Work Text:
Aaron had always loved people who were literate.
Maybe it was just his incredibly hyper specific want for an intellectual partner to have intricate discussions with, but it had always been like that.
He had met Haley, his first love, in University.
She was taking Literature and he was doing Political Science. They had just clicked when they both expressed their future want to be Lawyers, then they started to hangout more and then sooner or later they fell in love and got married.
Then it was Spencer – Smart nut he was.
Years of muscle memory and knowledge that made him a perfect candidate for both the BAU and Aaron’s romance radar. The thing that made him fall harder was his astounding ability to read books. Aaron had thought about that aspect of Spencer every night.
That was until their (unspoken, barely there) relationship had taken a turn when Spencer revealed to the team that he had fallen in love with his childhood best friend Ethan after the Adam Jackson case.
Afterwards, for a while, Aaron had been statis on his love life.
Making himself believe that what he needed to focus on was work and nothing else. It had worked in his favour for a little while, and he had even started receiving praise for his dedication and excellent work.
But it wasn’t exactly what Aaron wanted for himself.
He didn’t really expect for his life to change exactly in the way he wanted at a bookstore. It was cliché but Aaron had mistaken a man to be an employee at the bookstore and an amused correction plus embarrassed fumbling later gave him a name; Sam Winchester.
On his next day off, Aaron had gone to that exact same bookstore again, then again, then again. He told himself that it was for the books and not for the good-looking 30-something man who was taller and charming than him in every way shape and form. No, of course not. Aaron was turning 40 in a month, he was too old for a crush.
Lips to his cheek. “You keep spacing out.” A hand on both sides of his face before he’s pulled into a quick but passionate kiss. “Do I need to ground you?”
Aaron shook his head, the book he had been reading long forgotten on his lap. “No, I don’t need to be grounded, Sam. I was just thinking.” He smiled softly at his lover, one of 4 years and counting. It was a wonderful experience to be able to call him that. To be able to call someone else after years of being by himself.
“I was just thinking.”
Another kiss, “Yeah, you said that already.”
Aaron snorts, “Did I?”
He hates that he has to, but Aaron pulls Sam’s hands away from his face. He hated being claustrophobic sometimes. He doesn’t regret it for long though, because the moment he does, Sam sits back down on his chair and runs his hands through his hair all pretty like.
Aaron thinks that he could have been a model if he wanted to.
As he watches Sam’s blatant show of proving he was more sexy than him, he thinks that the most appealing part of Sam’s behaviour was his manspreading. No particular reason, Aaron just thinks it makes him look even more attractive when he has his legs spread open with a book on his lap.
He watches as Sam fumbles with the buttons on his polo in thought, and he just awaits curiously because Aaron loves Sam’s thoughts – they were just so beautifully complex. “Interested in telling me what you were thinking about, Agent Hotchner?”
He hummed, leaning back further onto his chair.
He turns his attention to the scenery.
A clean lake and abundant acres of trees never failed to make his eyes pleased. It was a perfect setup for a get-together fishing trip, or a cookout, yet they had resorted to reading instead. He wasn’t complaining, it was perfect.
“I was thinking about you.”
“Oh,” Sam responds in wonder and Aaron couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at his response. He knew Sam was cooking another response in his head and the Oh had just been for filler, but he found it too cute to not react to it.
A huff and he didn’t need to look to know that Sam was pouting at him pettily. “Don’t laugh, I was just caught off guard because I - was thinking about you too.”
Aaron thinks about every romcom he’s watched in his lifetime.
“That’s cheesy.”
Angelic laughter, “Shut up! You said it first.”
“Hmmm, did I?”
“You did!”
He raised an eyebrow, “I don’t remember..”
“Aaron, you’ve never been more punchabale right now,”
“I like to think that I’m really nice Sam so that hurts my feelings just a bit.”
An indescribable noise leaves Sam’s lips that Aaron finds hilarious enough that he has to hide his face behind his book to hide his amusement.
“Aaron I swear to Go–“
“I thought you weren’t a Christian anymore?”
He would trade his life if it meant every day could be like this.