I Wonder If It Took Him A Second To Decide Between Past And Present Tense. Haha. Ha. Hh.

i wonder if it took him a second to decide between past and present tense. haha. ha. hh.

“I need you to record a message for her, in case anything happens to me… I really want to make sure that she hears my voice”

i really like this moment for its reminder that nathan is a child. anton yelchin was seventeen when this episode aired (not sure when it was filmed), and given that nathan is said to be a highschool sophomore, he's even younger. fifteen, maybe sixteen? (i was fifteen at the start of grade ten, sixteen when it ended, and i was almost always the oldest person in the class)

i think sometimes that's missed. not than nathan is very young, because that's an important part of the episode, but fifteen specifically. not so much a young man frightened by his own desires but a child. i couldnt get a screenshot of it because it's a very quick and subtle movement, but nathan's statement in the second screenshot is provoked by reid simply nodding in response to his first. he's so young that reid is the older authority figure he's looking up to and seeking reassurance from.

and judging by reid's expression after nathan leaves, he's just been reminded too.

this exchange is so good and funny and gay. the line delivery is great and the way morgan's eyes dart down a little is hilarious. but i just can't laugh at this scene because i have worms in my brain.

all i can think about in this scene is how incredibly dehumanizing this would feel. for anyone, but especially for reid, given the goalpost incident*. i wonder if that crossed morgan's mind as well—he leaves entirely when he could turn his back.

*is there a better way to refer to that? i'd refer to it as "his SA" but a. a decent number of people would probably assume i was referring to the theory about his dad and b. not a lot of people seem to see the goalpost incident as SA

thinking about reid's parentification again. hh. someone yell with me.

random cm headcanon: reid sneezes like a bomb going off

hotch's expression after hearing that reid has been exposed is so fine and normal and i'm so fine and normal about it. haha. collapses and dies.