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Ho Yay / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

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  • The ending of "Loss" is a virtual cornucopia of Les Yay for Alex/Olivia, but there's evidence well before that.
  • In "Justice", Olivia scopes out a strip bar following up on a lead. The walk up from the entrance to the bar she is checking out the dancers, when the bartender points out a dancer who had last seen the perp, Olivia gives her a lingering look, and finally, the whole time she was there she couldn't quite wipe the smile from her face.
  • In comparison to everything between Alex and Olivia, Casey and Olivia were about as subtle as a flying mallet. Lots of touches, displays of concern, and comforting. Some of their most pivotal confessions are to each other. And Casey seems to show up in a lot of places she doesn't need to be given she's an ADA, even acting as Olivia's partner in Elliot's stead at times. Heck, the sheer amount of screen time they get together is grounds for subtext.
  • Olivia and Amanda quite convincingly pose as a longterm lesbian couple in "Father Dearest," complete with having a little squabble Like an Old Married Couple.
  • And there's Played for Laughs Munch/Fin Ho Yay virtually every episode. When Lake's around, it's a Ho Yay triangle.
    Fin: You talking Greek. You full of surprises.
    Munch: If I don't keep some mystery, you might grow bored and stop loving me.
  • George and Elliot have a few moments here and there, most notably when George asked Elliot to pretend to strangle him to demonstrate a possible murder scenario.
  • Stabler has a rather homoerotic scene with a religious fanatic (played by his former Oz costar Lee Tergesen) in "Savior", complete with forehead touching.
  • ADA Barba is kind of a Ho Yay magnet:
    • The homoerotic strangling thing comes up again in Barba's first episode, when he gets a male perp to choke him with a belt in front of the jury.
    • Later on, Barba is shown to have Ho Yay with other perps, especially in Comic Perversion. He called the perp good-looking, to which the perp replied that Barba "wasn't so bad himself, but he didn't swing that way" (and Barba said nothing about himself); when Barba referenced what the perp did to his victims, the perp said, "I didn't realize we were having a menage a trois"; and when Barba mentioned the victim having bruising and tearing from violent anal sex, "I'm sure you've been there, bruised that, right?" Barba seems to point out that the male perps are "good-looking" quite a lot, actually.
    • "Criminal Hatred" has Barba gets very close to a Depraved Homosexual Boomerang Bigot, with their lips almost touching Barba talking about the suspect's sexual proclivities.
    • Barba's argument with Amaro in "October Surprise" launched a lot of shipping, given that they were in close quarters in an elevator together, got way into each other's personal space, and were arguing heatedly in Spanish. It also helps that despite his anger, Nick was genuinely concerned about how Barba's actions would come back to haunt him.
    • A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, also from "October Surprise": When the squad receives a dick pick from Alex Muñoz (meant for Amanda), Fin holds up one hand to shield his eyes, and the other to block his view of the screen, while Nick looks away. Meanwhile, Barba keeps staring straight ahead at the monitor with very little change in his expression. Yes, it could have just been shock from seeing his childhood friend behave that way... or perhaps it was because Barba might have experience with seeing the privates of other men.
    • In "Padre Sandunguero," Barba and Amaro also have a bonding moment, related to their similar experiences with overbearing, abusive fathers, that would not be at all out of place in a Hurt/Comfort Fic.
    • There's a comment from Amaro's father to Barba in "Padre Sandunguero" as well that sounded like it was going to be something homophobic before he caught himself:
    • In "Thought Criminal", Barba makes an incredibly lighthearted comment to Doctor Huang about his evaluation of a suspect, reassuring him that it's okay if his findings aren't bulletproof (while in this same episode, he constantly berates the detectives for not having solid evidence, and his later interactions with a different forensic psychologist are short and snippy). Later, while Huang is being cross-examined by the defense attorney, Barba can be seen staring at him for a lot longer than necessary.
    • Since Dominick "Sonny" Carisi's arrival to the team, there has been additional subtext between Barba and Carisi. Carisi has ambition towards becoming a lawyer and constantly wishes to gain Barba's approval. During "Depravity Standard", Carisi shadows Barba during the Hodda case. There was a lot of conversation during said case, and a deleted scene had Barba and Carisi talking about jury selection and Carisi making Barba genuinely laugh.
    • Also from "Depravity Standard", when the defense attorney sees Carisi with Barba, she calls the former 'arm candy'.
    • In "Star-Struck Victims," Carisi and Barba share a moment when Carisi confesses he thinks he passed the bar exam.
      Carisi: And you've been pretty hard on me, but I want you to know that if I did pass, a lot of that's because of the time I spent working with you. I admire your, uh...
      Barba: [looks at Carisi's mouth] Suicidal streak?
    • In "Unholiest Alliance", there's Barba sympathizing with Carisi's plight. Bear in mind, whenever the two share a scene, Barba usually says something sarcastic or insulting to Carisi; here he could could see how much this bothered Carisi and instead of putting him down he shares his own doubts. No insults, jokes, or sarcasm. Just understanding.
    • Amidst the Tear Jerker that is "Heartfelt Passages", we do at least get to see Barba and Carisi toasting just between the two of them at one point.
    • "Genes" has Carisi finally snap at one of Barba's snarky remarks. He chews him out and they start arguing (in the middle of the courthouse no less), similiar to the example above with Barba and Amaro in the elevator.
    • "Contrapasso" has a moment where Barba seems to be mildly impressed with Carisi's legal knowledge:
      Carisi: Okay, well, how about we charge the three women with obstruction?
      Barba: For asserting their Fifth Amendment rights?
      Carisi: After they lied to us and obfuscated our investigation.
      Barba: Obfuscate. [smirks; in a sultry tone of voice] Yummy.
    • We also get this line directed at Barba in "Forgiving Rollins", which he doesn't even blink at:
      Perp: I don't know about you or your little 'Spanish dandy' here, but I'm straight as an axe.
    • Barba's actor, Raúl Esparza, is not only bisexual in real life, but has also indicated that he'd be fine with the character being revealed as LGBT+.note 
  • There's a subtle moment for Carisi in "Padre Sandunguero". He invites Amaro to come bowling with him and a few friends from law school, saying that some of them are attractive. Notably, Carisi uses gender neutral language in the scene, not feminine.
  • In season 1, Detective Cassidy casually refers to a couple of guys (suspects, generally) as "handsome"... even when the context wouldn't support it being used in a mocking or ironic sense.

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