(Bones fanfiction | Jack Hodgins x Reader, eventual Angela Montenegro x Reader, Hodgins x Reader x Angela)
It happens months later in the lab, at two-thirteen in the morning with fluorescent lights buzzing overhead and three half-finished reports spread across the platform between you.
The Jeffersonian after hours always feels strange—too quiet for a building built around death and discovery. The air smells faintly of disinfectant, old coffee, and the metallic tang of the platforms. Somewhere upstairs, the ventilation system hums steadily.
You’re exhausted. Hodgins is worse.
Which means he’s talking faster than usual, hands moving animatedly as he points at a series of mineral traces on the victim’s clothing.
“I’m telling you, the particulate spread makes no sense unless the body was moved postmortem.”
You squint at the monitor. “Or your sample got contaminated.”
His gasp is immediate and deeply offended.
“You breathed directly on it.”
“That is not contamination, that is scientific proximity.”
“It absolutely should be.”
You snort softly, reaching past him for the microscope slide.
Because he’s closer than you realized. Close enough that your shoulder brushes his chest when you lean forward. Close enough that you can feel warmth through layers of clothing.
For a second neither of you moves.
Not joking quiet. Not thinking quiet. Just… still.
He’s already looking at you.
There’s something dangerously open in his expression. Something that makes your chest tighten before your brain catches up.
The room suddenly feels much smaller.
“Can I ask you something?”
His voice is rougher than usual.
A nervous laugh escapes him. “That bad, huh?”
“You’re making me nervous.”
“Yeah,” he says softly. “Me too.”
That should probably be your warning sign.
Instead, you stay exactly where you are.
He studies your face for a long moment like he’s trying to solve something.
Then his eyes flick briefly to your mouth.
Your stomach flips violently.
“Hodgins,” you say again, quieter this time.
“I know,” he says immediately. “I know this is complicated.”
Angela’s name hangs silently between you.
Neither of you says it. Somehow that makes it worse.
You honestly can’t tell anymore.
“You don’t have to—” you start.
“I do, actually.” He lets out a breath, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Because if I keep pretending I don’t want to do this, I’m going to lose my mind.”
Your heartbeat is suddenly loud enough to drown out the ventilation system.
God, you absolutely should.
Instead, your eyes drop to his mouth for one fatal second.
His expression changes instantly. Not smug. Not triumphant. Hopeful.
Like he’s been waiting for permission he never intended to ask for.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks quietly.
And there it is. The point of no return.
You could still stop this. You should stop this.
Angela is still woven through both of your lives in ways neither of you fully understands yet. The aftermath of their relationship still lingers in every room they share, every glance that lasts a little too long.
You know that. You know better than this.
But Hodgins is looking at you like you matter. Like this matters.
And maybe that’s your downfall.
He kisses you like he’s afraid you’ll disappear.
Tentative at first. Careful. One hand settling lightly against your waist like he’s waiting for you to change your mind.
Your fingers catch in the front of his shirt instead, pulling him closer instinctively.
That’s all the encouragement he needs.
The kiss deepens immediately.
Warmth crashes through you all at once—sharp and dizzying and a little overwhelming after wanting this for so long without ever letting yourself imagine it could actually happen.
Hodgins makes a soft sound against your mouth that nearly ruins you.
His other hand slides to your hip carefully, like he’s trying very hard not to push too far too fast. Which is somehow hotter than if he had.
Your back bumps lightly against the edge of the platform.
The word comes out rougher than intended.
Hodgins stares at you for half a second.
Then something in his expression snaps.
The next kiss is less cautious.
Still careful—but no longer restrained.
Like wanting you has finally outweighed his self-control.
Your hands slide into his hair without permission from the rational part of your brain. His breath catches sharply when your nails scrape lightly against his scalp.
“Oh, wow,” he mutters against your mouth.
You laugh softly despite yourself, breathless. “Professional scientist. Incredible vocabulary.”
“Shut up.” “You shut up.”
He kisses you again immediately just to prove he can. It works embarrassingly well.
Your knees feel suspiciously unreliable.
The realization is horrifying. And apparently visible.
Hodgins pulls back just enough to grin at you, slightly flushed and looking equally wrecked.
“Okay,” he says weakly. “So that definitely wasn’t just me.”
You lean back against the platform, trying and failing to regulate your breathing.
“No,” you admit quietly. “Definitely not just you.”
For a moment neither of you speaks. The lab hums softly around you. The case files still sit open beside the microscope. Somewhere upstairs, a door closes.
Reality slowly begins filtering back in.
And with it— Complication.
You see it hit him too. His expression softens first. Then turns uncertain.
The word goes unspoken again, but this time it settles heavier between you.
Hodgins exhales slowly, stepping back just enough to think clearly again.
“I don’t know what this means,” he admits.
The honesty of it hurts more than certainty would have.
You fold your arms loosely across your chest, partly defensive, partly because you still feel electrically aware of everywhere he touched you.
He huffs out a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “You wanna know the worst part?”
“I’ve wanted to do that for… honestly an embarrassing amount of time.”
Despite everything, warmth blooms low in your chest. “You’re terrible at subtlety.”
“I’m actually incredible at subtlety. You’re just observant.”
“You had absolutely no system.”
That startles a laugh out of you. Real. Uncontrolled.
Hodgins’ expression softens instantly at the sound. And there it is again—that look.
That dangerous, aching warmth in his eyes that feels far more intimate than the kiss did.
Which is saying something considering the kiss nearly dissolved your central nervous system.
Your smile fades slightly around the edges.
Because suddenly this feels real. Not hypothetical. Not harmless flirting. Real.
You see the exact moment Hodgins realizes the same thing.
His shoulders lower slightly.
“If this freaks you out, we can slow down.”
The gentleness in his voice nearly undoes you.
Because Hodgins is many things—chaotic, intense, occasionally incapable of existing at a reasonable volume—but he has always been careful with the things that matter to him.
“It doesn’t freak me out,” you admit quietly.
“That sounds suspiciously incomplete.”
You sigh softly, glancing away toward the darkened observation deck above.
Hodgins nods immediately like he understands exactly what you mean.
“Yeah,” he says. “Me too.”
Then, because neither of you knows how to leave emotional vulnerability alone for longer than thirty seconds without panicking—
Hodgins points vaguely toward the evidence table.
“So… should we solve the murder before Cam notices we’ve been gone for forty minutes?”
You bark out a startled laugh. “Oh my god.”
“We were supposed to be analyzing trace evidence.”
“We did analyze trace evidence.”
“You kissed me into a table.”
“In my defense, you seemed extremely into it.”
His grin flashes bright and boyish. Your chest tightens dangerously.
This easy warmth between you— Feels alarmingly like the beginning of something.
The thing about almost-relationships is that they exist entirely in implication.
No labels. No conversations. No defined edges.
Late nights. Lingering touches. Kisses that happen again after the first one. Coffee appearing beside your workstation without asking. His hand at the small of your back in crowded hallways.
Something growing quietly between you. Something real. But undefined.
It’s not secrecy—it’s… incubation.
Something small and fragile that you’re not ready to expose to the world yet.
For about a month, it’s enough. Then Angela breaks up with Wendell.
And everything shifts. Not dramatically at first. Subtly. Like pressure changing before a storm.
You notice it immediately because you notice Hodgins immediately.
The way his attention starts drifting.
The way conversations stop mid-thought when Angela walks into the room.
The way he watches her when he thinks no one sees.
Not longing exactly. Worse. Instinct.
Automatic. Unresolved. Old emotional gravity reactivating in real time.
He doesn’t seem fully aware he’s doing it.
The first time it really hurts is stupidly small.
You’re talking to him. Actually talking.
Something nerdy and meaningless about fungal transfer patterns.
He’s smiling. Relaxed. Close enough that your knees keep bumping under the table.
Then Angela laughs somewhere behind him. And he turns immediately.
Not consciously. Not intentionally.
But fast enough that he misses the rest of your sentence entirely. You stop talking.
Hodgins doesn’t notice right away. Because he’s already answering Angela.
That night you lie awake staring at your ceiling feeling sick with guilt.
Because Angela hasn’t done anything wrong.
Neither has Hodgins. Not really.
That somehow makes it worse.
You wait two more weeks before saying anything.
Two weeks of interrupted conversations, subtle distance, unfinished touches, Hodgins looking guilty without understanding why, you pretending not to notice. Until eventually you can’t do it anymore.
The lab is quiet when you finally corner him. Late enough that everyone else is gone.
Hodgins looks up immediately when you approach.
Then smiles slightly. The sight still hurts.
You stand there for a second too long.
His expression shifts first.
Concern replacing warmth. “…what’s wrong?”
Always one of the things you liked most about him.
You lean against the platform because suddenly standing feels difficult.
“I think we need to pause this.”
Hodgins stills completely.
You gesture vaguely between you.
His face falls instantly. “What? Why?”
And there’s genuine confusion there. That almost breaks you.
Because he truly doesn’t understand yet.
“When Angela walks into a room,” you say carefully, “you stop seeing anything else for a few seconds.”
Hodgins opens his mouth immediately. Stops.
Because he knows exactly what moments you mean.
You see the realization hit him in real time. Small. Horrified.
“It’s okay,” you say quickly. And you mean it. Mostly.
Not accusation. Just truth.
His face twists. Frustration. Guilt. Conflict.
That’s the problem. If he cared less, this would be easier.
Silence stretches painfully.
Then he says quietly: “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
That hurts too. Because none of this is intentional.
He runs a hand through his hair roughly.
“I thought I had this figured out.”
Then, quieter: “I think you need to figure out what you actually want before this turns into something unfair.”
Because Hodgins is many things, chaotic, obsessive, emotionally messy, but unfair is the one thing he never wants to be.
“You’re breaking up with me?” he asks finally.
The question catches you off guard.
“I don’t know if we were ever officially together.”
You look at him for a long moment.
Then softer: “I’m asking for space.”
He looks devastated by that in a way he tries very hard to hide. Fails completely.
“I don’t want to lose this,” he says quietly.
Neither do you. That’s the tragedy.
You step closer before you lose your nerve. Rest your hand briefly against his wrist.
Gentle. Familiar. Painful. “You won’t,” you whisper.
But neither of you sounds convinced.
Then you leave first this time.
For the first time since this started—