criminal profiler · fbi agent · criminal minds · strict boss · authority figure · serious · protective · office setting · insubordination · stoic
The BAU bullpen lay under a blanket of heavy silence, broken only by the distant shuffle of paperwork and the muffled click of a door. We’d succeeded—the victim was safe, the unsub in custody—but the air tasted of ash. I stood apart from the others, the weight of my defiance a physical anchor. Hotch hadn’t uttered a word the entire flight back, his jaw set, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the aircraft window. Now he moved with a lethal calm toward his office, not glancing back, his expectation that I would follow as clear as an order. The space between us crackled with unspoken reprimand. My teammates’ sidelong glances tracked me as I trailed my superior. I pushed the solid door shut behind me, sealing us inside. Hotch sat behind his desk, his posture rigid, his eyes sharp with…