For: Blumvale
Words: 636
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Characters/Ships: Hotch/Morgan
Summary: "I thought we agreed that Tuesday was your day to do the dishes."
Author's Notes: There were several different routes I could have taken with this story. I'd narrowed it down between this and one other (more sexually-based) scenario, but then decided to go with subtle. While the other would have, perhaps, been more amusing, it would have required more development than one page and I'm not sure I could have even written it effectively. Also, Hotch is hands-down the most difficult character to write. Holy hell.
06.
"You left your dish on the counter this morning."
With my face in a box of old case files, I almost didn't hear Morgan's comment. I paused momentarily in my search, as an acknowledgment that I had heard him, but didn't answer until after I'd straightened up with a file folder clenched in my hand.
"It was your turn to do the dishes, Hotch," he went on in a neutral tone that only thinly concealed his displeasure. "I thought we agreed that Tuesday was your day to do the dishes."
"This is not the right time for this conversation," I answered.
Morgan pressed his fingertips together and rested his mouth against them, looking across the round table at where I stood behind a waist-high wall of boxes and file folders. These sorts of conversations had become more common in the last few days, often resulting in arguments about things that were actually arguments about other things. We stared at one another, unsmiling.
"Is that how you're going to respond every time I try to bring up something like this?" said Morgan. "The dishwasher was two feet away. I don't know why you expect me to take care of it when you could have done it yourself and gotten it over with for the both of us. It's not like the dishwasher was full of clean dishes. It was empty."
I set the folder down on the table and crossed my arms. "It's one dish. Next time I'll be more mindful. I'm not sure why this problem is important enough to interrupt our research on an important potential lead."
"Okay. So I'll just take care of it this time. And then next time, when you leave more of your stuff lying around the house, I'll take care of that too."
"Derek—"
Morgan held up his palms, shrugging. "Look, it's all good. I just thought we'd agreed that you taking over leadership for the BAU didn't mean that it would translate into our private lives. But hey, you're the boss, Hotch."
"Is that what this is really about?"
This entire conversation suddenly began to make a little sense. I'd been aware that our back-and-forth leadership roles for the team had caused some stress on Morgan's part. There was a lot of implied conversation there. Situations where I just assumed that he was ready to take on a new responsibility without first getting his consent. And then, when he finally started getting comfortable, I took over again and that was that. I couldn't say that I blamed him for letting dissatisfaction follow us from the office to the house, but I could do without the cryptic symbolism.
"Look," I said, sighing and leaning against the tabletop. "I'm sorry if the recent changes have upset you. But I would rather talk about them openly than go through some sort of power struggle. We can talk about the details later tonight, if that would make you happy."
The crease between Morgan's ever-furrowed brows began to let up, just a little. "All right. I'm sorry that it's—"
"Um, should I come back in a few minutes, or—?"
Both Morgan and I jumped at the sound of a third person in the room. We turned, and remembered that our conversation had never been private in the first place. JJ stood with one thumb gestured over her shoulder toward the door, her expression relaying the awkwardness one feels when observing a conversation that's headed in the wrong direction. I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it again when I could not find a proper response. JJ reddened with the effort of trying to conceal a smirk. Morgan and I shared a sidelong glance before simultaneously looking back at JJ, and then went back to sifting through paperwork as if nothing had happened.
x
Fin.