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Do you have a headcanon for when Parker and Hardison manage to fully seduce Eliot into the OT3? Like what finally makes him take the leap to being in a romantic relationship with them?

Oh man, it’s taken me a long time to come up with an answer to this mostly because like — I can see this happening like a thousand different ways, and each one rings totally true for me? Like, I can see it being a long drawn out double courtship, and I can see it being a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I can see it being the aftermath of a near-death experience, and I can see it happening when they’re all bored between jobs. The Eliot/Hardison/Parker singularity is like green eggs and ham to me: I could see it here or there! I could see it anywhere!

BUT. After careful consideration, I’ve determined that if you put a gun to my head and demanded I tell you what I think happened, within the canon itself, to make them go from Eliot + Hardison/Parker to Eliot/Hardison/Parker, then I would present to you the following list: 

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. 0 to OT3 in ten easy steps. Thank you and goodnight. 

Leverage Headcannon for 3x3 Inside Job: Parker didn't set Sophie's real name as the entry combination for everyone. She had an individual code for everyone in the group that mattered to that person.

HEADCANON ACCEPTED.

I feel like this would be part of Parker's journey in understanding people. Sophie is teaching her to notice the little things that make people unique. Things that will come in useful during a grift.

Parker decides the team is the easiest starting point for this and spends three days carefully choosing words or phrases for each of them. However, she gets a little confused and instead of choosing words that describe them, she chooses words that describe what they mean to her.

Sophie is still proud and more than a little touched to find out her word is 'inspiration'.

There are too many words for Hardison. Eventually she just decides on the word 'better'. At first, Hardison is a little confused, until he finds her list of scored out words: 

patience

stability

friend

soon

Eliot does not choke up on finding out his word is 'good'. Dammit, Hardison, he's just got an allergy, okay? Stop looking at him like that. *spends the next 3 hours cooking his feelings when Hardison shows him the other side of the piece of paper with the scored out words*

Eliot: 

good

safe

parachute

Aloha! You did it, you made me watch 5 seasons of Leverage in about a week. Thank you, I love them all and miss them already. Where is my spin-off with the OT3? Where? I do have a question though, what do you think are the living arrangements for the team? We once see Parker's storage unit and it is pretty clear at least Parker and Hardison live above the brew pub. Did they ever talk about moving in together? Did I miss something? Do I have to watch it all from the start? What a hardship ;-)

Asdfghjkl!!!!! I feel like I’ve collected a family of new Leverage fans in the past three weeks AND I’VE LOVED EVERY SINGLE MOMENT OF IT.

Also. A week????? Bloody hell. That’s dedication. I miss them too. I’ve started watching it all again for that very reason.

Oooh oooh oooh! I do have thoughts about this.

I think Parker and Eliot would still have separate living spaces to start with. Even if Parker lives with Hardison above the Brew Pub on the main, I think she’d still need space sometimes. Whether that be something similar to her old storage unit or just sleeping in the air vents of the Brew Pub every so often. However, by season 5 I feel she’d be pretty settled on the whole. Mostly because I never imagine Hardison would have asked her to move in. Hardison gets Parker and he’s always respected her boundaries and let her move at her own pace. So I imagine when Hardison bought the Brew Pub, he bought it with Parker and Eliot in mind (see: those sweet, sweet high ceilings and large air vents/A WHOLE PUB FOR ANGRY LITTLE CHEF MEN TO COOK IN ‘TIL THEIR HEART’S CONTENT) but with no pressure. Parker probably moved herself in one day. Or stayed the first night and never really left. Much to Alec’s delight.

Eliot though. Eliot I imagine takes much longer. Post-canon. Despite establishing that this thing between them is, indeed, a relationship relationship, not Hardison/Parker + Eliot for as long as they all shall live, I think Eliot would still be…slow moving. When they first get to Portland, Eliot will have had his own place, I’m sure of it. There’s no way he clocks that the Brew Pub is for him (and I’m sure Hardison planned it that way).  

However, we all know this soft boy has dreams of running Hardison’s pub until his dying day. He’s fooling no-one with that “I guess this is my life now” act. He’ll never admit it but he sees himself as an old man in that pub, with an equally old Hardison and Parker to bicker with and feed. It sets his little heart aglow (not that he’d ever admit that either.) However, Eliot’s probably not thought about settling down with anyone but himself since Aimee. The thought probably scares him, just a little. Not because he’s scared of committing to Parker and Alec or that he’d ever let them down, but because he honestly thought he’d never get this. He took “happily ever after” off the table long ago and now here’s the two most wonderful, infuriating people he’s ever met offering it to him. Just like that.

Hardison is savvy to this though and I think he’d end up building Eliot a separate apartment over the Pub. Or give him a separate room in the apartment they already have. One that Eliot gradually moves into. He’d make it about the Pub and not him and Parker because Eliot needs to do things on the basis he’s helping someone, doing good. He won’t do it for himself. I can imagine Parker getting a little frustrated with how long it’s taking Eliot to move in with them but it’s a good balance because while Hardison is prepared to go as slow as Eliot needs, Parker is always the one insisting it’s silly that Eliot keeps going back to his own apartment when he could stay for cuddles and breakfast. This more or less always convinces Eliot (who is genuinely worried the two people he loves most in the world will die of poor eating habits before anything else).

I don’t think Parker would ever give up her living space away from the Pub. Even if she rarely uses it I think she’d like having the choice. Eliot, though. Eliot may take odd jobs that take him away from Parker and Hardison from time to time, but once he’s moved in he’s there for good. I like to think Hardison buys a huge bed for them all to sleep in but sometimes he’ll wake up and Parker will be sleeping in the air vents or the roof or whatever other small space she can find. Whereas Eliot, while mostly content to sleep curled up next to them, sometimes ends up sleeping on the couch or decides he’s had enough sleep by 4am and goes down to the Brewery to try out new things for the menu. On occasion, Parker will find him and join him there and will silently taste test all the food Eliot makes until the sun comes up. It’s a private thing they share and usually always ends in Parker convincing Eliot to make them all some ludicrous breakfast, like rainbow waffles or “morning chicken”. (It doesn’t matter how many times Eliot tells Parker putting “morning” in front of a food item doesn’t make it breakfast, she never listens, and he always caves.)

The best thing for Parker and Eliot though? The knowledge that one Alec Hardision will always, always be in that bed. Their bed. No matter what, they know he’s not going anywhere. Ever. Will always welcome them without judgement. Just open arms and that smile they love so, so much.