Disclaimers: Criminal Minds, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.
Spoilers: Season 5, AU!

Written for a prompt on the cmpromptmeme on LJ. I will warn you (and in this case warn seems appropriate) that I have never written Hotch nor Rossi before and only did short drabbles for CM before this story.

Prompt: Hotch/Rossi - widower with kid meets the kid's soccer coach (who may or may not need a hand with the kids)

"Jack, come on, let's go, buddy." Hotch called for his son, picking up the boy's backpack. Jack came running from his room, sliding on the hardwood floor. With a sigh, Hotch took in the shoes in the boy's hands.

"I'm almost ready, Daddy." Jack told him, sitting down and putting on his shoes before trying to tie them. Hotch gave a short glance at the watch. They were already running late, but he'd most likely make up for it if the streets were empty.

"Hey, why don't you let me do those?" he suggested in a cheery tone, but Jack shook his head, a determined frown on his face, his tongue peeking out between his lips as the boy concentrated on getting the laces done. Aaron turned around and rubbed a hand over his face so the boy wouldn't see the frustration on it. Ever since he had tried teaching Jack how to do his shoelaces, the child was determined to do it himself. Any intervention from his father ended with a temper tantrum of almost epic proportions, complete with shrill crying and throwing on the floor. This morning, he had even tried to kick at his father and it had taken all of Aaron's strength not to snap at the boy but remain calm.

Ever since his wife's death six months ago, he tried his best to replace her for Jack. To be there and be both, the stern parent and the empathetic and warm one that would eventually give in. It had been a lot easier when he and Haley had divided the roles between them, not just for the adults but also for Jack. The boy was confused and testing his father's limits anew, unsure of his reactions every time. And really, Aaron couldn't blame the child.

"Okay, hey, I just remembered, I vacuumed the car today." Aaron came up with an idea. Jack look up at him, the laces of one shoe completely messed up, and his father could see the frustration building already. "Why don't you ride in socks today? Just so it doesn't get dirty again already." he suggested and Jack's eyes lit up. He pulled off his shoes and made for the door, leaving Hotch to bring his backpack and discarded footwear.

"I didn't mean you could run down the driveway in your socks." the man muttered to himself as he closed the door to their house behind him, pointedly ignoring the huge FOR SALE sign on the lawn.

Soccer had been his idea. Hayley had suggested that maybe, Jack should pick up some sort of sport. Not because he needed the exercise, but because they didn't have any friends with children and Jack could use the interaction with children of his age. Get used to being around others before he would start school next year.

He had been supposed to start this year, but then his mother had died, and Hotch hadn't wanted to spring even more change on the boy. Maybe that had been a mistake, seeing as now he would be a year older than everyone else in his class. Aaron knew how merciless children could be if they wanted to find someone to pick on.

A glance in the rearview mirror showed him his son, mouthing along to the words of the children's song on the radio and watching the landscape fly past outside the window. He really hoped that he was doing the right thing for Jack. If Hayley had been here, she would have known what to do. Or at least, they could have talked it out between them, deciding on something together. But with her death, he was now the one making all the decisions.

He had wanted a team sport for Jack, something that forced him to work with the other children, not like tennis where he'd be competing against them alone. And given his lack of hand-eye coordination, anything involving throwing a ball had been out of the question anyway. Plus, one of his colleagues had played soccer in high school and still told tales of the magnificent bond of the team and how much she had enjoyed it. So with JJ, he had found a Little League team and called and asked if they had a free spot for Jack. Surprisingly, they did. Apparently, the old coach had moved away with his family and the new one was still getting the hang of it and as a result, a few families had left the team to find other teams that were "better suited for their children's abilities".

"We're here." Aaron declared as he pulled into the parking space. He took off his seatbelt and turned around, watching Jack look out the window and take in his surroundings. He was a sweet kid, but incredibly shy. Hayley had told him it would pass in time, but now Aaron worried that he was demanding too much, that this had been a splendidly bad idea.

"You ready to play some soccer?" he asked his son and Jack nodded eagerly, kicking against the passenger seat. Aaron got out and opened the boy's door, preventing him from getting out. "Let me put on your shoes." he told the boy and Jack complied, too busy watching the other children and their parents to protest that he was a big boy and could do it alone. Hotch kneeled down and quickly put on his son's shoes before stepping aside to let him get out of the car before grabbing the boy's backpack and locking the car.

"Hey, calm down!" a man on the sidelines shouted over the yells of the flock of children surrounding him. From the whistle hanging around his neck and the clipboard in his hand as well as the baseball cap with 'Go Penguins!' on it, Hotch made a wild guess that the man was the coach and steered Jack towards him.

"Hello." he greeted the other man. "Aaron Hotchner." he introduced himself.

"Right, we talked on the phone." the man nodded, shaking Aaron's hand. "David Rossi. And you must be Jack." he turned to the boy, who made an attempt to hide behind Aaron's legs.

"He's shy." Hotch commented.

"Aren't they all?" the coach sighed. "Okay, LISTEN UP!" he raised his voice over the children's yells. Surprisingly, most of them shut up quickly and sat down on the grass, facing their coach.

"Okay, we have a new team mate. This is Jack Hotchner." Rossi told the other children, pointing to Jack, who gave a small wave. "Say hello to him."

"Hi Jack!" the team chorused, most of them sounding less than enthusiastic.

"Ray, go take Jack to your mom so he can get a uniform." Rossi pointed to a boy with short black hair who was busy ripping out the grass at his knees. The boy looked up, startled, before he nodded and got up, taking Jacks hand and pulling the boy with him. Jack looked over his shoulder at his father, his eyes wide.

"Okay, the others, go. 3 laps, and I don't want to see any shortcuts."

The boys got up and starting running along the sidelines of the field.

"You're letting them do laps?" Aaron asked, a little surprised, both at the decision of the coach and the somewhat gruff tone he used with the young children. Everyone he had ever seen interact with Jack had been sweet and nice and bending down to his level instinctively. David Rossi remained standing, his arms crossed. His beard covered most of his face and was probably adding to the slightly intimidating impression children must be getting from the man.

"No." Rossi shook his head, looking at the children and checking his clipboard. "I'm trying to figure out who's here. They have trouble remembering their own names. So do I." he shrugged. "Roll call turned out to be a bad idea. 20 boys with nothing to do to keep them occupied- HEY I SAW THAT!" he yelled across the field. Aaron looked up in time to see one of the boys gets up from the grass and brush himself off. Sure enough, after one lap Rossi declared that it was good enough, by which time Ray had brought back Jack, now clad in the team's colors blue and green. A penguin for a mascot and blue and green as colors. Aaron wondered who had come up with that idea.

"Okay, everyone grab a partner. Jack, say bye to Daddy." Rossi turned to the kid. Sensing the boy's hesitation, Aaron ruffled his hair before pointing towards the other parents. He went over to stand with them, watching as Rossi ended up pairing them himself before handing out balls and letting them do some exercises together.

"Oh no. Nononono." the woman next to him muttered when the children lined up to take some kicks at the goal. Aaron frowned lightly until he realized that Rossi had actually put one the children in as keeper. Even he could sense that this could be a potentially bad idea.

"Oh boy." another mother sighed, shaking her head. Sure enough, the fourth kid managed to mess up and send the ball flying at his teammate's head. Aaron winced when he heard the impact. They didn't have a lot of strength behind their kicks, but judging from the boy's crying it had still hurt.

"I'm going to murder him." the woman next to Aaron hissed as she stalked across the field to pluck up her child from the grass and take him home. At least she enough sense not to make a scene in front of the other children.

"How did Jack like it?" Rossi asked Hotch when he showed up at the field the next day.

"Well enough." Hotch shrugged. Jack had liked the practice and declared he wanted to play soccer before asking if he had to play on that team. When Aaron had asked him why he didn't want to play with the other kids, Jack had hidden his face in his pillow and muttered he didn't like Coach Dave and declared him to be a 'scary man'.

"Mister Rossi-" he started, but the older man made a throwaway gesture with his hand.

"Dave." he corrected him.

"Dave, then." Hotch shrugged, not really caring what he addressed the man as. "I'm not sure if this is the right thing for Jack." he started slowly. To his surprise, Dave gave a deep sigh and put away the ball he was filling up with air.

"Let me guess, this isn't about me." he turned to Hotch. "I swear, every time a parent pulls their kid from the team, the way they make it sounds feels weirdly like they're breaking up with me."

Aaron gave a short grin before sobering.

"I'm not interested in a successful team, Mi- Dave." he corrected himself. "I want Jack to get out some, make friends. He lost his mother earlier this year and I think he should be doing something else besides spending time with me and his aunt."

"You mentioned that." Dave nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mister Hotchner."

"Thank you, and it's Aaron." he nodded. "But I don't necessarily think that you know what you are doing with the children." Hotch said, watching as the other man sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"I'm starting to think taking over this team was a dumb move." Dave admitted, sitting down on a bench. Aaron furrowed his brows.

"Why did you do it, then?" he asked the man, sitting down beside him.

"I used to play soccer in high school and college. I liked it. My wife and I divorced recently and I moved here. I thought it would give me something to do." the man shook his head. "I didn't think it would be this different. Have you seen how often I have to say something until they get it, and half the time I end up doing it myself anyway?"

Hotch gave a short laugh. "Yeah, that seems familiar." he smiled, shaking his head at how often he ended up doing what he told Jack to do, simply because it took less time. "Working with kids that age is… difficult." he allowed.

"Tell me about it." Rossi muttered, eyeing him. "What do you do for a living?" he asked Aaron, who raised his eyebrows.

"Me?" he asked, pointing at himself. "I'm a lawyer. Used to work for one of the big firms, but ever since we had Jack, I've been trying to cut hours to be there as often as I can. The firm I worked for didn't like that, so I quit and am now working for a small, local one. Nothing exciting, but it lets me be close to Jack and gives me regular hours."

Dave nodded, thoughtfully.

"What would you think about becoming the assistant coach?" he suggested and Aaron's eyes widened.

"Assistant coach? For a Little League soccer team?" he frowned. "I know next to nothing about soccer, and-"

"I'm there for the technical stuff. You're there for the kid's stuff." Dave interrupted him. When Aaron still looked skeptical, he sighed. "I can't work with kids, but I know the rules and can teach them to you. You know how to talk to them. Perfect match."

Aaron sighed. He hadn't actually wanted to become that involved in this whole soccer thing. But then again, if he wanted Jack to give this a real chance, he probably should start showing some interest in this, too…

It didn't take long to sell their house and find a suitable apartment for him and Jack. And a few days after that, David started coming over regularly, bringing recordings of old soccer games and tables full of statistics with him.

They would cook or order take out and have dinner with Jack before the boy went to bed and the two men started working on strategies.

Dave actually had a lot of passion for soccer ("I'm Italian, what can I say?") and whenever he mentioned the games he participated in, his eyes glazed over slightly and a look of complete happiness settled on his face.

Slowly, Aaron gained some insight into the person that was David Rossi. He used to be a chef, but after owning three successful restaurants and selling them, he had taken a very early retirement and was now enjoying free time. He rarely talked about his many failed marriages, but when he did, it was apparent that he mostly blamed himself for the relationships falling apart and had obviously loved the women he had been with.

And Aaron was thankful for someone to talk to about adult topics, besides his colleagues. They might work for the same firm, but they were still mostly strangers to him. He never really made an effort to befriend any of them, and now that Hayley was gone, he regretted that.

It felt good to talk about her, too. How much he missed her and what an amazing mother she had been. For the first time, he could admit that they had struggled with their marriage before she had died and considered a temporary separation. That didn't change that he had loved her very much and missed her a lot.

With Dave as teacher, he started watching soccer games and became mildly interested in the sport. Though they both agreed that the primary goal of the team wasn't to win (Aaron was relieved when Dave pointed out that they wouldn't actually be keeping score, at least not officially), but to teach the children team play and to just let them have as much fun as possible.

"Yes, yes!" Aaron yelled, watching as Cody somehow managed to get the ball from a boy of the opposing team.

"WRONG DIRECTION!" Dave shouted next to him, pointing at the other goal frantically in hopes of one of the kids telling their teammate that he was running for their own goal. Cody looked up, halting in his steps and the team captain of the other team took the chance and stole the ball, making a beeline for the goal and managing to score.

"NO!" Rossi yelled, turning around and hiding his face in his hands as Aaron shook his head and crossed his arms. Okay, they definitely had to work on their sense of direction.

At half-time, Aaron watched as Rossi pulled himself together and cheered the boys on, trying not to let too much of his frustration show. They weren't officially keeping score, but they both knew that the parents did and that their team was losing 3 to 10 right now. Still, the important thing, what they had been drilling into the parents and Aaron repeated to Rossi every time before practice, was that the kids had fun. And they all seemed like they did.

"Okay, huddle up." Dave called when the whistle of the referee sounded. The boys scampered into a circle, putting their hands in, Aaron and Dave joining them.

"One, two, three, go penguins!" they shouted and sent the kids off again for the second half of the game.

90 minutes later, the whole team was in a small diner to celebrate the first game of the season, despite losing spectacularly. But they weren't keeping score, of course.

Aaron helped cut the children's food with Dave before sitting down himself. The man's cousin owned the place and they got the food for free.

"We didn't do that bad." he said, chewing on a french fry he had stolen from his son. Jack stuck out his tongue before digging into his food again and talking to the other kids. In the two months that Jack had been part of the team and Aaron had helped out with coaching, the boy had become close friends with two of the boys, one of them Ray, whose mother was responsible for the children's uniforms. The change in him was impressive, he was slowly becoming more outgoing and less shy and didn't cling to his father as much as before, walking off to join his friends on the field as soon as they arrived at practice every time. Aaron was confident that it would carry on once he started school and that it would be easier for him to make friends. He didn't have to worry too much about that any longer and it was a huge relief.

"It was okay." Dave shrugged, taking a sip of his water. He had been making a real effort to learn how to deal with the children and talk to them on their level, treating them as children and not tiny adults. It was still apparent that he had little experience and his patience tended to run out pretty fast when they were fooling around on the field, but on those days he handed everything over to Aaron and just sat back.

"I got a question." Aaron started, turning the cap he had been wearing around in his hands.

"Huh?" Dave turned to him. He had agreed to a shave every once in a while, allowing his face to be more open and for the kids to better read his facial expressions and moods, actually making it possible to detect the occasional grin on the man's face.

"Why penguins?" Aaron asked the other man, showing him the baseball cap with their mascot. Rossi chuckled.

"I asked Rick the same thing when I took over for him." Dave told him, wordlessly reaching out and taking the fork from one of the boys who had used it to poke one of the other kids, giving him a stern look.

"So?"

"Well, to quote him, 'a penguin is the sort of bird that only flies as far as you throw it'."

Aaron blinked slowly, turning the sentence over in his head before he gave a bark of laughter.

"That is… crazy. Somewhat fitting, but crazy."

"Like teaching five year olds how to play soccer." Dave shrugged, stealing a fry from Ray's plate and grinning at the boy when he glared at his coach and pulled his plate out of the man's reach.

fin.

reviews are very appreciated

credit for the penguin-comment goes to the German website and one of the social groups there