Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.
Happy New Year to everybody. I'm sorry for the long wait.
A/N: Thanks to my new beta RoseLaurel and for all the kind reviews I received.
The morning following his interlude with Mark, AKA 'Fake Reid', Morgan woke up for the first time in weeks without feeling the need to masturbate over Reid and prepared himself glad that his problem, as he called his attraction for his young co-worker, was finally over. When he pushed the BAU glass doors, he noticed Reid's empty desk and wondered where the genius was. He shake his head telling himself that it was none of his business and, after a quick greeting to his co-workers, he locked himself in his office.
A few minutes later he received a text from Garcia telling him that they had a case in Miami and joined his teammates in the conference room. As he saw Reid sitting next to Rossi, he realized that he still had dirty thoughts for the genius and cursed himself for fucking 'Fake Reid' - because screwing a guy who looked and tasted just like Reid made his arousal for the real one even stronger.
Thankfully, Garcia's voice explaining the case brought him back from his lustful thoughts into reality, and he decided to put all his attention on it.
In Miami, pairing up with Reid, Morgan started to notice changes in the young man's behaviour. For some reason, the genius seemed tired and a little jumpy. He tried to talk to him, but Reid eagerly replied that everything was fine. Though he knew that Reid was lying, Morgan didn't persist. After their words in the restroom's bar the older man noticed less animosity from the genius' part, and he didn't want to ruin his chance to be his friend again by starting a fight with him.
Morgan's fears were confirmed when Reid decided to face the Unsub without his bulletproof vest or backup. The Reid he knew would never do such a thing, especially not after the Hankel incident, and he was determined to have a chat with the young man to find out why he made such a stupid mistake.
Upon their return to D.C Morgan was heading to Reid's car when he witnessed a dispute between Cooper and Reid. He couldn't hear what Cooper was yelling but Reid's body language was defensive. Before he could intervene Reid climbed in his old Volvo and took out, leaving his very upset boyfriend in the parking lot.
As he drove home, Morgan had a bad feeling. He understood Cooper's reaction, hell, even Hotch had a tough discussion with Reid on the plane, but he couldn't help feeling worried for the genius and he decided to see if he was okay.
In front of his friend's front door, he knocked and waited. After few seconds, he knocked again, more loudly. This time, someone opened the door and Morgan was surprised to see Cooper, wearing underwear and a t-shirt.
"What are you doing here?" Morgan asked, unable to hide his surprise.
"I could ask you the same thing." Cooper said, but answered anyway "I live here. Spencer asked me to move in with him."
Morgan had a hard time believing that Reid asked his boyfriend of a few months to live with him. It enforced his feeling that something was wrong about the relationship. He passed Cooper to enter the living-room and demanded to talk to Spencer.
"Sorry, he's sleeping. I'll tell him you came. Goodnight." Cooper said showing him the door.
Morgan didn't moving and firmly insisted "I want to talk to him now."
Cooper looked straight into the FBI agent's eyes, without any sign of having even noticed Morgan's attempt at intimidation. "Like I already told you, Spencer is sleeping and I'm not going to wake him up because you want to talk to him in the middle of the night. Now, unlike you, I'm a welcomed guest in this home and if you don't want to leave, I can also call the cops then I'm sure that your boss will be highly interesting by your behavior."
The profiler could see that Strauss' assistant was deadly serious about calling the cops so he considered his options; he could stay right where he was and wait for the cops, which meant that Hotch and Strauss were going to ask why he was at Reid's house, or he could leave and call Reid later. To his shame, Morgan chose the easy solution and left, making sure to bump into Cooper's shoulder on his way out.
Reid woke up to a painful headache and an empty bed. From the noises he heard from the kitchen, he guessed that Cooper was taking his breakfast. After yesterday's fight, he was anxious about talking to his boyfriend, but since he didn't finish his action report, he decided to join him and started to get ready for work.
In the kitchen, Reid greeted his boyfriend and began to eat in silence. After a while, he decided to tell Cooper what he thought about his behavior. Before he could say anything, however, Cooper hurriedly apologized "I'm sorry I yelled at you last night. I overreacted... I don't know how to explain it ... I was worried for you because you didn't seem to be yourself lately and when I heard that you faced that sicko alone, I went crazy. I know it's not an excuse and I'm truly sorry about the way I acted." There was a brief pause before he tried to change the subject "Your friend Morgan came yesterday. He decided it was appropriate to knock down your door and wake me up at 1 in the morning. He said he needed to talk to you. You were sleeping so I sent him away. Needless to say he was rather unhappy."
The genius was surprised by his co-worker's late visit, but his mind was preoccupied by something that Cooper said and defensively asked "What do you mean by you didn't seem to be yourself lately"
When his headaches started he hid them from Cooper, and his team, until he had more information. But now his neurologist had told him that everything was okay with his scans, he was terrified about people thinking he was crazy - especially, if they knew about his hallucinations in Miami. He just couldn't handle the thought of losing his job.
"You think I didn't notice that you've barely eaten or slept in days? You hate darkness but still you stay in the dark for hours. You're even wearing sunglass when you're inside."
"Who's profiling now? God, you're such a hypocrite! I can't ask you a single thing of your past, yet you have the right to question me? I've to go to work." Reid snapped, getting up of his chair.
He was about to leave the kitchen when Cooper stopped him
"What do you want?" Reid asked facing his boyfriend.
Until now, Cooper stupidly thought that Reid was fine with their agreement not to talk about his past, but now he realized that he was wrong. He knew that hiding secrets would be destructive for their relationship, and he didn't want that, so he decided to tell him the reason why his past was off limits "I know you're upset but please, listen to me."
After few seconds of reflexion, Reid simply nodded. He was still mad at his boyfriend's breach of privacy, but was willing to hear him out.
Cooper sat back on his chair and began to explain "I had a complicated past and I worked hard to put that behind me. Believe me, it wasn't easy, especially with my scars which act as a constant reminder. But, despite everything happened to me, I try to be a good man. Most of time, I think I am, but sometimes I snap. The reason I don't want to talk about my past, not even with you, the man I'm in love with is because I need to forget. My past is my past, I can't change it. But I want to focus on my future, and I want you to be part of it."
"You really mean that ?" Reid asked, little shocked. Of course he was happy with Cooper, that's why he asked him to move in with him, but they hadn't actually talked about their future together.
Cooper moved closer to Reid and ran his hands through his lover's hair "I have been in love before, but never as strong as I love you. Yesterday, I really thought that you were going to die, and it scared me. You're the most important person in my life. I love you so much and I don't want to lose you."
Reid wanted to tell Cooper why he acted this way, but he was still terrified that his boyfriend would leave if he knew the truth about the headaches and hallucinations. So he decided to keep his condition secret. At least, for now…
"Yesterday was an emotional, stressful day for both of us but you were right, I should be more careful on the field. I have to go, see you tonight. Love you." He kisses his boyfriend then left for work.
Drinking a cup of coffee in the BAU break-room, Morgan thought about the best way to approach Reid. He knew that his friend's personal life wasn't his business, and yet he couldn't ignore the bad vibes he got from Reid's boyfriend.
According to most people, including his team, Cooper was the perfect boyfriend. And even if he didn't already hate the man, Morgan could deny that Strauss' assistant was good for Reid, but since the precious night he started to wonder if Reid's boyfriend was actually the nice guy he pretended to be.
Even if he didn't have any proof that Cooper was actually violent toward Reid, Morgan's profiler instincts screamed him that there was something off about this guy. After all, how many men could keep their calm, and even threaten to call the cops, when an armed, pissed off federal agent shows up in their doorstep at 1 in the morning?
Confronting Reid and accusing his boyfriend definitely wasn't a good idea, so he decided to make sure his young co-worker knew that, even though he had been a shitty friend lately, he was there for him if he needed help.
Reid's entrance in the room stopped his thoughts as Morgan moved to greet him.
"Hi, Morgan." Reid returned, pouring a mug of coffee "I've almost finish my report but I didn't see Hotch, do you know where he is?"
"Yeah, Jack is sick so he took the day off. He asked me to take care of the reports." Morgan explained.
"Ok, I'll give it to you." Reid said, preparing to leave the room.
"Reid…" Morgan laid a hand on the younger man's shoulder "I know I betrayed your trust, but I want you to know I'll be there for you if you need to talk."
Reid didn't like Morgan's late visit to his home or his "I'll be there for you" speech. For some reason, the older man thought that he needed help and he had the arrogance to think that he was the best candidate for that task. This coming from the man who, according to his own words, 'betrayed his trust' made Reid chuckle.
"What's so funny? Morgan frowned
"You are. Do you really think after all it happened between us or the way you treated me, I'm going to come for you if I need something? Let me this it clear: anything not work-related is off limits to you." Reid stated before leaving the room.
Two weeks later, the team was in Toledo where a sadistic killer had already tortured and murdered three married couples. The case was a P.R nightmare, but the BAU agents were more worried about the Unsub's increasing attacks than they were by the medias' attention and spent the best part of their first night in the town reviewing the case until Hotch called it a night and sent everyone to the hotel.
In the hotel's lobby, the Unit Chief announced that due to the budget cut, they have to share rooms. While Prentiss and Seaver shared a room, Rossi and Hotch teamed up together, leaving one room for the two another men in the team. Of course, neither Morgan or Reid were thrilled by this sleeping arrangement but they both acted like professionals.
As the days passed, Morgan realized that what he hated the most wasn't the fact that he had to share a room with the man he sexually desired and couldn't have, but that he had to witness Reid's happiness every night, when the young man stepped in the bathroom to call Cooper and came back with a smile on the face.
When the team finally arrested their un-sub, they learned that, since the jet wasn't available until the next morning, they had to stay another night.
After eating with his teammates, Morgan decided to hit in the hotel's gym, just to avoid Reid's endless call to his boyfriend but when he came back in his hotel room, the genius was still on the phone and the conversation confirmed the older profiler's suspicions about Cooper's violent temper because he heard Reid telling his boyfriend that he 'was fine', that it 'was just an accident', and that he 'doesn't blame him'. All excuses he had heard a hundred times from victims of domestic abuse.
Moving slowly to the half-opened bathroom's door, he saw his co-worker's naked torso covered in fist-shaped bruises. Shocked and angry, he exited the hotel-room swearing to take care of Cooper himself.
Neither the night nor the time spent on the flight back did anything to calm Morgan. All he could think about was hurting Cooper and making him pay for what he did to Reid. So when he saw Cooper waiting for Reid, sitting on the edge of his desk, he moved closer to him and punched him hard in the face.