To Build A Home
Summary: Aaron Hotchner x fe!Reader -> You and Aaron have been best friends for a long time. So, what happens when, for a case, you both have to pose as a married couple?
Disclaimer: Mostly fluff, found family, best friends to lovers, reader went to the same uni but course isn't specified, works for BAU, mentions of intimacy, mutual pining, slight oblivious idiots, undercover work. This is going to be a multi-chapter fic.
You could remember your first day at the BAU.
It was long before Hotch had become Unit Chief – back when he was one of the team and not separated by his leadership and authority. Three back to back cases had landed Agent Hotchner in a week of paperwork until the media liaison chose a case that would send them flying to whichever State it had taken place in.
And you just so happened to have an afternoon off.
“Hotch,” Derek Morgan had laughed. “You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”
“Oh-” Aaron got a little awkward but you just smiled and explained for the both of you.
“We’re not dating,” you clarified, crossing one leg over the other as you were sitting on Aaron’s desk. “Just friends.”
“Really?” Morgan asked, looking at his teammate.
“So, you’re a lawyer?”
You shook your head. “No.”
Aaron just nodded. “We actually met at the library on campus.”
“I could have studied at my building, but I was trying to avoid an ex-boyfriend.”
It was a little weird for the team, seeing Aaron act the way that he did when he was around you. He was…happy. Smiling. Not like he was traumatised by the hundreds of cases he’d seen.
He leaned back in his desk chair, casually, chuckling at something you were telling him. When they got called away, his team watched as he smiled, hugged you goodbye but kept his hand in yours.
It wasn’t until you were too far away that you let go. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
Over the years, the team saw and heard more about you. So, when a position opened up on the team and Hotch explained to them that he’d already recommended someone, it came as no surprise when you walked through the door.
You provided excellent analysis to different behaviour profiles, you trusted your team without question but kept others at a distance until you could work them out. You worked well with Penelope, aiding her in narrowing down information that tied in with the working profile.
But the one you worked best with was Hotch.
The others hadn’t ever seen anything like it.
The way you trusted one another, the way you worked together. There was a long standing loyalty that pre-dated both yours and Aaron’s time at the BAU. And the others had all seen it; the way neither you or Hotch had to say two words to one another before knowing what the other was thinking.
So, when an undercover case was brought to the team, there was no doubt about who the team would be choosing to go.
“Are we sure about this?” Rossi asked the rest of his team, minus you and Hotch.
Prentiss nodded. “They’re the most believable.”
“They have history,” Penelope pointed out. “History I can turn into a believable lie.”
“Plus they get jealous when the other gets flirted with.”
Spencer chuckled at Derek’s comment. “Which one?”
They had seen at least three incidents where you had both gotten jealous when someone flirted. There was a lawyer Hotch knew, a journalist and a New York City Cafe owner who was really interested in his coffee order.
Meanwhile, there had been an Agent who didn’t know you had a higher security clearance than him, a Private Detective whose charm started and finished at his English accent, and Hotch’s brother.
Although, from the private conversation Shaun had with Derek and JJ, they knew that incident was purely to annoy his brother and give him a push in the right direction.
Rossi nodded. “So, it’s settled then.”
Both yourself and Hotch walked inside. “What’s settled?”
The team stood, giving each other knowing smiles.
“What?” You chuckled. “What’s going on?”
“Dave?”
Rossi shook the files in his hand before giving you one each. “Congratulations, you two. You just got married.”
It wasn’t until you and Hotch were sitting opposite each other on the plane that you both got a straight answer out of your team.
You and Hotch would be posing as a happily married couple who were still lustfully in love. You’d been friends for a long time, but had finally come together after years of yearning. You had no kids, as of yet, but were in the stages of trying.
It was the closest lie that fit into the Unsub’s victim type.
It would be a close-knit community. The ideal Suburbian home.
“When we land, you two will drive straight to your new home.” Penelope explained. “I already set everything up; pictures, photo albums, crockery, some furniture. All you two have to do is get dressed. Meanwhile, myself and my beautiful entourage will be split between the police department and the maintenance van that will be doing patrols twice a day.”
Twenty minutes before landing, yourself and Hotch got dressed.
It wasn’t anything fancy; a simple t-shirt and shorts combo for both of you.
Along with a set of wedding bands.
“And with the power vested in me-”
“Dave.”
Rossi chuckled, handing over the velvet box and giving you and Aaron a private moment.
“Go over our story, one more time.”
You nodded. “We are Aaron and Y/n Everett. We met at University.”
“We had one crossover lecture,” Hotch said, a small smile on his face as he took your hand in his and pushed the wedding ring onto your finger. “And I sat next to you.”
You smiled. “We were friends for several years before we started officially dating.” You took Aaron’s hand in your own. “You asked me on our first date which was-”
“At the local Italian restaurant.” Aaron couldn’t help but smile as you slipped the wedding ring onto his wedding finger. “Where we also had our first kiss.”
“And where you proposed to me twelve months later.”
Holding your hands in his, he took a breath. “Ready?”
You nodded. “Oddly, yeah. Kinda. Though, I’m sure my mother will have questions when she finds out.”
“How is your mom by the way?”
You shrugged. “The last time I called her, she was playing Detective with her neighbour Nora. They think one of their friends from their Book Club is seeing the 70 year old stud.”
“Stud?”
You held up your hands as you both walked off the plane. “Her words, not mine.”
Aaron chuckled and, with some final goodbye’s, you both climbed into the U-Haul van and followed the sat-nav.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pulling up outside of your new home for the foreseeable, yourself and Aaron weren’t long left alone.
The Real-Estate agent that had handled the ‘sale’ of your home greeted you both in your front yard.
“It’s nice to finally meet you!” Richard smiled. “The Everett’s, right?”
Aaron smiled and shook his hand. “Yes. I’m Aaron and this is my wife-”
“Y/n.” You shook Richard’s hand before slotting your arm around Hotch.
After the initial formalities were shared, Richard gave you both a tour of your new home. The story he knew was that Aaron had been offered a great job opportunity and you put in your transfer in order to move with him.
The process had been quick which was why you’d both jumped at the opportunity to buy this house.
Richard left, but not before he invited both yourself and Aaron to the barbeque at his home that weekend (which would give you both ample opportunity to meet the residents).
It took until ten that night, after arriving at nine in the morning, to bring everything inside and unpack.
The bed you and Hotch were meant to share was yet to be built, so collapsing onto the sofa beside one another, you both took a moment.
“The neighbours keep watching us,” you told him.
“The ones across the road?”
You hummed. “I think the wife has a crush on you.”
Aaron chuckled.
“What?”
“You’re jealous.”
You gasped. “Excuse me?”
Aaron just chuckled more. “Oh, my god, you are! You are completely jealous! My fake wife is jealous.”
“Hey, as far as they’re aware,” you pointed out. “You are a very happily married man, to a very real wife.”
“Think they’re watching right now?”
You peaked over the sofa and looked through the blinds. The curtains across the road were closed. The only thing on was their porch light.
“Nope.”
Aaron sighed. “Shame. Could have made her jealous.”
You rolled your eyes and smacked his arm, but he just chuckled again. “We should get some sleep.”
With a dramatic sigh, you lifted Aaron’s arm around you and he pulled you into his side. “Thank god!”
The first few days ran as smoothly as you and Hotch could hope for.
Derek acted as a maintenance man, coming round to check the house was in working order. In reality, he gave you and Aaron the updated information and a computer that was hooked up to an independent server. Whenever Penelope would be in the van outside, it would turn on and you and Aaron would be caught up on the case.
During the day, yourself and Aaron set up your home and introduced yourself to your neighbours. You were correct in thinking the neighbour across the road had a crush on your husband.
The way she looked at him, the way she subtly flirted with him; it made your stomach burn.
The few kisses you planted on each other’s cheeks and heads seemed to satisfy the neighbours, but as the case seemed to stall, yourself and Aaron attended a video call with Penelope.
“What are you not saying, Pen?”
Penelope had been dodging something since you’d answered the call.
“Can we pretend you’re not my boss, sir?” Penelope asked and, although slightly hesitant, Hotch nodded.
“Okay.”
“To be frank about it. And quick, because this is weird to tell you both out-”
“Penelope!”
“You both need to up the romance!” Penelope closed her eyes as she told you. “The Unsub goes after active couples. Ones that inspire jealousy over love and, as much as it works for your neighbours, it’s not working for our Unsub.”
Aaron almost went bright red to his ears, and you were in a similar reaction. “So,” you tried to clear your throat. “What– What are you…”
“Suggesting?” Penelope finished for you. You just nodded, whilst Aaron held a hand over his mouth.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or panic.
“Well, more PDA to start with.”
Derek came into the view of the camera. “Guys, we know this Unsub has been watching the couples for hours. Watching their every movement. The couples are–”
Even Derek couldn’t say it.
So, with a sigh, Rossi pushed both of them out of the view of the camera. “The couples are highly active. Remember, you two are meant to be in the stages of trying for a baby. Now, I’m not saying have sex-”
“I hope not.”
Rossi nodded. “Because that creates at least a dozen HR violations. But make it at least look like you are. Be close. Have PDA in your own home. Make that neighbour know she has no chance getting with Aaron.”
“Thank you.” You looked at Aaron as if to say “See, I was right.”.
“She doesn’t,” Hotch clarified. “But how are we-”
“Do I really have to give you two the talk?”
Both you and Hotch shouted, “No!”.
“Leave receipts,” you heard JJ say.
Then Prentiss agreed. “Yes! Clothes, wine, candles. Everything that proves you’re both being romanced.”
That was how you found yourself ‘accidently’ bumping into one of your neighbours at the grocery store as your cart was filled with ingredients for a romantic pasta dish, along with a bottle of wine.
“Date night?”
You smiled, “Yeah. No matter what, we always have a date night on Friday. Never missed it once.”
After the grocery store, you drove towards the mall in search of a list of items that every romantic couple owned in their closet.
However, when you finally made it to the changing rooms, you looked at your phone.
Photos.
“Oh, Jesus.” You ran a hand down your face.
Was it necessary? You were about to call and ask for his opinion. Were photos really any different? But, away from your cover, you and Aaron were friends. And co-workers.
Didn’t this cross a line?
You took several different photos before you decided against sending them. After all, the date night was meant to be a surprise, right?
Part Two