have fun stormin' the castle!

I was a young and foolish baby gay when I made this

I did not understand what the word "twink" meant

EXCUSE ME???

The boy swivels to stare at Hotch, eyes wide with awe and a little bit of fear.

He clears his throat pointedly. “Spreading rumors about me, Lois?”

She hitches the baby on her hip and smiles at him, eyes wide and innocent. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”

This one hits hard in particular because Emily never usually gives this extent of a shit that she's there to "trap" the bad guy. Sure, she's always slightly bothered, because, yeah, she is luring psychotic men with a big history of harming women; Even if she isn't in direct danger, there are the past women there that she has to carry in that moment. It's usually just an "Oh, this is gonna suck." [S4 Ep 9].

But this time she points it out. She has to use Hotch's reminder to look straight and confident, but even then, the usually unshakable Emily is visibly tense and jumps at the killer behind the glass. Aaron, for all his lack of a personality sometimes [sorry], takes in her 《Easy for you to say. He tore apart 14 women》, looking so guilty for using her for this.

Emily usually maintains a removed disgust at the killers towards their victims and conceals how disturbed she is by woman after woman that she has to pretend to be for these unsubs. She does this so well that when she gets to this level of jumpiness, it's so jarring and puts all the rest into perspective.

Mephisto

Bruh! Took me ages to draw this. ^^;

Well, this page is a result of many things.

First of all, in one of my many Hotchniss timelines, there is several where they don't have kids (for various reasons) and in one of those, Emily, Aaron and Jack decide to extend the family with pets.

Then, @clem-125 from the Hotchniss Discord server challenged me to draw a cat. Because it's something I'm not used to do (I've drawn thousand of dogs and horses, but cats, not that much).

So, let me introduce you Mephisto. He's an European cat they found in a shelter, already an adult but with a complete different name. Emily, who wants a cat again (because we all know that Penelope has kept Sergio), has chose his new name. :D

a few comments here and there about his life while he was gone, laughing with old friends who are still friends no matter what, teasing him cuz he tries to call his son and gets constantly ignored with the “dad, please, i’m busy”. then jj’s like, oh yeah, i get it, teenagers gonna be teenagers, and emily’s kinda feeling left out? but it’s cool. it’s just that time’s passing and she doesn’t have that for herself, which is strange, since she always thought she would. but then again, time sucks, this job takes so much, and yeah, maybe it’s too late.

no kids, nope, well, she’s busy. really busy. this thought keeps looping in her head, and a few situations end up making her rethink it, over and over—did i do this on purpose? did i avoid making any decisions that could’ve taken me down that path because, deep down, i felt like i didn’t deserve it?

hotch finds her in her office, asks if she’s okay because she seems so distracted all the time. of course, she doesn’t say anything, she’s not big on venting, but she does ask him if he ever thought about what it’d be like if they’d made it differently all those years ago.

he’s… confused at first, mostly because he’s not sure if this is her way of allowing them to talk about all the stuff they never said, couldn’t say, or were too scared to. so he asks, what do you mean? emily’s tired of dancing around it, they’re older now, more mature, there’s not much left to lose, so she just says, “you knew how i felt about you. that’s fine. i know how you felt about me.” hotch gives her a small smile, and she gets it. she really gets it. “i can’t believe i even considered going with you. like, a part of me really wanted to, so badly. i talked to you about work every day, told you things you didn’t even want to hear, didn’t care. and i kept hoping, hoping that one day you’d ask me to, or even just… i don’t know, say you missed me. my god, i would’ve dropped everything, run off into witness protection. with you. with jack.”

“emily.” hotch looks genuinely surprised, and maybe it’s because she’s holding back tears. “you had all these things here, things you built for yourself. look at you now.”

“right,” she mutters, waving it off with a comment about their previous case, because why get into that now? it’s a waste of time.

aaand…

they kiss for the first time on new year’s, in their natural habitat—at work, of course. everyone but emily is ready to party, but at midnight, hotch brings her a glass of champagne while she’s scribbling reports. she looks up and says, “are you guys going out? i’m gonna have to pass this time, i’m so busy,”

and he laughs because, “you sound like me ten years ago,” while gently coaxing her out of her chair. she tries not to freak out, laughing nervously, rolling her neck to release the tension from hours of sitting and staring at fine print. hotch brushes her hair back, studying her face, and she lets out a deep sigh, touching her tongue to the corner of her mouth. “a little nervous?” he asks, a smile tugging at his lips. “still the same tell, huh? some things never change.”

“i really can’t go with you guys,” she insists, eying his lips, almost on the edge of feeling butterflies for the first time in over a decade.

“heard you the first time. so i’ll be your first new year’s kiss, and then i’ll get out of your hair.” okay, butterflies all the way down to her toes. she barely nods, just a slight movement, before he leans in and kisses her. it’s the best kiss she’s ever had, hands down. my god, she can’t stop thinking about it.

he literally left her to do her job and went out partying with the others. he’s learned to live more than she has over these years, and honestly, it’s not bad. it’s not terrible. it’s nice.

their relationship grows through little moments scattered throughout the season—tender touches, good morning kisses, emily jumping out of bed late, the looks they share. they talk about the moments they’ve lived, the times they wanted to say something and didn’t, or do something and held back. “do you remember that time we…?”

the first time emily faces any life-threatening situation, hotch’s immediate reaction when he sees her getting her cheek stitched up is: “that was really brave of you to do.”

“hotch,” she winces, frowning through the pain as the stitch hurts. “really?”

“okay, what, are you out of your mind? didn’t you wait for backup?”

“that’s much better, thank you. and, no, it’d be too late.”

“almost died,” he crosses his arms, and emily is doing everything she can not to bite her nails. “i’m gonna need you to marry me. is that okay with you?”

and emily’s like, “what?”

“you heard me right. i want you, and i want to do this, all of it. you’ve always wanted kids, and you’ve been thinking about it, don’t lie to me, and it’s not too late. and we’re gonna do it, you and i. there’s surrogacy, adoption… we can—”

yeahh…. so.

gimme gimme.

to give the cm writers a chance to finally right their wrongs, emily dates a 6’2 prosecutor with huge hands and has a son from a previous marriage and is partial to designer ties and recently acquired reading glasses 👀

maybe he sometimes texts her in the morning or at night when he knows she’s working a case or smth and can’t take a phone call idk

pick up what i’m putting down, writers. pick. it. up. ✍️

Starting 2025 with Hotchniss 💫

— emily prentiss & aaron hotchner