Work Text:
It was born out of desperation.
Why else would a teenager turn to sex work?
There were bills piling up on the kitchen counter; medical bills, rent, student loans, and far too many other pieces of paper declaring their debt. Despite everything he told himself, getting a PhD doesn’t fix everything, and getting two more doesn’t mean the money started appearing.
He was seventeen, desperate, and very aware of how some older men stared at him.
He lied about his age and found a job in a local strip club, and despite how uncomfortable it made him at the start, he was good at it, he started to enjoy it, and the money was good.
But not good enough.
When he had to institutionalize his mother, at first, it was a weight off his shoulders, then it was another bill to his stack, and the stripping wasn’t enough.
He started working the streets, with a tiny butterfly knife sewn into the inside of his dress and pepper spray in his hand, because he was anything but reckless.
It took a lot out of him, he was going to class exhausted every day. He stopped at his third PhD, and stopped taking so many papers. One day, when a guest lecture by Jason Gideon caught his eye, he shook his head and kept walking.
He finished his final degree at 20 and dropped out of college for good.
He didn’t have a very nice pimp, making him take some men that the other girls wouldn’t go near, and while he fought tooth and nail to avoid the drugs, he couldn’t get out of the BDSM customers that he was continuously passed over to.
His low point came when the strip club mistress wouldn’t let him dance on stage because he was too bruised and it didn’t look very good for the club.
Meeting Lacey was his saving grace.
She was a new stripper at the club, and when she saw the mistress talk to him, she pulled him aside and told him that she knew where he was getting the bruises. Lacey, turns out, was also a prostitute on the side, and offered to talk to her pimp about taking him. She was an escort, not a common street whore like him, and he grasped the offer with the desperation of a dying man.
Her pimp was a woman who patted his cheek and told him to call her ‘Mama Gigi.’ She immediately got him set up with a good client list that would pay him $500 a night, which was five times the amount he was making on the streets. He no longer had to do BDSM appointments unless he agreed to everything beforehand in a contract; he wasn’t being mistreated anymore.
Lacey became his best friend, she helped him gain confidence and see his own value, and he helped tutor her as she went through college to get her degree. They became a two-person show: ‘Satin and Silk’ with him being Satin and her, Silk.
It surprised him how quickly he became popular, and soon, he didn’t need to continue stripping, becoming a high-end escort for the DC elite, fucking politicians, lawyers, and even a few wall-street big names. With his lowest price being a thousand dollars, he became the dirty secret of some of the richest and most famous men in America.
At twenty-seven, he and Lacy were living together in their nice studio apartment, able to enjoy life and not worry about the bills.
He wasn’t very surprised when an FBI agent bought him for the night. He’d gone through the song and dance with a few agents before, and while Mama Gigi made sure to get a full background check on this guy to make sure he’s not some undercover cop about to take them down, nothing strange came up.
His request was a bit weird: he wanted to meet for dinner at a nice restaurant and then go to a hotel for the rest of the night. No kinks, no fetishes, not even a specific outfit suggestion.
“Poor thing,” Lacey clicked her tongue when she heard. “Widower and single father. Trying to delude himself that he’s having a normal date. You treat him good, got it?”
He did. He forwent his usual dresses and heels for a purple button-down and dress shoes and brushed his long hair so the curls seemed tame and out of his eyes. He smiled prettily when the man pulled out a chair for him, and acted the most conservatively seductive that he ever had to.
Yet he was surprised when he got asked his name.
“Satin,” He smiled, blinking coyly through his eyelashes. “What’s yours?”
He knew his name, of course he did, but if the man wanted to play games, then he knew how to play along.
“Aaron Hotchner,” He replied, but he was frowning. “But I meant your real name, if you’re comfortable with it.”
“My real name?” He was surprised enough that he dropped the act for a second. Customers who asked his real name were always creeps who had gotten obsessed, most liked the appeal of a ‘sexy’ fake name to call him.
“I’d rather not have the entire night be an act, don’t you?”
“Spencer,” He blurted before kicking himself. He’s not supposed to give out his real name, he even has a fake name of ‘Ethan White’ if he’s ever pressured into giving his real name, but Aaron Hotchner seems like a genuinely kind man who is very out of place compared to his normal customers. He seemed lonely, more than anything, and Spencer could understand that far too well.
“It’s nice to meet you, Spencer.” Aaron smiled politely, though it looked slightly forced.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Aaron,” Spencer parroted.
Dinner was mostly polite talk, with topics such as current books they were reading and how fussy the weather has been recently. The closest thing to personal they got was Aaron complaining that he worked too many late nights for him to have many relationships and Spencer saying that his roommate loved playing loud music to the point of him getting headaches from it.
Aaron was very gentle with him after dinner; more focused on Spencer’s pleasure than his own, and Spencer had to admit that it was some of the best sex he’s had in a long while. It’s funny- he’s so used to performing for others that he forgot how it was supposed to be when it’s two people equally wanting pleasure.
He leaves early the next morning. He shouldn’t have fallen asleep in that bed with him, but just like Aaron, Spencer wanted to pretend just for a little bit. He leaves his card on the bedside table, his messy scrawl on the back saying ‘ Had fun last night, call me again and we can go somewhere a bit nicer for cheaper. ~Spencer xx ’
He shouldn’t have offered a discount for the next time, their date had already been on the cheaper side of his escorts, but he truly had enjoyed last night, and Aaron looked like he needed the company. Lacey had looked a bit worried when he told her.
“Spencie, it’s one thing to pity them, another to get attached. Remember that, please.” He knew she was just worried about him getting hurt, but he wasn’t going to. He doesn’t remember the last time he got attached to someone other than her.
Still, despite his best efforts to not let himself slip, he still did.
Aaron asked after him again, and again, and again. Once every two weeks, though sometimes he would miss a date and cancel at the last minute because of work, yet he still consistently became Spencer’s regular customer.
It was after six months, and over twenty-five thousand dollars, that Spencer grabbed the man’s hand from across the table- his first piece of initiated non-sexual contact.
“Aaron, I know you like to think of these meetings as dates, but you know they’re not, right?” He was gentle with him, yet Aaron’s face still crumpled.
“I’m sorry. I know this is just your job and this isn’t exactly what I’m paying you for-”
“Aaron,” He gently cuts the man off. “I’m enjoying these meetings too. Seriously, I am.”
He looked startled and confused, like he truly believed every smile from Spencer was fake, that he still hadn’t broken his code to not get attached.
“You know I also work as a sugar baby, right? It wouldn’t be any cheaper than hiring me as an escort, but we can see each other more often, and I’ll be exclusively with you.”
“You do?” He was surprised, “That- that sounds great.”
Spencer smiled, truly and genuinely. “You’d have to sign a contract, but yes. A live-in sugar baby or we can continue meeting for dates like these whenever you want. Real dates, this time, I won’t act or play any role if you don’t want me to.”
Aaron looked eager for it, and soon Spencer was giving him Mama Gigi’s number and his own personal one.
Lacey had sighed when he got home, then reached out and pulled him into a hug. “You know you’re my best friend, right? I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I know,” He hugged her back as they lay together on her bed. “I just really like him. And I know I’m taking a chance, but I’m being careful, I promise. He’s still going to be paying me for my time, all I did was let him know he could have me exclusively.”
“Oh honey,” Was all she said, and all she needed to say.
Prices got adjusted- $200 dinners, $500 date-nights, $1000 nights. Despite that, and the frequent meetings, Aaron still bought him gifts.
Spencer got treated to a day of shopping, trying on any dress or suit he liked, and having them bought for him. The very last gift of the day was a thin little golden chain necklace that Aaron put on him.
“Aaron, I know I shouldn’t ask, but I’m very expensive and your job… how are you affording me?” Spencer asked that night, slightly concerned for the other man’s bank account.
“Don’t worry about that. I have a very large inheritance, and I’m planning on selling the old plantation soon too.” Aaron kissed him sweetly.
“I can move in,” He suggested when Aaron pulled back. “It’ll be cheaper for you, everything would be half price.”
“You’d be paid less,” Aaron frowned.
“I know.” He said, “I don’t care.”
Understanding dawns on Aaron’s face, and soon relief and adoration. Aaron loves him, and now he knows it’s mutual.
When moving out, Lacey marches right up to Aaron and points a finger at his face. Their height difference is almost comical, but never underestimate a pissed-off bitch wearing six-inch heels in her own home.
“If you ever hurt him, I will hunt you down and kill you, FBI agent or not.” She snarled at his face.
Aaron didn’t laugh or brush her off, but nodded. “You’re a good friend.”
A good friend that made sure to have him keep in contact with her, and if he didn’t call or text her once every 48 hours, she would metaphorically press her panic button.
But there was no panic button at Aaron’s house.
It was a normal little suburban house, with a white picket fence, a nice lawn, and a little curious child named Jack who managed to break through every single wall Spencer has up that hides his natural intelligence from the world. Spencer knew Jack already, having met the little boy several times while going out with Aaron.
Aaron caught Spencer telling Jack fact after fact about dinosaurs, and while there was surprise on his face, there was none of that ugliness that appeared whenever people realized that Spencer was smarter than them.
“I didn’t know you were a dinosaur expert,” Aaron teased later.
“I’m not,” He denied. “Never got a PhD in paleontology.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow, “Never got a PhD in paleontology . What did you get a PhD in?”
It’s remarkably obvious that Spencer is with an FBI profiler sometimes. “Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics.”
Aaron paused, processed that, and smiled. “Sounds like you enjoyed college.”
“I loved it. I miss learning so much.” He admitted.
Aaron comes up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist and pressing a kiss behind his ear. “Do you want to return?”
It took a second for Spencer to fully understand what Aaron was implying. “You would do that? For me?”
“Of course,” Aaron kissed him sweetly. “Anything you want.”
It was only a few weeks later that Spencer was on Georgetown Campus, about to go get his first-ever english literature degree, and smiling brightly. He wondered if his mom would be proud of him for this, and resolved to go see her again soon.
Aaron was happy and sad to see him off, even for just a weekend, but Spencer was too nervous to care. His mom had been supportive of him, no matter what he worked as, but it still made his heart rate leap up whenever he thought of telling his mom anything new.
“A sugar daddy, huh? You’re sure that’s all he is to you?” Diana asked, skeptical.
Spencer laughed weakly, “I love him.”
“Then tell him that,” She told him. “Make sure he knows, get all the money and acting out of the way and tell him.”
Spencer did.
Aaron had taken him back to bed, embracing him with open arms, and Spencer confessed while laying on his chest, hair spread around him like a halo.
“I love you,” He whispered. “I love you so very much.”
“I love you too,” Aaron whispered back, pressing a kiss against his forehead.
That was all it took for Spencer to burst into tears. Aaron seemed a bit confused at the sudden turn of emotions and tried to soothe him, cradling him in his arms.
“You’re the only person who has ever told me that,” Spencer admitted between sobs. “I don’t- I don’ want you to pay for me anymore. Aaron, please, I need you.”
“I love you,” Aaron repeated. “I want you to stay, I don’t care about the money, I just want you to stay.”
Spencer stayed. He formally ends his contract with Mama Gigi and she patted his cheek and wished him well. He found a job in a local book cafe, his first forway into a non-sex-work job market, and he was surprised how much he enjoyed working there. He spent his days mostly at home with Jack and Aaron whenever the man was home from work, and life was good. Life was really good, and he was surprised as to how little worry he had for money.
One day he came home from work at the cafe to a man he never met sitting on the couch with Aaron, drinking coffee.
The man looked him up and down, turned to Aaron to snark a little “Not having a mid-life crisis, huh?” before turning back the charm and introducing himself as “David Rossi, call me Dave.”
Dave worked with Aaron at the FBI, and they were long-time friends.
“He’s been much happier this past year and a bit, but he has been keeping a tight lid as to what changed. I’m guessing that you’ve been that change, right kid?”
“I can’t claim all the credit,” Spencer protested, blushing at the thought that he managed to affect Aaron so much.
“Yes you can,” Aaron corrected him, kissing him lightly.
“Garcia is going to go insane over this,” Dave commented.
Spencer found out who Garcia was a few months later when Dave hosted a barbeque at his house and Aaron brought him along.
“Oh my god! I knew it!” Penelope Garcia, pink and sparkly and a force of nature much like Lacey is, shrieked with excitement the second Aaron introduced Spencer as his boyfriend.
“Damn, how old are you, pretty boy?” The man who introduced himself as Derek Morgan asked.
“Uh, twenty-nine,” He answered. His birthday had been just the month previous, and he knew how his young age often reflected on the older men he was most often with.
Derek’s eyebrows raised, and before he could say anything, Dave hollered “I like to call him Aaron’s mid-life crisis!”
“Dave!” Aaron snapped, tired and fond. Spencer just laughed at the teasing his lover was receiving.
“Well, you’re a very cool mid-life crisis, I like you already!” Penelope said, “No offense, Bossman! What’s your favorite TV show? Book? Color? Movie?”
“Star Trek: The Original Series, Empty Planet, Purple, and The Empire Strikes Back.” He replied.
Penelope gasped, “Please tell me you like Doctor Who too!”
“Allonsy,” He quoted to her absolute delight.
“Hotchman, I’m stealing your boyfriend!” She told Aaron.
“Give give him back after, or else Jack will be upset at having his favorite person stolen from him.” Aaron deadpanned, amusement glinting in his eyes.
Spencer was passed around like a shiny new toy for a while, but they weren’t rude at all, instead, they were all very welcoming. He hasn’t had so many people genuinely interested in him in years, and it's exhausting.
He collapsed on his and Aaron’s bed, tired. “Cuddles?”
Aaron smiled as he pulled him into his arms. “Anything you want, baby.”
“I want to stay here, with you, forever.”
“As you wish,” Aaron replied, smiling with a glint in his eyes.
Spencer shouldn’t have been that surprised when he proposed just a month later, yet, he was.
The ring was beautiful and simple, just like the proposal, over a simple candle-lit dinner that Aaron made for him. He loved it, every bit of it, and he cried as he slid the little silver ring onto his finger, kissing Aaron as if his life depended on it.
“I love you, Aaron,” Spencer told him.
“I love you too, Spencer,” He replied, kissing his tears off his face.
Their love was born out of desperation and loneliness, but it definitely didn’t stay that way.