leverage sideblog

"Hey, we’re thieves, man, and we’re good at what we do, but this is way, way out of our league. And you expect us to go catch some psycho with a city killer? A country killer?"

occasionally does short wigs but mainly prefers long ones, both because he feels like if he's gonna have hair why not go all the way right, like full send, and also because he loves to be able to toss it over his shoulder as a form of punctuation. like there's nothing he loves more than landing a sassy line and then tossing his long flowing locks. parker hoots and hollers every time, eliot rolls his eyes but he's also failing to stifle a smile as he does

ALL about the colorful outfits and makeup. sometimes he'll do something a little more understated that's like a sparkly jewel tone with some shimmery makeup but mostly he loves bright pinks and blues and yellows and purples. especially pinks i think. listen i just wanna see hardison in pink so bad is that such a crime. neon pinks blush pinks baby pinks barbie pinks you get the picture

the cologne he wears normally is kinda fruity anyway (in my head he wears light blue because i think something bright and sunny like that would be so good on him) but when he's in drag he wears something reeeeeeeally overly sticky-sweet like... idk, tangerine twist or strawberry flirt. perhaps even bali mango. he doesn't care if the other queens might think bath & body works is kinda tacky, part of his whole thing is that he wants you to know he's coming from a mile away, he needs to smell like you could eat him right up. this often leads to parker nibbling on his arms and shoulders and whining when she can't take actual bites out of him, and then eliot then has to make desserts that match his perfume to satisfy her cravings. he'd tell her it's weird but honestly he gets it. he wishes he could take a bit outta hardison too.

two things, eight words: hardison in false lashes and big ol' heels. LIKE???????????????? his big brown eyes are already so gorgeous and devastating, so imagine him with a set of big fluffy lashes that are curled and mascara'd, and then he's also already so tall and big and broad but let's add another six inches or whatever, right????? good lord. i'm sweating. i need to be put down

AND speaking of shoes, as far as fashion: exclusively dresses because why nottttt, alternates pretty much equally i'd say between shorter dresses and longer ones. the shorter dresses are perfect for when he wants to show off the Legs™️, and god he looks SO stunning and elegant in a long evening gown, especially ones with a slit up the side... also no matter what he's wearing, he's all about the big tits and hips. another thing where's like full send, right??? go big or go home. if he's gonna have The Bod he wants The Bod. curves for days, baby

one time when they're at the club they're working for, eliot's at the bar and hardison sidles right up behind him and murmurs "hey there, handsome - can i buy you a drink?" and when eliot turns around and sees his goddamn husband looking all goddamn gorgeous with his perfectly curled hair and his full beat and his fluttery lashes, smelling all sweet and delectable like strawberries and whipped cream, he just about falls off his bar stool. then hardison just about falls off his own stool because he's laughing so hard, and eliot's blushing to high heaven and telling him to shut up shut up shut up, but hardison also looks so gorgeous that it comes out all small and kinda squeaky

oh also another time they're at the club and eliot's in a back hallway or something and hardison comes over (walking slow, hips swaying, heels clicking on the floor) and stands over eliot with a hand on the wall over his shoulder, and hardison's tall already but he's soooooooo tall in his heels and eliot feels kinda small and boxed-in and he's like. i'm not horny about this i'm not horny about this i'm not. horny about this. and then hardison gives him a half-smile and says "come here often, cutie????" and eliot promptly dies

parker looooooooves watching hardison do his makeup, she feels like she's watching a master artist at work - she's soooooooo focused and intent as she observes the way he does his eyeshadow and puts on his lashes and lines his lips. she also loves getting to see the transformation and how he goes from gorgeous hardison to gorgeous-in-a-new-way hardison. she wishes she could trace every single inch of his face because she feels like that would help her absorb his whole look better, but she wouldn't dare mess up any of his work. it's not until after he's done for the night that she drifts her fingertips over the smoothness of his lashes, the slightly powdery texture of his foundation, the mild tackiness of his lipstick. and then she loves watching him take it all off too, to see him go from glowing colorful goddess back to the same hardison she's known for so many years. it always amazes her that someone she's so familiar with can change themself so drastically with just a bag of cosmetics. she loves both, though; she loves every hardison she has or will ever know.

also, to address your fantastic tags: #hardison! in drag! NOW!#imagining eliot getting sooooooooo handsy#finding every moment he can to tuck his nose right into the crook of hardison's neck and breathe deep#once notably maybe after things go down and everyone's a little shaken up parker is clinging to hardison#so the only part of hardison that eliot can reach is his hand#so eliot drags it towards him and just inhales at the soft skin of hardison's wrist before turning his face into hardison's palm#pressing a kiss to it and catching his breath before he drags them both in for a proper group hug#all the while hardison bad as HELLLLLLL in drag amen#and if everyone is a little scraped up then it's just an excuse for some more TLC when they get home#leverage#leverage ot3#also#also maybe he needs to get under the hem of hardison’s dress to get him off wait who said that#<prev tag WAIT WHO SAID THAT...... do go on 😏😏😏😏😏

YEAH ELIOT TOTALLY DOES GET SO HANDSY AND FIND EVERY MOMENT HE CAN TO TUCK HIS NOSE RIGHT INTO THE CROOK OF HARDISON'S NECK AND BREATHE DEEP 😭😭😭 there's something that makes him soooooooo crazy about how - similar to parker - this is someone who's so familiar to him who's also so different all of a sudden. this is the same hardison that's still so warm and broad and big, but there's a more pronounced dip in hardison's waist when he rests his hand there because of the hip padding, and now he's touching hardison through soft and even sometimes silky flowing fabrics instead of through cotton shirts and jeans. also between the heels and the statement makeup and outfits hardison's just so statuesque and bold and stunning and that riles eliot up something awful, makes it so he just has to get his hands and also most likely his mouth all over hardison because, like, are you serious??? that's his fucking husband just walking around looking like the queen of everything???????? he can't handle it. it's so overwhelming. he always wants to treat hardison like royalty but now especially the guy just feels like this gorgeous amazonian princess that he wants to do right by. so now more than ever he finds himself tossing out flirty lines and winking at hardison from across the room and standing close to him so he can keep hands on him and also, yes, tuck his nose into the crook of hardison's neck and take deep breaths of him. it makes him sooooooo dizzy to smell how hardison does still smell like hardison underneath it all, same soap, same aftershave, same just-plain-ol-hardison smell, but then there's the fruitiness too, the sweetness, the sugar, and it just makes him want to take a big ol bite.

and YES omg him and parker clinging to hardison after stuff goes down 😭😭🥲 ouuughhhh i'm swooning thinking about eliot still slightly out of breath from kicking ass and parker getting to hardison first and leaping onto him so that at first all eliot can do is take hardison's hand and squeeze and yesssssssssss smell the soft delicate inside of his wrist before nuzzling into and kissing his palm, and then he wraps his arms around both hardison and parker and squeezes them soooooooo tight because thank god they're all safe and whole. they do have to do a little clean-up when they get home because hardison got a little cut across his forehead and one of his knees is scraped from when he tripped in his heels and fell at one point, but once that's done and once him and parker have helped hardison take off his makeup and they've all showered and gotten into pajamas, they all curl up on the couch and watch some tv<3 and maybe hardison still smells a little lingeringly like strawberries and lipstick, and eliot periodically gets his face just under hardison's jaw to smell both

leverage ot3, 2.8k, G

written (belatedly) for @whumperless-whump-event day 9: Dropping Like Flies: Multiple whumpees / Caretaking while sick or injured / "I'll get some rest soon, I promise."

“Eliot? Where are you going?” At the sound of Parker’s disappointed voice, he turns back. She’s still got her head on the couch cushions but she’s lolled it toward him. She’s frowning, that furrow back in her brow. Eliot’s resolve wavers. “Just gonna get a couple more things,” he says. “So we don’t have to get up later.” “But you haven’t sat down since we got home. You’re hurt too. You need to sit down.”

All three of our favorite thieving trio are a little worse for wear at the end of a long day, and Eliot’s busy fussing and fretting. Someone oughta remind him he’s allowed to take it easy too.

AO3 link in title and tags under the cut! ❤️‍🩹🛋️💤

They're "not like the others", and how that shows up in their relationship is so well done. He wouldn't do those things for Hardison because he won't put the burden of knowing terrible things have happened onto Hardison.

But Parker knows that who you WERE and who you ARE is a venn diagram and anything outside the overlap doesn't really matter most of the time. She feels guilt as an emotion - but she doesn't recognize it as a personality trait. Nate, Hardison (and to some extent Sophie) all believe that to atone for their past, they need to feel guilty forever.

+ the quick warm up :)

when hardison's done playing they do watch a movie. then they take a nap, eliot sandwiched in the middle between a parker who's vacuum-sealed to his back and a hardison who's holding him to his chest, and after that it's approaching time for dinner. takeout again because eliot still doesn't feel like cooking - they walk a couple blocks to their favorite middle eastern place, and they split gyros and shawarma and fries while they chat with nick, who's both the owner and also a good friend by this point. on the way home they stop for ice cream. parker dots a smear of her cookies and cream on the end of eliot's nose so she can lick it off, and when that makes eliot laugh (just like she'd been hoping for), hardison copies her, and then they're all smearing ice cream all over each other's faces. then they get back and take a long, hot shower to unwind. hardison washes eliot's hair, and parker rubs his shoulders until he almost can't stand. then it's into pajamas and back on the couch for one more movie before bed.

the whole day, eliot's been see-sawing between feeling sad and feeling pissed off, and also wishing he didn't care either way. sometimes he wonders what his old man would think of him now, and then he kinda hates that he wonders, because what the hell does he care anyway? shouldn't matter to him anymore. and regardless, he figures that at this point he'll never know: the last time he tried to stretch out a hand it was met with nothing, and he's not sure he's got it in him to try again. aaaand there it is, so much for the "what the hell does he care" - that thought still makes him a little sick. it's just... god. it's hard. all of it is so hard. and mixed-up, and messy, and... yeah. not great. makes his eyes start to sting, and his throat feel tight.

but then parker laughs at something in the movie and hardison just happens to rub a hand over his arm, and he's reminded that he's got a family entirely of his own now. and even if that doesn't tie up every loose end of the old one, it still means a lot. a hell of a lot. actually, more than he feels like he can handle in this very second. it's a good thing he's laying down because he's sure that if he'd been standing up he would've stumbled. his heart twinges, and he buries his face in hardison's chest reflexively.

"hey," hardison says softly, hand rubbing over his arm again. "you good?"

ain't that the question. "good" maybe isn't quite the word, but he does feel a bit better, even in the overwhelm. he's got people he chose who chose him right back. people who've taken care of him all day and been there when he needed it. people who'll always be around, if he's to believe everything they've told him (and he does - they don't lie, not to him). and at the end of the day, that's really the most important thing, isn't it? parker and hardison are who he's got now. that's the thing he wants to focus on.

so eliot nods into hardison's shoulder, and when parker's arm curls further around his middle, he finds her wrist and squeezes it.

GET TO KNOW ME → (2/5 FAVOURITE MALE CHARACTERS) ALEC HARDISON