Criminal Minds Imagines

when we were younger - aaron hotchner

3/3 I don't know if this mini series was any good, but it was fun to imagine our BAU baddies as bbs🥺 Hotch was in college in the 90s, so I'm setting this in the mid-80s. As always enjoy! ~🌸

Aaron Hotchner wasn't necessarily popular, but he definitely wasn't the most unpopular. He was pretty much average as far as school social rankings go. You hovered somewhere in between average and popular, a cheerleader like your older sister but living in her shadow.

You remembered the exact moment your life converged with Aaron's. It was a Friday game day, a day in which the cheerleaders were required to wear their uniforms to school. You hated it, as the material was uncomfortable to wear around all day, and the skirts, which were good for flips and such, were very short and just made you feel exposed. However, you just learned accept it as part of your life, not complaining because your sister never did.

You were standing at your locker, bending over to dig through your backpack that was in the bottom. You were frustrated, trying to fish out your phone, so you hadn't really noticed your skirt fly up, leaving you exposed save for your spandex, which were basically underwear that matched your skirt. When you finally came up you almost slammed into Aaron, who was standing directly behind you, his back facing you.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there," you apologized, fixing your hair that had gotten ruffled from your locker.

"No, it's fine, um, I-" he stammered, trying to figure out how to say what he was going to say, "well, uh, your skirt kinda came up, and a bunch of guys were, um, staring, and I didn't think you would appreciate that so I came over and stood in front of you. I just pretended I was looking over some notes."

You flushed pink, your smile bright, "That's really sweet of you. The boys here can be such dogs sometimes."

He returned your smile, but his was softer, "Number one thing my mom taught me was to respect women."

Inside, your brain was screaming Awwww!

"I wish more boys were taught that. Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman," you said.

"She really is. Would you-"

Rrrrrrrrrrringggggggg!

The bell cut your conversation short. Before he could be sucked away by the hoard of teenagers shuffling to lunch, you called out, "What's your name?"

"Aaron," he replied, flicking away a stray strand of his ebony hair, "Hotchner. Aaron Hotchner."

"I'm Y/N Y/L/N," you said, wishing you had more time to talk to him, "I'll see you around, yeah?"

He nodded, "See you around."

He looked like he didn't quite want to go either. You watched as he held your gaze for a few moments longer before slipping away into the sea of students, his maroon polo and dark wash jeans quickly fading from view. You just bit your lip and gathered your things for class. The rest of the day, your thoughts were clouded by the respectful dark haired boy.

A couple weeks later, you were surprised to see Aaron leaning against the locker next to yours as you exited class. He looked nervous, twiddling with something in his hands. As you got closer, you realized it was a piece of paper.

"Aaron!" You called as you approached, smiling.

"Oh, hey, Y/N," he greeted you. He sounded nervous, "I was going to slip this in your locker but I didn't want it to get lost so I figured I might as well give it to you myself."

You looked at him curiously as he handed over the small scrap of paper. It was slightly warm and crumpled from being clutched in his hands, and the edges were torn. It was probably ripped from the corner of a notebook.