#leverage headcanon

Nate: Shawn thinks he’s a little too much like Henry. He can see in Nate’s stare that he’s analyzing him, trying to solve him like a puzzle. Nate sees some of himself in Shawn - the dislike of authority, the observational skills, tunnel vision on a con case. It’s clear that he was also trained from a young age. Nate’s curiosity is piqued. After the two have some downright awkward interactions (Nate trying to investigate and Shawn dodging to the best of his ability), Sophie suggests the two sit down and play chess to get them to lighten up. Friendly competition always forges a connection, right?

The game lasts several hours. No one wins because it ends when Eliot smacks the pieces off the board. Shawn offers to set it back up exactly how it was, but Eliot’s glare shuts him up. Sophie’s suggestion worked, though. Shawn will at some point mention his poker skills, and Nate, ever the competitive spirit, invites him to play a game. The team prevents this from happening at all costs.

Sophie: Having done some digging on some of Shawn’s stunts, she is convinced that he has the potential to be a good grifter. While he’s with the team, she tries her best to give him as many tips and tricks as possible. She has some second thoughts when hearing his attempts at various accents though. (And seeing him repeatedly fail to understand the word subtle.)

Shawn, while often joking around, and sometimes going directly against her advice (Subtle, Shawn! It’s like Parker all over again…), does pay attention to what she says. He has more fun with her when she takes him to a cafe. They sip their drinks and describe people in the cafe just by their tells and other observed traits. She quizzes him on how one could grift them. More fun than counting hats Shawn thinks.

Parker: She is told in advance that Shawn isn’t actually psychic. She’s intrigued over him having an eidetic memory. Mostly over the fact that he hasn’t gone into crime (“He could break into so many things!”). When Shawn learns of her skills, he tells her about Gus’ terrible safecracking skills and his magazine subscription. She cackles for a solid five minutes. Afterwards, she sits him down with 10 of the most popular safes and locks. She shows him how to crack each one - smug because she knows she only has to show him once.

Hardison: Shawn freaks him out. He just thinks there’s something off about him. To him, Shawn’s a weird combination of Nate’s observational and deductive skills and Eliot’s hyper-specific knowledge about government agencies.

(Hardison is briefing the team on their current big bad. Shawn interrupts “he’s a former CIA agent” The team looks at him. He shrugs. 

“Why can both Spencers do that?” Parker asks.

“Dude it’s obvious from his…” “It’s a very distinctive…” the Spencers trail off, having spoken at the same time.

“That’s freaky, that ain’t natural” Hardison says in response.)

Shawn notices Hardison’s wariness, and naturally, decides to mess with him for a bit. Eliot supports this. This goes as well as expected.

Eliot: While he appears aloof, he’s glad to see Shawn after so many years. He was initially hesitant to introduce him to the team, but he doesn’t regret it. Perhaps it gives him a small feeling of relief, or peace, to show Shawn what he does and how he’s changed. How, like Shawn, he’s doing good things (through morally dubious means). He knows that Shawn’s tried to keep tabs on him, regardless of how well Hardison’s scrubbed him off the internet.

Shawn knows that Eliot is aware of him trying to find him. He hopes the message comes across. He’s seen enough crimes to understand that good people can get caught up in bad things. The two avoid getting sappy, but Eliot jokingly reminds Shawn that Shawn “still owes him one for saving his ass at the Mexican border”.