#ppl send me hcs whenever you want and I'll ramble mini stories at you

[katytheinspiredworkaholic]

Okay new Hotch/Reid headcanon cuz you said to send them to you and I’m watching CM right now and my brain doesn’t stop- Everything about the way Reid dresses screams “don’t look at me”... except his ridiculous socks. Hotch finds this little quirk endlessly endearing.

HE MOST CERTAINLY DOES <3

For those early season Reid actively goes out of his way to try and dress older than he is, and I know that’s probably a tactic engrained into him to make people try to take him more seriously as a doctor and not just a very young FBI agent. And we see his style change and evolve over the seasons, but he does still try to keep that trait of professional, academic aesthetic clothing, and you are very right all of it is designed to basically make people look him over. ‘Nothing to see here, just another agent working the crime scene.’ 

But when he joins he’s still, what, 24? 23? I can’t quite remember how old they say he is during that birthday scene in season 1. So I bet the first time Hotch notices he’s wearing different colored socks he probably thought he just hadn’t found a matching pair that morning. Or forgot to do laundry. And even that little (incorrect) thought would have been endearing because it reminds him that Reid can be subject to human error, act his age. It’s relatable.

But then he notices it’s happening everyday. Different colored socks, and a lot of times they’re solid color but sometimes they have patterns and quirky images like lamas or coffee cups. So one day, on the jet after a case, he has to ask. He HAS to, it’s become this thing he actively searches for now and he should not be having his day brightened by whatever sock patterns Reid is wearing. 

And I know MGG literally does it for good luck, but Reid feels too logical for superstition like that so I’m sure he’ll fall into this big long tangent about order vs. chaos and maybe might get lost in a philosophical debate he’d been reading about because he’s working on finishing his M.A. in philosophy and kind of doesn’t get to his point about the socks. But Hotch, who always listens to Reid no matter what and hears what he says without tuning him out, reads between the lines and realizes it’s basically because it makes Reid happy to have something a little skewed and out of place through his day. 

And years later, when they’re together, I’d like to think he still finds it just so endearing when Reid’s different colored socks show beneath his pajama pants or when he crosses his legs on the table. Or when he’s putting them back on after sex. Never fails to make Hotch smile. 

And after they move in together, when he does their laundry, Hotch will pair up Reid’s socks mismatched for him when he’s folding their clothes.