#lex hcs

[spritehouse]

spencer & luke: let's both learn sign language so we can talk from our desks without anyone listening

spencer & luke across the bullpen at each other: 👉👌

[spritehouse]

one headcanon hill i will DIE ON is luke alvez being a natural lefty, but he taught himself to be a righty because he was raised catholic in the 70s

but he still retained his left-handedness to some extent, and as he got older and redefined his relationship with catholicism, he started alternating between hands and became ambidextrous, but still prefers his right hand in most day-to-day activities after favoring it for so many years

and then he joins the bau, and as luke gets more comfortable (1) with himself and (2) with the people around him, he stops putting so much conscious thought into which hand he uses, and maybe he gets injured or something, but at some point, spencer notices luke writing with his left hand and brings it up while they're alone, which leads to luke kinda just spilling his guts about how some older and less tolerant parts catholicism still affect him, and for the following weeks, spencer just starts writing with his left hand too because he's technically ambidextrous (his handwriting is god awful with both hands)

its just a small gesture, but it helps luke feel a little less isolated and he eventually starts using his left hand pretty regularly until penelope, the team's resident lefty since hotch left, finds out, and she makes a huge deal out of it and gets him all kinds of pens and a collection of other odd trinkets designed for lefties, and luke just feels so seen

also he's good with both his hands iykwim ;]

[spritehouse]

hc that luke and spencer use sign language to talk shit/gossip with each other

like they'll be on a case and the locals are pissing them off and luke will just look at spencer like

are you seeing this shit

or they're bored at their desks so spencer will keep luke updated on whatever drunken confessions the girls let slip the night before

and then there's a case where someone they need to talk to is hoh/nonverbal or something and the police officers are like "does anyone here know sign language" and before either of them can say anything, emily just looks them dead in the eyes while standing up, saying she's fluent

and then spencer just slowly turns to luke when she leaves and just signs we're fucked

[spritehouse]

gender fluid spencer reid hc that when the team notices he's feeling more fem/less comfortable with being masc, they'll switch to "reid" (if they were in a setting where they'd usually call him spencer) or pen/penny (which got a little confusing with penelope at first but she was more than happy to share).

derek will switch from "pretty boy" to "kid" or sometimes "pretty girl" when they're in private bc spencer gets self conscious in public

jj helps him with makeup that's subtle and more androgynous, and always carries makeup wipes in case he gets dysphoric

penelope paints spencer's nails and takes him shopping, making him feel better about buying more fem clothes by getting the flashiest outfits she can find to draw attention away from him

hotch was already adamant about correcting people when they don't use "doctor" for reid before he came out, but (with permission) he doubles down on it when he notices more masculine terms are making spencer uncomfortable

emily is also gnc/genderfluid and they'll swap clothes (when they'll fit) sometimes. they hype each other up (and penelope, who's gnc) and help each other when they're feeling dysphoric

[spritehouse]

teenage/young hotch headcanons for the soul

trigger warning for mentioned child abuse

he got in a lot of fights as a kid hotch was never a bully, but he sought out conflict. he always had that typical "stern, tough guy" hotch look and was guarded and defensive + he always knew how to read people and figure out what to say to keep them at arm's length, which got him in some trouble when he was younger. he knew how to take a beating (kudos to his father) and wanted some kind of control, so he started initiating fights (verbally, letting the other side escalate it) for the adrenaline.

he would practice smiling, introducing himself, facial expressions, etc. in the mirror mandatory autism behavior hc. hotch is autistic, argue with the wall.

he did enjoy being a lawyer hotch became a lawyer because that's what was expected of him, even after he left home and cut ties with his family, the expectation that he would be a lawyer was all he knew, and he did thrive in the profession.

looks almost exactly like his father spite's mandatory angst hc. hotch resembles his father and everyone pointed it out when he was young. people would always tell him how he'll be just like his father when he grew up and it was (& still is) his biggest fear.

comes from a small town everyone knew everyone in their town, and everyone knew his father, a nice, normal guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. no one understood where hotch got his "difficult behavior" because the rest of his family was so nice

sean was the golden child typical older/younger sibling dynamic. sean was a little bit of a troublemaker, but he didn't openly rebel the way hotch did to take the focus off of his younger brother, painting him in a better light growing up. the hotchner household (and the rest of the town) treasured sean while aaron was the problem child

[spritehouse]

thinking about luke getting super affectionate clingy when he's drunk, or even just tipsy

like in public he's usually more subtle about pda because spencer prefers it, but once the alcohol hits that all goes out the window, so he's just constantly by spencer's side telling him how much he loves him, kissing him, playing with his hair, etc. and when they're alone/not in public he'll hold spencer's hand and just follow him everywhere

one time spencer went on a ramble about something and at the end of it luke just started crying and when spencer asked what was wrong he just said "there will never be words to say how much i love you" and then immediately fell asleep in spencer's lap

AND ALSO ROXY

he gets so excited to see roxy, one time spencer came home to him asleep on the floor with roxy in his arms and when he woke him up he was like "... she's not allowed on the couch and i wanted to hug her... :[" and after that spencer let roxy on the couch because he doesn't want luke sleeping on the floor

[spritehouse]

OKAY hear me out

so luke with whistle stims/tics, right? yes. but, they get worse/more frequent with stress (totally not self projecting here)

so spencer and derek start associating his whistle with luke being stressed/having a hard time, and they start whistling little tunes and bits of songs back to him—nothing too long or disruptive, but often songs that luke likes listening to or just generally happy tunes—until he starts picking up on them and whistling them back

and after that, whenever luke starts to get stressed out, he starts whistling the songs and they help him calm down/ground him and remind him to take a step back to breathe

[spritehouse]

some poly luke/spencer/derek hcs

bc im So Normal and Healthy abt them.

1. luke and derek call spencer their partner (+ spencer very giddily calls them his boyfriends)

2. it started with spencer as the hinge but then luke and derek started dating after they realized they were attracted to each other too

3. luke and derek spoil spencer. they're so fucking gone for him; spencer has them wrapped around his finger

4. their bed is three grown men and their two big-ass dogs all trying to fit onto one mattress. roxy and clooney are not allowed on the bed because they're too big but that never stops them

5. luke always wakes up first, then derek, then spencer luke will stay in bed until derek wakes up, and then they'll take the dogs out/go on a run together and get back in time to make spencer coffee

6. luke is the driver spencer is an awful driver and derek gets road rage, so luke drives most of the time (+ passenger princess spencer and derek in the backseat with the dogs)