#oh look another leverage ot3

[leverage-ot3]

wait leverage white collar au where sam never died and nate and maggie are still married and sophie is the conwoman that seduces them both (through crime)

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 民国奇探/My Roommate is a Detective.

My Roommate is a Detective is a 2020 drama about the Jazz Age shenanigans of a terrible OT3: a useless noodle boy, a spoiled journalist girl, and a handsome thug-turned-cop, who together solve Agatha Christie mysteries in 1920s Shanghai.

I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered what Hercule Poirot would be like if he were a 6'2" Chinese rubber man? If he had a long-suffering sugar daddy from the wrong side of the tracks and a spunky sugar mommy who owned their shared apartment? The answer is, it would be a laugh-out-loud-funny series about a ridiculous and charming assortment of weirdos solving only slightly believable murder mysteries in charming period clothing.

This is another one of those shows where I'm kind of shocked at how not well-known it is, except I'm not, because I can see exactly the problems that keep fandom from descending on it like horny little vultures. Nonetheless, I think it's a good time that more people would enjoy if they gave it the chance. Here's five reasons why you should:

1. Equal parts smart as heck and dumb as butts

On the one hand, especially given its tone and tenor, this show has many surprisingly clever turns and thoughtful moments, carried along by some talented actors. On the other hand, [.gif of a guinea pig in a rollerskate being pushed merrily down a hallway]

This show is not a complicated intellectual exercise. It's an action comedy about a goofy sleuth, a rich-girl reporter, and the cop who should be the straight man in this trio, except he's as much of a goober as the other two are. If the promotional tableaus are giving you real "cover of a Clue box" vibes, you've understood the kind of pastiche it's pulling off.

The mysteries are preposterous. They're all the kind of thing that exemplify the Doyle line about how, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left has got to be the answer, no matter how ding-dang improbable it may be. You know the type: tons of overly elaborate setups, unbelievably perfect timing, coincidental long-lost relatives, people hallucinating right and left. They're also very short -- most full cases take only 2-3 episodes to introduce, investigate, and resolve, even when interspersed with the larger goings-on in these weirdos' lives. The DramaWiki page for the show lists 23 separate arcs over 36 episodes, so you do the math.

And yet, it's way more thoughtful and clever than its doofy little setup would indicate. Its attention to detail surprised me on more than one occasion. Add to that a bunch of solid performances from an ensemble of real characters, and what you get is definitely more substantive than a junk-food waste of time. You can't turn your brain off while watching it, but you sure can turn it down, and that's great.

It also doesn't hurt that everyone is super attractive and wearing great outfits. The whole show's worth it for the wardrobes.

2. THE GIRL

Fuck the haters, fuck everyone, I am going to climb right up on my little soapbox and tell you all why Bai Youning is awesome.

She is insane. She's a troll. She's a clever little monster. Every other character's response to her is, oh my god, you are literally the worst. And she is! She has been spoiled beyond belief by her incredibly rich Crime Dad, and she has learned to leverage her uwu just a widdle girl status to get her whatever the hell she wants. She simply cannot hear it when someone says the word "no." She will look her future sister-in-law in the eye and point a loaded gun at her own head without blinking. Every ball she has is made of brass.

She's hardly perfect. During the course of the show, there are some times where her entitlement runs face-first into the brick wall of reality. She's not nearly as good at her chosen career path as she's been told (mostly by the people who get paid to tell her she's good). She's rarely prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions, especially when she can't just throw money at the problem.

So she learns, and grows, and changes. She's always going to be a stubborn bitch, but she can become a stubborn bitch with a more accurate conception of her relationship to the world around her.

She's actually a really good romantic foil for Lu Yao, who is equally stubborn and spoiled and obnoxious as hell. It is a pure brat4brat relationship, where each one thrives on comically enraging the other. What this means, though, is that when they actually start showing one another some vulnerability, it's really sweet.

Now: I'm pretty sure that you could not have made a female character in her position that everyone did not hate, no matter how cool you made her, because that is the fate of all girls who theoretically keep the two boys from kissing. (More on that next point.) If she were less outgoing and friendly, she would've been hated for being too cold. If she were less headstrong, she would've been hated for being a pushover. If she weren't as into the boy, she would've been hated for being frigid. I know the "god forbid a woman do anything" meme is a joke, but ... man, god forbid this girl do anything. She gets a level of hate entirely disproportionate to what she's actually like. As I said with Eom Dada, it's not always sexism, but sometimes, yeah, it's sexism.

(Real talk: Her character is also fighting both how she's definitely not written as well as the boys are and how the plot sometimes needs her to be artificially stupid and jealous for Straightness Drama Reasons, so that's a legit problem on a structural level. Also, she's dubbed by someone else and the boys aren't, which gives her voice an annoying not-quite-there quality that's hard to ignore. The deck is stacked against her real hard even before she steps onscreen.)

So here's my advice: Go into this show wanting to like her. Embrace her terribleness as a positive, intentional quality. Don't be mad at her for straightening up an endgame that was never going to be gay, even without her. Welcome her contributions to the chaos. Realize that she is exactly as entertainingly irritating as her boys are.

Truly, this is a story of three terrible people in love. They're all just awful, and you wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for longer than you had to. Left to right up there, Bai Youning is spoiled and self-absorbed, Lu Yao is arrogant and lazy, and Qiao Chusheng is suuuuuch a fucking cop. If you're into the kind of dynamic that can only be described OT3: You All Deserve One Another, then this one's perfect for you.

3. Do you really miss '00s queerbaiting?

Like, really? Are you just super-nostalgic for being able to see the showrunners go, ha ha, girls, we know you're watching and we know you want these cute boys to kiss, which they never will -- but what if we pretended for just this one scene??? Do you just carnally ache for that with every fiber of your being?

Yep.

Now, why am I calling the occasional really gay moments between these two gentlemen "queerbaiting" and not "bromance"? Because these moments are a) obviously intentional, b) completely sporadic, and c) never spoken of again.

For example: There's a scene (which you can see a gifset of here) where the two of them are at a restaurant frequented by the cop, who brings a lot of ladies there on dates. When the waiter points this out, useless noodle boy says, I'm his date. The waiter looks mildly surprised by this, the cop says not to listen to his bullshit, and that's the end of it. The scene moves on. There is no further discussion of this comment. It does not affect their relationship.

That's the essence of queerbaiting: that little on-purpose nod to the homoerotic tension between the two, in a way that isn't a joke but also isn't not a joke, and either way is never going to happen. (In fact, the show is going to go out of its way to make sure that ship gets sunk, so, uh, get your fanfiction lifeboats ready for that.)

A true queerbaiting move is something that should make a difference in a relationship, but doesn't. It should make a difference that our cop is so comfortable in the noodle boy's personal space that he invades it at will. It doesn't. It should make a difference that noodle boy keeps getting real weird every time the cop has a date with a girl. It doesn't. Those are some real romantic moves the two of them keep pulling, and then nothing comes of them.

I had this show sold to me as being incredibly shippy, to the point of being even more so than its censored-BL contemporaries. And ... well, it is and it isn't. It has textually gayer individual moments, but it is much less pervasively gay. It's clear from the start that it's going to throw all its actual relationship points into its canon het romance. When it comes to these boys, the show is toying with you. It knows you want to see those boys smooch, just as much as it knows (and it knows you know) they're never gonna.

How you feel about this is entirely up to you -- and indeed, it may be a dealbreaker on the whole drama for you. If you are inclined to pitch a fit when your ship does not become canon, you'll be happier somewhere else. If, however, you see this as a delightful opportunity to do whatever the hell you want with the situation as it is presented, all the while enjoying little moments of startlingly blatant homoeroticism between two handsome dudes, well, here you are!

(I mean, if you want my take on it, what needs to happen is that the cop and the girl need to fuck while the useless noodle boy watches with asexual bisexual interest, and then they all need to snuggle with the noodle boy in the middle so they can both annoy him appropriately, but your mileage may vary.)

4. The multicultural extravaganza!

1920s Shanghai had a lot going on in terms of cultures and languages, and this show actually does a fair job of representing that.

By now, I've seen a number of shows set during this era, and they all at least acknowledge the international nature of the city -- usually by mentioning the French Concession and having a handful of evil Japanese characters. However, this is the first time I've seen a show go to such lengths to actually show so many non-Chinese characters onscreen, even to the point of making one a recurring character supporting the main squad.

Salim is the best. Whatever he is being paid, it's not enough. He's Qiao Chusheng's right-hand man, which means he is also the dude who most often has to put up the main trio's bullshit. (The actor himself is also a dude with a pretty cool backstory, which is another great layer.) He's sharp, he's loyal, he's patient, and he looks great with his shirt off. He's got it all!

Other non-Chinese characters include a white Jewish art collector (I'd issue a warning for period-typical antisemitism, except … honestly, it's mostly just confused), a sadistic priest who maybe is supposed to be Italian, a completely different priest who [last episode spoiler], and three whole sinister white dudes behind it all.

It's not just the world coming to China, though! A large number of the Chinese characters are said to have spent significant time outside of China, whether for business or for schooling. Near the end, when some characters are discussing moving away from Shanghai, they consider a number of foreign cities as potential destinations.

Here's a delightful detail: When Lu Yao and his sister speak English, they're dubbed by actors with posh British accents who sound like native (or near-native) English-speakers. This makes perfect sense, because both of the siblings did a lot of their schooling in the UK. When Bai Youning speaks English, she's dubbed by someone who speaks English very well but also has a noticeable Chinese accent, which makes perfect sense for her character's background. And Qiao Chusheng never speaks English at all, because he's a street tough who has no reason to know more than three words.

...This is also kind of weird to say about something literally made in China, but go with me on it: Everything's kind of got that Art Deco Orientalist vibe to it. It looks like China's idea of what Britain's idea of China during that period would have looked like. The result comes across less like what 1920s Shanghai would actually have looked like, and more what an ad for 1920s Shanghai would have looked like. It's a fascinating aesthetic, and more so for how it's mostly pretty subtle. The show isn't some visual extravaganza, but it's always very nice to look at, and I appreciate that in a show.

5. A wonderful horrible protagonist

A lot of mystery-themed prestige television involves an asshole genius detective who gets away with being a dick to everyone because he's sooooo smart, while all his long-suffering friends and colleagues spend a lot of time doing damage control for him because, sigh, he's an asshole but we need him, genius excuses all dickhead behavior, we'll always make exceptions for him because he's just ever so special. (Watch histrionic sage hbomberguy's video on Sherlock if you're unfamiliar with the trope.)

Lu Yao is an asshole genius detective, but one who winds up spending most of his time being an asshole to a) people who deserve it, or b) his horrible friends who will be assholes right back at him. When he is awful to the people who don't deserve it, the show smacks him pretty hard on the nose for it and makes him apologize.

This is a show where you'll figure out pretty quckly if you'll love it or hate it, because if you love Lu Yao, you'll love it, and vice versa. He carries most of the show himself, with his goofy charm and his incredibly bendy slenderman body and his ability to make the one competent person he knows both protect him and give him money.

Like so.

For my own part, I find him intensely charming, and I think a lot of this has to do with Hu Yitian's ability to play him as an affectionately bullyable weenie who needs to get shoved in a locker for his own good. He's the worst, and it's comically endearing instead of offputting because at the end of the day, he really does have a good heart. He's just also lazy as heck and disinclined to do anything that he does not want to be doing, and really, aren't we all?

As I alluded to in point 3, he comes across as real asexual. He's just not that interested in sex, and he is in fact pretty uncomfortable in situations where he finds himself the subject of someone else's sexual desires. He's perfectly capable of romantic feelings! I mean, not only does he get Bai Youning as a love interest, we actually meet one of his ex-girlfriends. He's just not partciularly horny about them -- which is even more noticeable as a sharp contrast to how extremely horny Qiao Chusheng is for just about everyone, but this exasperating little dork in particular.

(Like seriously, 90% of the time, Chusheng is about to explode with sexual frustration at Lu Yao's skinny oblivious ass.)

This isn't to say you couldn't get Lu Yao into bed, because you absolutely could, and he'd probably have a good time. You'd just have to remove all distractions from the room, lest his ADHD ass wind up running off to solve a crime mid-coitus.

Twiggy little nightmare man. Garbage-animal boy. Love him.

sidebar: A word about the ending

I'm going to be vague and talk about general vibes instead of specific events, but you should still skip this section if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Jump to the picture of Chusheng holding the sledgehammer.

Okay, so, a lot of people do not like the ending, and I'm including myself in that number. I honestly don't know if they got rushed and had to wrap everything pretty last-minute, or if they thought they might get a second season out of it and were leaving things open-ended accordingly. Either way, it's incredibly unsatisfying.

I think there's a clue that the show didn't actually want to end this way, and it's not actually in the text of the show itself. Every episode, between the last scene and the start of the credits, you get to see a couple still frames from the episode (usually some of the queerbaity ones). After the very final shot of the series, you get two images: the boys hugging goodbye, and Chusheng's upset face. That's not a resolution! That is at best a "to be continued..." ending!

But no, that's it. That's all, folks.

It's not quite an ending so bad it ruins the rest of the show, mostly because it doesn't feel finished, so it's less like you're watching a car being deliberately driven into a wall because someone thought that was the best route to take, and more like you're watching someone leave a car on the railroad tracks because they figured they'd have time to move it later.

As far as I know, there has been no noise made about a second season. These 36 episodes are the entirety of the narrative. It had the distinct misfortune to start airing in March 2020, which wasn't exactly prime time for planning sequels, and that seems to have been that. (There is a 2022 show called Checkmate that stars the two main guys in extremely similar roles, also adapting Agatha Christie stories, but it's apparently pretty meh? Somebody else who's actually seen it, go ahead and weigh in here.)

I'll say that if you turn off the episode right after Lu Yao gets out the handcuffs, you'll save yourself the worst of it the awkward and unsatisfying moments (though I'm impressed at your willpower to stop watching something five minutes from the end). That's not all of it, though. Structurally, there are several situations rushed to a resolution and loose threads left flapping untied in the breeze. I guess stopping before the last five minutes simply saves you the hope that it'll pull a good ending out of the fire, because it won't.

And let's be real: The more you hate Bai Youning and her romance with Lu Yao, the more you'll hate the ending. (Not that liking those elements will necessarily make you like the ending, of course, because I'm a fan of hers and I still think the ending is butts.) The ending is already like a pair of uncomfortable shoes; if the het romance especially makes you grind your teeth, the ending becomes a pair of uncomfortable shoes that also have a rock in them. A lot of the comments online indicate plenty of people dropped the show when they learned the het romance would be endgame. It's a pretty common dealbreaker.

Oh well. Bring on the fanfic, I say! Those of us who are used to taking a sledgehammer to canon are unafraid.

Smash it, baby.

Still want to see some of these mysteries?

Both iQiyi and Viki have the answer to your sleuthing!

It's not a perfect show -- as evidenced by my digression about the ending -- but it's a lot of fun. If you can handle the occasional foible and some eyebrow-raising moments, you're in for a good time with some attractive people that occasionally tastes very gay.

Every roommate crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man

[vinelark]

do you have any whumpy fic recs (ideally romance, but gen would do in a pinch)? Open to any fandoms. I feel like I used to see them a lot more, but they are harder to find these days. Bbts really hits the spot tho btw haha.

ANY fandoms? oh boy do i.

Hotel Heart by Laughsalot3412 (and its sequel Safe as Houses): not quite romance but not NOT romance ot3 leverage psychics au where eliot is a hitman who used to be under the control of a horrible empath who left him with major mental scars and huge trust issues. he reluctantly ends up protecting another empath (hardison) and thief (parker) and sloooowly starts to work through the aforementioned trauma while they take down the aforementioned evil empath together. excellent series with excellent pangy plot. also i knew nothing about leverage when i first read it and it’s what got me to watch the show.

Hold my Eyes to the Sky by myrmidryad: an enjoltaire/les mis longfic set in a 1970s(?) wizarding au in which grantaire is a very sad and lonely werewolf and the idealistic activist he’s hopelessly in love with just got himself turned as well, and grantaire has to help him navigate the changes while dealing with his own self-worth issues and tragic backstory. you want whump? look no further.

Occultation by Geese_in_flight & pineapplesquid: a novel-length au of the book Winter’s Orbit, in which the main difference is that kiem, not jainan, is the one dealing with a previous, horrible arranged marriage. somehow this simple switch brings so much fresh potential to the characters (i loved seeing how this played into kiem’s self-worth issues, and also loved this exploration of what jainan’s character would be like if he had been able to flourish the last few years), with a whole new set of pangs. i recommend both the book and the fic!

爱不释手; never let me go by yiqie: a post-cql wangxian getting together fic with the classic amounts of yiqie pain & pining & h/c & devastatingly beautiful writing about the devastatingly beautiful experience of being in love. also blood. honestly most fics by yiqie probably fulfill this request (are you into vashwood, perhaps?)

Morning, keep the streets empty for me by feyburner: a wangxian modern au oneshot with self-sacrificing wei ying getting into trouble and landing himself in the hospital while pining very very hard for his cultivation partner. i’m reccing this one out of all feyburner fics because it has the obvious physical hurt but fey is so good at weaving pangs into fic that tbh there’s emotional whump to be found in most of them. also, god-tier writing in general.

the kite string and the anchor rope by fleurdeliser: a wangxian canon-divergence au that falls into the sickfic whump subgenre. the pangs! wangxian’s love for each other and for a-yuan and the way wwx’s desperation and powerlessness in the face of a sick child (and his own illness) clash with how the world perceives him at the time is so 🤌🤌. this is saved in my h/c favs folder for a reason.

The Long Way Home by itsnatalie: extremely whumpy batfam tim & jason fic, which i’ve definitely rec’d here before but if i’m reccing whumpy longfics it HAS to be on the list. good god this fic is a masterpiece, both for the angst and for the absolute beautiful worldbuilding/navigation of its horror tropes.

and since you like bbts, i’ll also self-rec a few of my older fics! i think you’d probably enjoy this river runs to you, a wangxian/mdzs modern cultivation longfic feat. (sort of) identity shenanigans, angsty backstories, self-worth issues, and the main character getting all manner of hurt. also: you’re the trouble that i always find, a wenzhou/shl dreamsharing/amnesia/sort-of-timeloop fic in which the main character is supposed to dream about killing his love interest but said love interest keeps dreamcrashing to change the plot.

this reclist could’ve been dozens of fics long tbh. i live for The Pangs which usually go hand in hand with good whump, and seek those fics out whenever possible, so as always this is a super incomplete reclist! also i welcome any and all recs in return.

[cephalog0d]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @babblingbookends!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

89! (tbf a lot of them are drabbles XD)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

62,284. Higher than I thought!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Batfam, occasionally branching into other DC, occasionally gift fics for others and original work.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Bomb Sing Se (arguably the fic that got me to actually write and post things instead of just keeping stuff to me and a couple friends)

Comfort Food

Bower Birds

Relation

Bat Math

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely! I try to respond to every comment I get, I appreciate every single one so much.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Well Relative Velocity is the only time I've ever used the "Hurt No Comfort" tag so.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of what I write is silly humorous nonsense so I think most of them are happy endings? I like the fluffy siblings ending on Midnight Snack a lot.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not anywhere I've ever seen it, luckily!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah, not really my thing.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I've done fandom fusion ones like Venom!Steph but I don't know if that counts as a crossover since it's still all characters from one setting, just with setting elements from another property.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, luckily!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of, but that would be super cool!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! But we'll see. :)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Uhhhhh I'm gonna say Leverage OT3? (I don't really have a lot of strong "this is my thing" ship opinions.)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

*quietly sliding my giant WIP/fic idea spreadsheet under the rug to hide it* I have too many. So, so many.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm good at the banter thing. I really enjoy writing back and forth dialogue, especially for humor, but also for serious conversations. It's often the part I think about the most and spend the most time on. (I think I'm also pretty good at world building stuff, but that doesn't always come up with fanfic.)

17: What are your writing weaknesses?

The focus to finish plotting/writing long stories is definitely one I'm not great at. I have the ideas, but my brain sees another shiny new idea and goes "but what about that". It's something I'm working on.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

It depends? For one thing there's the whole thing of having the knowledge/resources to actually have accurate translations, which may or may not be difficult to do, but also I think it depends on who the POV character is. If you put in dialogue in another language people can look it up and see what it means, so it can be a fun way to have a little easter egg that the audience knows and the POV character doesn't, but if you don't want to give stuff away it's better to just say they're speaking X language, or maybe POV character recognizes a word or two but not the whole statement.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Batfam stuff is what made me actually start interacting with fandom instead of being a weird internet lurker talking to my friends about things I like so.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Oh boy, I don't even know...I'm gonna say Finders Keepers because I really love that AU and that's the one that started it.

And that's that!

No pressure tags for @outtoshatter @2dents @teleportationmagic @kayrielwrites @sepia-stained-sunset !

[qwanderer]

There have been so many moments in Leverage Redemption s2 that made me go “I love all these people so much I love this show so much” they started to leak out my ears and I couldn’t remember what they were, which happens often which is why I can usually only weave them together to make fanfiction on the rewatch. Will probably be rewatching slowly over the next few months and maybe picking up some threads.

I mentioned a couple things I remembered in other posts but here’s another: oh shit Eliot draws! Eliot can draw! Add that to the very long list of skills and hobbies he has.

But it’s also notable that as far as I could tell it isn’t something he was immediately amazing at, which is rare. Eliot in the original Leverage is usually doing something he’s either already good at or something where he had skills that could translate well to it.

I’ve been getting the impression in Redemption he plays more characters who are not necessarily people with skills he already has or can easily fake, and there’s also the drawing, which is not something he has to be doing or is necessarily the best at on the team. In fact of the OT3 it probably comes least natural to him as opposed to “Old Nate” Hardison or “I thought everyone could do that” Parker.

I’m going to be looking out for other clues but to me this sort of indicates that he’s branching out into doing stuff just because he might enjoy it or find it fun to try out, rather than needing to excel at everything. Because I think a lot of his younger years were really dominated by a need to excel at everything.

[fluffypotatey]

watching Leverage: episode 2

ok i made myself some pb&js and i am off to ep 2

spoilers, duh

thoughts before i watch:

i feel so conflicted about sophie/nathan and not in the way you think

i feel conflicted as in i don't know if i want to know all the details of their history together

like i love just the added layer that says "these two knew each other and had something in the past but have drifted apart for reasons"

so it's a "tell me!" but also "don't tell me! let them be mysterious about it!"

so will the next episode kick off from the last one? or will it be like a little time skip and some cons later kind of thing?

i'm fine with either because with the time skip, it helps alleviate the stress of building new character dynamics in a way. like, they're still new and some character will clash at first, but it's lessened a little (or not and that will be one of the major conflicts in the episode).

but i also like seeing how they work immediately after, seeing the awkward kind of team up and such. do they hang out after a con? do they live together or is that just the base of operations?

but enough of me talking about that. let's get into it!

le thoughts while i watch:

ok apparently the site i was using crashed so i spent....too long (for my patience) finding another BUT I DID IT

got worried for a second because the first scene was not with our gang and thought i accidentally clicked on an army show

rip the soldiers you seemed like fine dudes, you probably would have joined a frat

right off the bat we have deaths. like i know i said i'd wait but this is episode 2! AND it came out of nowhere!!!!

ooooh we talking about veteran insurance??? and how the govt just sort of drops them if they're disabled???....yeah, this is gonna be heavy

"i'm sorry [talking about how the guy's finacee left him after the incident]" "i'm not mad, it happens" when i tell you my heart BROKE. no! no it shouldn't!!!

also the site..... is buffering on me..... and i WILL commit crimes if i cannot watch this episode

i am glad the doctor is looking after the dude tho, but she's upset that she has to let him down and my HEART

"you know this is a soap commercial right?" god, i love you sophie, make that soap commercial a soap opera

"peggy killed her first husbanD" I LOVE HER

they made their own office goddam

ok so did they just, not talk after the first gig? did they go their separate ways and just hope that one day they'd do another heist again? it seems like nathan and alec kept in touch but what about everyone else????

elliot i want to know your life

how can one know a type pf gun from the sound of its gunshot???

wow, they really just exPOSED lobbyist corruption with the government huh....damn

oh i wanna punch that congressman

so many things happening what is going on???

holy shit whyyyyy were they shooting army men??? they were gonna kill perry in cold blood. puppy eyes perry??? perry who was practicing physical therapy after hours be himself T^T because he knows his days in that hospital is limited???

parker is so cute, sure she's probably committed arson, but that means nothing

alec is the best, i love him, he's my boy

"yeah i hack the camera just give a minute or two--" *elliot just throws a rock* "...or steal my thunder why don't you"

no matter who's together, the ot3's chemistry is *chef's kiss*

parker was just WAITING for an excuse to blow up that door akdjsd i love her AND ALEC'S EXPRESSION I LOVE

ALEC MY BOY

"this is racial isn't it?" i cackled so hard.

man that congressman switched up so fast lmao then got caught

nathan bought a tesla.....i am so sorry all i can think of it present news lmao

it is nice to have a heist show where like....nothing goes wrong

everything that they planned for happens and if there are things that go left, they have a backup for it that they use and it's so.... n i c e and refreshing to watch a show like that

general thoughts:

like, i knew there would be episodes that criticize corporations and there'd be discussion of government corruption but....episode two???? they really aren't pulling any punches

also how they show the struggle a lot of disabled veterans go through because they don't have a funded safety net. like the doctor for perry really wants to help, and you can see that when she lectures nathan about trying to scam perry (he wasn't but from the outside, it's not hard to understand why she thought that). it hurts her to have to try and help these people who just want to get better, but have such limiting resources to the point that she has to turn them away after a couple months.

nathan is very much still a firm believer that this gang of crooks can become a gang of good crooks. and this is really sweet. you can see that they gang still helps him with the heist even if they can't believe that they are good people. but i like the ending for this because they're acknowledging that yeah, it felt great to help return the money to the people who needed it, and maybe they'd like to do this again.

moral of the story: corporations get fucked and i am enjoying it

remember kids, cleaning blood money works better with cold water, not shooting witnesses. that just adds to the dirt.

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on a show CBS should make room for and its perfect "roommate"

So Help Me Todd

In medias res so in medias I can barely follow

Okay so why is Beverly in France

I would take that as a Tyle tease if they didn't both have a date

Lylex, please, not in that much public

Todd, Lyle can hear you

And yet again with thing I interpret as metaphor for show's issues, this time Susan's career (#savesohelpmetodd #renewsohelpmetodd #wrongdecisionCBS #makeroomforsohelpmetodd)

Oh hi Gus Oh hi three patterns at once

That's a little too-suspiciously suspicious

Todd being all ADHD again

Of course the burner plays Pokemon music

Todd got punked, of course

And Todd gets revenge via emotional manipulation and a whole lot of donuts

Susan totally looking like more Margaret's daughter than Allison

generation wars, girl athletes who sound like walking TikToks and sus tennis coaches, did the writers of Elsbeth write this

And the prank war's still on

Wow, Judy cleans up nice

Way to be subtle Todd and isn't those distractions suspicious

Ok, Alex isn't Alex, and my hopes for a potential S3 involving a Lyle/Todd/Judy triangle similar to the Leverage and Librarians OT3s just went up

To be fair Todd kinda deserved getting got by his own prank after the glue

More proof SHMT and Elsbeth are meant to be together, yet another "Ball Girl" (Elsbeth S1E5) reference with Margaret playing tennis in astrobrite pink

Of course parking tickets tipped off Lyle

Judy's turned on by detecting ;)

Margaret/Gus = Tyle parallel?

was she supposed to be the one who got glitterbombed (I'm surprised she didn't forcibly shut down their prank war)

And so a trap is laid

Susan seems like yet another "kid" of Margaret's she has to save

Spontaneous date night go

So Alex isn't even Mabel and I have a crazy idea for how we get CBS to get this back if the two remaining episodes of the season don't contradict this; we have the real her join the ensemble of one of the FBIs linking SHMT to that universe without diluting it

Elsbeth

controlling parents, creepy bosses and people not being who they seem, I guess this is a dual-way parallel

could the dance guy be more obviously gay

Another dumb Elsbeth murderer, the tape makes it not look like an accident

Of course she found the cake

I love the throughline of the murders mirroring her adapting to New York

Convenient sus affair is sus

Please tell me those fleeting mentions of Fosse and Broadway aren't all that count as our Broadway-reference-of-the-episode

What is Elsbeth wearing?

So not gay just Extra^TM

Of course Elsbeth wants to learn that Chicago dance

even more SHMT flashbacks as Kaya whose side are you playing

For half a second I thought they were going to pretend to be lesbians and this was going to be SVU with Benson and Rollins at the fertility clinic all over again

Having a bit too much fun with the golf cart are we, I'd be the same if I could drive worth a darn

Oh so that's where the tape went

I know it's not the exact one but it's more than just rainbow; Elsbeth looks like she's wearing Riley's sweater from Inside Out

Yoda are we quoting?

Please don't ADHD out near the dangerous things in the kitchen

Dissolves in water, huh...

Time for a science lesson

Oh so there's the Hot Honey Rag, I was worried we weren't going to get a proper Broadway reference (and now I'm wondering how Carrie Preston's singing voice is as Elsbeth could totally pull off a Psych-esque musical episode just like SHMT)

Elsbeth's place is just so Elsbeth and there's everyone from previous episodes who didn't turn out to be a murderer and I think the intern chick and hip hop tour guide are going to be a thing (and fingers crossed these people show up in more episodes that didn't just spotlight them)

Uh oh here comes the captain and now things are getting as whose-side-are-you-on as they are for Susan on SHMT

[theowritesstuff]

Fooled Around and Fell in Love: Chapter 8

*gif credit to @lodeddiperrodrick

Adrian Chase x afab!gn!reader

Previous Chapter

Spoilers for Ep 8 of Peacemaker

Summary: You fight with the team to kill the cow.

Warnings: violence, guns, knives, unaliving

Taglist: @caramelkatsukis-bitch @myguiltypleasures21 @thedamchii @flower-slut00 @leverage-ot3 @fanofverymanythings @tubble-wubble @themartiansdaughter

The drive to the ranch was pretty tense. You were sat next to Adrian, his arm looped through yours, and his head resting on your shoulder. You could tell he was tired. If you survived this you were going to make sure the poor boy got some rest.

Chris and Adebayo sat across from you. They attempted to sit as far away from one another as possible.

“I know I’m the last person that you wanna hear from right now Chris, and I-”

Chris cut her off by blowing a raspberry at her, mimicking the sound of a fart.

Adrian picked his head up off your shoulder, and watched the interaction.

“I can’t apologize enough for-”

Once again, she was interrupted with farting noises. Adrian let out a laugh.

“I know that you’re mad, but from the bottom of my heart-”

This time, Adrian joined in with the fart noises. You gave Adebayo a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry, I can’t control him.” You shrugged.

Adebayo sighed, and attempted to apologize again. “I really am sorry, I’m just trying to-”

You honestly didn’t know why she kept trying.

“I am just trying to apologize!” She shouted.

“And I thought you were my fucking friend! You set me up to take the fall and then you try to send me to prison and you think I’m sorry is gonna cut it?”

“Guys, now is really not the time-” You tried to reason with them.

“Cut it!” Adrian cut you off with more fart noises.

“Dude, we’re off it!” Chris snapped at Adrian.

“We are?” He asked, his eyes wide, a frown on his face.

“I’m getting so many moral judgements from people who regularly kill people.” Adebayo said, staring off.

“Hey, what did I do?” You asked, a frown now taking over your face.

“I don’t kill people for nothing, all right? When my brother died, I made a vow-”

“Right, the vow.”

This was going to go on for a while. You leaned on Adrian’s shoulder, and closed your eyes. Might as well try to get some rest, right?

“Are you guys serious right now?” Adrian asked. “We just had a really sick time murdering Peacemaker’s dad, then all these hilarious fart jokes, just like, an all-time classic run, with my best friend, my second best friend, Eagly, my fifth best friend Adebayo, and now you guys are ruining it.”

You lifted your head, and turned to him, looking at him questioningly. “Where am I on that best friend list?” You asked him, your eyebrows raised.

“Oh, you’re not on the best friend list babe, you’re your own separate thing.” He said as if it was obvious.

You smiled, and pulled him into a kiss.

“Gross!” Chris shouted.

You spent the rest of the ride cuddled up with Adrian. His armor made it difficult, of course, but you guys made it work.

When you finally pulled up to the ranch, you all got out of the truck, and started unpacking weapons.

Adebayo decided to call her mom for some help. “Mom, there are way more butterflies than we thought, and the whole team is injured. So, I was thinking, like, maybe you could call in the Justice League?”

You laughed. Amanda Waller wanted things done quietly. Getting help from the Justice League would not make for a quiet mission.

“Can you believe Amanda Waller’s her fucking mother?” John asked you.

You continued to hand him bags from the truck.

“Yes.” Peacemaker said, walking past you.

“My mom says you’re in charge, and Economos and I should stay back in case anything goes wrong.” Adebayo told Harcourt.

What could possibly go wrong?

You all hiked through the forest, attempting to get a little closer to the barn, without being seen by the butterflies.

“If Waller’s your mom why is your last name Adebayo?” It seemed John had a plethora of ques for Adebayo.

“I took my wife’s name.”

“Hey Y/n, when we get married, will you take my name?” Adrian asked, rushing up to keep in step with you.

“When?” Harcourt asked.

Adrian knew you were it for him, so he hadn’t really thought about “if”.

“Well, seeing as I don’t have a last name, yeah, I’d take yours.”

Adrian tried to shrug and look nonchalant when he spoke, “Well, you can have it now, if you want, just to make it easier to sign government papers and stuff, you know.”

You smiled. “Y/n Chase. I like it.”

Adrian was glad he was wearing his mask then, because his face immediately felt hot.

Adebayo started unpacking all of the extra Peacemaker helmets, while Harcourt started scouting the area.

“Here.”

Adrian was holding out his shoulder strap with his sword.

“You need to keep that for yourself Adrian.”

“But all you have are knives, how’re those supposed to hold up in a fight?” He argued with you.

You held up one of the bags you were carrying. “I’ll still have guns. I'll be okay.” You shrugged.

Adrian looked unconvinced.

Chris explained what each of his different helmets was built to do. Adrian seemed excited about the human torpedo one.

“Sweet!” He said, staring down at the helmet.

You could practically see the gears in his head turning.

“Absolutely not.” You told him.

He turned back to you with a sigh, his lips forming a pout.

Adebayo explained her plan about getting the sonic boom helmet to the top of the barn, and using it remotely to blow up the building. It was actually a pretty good plan.

“Uh, guys?” Adrian called out. “Guys!”

You all turned to see the helmet floating away, into the sky.

“Fuck!” You exclaimed.

“Did you say activate anti-gravity?” If looks could kill, Adebayo would be buried six feet below.

“No. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You can’t fucking say that shit!” He shouted at her.

“I didn’t know it was that voice sensitive!”

“Fuck it, no big deal. I didn’t just kill the only man who knows how to make it.”

“You did just kill the only man who knows how to make it.” Adrian pointed out.

“I know bro! I was being sarcastic!”

“Don’t yell at him!” You shouted at Chris, taking a step in front of Adrian.

“If you’re gonna be sarcastic you should really warn people so there’s no confusion.”

“Okay, so how do we get the sonic boom helmet over to the barn?” Harcourt asked.

“I could take it.” You suggested. You were trained to be unseen, it seemed like that was the best option.

“No.” Adrian’s response was immediate. He didn’t like it when you went into the factory alone, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let you go to the barn alone.

“Well we can shoot a fishing line over to the barn from one of these trees here, and just let the helmet slide down.” Chris suggested next.

“That won’t work, we don’t have any bows.” Harcourt sighed.

“But we do have a team member capable of flight.”

“Get the fuck out.” Harcourt replied.

The next few minutes were spent with Chris explaining to Eagly that he needed to take the helmet, fly to the barn, and drop it on the roof.

“Chris, are you sure he knows what you’re saying?” You asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Eagly’s no ordinary eagle.” He smiled at the bird, then placed the helmet down i front of him.

Eagly immediately started pecking at the helmet with his beak. Chris repeated his instructions over and over. Adrian leaned over Chris’ shoulder, and tried to help, but it seemed he was only annoying him.

Eagly grabbed the helmet in his talons, then started to fly away. Chris let out praises for him. You all watched as Eagly flew toward the barn.

“Oh my god.” You mumbled in shock.

Eagly then decided to fly past the barn, over more forest, and drop it there.

“I knew there was no way he knew what you were talking about!” Harcourt was getting frustrated.

“Peacemaker is a great guy in almost every way, but his biggest flaw is that he commonly overestimates Eagly’s abilities.” Adrian stated.

“Let’s go find that helmet, then we can think of something to do.” You said.

You started walking in the direction the helmet was dropped.

Harcourt and Adebayo went together, and Adrian was put with John, Chris said something about “fucking in the woods” if you and Adrian were paired. So you went with Chris.

Just before you separated from the group, Adrian slipped his hand in yours. It was evident that the thought of splitting up made him anxious. You pressed a kiss to his cheek, and squeezed his hand.

“I’ll see you in a few minutes, okay?” You gave him a reassuring look.

He nodded his head in response, before turning to walk with John.

You Chris had found a sort of clearing in the forest.

“I’ll look over there, you look over here?” You asked him.

“Whatever.”

You knew he was mad about everything that had happened recently, but he really seemed to be taking his frustrations out on the team. You rolled your eyes and walked away.

You didn’t see the helmet anywhere, mostly just branches and leaves that had fallen from the trees.

“Hey Chris, I can’t find it, do you see anything?” You called out.

No response. What was he doing? You headed back in his direction to see him frozen, staring at a tree. You saw him grab his blow gun, and hit the tree with a dart.

“How do you like that, huh?” He asked no one, his voice wavering. “Thanks for coming back ghost, so I could kill you all over again.”

“Chris?” You said softly, trying your hardest not to startle him.

He turned back to you, his eyes wide with fear.

“Are you good?” You asked.

“Fine. I’m fine.”

You looked over at the tree, and saw something shiny on the ground. You ran over, and found the helmet, buried under a pile of leaves.

“Look!” You exclaimed, showing him the helmet. At that moment, if you had lived in a cartoon world, a light bulb would’ve appeared over your head. “I have an idea…”

You watched from the forest as Chris snuck up behind a butterfly sitting on the fence. He quickly stuck a dart into his neck, causing him to fall unconscious.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” John asked as Chris tossed him the butterfly’s uniform. “What the fuck Y/n?”

“I’m sorry, but we need someone to get the helmet to the barn. The three of us can’t go because Goff knows what we look like. Harcourt and Adebayo are too injured to go in.” You explained to him.

“I don’t even wanna be here. And why are these wet?” He asked, annoyed.

“I washed them in the creek.” Chris said.

“Why?”

“One of the things us warriors seldom talk about is how often people shit themselves when they die. It’s a touch of gray in the white cloud of kicking ass.”

John turned to you and gave you a look that read something along the lines of “you’ve got to be kidding”.

“So now you want me to risk my life while wearing diarrhea pants?”

“Hey, nobody said anything about diarrhea. I said it was shit.” Chris defended.

“Was it diarrhea?”

“Yes, it was.”

“Guys, come on. We need to get this done. This is, frankly, the only option we have right now.” You said.

John sighed. “Fuck, fine.” He gathered up the clothes in his arms, then looked at you all expectantly. “Can you look away?”

Soon enough, John was wearing the butterfly’s uniform, and walking towards the barn. He was wearing an earpiece so that he would be able to communicate with all of you.

“God, he’s so stiff. They’re gonna know somethings wrong.” You sighed.

He looked back into the forest; Harcourt quickly responded.

“Don’t look back!”

He started complaining about how bad of an idea this was.

“Remain calm. Head towards the barn like you know what you’re doing. Relax your face.”

“Shut up. I know.” John quipped back.

He continued walking toward the barn, but stopped once he was in front of it.

“Why the hell is he stopping?” You asked yourself. As someone who’s job it was to specifically sneak around, it was painful watching John do this.

“Hey.” Another voice spoke in the speaker. “Where are you going?” They asked.

“I’m going inside.”

“Why?”

“Because of this bag.” John lifted up the bag that held the helmet.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Chris asked.

“Okay. Just wanted to make sure.” The other voice answered.

You let out a relived breath.

“How the fuck did that work?” Chris almost laughed to himself.

John quickly made his way inside the barn, disappearing from view.

“I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” He was starting to panic.

“John, you’re already inside. You’re doing great. Please. What’s there?” Harcourt tried to calm him down.

“Uh, stairs. And an elevator.” He said.

“Take the stairs. The elevator’s gonna draw too much attention.” You told him.

“Yeah, of course. You take fucking stairs.” He sighed, then you heard him moving around.

You looked over to Adrian. He was sitting against a tree. He was silent, which of course was unusual for him. His leg was shaking anxiously. You moved so that you were sitting next to him. You bumped his knee with yours.

“You okay?” You asked, quietly.

He shook his head silently.

“C’mon, don’t tell me the Vigilante is nervous.” You teased.

He turned to you, his eyes wide with fear. “I am nervous. I’m nervous that something might happen to you. That you might die, and I won’t be there to save you.” His words vomited out of his mouth.

“Now you know how I felt when you used that bomb.”

“I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“Hey.” You looped an arm through his. “I’ll be okay. Just like you’re gonna be okay.” You told him.

“Promise?” He asked.

“I promise.”

You sealed your promise by placing a soft kiss on his lips. You went to pull away, but he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, keeping you planted there. You could feel all of his emotions in that kiss. His fear of losing you, the feelings he had for you. It was all there. You pulled away, and kissed his nose.

“We’re gonna be okay.”

“Uh-uh. Fuck it. No more kaijus. No more kaijus. Fuck this.” You hear John over the radio.

“John, do you copy?” Harcourt tried to get him to answer her.

“Jesus fucking Christ. What the fuck is that? Cow my ass. It’s a motherfucking caterpillar the size of the Empire State Building. We need to get the fuck out of here!”

“Hey!” The voice from earlier shouted.

“Fuck!” Harcourt exclaimed.

“The man you’ve taken over, why did he do that to his beard?” He asked.

“Do what?” John asked him.

“Why did he color his beard all strange like that?”

Okay, as much as you didn’t want John to be stopped while leaving, at least it wasn’t because anyone was suspicious of him.

John then went on to explain that he’d dyed his beard because he thought it made him look younger and more handsome. He thought that dying hi beard would help him get a girlfriend. But he didn’t have enough time to keep up with it and his job. He’d never thought anybody noticed, until recently.

“Humans can be really pathetic.” The voice said.

“Yeah.” John replied. He turned to continue walking back towards the forest.

“Hey! That guy just put this down here!” Another man shouted. In his hand, he held the silver helmet.

“Fuck! Do it now! Do it!” Chris shouted at Adebayo.

“Activate sonic-” The radio dropped from her hands into the leaves.

“What the fuck?” Chris shouted at her.

The butterflies all ran to John, screeching. He tried to outrun them, but was quickly stopped.

“How’d that even happen?!”

“My hands are sweaty!” Adebayo replied, frantically searching for the radio.

Adebayo managed to find the radio, just as John was pulled to the ground. They were delivering punch after punch on him.

“Activate sonic boom.”

The front of the barn exploded; pieces of wood flew in every direction. The butterflies pulled their attention away from John to look back at the barn. They all got up, and ran back to it. John scrambled to get up, and ran back to the forest.

Adebayo waited until most of the butterflies were in the barn, before giving the second command.

“Activate sonic boom.”

The butterflies were shot back in different directions.

“Activate sonic boom.”

The barn looked like it was almost completely destroyed, but there was no telling what the underground layer looked like.

You, Adrian, Chris, and Harcourt all gathered your weapons. You and Harcourt had bulletproof vests to wear, however neither of the boys did. You couldn’t lie, that made you nervous.

“Activate sonic boom.”

“Yep, that’s it for the charges.” Chris said.

Adrian pulled his mask back on, then checked his guns. You grabbed yours, making sure you had enough bullets to last at least a little while.

“Look, I can help.” Adebayo told you all.

“We need you to stay here Ads. If something happens to us, you’re the only hope.” Harcourt told her.

John peeked out from behind a tree, an offended look on his face. “The fuck am I?”

“What’s the plan man?” Adrian asked, cocking his gun.

“Let’s go kill a cow.” Chris said.

The four of you walked out of the forest, into the clearing. The butterflies caught sight of you quickly, screeching. You all fired shot after shot at them. Pushing them further back was easy enough, before your first gun ran out of bullets. Your second was useless not too soon after.

You pulled your knives out, and started slashing at anyone who tried to come near you. You looked over to see Adrian take down three butterflies with his sword.

“Bet you’re glad you kept it, right?” You shouted out to him.

You couldn’t wait and listen for a response because more butterflies approached you. You swung your knives left and right. You tackled some of them to the ground, before slamming your knives down into their heads.

“Chris! Go kill the cow! We’ll hold them off here!” You heard Harcourt shout to Chris.

You were fighting with all your energy, when you suddenly felt yourself get pushed back by something. You felt your airway get tighter; it was harder to breathe. You could feel something trying to crawl down your throat. A butterfly must’ve gotten to you. You raised your hands to your throat, gasping for air.

Adrian appeared above you. He grabbed the tail end of the butterfly, and pulled it out of you, throwing it to the ground. He raised his gun, and shot it, yelling “Don’t fuck with my person!”

You were his person? That was really sweet. You made a mental note to talk to him about that later.

You honestly thought that everything would be okay. You’d taken out most of the butterflies. You a little glimmer of hope in you. You turned to see Adrian, taking down one last butterfly, then you heard a shot.

Your eyes widened as you realized what happened. You dashed over to him, catching him before he fell.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay.” Were you telling him, or convincing yourself? Then you felt something sharp in your side.

A butterfly had used Adrian’s sword to pierce through your side. You felt drowsy almost immediately. Adrian’s body fell to the ground, as you didn’t have the strength to hold him anymore. Your vision became blurry, then all you saw was darkness. Your body collapsed, almost on top of Adrian’s.

If someone were looking at these events like a story, they might think of it as romantic. A Romeo and Juliet scenario, where we all knew our two lovers were fated to have short lives, dying in each other’s arms.

Harcourt looked over at the two of you, a look of horror on her face. She was the only one left. She tried shooting the remaining butterflies, but there were more of them then there were of her.

She was taken down quickly, blood leaving her mouth, her skin paling.

*time skip*

Adrian woke up with a pressure on his left arm. He sat up, then turned to see you. You were laying there, unconscious, your skin void of any warmth. That’s when he spotted the puddle of blood next to you.

“No no no no no.” He said to himself. He tried to think of a way he could stop the bleeding. You were supposed to put pressure on wounds, but his armor made it difficult to tear any fabric away.

“Hey guys! I need some help!” He called out, hoping anyone would hear him.

Adebayo ran to him, and when she saw you, she had to take a step back, hand over her mouth in shock.

“Adrian…”

“Give me your jacket, I’m gonna use it to stop the bleeding.” He didn’t take his eyes off of you. He held his hand out, waiting for Adebayo to give him her coat.

She gulped. “Adrian, they’ve lost a lot of blood…”

“No!” Adrian shouted. His breathing started to quicken. “No. They’re fine. They just need help. I can help them.” He said. Because Adrian needed you to be okay. He needed you to wake up, and smile at him again. He refused to lose you so soon.

Adebayo handed him her jacket, he took it, and wrapped it around you, tying it tight. He struggled to stand up on his own. He picked you up in his arms, but stumbled a bit. Oh yeah, he was shot. He was so worried about you that he forgot.

“Economos!” Adebayo shouted.

John walked over the group, a dark look on his face. Had they lost not one, not two, but three team members on this mission?

He held his arms out, waiting for Adrian to hand you to him. There was no way Adrian was going to be able to carry you all the way back to the van.

Adrian was hesitant in giving you to John. He didn’t want to let go of you. When John finally convinced him to hand you over, Adebayo stepped forward.

She held Adrian’s sword in her hands. The blade was covered in sticky, red blood. Adrian felt sick to his stomach. Someone had used his sword on you.

He couldn’t take the weapon. Just looking at it made him want to throw up.

“Leave it.” He grunted out, then followed John back to the van.

Back in the van, John placed you next to Adrian. Your head rested on his shoulder. He could hear little breaths escape your mouth, telling him you were still alive.

Once at the hospital, John carried you, while Chris carried Harcourt inside. The nurses quickly took the two of you away to the doctors.

Adrian sighed as he watched them take you away.

“Dude, you’re shot. You gotta be admitted.” Chris told him.

“I’m fine, seriously. All I need is a good nap.” He said, a hand pressed to his side.

“Think of how pissed Y/n’s gonna be when they wake up and find out you let yourself bleed out.” Adebayo told him.

He sighed. “Fine.” The nurses took him back as well.

You woke up not too long after the doctors had taken you in. They stitched you up, and gave you the blood you needed.

You looked around your room, and saw Adrian sitting in the chair next to your bed. He was also in a hospital gown. A thin tube was attached to his arm, the other end to pouches of blood. He’d lost some too after being shot.

He was snoring softly. His head was leaned against the edge of your bed. His glasses were on the tip of his nose. His curls stuck out every which way.

You nudged him a little. “Adrian?” You sounded hoarse.

His eyes fluttered open. He looked at you, and a large grin broke out on his face. He immediately went to hug you. You hissed at the pain on your side, causing him to pull away quickly.

“I’m so sorry!” He said, holding his hands up.

“Come here, you just need to be careful.” You scooted over, giving him room to lay on the hospital bed next to you.

He laid down, and wrapped his arms around you.

“Are you okay?” You asked him.

He looked at you like you were crazy. “Am I okay? I’m fine! Are you okay?” He eyes searched yours.

“I’m fine.” You told him.

Again, he looked unconvinced. “I thought you were dead.” He told you.

You moved so that you were facing him now.

“Yeah, I thought you were gone. And right after everything was okay between us. I thought it was the world playing some sick, cruel joke on me.” He snorted.

You could tell he was hiding his emotions. His eyes were red, and he refused to make eye contact with you.

“I’m gonna kill the fucker that did this to you.”

“Well, I hope we were successful in killing the cow, and if we were that means that they should die soon anyways.”

He confirmed that the cow was in fact dead.

“So, what’s happened since I’ve been out?” You asked him. You took his hand and played with his fingers.

“Well everyone’s pretty okay. Harcourt woke up. Oh, we thought she was dead too. Adebayo went to the news to talk about Project Butterfly and her mom.”

“Oh. Wow.” You sighed.

“What?”

“It’s just, if Waller is exposed, what am I supposed to do? Don’t get me wrong, what she did was awful, but now… Now where do I go?” You asked yourself.

“Well, you could hang around Evergreen. Stay to make sure Harcourt is okay at least. Keep me and Peacemaker out of trouble? And if you need somewhere to stay, you could always stay with me.” He suggested, a blush on his cheeks.

You’d never had a family before Task Force X, and you’d never had a home before Adrian. Maybe things were starting to look up for you.

[ktsometimeswrites]

Hey, do you still write reader inserts for Leverage? If so could I maybe get a fic set in-between Leverage season 5 and Leverage Redemption season 1, with a 16 year old female reader who tries pickpocketing Parker while the ot3 are out somewhere (not running a con), Parker obviously stops her and the ot3 start talking to the her and find out that she ran away from her terrible foster home and just needed money to eat, that hits them all in the feels (especially Parker) so they end up buying her lunch, one thing leads to another and she ends up unofficially adopted by the ot3. Wow, that's a lot (I'm still new to reader insert stuff so I hope this is an alright prompt)

Hello hello!!! Sorry this took me so long!!

Loved this request so thank you for sending it!! I did use gender neutral pronouns for the reader just because I feel more comfortable writing them! Sorry!

Pairing: Platonic! Eliot/Parker/Hardison x GN!Reader

Warnings: Hinted at child neglect/abuse

Word count: 1,557 words

Parker giggles as she leans back from taking a lick of Eliot's ice cream, reveling in the disgusted face he makes at her and the small “dammit Parker” that she gets from him, both of them knowing that there is no real malice behind his reaction. Just as she is about to lean in and do the same thing to Hardison’s ice cream, a young person, not much shorter than Parker herself, bumps into the three of them, causing them to split from being a threesome couple walking together, to Parker and Eliot on one side and Hardison on the other. Eliot and hardison both instantly exclaim, telling them to watch where they’re going but Parker just stops and watches the kid try to rush away with their head down, hood pulled up, obviously to try and hide who they are.

Before they can get too far, Parker is jogging up and stopping them with a hand on the shoulder, causing them to spin around and look at her like a deer in headlights. Parker notices that the kid is in clothes that dont fit quite right, the zip up hoodie theyre wearing is almost falling of their shoulders with how baggy it is, the length almost reaching their knees, the shirt underneath is just as baggy but tucked into trousers that swamp them, being held tightly on their waist by a belt and rolled up multiple times to sit at their ankles, the way they were walking also indicates that the shoes are a bit too big for them, everything clearly a hand me down from someone. Their eyes are darting around, clearly looking for an out, so Parker instantly lets go of them and takes a step back.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, but i would like my phone back please, and his wallet.” She says, motioning over her shoulder to Hardison who instantly starts patting down his pockets, looking for his wallet that isn’t there. The kid looks guilty and takes the phone and wallet out of her pocket and hands them back to Parker.

“Please don’t phone the police, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it, I just need the money.” The kid rambles out, looking panicked at just the thought of the police being involved.

“Oh believe me, no police will be involved” Parker says, taking a second to look at the kid before speaking again. “Are you hungry?” She asks.

Before the kid even has a chance to speak, their stomach audibly growls, answering for them. Parker's face lights up “perfect! Lets go get lunch” she says, motioning for the kid to lead so her and the boys could walk behind them, giving them plenty of chances to run, making sure they don’t feel boxed in or trapped at all. They pause as they look at Parker, as if they’re trying to gauge if she’s serious or not, before they shoves their hands in her pockets, turning and walking away.

Parker grabs her boys and pulls them with her as she skips behind the kid, when she sees that the kid is actually heading towards a cafe and not running away, she hangs back slightly, pulling Eliot and Hardison in closer to her so she can whisper to them.

“This kid is clearly a foster kid, the clothes don’t fit, they’re skittish, afraid of the repercussions but not enough that they stop stealing. With a normal person they would’ve gotten away with what they took, they’ve been doing this a while,” Parker explains, cluing Hardison in on what Eliot has already started to put together.

“So, what do we do? Take them out for lunch? See what we can do to help?” Eliot asks, watching as the kid keeps glancing over their shoulder at the three of them.

“I mean, I could get in touch with Nana, see if she has room for another kid, but I don’t know how this one will feel about moving,” Hardison says, shrugging like it would be the easiest thing for him to do.

“Let’s start with lunch and see what happens,” Parker says, following the kid as they push their way into a small diner, they head to a table in the back corner of the room, slouching into a chair as if they’re trying to give off the air that they don’t care, but everything else about them screams that they’re on high alert.

Parker sits opposite them, noting how they sit in the chair in the aisle, allowing Hardison to sit next to them, making sure they’re not boxed in against the wall. Eliot grabs menus as he sits down, passing them out. Parker instantly dives into it, paying all of her attention to the desert menu. After giving the kid enough time to look at the menu, Parker finally speaks.

“So, do you come to this diner often?” She asks, not even having a chance to get a reply before the waitress comes over, who puts a hand on the kids shoulder with a smile, brushing pass how they flinch slightly

“Hey Y/N, how are you doing kiddo?” She asks, not even paying attention to the other three at the table.

“Hey Darcy, I’m okay, just showing some friends where to get the best food in town” Y/N says, entire personality seemingly changing, their back straightening as they smile at the waitress who giggles and slaps their shoulder “Always the charmer, kiddo, what can I get for you? Chocolate pancakes and an iced coffee?” She asks, writing it down when they nod with a smile. “And what about you three, what can I get for y’all?”

The other three order, Parker practically vibrating out of her seat as she orders the same as Y/N, the prospect of chocolate pancakes already kicking off a sugar high before she even lays her eyes on them.

It’s not until they’re all fed and watered that Parker decides to broach the delicate subject that’s on her mind.

“So, Y/N, who are you staying with at the moment?” She asks, watching how they instantly deflate “You don’t have to tell us names but if they’re terrible people, you don't have to stay with them.”

“You don’t get it, of course I have to stay with them, they put on a good show whenever anyone is around, but when it’s just us and them, us kids are lucky if we get fed.” They explain in a hushed voice, like they’re scared of people overhearing.

“We can get you out of there, and the other kids, you don't have to stay,” Hardison says in a soft voice.

“They have the local police in their back pocket, how?”

“We have our ways, we help those who need helping, its what we do” Hardison reassures them “Listen you don't have to say yes to us, but at least let us get you some new clothes, we can even set you up your own bank account so you have your own money, nothing that they can get their hands on”

Y/N looks between the three of them, trying to gauge just how sincere they are with their offers “You’re serious about this”

“Well, Parker and I, we know what it’s like being in shitty foster homes and Eliot just knows what it's like to be in a shitty home, no one should have to go through that, so if we can help even just one person, then we will. Now my Nana, she’s always got a house full of kids, but she always has room for one more, so if you do want to go somewhere welcoming, we can get you there..”

Y/N sit in thought for a minute, mulling over the proposition that has been presented to them, they rub their sweaty hands on their jeans before looking at Hardison and nodding.

“If you’re serious, I would like that, but I want to make sure they can’t get any more kids to replace us” They say, shifting in their seat when the waitress brings over the bill, digging into their pocket and pulling out some crumpled up notes. Before they can put them on the table, Parker shakes her head and picks up the bill “Our treat.” She says

“I can pay for myself” They protest

“But you don't have to” Eliot says, after being silent the whole time, he pulls some notes from his pocket and leaves them on the table, way more than what the bill cost.

“Come on, let's go get your stuff and the other kids, then we’ll get you sorted” Parker says, standing up.

So Y/N follows the three from the diner, waving to Darcy as they go, they go back to their foster home and get their things and their fellow kids, whilst Eliot keeps their foster parents in one room, making sure their complaints are kept to a minimum. Once they’re all out of the house, they’re taken to the brewpub where Hardison gets to work on getting in contact with Nana, who obviously welcomes the new kids with open arms, especially because Hardison is sending them. And if a few years later, Y/N is back with the three people who helped them get out, but this time working with them, well, that’s their business.

[royslovelanguage]

tell me about hardison. please please tell me about hardison. i am asking i do v much want to know what you think

did i make this gifset as an escapism from studying? no. no, of course not.

ANYWAYS. since i already a lil post with some writing about my favourite parts of hardison's character, i thought i'd make a gifset of my top 10 favourite ✨alec hardison✨ moments, in order.

10) 2.08 – it's moments like these that make me remember hardison was the one pulling this reluctant family closer together, and none of them know how to behave now that they're part of a family.

9) 2.05 – this grift in general is just hilarious, as well as the episode. aldis hodge is just great at delivering these kind of comic relief/serious lines.

8) 1.02 – he sets the tone! he is literally the glue – after nate. he is the mission statement. he's just a young sociable guy who's really good with computers, looking to use his skills, and then he finds them, and it's oh, i can steal from people, hang out with these weird, talented people, AND be on the moral high ground?

7) 3.04 – now there are lots of fun moments in this episode, but i like him here, just doing the impossible trying to keep the 'rottweiler' from biting all of his friends.

6) 3.04 – need i say anything? (but i will nonetheless.) i mean, he's just breathtaking here, hypnotism aside. it was one of the times that made me wonder what else is in hardison's past? violin is one of the harder instruments to learn and he just ended up being crazy good at it at 14 (iirc)? literally king shit.

5) 4.10 – he is a problem solver, he is a lover, he is a decent hummer. i just love how into it he gets. the way he loves parker is one of my favourite things about him. just before i started watching leverage i was like "god, are there any good het relationships on tv", and then i just saw hardison with his joy at everything parker did and his understanding when she couldn't quite voice what she wanted yet. a being of love and nerdiness, he is!

4) 4.07 – i swear there is cocaine in the season 4. this episode was everything. but this scene? the quiet but overwhelming fear? him working to help the team find him as much as he can? every time i watch this scene i can't look away. "i don't want to be alone again." sir you are literally driving me insane.

3) 5.09 – now this is obviously one of THEE episodes of the series, the ot3 episode. i also love love love how they went full ham on showing off hardison's skills (which i wrote about here), but i LOVE an unhealthy amount how they showed his fear, and therefore his bravery. eliot and parker work through stressors fairly efficient, but hardison's fear is overwhelming, and alone, he couldn't temper it. this moment for his character was so important because after years of doing the hard job so that other people can have some security, he believes he has reached the limits of his skills. we're nearing the end of the season and we're seeing the most intense version of his fear.

2) 4.01 – i would rank this episode in my top 5 of the whole series, but that's for another day. his dramatic moment is funny (and i think that's its main intention) but it's also touching. i mean, he's just tapping at his computers not sure if his best friends' are okay, if the job is going to work, and then he hears their voices again, and you can see the weight come off of him. another show of his strength!

1) 3.07 – if i could describe to you how much this scene makes me laugh. hardison complains so much and his whole monologue is makes me scream (humorously). it's number one just for the pure hysterics of it. (for the reader's peace of mind, i am black.) from a wide view of the show, i just like how, with hardison's character, he's a black guy, not a Black Guy. it's not his personality, but it is his experience. it's not the main act, but it is an undercurrent. obviously leverage is not the type of show to make nuanced statements on race, but i think moments like this are just it! yes we live in a fucked world. yes it sucks. yes write about it and make the stories we tell an escape of that fact and a re-rendering of that fact.

alrighty, that's all folks. tl;dr alec hardison is the king of found family, a genius, and a very talented complainer <3

[aberfaeth]

morning thoughts on leverage redemption 2

tragically i did not have a pool to walk into as i am at school however i did keep track and there were ten moments in which i felt the pool walking urge. the most in one episode was four. i’m guessing you can guess which episode that was

GAY PEOPLE IN LEVERAGE REAL

guessing i have the same ot3 gripes as everyone else on this website so i won’t touch on it much but i will say that the parker eliot moment and the head measuring line i am plucking and replanting in a nebulous space a couple months after the og finale bc they were cute

i came up with an excuse for why lev2 is less clever than the og and it’s bc nate was the one who made narratively satisfying cons not only for the participants but for a near omniscient audience. never another like him my guy

hurley my beloved. like i knew he was guest starring and still the joy that ran through my body when he appeared. also he was so GOOD!!!! lca name drop! lifting! making chaos for eliot!

breanna. breanna and emily. oh my god. oh my god the way i lost my shit just consistently. parker and the picture safe!! harry wilson doomsday prepper hitting nazis with his auto breaking car!! the MOUNTIES!!!!!!!! only umbrage with that con was that we didn’t get parker running on top of a train

breanna and harry remain my favorite duo of lev2. it’s about dont die i need you to make me look good and you already look pretty good. it’s about harry rescuing her in 6 and her rescuing him in 16. it’s about breanna who never had a dad, never needed one, and harry who misses his daughter like an open wound even though they live in the same city, and they aren’t that for each other, but its something new and weird and different and still good. also breanna asks him for advice with emily bc no one else on the crew has had a normal relationship ever

levar burton asking “what’s tng?” was the best part of that episode

also FINALLY I CAN ADD ANOTHER LINE TO MY LEVERAGE CM CROSSOVER EXCEL SPREADSHEET THANK YOU MEGAN KANE/BEE LADY

alec hardison remains the love of my life and the best character in the world. every moment of his was gold. punchy entrance. sending harry a horse kink magazine to his office on purpose. yknow when we move the brains into the robot bodies. the signature. NO ONE IS DOING IT LIKE HIM. NO ONE

[leverage-ot3]

WAIT LEVERAGE WHITE COLLAR AU BUT ITS NATE AND SOPHIE MESSING WITH (flirting with) STERLING AS HE TRIES TO HUNT THEM DOWN

(this was inspired by my other leverage white collar au post)

[coffeesuperhero]

He has....amnesia?!?!?! (Also hi!!!! You’re amazing I hope you’re having a great day) 💗💗

Hi <33 thank you so much! I hope you are also having a great day! :D 

This is a Leverage OT3 story-- Hardison POV, Eliot gets hurt pretty bad in a fight, has to have surgery, wakes up with a side effect of temporary amnesia, is startled and delighted to find that Hardison is his “husband,” Hardison realizes maybe Eliot?? has a thing?? for him?? and Parker is just incredibly amused by all of this. 

Like. There are more than a few of these already on AO3 but I hope this is a “two cakes” situation because I just wanted to write some fluff to balance out some of the angstier things I’m working on, and this is  definitely fluff. Anyway. Here is a preview! 

"Holy shit," Eliot says. "You're my husband?”

"Yeah," Hardison tells him. 

"Well hot damn," Eliot says, and hand to God, he looks Hardison all the way up and down like he's one of the many, many women in the many, many bars they've seen him with over the years. "I am one lucky son of a gun, huh?" 

"Laying it on a little thick, man," he chuckles, nervously, because Eliot is smiling at him, and it seems like his character in this cover story would probably smile back. 

But-- he's seen Eliot grift. Eliot's good at it. Probably second best next to Sophie. But even at his best it's not like this, because Eliot's smiling at him, and his eyes are crinkling up at the edges. Crinkly eyes means that's a real smile, and a real smile means real feelings behind it, and real feelings means--  oh damn. And like. It's not that he's opposed, exactly. It's just that he has a Parker. A Parker he loves, dearly. A Parker who once broke a beer bottle in her own hands because one of their clients was pretty, and sat too close to him. A Parker who is sitting right here, too, because she was just as worried about Eliot. 

"Amnesia is not an entirely uncommon side effect of anesthesia," the nurse is saying, and Hardison is nodding, and Eliot is smiling, and what is going on. "He'll probably remember who you are pretty soon." 

"Sure, okay," Hardison says, with another nervous laugh. 

"You're just so damn handsome," Eliot is saying, and now he is holding Hardison's hand, so to say the situation has gone from bad to worse is to really underestimate the whole thing by several orders of magnitude. "What the hell did I do to deserve you?" 

This is the worst possible time to try and absorb this information. 

At first, he worries that if Parker catches on she's gonna rip the railing off this bed with her bare hands. But what happens when Parker does catch on makes him wish that's how she reacted, because what happens is, Parker actively encourages this situation. 

"He is very handsome, isn't he," Parker says. 

"Parker," Hardison says levely. "I don't think he needs your help, here. I definitely do not." 

"Do you not know how handsome you are?" Eliot asks. He frowns. "Do I not tell you that enough? I should tell you every day. I'm gonna do that from now on, baby, I promise." 

"That is so not necessary," Hardison says. 

"No, you should definitely tell him more," Parker says.

[ask me stuff] [from this WIP meme]

[innytoes]

In light of the new Leverage Redemption trailer, my mind is of course buzzing with Future Headcanons for Let’s Go Steal A Protégé. 

-If I did my math right and Leverage Redemption is taking place in 2020/2021, that puts Jamie at around the same age as Hardison was in the original series.

-They have 12 Leverage International teams and Jamie is totally on one of them as the grifter/thief.

-They’re one of the teams based in Europe. Their home base is in the Netherlands, because I am Dutch and Let’s Go Steal a Protégé remains primarily self-indulgent. Give my child Jamie some stroopwafels.

-The team is probably based on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Friesland, with another safe house in between all the shabby student houses in like, Utrecht or Eindhoven. Nobody notices or cares who’s coming and going in either places as long as you don’t cause too much noise pollution.

-Jamie totes flies home for the holidays, sometimes dragging several Leverage International team members with them.

-Jamie finds Breanna UTTERLY DELIGHTFUL.

-Hardison goes to visit all the International teams to keep things running smoothly. Jamie’s team is the only one who gets a box of Eliot’s Special Cookies, though.

-Diversity wins! Everyone on Jamie’s team is some flavour of queer because I said so.

Jamie’s team consists of:

Jamie, the grifter/thief. Usually the ones who deals with ‘HQ’, aka: sasses the OT3 while getting the information on their next ‘Leverage International’ job. Parker once asked if they took over as mastermind and they were like: no, it’s just that the rest have incredible phone anxiety or are scared of Hardison. Jamie 100% does the Hardison-like powerpoints.

Noud, the hitter/hacker. He’s a tall ginger dude. Owns the farm they work out of, is a good few years older than the rest. Eliot once kicked his ass when Noud was a young whippersnapper going after the same job as him. He’s had a crush on him ever since. When Hardison asks how that works if he injures himself/his hands while being the hitter, he shrugs like: I’m very good at typing one-handed. Also like, a lot of weed.

Ibrahim (Bram), snack and alibi provider. Noud’s boyfriend. Not actually on the team, runs the farm while Noud is out vigilante-ing. Very good at saying ‘they were with me all weekend, officer’. Does not understand Noud’s crush on Eliot when ALEC HARDISON IS RIGHT THERE. (Jamie is like: stop talking about my crime parents that way, plz.) 

Bibi, grifter/fixer. British Indian transplant in the Netherlands. Speaks seven different languages fluently, a few more almost fluently. She grifts when they need someone to speak the local languages, because Jamie’s TRYING okay, but learning Dutch and German at the same time is a recipe for disaster, since one of them has grammar rules and the other has a shrug emoji when it comes to rules. She finds all their local clients and does a lot of the behind the scenes stuff to get the marks in the right place and the right time.

Pleun. Hitter/mastermind.  Usually runs the show, but is not above running in and punching someone out. Very tiny, very blonde. The grifters are so annoyed she can’t grift to save her life, yet people still let her into places because she just looks so damn innocent. She is one of those ‘shorter because closer to hell’ kind of people.

Farah, hacker/mastermind/voice-of-reason. She’s the one who holds the team’s collective brain cell most of the time and reigns in their stupidest, most reckless plans. (Noud, stop suggesting explosions. Jamie, put down that torch.) Has a collection of very fashionable hijabs, some of which have secret pockets/places to hide usbs. Knows way too much about social media manipulation. 

-Jamie has watched Pleun and Farah dance around their Feelings for each other for months now and has texted Sophie in the groupchat like: was this what working with the OT3 was like when you started? Hardison fires back: excuse me she and Nate were way worse.

-Jamie drags Hardison a little like: What’s our role? Oh no, we’re all multiclassers, because we’re just that good. [insert shit eating grin here].

-The angry stray barn cat that hangs around the farm was named Eliot. Jamie insists it was already named that before they showed up. Eliot still isn’t amused.

[chaosintended]

Honest thoughts about Leverage: Redemption

Here is a list of thoughts I had while watching the show (not necessarily in chronological order).

1. Okay, what's going on? I don't see Nate and the backdrop is gloomy. I have a bad feeling about this.

2. He's dead??? He's fucking dead???

3. Are... are they not going to tell us how he died (nvm i later figured it out)

4. Yay Parker and Eliot and Hardison together:)

5. We really need more ot3 content.

6. Do the heist! Do the heist! Yessss!

7. I like new guy. He has the right amount of desperation and confusion.

8. Breanna!!!! She's amazing!!! I'm also getting huge queer vibes from her so lol. Especially in the Spirit's Ruse episode, when she said the game made outsiders feel at home? She literally said 'for the way they love'. Fingers crossed.

9. C'mon Sophie, you can do it!

10. Hey, it just hit me! They're still calling her Sophie!

11. Nooooooo Hardison don't go!!!!!!

12. Food trucks all over the world? Damn, that's good.

13. Man, am I glad to see Parker's still Parker. She's my emotional support thief.

14. How DID she steal that pearl tho

15. Wait that's it??? That's the end of the season??? Already??? I need more episodes!!!!!!!!

Overall impression:

First off, I would have to mention how glad I was to see that Leverage was getting a revival!

Honestly, I like the original series much, much better. Not that the revival is bad, the original seasons were just that perfect. It felt more emotional and intimate in a way. This new season feels a bit... too casual? I don't know how to say it, but it somehow lacked the emotional component that had gotten me hooked originally. This may be just me, though. I didn't read any reviews or anything, so I have no idea.

The stuff they pulled off was amazing. I liked the thing with the corrupt building maker. Kinda reminded me of The White Rabbit Job. There were little callbacks to the original seasons, too, so that was great. Also, that scene where the new guy asks Eliot and Hardison if the paintings in the cabinet are stolen antiquities and they just point at the other one like 'it's in that one, duh'? Perfection.

I really wish we could have seen more of Hardison. Sure, Brianna could do his job just as well, but I really missed his quips and nerdy references. It wasn't the same without Eliot saying 'dammit Hardison'.

Oh, another thing I wanted to point out was Eliot's action sequences getting more fast-paced. At least, that's what it looked like to me. I might be wrong. It felt like his punches (and head-butts) were faster than they had been in the old seasons. Also more sound effects. I'm undecided on whether I like this change or not. It definitely makes him look cooler, but I kinda liked the un-superhero movie-like style of the old days.

The last point I want to talk about is the found family dynamic. It was the reason I was drawn to this show in the first place (and, I suspect, why a lot of tumblr people like it). A bunch of thieves and con-artists coming together to form a tight bond? It couldn't be better. To see the way they began to trust and maybe love each other, with all their broken pieces and rough edges, was incredibly heartwarming. I was glad to see that Hardison, Parker, and Eliot had been living together all these years, and that they kept in touch with Sophie. Can you imagine how they must have supported her after Nate's death? Now, in this new season, with the dynamic already established, there weren't a lot of new emotions and revelations bubbling to the surface. That was where I was disappointed a bit. Also probably why I felt like the show was too casual. The addition of the new guy was a fresh turn, but I would have liked it if he had a bit more of a backstory. More episodes would have helped in this case.

So, all-in-all, pretty good season, but it could have been better.

[july-19th-club]

do i actually particularly value your opinion on media or do we just have the same birthday? i guess we'll never know! but you steered me well on soc so: i tried watching the first episode of leverage but i could not get into it because 1. gender and 2. it seemed like it was being silly when it should have been serious and serious when it should have been silly. do you have takes on this? is there a later episode i should have tried for my first go? whats the recipe for enjoying leverage

honestly unless you’re REALLY into the specific genre of ‘underproduced corporate thrillers from the early-mid aughts’ then you’re *not* gonna enjoy the leverage premier enough to be interested in the rest of the show, but you, zezander, are in luck because this ask has functioned as a sleeper phrase that triggers the release of the July’s Leverage Greatest Hits List, which i will herewith paste below. i’ve only listed episodes i think are really worth slowing down and enjoying, and i’ve included a few notes with each one as to why i think it’s worth the time; note that s1 was not released in the same order as it was aired so the order you watch it in literally does not matter at all except for the finale. without further ado:

SEASON ONE:

The Miracle Job (the first episode where things really have a rhythm; nate backstory that doesn’t suck eggs)

The Stork Job (strong parker/hardison ep.)

The Wedding Job (CHEESY - but extremely fun)

The Juror #6 Job (one of my personal favorites because i love a good trial bit)

The First David Job & The Second David Job (two-parter & v. good; maggie is here)

SEASON TWO:

The Order 23 Job (funny and fucking weird as hell)

The Fairy Godparents Job (another funny one & surprisingly touching)

The Three Days of the Hunter Job (god this one is weird. I love it)

The Two Live Crew Job (rival heist crew; sexy)

The Lost Heir Job (TARA! introduces one of my favorite characters)

The Bottle Job (the gold standard for bottle episodes and simple cons you can run at home)

The Future Job (STRONG parker ep. about fake psychics) 

and honestly at this point just finish out the season it’s plottier but still good + i love jeri ryan

SEASON THREE:

The Reunion Job (another sneaky parker/hardison ep.)

The Inside Job (clever escape episode; not really a heist)

The Scheherazade Job (the hardison’s unearthly violin solo episode)

The Studio Job (lots of people really like this episode and it’s good, I just don’t watch it often because i don't really like country music. Alona Tal is in it tho and i love her)

The Rashomon Job (told in flashbacks from each character’s perspective; very clever)

The King George Job (hardison hacks history; his arms look great in that tank top)

The Morning After Job (a very clever con)

The San Lorenzo Job (OH this fucking episode. It’s just very well put-together and Goran Visnjc is the big bad he’s all throughout the season really. sophie SHINES)

SEASON FOUR:

The Long Way Down Job (emotional parker/eliot ep; features extreme winter mountaineering)

The Van Gogh Job (fan favorite; hardison & parker play star-crossed lovers in wwii)

The Hot Potato Job (fun roleswap ep. for sophie)

The Grave Danger Job (emotional hardison/parker ep.)

The Queen’s Gambit Job (incredibly clever sterling episode, good parker/hardison content)

The Experimental Job (this one is good but it’s a Lot for me; i’m not sure why that is tho. premise: the team infiltrates a psychological experiment, requiring hardison to go undercover as a frat boy and eliot as one of the experiment ‘volunteers’)

The Office Job (fan favorite; heist shot like the office; just a fucking bucket of fun. The Sandwich(™) is here)

The Girl’s/Boy’s Nights Out Jobs (two-parter - the team splits up for extracurriculars; return of tara and harley)

The Gold Job (hardison runs the con roleswap ep.; some good parker/hardison/eliot)

The Last Dam Job (lots of old recurring characters in this one, incl. Tara and Mr Quinn)

SEASON FIVE:

The French Connection Job (eliot goes undercover as a chef; eliot ensues)

The Gimme A K Street Job (extremely clever episode about cheerleading)

The D.B. Cooper Job (another good flashback-starring-the-team ep. a la the van gogh episode)

The Broken Wing Job (bottle episode *man punching stage* TWO)

The Rundown Job (thee ot3 episode; lots of good parker/hardison/eliot stuff; biological warfare) 

The Frameup Job (the last sophie’s art theft adventures job & quite fun)

The White Rabbit Job (team confronts the ethics of pulling off the world’s toughest con)

The Long Goodbye Job (series finale, emotional and also quite good)

as you can see, i really like season four, and i’ll be the first to admit that the show has a slow start. but there are gems all throughout and i hope this helps break it down/give you a starting point!