I Know Canon Suggests Reid And Ethan Met As Children But Ive Always Pictured Reid As A Friendless Child

i know canon suggests reid and ethan met as children but ive always pictured reid as a friendless child (sorry </3) and so to me they met in college and in my brain they Did Not Get Along at first. anyway here's my reid/ethan timeline:

reid graduates HS at twelve, takes a gap year because he's worried about leaving diana, then goes to college at fourteen

during reid's second year, ethan starts, having graduated HS at sixteen—also early, because anyone who reid can describe as someone he "competed with constantly" has to also be very intelligent

they meet one way or another, and reid fucking hates ethan. ethan likes reid at first, but when he picks up on reid's dislike of him, he responds in kind and they form a rivalry

the reason reid hates ethan at first is because he sees ethan as being him, but better in every way. growing up as a friendless, awkward child with a...complicated family, reid rationalised to himself that that was just the price he had to pay for being as intelligent as he was. so what if he's dodging cps? so what if he's facing relentless bullying? so what if he can't figure out how everyone navigates social situations so easily while he fumbles? he's a genius. it's fine, it's an exchange. it's one or the other and he's okay with that. and then...ethan. ethan is extroverted and personable and likable, has a close and largely uncomplicated relationship with his family, and is also a genius. and now reid has no choice to admit to himself that everything fucked up about his childhood wasn't the universe balancing itself, but just...fucked up. and he hates ethan for making him think about that.

i have three different ideas of how they eventually become friends: a happy one, where ethan, who, yes, responds to reid's obvious dislike of him by also being a shitty teenage boy, but who also is determined to kill him with kindness and annoy the shit out of him until reid gives in and stops also being a shitty teenage boy. then a darker one, where reid somehow discovers ethan's own demons (either his alcoholism or the issues that led to it) and is like "oh nvm i was right! we geniuses really are doomed to be unhappy people :) we can be friends now" although ethan would eventually knock some sense into him. and finally a silly one where they're mid-argument and then for reasons neither of them can name, they kiss. they argue to this day about who initiated

anyway. they decide to keep up a facade of dislike because their rivalry has become kind of infamous on campus and it would be so embarrassing if they had to admit they like eachother now. god can you imagine. so in public they have increasingly dramatic arguments and then laugh about in private. especially true if you, like me, believe there was something non-platonic going on between them, simply for safety reasons. one person sees them making out in a closet but nobody believes them when they try to spread that around because wtf are you talking about. they want eachother dead. if you're going to invent a rumour at least make it believable god.

hotch's face when he realises he sent jj and reid to the unsub's house 😭

i have all the feelings about the hugs at the end of revelations as everyone else does but i have especially big feelings about the fact that. yeah theyre hugs. but theyre also physically holding him upright. if you watch while him and jj are hugging, jj even seems to buckle a little. i need to lay down for several hours

okay reid now is literally the worst time to be a smartass

reid's face when he sees himself in the mirror is going to make me sob. the things that must be going through his head. (am i really about to do this? who am i looking at?)

something that i think is Very funny about the first scene with reid and ethan is that reid jumpscares ethan (and the audience) and to me it seems like it was intentional. like yes he's smiling because he has dumb gay feelings but hes also smiling like "haha i got you >:)"

do you think he did this regularly when they were friends (or together, depending on how you read their relationship). do you think ethan was scared every time he turned a corner because half the time reid would be standing there like 🧍‍♂️