Unsolicited Leverage headcanons in no particular order:

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

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

I love how the INTERPOL pretzel cart is actually really good pretzels.

Does INTERPOL just have such a huge pretzel cart disguise budget that they get the highest quality of pretzels available? Did they specifically select the agent with the greatest proficiency for making pretzels?

Or maybe they put an agent on pretzel cart surveillance duty years ago, and he thought of it as just another undercover job, making his shitty pretzels and reporting back to his masters, but then something he never expected happened. He started to care about the pretzels he was making and selling. He got in too deep. The espionage was suddenly secondary to his true calling: making the best damn pretzels he could and selling them to hungry people near the area of interest.

It’s the INTERPOL version of Eliot.

Dude, Eliot probably knows him. (Those pretzels are very distinctive!) They hang out sometimes, swap recipes, bitch about yeast not cooperating when you really need it to, and compare knife blades. Eliot brings him a thermos of tea when he’s stuck working in inclement weather and in return, he makes sure to sneak vitamin powder into the pretzels he sells to Hardison because they both know how few vegetables Hardison ever eats.

I feel like Sterling drives a major policy change stating that if a food vendor is used as cover to case a place Eliot Spencer is known to frequent, it has to be quality food

after like six seperate instances of Eliot taking a bite, staring right into the hidden camera, and saying “seriously, Sterling?”

#this is what happens in a fandom with little new material#we get excited about pretzel trucks (via aegialia)

5 Times Elliot Ruined Someone’s Cover Because of Food and 1 Time Elliot Blew His Own Cover Because of Food

Ever since his first encounter with Team Leverage, James Sterling learns to slowly switch his life from digital to analogue just to stop Hardison from fucking with him

“if you ever want to do this again, I’m hiring… and you can bring the art thief”

sterling you have a crush on them so bad it makes you look stupid

sterling spent the entirety of nate's marriage to maggie trying to figure out how to tastefully propose a threesome and failed to get up the guts to do it

he's not missing his chance this time

I like the idea of Sterling introducing Maggie to Nate, and watching their relationship blossom helplessly, knowing he ruined his own chances. And then he is the one assigned to deal with Sophie Devereaux and asks Nate to be a part of the team and thus accidently introducing her to Nate as well. Years later when Sophie and Nate get together Sterling has the startling realization that he is his own biggest cock-blocker

and then nate and sophie are there when my mystere is stolen and they’re fighting as flirting and he’s like hmm, maybe I do have a chance after all

I’m not sure what I want more

mcsweeten being in leverage redemption and still having not a clue that parker and hardison are, in fact, not federal agents and are actually world-class criminals

or at some point between the finale and now he did find out, and then some government official gets wind of one of their heists and is jabbing their finger at a blurry image of parker and hardison mid-thievery and with a completely straight face, mcsweeten explains that guys, those are agents hagen and thomas and they are working on an undercover op and were in no way at all involved of what is inconveniencing the government now

and the government official keeps trying to explain they are criminals but mcsweeten just pulls up their dossiers and credentials and he can literally see the vein throbbing in the man’s forehead but he just smiles says that he has personally worked with agent hagen and would trust he with his life

Government official: "OK, fine, Agent McSweeten, let's assume for the moment that these people are, in fact, FBI agents pursuing a case. This man who they are working with is unmistakably Eliot Spencer, an extremely dangerous criminal. Surely we can all agree that we need to intervene before your colleagues get hurt."

Agent McSweeten: "Oh, that's an easy mistake. Roy's been mistaken for Spencer multiple times--that's how he met Agents Hagan and Thomas! But that's actually Roy Chappell. He used to be a minor-league baseball player..." *McSweeten pulls out a limited-edition Roy Chappell baseball card* "...but he retired years ago to go into the restaurant business. I mean, you can see he's got a catering set-up right there in your photos. He's an amazing cook, too! I almost wish I was on that case, 'cause the food's gonna be great!"

government official: *shows mcsweeten the dramatic case photo eliot canonically has (shown in the experimental job)*

mcsweeten, who went to their wedding last fall and was one of parker’s maids of honor,

who also regularly gets easy-to-make recipes sent from eliot ever since he offhandedly mentioned that being deputy director means little time to do things like shower and sleep and eat,

who gets monthly *anonymous* emails from definitely not hardison about bad guys and criminals that should be on the fbi’s watchlist:

I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About

sterling is so funny because the leverage crew gives him endless grief and they snark at him and he snarks back but god forbid some other department wants to jail them or something because excuse me that’s his group of bothersome thieves and no one can touch them except him

#idk I just want sterling to be at the ot3s wedding as a joke invite but when he’s asked if he’s going he snatches the invitation and is like #NONE OF YOUR BUISNESS and then proceeds to get a thoughtful wedding gift #or a joke one your choice

The wedding gift is the location and specs of an obscenely high-tech kitchen gadget that actually does something really useful. He doesn't give them the item, of course--if they want it, they have to come steal it from him. Said gadget is inside multiple nested safes (some computerized, some purely mechanical), inside a secure vault, inside a building with a good security system. There are a handful of not-particularly-assiduous guards (you know, just enough for Eliot to feel like he's needed, without him having to actually work on his honeymoon). There are elaborate gratuitous laser grids both inside and outside of the vault. Each one has a conspicuously laser-free area just large enough to hold two deck chairs and a mini-cooler of beer and orange soda.

In the innermost safe, next to the gadget, are three feedback forms and a pre-addressed, stamped envelope so they can critique the security measures at their leisure. Mr. Quinn is waiting to "catch" them on the way out to ensure Eliot gets one satisfying, low-stakes fight out of this job. (There are, again, two convenient deck chairs nearby, but this time the cooler is stocked with orange soda and chocolate milk.)

Extremely hilarious of Mark Sheppard to play Sterling Leverage and Crowley Supernatural like they’re the same character

I think they were, hear me out

Leverage started in 2008, Crowley didn’t make his first appearance on Supernatural until 2009, which means that when Leverage started Crowley was still a normal crossroads demon. Working as an insurance investigator would let him set his own hours, which allows for frequent disappearances when he got called back to hell, and he’d be meeting lots of people who’d be easily swayed into making a deal. Mr. Rich jerk had his Monet stolen and he’s willing to give anything to get revenge? Sign here. Sterling catches the thief who is now facing a long prison sentence unless someone can get him out of it? Sign here

In 2010 Sterling announced he’d switched jobs and was now working for Interpol. That’s the same exact year that Crowley declared himself King of Hell. Insurance agent was a fine gig when he was just a crossroads demon, but an Interpol agent would have access to a lot more intel that a King of Hell could put to good use

Leverage ended December 2012 when Crowley was at the height of his King of Hell career. Just a few months later the Winchesters held Crowley hostage and got him addicted to demon blood. So Leverage conveniently ended right before Crowley completely fell apart

tl;dr Sterling could totally be one of Crowley’s aliases