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It’s early afternoon on a Saturday and you and Gideon are enjoying a lazy morning around the house.
This is the first weekend since Gideon went back to work at the BAU after his extended leave, so the two of you decided to use this weekend as a chance to just hang out at home and decompress together.
So far, the only things that the two of you have really done are have breakfast and then laze about on the couch (which is where you both are now).
You’re in the middle of watching an old episode of one of the shows that you and Gideon like to watch together, when the buzzer to the dryer goes off.
You both glance up from the tv and over towards the room where you keep the washer and dryer.
Gideon pats you on the knee before getting up. “I’ll get it.”
You smile at him gratefully.
It has only been a few weeks since you first moved in with Gideon, but you settled in comfortably almost immediately, as if you’d been living here for years.
You already knew where most everything is just from spending time here before moving in, so it felt natural and easy to seamlessly slot your own things in around Gideon’s own.
The thought makes you glance over at the bookshelf that holds an even mix of both Gideon’s and your own books with a smile. There are a few knick-knacks on the shelves as well- most of which, admittedly, are yours.
Gideon has only been gone for a couple minutes when there’s a knock on the front door.
Your eyebrows raise in surprised curiosity. As far as you know, neither of you were expecting anyone.
Standing up from the couch, you call out “I’ll get it!” to Gideon with a touch of amusement in your voice at echoing his earlier words.
When you answer the door, you’re surprised to see Aaron Hotchner standing on the other side.
You don’t know the man very well, but you have met him a few times before in the time that you’ve known Gideon.
Hotch looks equally, if not more, surprised to see you. You watch as he takes in your casual appearance; your hair is messy and you’re wearing pajamas.
“Oh, uh- hi y/n. I apologize, I didn’t realize that Gideon had company.”
Hotch suddenly glances behind you and you turn your head to see Gideon heading towards the two of you. You offer both men a brief smile before stepping to the side so they can talk.
“Hey, Hotch. Everything all right?”
“Yeah, everything is fine. Sorry to drop in on you without calling, I just wanted to see how you were doing after your first week back.”
Figuring you ought to give them a chance to talk without you hovering, you pat Gideon on the shoulder to get his attention. “I’m going to go finish putting away the laundry.”
Gideon gives you a smile in response and you leave the to it.
You find the half-folded basket of laundry in the bedroom sitting on the bed and pick up where he left off.
It’s a mix of both yours and Giedon’s clothes- usually anything of either of yours that doesn’t need to be washed separately or with any special treatment just gets washed together.
Although you hadn’t planned it this way, you quickly discover that you can still hear Hotch and Gideon talking out in the living room.
Oh well, you think. They know you’re in the house. A couple of FBI agents should know well enough to go outside if they have anything confidential to talk about.
“I’m doing fine, there’s no need to worry about me,” you hear Gideon say.
You don’t quite catch what Hotch says in response, but whatever it is makes Gideon laugh.
“So,” Hotch says a touch awkwardly. “When did this become a thing?”
“This?” Gideon sounds coy. “Y/n and I have been friends for some time now- you know that.”
Hotch snorts. “Don’t try that with me,” he says, amused. “Clearly, they slept here. Y/n is to well put together to have shown up for a visit looking like that.”
Ouch, you snicker quietly. You aren’t actually offended- you know what Hotch means. It’s true that you wouldn’t have shown up at a friend’s house wearing pajamas and with your hair a mess- at least not under normal circumstance, anyway.
You pull one of Gideon’s t-shirts out of the basket and fold it neatly before setting it to the side. It’s one of those “Life is Good” shirts. You’re fairly certain that Gideon only wears it around the house and to the gym, but you’ve always thought that it looks nice on him.
Now that he’s clearly put the pieces together, you wonder what Hotch thinks about you and Gideon’s relationship. It’s not that you’ve exactly been going out of your way to hide the fact that you’re dating, but you haven’t told anyone either.
Shortly after your relationship transitioned into being more than just friends, you sat down to have a conversation. Gideon started off by making it absolutely clear that he was in no way ashamed of you or your relationship. He gently explained that he knew people would have questions and concerns surrounding the fact that you were dating (the largest concern being in regard to the age difference between you) and he asked if you would mind taking some time to see where this relationship was going before crossing that bridge.
Pair that with the fact that Gideon is simply a private man by nature, and you’d willingly agreed not to tell anyone except for those closest to you.
All of that was before Gideon wound up taking his leave of absence from the bureau. It was actually during that period of time, that you wound up officially moving in with Gideon; the major push to finally do so stemming from your worry about the man potentially isolating himself while working on healing from what he’d experienced.
Now that you’ve been dating for a while and Gideon is back to work, you figure you were probably about due for a conversation about opening up about the nature of your relationship, anyway. You’ve simply both been more focused on Gideon having to readjust to going back to work than anything else.
“Ok, you’re right.” You can almost hear Gideon’s shrug. “Y/n and I are dating.”
“Gideon… are you sure about this? I know that it isn’t my place to question your relationships or what you do in your personal life, but they’re so young...”
You hear Gideon take a deep breath before exhaling slowly. “I understand where you’re coming from. Yes, they’re a lot younger than me, but they’re older than Reid was when he first joined the bureau.”
Gideon continues. “This isn’t some fling, or a brand-new relationship that may or may not last between today and next week. We’d already been dating for months before I took my leave.” Gideon pauses for a few moments before saying, “They make me happy, Aaron.”
Hearing those words in Gideon’s voice is enough to make you want to squeal- you probably would if there was no one around to hear. Above all else, the one thing you want most is to make that man happy.
Having finished with the folding, you shift the piles of laundry to the foot of the bed so you can lie down diagonally on top of the covers to wait for them to finish talking.
You stare at the ceiling with a goofy smile on your face.
Though you were over the moon to learn that Gideon returned your feelings after a not-inconsiderable amount of time spent pining after him, if all that the two of you were ever fated to be was friends, then you would have been content to simply be a part of Gideon’s life.
“I’m happy for you, Jason.” You’re relieved to find that Hotch sounds genuine. “Does anyone else know?”
“No. I think y/n told some of their family, but I haven’t told anyone. No one at the bureau knows.” You picture Hotch with a questioning look on his face when there’s a silent pause before Gideon continues speaking without a verbal response from the man. “I have to talk to them, of course, but I wouldn’t be opposed to telling the others.”
“Well,” Hotch says, “they won’t hear it from me. A mischievous tone enters Hotch’s voice, a playfulness that sounds good on him, “You know- you’re going to have some very jealous people down at the bureau,” he teases. “I can’t hear the gossip now- ‘Who could have foreseen old Jason Gideon managing to land himself a such hot young piece?’.”
You feel your face burning and you have no doubt that you’re flushed red. Even though he’s teasing, you never would have expected you’d ever hear Aaron Hotchner call you “hot”.
“Alright, that’s it-” Gideon protests, though he’s chuckling.
“All I’m saying, is that I think this might earn you some cred…”
“Get out of my house, Aaron!”
Hotch laughs out loud. “Ok, ok. I’ll see you at work on Monday. Tell y/n that I said goodbye and that I apologize for the interruption.”
You don’t hear anything else as Gideon no doubt shows Hotch to the door and says goodbye.
You’re glad that Gideon has such a good friend. He and Hotch have known each other for a long time- much longer than you’ve known either of them. Though the rest of the team are all awesome and you know that Gideon is close with each of them in their own ways too, it’s wonderful that he has such a close friendship like the one he has with Hotch.
A brief silence fills the house before Gideon appears in the doorway.
You pick your head up off the mattress enough to meet his eyes.
“I’m assuming you heard all of that?”
You give him a slightly sheepish smile. “Sorry, it’s not that I was trying to listen.”
Gideon gives an easy shrug in response. “I know. And it’s fine, I knew that you’d probably be able to hear. Nothing I said was a secret, or untrue.”
“Including the fact that I make you happy?” You say in a playful tone, wanting to hear him say it again.
“You make me the happiest out of everyone in my life,” Gideon says seriously. “I also meant what I said about being ready to tell the others- as long as that’s ok with you.”
You honestly kind of can’t wait for Gideon’s fellow BAU members to find out about you. It might be a little awkward at first, but you think it could be fun too.
You can’t help but snort at that. “Are you kidding? I don’t care what Hotch said- I’m the lucky one for somehow managing to bag you.”
Gideon gives you a grin that makes your heart flutter before climbing up onto the bed to kneel over top of you before leaning down on his elbows to draw you into a kiss.
He kisses you sweetly for a time before pulling back just enough to look down at you with a fond expression. “Hotch was right, though. There most likely will be talk about us once people find out. Not only about your age, but also the fact that I haven’t been with anyone since my divorce.”
You shrug, the gesture feeling a little strange with how it makes your shoulders drag against the mattress. “I really don’t care- it doesn’t bother me. The only time I would care, is if someone said something insulting about you.”
Some sort of protective expression must appear on your face- or maybe Gideon just knows you that well- because he gives you one of those charming smiles and says, “I have no doubt that you would handle things if that were to happen,” before leaning down to kiss you once more.