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"Hey there," Sean greeted, stepping up behind Spencer. Spencer who had obviously not been expecting him and jumped at the sound of his voice, twisting in the same movement and knocking into him and the two drinks he'd been holding.
The explosion of coffee that resulted froze them both, with Sean staring open-mouthed at Spencer and Spencer staring in horror at Sean- before his face twisted into a grin which he quickly smothered behind his hands.
"I'm so sorry!" He blurted. Despite the apology, Sean could see the humour lighting his eyes.
Sean felt his own lips twitching. "It's fine, you can laugh."
Spencer dropped his hands, biting against the grin still pulling at his lips. "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"
"No, no, blame me, it's okay." Sean said, looking down forlornly at the state of his leather jacket, which thankfully had taken the brunt of the coffee.
Spencer huffed a soft laugh, reaching back to grab a box of tissues from his desk. He stepped in a little closer, mopping at his jacket. "Think of this as payback for all the times you've spilt coffee on me."
"Oh, I see how it is," Sean laughed, spreading his arms a little wider to accommodate Spencer. "You just wanted revenge."
Spencer snorted. "If this were revenge, I'd have at least gotten your shirt." He met Sean's eyes, "You owe me a shirt."
"And a jumper," Sean agreed.
Spencer made a noise of affirmation, bending a little to wipe at the waistline of Sean's jacket, where coffee was still hanging in droplets.
"Not to ruin the moment, but if you go any lower we're going to cause a scene."
Spencer straightened immediately, blushing at the insinuation. He offered Sean a scandalised look before: "Right, I'll take those-," and he juggled taking the coffees from him and thrusting the tissues into his arms instead. "-and you can finish cleaning yourself up."
Sean laughed. Watching as Spencer dumped the coffee cups into the wastebin beside his desk. He looked a little flustered when he turned back, accepting the tissues from Sean once he'd finished.
It was a sign of just how far they'd come. That they could be this familiar with one another when before Spencer was always too wary to just reach out and touch when he wanted to.
They'd been out for coffee since that first time, quite a few times since then actually, and it had been good. The initial awkwardness between them had simply melted away and left them able to talk without worrying about putting each other off.
"You were supposed to take a break fifteen minutes ago," Sean said, answering Spencer's earlier question about what he was doing here. They'd arranged to meet for a quick cup of coffee before Sean had to head off for work that afternoon.
"Sorry, Morgan asked me something about this case we're working on and well, you know what I'm like when I go off on a tangent. He's probably glad for the interruption."
They both slanted their gazes towards Morgan's desk to find not only the man in question but also the rest of Spencer's co-workers trying valiantly to make it seem as if they weren't watching the pair of them.
Sean grinned. "Not very subtle for profilers, are they?"
Spencer reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind his ear, nudging at the glasses he wore today. It was a nervous gesture, but one Sean found endearing all the same.
Spencer smiled at him though and Sean knew it wasn't him he felt nervous around. "They're very interested in you."
"Not just me," Sean said. Spencer's mouth twisted in lieu of a denial and Sean had to actively tear his eyes away.
"Can you still take a break?" He asked, clearing his throat.
Spencer spared another glance at his co-workers, hesitating a moment before: "Yeah. You can buy me a coffee to make up for the one you just spilt."
"Oh sure, blame me," Sean laughed, loving the open grin Spencer shot him as he reached for his jumper. He dragged the thick, woollen material over his head, upsetting both his glasses and his hair in the process. Sean found himself smiling almost fondly at the disarray and reached out to help realign Spencer's glasses at the same time he did; their fingers tangling together on the frames as they slid them back up his nose.
He didn't know why, didn't quite understand what it was about this moment, but before Sean could spare it another thought, he was leaning in to press his mouth up against Spencer's, their lips brushing together in a kiss just chaste enough to still take their breath away.
And then reality rushed in and Sean pulled away with a jerk, untangling his fingers from Spencers with a muffled curse.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."
And Spencer's face went from dazed and confused to closed off in the space of a few seconds. Sean cursed again, wanting to reach out and cover his flaming cheeks with gentle hands, but he was suddenly very aware of where he was and who was watching them. It wasn't just Spencer's team around the bullpen, it was also- as a quick cursory look up towards his office confirmed- his brother. His rather irate looking brother.
"Can we-," he gestured towards the elevators. "I can explain. Please, Spence," he added when it didn't look as though he'd budge.
With a short, sharp nod and scarcely a look spared to those around him, Spencer grabbed up his shoulder bag and marched towards the elevators without a word.
Sean hesitated only a moment longer, caught by the shocked and angry looks Spencer's team were throwing him before he hurried to catch up with Spencer.
He waited until they were inside, until the doors had closed on them, before he turned to look at him. Spencer's fingers were clutching almost desperately at the bag in his arms, holding it as if it were a shield between them.
"Firstly, I'm not sorry for kissing you, I just want to make that part clear." Spencer looked up at him, his gaze assessing but otherwise unreadable. "I just... I am sorry I did it now. I wasn't thinking and I didn't mean to do that if front of everyone you work with."
"Then why did you?" He asked, softly.
"I wanted to." He admitted, heart pounding. "And I didn't stop long enough to think it through."
"You wanted to?" The insecurity in Spencer's voice was like a fist reaching in to squeeze at his heart.
"Yeah, Spencer I-," he shook his head. There was something there, between them, he knew. Or there could be. He thought they both wanted there to be anyway. The only problem was that Sean was leaving for New York in a few short weeks and he hadn't wanted to start something with Spencer only to have to leave him.
"How long?"
"What?"
Spencer's face was indecipherably as he clarified: "How long have you wanted to. Kiss me."
"Since the first time we had coffee," he smiled wryly. "Definitely the second time. And... every time I've seen you since."
"Why didn't you?"
Sean frowned to himself. "You know i'm leaving soon. I didn't want to do that to you."
"But you did it now."
He sighed. "Yeah."
"Would you do it again?"
"What?"
There was a certain curiosity in the way Spencer asked and Sean watched as he unclenched his fingers from his bag, letting it hang from his shoulder, though his hands immediately tangled themselves together as if for support.
"Would you kiss me again?" He asked.
And he could see where this was going. He straightened, reaching for Spencer, resting his hands gently against his shoulders. Spencer dropped his head but Sean reached out, cupping at his jaw, tilting his head back up to look at him.
"Yes," he breathed.
Spencer let his eyes flick to his mouth then back up to his eyes, his cheeks still endearingly flushed as he swallowed past his nerves and asked: "Kiss me."
So Sean did.
Their mouths met softly, cautiously; lips moving together with a nervousness Sean was sure he hadn't felt from a kiss since he'd shared his very first one way back in high school. Spencer moaned softly, his hands reaching up to tangle in the lapels of his jacket and just like that the nerves dissipated and Sean pressed in a little more, a little deeper, opening his mouth enough to lick the moan from Spencer's lips. He slid his hand from Spencer's shoulder to the back of his neck, tangling his own fingers in the soft strands of hair there, loving the way Spencer arched into him as he pulled just a little too tightly.
He wanted to lick his way into Spencer's mouth, wanted to taste him and touch him and-
The elevator came to a stop, the doors pinged open sounding like alarm gone off too early.
They pulled away with reluctance, but didn't immediately step away from one another. Sean ran his eyes over Spencer's face, his chest tightening at the dark look in his eyes, the flush staining his cheeks, the swell of his lips, reddened from Sean's own mouth. He sucked in a breath, watching as Spencer licked his lips then, sucking at the bottom a moment and leaving it wet and tempting.
Sean wanted nothing more than to lean back in, to suck his lip into his own mouth... but just as he would have, the lift began to fill and he found himself having to untangle himself from Spencer instead, leading them from the lift and out onto the main floor.
Without a word he steered them towards the barista stand, smiling softly when Spencer slipped his hand into Sean's own. He looked over, seeing the wide grin threatening to break across Spencer's face. He squeezed at his hand, offering him a smile of his own as they joined the queue and placed their orders.
They were just picking up their take-away cups when almost in unison, their phones began to ring.
Sean groaned at seeing his brother's name flashing up on his screen and looked over at Spencer in time to catch the wry look he directed towards his own phone.
"Probably just want to make sure I'm alright," Spencer offered, ignoring the call and slipping his phone into his pocket. "I should get back though."
He reached up to tug at his hair, trying to fix the loose strands behind his ear. Sean reached out with his free hand to help smooth out the parts he'd tangled his fingers through.
"Yeah, I should probably let Aaron ream me out," he jiggled his phone and as if on cue it started ringing again. He sighed. "Get it over and done with."
Spencer offered him a quick smile. He hesitated, as though he wanted to say- or do- something but wasn't quite sure. Sean stepped in a little closer, reaching to cup at his face again.
They didn't kiss again, but Sean was sure they both wanted to.
"Call me later?" Spencer asked.
Sean swiped his thumb across Spencer's bottom lip, pressing in just at the corner and feeling the smile that grew across his mouth at the gesture.
He waited until Spencer was in the lift, waited until he could see the lift stop on his floor, and then he called.
"I said later," Spencer answered with a laugh.
"This is later," Sean argued, feeling ridiculously giddy.
"You could at least have waited until after my interrogation."
"Think of this as my helping to delay the inevitable?"
"Don't you have your own interrogation to get through?"
Sean groaned. "Okay, you got me, maybe I'm just trying to prolong my own life expectancy."
He heard Spencer's huffed laugh. "I'm sure it won't be quite that bad."
"I don't know, he seems quite protective of you. Is he there?"
Spencer made a noise of affirmation. "He doesn't look happy," he agreed.
"It's me, honestly. He tried to warm me off of you before. Probably didn't help that I kissed you right in front of him."
"He was there?!" Came Spencer's high-pitched reply.
Sean found himself smothering a laugh. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't see him till I pulled away. That's sort of why I freaked out."
"Oh my god."
"Don't worry about it. Like I say, it's me."
"He's talking with Gideon," he said, sounding unhappy about that. "Why do I feel like there's going to be a lecture in my future?"
"We're not children. There definitely aren't any rules about dating the family members of the people you work with."
"Dating?"
Sean cleared his throat, "Yeah. We should, um, do dinner this week. If you like. I could cook something for you?"
"I- yes, I'd like that. Dinner sounds good."
"Good."
"Call me?"
"I've got your number." He agreed with a grin, pretty sure that Spencer was grinning down the phone at him too.
"I should go," he sighed, "my team look ready to pounce."
"Good luck."
"You too."
Sean paused a moment before offering a soft, "Bye."
"Bye." Came Spencer's equally soft return.
Except neither of them hung up and Sean started grinning again until he heard Spencer squeak, sounds of his phone being fumbled before a chorus of voices started shouting down the phone at him: 'Bye Sean!' 'I love you, Sean' and various kissing noises before Spencer's voice lifted in something that sounded vaguely akin to 'I hate you guys!' before the line went dead.
Sean laughed, pressing his phone to his lips a second before it started ringing again.
He almost expected to to be Spencer, but he wasn't that lucky.
Aaron's number flashed up on the screen instead.
Time to face the music.
fin.