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“Has Hotch always been this serious?” Callahan asked, casually throwing the question out into the bullpen. “I mean, the guy never smiles.”
“Hotch smiles,” JJ replied, sipping her coffee. “He smiled the other day on the plane.”
“When he fist-bumped Reid?” Kate snorted. “That was a smile? Please. That was a smirk, maybe a grin at the most.”
“Hotch smiles,” Reid said casually, nose still firmly planted in a copy of ‘Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution’. “You have to know what to look for. He actually has a pretty deadly sense of humor once you get used to it.”
Kate huffed in frustration. “I don’t mean a microexpression of amusement or pleasure, here people. I mean a smile. An all-out, tooth baring, check lifting, eye twinkling smile.”
“Are you sure you’re ready for that, Kate?” Penelope asked. “I’ve heard rumors that a full-on Aaron Hotchner smile has made lesser humans swoon. If he pops those dimples, your ovaries might explode and you’d become instantly fertile. You could end up pregnant before the end of the week.” When everyone stared at her in shock, she cried, “What?!”
Callahan snorted and shook her head. “Come on, seriously. Has anyone ever seen a real ‘ovary exploding smile’ from Hotch?”
She looked around. Derek shrugged, Garcia pulled out a lollypop – strawberry by the look of it – before popping it in her mouth to avoid answering, before JJ whispered, “Maybe…when I first started working here.”
“I could get him to smile,” Reid offered completely straight faced, quickly turning another page of his book.
“Seriously?” Callahan scoffed. “You could get Agent No Smile to smile? I don’t believe it.”
“Not only could I get him to smile, but I can do it with ten words or less.” All eyes turned to Reid. He looked up from his book. “What?”
“Care to put your money where your mouth is, genius?” Kate asked.
“Don’t do it, Callahan,” Derek warned. “Pretty Boy here is from Vegas. He doesn’t take a bet if he doesn’t think he can win.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Rossi chimed in as he came in from the break room, fresh coffee in his hand.
“Of course you will,” JJ smiled. “You have enough money to throw away on something like this.”
“Nope,” he replied, settling his hip on Reid’s desk. “I’d just love to see Aaron smile and I can’t wait to see the kid try to make it happen.”
“Twenty bucks?” Kate asked, making eye contact with each of her teammates.
“You’re on,” Spencer smirked.
“Less than ten words by the end of the day.”
“Yep.”
They shook hands on it as the others all placed their bets. Rossi had his money on Reid, but JJ and Garcia sided with Callahan. Derek simply raised his hands in surrender, refusing to get in on the fun.
As if summoned by the deal, the elevator pinged and the door opened, revealing their Unit Chief. Rossi subtly nudged Reid with his knee and they all tried to act casual as Hotch pushed open the glass doors leading into bullpen. As he passed the team, he nodded and casually tossed out a “Good morning” to each of them. Kate made eye contact with Spencer and vigorously indicated with her head toward the passing agent. Just as Hotch’s hand landed on the railing of the stairs, Spencer called out, “Hey, Hotch.”
“Yes, Reid,” he answered, turning back around.
“Do you have any chopsticks I can use?” Reid said, a crooked grin on his face.
To everyone’s amazement, Hotch’s eyes went wide before a soft, red glow began to rise up his neck and toward his cheeks. He ducked his head, chuckling lightly to himself before raising his head. He looked right at Reid, his smile wide and eyes twinkling as he said, “Yeah, but not here. They’re at home.”
“Oh, could I come by and get them tonight?” Reid added.
And there they were. The Aaron Hotchner Dimples of Death™.
“Sure thing, Reid,” he answered before seeming to realize that the entire team was watching the interaction. The smile faded, but only slightly, before he said, “I’m pretty sure you all have work to do this morning.”
“Yes, sir,” several of them chimed, even though no one moved an inch. They all just watched as Aaron Hotchner, formerly known as Agent No Smile, quickly took the stairs to his office two at a time, chuckling and shaking his head the entire time.
Silence settled over the bullpen before Garcia pulled the red candy from her mouth, and, with accompanying hand gesture, made a big explosion sound – “Pshew!! Ovaries everywhere!”
Everyone laughed and money was exchanged.
“So worth it,” Garcia said as she stuffed the money in Reid’s hand, fanning herself not so discretely as she quickly made her way back to her lair.
“Thanks, Kid,” Rossi smirked, patting Spencer on the shoulder. “I needed that.”
“Told you, Callahan,” Derek laughed. “Never bet against the house.”
As they all went about their work, Kate shook her head and wondered how she had missed it before and if the rest of the team had picked up on it yet. Hotch and Reid.
“Good for them,” she whispered under her breath before texting her husband. She could hardly wait to get home tonight.