#whosbloom

Though, that all changed when you came along.

Your friendship had started when you approached him at lunch, explaining you wanted to get to know him since he seemed to not talk to anyone.

He somewhat pushed you away at first, not wanting anyone pity for being a loner, but soon enough he ended up finding your presence comforting, even more than the knitted sweaters he wore on a daily basis.

You had discussed your struggles of dealing with bullying with him, reaching out and messed with the sleeve of his sweater. Usually he would have pushed you away, but he let you, enjoying the feeling of your fingers occasionally brushing against his hand.

If he saw you shivering he’d offer you a hug, engulfing you in his warm embrace, letting you steal the heat the sweater provided him.

And when the leaves would change color and fall on the ground, he found himself holding onto you a lot more, until he gave in and decided to give you the one thing he seemed to cherish most.

A striped green and black sweater.

“So, Tate, I was thinking that for Halloween this year we could hangout and watch some movies at my place? Then whatever candy my parents have left we can finish up.” You explained while walking down the street, one of your hands holding onto his arm, messing with the fabric of his sweater.

The cold air was bothering you, your thin shirt not providing any warmth once so ever. Of course that morning you didn’t think would be bad, considering it was rather warm when you exited the house.

He couldn’t tear his eyes off of you, hesitantly pulling his arm from your grasp and wrapped it around your shoulders, pulling you closer as he brought you along up the pathway of his house.

“You seriously need to invest in a jacket.” He mumbled out, an amused smile toying at his lips as he opened the front door for you.

“I don’t have the money right now, and my hoodies would have me sweating my ass off in the morning.” You chuckled lightly as you stepped inside, waving to Addy as you walked by her while heading upstairs.

He trailed behind you mindlessly, reaching forward and grabbed your hand, holding onto your fingers lightly.

“I could just.. give you my sweater.” He shrugged as you entered his room, causing him to let go of your hand and reluctantly tugged off his sweater, handing it towards you.

“Take it.” He said simply, ignoring your confused expression as you hesitantly grabbed it from him.

“I mean.. are you sure? This is like your favorite one, I don’t wanna just take it.” He shook his head at your words, patting your arm while walking to his closet, simply pulling out his beige cardigan and slipped into it, adjusting it slightly.

“I offered it. So please.. take it.” He glanced back at you, raising his brows.

You couldn’t help but smile, nodded as you were quick to put it over you. You adjusted the neckline as it was a little too wide for your neck, but you knew you could make it work.

You turned to him and showed it off, not noticing the way his gaze instantly softened as his own smile formed on his lips, stepping closer to you and pulled you into a hug.

“You better take care of it. I care about that thing as much as I care about you.” He mumbled out, his face buried in your shoulder as he kept you close.

You nodded and wrapped your arms around his torso, looking at him with an equally soft gaze. “I promise I’ll take care of it. This is now my favorite thing I own.”

He chuckled lightly as he lifted his head, his gaze meeting yours as a small blush formed on his face, seeing how close the two of you were.

“Y’know.. you can take a sweater whenever you need. And don’t try to protest.” He lifted a finger to silence you, raising his brows at you.

You rolled your eyes playfully and nodded, holding your hands up in a defensive manner. “Fine, fine. I won’t protest.. but won’t it seem like we’re dating if I’m always wearing your stuff?”

The utter thought of dating you made his stomach churn, his eyes slightly widening as he tried to figure out what to say.

“Uh.. is that such a bad thing?” He mumbled out, moving past you and sat on his bed, kicking his shoes off. “Well, it’s not. I wouldn’t mind, just wanted to know what you would think.”

You shrugged and sat next to him awkwardly, messing with the sleeves of the sweater one keep.

“Do you.. want to?” He glanced up at you, a hopeful yet worried expression on his face.

He was worried on how you would respond, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want you to feel the same way he did about the matter.

“We could try.” You responded nervously, knitting your brows together as you tried to process what the two of you were even discussing.

“Would you want to.. go on a date then? We could turn that Halloween idea into one.” He said looked away as he suggested that, patting his knees awkwardly and whistled to himself.

You couldn’t bring yourself to respond verbally, simply moving closer and wrapped your arms around him, resting your head on his arm.

And that was all he needed for a smile to form on his face again, wrapping his arm around you and leaned his head on yours.

“I hope you know I’m never taking this sweater off now.” You smiled lightly as you nuzzled up against him, squeezing him slightly.

“Good.. I don’t want you to anyway.”

He let go of your hand and rushed over to one of the interactive decorations, a large pumpkin headed animatronic. He looked down at his shoes and saw a button with bright red letters saying ‘Step On Me’.

His curiosity spiked, stomping his small foot on it as he looked back up, watching the animatronic spring out and shout out an automated line.

You walked up behind him and smiled, listening as he started to giggled loudly, turning around to face you before grabbing your finger and started tugging you around to the next one.

“Jack, buddy, slow down.” You laughed lightly, bending down a little to follow after him, watching as he happily started pressing different interactive buttons and watched the different animatronics pop out at him.

He glanced back at you and smiled widely, squeezing your finger before using his little hand to gesture you to bend down.

You sighed and crouched down to match his height, raising your brows in anticipation. “What is it, bud?”

He smiled and moved in closer, using a hand to cup his mouth so he could whisper to you. “We should surprise daddy with one.” He giggled lightly at his own suggestion, before rushing away from you to go search the store more.

“Jack! Gotta stop running from me!” You laughed and pushed yourself up from your knees, taking quick and big steps towards him, scooping him up and held him close.

“Alright, well, what do you wanna do to surprise your dad?” You asked, placing him back down and held him still by his shoulders.

“There’s masks, fake weapons, some little kid costumes. Maybe we pick out your costume and show him what you’re going as this year.” You raised your brows at him, fixing his hair a little and kissed his head.

“Costume! I wanna dress like him.” He smiled and grabbed your hands from behind his head, awkwardly tugging you along to the many costumes on shelves.

Infront of you was several like his father’s job; cops, firemen, etc. You squeezed his hand before pulling away, walking down the small aisle for a moment until finding an FBI agent costume.

“Oh, buddy, I think we found one.” You glanced back at him, showing him the costume, before attempting to find one that was definitely his size.

“Maybe.. you dress as the good guy, and I’ll dress as the bad guy. You wanna help me find a bad guy costume?” You watched as he eagerly nodded, walking over to you and eagerly pointed out some of the criminal costumes—which sadly were very sexualized.

“Maybe not that one..” You smiled awkwardly as you held his costume under your arm, redirecting his attention to the more normal costumes.

He nodded and picked out a classic orange jumpsuit, one that came with a pair of handcuffs as well. You ran a hand over his hair before helping him grab the costume off the shelf, letting him hold it.

“Wanna check out the masks before we buy these?” You gently grabbed his arm again, directing him towards the other end of the store.

By the time you had gotten back to Aaron’s place you were helping Jack adjust his little tie, straightening out the suit from his costume and made him look all professional.

“Now.. we add your badge.” You smiled and picked up the quick makeshift badge you had printed out and stuffed in the provided ID holder from the costume, flipping it to his collar.

“You’re just like your dad, aren’t you?” You kissed his forehead as you smiled at him, adjusting the plastic handcuffs that dangled from your wrist, watching as his smile grew.

“I’m a hero now.” He small words were simple yet enough to make your heart ache, nodding more as you placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, you are.. best hero out there, right?” You raised your brows at him, seeing him happily nod before perking up at the sound of keys jiggling at the door.

“Looks like the real hero’s home now.” You laughed softly, kissing his head again as you pushed yourself to a standing position, watching as he carefully grabbed your hands and held them behind you, loosely clipping the handcuffs around your other wrist.

“You gotta be stern and put me in my place, okay? Really sell the act.” You whispered to him, giving him a short nod before nudging the door open, listening for Aaron as he entered the living room and called out to you both.”

“Jack? Y/N?” His voice rang through the apartment, before he was greeted by the sound of Jack’s voice yelling at you rather sweetly.

“Daddy! I got the bad guy!” He smiled proudly as he pushed you into the living room, showing off your matching costumes to his father, before letting go of your wrists and rushed over to him.

Aaron crouched down with a smiled, taking in his costume before picking him up, planting a kiss to the side of his head. “Where in the world did you two go?”

You laughed lightly and awkwardly messed with the plastic handcuffs, attempting to loosen them as you glanced down behind your back. “Uh—y’know. Spirit Halloween.. Jack wanted to be a hero for Halloween, so he chose to dress like you.”

Aaron gently put Jack down as he walked over to you, helping you get the cuffs off, before holding them up for you and smiled.

“Thanks.. you really didn’t have to. I can pay you back however much the costume cost.” He offered with slightly furrowed brows. “Aaron, it’s fine. I’d gladly spend all my money to see Jack this happy.”

He nodded simply, a hand finding purchase on your lower back, his gaze on yours as a smile found its home on his lips again.

He was about to speak up when he was interrupted by Jack, his attention going over to his son. “Are you two going to kiss?” He gave you both a weird look before walking away to his room, making you laugh slightly.

“Guess he didn’t want to witness that if it happened.” You shrugged and fiddled with the cuffs in your hand, raising your brows at him.

“If?” He glanced back at you, gaze flickering to your lips for a split second. “Doesn’t have to be an if.” He suggested quietly, his hand still on your back.

“You do realize you’d be kissing a criminal then, right? I’m in character right now.” You smiled and laughed, turning more towards him and placed a hand against his chest.”

“Clearly, you stole my heart. Thief.” He responded simply, before leaning down and planted his lips against yours softly. You almost immediately reciprocated, your hands in his shoulders.

The kiss lasted a few moments, before you pulled back and gave him an amused look. “That is the most cliche thing you could have said, I hope you know that.”

He rolled his eyes, hands on yours waist as he let out a content sigh. “Let me enjoy this, will you?” He gave you a playfully annoyed look, before kissing you once again.

He had spent the day learning as much as possible, wanting to be able to communicate with you better for when you would get back.

Though, when you stepped inside the room, he was taken aback by the small black ball of fur curled up in your arms.

“Hey, Kyle.” You smiled lightly as you adjusted your arm carefully, walking over to him and leant over to see what he was working on, before sitting down with a sigh.

His eyes immediately went to the ball of fur, slowly removing the headphones as he listened to it purring. His eyes shot open a bit pit of slight worry and fear, not knowing what it was, only causing him to become nervous.

“You good?” You spoke quietly, following his gaze down to the cat, realization hitting you as you slowly looked back up at him. “It’s a cat.. named him Eclipse.”

His gaze found yours, his brows knitted together as he moved the iPad to sit on the nightstand. “C-cat..?”

You nodded as he spoke, feeling as Eclipse slowly lifted his head and took in his surroundings, eventually looking up at Kyle and meowed. He didn’t know how to react, simply freezing up as he stared into his eyes.

“Kyle, it’s okay. He’s not gonna hurt you.” You laughed lightly, tilting your head to the side a bit. “You can pet him.. he won’t do anything.”

He let out a shaky breath as he carefully brought a hand up and placed it on his back, feeling the soft fur under his fingers as he lightly traced down his back, before mimicking the gesture a few times.

“Cat..” He spoke quietly again, a small smile forming on his lips as he ducked his head done to get closer.

After a minute he looked up at you again, moving his hands around a little to gesture he wanted to hold the cat.

“Alright, alright.. carefully, okay? Don’t want either of you getting hurt.” You moved his arms in a way that he could hold the small kitten, carefully putting Eclipse in his hold and ran your own hand down his back. “I’m assuming you like the cat already?”

Even in private his public persona didn’t falter, he was always stern and never one for affection, claiming it made him vulnerable and that made him less of the “alpha male” he was.

Though, being clingy, you always craved his affection. The small moments his hand found its way to your thigh, his pinky would hook into your belt loops, or even the light pecks he’d give you when nobody was looking—those made it worth it.

Today you couldn’t help but feel extra clingy and sensitive, you didn’t know what sparked it, it just kinda happened. All you knew is you needed Kai to pay attention to you before you ended up crying.

You sat next to him on the couch, his eyes glued to the screen, watching some old debate—he claimed he needed to do research for himself—your gaze however didn’t falter from him, silently begging for him to look at you.

“Can you please pay attention to me?” Your voice was quiet, brows furrowed as you watched his expression contort into a slightly confused one, still not looking at you though.

“Five more minutes.” He mumbled out, a hand simply holding your thigh and giving a light squeeze, before retreating back to his lap.

You sighed and turned away, the familiar burning sensation in the back of your throat as the words got caught, trying your best to keep the tears from forming in your waterline.

This didn’t go unnoticed by him, his confusion faltering as he slightly sat up and reached a hand out to hold your chin. “Why are you crying?” His voice sounded a little annoyed at first, but when your gaze met his you couldn’t sworn you saw his expression soften.

“I-I don’t know. I just want you to—to pay attention to me.” You sniffled and swatted his hand away, wiping your face as you sank further into the material of the couch.

Without warning he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his lap, hand on the back of your head as he cradled you against his chest.

It took you a second to process it, before you curled up against him, grabbing his other hand and intertwined your fingers.

“Just.. stay there, okay? I’ll finish the debate and then fully pay attention to you.” He sighed as he spoke, playing with your hair and slowly looked down at you.

“Sorry.” He mumbled out, pressing a simple kiss to your hairline, before lifting his head and focused back on the screen.

It may not have been exactly what you wanted, but it was Kai. So for him this was a big milestone. You looked up at him, a smile on your lips.

“Can I have a kiss?” Your words were soft, watching his lips twitch into a slight smile as he glanced down at you, quickly pecking your lips.

You both had agreed to watch a bunch of movies instead of going out for Halloween—not because you didn’t want too, but mostly because guys were struggling to settle on just one duo costume to decide on.

“I can tell, you got the DVDs, right?” You asked with a raised brow, reaching over and grabbed a bit of popcorn, only for him to swat away your hand. “One, save it for the movie. Two, yes I did. And trust me, I paid this time.

He flashed you a knowing smile as he put his things down on the coffee table and walked over to the TV, sitting down on the floor and shuffled through the many movies he had brought over.

“Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, I got the good stuff.” He turned back to you, holding up a few of them with a smile. “You get first pick.”

You nodded and moved off the couch to pick a DVD, before settling on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

“I bet you’re gonna chicken out after two movies.” You smiled and put the movie into the player, moving quickly to settle back on the couch, curling up under a blanket and pointed back towards the light switch. “Cut the lights for me?”

Within a second the lights were off and he was next to you, an arm thrown across the back of the couch and the blanket draped across both of you. “I’m not gonna get scared, y’know. I’m not a wuss.”

He nudged your side, smiling lightly before grabbing the TV remote, finally starting the movie. He grabbed the bowl of popcorn and placed it between the two of you, already stuffing his face before anyone even showed up on screen.

Four movies in and Peter had been curled up into your side, a hand covering his face while he just barely peaked through his fingers.

“Who watches this stuff? It’s messed up!” He whined and buried his face back into your neck, the warmth of his breathing tickling your skin.

“I told you.. wuss.” You chuckled under your breath, listening as he grumbled and shook his head, before lifting it and peered down at you.

“This is not how I planned it, at all! I wanted to be the one holding you and making sure you’re not scared.” He blurted out quickly, not fully realizing what he was saying.

You were about to respond when he found himself cutting you off and saying way more than he even wanted to.

“I wanted to impress you, y’know? I wanted to be this tough guy, who can handle these movies, I wanted you to be attracted to that and then maybe feel the same way I do.”

He huffed and ran his hands over his face, leaning back against the cushions of the couch, shaking his head.

“You.. wanted me to feel the same way?” You questioned quietly, taking a glance at the TV, before turning back to him.

He hesitantly looked at you, feeling his face grow flush as he nervously and awkwardly sat there, his hands dropping into his lap. “Maybe.” He shrugged, looking like he was getting ready to leave.

“Peter, I do feel the same way. I hope that’s what you mean and I’m not reading it wrong, at least. But I like you. Too. I like you too.” You blurted out, turning away as you marched his awkward demeanor.

He took a moment to process your words, glancing between his hands and you.

“Can I kiss you then?” He looked at you fully, a hopeful smile on his lips.

“How about not when someone is being murdered on the TV?”

“It’s not that bad, Spence. I offered to gut it for you so you could just cut the face out..” You raised your brows at him, carefully pulling pumpkin seeds from the guts and laying them across several paper towels you had laid out. “You could get the pumpkin seeds out for Rossi and Penelope if you want.

He simply gave you a look at your suggestion, shaking his head and wiped his hands dry with a hand towel, before standing back towards the counter and carefully grabbed his pumpkin.

“My pumpkin is shaped like Derek’s head.” He mumbled under his breath, picking up one of the several markers you had laid out across the counter, hunching over as he started to sketch out the face he wanted to cut out.

“Is that an insult to him or the pumpkin?” You smiled at him, placing the last of the pumpkin seeds down and walked over to the sink to finally wash your hands. “The pumpkin.” He smiled back at you, turning his pumpkin towards you.

He had only done a simple triangle eye so far but you could tell he was proud of it nonetheless, before he turned it away again and continued to sketch out his face.

You couldn’t help but admire how concentrated he was as he sketched, his bottom lip caught between his teeth, a slight furrow in his brow, and his gaze not faltering once so ever.

“You’re staring again.” He spoke up, finishing up his pumpkin and turned it towards you, his lines wonky and slightly wavy. “Again?” You questioned, crossing your arms over your chest.

He nodded with a smile, before grabbing the pumpkin carving knife and sat in a stool, pulling the pumpkin with him so he could hunch over and start to carve out the face.

“You stare a lot more than you think you do. A lot of times when I’m reading or talking to Derek I can feel your gaze burning into the back of my skull. I’m surprised Garcia hasn’t talked to you about to.. she always asks me about it.” He rambled on, shrugging as he carefully carved.

You were at a slight loss for words, blinking a few times before finding yourself moving a bit closer to him, crossing your arms and leant against the counter.

“Do you not like when I stare?”

He paused for a moment, glancing back at you before turning away again. “I don’t mind it.”

You nodded along, turning away and picked at your nails for a moment, not seeing him put the carving tool down and turned towards you.

“I stare too sometimes. I can’t help it—you’re just.. really beautiful. I know this is cliche and probably the worst time to say any of this, but I’m too nervous to say it any other time, and being alone with you seems to be the best option—“ He quickly cut himself off and took a deep breath, holding a hand up before continuing.

“I don’t want Derek or Garcia to see because I know they won’t drop it ever, but honestly I really like you. I really hope you like me too.” He breathed out, turning away again and nervously went back to carving.

You stared at him blankly, blinking a few times before swallowing the lump forming in your throat. “I like you too.”

His eyes widened for a moment, glancing at you and pressed his lips into a thin line. “Cool.. cool.” He nodded and let out a breath, clearly just as nervous as you were.

The two of you stayed silent for a moment longer, with you standing up and walked over to your pumpkin, awkwardly picking up a marker.

“Can we consider this a date?” He asked quietly, glancing up at you from across the counter, his brows knitted together.

You looked back at him, a smile creeping onto your face as you nodded and started to draw your own face on the pumpkin.

“Yeah.. it’s a date.”

Tate perked up from where he sat on the attic floor, the red ball he had been rolling back and forth with Beau coming to a haunt in-front of him. “No, why?” You shrugged and nervously went to sit down next to him, your eyes landing on the ball with a frown.

“I can leave if you wanna continue playing with him.” You mumbled out, holding the back of your neck while looking away, messing with your hair.

He sighed and placed a hand on your shoulder, rubbing his thumb in soft circles while leaning closer to you. “You never bother me.” He kissed your jaw softly, looking at you with a loving gaze like always.

“You sure? I feel like I’m needy all the time. I always go to you when I wanna talk to someone, when I have friends, but then again I feel like whenever I speak up around them they just.. stare?”

As you rambled on he listened intently, his hand moving from your shoulder to your lower back, rubbing your back gently. He didn’t interrupt you, simply wanting you to be able to get everything off your chest.

“—then if I even try to talk to my dad he doesn’t care for anything I have to say. My mom is barely any better sometimes, but she at least acknowledges that I’m talking when she’s not reading a book.”

You let out a huff, looking back at him with tears somewhat brimming your eyes. You leant against him and reached for the ball on the floor, rolling it into the shadows and watched as it was rolled back.

Tate held you closer, his cheek resting on your head before he kissed your temple. “Your parents are just assholes.” He mumbled quietly into your hair, his other hand coming up to hold one of yours.

“Just because everyone else doesn’t know how to appreciate you, doesn’t mean I don’t. I love when you ramble or tell me the random facts you learn.. I always want you to talk to me when you need someone to talk to.”

You couldn’t help but smile as he spoke, resting your head on his shoulder, squeezing his hand gently. “Thanks, Tate.”

He brought your hand up to his lips and gently kissed your knuckles, looking at you with a light smile, his eyes being practical hearts. “No need to thank me for just.. not being an asshole.”

He carefully let go of your hand and brought his own up to wipe your eyes, carefully ridding of the tears. He pressed the occasional kiss to your forehead, cheek, or nose, simply wanting to cheer you up.

“From now on whenever you even ask if you’re being annoying I’ll just kiss you. How’s that sound?” He laughed lightly as he raised his brows at you, smiling more as he saw your face light up from his offer.

“I’d like that, but I’d probably ask a lot more on purpose.” You spoke softly, leaning into his touch as he cupped your face and leant his head down to give you a quick kiss.

“No matter how many times you ask I’ll find a way to reassure you.” He rested his forehead to yours, his gaze darting around your face as he admired your features, before you brought him out of his thoughts with a simple question.