Part of 'May Prompts' Forum

Prompt :

1. One or more members of the team find out a shocking secret about your main character.

Who Woulda Thought ?

…

"Rossi!" Garcia gasped. None of the team could have prepared themselves for what had just been revealed. He actually had, at one point, wanted to –

"That's just," Morgan couldn't help but laugh. "Who would have thought that that tough guy persona could just disappear in the blink of an eye? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard."

Rossi just mentally kicked himself and sighed in annoyance. The team's faces ranged from shocked to amused, to Derek's full on laughing. It wasn't even funny. He definitely regretted saying anything. "Shut up Morgan or I'll come over there and-"

"Sorry, man. Your threats suddenly aren't as, convincing as they once were. It's like when we found out that Hotch used to collect stamps!" He was howling with laughter at this point. Luckily, the team were smart enough to hold in their laughter, especially at the look on both Aaron and Dave's face. If looks could kill, he'd be, well, he'd be dying a possible slow and somewhat painful death.

The team were all shocked. Reid had secretly profiled Rossi when he first joined the Buro, then again with Prentiss and Morgan, and again now. The possibility was impossible and yet there it was, out in the air, echoing around him, mocking him for not knowing. His profiling skills were sound so how could he not know? Was he biased due to the pre-conceived idea he already had of the man, or the fact that he's known him for 3 years now? Or was Rossi really that good at hiding himself from everyone? Trying to figure out how he didn't know was turning out to be an equally impossible task – he should know that Dave was an extremely good profiler and profiles can be wrong; they can miss information. People change. That must be why he didn't know. Still, it was eating away at him – he's a genius, great at spotting things – how could he have missed it? And Hotch. Hotch used to collect stamps? That was geekier than anything he did as a kid. Aaron didn't seem geeky now unlike him. Aaron Hotchner, his boss, the tough guy with the permanent frown, used to, collect stamps? What is the world coming to, it must truly be ending. That, or this is some really weird side-effect to all the coffee he's had and it's all his imagination.

Emily and JJ were equally as shocked. If anyone had told them before now they'd never have believed it. Never in a million years. This was disturbing. More than disturbing in-fact. It was downright frightening. If he was hiding such a secret, what was everyone else hiding? I mean, what could Morgan be hiding, being as macho as he is, if Rossi, equally as intimidating when annoyed (or just in general unless you got to know him), used to want to-

"Morgan. Shut up." Hotch growled. This made the man stop laughing and sit upright whilst the other team members stiffened and stared at their obviously irate boss. This was not going to go well. "I have a reputation to protect so don't ever mention the stamp collecting again. Do you understand me?" Morgan contemplate this for a moment, much to the team's anticipation and Hotch's increasing annoyance.

"I understand." He replied, leaning back in his chair and smiling at his boss.

"Good. As extra precaution, if I ever hear you mention it again, I will fire you." The best friend of Penelope Garcia sat up, mouth wide open in complete and utter shock. Fired just for that. He didn't do anything wrong, he was joking.

"But that's not fair. I was joking." The team were all glancing between the pair of alpha-males. Rossi was just glad that everyone had forgotten about him. He suddenly liked being anonymous, not that he'd ever been an attention-seeker, but he did like to have the spotlight every now and again.

"JJ, did Hotch really used to collect stamps as a kid?" Spencer whispered into his best friends ear. Unfortunately, his boss had hearing equivalent to that of a bat and immediately picked up on it.

"Reid." He turned to look at the younger man, giving him a glare before continuing. "What did I just say?" He saw the younger man gulp, panic filling his brown eyes.

"Erm, if Morgan ever said that you collect stamps again you'd fire him?" His voice raised a couple of octaves and almost sounded like a squeak, his boss really could be intimidating when he wanted to be.

Hotch groaned. Damn the young man. For a genius, he took things way too literally. A clear warning and he just didn't understand it; did he really have to spell everything out for him. "It refers to all of you Reid. You, Prentiss, JJ, Garcia, Morgan and even Dave. It will never be spoken of again, is that clear?" He glanced around the room, giving all of them a pointed look, "all of you." He received a chorus of 'yes sirs' much to his satisfaction. He'd never been happier for them to all be in the conference room. Usually, he wouldn't care what people thought about him but he did when it came to his stamp collecting. In his defence, he was very good at it, and he way surpassed his friends, he was way superior to them. It was Emily's voice that pulled him out of his thoughts:

"But Rossi." She started before JJ rudely interrupted.

"You used to want to be a florist." The team couldn't help but smirk.

"How does someone go from wanting to be a florist to, well an FBI agent?" Garcia added.

…

Thanks for reading