Don't own Criminal Minds

Pairings: Hotch/Reid

I've had this idea in my head for awhile now so I guess I wanna see where this goes

The team was gathered around in the round table room on a bright and sunshine filled Monday morning. Each of them had a cup of coffee in their hands as they wanted for JJ to begin her briefing.

"I hope everyone had a good weekend," She started, smiling softly at her team mates. Morgan chuckled from behind his coffee mug, "Oh, it was very good."

Rossi smirked and shook his head, sometimes Derek Morgan was just like a younger version of himself.

"Focus." Hotch told them all sternly while not really looking at any of them.

JJ picked up the remote and brought up a series of photos, "In the past ten months, four homosexual couples have been found assaulted and murdered in various areas. One couple was killed in their apartment, another in the back room of a club and the last two were in hotels. All of this has centered near Los Angeles, California."

JJ brought up another set of photos, showing the couples alive and well and Reid gaped, unnoticed, at the photos.

"…so we have two sets of victimology." Rossi mused, taking in the new information as quickly as everyone else on the team. Reid glanced over at Hotch, trying to gauge the older man's reaction but found it as unreadable as always.

"Yes," JJ answered, "The couples have all been one older partner and one younger, usually by about ten years or so."

Morgan read the part of the file that described the couples in more detail, "The youngest was twenty and the oldest was in his late thirties." He flipped the page as JJ began to read off the names.

"Brian Woods, twenty-two and Darrell Harris, thirty-two were killed in Harris's apartment. Next was Don Regal, twenty-four and George Rake, thirty-eight, they were killed in a club called Lucky Strike. The last two couples, Tyler Maxwell, twenty, Thomas Hardy, thirty-six and Roberto Sanchez, twenty-five and Ivan Roman, thirty-nine were killed in a hotel just down the street from the club."

Morgan furrowed his brow as he read the victim's histories, "It seems like these guys were sugar daddies to their party boys. Each of the older males was well off and most of the younger ones were jobless."

"If women can do it, so can men." Rossi stated with a shrug. "It's possible the unsub is only going after one type and the other is just getting caught up in the crossfire."

"Have the local police looked into employees of the club or the hotel?" Reid asked, flipping through a few more pages. He was a little upset that Morgan was insulated that a young man and an older one couldn't have a relationship but he hid his feelings well.

JJ nodded, "They have and so far they've come up empty. What makes matters worse is that members of the community are saying that the police aren't attempting to do anything to solve these murders because the men involved are gay. This isn't being helped by the upcoming Pride parade. A lot of people will be coming into town for it."

Rossi closed his file with a snap and leaned back into the chair, looking over at Hotch.

"You know the best way to go about something like this." He stated.

Hotch answered almost robotically, "Send in a pair undercover and investigate this from two sides. There can't be many couples who fit this type pattern so we have to work fast in case he moves."

Rossi nodded and glanced over at Prentiss and JJ, "And we already know a perfect pair."

"We do?" Reid asked his voice a bit high. He tried to play it off by blinking as if he just noticed that everyone was staring at him. "…oh…but…"

"Sorry kid, you fit the bill perfectly. Which leaves us with a partner for you…" Rossi, who knew he was too old to be even considered for the part was looking between Hotch and Morgan. Morgan, who was mister macho man when it came to these sorts of things, instantly piped up,

"None of the victims were black, I might turn the unsub off."

Emily snorted, "Oh please Derek."

Hotch sighed quietly to himself, "No he's right. That's a chance we don't want to risk. I'll partner with Reid. Rossi, you and the others can take the jet down and meet with the police. Reid and I will take a commercial airliner and get settled in the hotel in question."

He looked over at Reid, who had suddenly found his hands very interesting with his ears turning a slight shade of pink.

It was then Garcia chimed into the conversation and it was clear that she had been waiting to do so for some time, "Sir, I'll book you tickets and room for you but I think I should take Reid shopping first."

Reid looked alarmed at the idea, "What? Why?"

"Oh come on Reid, look at those guys. None of them were wearing slim ties and sweaters." Garica's eyes went back to Hotch who looked up in defeat.

"Alright Garcia but I want to be in the air by tonight. The rest of you, wheels up in an hour."

The others began to leave and Garcia told Reid that she would get him as soon as she grabbed her purse from the computer room. Reid nodded numbly, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "…Hotch?" Reid asked, keeping his voice low and his head bent down.

"What is it Reid?" The response was business like and automatic.

"Do you think this is a good idea? I mean what if the others...notice something…"

"We do whatever is necessary. That's all they'll think, Reid." His eyes flickered toward Reid in sympathy. He wished that they could be open about their relationship especially now but deep down he knew they weren't ready for the repercussions.

Reid sighed and picked up his bag. He walked out of the room quickly to put some distance between them. Garcia noticed the look on Reid's face as she walked around the corner from her office and held tight to her brightly colored clutch.

"You okay, sweetness?" She asked sincerely and Reid gave her a half smile.

"Sure."

Hotch and Reid boarded their flight together but sat in silence for the majority of it. Reid had brought a few books along but had powered through them before the flight had even reached the midway point. He timidly pushed them closer to Hotch, in case the older man wanted to read one for himself. Hotch made no move until a flight attendant walked up to them.

"Can I get you something to drink?" She asked, beaming at the two.

"Coffee, please." Reid instantly replied but Hotch shook his head. She smiled again and walked off.

"You know, the more things you find to do the faster time will feel like it's going even though time never goes any faster or slower but tricking the mind will…"

Hotch was staring at him.

There was no expression that Reid could pick up on and he wasn't sure if Hotch was interested or annoyed.

"Here's your coffee and some cream and sugar." The attendant came back in time to keep them from falling into anything truly awkward.

"Oh, can I have some more sugar?" Reid asked and the woman winked at him.

"Anything for you, sweet thing."

Reid blushed slightly but turned even redder when Hotch's hand came down on his. They had strict rules on public displays of affection and Reid knew that this was something that Hotch would not normally do.

"…I told you that you should take it easier on the sugar." He said quietly. The flight attendant looked between them as if Christmas had come early.

"You probably should listen to him. He looks like a smart man."

Reid nodded silently and she walked off but Hotch still had not moved his hand from his own.

"Uh…"

Another moment passed and Hotch finally let go. "I'm just taking advantage of this while I have the chance." He explained simply before reaching over to grab one of the books Reid had offered.

Reid shifted and started to get comfortable. He sipped his coffee and blanched at how strong it was and for a second but just a brief second, he could have sworn he saw Hotch smile.

Morgan held open the door for JJ and Prentiss as they entered the police station. The weather was cool and pleasant although the atmosphere inside the building was clearly tense.

"Ah, you must be the team from the BAU." A slim woman approached them with her hand outstretched. "I'm Detective Callie Summers."

The team introduced themselves as Summers led them to a back room. "I understand that two of your team members are going to be undercover, is that a usual tactic?"

JJ smiled disarmingly, "Not usually but in this sort of situation it helps. Some social groups are harder to investigate into and we want to do this as discreetly as possible."

Summers sighed and nodded understandingly, running a hand through her messy red hair, "Thanks for that. We've been getting so hammered from both the press and the gay community; it's been hard to make any kind of move but we do plan on doubling security for the parade on Saturday."

JJ nodded as Morgan and Prentiss began to set up a nice work area for themselves, "We understand."

Reid had gotten changed as soon as their flight landed and Hotch was waiting for him outside the bathroom with their bags. He tried to not choke on the bagel he was eating as Reid walked out in a tight tee shirt and even tighter jeans. His worn Converse were still on and Hotch was fairly certain so were his mismatched socks. He had silver chains hanging around his neck and his belt hung off his slim hips at an angle.

"I feel stupid."

Hotch smiled softly at him, "You look the part, that's all that matters."

Reid nodded and walked over to get his bags, bending down as he did so.

"…besides your ass looks amazing in those."

Reid flushed a bright shade of red as Hotch muttered down to him before he straightened himself out, giving Hotch a grin, "Save it for the hotel."

The cab driver that Hotch flagged down, most had pretended not to see Reid, looked a little bit uncomfortable around them. The driver drove them as quickly as he could without getting pulled over until they arrived in front of a fairly nice hotel, the same one that a few of the victims were found in. Reid got out first as Hotch paid the man and stretched, looking for all the world, a lazy boy who was waiting for his man to pay for everything and get them settled.

"Spencer." Reid jumped a bit when Hotch used his first name, "Have someone come get the bags."

"…sure thing, Aaron." Reid waved down an older hotel worker who wheeled over his cart to start piling their bags from the cab onto it.

"What are you boys in town for?" He asked politely as Hotch helped him with the last bag. Reid flashed him what he hoped was a beaming smile, "The parade." He said simply and the older gentleman let out a wheezy laugh.

"Of course. We've been getting a whole mess of people since Monday, despite...eh the bad publicity. You two are lucky you even got a room…"

"…well, Aaron knows how to plan these things." Reid told the man as they walked into the lobby.

Hotch noticed that there were flags and posters everywhere, he couldn't imagine that many of the hotel workers would have a problem with homosexuals but he made a mental note to have Garcia run background checks one more time.

"Aaron! We're going out tonight, right? This guy just told me about a club…it sounds cool."

Hotch smiled, he could tell that Reid was having trouble with this but he figured that eventually they would just act like they did in private.

"Oh? What's it called?"

"Lucky Strike!"