it took a certain DETERMINATION to keep his eyes closed when spencer slid into the seat next to him on the jet. he was speaking even before he’d bothered to sit and had launched into what, hotch believed, were probably excerpts from the essay he’d been reading earlier about child murders. a charming subject. the kid had ANXIOUS energy almost pouring out of him and aaron wants to do his best to be understanding, but he was also exhausted and they still had a long flight back to quantico. ❝ reid,❞ the name leaves his mouth gently, eyes remaining mostly closed. he does crack one open for a peak at the 21 year-old doctor. he looked like he’d let himself get WORKED UP about something. ( gideon was catching a commercial flight back in the morning, and derek had passed out before the wheels left the tarmac ). hotch was probably the friendliest face on the plane for the freshman agent. the other old-timers weren’t always the most talkative bunch. gideon had worked hard and brought their unit a long way, using TEAM-THINK to solve cases that the old single-model just couldn’t. spencer was a huge asset in that regard, but the others couldn’t establish their respect on book-smarts alone. everything hotch was going to say leaves in an instant as he watches spencer softens at the sound of his name. probably expecting a REPRIMAND or negative retort. ❝that’s fascinating.❞ it’s delivered as DRY as DUST but that wasn’t so abnormal for him that reid would take it as a slight. ❝i was under the impression that those murders hadn’t all been attributed to the TEXAS TEEN BUTCHER.❞ now that he’s watching spencer, hotch gets a bit distracted. derek called him pretty boy and hotch couldn’t disagree with that assessment. - @quantified187