Chapter Text
Spencer noticed three things as he groggily woke from slumber. The first thing was that he was definitely hungover judging by the pounding headache and the fact he had to squint as he awoke. The second was that the bed he was lying on was definitely not from the motel the team had been staying at the last week while working on their last case. The third was that said bed was definitely occupied by someone else as well - and they were starting to stir as well.
As Spencer proceeded to get out of bed he tried to remember what had happened last night to land him in bed with a stranger. Thankfully he was wearing underwear at least so it spared him some embarrassment of waking up in a bed with someone else.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes as if that would clear his pounding headache it was then he noticed a fourth thing, a ring on his left hand - which as he opened his eyes to look at - Spencer realised was definitely a class ring of some description and wasn’t from any of Spencer’s colleges. More questions, less answers.
As the person beside him continued stirring Spencer paid no attention - wondering how he ended up with the ring and if it could perhaps give him more clues to what had happened last night. Spencer was also just ignoring looking at who he was lying beside because he was not ready to break their heart and tell them it was all a one-time thing.
He had given up trying to rake through his sleepy brain because the memories of everything that had happened last night were just floating at the edges of his consciousness. Even he knew before his coffee it would be pointless to try and bring them into the clear. He could tell by the decorations he could see they most likely ended up at the Excalibur (which was just ridiculous) but that didn't answer who he had woken up beside. So instead, Spencer kept his focus on the ring.
It took Spencer longer than he had hoped for to find the graduate year as it was heavily worn. George Washington was definitely the university, Spencer had figured that out ages ago. It was also a law student - the Latin inscription was so stupidly George Washington Law it had made him roll his eyes but as he observed how worn down and faded the year was, he knew that whoever it belonged too was older than him and wasn’t that just great news for Spencer.
He was snapped out his hyper focused analysis of the ring by a series of various mumblings from the person he was in bed with, followed by a very loud exclamation of fuck and Spencer only then paid attention to stranger because that wasn’t the voice of a stranger.
Oh fuck don’t let that be- Spencer thought as he finally turned to look at just who he fallen into this whole debacle with…
Lying beside Spencer in an equal state of undress and also fighting a hangover was none other than his boss . He had to some degree slept with Hotch. His straight boss.
And doesn’t that just explain the class ring and the year he couldn’t read because of course he wouldn’t be able to read it. Hotch had loved that thing and it had replaced where his wedding ring sat after everything with Haley.
As he observed his boss he tried to figure out what would be more pathetic - begging his boss not to fire him, or getting mad at the man because clearly something had happened last night.
This. This whole attractively dreamy career compromising debacle is just another example to add to his mental list reasons of why he hates Vegas and why he especially hates when they have to work a case here.
Ignoring the fact he had been profoundly mildly crushing on his boss since he joined the Bureau - he was wearing the man's class ring, had woken up in a bed with him somewhere that was, now his mind was back online, definetly the fucking Excalibur Casino and Hotel and not the motel they were meant to be at.
Said boss was the first to break the awkward silence and staring
“Can I have Tylenol and a burger? My head is pounding.” Hotch sluggishly asked, only now sitting up to lean against the headboard. It was only then Spencer snapped out the confused state he had been in. And he went around the room - which he now recognised as a hotel room- memories from last night started clicking back into place.
They had finished the case last night, been told the jet wasn’t going to be ready until what is now tomorrow evening and so Emily and Derek had decided when in Vegas … Somehow the two roped everyone into going to casinos. Only after Penelope - who had been present for once on this case - made Spencer a fake ID card so he could actually join them. And now it was half past eight in the morning and they needed to find the rest of the team before someone thought they were dead. Or kidnapped.
As he headed back over to Hotch, giving him coffee, Tylenol and to tell him they would need to leave the hotel soon most likely, Spencer remembered that Hotch had been unapproving of the fake ID initially. The whole scheme did, after all, involve taking advantage of the fact that he knew how to make a fake ID at the police station. It was better then revealing to the team he knew how to break into the DMV and make himself a driver's license after all. He hadn't been caught for doing that.
But after getting to Gold Coast Casino and having a few drinks with the team, Spencer pointedly making sure to have even less than everyone else because he was a lightweight, Hotch had done the unthinkable.
Aaron had challenged Reid, saying that if he really was banned from all casinos in Vegas because of his card counting abilities and the like that he should…
“Thank you Spence.” Hotch stated as he grabbed the items, snapping said man from his thoughts. As Spencer watched him thoughts kept swimming through his mind. God what else had happened that he couldn't remember?
“What do you remember of last night Hotch?” Spencer asked, avoiding Hotch’s eyes and how the butterflies in his stomach seemed to flutter at Hotch having used Spence instead of Reid. Something he hadn't even noticed the man had used at first.
Hotch grumbled, wiping his left hand down his face and Spencer then noticed that a ring was also on Hotch’s finger and all of sudden a memory of an Elvis impressionist and bells sounded through his mind. Oh god what did they do last night?
Hotch took a minute to think before finally looking at Spencer and god Aaron looked like a dream early in the morning.
“I- it’s a blur. I remember we had gone out with the team, I was upset at Garcia for something. I think we separated at some point? God what time is it? Have we missed the jet?” Hotch rattled off, before beginning to get off the bed and gather up what clothes he could find and probably also locate their phones.
And Spencer just laughed at how Hotch was so uncoordinated because he kept stumbling every so often. It was only when Hotch had stopped to throw a piece of clothing back at Spencer that he finally started doing the same.
But as he did the same, Reid realised he should probably tell Hotch what he remembered and what day it was before the man worked himself into a panic.
“Hotch it’s like quarter to nine, the jet isn’t back until tomorrow. We’ll figure out what to do from here after we clean everything up.” Spencer stated, shaking his sweater vest and groaning with upset as glitter fell from it. Fuck Las Vegas.
It was 9:15 by the time Aaron and Spencer could finally sit down for coffee at the table present in the kitchen - pointedly both refusing to even acknowledge that there was only one bed in the hotel room.
It was Hotch who broke the silence for the first time again. “Tell me what you remember about last night, Spencer. And we will try and piece together what happened.” No acknowledgement of what they will do after they remember what happened. And now that Spencer had coffee he couldn’t use the excuse of having a fog of his mind, especially since he wasn’t nearly as hungover as Hotch was. He didn’t need to piece together what happened however.
He knew exactly why he had woken up wearing Hotch’s class ring, and why after further inspection of the ring Hotch was wearing, Spencer had about three possible rings it could be and all of them being his. He was so royally fucked and his career possibly over.
And so at that moment, Reid made a decision. He would keep his tone neutral, calculated, unfazed. State nothing but the facts. Just like at work.
“Prentiss and Morgan wanted to celebrate a job well done by going out into Vegas. They wanted everyone along and I mentioned I was banned from all casinos here to try and avoid going. Garcia made a fake ID to use and you got upset at her for that but dropped it once they - Emily, Derek and Penelope - explained that they didn’t want me to actually gamble, they just wanted me to be able to join everyone for drinks. We couldn’t protest further.” At this point Spencer got up to pace because this was where everything went to shit.
“After an hour of being at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, the rest of the team and yourself had consumed 4 standard drinks and I had only consumed one but we were all in the stage of being tipsy. You challenged me by saying quote ‘if you really are banned from all casinos in Las Vegas to the point where you need a fake ID just to drink in one Reid, why don’t you either prove it or put your money where your mouth is.’ unquote. And so of course, after being nudged by the whole team we ended up doing just that. We got separated after 6 rounds of blackjack because while everyone else had dispersed at this point, you were still hounding me and we got banned for the night.” Spencer stopped for a minute, allowing time to both drink water because he was getting parched and also allow time for Aaron to ask him any questions.
If Spencer hadn’t been such a spiteful little shit and given into the team's demands, neither of them would be in position. Fuck his eidetic memory, fuck the little crush he had on Hotch for years that had never faded away and especially fuck Las Vegas .
“We ended up at The View and after 2 hours there, and 5 more standard drinks for you and 2 for me, we once again got kicked out. By this point, you had lost the room keys for our motel room and I also had my fake ID taken off me and so we decided to go to one of the newer casinos that hopefully wouldn’t know about me. Excalibur Casino was our answer. Only here we didn’t just gamble.” Here, Spencer finally stood to look at Hotch who still hadn’t taken off his godforsaken ring. And Spencer was fiddling with one he had, hoping Hotch wouldn’t make him say it.
“I take it that's how we ended up wearing each other's class rings. Was it at this hotel? Who was the officiant?” Hotch asked and Spencer was glad they were pointedly skirting around the fact they were now married. And if Spencer had been looking up, maybe he would have noticed the small smile that Hotch had made when mentioning that they were wearing each other’s rings.
“This hotel, they actually even took us to the county to get the marriage licence signed. An Elvis impressionist was our officiant. After that, we booked a room with our winnings and here we are.” Spencer finished, pointedly avoiding mentioning the memories now replaying in his head.
Memories of how they had tumbled into this room because at some point in the elevator Aaron had drunkenly started clambering to smother him in kisses. And Spencer, drunk as well, decided that if this was the only time they went to bed he wouldn’t care and he would make the most of it.
He was thankful that he could pull his cardigan tighter so as to cover the way his body was interested in both the memory and the man that was now his husband. At least until they went to break it off. A silence seemed to settle between them, both men off in their own little world and oblivious to the others.
That’s why Hotch was surprised it was Reid who broke the silence. And why Aaron let himself believe that maybe the younger man was nervous because he felt similar to Hotch but as soon as he thought it, Hotch had squished it. I can't loose him, not like Hayley.
”What should we do now?” That is what Spencer asked, hugging his cardigan around him and Aaron wanted nothing more than to give his husband co-worker his own jacket so he could be warmer.
And Aaron had two answers. Stay in the hotel, kiss and not leave this bubble where he could pretend they were honeymooners or, the obvious answer. The one he was going to act on because he was not going to drag his co-worker down with him.
“We check out of the hotel, go to try and get them to break off the wedding as we were both intoxicated and go from there. But we do not let the team know.” Hotch stated, proceeding to get up and make sure everything was proper before leaving the hotel.
They should be able to have the marriage annulled due to the fact they were intoxicated.
Neither of them seemed to notice that they didn't actually give the other back the rings they were wearing. Both of them made minimal eye contact and both ignored how they seemed to get close enough to kiss at times while going back through to clean the room as best as they could. However it became clear after 5 minutes they were just procrastinating and so they pointedly left the room, both holding back so as to not make the other uncomfortable. No matter how much they both wanted to stay inside the room, their little bubble of pretend.
While waiting for the elevator Aaron was given brief glimpses of what had happened after their marriage ceremony and his only solace was that he had been drunk at the time. It was wrong of him to sleep with the younger agent, even if said seemed to have been enthusiastically consenting as well. Spencer was, after all, incredibly drunk at the time. As they climbed out the elevator to head towards the direction of reception, they both made a grab for the other’s hands but quickly pulled away before either could actually grab purchase in the other.
Check out was simple, and they were pointed to the office where all chapel records were kept.
Aaron wanted nothing more than to delay because he didn’t want the recordkeeper or Spencer catching onto the fact he very much wanted the man that was now his husband. Hotch just schooled his features however as he compartmentalised. His and Reid’s careers would be heavily compromised if they didn’t at least try to end this. So SSA Aaron Hotchner just marched to the office, wanting to get this over with. All the while missing how much Spencer responded in much the same way.
It was Aaron who knocked. It was Aaron who took charge of the whole conversation. And Reid sat there hoping the person who was sifting through the files to find theirs didn’t notice how much Spencer wanted to not have to do this.
As the lovely person found the files, disappointedly quick for the both of them, they began going over everything.
“So Mr Hotchner-Reid and Dr Hotchner-Reid, I understand you might want to annul this marriage because you were intoxicated but there are just a few issues.” The lady, Spencer noticed her name tag read Debra and wasn’t he just out of it today. Because there shouldn’t be any issues to annul the marriage. They were drunk, it was a dumb decision that can be done fair too easily in Vegas so what were the problems?
“What are these issues Debra?” Hotch asked pointedly, Spencer trying to keep himself together as he watched Hotch sit up straighter and didn't that just remind Spencer that there was a reason he was wearing a George Washington Law class ring. It was as if Hotch was back in a courtroom.
Not for the first time since waking up this morning, Spencer was regretting letting Garcia make him the fake ID. Because he was going to have to accept this small taste of what he has been wanting for years now. And accept that nothing else would be better.
He was pulled from his thoughts and inner turmoil as Debra called out his name.
“The biggest issue as to why it will be trickier to annul your marriage is because of the prenuptial agreement and also the vows themselves based off of the transcript recording. As far as I can see, the only reason you two were intoxicated was because otherwise you wouldn’t have told each other.”
And didn’t that just throw a spanner in the works.