad time.

And when it comes to you he would be right there the second he think's you need help.

Before you were in a relationship, he would make sure to be cautious with his help and comfort.

If you were in a bad place because of a job gone wrong or something else personal happening to you, he would try to cheer you up subtly, just trying to distract you.

You knew what he was doing of course, and you appreciated it.

Eventually, when you seemed to lighten up a bit, he would gently steer the conversation towards you.

Eventually, he'd ask if you were okay and would try to get you to talk about your feelings with him.

Luckily, he is very easy to talk to.

He listens well, and can tell if you want feedback, or just a listening ear.

If your heavy emotions linger, he will suggest stress relieving activities, or will bring you your favorite drinks, snacks, etc, just to brighten your mood.

It was these actions that helped you realize he might have feelings for you.

Once you were in a relationship, his ways to comfort you were more in depth, more personal.

Hugs, silent dances in the living room, hot baths, massages, cooking together, cuddling while watching movies or show.

He would buy you flowers, hold your hand, gently rubbing his thumb cross your skin.

You would still talk of course, about everything hurting you.

He had a very good track record of helping you cope with how you were feeling, and bringing you softly back into the light.

None of this was one way either. You were always there to comfort and help him too, often in similar ways.

xx

General Taglist: @criminaly-supernatural, @imaginesfire, @onuen, @rexit-mo, @witchygagirl, @alexxavicry

Leverage Taglist: @groovy-lady, @aaannabbanana, @peoniarose, @fablesrose, @spuffyfan394, @malindacath, @winnifredburkleismyhero, @that-marvel-simp, @gatefleet, @bthtallmadge2, @hopecomesbacktolife

[faorism]

every once in a while, when it's a quiet moment between him and one of his partners—could be anything from a stake out to a long drive in lucille to the warm moments between making love and sleep—eliot will turn to them and say, tell me something i don't know.

parker will usually tell him secrets. the bits of history that only exist between her, bunny, and now eliot. there's a lot from living on the streets, when she was young. she tells him about training with archie; eventually, she tells him what it felt like. she tells him about loneliness and not understanding and frustration and how her hands hurt when she wants to flicker them around; when he asks her why she doesn't let them, she says to ask another night. that's too big a secret to share when another's been revealed already. he does ask, and she does answer. once, she says in a shaking voice, i love you and hardison so much, and parker feels silly because duh eliot knows that, hardison knows that, but eliot heard something deeper than she could express, so he held her tight and kissed her hair as she shivered through the weight of her confession. after sharing with eliot, sometimes parker feels comfortable enough to share with hardison, peggy, sophie, or a client who needs to know they are not alone in the mess and hardship of the world. much later, the fact that parker has shared something once makes it easier to tell her shrink as she gets on SSRIs, which she seeks out after confessing to eliot that even if it had been based on a lie to grift hurley, maybe there was something to her treatment at the second act rehabilitation center that she missed. occasionally, she'll tell him about art. he listens just as patiently as anything else she decides to divulge and she loves him all the more for it.

hardison infodumps. parker didn't press eliot for what he meant the first time he asked; hardison did. eliot had shrugged, anything you wanna share. hardison nips out a testy, so if i go off about (he paused thinking of something that would surely turn eliot off) optimal simcity street design strategies, you wouldn't mind? eliot didn't back down, even when hardison went into a two-hour spiral that branched into different iterations on the concept, including rollercoaster typhoon. eliot made a few comments here and there, asked some clarifying questions now and again, but otherwise let hardison rail on. the next time, the question was framed as what you working on? but the effect was the same. eventually, hardison stopped hesitating and started looking forward to these monologue sessions. hardison doesn't think anything of them other than he's got some quality time with his partner, until one day on a job with some leverage international trainees, eliot manages (elle woods style) to untangle the lie at the heart of a condo scam with a few pointed questions about the plumbing. when one of the trainees asked how the hell he knew that, hardison expects to hear over the comms how eliot once dated a plumber or an architect; instead, eliot scoffs, you met my partner. genius knows a little of everything. which is when hardison remembers once infodumping about sprinkler systems. eliot gets the tightest of hugs when he gets home for truly listening to hardison.

[krakenartificer]

Who wants a really sad Leverage headcanon?

Was re-watching the Gimme a K Street Job -- Season 5 Episode 5 -- and a couple of things stood out to me.

1) Nate says "Let's go steal some congresspeople", and then sends everyone on the team (except Parker, who's being a cheer coach) out to con one of their targets. But it feels like there's a profound mismatch in who gets which mark.

For the "not like other girls" feminist congresswoman who's inclined to dismiss cheer as worthless and demeaning, you need Eliot to come in looking like a man who very much knows what does and does not count as a sport, and be his tiny angry respect-women-juice self about how regardless of what you think of their choice of clothing they are working as hard as any other athlete and they deserve safety as much as anyone else. But instead they sent Hardison.

For the "Yes I am very busy and important; admire me" chairman, you need Sophie, who is better than anyone else on the planet at making you feel admirable when you're doing what she wants, and scummy and low when you're not doing what she wants. But instead they sent Eliot.

For the "Look I am trying, but I need corn subsidies or I won't be able to do anything else" newbie congressman, Hardison could happily have gone on an infinitely recurring series of fetch quests until he sees the place where they loop around and bottom out and every problem solves every other problem. But instead they sent Sophie.

2) Eliot struggles the most, so Nate works with him the most, but he doesn't help him out hardly at all; he just keeps saying, "So what's your next play?" and then revealing that he's already anticipated Eliot's next play and has all the materials in place to enact it. And of course, they do eventually get the dude on board, and it all works out, but afterwards, Eliot tells Nate, "I trust that some time soon you'll tell me why you had me slogging through all that when you already knew how to hook him."

And of course, knowing what we now know about how season 5 ends, it makes sense that Nate is trying to train the OT3 to work without him, looking for his replacement.

Except.

If the plan is to fuck off into the sunset with Sophie, then why did he throw Sophie into this uncomfortable not-my-wheelhouse scenario?

No, Nate's preparing the entire team to carry on without him. He's forcing them to learn how to plan, learn different ways of approaching problems, to think about bigger pictures and approach them strategically.

...

I think Nate just got the first diagnosis of the disease that's finally going to kill him. And again, we -- the audience -- now know that he's going to live for many years after that initial diagnosis. But he doesn't know that, at this point. He knows he's tested positive, and he knows it's eventually going to kill him, and he has no idea how long he has.

And in some sense, it doesn't matter how long he has. Three months or thirty years, that kind of revelation makes it stunningly clear that taking care of the people you love means making sure that they can take care of themselves.

So that's what he does: he throws them into new, uncomfortable situations where they'll have to grow and support each other without him, so that no matter what happens, they'll be able to keep going. Because he's not a nice person, Jimmy Ford's son, but by God does he know the importance of protecting your family.

[penneinwonderland]

I don’t have therapy, I have multiple Ao3 tabs open