Breathe. Just Breathe (Fanfiction)

Series: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Reid and Morgan
Rating: G-PG
Summary:
Sometimes, all you need to do is take a moment to just breathe and be with someone.

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Breathing, Reid had long since learned in his line of work, was something that could save your sanity.

His forehead rested against the warm, dark skin of his friend’s. Their noses were parallel to each other. Their mouths were merely centimeters apart. So close, he could barely remember how to keep doing so. Of course, that was the point of this.

Morgan’s large, warm hands rested against Reid’s cheeks, cradling his head, and Reid’s hands were wrapped around his forearms, clinging to the nearness. A single breath was shared between the two as they inhaled as the other’s exhaled.

It was almost as innocent as it was sexual.

Each time one of them surrendered to the lust that was sparked from the connection, tilting their heads forward to breech the distance between their lips, the other drew back. He always drew back just enough so that they couldn’t kiss, but never enough to break the contact. It was pleasure filled torture that they both hated and loved.

It was hard to tell how long it had lasted when Reid finally broke. His head was spinning from lack of air and desire as he shook it slightly. His soft, caramel hues fluttered opened to the beautiful, obsidian orbs. Shaken by the power and want that he saw in Derek’s eyes, he gasped, nearly pleading, “No more.”

An airy chuckle escaped Morgan and his eyes narrowed with his smile, even as he continued to breathe in sync with Reid. As he gazed met his partner’s, he could only imagine what was going through his mind and he could only hope it wasn’t something as cruel as making him wait longer. If the dark skinned, athletic male forced him to wait much longer, Reid knew his composure would vanish.

It was already starting to slip away.

Trying his luck, he tilted his head forward to finally kiss the other. As he did, the taller male shifted away just as every time before, and the slender, intelligent man realized he might not be allowed to keep his composure. Morgan loved watching Reid pine for him as lust consumed him and made him squirm.

With a shuddery exhale, Reid closed his eyes, no longer able to meet the intense gaze. He was starting to hate himself for suggesting doing this. Though he had been right about how seductive it was, he hadn’t realized how good Morgan would get at it. They had only done it twice before and already Morgan had figured out how not to completely lose it.

“Say it.”

The two words were impossibly strong, spoken in the dark, rich tone that he adored. The voice was no more commanding than it was pleading. It was perfectly balanced between careful control and raw need.

Like so many times before, it shook the young genius to the core. He never could understand how his lover’s voice could convey so many conflicting emotions. At times, he was convinced that it was all in his head.

There was a moment of hesitation, then, slowly, his eyes opened once again.

All of the horrors the two had faced, together and apart, all of the sorrow they had endured and witnessed, and all of the pain they had suffered through had left them both marked men. Even though they could never forget what they had seen, they rarely let it show. When one of them was weak enough to let it through, the other would be forced to act as though they hadn’t seen.

It wasn’t because they didn’t care. It was because they cared too much. Both knew the other needed their privacy, just as they needed their own. They also knew that if they let the agony slip into their few, precious moments, it would ruin everything.

Yet, it shattered Reid’s heart each time he saw such sorrow lurking in the haunted eyes of the man he loved as a friend, a co-worker, and so much more. It was always there, but especially in the moments when they were together. He knew it was because Derek couldn’t control the emotions, just like neither of them had been able to control this.

That heart break, internal torment, however, could never compare to the pure ecstasy he felt when he realized he could make it all disappeared, even if it was just for a moment.

With a slow, deep breath, he lifted a hand from the warm, toned arms to gently touch Derek’s face. A small, heartbreakingly adorable smile touched his lips as he whispered the three truest words he would ever speak. “I love you.”

The sorrow was gone. The terrors were abolished. Morgan smiled in response. Just as timid and tender as their very first kiss, he leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips against Reid’s.

Reid tilted his head to one side as his lips parted and he tilted his chin forward to press his lips to kiss Morgan. In his hazy mind, he decided that this was the best way to breathe. Everything breath he drew brought more of his essence into him. Though it could not truly protect him, the brunette had never felt safer since taking a job at the BAU.

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