Thanks everyone for the amazing reviews on the last chapter! So glad you're enjoying the story :) This is a short little chapter and I hope you all like it! Promise that it will soon get a little saucier between Aaron & Spencer really, really soon!
Song: Call Me Maybe (cover) - Ben Howard.
Somehow, Aaron slept and dreamed throughout the night. When he eventually woke, the morning was still in its earliest strokes. Pulling back the curtain only the slightest, so as not to disturb his son, he saw billowing columns of white still falling onto grounds that were now rock candy. Orange streetlights were rims of orange and almost impossible to detect. It was an icy kingdom that shone and sparkled and deceived outsiders of its violent potential.
Clearly today was going to be a day spent largely inside and Aaron could already imagine Jack's protests of how his daddy was a scaredy cat and how Spencer would definitely come play with him outside.
The agent exhaled and closed his eyes. Last night had not seemed real. In hindsight, Aaron probably should not have initiated anything because everything remained too delicate between them and yet he regretted nothing. While it was true that their relationship was like spun sugar, held together only by the barest of bonds, the Unit Chief was determined to strengthen what little foundation they now had. Because what was held in those strands was years of deception and passion and confusion and guilt and secrets and timidity and, perhaps most of all, love. They were ensnared in each other and maybe, if they got lucky, a little ice and the slightest push of a snowstorm would be just what they needed.
Behind him, Jack moved to lie across the middle of the bed, a subsequent smile coming to rest on Aaron's handsome face. He bent down to kiss his son and then noiselessly turned to go downstairs where he could smell the beginnings of breakfast.
The flagstone tiles that paved the kitchen were cool on the Unit Chief's bare feet, the feeling of not having any cases or department meetings to attend utterly thrilling. He wound the corner, expecting to find Rossi manning the stove, but was surprised when he was met with the sight of a sleepy Spencer who had his arms folded across his chest. He was frowning down at the egg that sizzled on the pan in front of him.
Aaron paused for a moment and leaned against the wall, watching as his slender subordinate gave a large yawn. It was enough to make the Unit Chief think of the rasp in Spencer's voice that was typically present in the mornings, which made him think of sleep, and of Spencer sleeping, and then of the way the agent always used to nuzzle his nose into his lover's neck when they settled down for the night after a draining case. Aaron felt his stomach flutter and his dark brows drew together in a frown. Aaron Hotchner's stomach did not flutter.
"You know you're terrible at hide and seek."
Aaron quirked an eyebrow at the sound of Spencer's voice and then stepped out from behind the wall. "I'm not terrible."
"But not awesome." The younger agent's tone was almost teasing as he slid the egg out of the pan and onto the plate with toast. He glanced up. "I thought you would have left with them. Coffee's on the counter."
"Where is everyone?" Aaron helped himself to a large mug and nodded wordlessly when Spencer held up another egg. He fought a smile working its way onto his face. Spencer still knew how the agent liked his breakfast.
"The went to town apparently." The genius shrugged in the direction of a note taped to the front of a cabinet. "To stock up on food and batteries before the storm trapped us for good. I thought you would have been up."
Aaron suddenly realized he wasn't wearing his watch and he put two more pieces of bread and a sesame bagel in the toaster, feeling the empty space on his wrist with his free hand.
"What time is it?"
"Almost eleven." The two men moved about the kitchen, each unconsciously avoiding coming into too much contact with the other. "And you're always up at six." The young agent shot the chief a shy grin. "Sometimes five."
Aaron grimaced. "Hey, sometimes I would sleep in." He watched Spencer move the egg around the pan.
"Hardly," Spencer shot him a pointed look though it was joking. "You would sleep until 7:30 on Sundays-"
"That's when the paper is delivered. Salt and pepper?"
"And it would still be there by eleven, I guarantee it. Good luck trying to find them in these cabinets."
"I'm sure they're here somewhere." Aaron opened a cabinet filled with dried pasta.
"Along with the Holy Grail and the Lindbergh baby. Our apartment building isn't exactly a Mecca for high crime opportunities, let alone small highway thefts."
The elder agent's heart sped up at the mention of their apartment, how Spencer would always complain and whine about his partner's early morning energy. It was rare that Aaron would remain in bed with the genius to eat breakfast and relax. That was their Sunday, their special moment.
"I guess I was really tired then." Aaron paused as he took the plate of steaming eggs from his former lover. "I've had a lot on my mind."
Spencer's smile faded and he turned away to put the pan in the dishwasher. Aaron could see his shoulders tense up for a moment or two and then sink back down. "Yeah. Me too."
Stillness settled in the kitchen as Aaron watched the way his subordinate's shoulders gently raised and fell as the agent peered out into the storm that splashed the large kitchen window. After a beat, the elder man stepped forward.
"Listen, Spence. About last night-"
"Can we make pancakes?"
Both men sprang to opposite sides of the room as Jack came walking into the kitchen, despite not having anything to hide. The boy looked at the empty space between the two agents, clearly cognizant of the awkward silence, and it was the typical Hotchner I'm not buying your bullshit look that crossed over his face.
"Of course, Jackster." Spencer grinned instantly. "Uncle Dave may even have cookie cutters so we can make them into fun shapes."
"Awesome!" Jack high-fived Spencer's outstretched hand, shooting a toothy grin at his father. "Can we have chocolate chips too?"
"Chocolate chips too, huh?" Aaron bent down and began digging his fingers in his son's sides. Jack shrieked in delight, pushing against the Unit Chief's broad chest as he giggled and struggled to break free. "Chocolate chips are for wild little boys."
"And dinosaurs," Spencer smirked, remembering when Jack had insisted that the dinosaurs he was studying in school would have let him having chocolate sauce with his ice cream right before bed. It had been an interesting argument to referee.
"I'm a T-Rex, Spencer!" Jack roar's turned to a high-pitched yelp as his father grabbed him around the waist and lifted him into the air.
"Then I guess I'm a giganotosaurus!" The Hotchner men both roared at each other and Spencer chuckled at the similarities in the way they both scrunched their noses when they yelled. Honestly it wasn't challenging imagining Aaron as a dinosaur in a former life.
The elder agent took off into the adjoining dining room with his son still in his grasp, their roars echoing into the enormous house.
Spencer bit his lip, his heart warming. It was almost as if they were acting like the family they had been only a few months ago, the last time being when Jack caught the chickenpox from another kid who had decided to lick him while at the park. Both the agents had uncharacteristically stayed home from work and, in a fit of nostalgic play, had built a fort in the living room and brought out Cars, Despicable Me, the jars of Nutella, spoons, and Cap 'N' Crunch.
"Spencer, what dinosaur are you?" Jack howled from the dining room, making a beeline for the agent when he came back into view. His cheeks were flushed pink just the same way Aaron's were when the man appeared moments later, slightly out of breath.
Spencer knelt, smoothing the boy's hair away from his face. He held up the bag of chocolate chips he had located in the pantry. "A cocoasaurus."
"Awesome!"
The pair got to work on making the pancakes, with Spencer eating his own breakfast in between attempting to work the congealing chocolaty mix into actual dinosaur shapes. The dark-haired chief leaned against the countertop, eating his bagel while overseeing everything in amusement. The familiarity and warmth of the situation was touching to witness and it made his heart clench as he thought about how he had wrecked it all. In hindsight, the circumstances were sure to deliver a blow no matter how it was worked through - either Aaron lost his job by refusing to keep a fellow agent safe, or he ruined his relationship with a man he wanted so desperately to call his husband one day.
"Aaron?"
The Unit Chief looked up from where he had been staring at the cream cheese-smeared knife in his hand. Spencer held out a pancake to him in the shape of some kind of maverick dinosaur.
"Jack says it's a cocoasaurus."
"Then it must be good." Aaron arched a dark eyebrow at his subordinate and then glanced at his six-year-old and winked, taking the pancake.
"Spencer makes the best pancakes." Jack announced in between mouthfuls of fluffy batter.
"He does." Aaron exhaled slowly, meeting the other agent's hazel eyes. They were tinged with gold under the track lighting in the room and Aaron felt his stomach drop as he thought about Mark's similar stare.
The kitchen became quiet once more until Spencer excused himself to take a shower, leaving the Hotchner men at the table alone.
Aaron had just finished his bagel when Jack spoke.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Is Spence coming home soon?
Aaron looked at the hopeful blue eyes in front of him, his chest tightening. "I really hope so, Jack."
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