Promise me you'll keep them safe.

Till my dying day.

The Rundown Job was really the OT3 episode, uh?

I knew they worked well together, that's been obvious for a while. But in an episode of just them, it really hits how in sinc they are.

Hardison and Eliot doing their little handshake after watching Parker do her acrobat thing through a lazer grid.

Eliot's first concern being to get Hardison and Parker to safety. Them refusing to let Eliot go up against a terrorist attack. Parker's line about how they change together, for better or worse.

Eliot not being scared of the terrorists attack because he has Hardison and Parker on his side and he believes in them more than anything.

Also when Eliot put his hand on the back of Hardison's neck and looked into his eyes? That was so intimate. The tension was serious with undertones of sexual. It had the same tension as Parker diffusing the bomb.

The silent communication. The celebrating each other's victories.

Eliot throwing down the crutch in favor of leaning on his partners.

I'm sure other stuff I missed, it being only my first watch through and all. But that's the stuff that stood out the most to me.

Eliot: I stay close to protect Hardison and Parker. I suppose I’m third wheeling but if that’s what it takes to keep them safe then so be it

Hardison: Eliot is our boyfriend. We take him on dates all the time

Parker: he hasn’t figured it out yet

Hardison: I suggested we tell him

Parker: but this is more fun

Hardison: yeah it is

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRvLvJAP/

Is this not the Leverage trio

absolutely it is 😭

hardison drinking nothing but orange soda is bASICALLY already canon and it's just *chef's kiss* perfect that elliot is stressing about both of their health while simultaneously successfully taking out the mark (in two ways!) (let's say that was a tranquilizer dart💀)

Parker doesn't drink that much water btw she was just Lying

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.

which fucking queer sat down in the writer’s room for leverage and wrote the rundown job huh ??? HUH ???

why is hardison fist bumping his “best friend” about how hot his girlfriend is ?? why is eliot grabbing hardison by the back of neck, pulling him in with the most intense stare ever, and then doing the verbal praise equivalent of making out with him ??? eliot is an obviously traumatized self reliant prickly bastard, and yet he decides to throw away his crutches and completely rely on the other two for support ???

god take me now. leverage writers had absolutely zero business drenching this episode with all this polyamorous energy in the year of our lord 2012– hell gay marriage wasn’t even federally legal yet. they knew exactly what the fuck they were doing and i am kissing them on the mouth for it.

One of my favourite things about Leverage is in The Future Job 2x13, when the psychic does a cold read on Parker and reveals the story about her brother's accident and upsets her. I love how Nate and Tara sit her down and explain to her what happened with details, but what I love the most is the Leverage OT3 reactions.

Alec, immediately after the read:

Then when they explain it, Parker:

And Eliot, who doesn't even hesitate:

I just think they're neat and that they exhibit the exactly appropriate level of violent intent in this situation 🥰

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.

in the lonely hearts club job leverage asks the question "does romantic love exist?" and answers it by having eliot buy parker a venus fly trap on hardison's behalf, expecting no recognition and revealing eliot remembers a throwaway comment parker made on their second job together.

we all know this.

but was anybody going to tell me hardison already had a browser window open looking for restaurants to buy eliot in portland in response at the start of the episode immediately after that? or was i supposed to figure it out on a rewatch all by myself?!

Happy Valentine's Day to my Leverage OTP... Parker/Piles of Money 😆

For my @sweetspicybingo bingo card, prompt: cloud nine.

parker and eliot love each other like they can see the rings on each other's tree. it makes us, us where the it is an understanding of their shared complex histories.

and they don't love or see hardison exactly the same way, which is okay, because hardison isn't a tree. hardison is the sun. they love him like he helps them grow, keeps them warm. they love him like he's the light they're reaching toward.

that sequence in the Gone Fishin' Job where Hardison and Eliot get taken hostage is Really Something because like. Eliot's looking around and he's counting. and he's deciding whether he can risk a fight. and then he looks over at Hardison. at the guns aimed at Hardison. and he goes without a fight. cause he can take a bullet, he can take the risk, but Hardison can't. that ain't ever an option.

broke: leverage’s pairings are nate & sophie and parker & hardison. eliot is like parker and hardison’s pseudo older brother

woke: leverage's pairings are nate & sophie and parker & hardison and eliot is pining for both of them but it will never happen

bespoke: parker, hardison, and eliot are in love. eliot pines for years before parker and hardison are like he's not going to make a move on his own and start their 'let's go steal an eliot' plan. hijinks ensue. they end up getting married

oh my god season four of leverage is fucking DIABOLICAL. how the fuck are you gonna open with the long way down job, and then hit with the van gogh job carnival job AND the grave danger job in just the first half ??? i swear to god i was shaking out of my skin all through the second half of the grave danger job. and where is aldis hodge’s oscar ??? the shaky voice the constant tears the frantic ripping at the inside of the coffin ?? i was literally holding my phone at arm’s length trying not to cry for him i swear.

i have to appreciate the directors here because i think they did a fantastic job focusing on harrison’s situation and really emphasizing the peril and dread the whole team was working through. the fevered search of the city, the awful moment when parker and sophie have to abandon their shovels and duck for cover, and harrison is left panicked and alone— that shit HURT y’all. it HURT. (i will say that the way the coffin was apparently uncovered off screen was a bit off— they only got a few shovels in before the guy started shooting, i thought, but oh well)

and obviously the hugging at the end. fuck kissing on screen hugging is where it’s at. eliot literally diving over gravestones to get to the coffin and pull hardison out and then clutching him like he’s trying to absorb the poor guy into his bloodstream ??? i will simply never be the same. and the perfect touch of beth riesgraf looking absolutely fucking devastated before turning away because she’s so so so wrecked about this but she’s not ready for that hug…. leverage writers need to square up because that was one fucked up episode and it also delivered on every characterization front ever. leverage is the gift that fucking giving y’all

Best Polyamorous Ship Round 5