had an unhinged thought and wrote a leverage fic largely told in the form of a logic puzzle
who what where (1369 words) by magsintherain
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Leverage (US TV 2008)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Nathan Ford, Sophie Devereaux (Leverage), Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Alec Hardison, Parker (Leverage), Jim Sterling (Leverage)
Additional Tags: Medium: Logic Grid Puzzle, i mean there's fic too but mostly it's told in the form of a logic puzzle, con gone wrong, Major Character Injury
Summary:
A con goes wrong, and Nate must work out what happened from the few pieces he managed to catch.
okay no but now I'm really thinking about it, right
it's canon that Maggie had no idea IYS denied Sam's cancer treatment, that's the only reason she stayed friendly with Blackpoole. So au where instead of letting his life fall apart, putting together the team, and then taking down Blackpoole, Nate decides to echo current events and just. Fucking shoots his boss.
and Maggie has no clue why.
maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn't, either way he goes to jail for this (he was not planning to get away with it). And Maggie's just lost her son, now her husband's an (attempted) murderer and in prison, she's on her own and has no answers for any of this.
So she goes looking.
she might not directly have Nate's contacts and experience, but he had to have talked about these cases, she knows who a few of these people are through him. But she also has her own connections through the art world - like, Parker and Sophie at least have to be talked about by appraisers, collectors, people who work with the things they steal. And she has Sterling, who while still probably not helpful for breaking the law at least likes her more than he likes Nate and might be able to get her some more information. Like why the fuck Nate did what he did.
And she's not a mastermind, she's not Nate's level of manipulative and three steps ahead of everyone else, but she doesn't need to be. She's smart and charismatic and quick to put pieces together (the fucking button camera scene). So. She figures it out.
And then she has to decide what to do about it.
She's not going to be able to exonerate Nate - he shot a man in broad daylight and fully admitted it. She might be able to break him out of prison if he's up for being on the run, but that's a matter of hot debate between the two of them right now. (She could totally do it, especially with the team, she and Sophie are just waiting for him to stop being overprotective.)
(side note: nate's face when he finds out his ex wife and international criminal not-technically-an-ex are running a team together while he's stuck in prison? priceless)
but what she can do is protect other kids like Sam. Seek out corruption, find the people being hurt, and with her team, stop the people responsible from ever doing it again.
she just needs to create a little bit of leverage.
But there's no way Nate should know those things. No way the client could have told him, no way he could've figured it out on his own. Not when these things were nothing more than fleeting thoughts from the mark. But Sophie notices him quietly go for the scotch behind the counter and rub at his head in pain with extra vehemence some days despite the latest con having no personal connection to him.
They don't talk about it.
But someone should've recognized Sophie on that con. There's no way she could have that many characters per con. No way none of those diplomats didn't recognize her from any of her previous cons. Not when she didn't change any more than her clothes and accent. But Nate notices her features seem to flicker at the peace and safety of home when she thinks he isn't watching.
They don't talk about it.
But no one could've survived that. And certainly not looking the way he does. There's no way he didn't come out of that fight broken and bloodied to all hell. Not when instead he walks out with a purposeful stride and only a clenched jaw, rolling his shoulders. But when he's cooking and accidentally burns himself, Parker notices the unmarked skin left behind.
They don't talk about it.
But not all vents are human sized. They all saw the size of the vent cover as she exists with a grin. There's no way she could've fit in there. Not when the human body can't bend that way, a way that even the greatest contortionist can't bend. But some days Hardison notices as she seems to stretch and bend before his eyes when she's feeling relaxed and safe enough.
They don't talk about it.
But that's not how computers work. There's no way Hardison could access that kind of thing. Not when he describes how he did it like that. Not when he does it so quickly like that. Not when he says he's taken berries and the next thing they know he's recreated a colonial era journal to perfection. But Eliot swore he shoved a glass of water at him, not more goddamn orange soda.
They don't talk about it, the thing lingering over their heads as they conduct each con, the unacknowledged thing between the five of them that's a little deeper than just a desire to take down the rich and powerful.
They aren't perfect, they all know that- sometimes they're too good with their covers, sometimes they have to shift gears as the con unfolds before them, but somehow things always seem to work out.
sometimes when parker is too tired to go grocery shopping with the boys but she also doesn’t want to be by herself in the apartment she’ll tell them to wear their comms so she can listen while they shop. the whole experience is great: it starts in the car with hardison nagging eliot to get the stick out of his butt and sing along to the radio with him, to which eliot always protests that he’d sing if hardison was playing anything worth singing to, which prompts hardison to put on the country oldies station that he always claims is sooooo boooooring, but secretly he loves it because there’s not much that’s better than listening to eliot duet with dolly or patsy. then they get to the store and it’s about twenty solid seconds of “you push the cart this time” “no you push the cart this time, i pushed it last time” “i’ll push it for the second half of the trip if you push me in the cart for the first half of the trip” “hardison i’m not pushin you in the goddamn cart, you’re not five, and also i think you’re too big to fit anyway” “maybe we should test that theory to say for sure—” “get outta the goddamn way before i run you over” “uh oh, park, if you never hear from me again it’s because i was murdered by grocery cart—” “just start readin me the damn list, will ya? you’ll be lucky if i don’t leave your ass in the parking lot when we’re done. stupid” “love you too babe, love you too” before they even make it into the store
then they start the actual shopping, which goes back and forth between hardison reading things off the list and the two of them bickering over which specific things to purchase—those bananas look good, no they’re gonna go ripe too fast, the store-brand froot loops are fine, hardison, no they’re not, they’re absolutely not as good (“he’s right,” parker chimes in, which makes eliot sigh and hardison blow her about a million kisses), how about we get moose tracks ice cream this time, no we got that last time, i want just plain chocolate, babe you’re so boring, plus we’ve both got, like, oodles of money, we can get more than one thing of ice cream, okay okay fine, put ’em both in. there’s also usually points at which one or both of them make conversation with the people who work at the store: hardison’s chatty with charlie who runs the bakery counter, and him and charlie debate favorite kinds of bagels and breads before they walk away with whatever charlie recommends for the week, and then there’s moira at the deli counter that parker and hardison always tease eliot about because even if she’s like sixty and married and totally harmless, she’s also definitely a little bit in love with eliot (hardison always says well no duh, who wouldn’t be, and parker always says that if her salami wasn’t as good as it is she’d be more jealous, but it’s really good salami so moira’s fine). as ever moira pinches eliot’s cheeks and asks him what he’s cooking for the week, and she weighs out their cheeses and meats. this time she also says “oh, no parker today?” and eliot says “nah, wasn’t feelin up to the store,” and moira says “well, take this home for her then,” and hardison informs parker that moira’s packing up a separate little ziploc of prosciutto for her (additional points in moira’s favor). then once they’re all set they keep moving along
there’s always a point during the trip where eliot and hardison will go suspiciously quiet, or sometimes they’ll turn off their comms entirely—this is because they’re doing Parker Treat Time. any time she doesn’t go to the store with them, they always make sure to bring home something special for her. the whole time they’re either quiet or gone parker can’t stop grinning, and when they come back she says “hmmm i wonder what the boys could’ve gotten me this time???????” and hardison and eliot simultaneously and respectively say “girl it’s a surprise!!” and “worms” (or something similarly ridiculous). that always makes parker smile, and for the rest of the time that they’re gone parker’s all fizzy and impatient to know what her treat is.
eventually they ring up and pack the car and drive home (more country, more duetting), and then they’re back and eliot’s saying hardison you can take a few more bags than that and hardison says i trust you babe you’ve got this, it’s like extra arm day for you, and eliot gripes and grumbles but eventually they get everything up to the apartment. now parker finally gets up off the couch: she sniffs around the groceries and inspects everything they got, and after everything’s put away and she’s presented with her treat—two this time actually, a chocolate donut with extra sprinkles and also a goofy little keychain that’s no more than a fuzzball with eyes that she immediately names roberta and declares she’ll carry around forever—the three of them park it on the couch and watch some tv and the boys have some ice cream while parker has her prosciutto and her donut with roberta sitting on her shoulder. hardison says whew what a day and eliot says sweetheart you hardly did a damn thing, and hardison says well i was your very cute emotional support wasn’t i and eliot sighs and says yeah alright you were, and as hardison smacks a big sticky ice cream kiss on eliot’s cheek and eliot splutters in protest, parker watches them both with overwhelming fondness and is glad as always that the joy of loving them doesn’t actually make her explode the way she’s worried she might sometimes
It is now time to start signing up for the exchange!
Like last year we are using the ao3 collection as our sign-up form. This means you will have to head on over to the collection to sign up. As well this means we will use whatever email is attached to your ao3 account to contact you.
You can head over HERE to see the rules.
And HERE to sign up! They close on October 13 at 10pm EST this year so get them in while you still can.
We are so excited to see everyone again for our 17th year of this wonderful exchange!
Would it make more sense to run these from the start to the end of the month? Probably. Am I impatient? Yes. Did I just look up when The Nigerian Job aired, intending to use whichever day of the month it was as our start date, only to find it's today? Also yes. So here we go!
Please do read and comment on other people's fics if you can, once you've popped yours up or if you don't want to write for this round - it keeps the energy up. This round officially lasts until the end of the 6th of August (in your timezone) but you can keep posting after that, there will just be another collection and new prompts as well.
Here's the vault collection. Your prompts, should you choose to accept any or all of them, are:
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THE NIGERIAN JOB
Start: I checked.
End: We provide... leverage.
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THE HOMECOMING JOB
Start: All right sweetheart, we are near Najaf, I’m not allowed to say exactly where.
End: Totally midlife crisis.
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THE WEDDING JOB
Start: Thanks, I'll see you.
End: Make a little room there.
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THE SNOW JOB
Start: No wait, you do not understand.
End: Give me a reason to stay.
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THE MILE HIGH JOB
Start: Al Haldeman laughed us out of his offices.
End: I still don't understand how you can mix up Paris and Tuscany.
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THE MIRACLE JOB
Start: Do you know the speech?
End: St. Nicholas… is the patron saint of thieves.
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THE TWO-HORSE JOB
Start: Dad!
End: Neither will I.
-
We're doing 7/13 in the first round because some of them are hard, and we're going in the order on Leverage, Seriously because for our purposes the order doesn't matter and it makes it easier for me to keep track. Thanks to them for the scripts, I really didn't want to top and tail every episode via DVD myself.
Summary: Parker realizes terrifying hitter Eliot Spencer is actually just a very large, very confused bear.
Word Count: 381 Words
Warning(s): None
Tags: One Shot, Found Family, Team As Family, Team Leverage, Fluff, Humor
Characters: Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, Parker
—————————————————————————
Parker didn’t usually think of people as adorable.
Useful? Yes. Dangerous? Definitely. Weird? Very often.
Adorable was usually reserved for things like kittens, or tiny lock mechanisms, or that one time she’d seen a baby goat wearing a sweater.
But Eliot Spencer…
Parker watched him from across the room.
He was sitting at the table with his arms folded, scowling down at the laptop Hardison had shoved in front of him like it had personally offended him.
His shoulder-length brown hair was falling into his face, and every few seconds he’d huff and shove it back with an irritated shake of his head.
“Why’s it gotta have so many buttons?” Eliot muttered.
Hardison groaned from the couch. “Because it’s a computer, man. That’s literally how computers work.”
Eliot poked one key like it might bite him.
The screen changed.
He jerked his hand back immediately. “I didn’t do that.”
“Yes you did!” Hardison said. “You pressed the key!”
“I barely touched it!”
Parker tilted her head.
Eliot Spencer—professional hitter, terrifying in a fight, capable of taking down six guys in under a minute—was staring suspiciously at a laptop like it might attack him.
Adorable.
She slid into the chair next to him without warning.
Eliot glanced sideways. “What?”
Parker leaned closer to the laptop, examining it like it was a safe.
“You’re doing it wrong,” she said.
“I ain’t doing anything,” Eliot grumbled. “This thing’s doing stuff on its own.”
Parker reached over and hit three keys in quick succession.
The page fixed itself.
Eliot blinked at the screen.
“…How’d you do that?”
“Buttons,” Parker said simply.
Eliot stared at her.
Then back at the laptop.
Then back at her again.
Parker watched the way his eyebrows pulled together in concentration, the way his mouth pressed into that stubborn little line when he was trying to figure something out.
Definitely adorable.
“You’re making that face again,” Eliot said suddenly.
“What face?”
“That weird one where you’re lookin’ at me like you’re studying something.”
Parker considered that.
“You’re like a bear,” she decided.
Eliot turned slowly toward her. “I’m what?”
“A bear,” Parker repeated. “Big and scary. But sometimes confused.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
After Parker goes down, Eliot sees red. Goes somewhere he doesn’t like to go, shadowy corners in the deep recesses of his mind, the place where “knowledge of guns” sits next to “how to rip out a heart through the chest cavity.” He’s armed but doesn’t remember picking up a weapon; seven-eight-ten-twelve thugs rush him and there’s two for every one he topples, but Eliot doesn’t feel pain, he just feels impact.
They hurt Parker. People who hurt Parker die.
eliot spencer whump simply for the love of the game <3
