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Banner by Rivermoon1970
Arithmetic
It was simple arithmetic and yet, Spencer sighed inwardly, Hotch seemed completely incapable of understanding that what he was trying to achieve was utterly impossible. It wouldn’t be the first time. The man just would not learn. Spencer slumped back on the sofa with a barely noticeable huff of breath, which nevertheless caught Aaron’s attention, and the older man turned to glare at his lover.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Aaron grumbled.
“Would you like me to help?”
“No. I’m fine. This doesn’t require your PhDs, thank you very much.”
Spencer resigned himself to waiting but after nearly thirty minutes of cycling through his coin tricks he realised that he just had to intervene. “Aaron, you’ve been at this for almost an hour.”
“And your point is?”
“That you’re being a stubborn ass.” Hotch just frowned and returned to the problem at hand. “I think I can help you, Aaron. Seriously. You need help. Professional help. But I’m willing to try.”
“Fine,” Aaron threw the convoluted pattern in Reid’s direction and slumped back in his chair with his arms crossed.
“Very mature, Aaron.” Spencer mumbled and started flicking his eyes over the instructions. “You know we could just send this to a seamstress.”
“Ha!” Aaron exclaimed triumphantly.
“I’m not saying I can’t do it,” Spencer backtracked, “I’m just saying that there is no specification here that Jack’s costume has to be made at home. However,” Spencer continued holding up one finger, “how hard can it be?” He knelt down on the floor, his knee screaming in protest, and started drafting lines onto a large piece of white paper. Carefully, following the instructions, he was hopeful that the turkey costume would meet Jack’s approval. Hotch remained seated watching him silently. Finally, Spencer finished cutting out the pieces and turned to Aaron with a smile. “See, it’s just like engineering.”
“Ok, now sew it,” Aaron grumbled petulantly.
Spencer blinked, “Sew it?”
“Yes, Spencer. It needs to be made out of fabric, not paper.”
“Of course,” Spencer glared at the offending pile of browns and oranges as well as the spool of thread and pack of needles.
“Well,” he coughed, “I’ll leave you to it. Glad I was able to help.” As quickly as he could, he hopped up and darted towards the kitchen. He heard Aaron’s exasperated sigh and then muffled sound of him speaking into his phone.
“Yes, Garcia, the number of a seamstress... Jack’s costume for school...oh you do... no I couldn’t impose... I, well, thank you... see you in an hour.” Spencer peeked his head around the corner to see Aaron gathering the fabrics into a neat pile. Seeing his lover, Aaron smiled bashfully. “Garcia apparently has some experience in costume making. She’s bringing her sewing machine ‘round in an hour.”
“I’m proud of you, Aaron. It takes a big man to admit his limitations,” Spencer smirked as he wrapped his arms around Hotch’s waist.
“Humph,” was Hotch’s only reply as he allowed Reid to gently pull him into a kiss.