Chapter Text
11:43pm.
It’s late when the plane finally touches down in Quantico. In fact, you and Rossi are the only ones still awake, you’ve been silently playing chess for the last hour and a half. And… you gotta admit you would much rather be asleep, but after battling with your own brain for 2 hours you gave in, shoved Morgan’s snoring head off your shoulder and made your way over to Dave. Nothing needed to be said, you’d all seen the same things over the past few days. So, there you were, sat across from each other in silence if it weren’t for Spencer’s faint snoring on the couch beside you and the occasional tap of a chess piece.
You see the seatbelt sign flash above Rossi’s head and stand up to go and wake the team, you gently shake Hotch and Morgan as they readjust themselves to the land of the living and gesture to JJ, Hotch nods, a silent agreement to let her rest a little longer. You walk back towards the front of the plane where Rossi is still sat contemplating the chess board. You walk towards Spencer who’s scrunched up on the tiny couch far too small for his lanky frame, he surely can’t be comfortable. As you come closer, you look at him longer and really take him in, he looks so peaceful. You almost don’t want to wake him. You resign yourself to sit at his feet and gently tap his knee. He slowly rouses and looks around to find you, gives you a soft smile, when you smile back his cheeks turn red and he turns around to hide his face with the excuse of needing his glasses. Just as you sit back down across from Rossi the belt sign flashes again and stays lit to let you know your descent is beginning.
The plane door is finally open, as you make our way onto the tarmac Hotch firmly orders you to go home, get some rest and be back in for 9am for a busy paperwork day. You get to the cars after a slow, sluggish walk.
“Thanks for this one guys I know It was tough, get some rest” Hotch shouts as he walks toward his SUV.
You’re walking behind the group side by side with Reid and you quietly ask if he wanted a lift back home knowing he doesn’t like to drive late and especially after a difficult case.
“Uh… actually that would be really nice, I don’t really think any of us should be alone right now” he mutters with a small grimace.
“You’ve got a point pretty boy!!” Derek shouts from in front clearly having overheard us,
“Hey, Prentiss, you’re coming with me” Emily offers a sharp “nuh uhh” to which Derek puts his hand on his chest and falls into his car laughing.
“See you tomorrow guys get home safe” You shout in the direction of the other cars as you and Reid clamber into your tiny silver VW beetle.
Most of the journey Is spent in comfortable silence, just the sound of your quiet breathing filling the car. Until about 5 minutes from Spencer’s flat your stomach lets out the loudest gurgle, realising you haven’t eaten since this time last night.
“Hungry?” Spencer chuckles as he speaks.
“Apparently so… any good takeaways around here I don’t think i’ll survive the journey home”.
“There’s a good Indian place around the corner from mine Its only delivery though, I’ve got a menu back at mine if you want to order for there?”
“I don’t want to Impose though Spenc-“
“You wouldn’t be, trust me” He offers with a sweet smile.
“Okay if you’re sure” You smile back and continue the drive to his apartment. The last 10 minutes Is spent just chatting about nothing, Reid decides he’s going to get some food as well, which doesn’t surprise me as you’re pretty sure that man doesn’t know how to even toast bread.
As we pull into the apartment building car park, you pull my car in next to Reid’s. He lets you know he’s gonna run ahead, presumably to tidy up a little, he needn’t worry, no one on the team has ever visited your flat for that exact reason.
You take your time wandering through the building knowing that Spencer Is most likely having a major panic right now. After about 5 minutes strolling through the building at snails’ pace and hauling your aching body up the stairs you finally reach number 23. You can hear quiet scratchy music coming from behind the slightly ajar door, he’s put on the record player.
“How’d you know I like this sort of music?” You question as you slowly push the door open and walk inside, shutting it behind yourself. Reid startles a little before smiling when he remembers it’s only you.
“I uh… just a good guess” he stutters as he passes you the menu.
“Oh god this all looks amazing” You groan flicking quickly through the pages, you were always a fast reader, not Spencer Reid fast but fast by your own means.
You look pitifully back up at him “I’m gonna need some help deciding, if not there’s absolutely nothing stopping me ordering the entire menu”. He chuckles at you again and points to about 5 things on various pages of the menu.
“Wanna share then mister…I wanna try as much as possible from your esteemed takeaway and I can’t eat 5 meals to myself?”
“Yeh…uh…I mean sure” He looks nervous.
“Want me to ring up?”
“No no It’s okay, they know me over there I usually get a discount… regular customer type thing” He offers the sweetest smile, stands up to grab his phone and walks into another room.
About an hour and a half later you and Reid are both sat slumped on his couch, inches between you. Your conversation has slowly dissolved into him quietly humming along to the songs, flipping through a book and you resting your eyes but trying not to fall asleep on Reid’s sofa. He’s turning the pages of the book with his left hand as his right is resting casually behind your head. You keep dozing in and out of sleep and you notice that at some point your head has fallen onto Spencer’s shoulder, the music is still playing but you don’t see the book or hear humming anymore.
When you next wake up it’s just gone 3am, you’re now laying down on Spencer’s couch, there’s a pillow under your head instead of a shoulder, and a wool blanket over your legs. You sit up and look around. As you turn to the right you can see him through the open bedroom door, sprawled on his front, duvet only covering up to his waist. You realise you’ve been staring for a couple of minutes and have to literally shake yourself out of it. Before leaving his flat, you dig out a scrap of paper and pen from your bag, write a note so he doesn’t panic in the morning when you’re not there and leave it on the coffee table. After grabbing yourself a quick glass of water, you run out and make sure the door is locked before making your way home.