"well, look who showed up,"

i laughed with a cheer,

letting my closed fist nudge y/n's shoulder playfully.

she rolled her eyes,

"i need a drink."

"we all do. here, your first rounds on me,"

i offered and handed her the drink thick with condensation.

"thank you, alvez. maybe you're not so bad after all."

we laughed together as one,

and let the stress of our workplace free.

the rest of the team and i began to drink as one,

where the music flowed through our veins and helped ease us into relaxation.

"mm, you know what? you're not so intolerable outside of the b.a.u,"

y/n spoke.

"thank you?"

she then giggled somewhat childishly,

making me chuckle louder than i intended,

"maybe it's just because you're drunk."

"am i? or are you?"

y/n looked at her now half empty glass and shrugged,

"i'm just getting started."

i nodded in agreement and took notice of the brightness in her eyes.

i had never felt such warmth in someone who i once felt so in competition with.

ever since our first day together at the bureau,

y/n and i fought long and hard to outshine one another.

though it was all in good fun,

we often found ourselves struggling to work hand in hand as one.

but here we sat,

leaving every ounce of that covered resentment behind,

and enjoying our time together.

she was quite beautiful,

more beautiful than i was willing to admit.

she was ethereal in ways i had never noticed until now,

and the lights above us only seemed to heighten the charm of her.

i found my heart beating a little differently now that i was admiring her in this new light.

whether it was the alcohol in my system,

or the blindness finally being ripped away from me,

i would never know.

all that i knew now,

was that i harbored deeper desires for y/n l/n.

the night passed by us quicker than i had anticipated,

and i then found myself feeling rather disappointed it had to end so soon.

i found amusement in watching y/n dance around,

her hands laced with jj's or penelope's in the most amiable way possible.

i couldn't tear my eyes off of her.

y/n stumbled up to me,

clearly drunk,

but kept her composure.

and i found myself admiring that about her;

the way she remained collected despite being wasted.

and in knowing this,

i realized that i was just as drunk.

"you and me, we're sharing an uber,"

she declared,

letting the tip of her index finger place itself to the middle of my chest.

"sounds good."

y/n nodded and linked her arm with mine,

trying her best to walk outside without staggering.

"you're being oddly friendly tonight."

"mm, i'm also super drunk."

"yeah? i couldn't tell."

"ha ha,"

she mocked and looked up to me.

we stood outside in the faint darkness of the night,

and let the wind faintly kiss our exposed skin.

it seemed as though y/n felt the same stammer in her heart that i felt.

her eyes were reddened,

but hazy with what seemed to be admiration.

i only assumed they mirrored the same look in my eyes.

but before either of us could say another word,

our car had arrived to take us home.

i helped her inside,

after making a joke or two about how drunk she was,

then climbed in myself.

"you're not fooling anyone, alvez."

"how?"

"you're a collected drunk. you think you can get away with it. but, your words are slurring."

"oh! thats the profiler in you."

she laughed a laugh that made my stomach turn a little.

it had been sweeter than i'd never known it to be,

and i found myself craving the tune of it once it was gone.

shielded from the invisible line of privacy between the driver and us,

time seemed to slow now that were alone.

no loud music,

no bright lights,

no roaring conversations,

just us.

y/n laid her head to my shoulder,

and i found myself laying a hand to her thigh rather absentmindedly.

had it not been for the warmth against my chilled palm,

i would have never noticed the small action i took to.

it seemed to be perfectly normal,

though it was quite the opposite,

and it felt like my hand was sculpted to hold y/n in every possible way.

she looked up and let her hand fall to my chest,

and there my breathing hitched.

the burning in my core was for y/n,

and she only fueled it the longer her eyes remained to mine.

she then took the chance i had been too frozen to take,

where our lips found their way to one another.

the hunger poured from her throat,

leaving me no choice but to swallow it.

i was drinking her with every breath,

and her taste settled within me.

it was that of ambrosia,

and i know i'd never find better.

my hands braided into her hair,

but before it could escalate any further,

the car stopped.

we peeled apart from one another,

despite my wishes not to,

and the cold buried itself in the places where y/n had once been.

no words were exchanged,

but y/n's hand was laced with mine and i was guiding her inside the house.

before i could truly process the bliss within me,

y/n and i were connected again.

we found ourselves tangled in the sheets of my bed,

and y/n's beauty was only heightened.

whatever tension lingered between us at work had melted and was now replaced with the purest form of desire.

y/n's hands explored my body as though i were irreplaceable,

though i could not judge.

i, too, found my lips tracing every curve of her and letting them burn in my memory.

"luke,"

she whispered out with a certain heavy tone,

one that made me shiver.

y/n was becoming her most vulnerable self with each article of clothing removed and each shaky breath.

but i only indulged in this.

her moans reverberated off my walls,

and made themselves at home within my memory.

i know from here on out,

my heart would only ever pine after y/n's love.

she kissed me in ways i had never been kissed,

touched me in ways that sent my skin into chills,

and let her hands study my being so that she'd never forget this moment.

no matter how drunk either of us had become that night,

it was true that we were right were we belonged.

i was practically sculpted to please her in all the best ways.

our lips were forged for one another's,

and i soon found that our souls were colliding as one.

fervor hummed through my veins the longer our skin remained intact with one another.

i couldn't find where her body began,

or where mine ended.

and i wouldn't have it any other way.

***

i woke up the next morning with a split second of bliss,

that soon came piling down with the thundering headache i had.

y/n shifted in my arms,

leaving me to open my eyes to stare.

she soon awoke then processed her surroundings.

but the panic didn't settle until our eyes locked.

"oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"

she exclaimed,

hurrying to her feet.

she then winced at the quick movement that sent her head throbbing,

but i couldn't fight the disappointment within.

what had been the greatest night of my life had been y/n's greatest mistake.

"you're leaving?"

"luke! i have a seminar to teach in, like, an hour!"

i chuckled and sat back against the pillow,

"you don't..you don't regret what happened last night?"

she stopped her hurrying,

and laid her clothes to the side.

she remained in the overly large shirt that was mine,

then climbed back into the bed rather slowly.

she found herself inches away from me,

"not in the slightest."

i grinned and let my hand fall to the nape of her neck,

where i connected our lips and reminded her of my building love for her.

her hands fell down my chest,

but she quickly pulled away.

"no, no! i have to go."

"let me get ready and i'll take you."

"luke alvez, you're turning into the perfect gentleman!"

now on my feet,

i stretched greatly with a wide smile to my lips.

"turning into one? i've always been that."

"ooh, cocky, are we?"

i snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her gently to my chest,

laying a kiss to her cheek,

"i'm just reminding you."

y/n let her lips fall to my jawline,

then to my neck,

where my breathing hitched beneath her touch.

"you're not going to make it to your seminar if you keep-"

"okay! i'm done!"

she giggled and slipped from my embrace,

where she hurried to change into her clothes from the night before.

i got ready for the day ahead,

and soon began to prepare a hangover cure for both y/n and i.

as i opened the front door to escort y/n out,

we were then met with penelope garcia.

"oh my god! i was coming to check up on you but oh my god! i knew it! i knew this hating, constant bickering, competition thing would turn into-into this!"

"i don't know what you're talking about, garcia. y/n only stayed the night."

"yeah, right! you two practically reek of day after lovemaking!"

y/n let out a loud laugh and laid her head to my arm,

"you have no proof."

penelope hooked her finger around the collar of

y/n's shirt and pulled it down to reveal a luke alvez love bite.

"i knew it!"

"we've got to go!"

i grabbed y/n's wrist carefully and carried her away to the car,

where we were soon free of the drama starved eyes of penelope garcia.

i found the silence enveloping us in the car was rather inviting.

it wasn't awkward,

or tense.

y/n and i were just absorbing every little detail of this newfound ardor for one another.

and so it seemed,

my biggest competition had become my biggest blessing overnight.