Criminal Minds One Shots

*The Boy Next Door (HotchxReader)

Requested by fangirl1777777

You were lying in bed, wrapped up in the blankets.

"Honey?" Aaron called.

"In here," you reply, far less enthusiastically.

"What's wrong?" He sat next to you on the bed. "We need to get going if we're going to make it to the party."

"You go without me."

Aaron looked both shocked and heartbroken. "Baby, what's wrong?"

You scooted yourself down deeper into the covers. "Nothing," came you muffled reply.

"Come on," he singsonged, gently pulling back the blankets.

Sighing, you conceded. "I don't like my outfit," you muttered.

"What?"

"I don't like my outfit," you begrudgingly repeated louder.

"Why not? You look amazing in it!"

"No, I don't," you insisted, sitting up to meet your husband's gaze. "It makes my stomach and thighs look huge! Don't say that it doesn't!"

"Oh, baby..." Aaron wrapped his arms around you, kissing the top of your head. "You really think it does?"

You nodded.

"Well, so what?"

"What?"

"So what? What does it matter that you have a bigger stomach and thighs?"

"It makes me ugly!" you pout back.

Aaron stood up and left the room. He came back with a photo album. "Say that again to this face."

"What are you-" 

Aaron opened the album to a photo from the week he moved to your neighborhood.

. . .

You were about six when the moving trucks came. You were all hyper and begging your parents to let you play on the truck.

"Tell you what," your dad bargained. "You be good until the truck leaves and we can go say hi and invite the new neighbors over for dinner, okay?"

"OKAY!" you cheered.

An hour later and you were knocking on their door.

To your surprise, a boy answered the door.

"Hi! I'm Aaron."

You blushed and ran behind your dad.

"It's okay. You don't have to be afraid. Come on," he urged.

Slowly, you stepped out from behind him.

"H- Hi. My name's y- y/n."

"Y/n. I like that," Aaron replied. "How old are you?"

"Six next week."

"I'm ten."

Not knowing what to say you looked up at your dad and whispered, rather loudly, "Dad? Can you ask him now?"

"Okay," he laughed. "Aaron, can I talk to your parents? We'd like to have you all over for dinner."

"Sure! I'll get them!"

From that day on you and Aaron were the best of friends. Nearly inseparable. Until college that is. Aaron, being four years your senior, left for college as you started high school. 

The two of you talked but slowly you began to lose touch.

Eventually, when you went to college, you stopped talking to Aaron altogether. Though, you never forgot how he made you feel.

. . .

"Can you really call this six-year-old ugly?"

You chuckled. "No, I can't. But I'm not six anymore."

Aaron let a silence fall before speaking again.

"You know what I told myself the day that photo was taken?"

You shook your head.

"I'm gonna marry y/n some day."

Flustered, you buried your face in Aaron's sleeve.

"It's true! I did!"

"Then why'd you wait so long to tell me you love me?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he countered.

. . .

After graduating college you took a few jobs as a white-hat hacker; testing security systems, advising companies on cyber security, that sort of thing. Then one day you got a phone call from an Erin Strauss from the FBI. She wanted you to work as an assistant tech analyst with the BAU.

You were beyond nervous on your first day. As the elevator doors slid open you just about fell over when you saw who was waiting for you.

"I uh, I heard Strauss hired you and well, I- I wanted to be the first to welcome you."

"Aaron," you breathed.

He laughed. "It's been a while."

"Yeah. It has."

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, I should show you around," Aaron prompted.

The following few weeks were uncomfortable, to say the least. There you were, after nearly a decade of radio silence, working with your crush.

"I should just tell him," you said to yourself. "No. No, that would be unprofessional," you reasoned. "Then again," you added. "Maybe I could tell him I USED TO like him. As- as a kid. Yeah! No, that's dumb. Why- why would I say that? How would that even come up? GAH WHY IS IT SO HARD TO SAY 'AARON I LOVE YOU?'"

You stood, back to the door of the tech office you shared with Garica, fuming at yourself when a voice broke your focus.

"For what it's worth, the feeling is mutual."

You spun around quick. "Fuck. You- you..."

Aaron nodded.

"Note to self either think quieter or close the goddamn door," you mumbled.

Aaron laughed. "Well, I came down here to tell you we're meeting in five." Aaron turned to leave but stuck his head back in the room to add, "And, if you're not busy, to take you to coffee some time?"

"Like, like on a date?"

"Yes. Exactly like a date."

. . .

"What did I ever do to deserve someone as amazing as you?" you ask, grinning like mad.

"I'm the lucky one here. So, ready for the party?"

"What about something that requires... a little less clothing?"

Aaron smirked seductively. "I like where this is going. But, maybe after the party? I'd love to show you off."

You let out a fake gasp. "Is that all I am to you? Arm candy?"

"Well, isn't that what I am to you?" Aaron countered with a flick of his eyebrows.

"Aaron Hotchner, I assure you," you pulled him close to you, "you are so. Much. More," you finished, kissing him between each word.