When they got to the vehicle Hotch threw the two go bags in the back before reaching for something in his brief case. When Reid could see the keys in Hotch's other hand he found himself wondering what he was getting. Soon enough, Hotch was grabbing a cord from the glove compartment and hooking his iPod into the dash.
This wouldn't normally faze Reid, as he knew his boss had an infinity for music, even if he pretended he didn't, but he was fazed when he heard the sound of one of the top scientists in the physics field today giving a lecture on string theory. A bright smile spread across Spencer's face as Hotch pulled onto the road and sent him a small smirk. He knew that would make the young Doctor happy.
When Hotch felt Spencer's questioning gaze on him, he took his eyes off the road to look over at Spencer and explain, "I made a playlist for the drive. Half of it is lectures and the other half is my music." Upon Spencer's smile growing bigger, Hotch found he himself was grinning as well. Something about Spencer just always made it hard for him to keep his walls intact. It wasn't even that the young man found a way over or around them, something made him happily let Spencer in and he had yet to regret it, so he wasn't about to actively fight the instinct. He enjoyed being around Spencer, probably too much, and if he was too weak, it was that he was too weak to ignore his own happiness, which he found he was fine with in this one aspect of his life.
By the time they had already been driving a couple hours Hotch found he enjoyed the lectures just as much as the music and Reid too found he enjoyed the music just as much as the lectures. Hotch enjoyed learning new amazing things in between talking about the case, things aside from work he could now talk to Spencer about, and Spencer enjoyed watching his boss let go a little as he sang along with his old rock songs. When the rare occasion arose that Spencer new a song well he would join Hotch in singing along and even found himself dancing in his seat. By the time they got past the half-way point and stopped to have some late lunch they were both laughing and telling stories that involved both the lectures and the music. Spencer even told a story about one of his professor's punishing the class during an advanced physics exam by blaring Eye of the Tiger repeatedly for the three hours it took Spencer to finish the test, hand it in, and proceed to grab the record and run from the classroom to a round of applause and cheers. Hotch had doubled over with laughter in the parking lot of the diner as Reid tried to innocently say, "What, it's one of the only crazy thing I have ever done, and come on! The exam took me three hours because of that damned music, and I was the top of the class, and always finished tests in half the time it took my class mates. I had to save them from a six hour exam; even if they only had five."
Hotch was still laughing to himself as they took their seats in a corner booth that provided a complete view of the diner, after all, they were FBI agents and were still technically on duty. Reid felt he rather liked the seating arrangement as he could just as easily look at Hotch as naturally stare around the room. When he found Hotch much preferred the former himself was when he found he had that cozy feeling. Talking to Hotch always made him happy and left him with a smile on his face. Whenever they were alone like this Spencer always found himself finding out more about Aaron, instead of just SSA Hotchner. He greatly liked both, but it felt like a special treat when Hotch would tell a story from his past that he knew most members of the team would never hear. It made him feel special, and not because of his mind but because Hotch trusted him and chose to confide in him, sometimes, when something was wrong. Hotch had talked to him about the divorce papers and even though he would never know if Hotch sought him out, or just found it convenient, it didn't change the fact he had trusted him, and every time he thought about that it made him smile.
As Hotch was finishing the last of his lunch he looked up to see Spencer staring out into space at the opposite wall with a goofy smile on his face. Unable to resist after trying and failing to get his attention Hotch took a picture with his phone before successfully getting the genius's attention by tapping his arm. "Reid, anybody home? Reid? Spencer!" He laughed as Spencer startled at his first name, and after taking a sip of his coffee, asked, "What were you thinking about?"
Spencer blushed slightly, which did not go unnoticed by Hotch, before stammering out, "Oh, um, well, I w-was just thinking about y-you." He closed his eyes as he tried to save himself, "I mean on the trip and when we are alone." He chided himself, dammit Spencer that hardly sounds better, before trying to again, "I-I m-mean the fact that I always find out more about you when it is just us verses when it is the whole team."
Hotch's smirk had been growing throughout the whole stammered speech but he couldn't let his team genius suffer any more, so he simply said, "I like talking to you about stuff and I trust you with my personal information; not that I don't trust the rest of the team, I just trust you and Dave more."
Spencer stopped blushing and gave Hotch a small shy smile before going back to his own coffee. Even though Hotch was determined to drive the whole way Spencer wasn't going to leave him alone in the car while he slept. He would stay awake and keep Hotch company and make sure he stayed safe to drive and didn't get too tired. Seconds later, as Hotch was taking the bill from the waitress, Spencer found himself spouting out facts about driving. "Did you know that studies have shown that driving tired can be just as dangerous as driving intoxicated?"
Both Hotch and the waitress stopped mid motion, seeming to think, before both saying, "Huh, I guess that makes sense." As Hotch paid the bill, Reid continued to spout random facts about dangerous driving, and to his surprise both Hotch and the waitress where enthralled with his knowledge and the waitress even asked a few questions before the two men made it back out to the vehicle to continue the rest of their drive.
The second half of the drive was much like the first, only now they were freshly charged and seemingly more relaxed as they sang and talked. Reid even managed to get a few minutes of Hotch singing Eye of the Tiger at Reid as they drove. In that moment there was nothing more priceless to Reid. He intended to never lose the video and decided that the second they got to their hotel it was going straight onto his computer. He had also already emailed it to himself and saved it to his live stream. Just knowing that the video was there to cheer him up if he ever needed it made him feel safe and secure, and as he was starting to connect to Hotch, cozy.