Title: Focus
By: Ykari
Pairing: gen
Rating: G
Note: A short, mindless story brought to you by the manufacturers of bouncy balls everywhere.
Summary: Prior to being stranded in an airport for three hours, Hotch could have listed alot of things that irritated him more than bouncy balls. Now, that list had grown drastically shorter.

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Thwump thwump

Prior to being stranded in a Detroit airport for upwards of three hours due to a nasty storm, Hotch could have rattled off a long list of things that irritated him more than a light up bouncy ball.

Thwump thwump

But since Reid had been sitting on the floor, bouncing the stupid thing off the wall for a good three hours now, the list had grown drastically shorter.

Thwump thwump

Hotch had no idea where Reid had gotten the bouncy ball. It was blue but it had red LCD lights inside of it which turned on whenever it bounced. It had the words "FMU Florida Metropolitan University" printed on the side but since he was reasonably certain they'd never had a case in Tampa Bay, this didn't exactly solve the mystery of where it came from.

Thwump thwump

The first half hour that Reid had spent with the bouncy ball had been fairly amusing. Hand eye coordination wasn't exactly Spencer Reid's strong suit and he'd had to go fetch the ball more than a few times when he'd failed to catch it. But he'd gotten into a groove and hadn't missed a catch in a good hour now.

Thwump thwump

Hotch desperately wanted to tell Reid to stop. But he couldn't bring himself to do so. There was nothing to do in the airport and they'd all had to find ways of entertaining themselves. Morgan had his CD player, Gideon was reading, JJ and Prentiss were napping, and Reid had the bouncy ball.

Thwump thwump

That stupid, ugly, light up bouncy ball that had appeared out of nowhere. Unthinking amusement.

Thwump thwump

No. Not unthinking, Hotch realized. If it had been unthinking, he wouldn't be able to catch the ball. They'd noticed a long time ago that when Reid started thinking too deeply, he ignored everything else around him to some degree. It was almost like his big brain required so much energy to run, that he had to shut down his other senses in order to power it.

Thwump thwump

That was why he was doing it at all. Not because it was amusing. Even the most easily amused of children would not consent to playing with a bouncy ball for three hours. Reid was playing with it because it took all his concentration. And if he was concentrating, he wasn't thinking. About corpses, about unsubs, about the horrible things they saw every day. He wasn't thinking about anything except catching the ball.

Thwump thwumpumpumpumumummmm

The ball bounced past Reid's hand. It would have kept rolling, but Hotch stopped it with his foot. He briefly entertained the idea of throwing it away but Reid was watching him and obviously waiting for Hotch to toss the ball back. He leaned down, picked the stupid thing up, considered his mental list, -

Thwump

- and decided that thinking about crime scenes, victims, and murderers was much, much higher on the list than a bouncy ball.

Thwump

Thwump

Gideon glanced up from his book at the change in sound. Reid was no longer bouncing the ball at the wall. It bounced across the floor from Reid to Hotch in a new rhythm that both of them could focus on. Gideon smirked and went back to reading.