A/N: I don't really have much to say for a change, so just enjoy and leave a review if you have time! :)

"Hey, kid."

Reid looked up at Rossi, barely having time to catch the jacket the older man threw at him before he joined Reid leaning against the wall.

"Aaron told me you were sulking out here."

Tucking a strand of hair behind his ear, Reid glared at Rossi. He wasn't sulking. And if he was, it was only because Hotch was being unfair.

"Put on the jacket, Reid," Rossi ordered after a moment, "Giving yourself a cold won't make Hotch see things your way." When Reid had obeyed – deciding that his irritation with Hotch didn't have to extend to not obeying reasonable orders from Rossi – the man continued. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"You know what happened," Reid said, kicking at the graveled path in front of them, "Hotch thinks I'm an incompetent child so he spanked me."

Rossi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "There wasn't slightly more to it than that?" Reid kept glaring at the ground in front of them. "He out of the blue decided you deserved a spanking for being the youngest on the team? I find that hard to believe."

"Maybe not entirely out of the blue," Reid admitted reluctantly.

"Spencer," Rossi warned, "You know I really don't like being lied to. And I count modifications of the truth as lying."

Darting a look at Rossi and judging that he was quite serious, Reid shrugged. "Didn't Hotch already tell you?"

"Maybe I wanna hear it from you. So spill."

"I took a calculated risk," Reid said, emphasizing the word as much as he could, "and Hotch didn't agree with my calculations."

For some reason Reid couldn't quite figure out, Rossi seemed to be trying to fight a smile as he answered. "And what exactly was the calculated risk?"

Reid hesitated for a moment. It was likely that Rossi already knew what he had done, but in case he didn't Reid was somewhat reluctant to admit it to him, because even if the senior agent didn't seem particularly upset at the moment he could be just as unreasonable as everyone else and Reid didn't want him angry with him as well. But since he wouldn't get out of answering even if he stalled, he conceded. "I took down an UnSub without backup."

"Uh-huh," Rossi said, tone noncommittal. After not getting any reply other than that – neither agreement nor more scolding – Reid continued.

"He's done the same thing himself! And Morgan has done it, too. But just because I'm younger and he thinks I'm a kid, he punished me for it!"

Rossi studied him in silence for a moment before he spoke, more seriously than before. "That's true, to a certain extent. You are the youngest member of this team, and that's not gonna change."

"So I just have to accept that Hotch is going to keep thinking I'm a useless kid and punish me whenever I do my job!?"

"You know that's not true," Rossi chided, giving Reid a look that managed to convey that he could very quickly become annoyed with Reid's manner if he kept it up, "Hotch has nothing but respect for you as an agent. But…"

The older man paused for a moment, before he shrugged. "Let me tell you something. I know it's hard to believe, but I haven't always been this old. When I first started in the Bureau, I was partnered with Alex. And, well… he's a little older than me. Unfortunately, he thinks that 'a little older' means 'entitled to be overprotective' and our boss at the time agreed with him. He would have been furious if I did some of the things he let Alex do and whenever we had to take risks, it was Alex who did it. And if I did it, I got in trouble."

Reid frowned. "That's not fair."

"No, it kind of isn't," Rossi agreed easily, the complete lack of irritation in his voice confusing Reid a little, "But it's the way it is. Being younger is always gonna have some drawbacks. And if you ask anyone with younger brothers or sisters – like me, by the way – they'll tell you being older is just as bad. No-one ever said being part of a family is always fun."

"Besides," he continued, "you shouldn't have taken down the UnSub by yourself, and neither should Morgan or Hotch have done it when they did. But Hotch is always gonna be more protective of you than the others, so he'll react more strongly when you take a risk than when someone else does it. So maybe spanking you for it was on the stricter side of things, but you did deserve it."

"No I didn't," Reid muttered at the ground. Rossi lightly cuffed the side of his head.

"Yes, you did. Or do we need to have a discussion about waiting for backup as well?"

"No sir," Reid answered quickly and then, pushing his hair back from his face, continued, "It still isn't fair."

Rossi sighed. "Look, if you want I can point this out to Aaron. I won't tell him what to do or when to punish you or not punish you. That's his decision. But I can… draw his attention to it. But to entirely honest, kid, you might just wanna get used to the idea of being the youngest. I'm… old, and Alex still thinks I'm his kid brother. Not to mention my mom…"

"So I'm going to be seen as a kid for the rest of my life?" Reid asked, frowning deeply. Rossi chuckled.

"Not necessarily. All you need to do is find someone even younger. That's why I have you kids."

Reid smiled back wryly. "You think Hotch will let me recruit someone?"

"Maybe in a few years," Rossi said, returning the smile. Then he stood and brushed off his pants. "You wanna come inside now?"

"In a few minutes?"

"Sure." Rossi turned and began heading back in, but after only a few steps he stopped. "And, Reid? If it's any comfort, I'm proud of you for not pulling away from Hotch right away even though you were pissed with him."

Drawing his eyebrows together, Reid gave Rossi a questioning look. "It would have hurt him."

"Exactly. And I'm proud of you for thinking about that even when angry. Hotch as well. Come inside soon, all right?" He flashed a smile. "There'll be coffee."