i stand by my team.

nail biting | throat clearing | lying | interrupting | chewing the ends of pens | smoking | swearing | knuckle cracking | thumb sucking | muttering under their breath | talking to themselves | nose picking | binge drinking | oversleeping | snacking between meals | skipping meals | picking at skin | impulse buying | talking with their mouth full | humming/singing to themselves | chewing gum | leg jiggling | foot tapping | hair twirling | whistling | eye rolling | licking lips | sniffing | squinting | rubbing hands together | jaw clenching | gesturing while talking | putting feet up on tables | tucking hair behind ears | chewing lips | crossing arms over chest | putting hands on hips | rubbing the back of their neck | being late | procrastinating | doodling | shredding paper | peeling off bottle labels | forgetfulness | running hands through hair | overreacting | teeth grinding | nostril flaring | slouching | pacing | drumming fingers | fist clenching | pinching bridge of nose | rubbing temples | rolling shoulders

tagged by: @littleostentatious

“I suppose not,” he agrees, quiet.

He hadn’t meant to open a debate here, but he’s not unused to it. Not after cases.

“But it doesn’t hurt to hear someone else say it.” To know someone else is out in the cold with you.

There are days he’d never have made it through without an apology for what the world is. He doesn’t know Clint’s story, not exactly. He isn’t sure he ever will. But he knows what the weight on his sloped shoulders feels like.

You hurt me, boss. Ya hurt me real bad.

A sideways glance, tracking him up, then down. Hotch refocuses forwards, hiding a faint smirk. “I think you’ll live.”

smash or pass | accepting

On the one hand, Hotch is an adult who can deal with his feelings like an adult in an adult way. He’s got a son he’s teaching this too. So maybe he trusts Clint. He’s had the team’s back frequently enough to earn that. He doesn’t crowd Aaron, or push him, or demand. He’s a good person and Hotch loses weight in his shoulders when he’s around. Knows his team, his family will be safe with him.

“-- I’m not saying it.”

On the other hand, he’s been trying to get Aaron to say Hotch Smash! for ten minutes and if he gets any more smug, Aaron’s going to shoot him.

Non-lethally.

In the knee or something.

Probably.

smash or pass | accepting

“...” He actually considers lying. Not for Tony’s sake, but Reid’s.

“Assuming this is purely hypothetical and I can make it clear I will in no way compromise Doctor Reid’s career or integrity by suggesting he and I ever have or will be in any way less than professional with each other?”

smash or pass | accepting

He’s liking this game a lot less by the second.

But he’s supposed to be ignoring everything but the physical, right?

The way Reid smells when he sweats, the way his heart rate jumps when he has an idea, clever fingers in his fur, stroking the velvet patch along his nose.

He is not supposed to be considering how losing Spencer might feel like breaking a bone halfway through a shift, like the splinters working themselves into his heart. He’s not supposed to be considering how the knowledge that they will never be more than what they are makes the wolf long to mourn and keen for the loss.

“--There’s got to be a less childish term than smash.”

smash or pass | accepting

“Pass. Same problem as Morgan, and I don’t know him enough to trust him.” He doesn’t lie and say Steve Rogers isn’t appealing. He is. When Hotch was young and dumb and desperate to piss off any adult he could, debauching Captain America would’ve been exactly up his alley.

But he’s not a teenager now, he’s in his forties and he’s been hurt and it’s a different sort of hurdle to deal with someone who could literally crush him like a glass vase.

Hell, most of the “superhero” crowd sets Hotch’s metaphorical hackles up. Tony jerked him out of the way of what was probably something lethal in the suit once and Aaron’s not a hundred percent sure he hid his flinch or the way his hand had flown to his gun, heedless of his wrenched shoulder. He’s not built for this new world and he’s always liked that Tony was always irrevocably, shockingly human.

smash or pass | accepting

         “–Pass. Hard pass.” The game assumes no consequences for fraternization, but he can’t pretend being in a position above Morgan wouldn’t bring up something dark for his teammate that has nothing to do with FBI regulations and everything to do with being at the mercy of someone who could destroy his life.

‘My life matters to me, and i have and always will entrust you with it,’ he’d said, and asked of him, ‘would you do the same for me?’

And Derek had. But only because Hotchner had always behaved worthy of it.

Morgan’s demons aren’t his to share, however, so he just shrugs.

Garcia: [points at Hotch]

Hotch: [sighs]