Aaron is in hell. He's in his own personal place of total misery. He slams his glass back down onto the table a little harder than he intended and gets up from his seat, unable to watch anymore of this.
"You okay?" Dave asks, raising an eyebrow at the abrupt motion.
"Yeah, I'll be back in a minute," Aaron mutters before escaping to the far side of the club, heading towards the bathroom and away from the sight of JJ dancing with guy after guy. It's been three months since her divorce was finalized, and apparently tonight's the night she's getting back on the dating wagon. Garcia and Callahan have been trying to encourage her to dance all night, but she'd kept refusing until eventually they each grabbed an arm and dragged her to the dance floor. That had been an hour ago, and since then, Aaron has had to watch as practically every guy out there tried to get a few minutes with her. She's danced with a few guys, never more than once and never for more than one song, but it's been absolute torture for him. Every time one of them looked at her or touched her or moved in time with her, he wanted to march over to them and show them that she's his.
Except she isn't. His.
Because he's too much of a chickenshit to let her know how he feels.
They have such a good relationship right now. Sure, it isn't the type of relationship he really wants with her, but it's good enough. He doesn't want to ruin it. But that doesn't mean he can sit there and watch her find someone else. Someone who isn't him.
Aaron walks down the dark corridor towards the bathrooms and steps into the men's room. He leans over one of the sinks to splash some water onto his face, before he dries it off with a paper towel, taking care not to let it drip onto his shirt. He's been at the bar for almost two hours now, so he figures the team will probably let him leave, especially if he says he wants to get up early to spend more of the weekend with Jack.
And that way, he won't have to watch as JJ walks out of here with one of those guys.
His mind made up, he nods at his reflection in the mirror and leaves the bathroom, his eyes taking a second to adjust back to the darkness of the corridor. He only manages to take two steps before he realizes that there's someone stood in his way. Judging by the small hand that reaches up to press against his chest, it's a woman.
"Excuse me," he tries to be polite as he moves to step around her, but the fingers tighten in his shirt and stop him in his tracks.
"Hotch," he hears the woman say over the loud bass of the music playing out in the main room, and a flash of light from the dance floor illuminates the corridor for a brief second, so Aaron can see that the woman stopping him from walking away is JJ. "You disappeared."
"Yeah, I'm probably gonna leave soon," he says, trying not to focus on the fact that her fingers are still twisted in his shirt.
"No!" JJ surprises him with her reaction. She brings her other hand up to his chest and rests it there as though she's trying to physically stop him from leaving. "You can't go yet, not before…"
Aaron waits for her to finish her sentence, but instead she just bites at her lower lip and looks up at him and… god, it almost looks like she wants him to kiss her. He must be projecting though, because surely she doesn't really want that. Except she's leaning slightly towards him and tilting her chin up and Aaron has a sudden flash of awareness. She's drunk.
As much as he wants to kiss her, he can't take advantage of her when she's drunk.
He'd never be able to forgive himself.
"JJ, I think you might have had too much to drink," he tries to say gently, his hands coming up to cup under her elbows so he can try to detach her from his shirt as delicately as possible.
"Is that the only reason why you won't kiss me? Because you think I'm drunk?" JJ asks, her eyes pinning his so he can't look away from her. He doesn't know what to do; if he admits that he wants her and she doesn't really feel the same way then it could ruin everything, but if she does somehow feel the same and he pushes her away…
He hesitates for an agonizingly long second before he slowly nods. "Yes."
A grin breaks out on her face. "I had one drink when we first arrived, Hotch. I haven't had a drop of alcohol since then," she says, and he can't look away from her, even when he feels her hands start to wander up and down his chest. "I'm not drunk. I just finally realized what I want."
He can feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest as a wave of euphoria crashes over him. She wants him. He lets go of her arms and instead cups his hands under her jaw, tilting her face up to his, and presses his lips to hers as he walks her backwards until they hit the wall behind her.
JJ lets out a moan against his mouth as she wraps her arms around him and clutches him against her body. He flicks his tongue against her bottom lip, tasting her skin, until she opens her mouth and he slides his tongue against hers. Their kiss gets deeper and he can feel the vibration of his own moan against her mouth, but his brain can barely process anything right now. He's overloaded with stimuli; the faint taste of rum and coke that catches on the tip of his tongue, her skin that's so warm against his fingers, and the soft sounds she's making in the back of her throat are all too much.
Aaron crowds himself in even closer to her, pinning her tight to the wall and slipping his thigh between her legs. He can feel JJ squirm against him as she lifts one of her legs to wrap it around his hip, so he drops one of his hands down to stroke up the back of her thigh, helping her to keep her leg in place as he rocks his hips forward and fuck. His erection is uncomfortably trapped in his jeans but he doesn't care because he's grinding against her and it feels so good.
"Hotch," JJ gasps against his lips, and Aaron stops kissing her for a moment so she can speak. "Take me home."
Barely ten minutes ago he'd been dreading watching her walk out the door with someone, and now that someone is going to be him. He can't resist dropping another quick kiss against her lips before he steps back and adjusts himself in his jeans. Aaron holds his hand out to her and grins when she wraps her fingers around his. He uses his grip to pull her away from the wall and back towards the main room of the club so he can get her out of there.
The night may have started out like his own personal version of hell, but he's pretty sure it won't be ending that way.
