#and nobody’s pesto was better than theirs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

byima · 3 years

Text

California Dreaming pt 4

I shared this on AO3 half a month ago and I’m just getting around to cross posting for the tumblr folks and you can read the full story here.

Lunch was a boisterous event. They ate at, or commandeered depending on who was asked, an Italian restaurant in the city of Berkeley. Everyone was there; Frank, Hazel, Nico, Grover, Silena, Beckendorf, Travis, Connor, Katie, Rachel, Jason, Piper, and Leo. Remi was there too, and so was Annabeth’s dad and her stepmom and half-brothers, who were in town because of her own commencement which had been the day before, and so was Frank’s grandmother. The restaurant was cozy, it smelt heavenly; 70’s and 80’s music buzzed through the speakers, friendly staff flitted between tables. Their group was two tables strong, too loud, too rowdy and it was one of few times the whole commencement weekend that Annabeth felt overwhelmed but energized by that feeling, rather than drained.

“No Charlie, this is the perfect time! We can rent a van–”

“Yup, just picture it man, tearing down the roads, stopping wherever we want, camping out during the nights–”

Silena grimaced, and Charles laughed at her expression. She and Travis had been trying to convince Charles and Katie to take a west coast road trip: from northern California to Nevada, then Utah, then Arizona and then down to southern California.

“I’ll be down, if we do this without a single hotel stay.” From Charles. Who was next to Paul, who was next to Sally, who was across from Percy.

“Two hotel stays.” From Silena, next to Charles. She was in full negotiation mode.

Estelle, on Sally’s other side, ducked under the table to retrieve the errant crayon she’d been using to color her kid’s menu. Through the aged speakers, Dexys Midnight Runners chorused, ‘Too-ra loo-ra too-ra loo-rye-ayyyyyyy,’ and the space hummed with a spicy-herb/heavy-sauce fragrance and music and laughter and liveliness.

“Nah Silena, if we’re doing this, we’re doing this for real.” From Travis, a few seats to Percy’s right.

Grover, on Percy’s direct right, finally found the image on his mostly unused, worse-for-wear Nokia brick of a phone. He held up the battered screen to Percy’s face. “This is it. See the name on that wrapper? I need to find this place and try their samosas–”

“Explain to me how staying in a hotel would make this ‘not real’ Travis.”

He raised his slice of buttered bread to his mouth. “I’m just talking about getting the most experiential of experiences–”

“And I’m talking about having semi-regular shower access–” Silena leaned towards the Stoll brother sitting across from her to emphasize her point.

“And apparently the locals have nicknamed the San Francisco fog Karl.” A fun fact from Paul.

“Is that so?” Piper encouraged him with a broad grin.

She got an under the table kick from Annabeth for that one.

At the other table, Frank’s grandmother held her new smartphone for Leo to see.

“Don’t do it for me, show me how so I can do it myself.”

“Er, sorry, Grandma Zhang you just- you have to… here-”

“No, I said show me, and now you’ve done something else, Valdez!”

“I know, but I’m trying to show you how to go back without a back button,” Leo ran an agitated hand through his curls.

Travis leaned forward too, matching Silena’s energy, bitten bread slice brandished. “You’re weak. And I’ve outgrown you.”

Charles was laughing again. Hard. Like struggling to breathe belly laughing.

“Why is Beckendorf having a conniption?” Piper’s voice carried from the other end of the table.

Katie answered. “Travis is back to quoting The Incredible’s.”

Connor was losing it, too. “My man Beckendorf has caught every single one of them.”

“Name a better Disney movie–”

“I’ve already named one. Mulan. And– Travis, I’m serious, we’ll watch it tonight and it'll shut you right up-”

“Katie, Katie, Katie…” Travis shook his head in pity. “You can’t admit defeat, huh? I saw you last night, trying to act like you weren’t hyped during the family fight scenes-”

Silena smacked her hand impatiently on the table. “Travis, can you, for just one moment, stay with me? You were supposed to be on my side.”

“And I was. I am.” He leveled an accusatory finger at her face. “But you’re a wuss if you can’t survive one road trip without hotel amenities.”

“You’re full of shit, Trav.” Back to Katie, sitting between Grover and Travis.

There was a minor uproar.

“Hey hey hey, watch your mouth young lady there are children present–”

“Don’t forget the children–”

Connor and Travis. They are the uproar.

“Percy says that word a lot. So, I know it’s a bad word.” Estelle looked at her brother, then Connor, as she sold the former out.

There were a couple “oooo’s” from the friends gathered and Percy shook his head at the betrayal, hand on his chest because, alas, he’s Caesar, and Brutus has two pigtails and missing teeth.

Estelle, loving the reaction of the masses and her moment in the spotlight, added, “So does my mom.”

The entire table erupted in a chorus of “OOOOOOOO’S” and Paul looked at Sally, a little baffled and overwhelmed and amused because how else could he feel in such a setting?

“Sally Jackson, patron saint of motherhood–”

“Despite the utter disappointment that is her first born–”

“You’ve been called out, ma’am, how do you respond?”

Sally covered Estelle’s ears. “Fuck off. All of you.” A thespian response from the “saint” herself.

The large party collectively lost it, roaring laughter carried through the restaurant, other patrons looked around to spot the source of the ruckus.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Sally Jackson-Blofis–”

“She’s quick, she’s gritty, and she’s straight from New York City–”

“I think that’s us.” Grover’s eyes followed his nose, which picked up on the savory scent of freshly prepared food being brought near to them. A united cheer drew attention, once again, to the celebrating group.

“You guys are gonna get us kicked out before we can even take a bite.” Frank made accidental eye contact with a frowning restaurant-goer.

Waitstaff arrived at their tables with black trays laden with the steaming, heavenly smelling bounty.

The young woman who’d taken their orders earlier gestured to the guy accompanying her.

“Alright everyone, this is Gio, he’s gonna take over for me since my shift is ending.” There were some noises of disappointment and she playfully hushed the table of spirited demigods. She set a plate of spaghetti with meatballs in front of Estelle and a baked chicken parmesan dish in front of Sally, gently warning the child that her plate would be hot.

Gio waved hello before he started distributing ordered dish to orderer. “Nani told me we have some graduates here today…”

-----

“So Italians will actually eat it like… this.” Nico demonstrated to Jason.

“Like this?”

“Yeah…”

“Really?”

“Nah, I’m just fucking with you.”

Percy nodded at Annabeth’s dish. “How is it?”

“It’s so good. You wanna try?”

Annabeth was already twirling her fork into the pasta, and she speared a piece of shrimp on the end before raising the bite to Percy’s waiting mouth. His eyes rolled back and he made a low noise as he slowly chewed.

Her eyes danced. “I don’t think it was that good.”

He shook his head in disagreement. “Lemme have some of yours. And you can have some of my pizza.”

“I don’t want your pizza.”

“You do. This is what they mean when they talk about the best of both worlds.” Percy tried forking a portion of her food from her full plate to his and she stopped him, doing it herself before he made a mess of both of them with his clumsy portioning.

“And then I give you some of mine…”

Annabeth felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned from watching Percy lower a slice of his pizza (which was actually heavy with cheese and red sauce and phenomenal tasting) to look at her dad who was seated behind her at the table running parallel to theirs.

“How does it feel to be finally done? Both of you, graduated and diploma’d.”

Dr. Chase had been on cloud nine the whole weekend. His daughter had graduated from the best public university in the country. What else would you expect from the academia-loving dad? But the last five years had been pivotal for their relationship, too. When Annabeth looked at her father, really looked at him, she saw the sadness edging his expression. Because he knew, as she closed this chapter of her life, she would begin another, and he would lose her to the east coast. So she’s been gentle with him, and maybe with herself too this weekend.

“I took my last final on Friday, so it doesn’t feel real yet.”

She lowered her fork and looked to Percy for his response to see him shaking his head.

“Nah. I’ve been checked out for weeks now. Barely held on till the end.”

“He’s lying, dad. Percy’s been emotional all week.”

“I’m sorry to have missed the ceremony at your school.”

Percy had just taken a bite of his pizza and his eyes went wide when he realized Frederick was waiting for a reply from him.

Annabeth responded on his behalf. “Trust me, Dad. His ceremony was just like any other graduation ceremony. Too much sun, a boring speaker, and two seconds to cheer for the person you care about.”

“Dude, Annabeth gets it.” This was from Bobby, who was sitting across from his father. “Why did they have to do two graduations for you?”

“One was for everybody, which was like, over 6,000 people. And then the other was specifically for my department.”

It was a little hard to hear them over the clinking of silverware against ceramic dishes and Rachel and Remi’s loud debate over traditional versus digital art, so Annabeth turned in her chair to face her family.

“Nobody needs to come to our high school graduation if it's gonna be this much of a drag.” Matthew said this with resolve.

“I think you’ll feel differently about things when the time comes.” From her stepmom, Helen.

“This is how graduations and commencements work.” Frederick Chase picked up his fork to resume eating his pesto pasta dish. “You spend years working hard, pushing through to the finish, shouldering through challenges and all of life’s obstacles, and then the day comes–”

“Oooooo… And then the day comes…”

“Dun dun DUUUNN! Dad, you make it sound so dramatic.” Matthew and Bobby snickered.

“It is dramatic.” He waved his fork like a baton. “When you’re graduating, you are the star of the moment, the center of the universe, just temporarily, and all of us will do our best to show up for you in the biggest way we can.” His brown eyes twinkled and Annabeth felt herself blushing at the warmth focused on her. “We all will bear through ceremony after ceremony if that means we get to celebrate your accomplishment.”

Annabeth thought about the hug her dad had wrapped her in yesterday morning, long and tight, and the way that squeeze said a million things other than ‘congratulations.’ And Sally in the car earlier today…

“Trust me guys, you don’t wanna be the person with no family at your graduation.” Piper turned from her conversation with Connor to give her two-cents.

“You were that person?”

“Yup. Eighth grade promotion. Me and a disgruntled nanny. As if junior high wasn’t bad enough.”

“Gonna have to agree with McLean here,” Rachel chimed in.

“Not to be the girl who complains about having a big family–”

“I’m betting you’re about to be that girl who complains about having a big family–”

“–but there’s nothing like having your aunt screaming on the phone in the middle of your high school graduation, simultaneously cursing out and giving parking directions to your tardy cousin.” Remi offered with a shrug.

Rachel and Remi argued the pros and cons of large heavily involved families, versus small, absentee ones. Frank coaxed his grandmother into trying the “too expensive” Italian cuisine. Travis and Katie were trying to out-embarrass each other with old camp stories. There were a million conversations happening at once.

“Jason, can I get the parmesan?”

“I feel like you have room for one more meatball in your mouth, kiddo-”

“Connor, I’m starting to regret allowing you next to my daughter.”

Sally held a napkin before Estelle’s mouth and the girl reluctantly ejected three soggy meatballs.

“So we pretty much knew Hazel was lactose intolerant at that point-”

“Severely lactose intolerant-”

And a million memories, so many silly, significant snapshots; Annabeth found herself wishing she hadn’t left Percy’s camera under the driver's seat of the rental.

“I’m never doing anything or going anywhere with you that has anything to do with Italy.”

“So we’re doing it?! This road trip is happening?”

“Does anyone need some more water here?”

“Lemme have some of your Bolognese-”

Annabeth startled. She’d been playing with the simple pendant that hung just below her collarbones when she felt Percy’s hand touch the crease of her elbow.

He had red sauce on his chin. And food crumbs on his upper lip. And all he did was lower their joined hands beneath the table and ask.

“What's going on in there?”

She rubbed her thumb into the first knuckle of his middle finger, gray eyes still intently consuming the surrounding scene; then her eyes met his and she saw understanding.

She tried explaining anyway, “I don’t want to forget… I want to- to be in this moment, you know? Or… I just- I wish I could-”

She pressed her lips shut and smiled ruefully, a little embarrassed by her abysmal attempt at the English language.

“Yeah. Same.” He squeezed her hand. “Yeah.”

------

They were outside. In front of the antique looking benches that flanked the restaurant’s double door entryway. Annabeth was going to stay in Berkeley with her family for the rest of the afternoon and Percy would head back to New Rome with his family. For now, they stood together, waiting for Matthew and Bobby who were in the restroom, preventing the Chase’s departure.

Annabeth planted her hands on her lower back and stretched her spine. “You’re very… confident today.”

“Am I?”

“Mmhm.” She leaned closer to him. “It’s like you’re… aware that people are watching. All day, all of these eyes have been on you and you’ve been very okay with it.” Even now, she noticed, in his slacks and dress shoes and his light blue short sleeve button up, he was handsome, cleaned up and groomed and plain-as-day attractive and definitely drawing attention standing as they were, in view of all the passer-byers. Yet he was comfortable. Confident.

He shrugged, because he didn’t know how else to react to her keen observation. She read him so intimately.

She was still reading him, and she could see traces of that self consciousness that had been missing all day creep into his body language.

“Did I kill your mojo?”

If he’d been confident all day, then she’d been radiant all weekend. They’d spent the week, Monday through Friday, stressed, all over the place, sleeping odd hours and meeting up to study or cry (the tears were from Annabeth, Percy was a zombie at that point) just trying to get through finals week so they could actually graduate. And then the weekend had come and family had arrived and there were graduation ceremonies and baccalaureates and dinners with parents and dress shoes and dresses that made Percy want to carry Annabeth off to a beach and fucking frolic in the fucking sand. But he couldn’t, there wasn’t any time to frolic or marvel or drink to the last five years of their lives. So they bounced from ceremony to ceremony. And she’d been absolutely radiant throughout, walking across the stage during her graduation Saturday morning, receiving special honors from her department. Running toward him this Sunday morning, wrapping herself around him and confirming that he had in fact done this, he was in fact finished with school. He’s so grateful for her. In awe of her. He couldn’t imagine doing this without her. It was incredible to do this with her. She pierced his heart like a sweet note of his favorite song and he felt her in his bones. There was so much going on, and it was good, all of it was so good, and here she was, here he was, and he missed her. Annabeth Chase, mojo murderer.

“Yes.” He cupped her face and kissed her quickly, she didn't even have time to react. “No. Now I’m overthinking, like, everything though. Bobby is coming out.” He jerked his chin at something behind her. “I think your fam is ready to leave.”

She glanced back at them with a frown. “That was supposed to be a compliment, Jackson.”

“Your dad is looking at me like he wants to say something.” Percy insistently tugged her arm and turned her around. “Please go with them before he does.”

She pulled her arm free and walked backwards, pointing at him for emphasis as the space between them grows.

“Keep the confidence, okay? I’ll see you at dinner?”

He pointed back at her. "I'll see you at dinner."

#mypjofic #percy jackon and the olympians #percy and annabeth #percabeth #california dreaming #trying to motivate to myself to finish the last part #by looking at the most recent chapter #one more and done

11 notes · View notes

hotchley · 3 years

Text

“how am i a whore?”

morehotchcontent day three: tooth rotting fluff (a cooking lesson/ “i love you more.” “impossible.”

tagged: @ablogofthecriminalmindsvariety @whoreforthebauteam (the hotpocket references come from their fic, found family)

as always, they didn’t all cook. after the first time, they’d arrived at the conclusion that spencer, emily and [enelope should not be trusted with any sort of cooking utensil, and so the three of them stood to the side, watching and assisting.

jj’s would go home to will and henry, who were both always eager to try out her new dishes.

derek’s would be the only one actually consumed on the day, because he was one of the only competent cooks. well, dave called him competent. which meant he was actually a wonderful example of how to boil spaghetti properly- because yes, spencer had set the smoke alarm off by burning boiling water. how, dave had no idea. aaron was helping dave this time, and theirs would go in the fridge for jessica and jack.

a cooking lesson at rossi’s is also the subtle reveal of a relationship

i can’t write fluff okay? please don’t be too judgemental.

read of ao3!

When David Rossi woke up on a sunny Friday morning, Hotch wasn’t in bed. He sighed, assuming that meant his partner had already left for work, but hadn’t wanted to disrupt him. One of these days, he was going to forcefully prevent Aaron from leaving before eight.

But when he exited the bathroom to get dressed, Aaron was perched on the edge, a tray next to him.

“Hi Dave,” he greeted shyly.

Dave smiled. He was the only one that ever got to see Aaron like this: messy hair, Harvard sweatshirt and jogging bottoms, feet bare and wide grin on his face.

“Good morning my darling,” Dave replied. After he discovered that his partner was an absolute sucker for cute nicknames, he started finding any and all excuse to use them.

Aaron blushed, the same way he always did when he was the centre of Dave’s attention. It never failed to make Dave’s heart melt. As he went over to kiss his partner, he took stock of what was on the tray. Two mugs of coffee. A plate of pancakes for each of them. Aaron’s were covered in syrup and marshmallows, his own just a thin dusting of icing sugar and some berries.

“Well, whatever did I do to deserve this treatment?” Dave asked.

Aaron started fiddling with the bedcovers, not quite meeting his partner’s eyes.

Dave pressed two fingers to his chin and tilted his face upwards. He smirked at the slight exhale Aaron released. “Tell me.”

“Well, you know how the team are coming over tonight? For the cooking lesson?”

Dave nodded. Cooking lessons had become a monthly tradition within the BAU. He liked to pretend it was a massive inconvenience to him and his life, but actually it was one of the things he looked forward to the most. Not only was it a chance for him to get his family together and help keep them alive by feeding them actual food (because Aaron, hotpockets aren’t real food), and show off his own culinary skills, it was also an opportunity to watch aforementioned profiler in his kitchen. And whilst Aaron was careful to never betray too much knowledge of his kitchen, it was still nice to watch him move around with ease.

It was domestic.

“Yes, I am aware of that. Why? Did something happen?” Dave asked, careful to keep his voice gentle.

“No. It’s just- I want to tell them. Or at least make it obvious,” Aaron blurted out.

Dave stared at him. “Are you sure? I know I like to show off the beautiful things in my life, but if you aren’t ready, then we don’t need to rush.”

Aaron shook his head. “Wait, no, I am ready. And maybe… maybe I want you to show me off? Just a little bit? Not too much. Just enough to make Strauss a little bit jealous. Like a really small amount.”

Dave’s jaw dropped. “You little minx. Who knew the stoic and uptight Aaron Hotchner wanted to turn up to work all marked up because he knew of the short fling between his boss and his partner? Imagine the field day Garcia would have with that information.”

In response, Aaron pushed Dave away slightly, careful to not spill any off the coffee. “Shut up. I hate you.”

“You love me,” Dave sang as he slid off the bed to go and get dressed for the day.

“Why is completely beyond me, but yes, yes I do,” Hotch said with a sigh, as he himself also started to tame his unruly hair and change out of his pyjamas into the suit that Rossi handed him with a smirk, because he knew how good Aaron would look in it.

And maybe it had something to do with the fact that when they both went to pick up Jack and the other parents would stare at him, Dave would be able to link their pinkies and Aaron would give him that small, subtle smile reserved only for him.

“I’m so excited for tonight! What are we making?” Garcia asked, as soon as Rossi had taken his seat beside her in their morning briefing.

“That’s for me to know and for you to discover later,” Rossi teased.

“No, that isn’t fair! The others can just profile the answer out of you. I’m not like that. Please tell me,” she pleaded.

Rossi shook his head, smiling when she pouted.

Hotch entered a moment later, and Rossi was careful to school his features into a look of neutrality. It would definitely raise suspicions to be smiling when Hotch was talking about Strauss coming to observe the way they worked when based in Quantico.

7pm was fast approaching, and Rossi was beginning to wonder what exactly Hotch was doing. He wasn’t worried that he’d passed out or anything like that, but it wasn’t like him to take so long getting ready. If an event was casual, the most he’d do would be to change into a polo shirt and jeans. Which took a maximum of ten minutes if Dave wasn’t in the room.

Hotch had been getting ready for a good forty minutes now. In that time, Rossi had wiped down the kitchen, repositioned the photo of him, Aaron and Jack at the zoo (it had been kindly taken by Jessica) so that it wasn’t hidden, and set up the dinner table.

When Aaron came down, Rossi didn’t immediately turn.

“I was beginning to worry about you. If you don’t want to go through with this, you don’t have to,” he said, careful to keep his tone light but his words serious.

“Could you turn around before you make assumptions?” Aaron said.

Dave turned.

Aaron was wearing his shirt. There was no way it could be mistaken for his own, because Aaron would never wear purple, despite Dave constantly saying it enhanced his beauty- because every colour looked stunning on him. And it was a little bigger on him than it was on Dave.

“I’m now very tempted to call this cooking lesson off,” he commented.

Aaron blushed, but smiled nonetheless. “Please don’t do that. I was actually looking forward to you making pesto pasta.”

Dave wrapped his arms around Hotch’s waist, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder. “You look stunning, my darling rose. Absolutely stunning.”

Hotch snorted. “Darling rose? Really?”

“I can and will start calling you Hotpocket if you insult another one of my nicknames,” Dave threatened.

“I love your nicknames for me. And you. I love you,” Aaron said.

“I love you as well darling. Now, any moment now Penelope is going to arrive, so prepare yourself.”

He was right. A few moments later, the doorbell rang to reveal their technical analyst with a cheesecake. As Dave answered the door, she didn’t see Hotch till she entered the kitchen, where he was sat, casually looking over the recipe nobody else was allowed to see.

“Well hello sir! That shirt looks much better on you than it ever did on Rossi- no offence,” she said.

Hotch visibly relaxed, the tension in his shoulders bleeding off of him. “Thank you Pen,” he said. “I like your butterfly clip.”

She grinned. He gave her a small smile.

The others noticed Hotch’s attire, the ease with which he moved round Dave’s kitchen. The photo on his coffee table also indicated a family, as did the drawings pinned to the fridge with magnets. But nobody commented. They knew Hotch. They knew the only reason he did this was because he wanted them to know, not because he wanted a congratulations.

As always, they didn’t all cook. After the first time, they’d arrived at the conclusion that Spencer, Emily and Penelope should not be trusted with any sort of cooking utensil, and so the three of them stood to the side, watching and assisting.

JJ’s would go home to Will and Henry, who were both always eager to try out her new dishes.

Derek’s would be the only one actually consumed on the day, because he was one of the only competent cooks. Well, Dave called him competent. Which meant he was actually a wonderful example of how to boil spaghetti properly- because yes, Spencer had set the smoke alarm off by burning boiling water. How, Dave had no idea. Aaron was helping Dave this time, and theirs would go in the fridge for Jessica and Jack.

When the day was over, and everyone was leaving, Hotch seemed hesitant to let them go.

Garcia realised first, and hugged him tightly, She whispered something that Rossi didn’t hear, but he could only assume what had happened, based on her smirk and the slight rosiness of Hotch’s cheeks. JJ kissed him on the cheek, said that he couldn’t blame this one on gas, before grabbing her coat and leaving. Morgan patted him on the shoulder, a silent conversation between the two leaders. Dave almost felt like he was intruding on a private moment. Emily just winked at the two of them before leaving. Spencer rocked back and forth on his heels for a few moments before also hugging his unit chief.

“I’m just- you’re the first parent that taught me what it means to actually love someone, and I’m glad that you’re happy and in love because you deserve it,” he said. Hotch found himself cradling Reid’s head, the same way he often did to Jack. “Thanks Spence,” he said, voice a little rough.

Reid pulled away, hastily waving goodbye to Dave before he left.

Aaron let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you glad they know?” Dave asked, hugging him from behind.

Aaron nodded. “They’re our family. I feel like now, there are no more secrets. And I can relax.”

“Will you dance with me before you do that?” Dave blurted out. Truthfully, he’d been thinking of dancing with Aaron for a while now, just so he could hold him close and feel his heartbeat steadily against his own.

“I- of course. But I haven’t danced since- in a while. So,” he said.

“That’s okay. Let me lead you,” Dave said, moving Aaron’s arms so they were positioned correctly. There was no music, aside from the occasional sighs that left his mouth, and the slightly repressed gasp of pain that came from Aaron stepping on his toes.

“I love you,” Aaron whispered, when they finally stopped moving.

“I love you more,” Dave said, feeling very much like a teenager.

“Impossible,” Aaron said, mock-offended.

“Whatever you say, Hotpocket,” Dave teased.

Aaron grabbed the nearest cushion and threw it at him.

They ended up falling asleep on the floor, surrounded by all of the fancy cushions Dave had spent precious hours positioning just perfectly.

But it was worth it for the smile that greeted him the next morning, when Aaron realised exactly what they’d done last night.

42 notes · View notes