Everytime I Think About Hotch's Dynamic With Garcia I Lose My Mind. Familial, Platonic, Romantic, However

everytime i think about hotch's dynamic with garcia i lose my mind. familial, platonic, romantic, however you view it (although the last of those is very underrated) it's so different and i think it's the best evidence of who hotch is internally, and that most of what he shows in the rest of the show is a mask.

hotch is far gentler with penelope than he is with the rest of the team, partially because she's the furthest removed from the rest of the team and he has the ability to treat her more gently, but also because he can relax around her. i don't even think hotch actively tries to treat garcia so gently, i think he just lets his guard down around her and the rest comes naturally. and also she's his favourite. i will accept no argument /hj

EMILY PRENTISS & SPENCER REID

6x17 valhalla

Criminal Minds (2005–2020)

2.01 The Fisher King, Part 2 | 2.15 Revelations

I do.

the Genuine confusion in reid's voice is going to kill me. he's not asking this because he's angry, or upset. he legitimately doesn't understand. which, i mean. pot meet kettle. but god.

so...i haven't been posting the rewritten versions of my works on tumblr because it's just not seemed like "enough" but the rewritten version of "like the strength of an army" may or may not have gained an additional 2.5k words in the rewrite. 2.1k of which were in chapter two. whoops.

read on ao3, but mind the tags. there's also a non-triggering snippet under the cut, but it's therefore pretty nonindicative

“Look—” Emily started once the silence grew too painful, but the universe had other plans, specifically their server approaching to introduce himself and get their drink orders. He was new but also lovely, and once he left, Reid returned to staring mutely. At least this time he was looking at her, which was almost progress. His gaze was awfully intense, and Emily wondered if this was how it felt to be an evidence board. She met it evenly, though, unwilling to be the first to look away. He was searching for something in her eyes, of that she was certain. What he was looking for…not as much. Judgement? Pity? Anything other than the affection and understanding she felt for him? Whatever it was, he apparently didn’t find it, blinking hard and looking down at his menu, cheeks slightly pinker than before. “Look,” Emily said again once Reid had set his menu back down. He’d spent a suspiciously long time staring at it, considering his reading speed and familiarity with the food, but she didn’t comment on his stalling. “I’m here for you, you know that, right? I’m not going anywhere.” She paused, giving him a moment to respond. He didn’t, but he did start folding and unfolding the corner of his menu. “And I’m not going to interrogate you about what happened a few weeks ago—” Reid tore the edge of the menu, then started tearing the other edges to (poorly) pretend it had been intentional.