Title: Beauty
By: Ykari
Pairing: Reid/Rossi pre-slash with mention of JJ/Emily
Rating: PG-13
Summary: David Rossi liked beautiful things...

***

David Rossi liked beautiful things... things like his beautiful house, his beautiful children, his beautiful ex-wife, and that beautiful press liaison he got to see every day now.

Rossi wasn't foolish or sentimental enough to pretend he was in love with JJ. He just liked looking. Of course, he'd like to do more but he was well aware that it wouldn't end well. He got enough glares from Hotch just for looking, he could hardly imagine how badly the younger team leader would take it if Rossi actually acted on the desire.

But really, he was being overprotective. What harm was there in looking? He just thought she was beautiful. Of course, it was hard to tell whether or not JJ appreciated the looks. She had clearly noticed but she hadn't reacted to them in any way so Rossi had to assume she just didn't care. Her entire job was to get looked at by a bunch of nosy assholes with cameras anyway, she was probably just used to it.

JJ wasn't bothered by him, but she wasn't interested in him either and therein lay Rossi's problem. He'd asked her out for drinks before, but she'd always denied him and she was damn good at coming up with excuses that he knew weren't true, but were perfectly plausible anyway. If he'd been the sort of man to surrender, he'd have done it long before now. But even he was finally starting to contemplate giving up. He'd asked again mere moments ago and she'd denied it, citing some extra work that she probably genuinely had but that could have easily waited til tomorrow. And now, unless his admittedly poor lip reading skills failed him, Rossi was pretty sure he could see JJ asking Emily Prentiss out for a drink.

"Ahh, denied by JJ huh?"

Rossi blinked and turned away from his office window. He hadn't heard Reid knock. He supposed the man probably hadn't. "Well you're bold today."

Reid grinned, "I know something you don't know."

"You know a lot of things I don't know", Rossi said dryly. "But most of them are things I don't want or need to know."

The younger agent just grinned wider. "You're not JJ's type. Believe me."

"Is Agent Prentiss?"

Now it was Spencer's turn to blink owlishly. He almost seemed disappointed. "You guessed, huh?"

"Well the first time could be written off as coincidence, but it seems like every time I ask JJ for a drink, she just goes off to ask Prentiss."

"She does. But do you still want that drink?"

Rossi stared at him.

Reid blushed slightly, "Just to take the sting out of knowing you can't have her? The drink, I mean. The drink takes the sting, and er-" he seemed to lose his train of thought.

David continued staring at him, but with more amusement now. After a moment he replied, "Sure, why not? As soon as I'm done with this." He gestured to an open folder on his desk.

"Just tell me when you're done then!" Reid's grin returned. He left the room and nearly bounced down the hallway. Rossi watched him through the window and laughed quietly.

Well, he had always liked beautiful things, even if he was getting too old to chase them. Might as well accept the ones that came to him. After all, a beautiful boy was just as nice as a beautiful girl.