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It had been a long day, and an even longer night. The team was half-asleep by the time they had backed up and boarded the jet at 4am. The only sound was the world passing them by 20,000 feet below theirs, and Rossi’s snoring.
Rossi had nodded off, with his chin resting on his chest. Hotch, who was stone-faced as always, had a heaviness to him that made him look older than his years. He was getting a head start on some paperwork that the rest of the team would have to do tomorrow but anyone who knew him could see how tired he was. JJ and Prentiss had been talking when they had first taken off, but had drifted into silence after they had been in the air for a while.
Reid was lying on the couch that had become his over the years. His arms were folded over his chest and his eyes were closed but there was so much tension in his small and willowy frame he couldn’t possibly be sleeping. Morgan had spent too much time around the boy genius to be fooled.
Morgan had taken to sit with him on their flights, but after the stunt he had pulled earlier he knew not to try. There was hell fire coming down on him when they got home. He was safe as long as they were around the team. Reid wouldn’t make a scene.
He deserved what was coming but it didn’t make him less reluctant. As he sat watching his pretty boy pretend, he mentally prepared himself for the conversation that they were going to have. He knew how Dr. Reid fought. He hadn’t been on the receiving end of his silent treatment, barbed witticism, or cutting glares but when JJ had covered for Emily when she faked her death the phrase ‘if-looks-could-kill’ came to mind. It was like a walk in freezer whenever the two were in the same room.
He didn’t know how Spencer fought. They had agreed to keep their relationship between them for the time being, seeing where it went without the added pressure of opinions. It was relatively new so they hadn’t fought yet. They hadn’t had a reason to fight. It was going better than he had dreamed of.
When they touched down in Virginia, Morgan walked over to Reid. He knew he wasn’t asleep so he didn’t wake him. He reached down and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, kid. We’re back.” Reid opened his eyes and looked up at him. There was a hardness there that made Morgan nervous. He gave him a small smile but it did nothing to soften him.
He didn’t say a word as they got off the plane, or when Morgan offered him a ride for appearances sake, because his car was ‘in the shop’. He turned up the radio in the car when Morgan tried to get the ball rolling.
They had been sleeping over at each other’s places, after a gruesome cases and over long weekends. This was going to be one of those nights.
They couldn’t go to sleep without talking about what happened. Reid was already a restless sleeper. He would be unbearable without resolving the tension between them.
Morgan plopped down on the bed, pulling his night shirt over his sore muscles. He made no move to get under the covers. He watched as Reid paced in front of him.
“You’re gonna wear a path in the carpet, if you keep on like that.” Morgan scolded.
He was still dressed, layered up in his sweater vest and button up.
“You know, you look pretty cute when you’re angry.” He looked like a present Morgan wanted to unwrap. But he knew now was not the time. “C’mon, Reid.”
“I just…” He said, pausing in front of Morgan. “... I need to get something off my chest.”
“Please tell me it’s your shirt.” Morgan sighed, jokingly crossing his fingers and giving Reid a little wink. Reid gave him an unimpressed look in return.
“You can’t keep doing this to me.” Reid hissed.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.” He moaned, his hands were in his hair messing it up even further. “You don’t know.”
“Tell me.” Morgan said standing up, stepping in front him forcing him to stop pacing. “Tell me what I don’t know.”
He watched him search for the words. He watched his lips, his distracting lips, form words the went unspoken trying to find the right ones. He was close to kissing him, but held back, giving him time to think.
“Every time you race in there, breaking down doors and tackling unsubs, my heart stops. I-I know it sounds melodramatic, and statistically you are more than likely to walk out of those situations unharmed based on past events, but every time I see you go in I’m afraid you won’t c-come out.” He said in one breath.
“Spen-” Morgan said, reaching his arms out to hold onto the crumbling man before him. With that breathe all the anger that had been holding him up drained. He looked deflated.
“And when I heard that, that shot…” His chin wobbled. “You need to be more careful, okay? Because you’re not alone anymore.”
“You know I didn’t mean to scare you.” Derek said, pulling the man close. He wrapped his arms around him, who seemed dead on his feet. “I had to get in there.”
“I know.” Reid sniffed.
“If I didn’t, that girl would be dead.”
“You could have died!” Reid cried out, pulling away.
“But I didn’t!” Morgan raised his voice to match.
“But you could have.” He looked at him with desperate, wet eyes.
“I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. Okay?”
“Okay.” Reid collapsing back onto him.
They stood holding one another in the center of the room. Morgan could hear Reid sniffling against his shoulder.
“I hate feeling like this.” Reid mumbled into his shoulder.
“Like what, pretty boy?” Morgan rubbed his back.
“Helpless.”
“I’m sorry about that., but you know it’s part of the job.”
“I’m still mad at you.” Reid said in a low voice.
“I can take it.” Morgan said with a small smile. “Come on, let’s go to bed. You can yell at me some more in the morning.”
“Don’t think I won’t.” The threat was useless when it was broken up by a yawn. Morgan smiled into Reid’s tangled hair.
They let go of one another. Morgan took out his contacts while Reid changed into the spare pair of pajamas he left at Morgan’s place for nights like this. When they were both in bed, Morgan reached over and switched off the light.
They met under the covers. Morgan wrapped his arms around him as Reid rested his head on his chest. One thing Morgan had learned about Reid when they started dating was that he snuggled like a koala.
“I’m sorry.” Morgan said into the darkness.
“Me too.” Reid said close to his ear. His breath made him shiver.
“Why are you sorry?”
“I overreacted.”
“It’s been a long few days, and we’re both tired.”
“Yeah.” Reid listened to his heartbeat, the sound of the city outside their window, and the sound of his breathing returning to normal.
“You know what this was?” Morgan said, after a moment.
“What?”
“Our first fight.”
“Well, some good came out of it. We got it over with.”
“Pretty boy, I plan on fighting with you for a long time.” Morgan said with a smirk, kissing him of the cheek. “And I plan on making up with you for even longer.”