Hellooo! I come with the most basic ask haha
What's your favorite thing about Morgan's character? And about Reid's character? What season made you ship them?
My favourite part about Morgan is his deep, profound empathy, even when it costs him.
Prentiss pegs him early on, when she says "you make the people around you feel good", and that is, I maintain, absolutely central to his character.
An example that stands out to me is his interactions with the unsub Stephen in In Heat (closested gay man who is killing bc of sexuality struggles). And whether you read with with queer!Morgan lenses or not, Morgan being the one to stand there, victimised the way he was, and tell this unsub there is nothing wrong with him for being gay is just... it breaks me.
The way he bears his own trauma, something he buried for 20 years, relives that and hurts himself when he knows it will help someone else, is absolutely heart wrenching.
And I know the other characters share their trauma, but to me personally (your mileage may vary etc), the disclosure of being a survivor of sexual violence (especially in childhood) is such a significant and raw trauma to relive over and over. It's a hard one to speak openly about. And Morgan does it, even when it costs him, because he knows it will help someone.
My favourite part about Reid's character is just how strong he is. I could go on about empathy for him too, but the strength of Reid to keep coming back, fight on, to push himself, that's what gets me.
I believe there is strength in softness, but Reid's the character who I think suffers from the woobification the worst with Criminal Minds, and sometimes that means people's interpretations of him strip him of agency, which I think I identify with from a very autistic point of view.
I don't mean the tendency for Reid to be the focal of "whump" (reid's targetted/kidnapped/hurt) bc I love that shit as much as the next gay, but sometimes the woobification extends to making Reid meek, submissive, helplessness, when it's just not true.
He's smart, quick witted, snarky, can absolutely be a mean git, adaptable to situations, both socially awkward and socially intelligent at once. He knows his worth and knows when people understimate and undermine him. Sometimes it feels like this gets forgotten within fandom. Which isn't a big deal in the end, these are not real people but paper dolls we make kiss, but Reid's strength is so central to why I love him.
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The exact moment it went from "oh that's kinda cute" to "they are in love and i will die for them" was season 2x12, profiler, profiled, when Morgan's sisters and mother absolutely clock Reid.
"Derek talks about you."
I was a goner then, that was it. Forever OTP, canon and increasingly inconsistant writing and a fundamentaly homophobic network (fuck u CBS) be damned. They're it. They're endgame for me.
Related, the closest "canon" moment where I think they could have been made real honest to god canon would have been season 4's Amplification. Should have had them kiss in that hospital room and broken ground for queer rep on network TV.
But at least we have fanfiction!
