what lovers do - Hotchniss

on the same page

"So, these ones or these ones?", Arlene asked as she raised the flowers in her hands.

"The yellow ones", Emily replied and let out an inaudible sigh.

She had never thought that being a bridesmaid would be this exhausting. This was the second weekend in a row that she was spending at Arlene's and Sean's wedding location, trying to help the blonde to figure out the perfect seating order, decoration and so on. The more time she spent around all this stuff, the more she knew that she would probably never get married - and if she did, she would never in a million years organize a huge party. This organization-shit was eating her alive.

However, Emily had grown to like Arlene a lot. If they hadn't met due to the given situation, she would have probably never talked to a person like her, but as they had already spent a respectable amount of time together - especially for Emily, who had approximately zero close friends outside the FBI due to her hard work - the brunette couldn't help but enjoy the joyful company the blonde gave her, especially since her time at work was usually not filled with such a bright mood.

"Hm, are you sure?", Arlene asked and held the yellow flowers next to the curtains of a huge window.

"Red roses are too... heavy", Emily said. "I think the yellow one's create a brighter mood."

She had absolutely zero idea what she was actually saying, but Arlene seemed to happy with that explanation.

"Oh! Look who's here!", the blonde then cheered and pointed behind Emily, who immediately snapped her head around.

The smile on her face dropped as she discovered no other than Hotch and Sean entering the room. 'Fuck', she thought. It wasn't like she was not used to playing his girlfriend by then, because she definitely was. However, she had thought that she wouldn't have to deal with this and her feelings towards the situation that day, especially since her feelings grew more and more confusing with every second she spent at the Unit Chief's side.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help but smirk at the way Hotch had his eyebrows furrowed at Sean while they seemed to discuss about something the women weren't able to hear. He always looked so grumpy next to his younger brother, with his darker hair and the ever-so-stern look written all over his face. Deep down, she realized that she found it pretty adorable, but she pushed that thought aside. There was no way she would think about her boss as an adorable person.

As Hotch looked up, his eyes met Emily's. Whereas his mood had been very bad due to annoying discussions with Sean on their way there, it changed the very second he saw that smirk on Emily Prentiss' face. He didn't see her smile a lot throughout their time at work, which was pretty much self-explanatory, and if she did, it was a very different smile than the one she was giving him in that moment.

The smile - or more overly the smirk - that was on her face right then radiated a completely different energy, and if he hadn't know better, he would've said that she was smitten by something.

"Honey, come here!", Arlene finally interrupted the moment which had felt like forever, and Sean moved forward to join his fiancée, who asked him about the flowers after he had given her a chaste kiss as a greeting.

"Hey", Hotch let out a small breath as he stepped next to Emily.

"Hey", she smiled, and the next thing she registered was his hand on the small of her back and the quick peck he was giving her on the lips.

Her whole body froze as her brain tried to understand that he had actually kissed her. This was the second time they had kissed, but it was the first time he had kissed her. It had been the other way around the last time.

Hotch chewed his inner cheek nervously, not daring to look down at her after their lips had parted and his hand had dropped next to his side again. 'This was simply for the act', he told himself. 'This is how couples great each other. It's completely normal.'

"Didn't think that you two would show up here today", Emily then spoke, finally breaking the tension between them.

"Uh, yes, me neither", Hotch admitted. "Sean and I were out looking for a suit, and then he said that he had promised Arlene to stop by, so... here we are."

"Let me guess, you were already done with this shit after the first suit", Emily grinned, finally able to relax a bit next to him.

"They all looked the same", he sighed but smiled. "I mean - don't me wrong, I own many suits, I can be a good company when it comes to buying them, but today was hell."

"Ask me about it", the brunette chuckled. "I have looked at more silverware, flowers and tablecloth today than I have done in my entire life."

"So you're not a fan of red roses then?", Hotch asked and nodded into the direction of his brother and Arlene, who were still looking at the yellow and the red roses.

"Nope", Emily shrugged. "I prefer the yellow ones."

Hotch just nodded again, but stayed silent. After a few seconds, he felt how Emily leaned into him and turned her head the side.

"Can I be completely honest with you?", she whispered below her breath.

"Sure, always", he tried to reply as casually as possible, but it didn't go unnoticed by the brunette how he had tensed up as soon as her body had touched his.

"This place freaks me out", Emily mumbled. "Like, it seriously gives me the creeps."

"God, I thought I was the only one", Hotch chuckled silently.

"I mean - this is their wedding, and they are the only ones that have to like it here, but I think this place looks like taken right out of some crappy movie", Emily replied, only for him to hear.

"I'm glad we're on the same page regarding that point."

"Me too."

They should have realized that there was something odd about being happy to be on the same side regarding a wedding location - after all, there was no way these two were close to anything like planning a wedding that they were supposed to like, right? But in that exact moment, neither of them seemed to mind, and if Emily was completely honest, she was really glad that Hotch and Sean had stopped by on that day.