#hope most of you are just in different timezones and aren’t stuck also being awake past 3am with me

[napping-sapphic]

tbh i do get a little sad when i don’t have a crush on anyone like let me be a little obsessed with you pls

[reidscanehand]

Spencer’s Scheme

Episode 2 of The Love Profile

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x BAUfem! Reader

Category: Fluff

TW: mentions of Haley’s death, mentions of typical BAU violence

Thank you so much for all the love on the first part - I hope you like this one! xx 

~ “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind...” - William Shakespeare ~

It’s not that Spencer hates Penelope’s plan, it’s just that he doesn’t really see its necessity. But that’s not something he can explain, or, rather something he won’t explain. 

As much as his teammates like to believe that there is a milieu in which Spencer doesn’t excel, he is not entirely uninformed when it comes to romance. If anything his expansive knowledge of profiling makes the signs a bit hard to miss, plus you and Hotch aren’t exactly subtle.

In regards to you and Hotch, Spencer had suspicions for ages. You’d joined the team in 2008 and you and Spencer were fast friends, having to fend off teasing about a potential relationship between the two of you back then. Teasing which died off super quickly when the much more obvious attraction between you and the Unit Chief grew clearer. Besides that, you and Spencer love each other, but not in that way; you’re like the older sister he never had, and he wouldn’t give up that relationship for the entire world. Plus, your close friendship only succeeded in confirming his beliefs about you and Hotch.

Spencer has, of course, seen all the things the rest of the team has: the shared glances, the too-long stares, the exchange of expressions hinting at inside jokes no one else understood. But Spencer has also seen far more than the others.

Your tactful ability to talk to victims and their families meant that you and Spencer spent a good many cases stuck together at precincts - you interviewing and interrogating, Spencer working the geographical profile and following up on leads and ideas with Penelope on the phone. And this, coupled with the close friendship you share, afforded him the opportunity to see a side of you and Hotch that didn’t come out around the rest of the team. They knew the glances, the soft conversations, and the (rather blatant) occasional shared lunch in Hotch’s office. But away from the others and - Spencer assumes - hoping he’s too distracted by his work to notice, the two of you are a completely different story. Well, not completely different, but more intense.

Spencer doubts the rest of the team would believe the teasing, borderline flirtatious nature of you two on cases. It’s not unprofessional by any means, but far more congenial than either of you ever are on cases. And more smiley than Hotch ever is…ever.

And then, of course, there was the flight from California. A long, but relatively successful case in Santa Cruz ended, as they all did, with a flight back to Quantico. While not an especially long flight, they took off in one timezone and flew into and landed in another, flying into a sunrise, as it happened. 

Spencer was so exhausted when he boarded that he forgot to shut his window, meaning the sunrise woke him up. He grumbled quietly, barely opening his eyes to try and shut the window. 

“Mocha for the lady,” he heard Hotch whisper. He squinted slightly, opening his eyes fully at the scene in front of him. Were it not for his height, he would’ve missed it all together, but being tall (and, thankfully, being the only one awake) he was able to see, quite clearly, you and Hotch. 

You and Hotch sat across from each other the night before at a table near the far end of the jet, closer to the pilot than the rest of the team. However, the two of you are not sitting across from each other now. In what you’d clearly believed to be the privacy of the early morning, the two of you now sat next to each other, the arm rest long abandoned, as you lean against Hotch’s chest to watch the sunrise together.  Hotch brought you a cup of coffee - most likely the plain coffee provided, though he’d jokingly referenced it as your favorite mocha - and wrapped an arm around you, his free hand holding his own cup of coffee that he places on the table. He wrapped his other arm around you, pulling you impossibly closer and pressing a kiss to the top of your head. You grinned up at him, glowing, both literally and figuratively, as the sunrise illuminated the already shimmering scene. 

It was quite picturesque, really, the two of you whispering and giggling softly, unerring smiles painting your faces. Were it not for the surroundings, the two of you could be any normal, romantic couple, drinking your coffee and watching the sunrise. That’s what hit Spencer then - you two were a couple. And he already knew the litany of reasons why you’d keep it to yourselves. He’d shut his eyes again, happy for the both of you and hoping he was the only one that had seen. He had been, thankfully, and it was this knowledge more than anything else that made him oppose Penelope’s plan. You two are already together and, to him at least, it seemed rather invasive to intervene, especially into something so obviously delicate, tender, and private as this. 

So Penelope’s phone call late Thursday night is hardly surprising. 

“You knew, didn’t you?” she demands when he answers the phone.

“About Hotch and Y/N?” he clarifies. “Of course.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks, the demand in her voice calming slightly at his honesty. 

Spencer sighs deeply, thinking about it, “Because...Y/N is one of my best friends in the whole wide world and she deserves the happiest ending possible. And...and after everything that happened...after all the stuff with Haley and Foyet...Hotch deserves something good.”

“I’m not disagreeing with any of that,” Penelope fights back, “I just-”

“Even if that means,” Spencer cuts her off, “keeping it private.”

Penelope is quiet for a moment and then she huffs in annoyance, “I hate how right you are all the time.”

Spencer chuckles heartily, “I must say, it never gets old.”

Penelope gives a non-comittal laugh, “I wouldn’t know. Clearly.”

“Don’t say that,” Spencer assures her. “You’re the best person ever, Garcia, you just wanted to make sure they’re happy. And you weren’t wrong...they just don’t really...we just shouldn’t get involved.”

“So what are we gonna do?” Penelope asks conspiratorially. 

“We?” he asks in surprise, his pitch rising.

“Yes, ‘we’, we are the only ones that know the truth,” Penelope informs him like it’s obvious. “Do you think we could stop everyone else?”

Spencer shifts in his chair, thinking for a moment, “I don’t think there’s much we can do except tell the others that our plans failed and...hope for the best.”

Penelope sighs over the phone again after pausing, “I think you’re right again, genius.”

~~~

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