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𝑹 𝑬 𝑴
❝ 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 ❞

╰ ⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸ ╯

ㅤ"𝐎𝐇 𝐍𝐎, 𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐘, 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘?"

"I'm okay," Jack mumbled, as he picked himself up from the ground, but Alina could tell that he was a little down.

It was the next day, and she was luckily able to arrange a little fun game for him to help him practice for his upcoming game. She was able to get Clint to bring over Cooper, Lila, and even little Nathaniel who was perched in Laura's arms. Then, she invited over her brothers, and specifically had Enzo bring his two daughters, Saffron and Primrose, and his pregnant wife Francesca. While the kids and most of the men played football, the two experienced mothers hung out with Gwen.

At first, little Jack was excited. All these people, some he hadn't met before, were all willing to teach him football.

Enzo was easily taken with the boy, and was teaching him all the basics, before moving onto more complicated maneuvers. Chris and Vince weren't afraid to show their more competitive side as they taught Jack all their little tricks they used to do whenever they played against Enzo, which annoyed the army major to no end.

Alina was there to make sure the fight wouldn't escalate.

Eventually, more and more people joined the game, and they set up two teams with eight members each, a little small compared to an actual football team. On one team, Enzo acted as captain as well as the center midfielder, while Cooper and Saffron—Enzo's eldest at eight years old—acted as the right and left fullbacks respectively. Steve was the goalie, given his immense strength, he wasn't fit to 'play' with kids. Towards the end was Alina as the center forward, with Jack as the striker. Alina was used to being the attacking midfielder, but still opted to become the center forward to be as close to Jack as possible.

On the other team was Chris as the captain and attacking midfielder, with Bucky as the goalie, just like Steve. Left and right fullbacks were Lila and Ned, who Peter roped into playing. Peter, on the other hand, was the defending midfielder, up against Pandora. Wanda was assigned to be the center midfielder. And finally, Primrose—Enzo's second who's five—is the striker, and her Uncle Vince as the center forward.

In other words, it was a mess.

Having the two youngest of each team was a great idea that left them all in stitches, especially when the center forwards—Alina and Vince—had to coax them into kicking it into the goal, or at least kick hard enough. Steve and Bucky were easily bribed, and let the kids kick it into the goal, pretending to have missed, and praising the little ones for besting them.

Only the midfielders actually had a proper game, and the fullbacks ended up joining them, as their mostly defensive positions weren't exactly useful when the strikers were both five years old.

It was crazy, but it was fun, especially for the kids. But then Jack's mood suddenly started shifting midway through the game, and Alina had to ask Clint—the referee—for a bit of a water break after the little boy tripped when he was about to kick the ball into the goal.

Alina guided him towards the makeshift bleachers after wiping his knees and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Jack replied sullenly, shrugging a little as he looked down at his cleats. Luckily, for this game, everyone was wearing proper shoes.

"Well, can you at least describe it to me?" Alina tilted her head a little, kneeling down next to him, not the least bit concerned about her knees getting dirtied up. She was wearing a monochromatic ensemble; brows sweat-shorts, a brown tank top, and a brown zip-up. She let the boy fiddle with the zipper as he thought over what to say.

Jack hummed, sighing a little. "I'm really bad."

"No, you're not," Alina immediately rebutted. "You're good for someone who's only five years old! You and Prim are the same age and you play just the same."

"She's better than me," he pouted slightly.

"How do you know? You're not a professional football player," she pointed out. "Like I said, you both play just as well. You're still young, and there's still a lot of time for you to improve yourself, baby Hotchner. As long as you've been listening to what we've been teaching you, you're gonna be the best player on that team of yours."

Jack looked up at her then, dark eyes suspiciously watery. "You promise?"

Alina smiled at him, eyes crinkling at the edges in adoration. "I promise. But we still have to beat the other team, you know. We're up by two, let's make the gap bigger. You understand?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, let's get to it."

She ruffled his hair as he stood up, quickly signaling to Clint to continue the game, and the two made their way towards their positions. Soon enough, the two teams were neck and neck, on their third game. Enzo's team won the first round, Chris' won the second. Right now, they had to decide who's the winner, and the only thing each team has to do is score one more goal.

"Come on, Jack!" Gwen cheered from the sidelines, laughing with Laura and Francesca as they gushed over the kids. "You can do it!"

"Come on, Jack, you heard Auntie Gwen!" Alina said, motivating him. "One more kick and we win. You ready?"

"Mhm," Jack nodded, before moving backwards to get himself all revved up, before running towards the ball and kicking it towards the goal as hard as he could.

For once, Bucky didn't have to fake it.

Alina grinned when Jack successfully kicked the ball past Bucky's slightly confused form, screaming a little as she ran up to the little boy and quickly picking him up, kissing both his cheeks in succession. "You did it!"

"I DID IT!" Jack giggled through Alina's kisses, getting slightly dizzy at the sudden motion. Everyone on their team ran up to the two, and Steve did not hesitate to pick the two up and lifting them over his shoulders. Enzo and Sam joined and quickly held on to the two, carrying them as they cheered. The other kids giggled, while the adults praised Jack. "I can't wait to tell dad!"

"We need to celebrate!" Sam called after childishly poking his tongue out at Bucky who only gave him a deadpan look in response while taking off his gloves.

"And we shall!" Alina smirked down at him as she held tightly onto Jack. "Steak and baby back ribs?"

"Steak and baby back ribs!"

"Hey, you were right."

"I'm usually right about something. Please be more specific."

Aaron fondly rolled his eyes, ignoring Rossi's inquisitive look towards him as he talked to Alina on the phone. "He may have been stalking them by posing as a potential love interest. Chatting with them through social media."

"Ew," Alina cringed slightly.

"Yeah. Anyway, how's Jack?"

"Well, I think he's ready to beat everyone's ass at his upcoming football game."

"It's soccer, and he told you about it?" Aaron wondered, tilting his head a little as he used his free hand to arrange the case files.

"It's football and yep, even scored myself an invite," Alina grinned. "And I already said yes, so if you try to keep me from coming, I swear--"

"I won't," he chuckled. "He'll probably prefer you to be there over me. You're his coach."

"I am," she proudly declared. "He did really well earlier, by the way. We set up teams and played association football as...professional as possible--"

"--I doubt that--"

"--And though we had a few setbacks," Alina promptly ignored his little quip. "Our team won and Jack delivered the winning goal. Like, seriously. Bucky didn't see it coming, it was awesome. And then we celebrated after that, had a little cook-out, barbecue, grilling thing. Had steak and baby back ribs, it was wonderful."

Aaron sighed. "Now I'm kind of hungry."

"Have you eaten?"

"No."

"Aaron Hotchner, get yourself a burger or something," Alina scolded slightly. "You need all the energy you can get. Wouldn't be a pretty sight if you tried to chase after an unsub and just collapsed."

"You do have a point," he jested. "I'll get myself some food later. Where's Jack?'

By this point, Rossi had his eyebrows raised at the usually stoic man, who was smiling and joking on the phone. The Italian man has been working with Aaron Hotchner for a while now, yet somehow, he's never seen him speak so freely to someone before. He knew that he was talking to Alina, as the girl's been babysitting Jack and would sometimes bring the boy over to the BAU to visit his dad, but he was beginning to seriously doubt that she and Aaron were just friends.

As he watched Aaron continue to talk to Alina on the phone, he decided that he'd just ask once they were on the flight back home.

And soon enough, they were.

Aaron's been feeling Rossi's curious eyes on him since his phone conversation with Alina. He waited until everyone on the plane was asleep, before speaking up, "Ask."

With a small smile, Rossi moved to sit across from Aaron, at Gwen's old unassigned assigned seat. He placed his elbows onto the table, inquisitively playing with his beard. "You and Alina, huh?"

"It's nothing like that." Aaron's baritone voice sounded soft as he tried to keep his voice down, shaking his head a little at the look of disbelief Rossi shot him. "It's nothing, really."

"You say that when you're smiling more than usual. Of course, only when you're talking to her."

"Rossi..." he trailed off, sighing as he sat back. "It's really nothing. Lina babysits Jack from time to time, and now she's helping him with foot--soccer," he quickly corrected himself, which Rossi didn't fail to notice judging by how he raised an eyebrow. "We...bond over Jack, that's it."

Rossi hummed. "Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something?" He gave Aaron a pointed look. "Of course, you're entitled to your secrets, but I hope you know that...Alina's a nice girl. May be a little too young for you, but who am I to get in the way?"

Aaron subtly clenched his jaw. "What does age have to do with anything?"

"I'm not implying anything, Aaron," he shrugged, taking his elbows off the table and leaning back against his chair, nonchalance dripping from his form as he tried to placate Aaron without saying anything. He knew he hit a soft spot. "I just...I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do," Aaron curtly replied. "We're both adults, Alina and I. We're adults, so even if there's something going on, we're old enough to know the repercussions of our actions, whatever that may be."

Rossi hummed. "The expected repercussions, yes. But what about the unexpected?"

Aaron only let out a deep breath through his nose, before turning away.

Aaron arrives back to his apartment alone after that little talk with Strauss.

He sighed a little, dropping his bag and keys onto the nearest chair, toeing off his shoes and untying his tie as he began to slowly unwind. He was about to grab a glass and his bottle of scotch when he glanced at the clock and realized that though it was dark out, it still wasn't that late. And that if he left now, he'd arrive at the Avengers compound in a few hours.

He shrugged slightly before grabbing some clothes from his closet and shoving them into his go-bag, putting his shoes back on, and heading back downstairs.

Hopping into his car, he turned on the engine and zoomed out of his apartment complex as fast as he could. His drive was mostly just filled with silence, up until he turned on the radio. None of what really played interested him enough, so he turned it back off and just began to hum songs to himself.

Soon enough, he arrived at the compound at around eleven. FRIDAY recognized him easily, alerting Tony of his arrival while simultaneously leading him towards where Alina and Jack were at.

He ended up right outside the conference room he remembers being in the first time he met the Avengers. He was a little apprehensive, remembering the last time he was in here. He could still hear Gwen's screams.

He shook his head, erasing the invasive thoughts, before he perked up at the sound of Jack's laughter.

Aaron smiled a little, before entering the room. Alina and Jack turned to him nearly at the same time, but before he could react, Jack was running towards him at lightning speed.

"DAD!" The little boy explained, hugging his dad tightly. "Lina and I played football earlier and we had so much fun! I met Saffy and Prim and we all played together! Saffy was on my team, and she's super nice! She asked if I was his cousin, but I didn't know what that meant so I just said yes and she hugged me! When she hugged me, Prim also hugged me and then we played together until they all had to leave with Uncle Enzo and Aunt Fran!"

"Uh huh," was all Aaron could say, which made Alina burst into laughter. After a quick teasing glare towards her, he turned to his son. "You seemed to have a lot of fun, buddy."

"I did! Can I please just come with Alina all the time?!" Jack pleaded, jutting out his lower lip a little.

Aaron tilted his head a little, the expression giving him slight déjà vu until he realized that it was the same expression Alina makes whenever she begs him to-- he cleared his throat a little. "We'll see. It's up to Alina though. But don't you miss your Aunt Jess?" Aaron knelt down in front of the boy.

"I do, dad, but I love Alina," he pouted even more, and Alina couldn't help but coo. "I wanna be with her, pleeaasseee."

"...we'll talk about it, but right now," he glanced down at his wristwatch, "you need to sleep."

Alina walked over to the two of them after turning off the screens—which Aaron only now realized was displaying a football game plan—and knelt down beside Aaron. "Come on, your dad's right."

Jack nodded, holding his hand out for Alina to take, which she took as she stood up.

Aaron eyed their interlocked hands curiously, before asking, "Where does he sleep?"

"Beside me," Alina shrugged, beginning to walk. "For us who work at the here full time and have a high enough clearance, we have apartments."

"Really?" Aaron looked at her, matching her pace. "Do you rent it, or?"

"Nope, Tony pays for everything, really," she shrugged again. "Food, living arrangements. We work for him and though he still gives us salary, everything else is still pretty much free, which is how we're able to splurge a little," she admitted. "Most of our salary just goes into our savings."

Aaron hummed, apparently all he needs to do is to work for the Avengers and he's set for life. He shook his head a little. "Does everyone have apartments?"

"The Avengers, myself, and a few others. Gwen doesn't have one, actually, since most of her work involves going undercover. She usually stays in one of Tony's properties that he turned into a safe house."

"The penthouse."

"Exactly, but she still has a room here, of course. Close to the 'apartments'," she air-quoted. "Anyway, here we are." She pushed open the door, and Aaron was a little surprised at how it was decorated. It was a little different than what he expected—he kind of expected it to be similar to Gwen's penthouse—but he was pleasantly surprised at how colorful it actually was. Not as colorful as Penelope's, of course, but the earthy tones were still a stark-contrast to the white walls.

He glanced at the orange couch that complimented the brown armchair, and the several plants that littered the living space. He looked towards the kitchen and saw several more plants hanging from the ceiling.

"You like plants?"

"Clearly," she deadpanned, trying not to let her grin escape her when he shot her a look. "Well, of course I do, Hotchner."

"We're thinking of givingthem names," Jack randomly announced, grinning.

"Really?" He shook his head at the two of them. "Uh, where will I sleep?"

"Next to me," Alina winked, finally closing the door and locking it. "But seriously though, next to me and Jack. My guest room is being used as my office, and before you say that you'll take the couch, may I remind you that you're nearly six-foot-two and that you're forty-one years old. Wouldn't want to give you a bad back, old man."

Aaron was about to retort when he suddenly thought back to the conversation he had with Rossi earlier, and so he only shook his head. "I don't want to impose--"

"You're not, and we've already..." Alina glanced down at Jack who was automatically making his way into her room. As soon as he was inside, she continued, "we've already shared a bed before so don't act all...you know," she gave him a look, "all of the sudden. Just go."

And even though he was internally arguing with himself, Aaron still couldn't tear himself away from Alina's bed as he lied down on it. Jack settled in between the two, his body facing Alina as he snuggled into her.

Aaron watched as the two slowly fell asleep holding each other, and he couldn't stop himself from overthinking, his heart suddenly heavy as he realized just how much Rossi's words affected him, even though it shouldn't. He sighed, laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to make sense of it all.

Until eventually, he fell asleep too.

author's note: in case y'all were curious, saffron and primrose are played by a young dakota and elle fanning respectively, and their mom francesca is played by teresa palmer :)

hope you liked this little domesticity between alina and the hotchner boys eheh.

love yall a lot <3