Chapter Text
Reid glanced at his wristwatch.
What?
He glanced again, and then tried the clock hung to the wall of the bullpen opposite to him, too. You know, to be sure.
6:32 pm. Six. Thirty-two.
He glanced at the pile of reports heaped up on his desk, for a change. He mentally counted how many folders were left...seven. Ok, not too bad after all. He could be done in approximately 16 minutes.
And, yes, his teammates were all still there; but Morgan was skimming through his third to last folder, while Prentiss had long finished and was absorbed in typing something on her computer.
So, how the hell was it possible that Spencer Reid of all people, was so far behind with the paperwork? It wasn't simply "unusual": it never happened that he'd have to stay longer than his teammates to finish - save from when he brought himself ahead with work for the next day, or when he entered in that sort of trance digging through old files. Or-
"Stare a lil harder, why don't ya?"
He eyed up at Morgan, leaning on the edge of his desk with that charming confidence oozing out of every pore of his being. When had the man got there? And when exactly had Reid started staring at Prentiss like that? And, last but not least, when the hell had it become so hot all of a sudden?
"What?"
Morgan chuckled. For Christ's sake the man only chuckled and Reid's insides were scalding at the rate of a kettle on the stove.
"You're staring at Prentiss like the woman fell from heaven. Don't get me wrong, she is quite the view..."
Ouch. That stung. Wasn't I your Pretty Boy?
"Yes, I'm staring at her because I have reason to believe she slipped at least three of her files in my pile, and now she's minding her own business with all the non-chalance on the planet."
That must've come off more harshly than he'd planned, because Derek dropped the cheeky attitude in a bat of lashes.
He sucked his teeth. "Uh, yeah. She does that a lot." Morgan said apologetically - though it's not like he had to apologize. Unless...
"What?" he then asked after a lull, in response to Reid's knowing gaze.
"Nuh-uh, you know I don't do that anymore!" he added with his arms raised defensively - you know, like a liar.
Reid snorted, barely audible. "Whatever. Now, if you'll let me finish..." as in: I don't know if you noticed, Derek Morgan, but you're quite the distraction.
Spencer dropped his gaze to get back to the task at hand, and immediately heard a deep sigh coming from the man above him.
"C'mon kid. Lemme help you with some of these so I can get you home before you lose your shit and snap at Prentiss, or me."
Derek's hand prodded within Spencer's line of sight, grabbing three folders from atop the stack.
He would've retorted - because it didn't make sense, I'll probably just finish with my share of files before you and I'll end up having to wait - but Morgan said that he'll get him home. He said it, not asked it. So Reid's brain effort had understandably shifted to that part of his colleague's phrase rather than the one he'd planned on countering to.
He followed the other's broad figure with his eyes before ducking his head once again to divert his attention from the later coming 20 minutes circa of sitting in Derek Morgan's car.
As previously forecast, Reid ended up finishing with his stack of paperwork by the time Morgan had just opened his last folder.
Of course, he was definitely NOT gonna point it out to Derek, so he had to find himself something to do.
He quickly figured staring wasn't a good idea when the eyes of the man object of said staring shot up to glimpse at him, catching him looking a little too intently at his biceps when he wrote, or leaned back in his seat to lazily scratch the back of his neck, or stretched an arm out to reach some pen.
Spencer averted his gaze almost as quickly as an unstoppable flush stained the base of his throat and the shells of his ears - he could only thank Garcia for having suggested a couple of times to button up his shirt more neatly and to not cut his mid-neck length curls.
To be honest, Reid didn't even know he was one to blush easily before Derek Morgan. He also didn't know whether he didn't know that because he'd never actually blushed before Morgan popped into his life, or simply because no one had ever pointed it out to him - which, instead, seemed to be his female teammates' favorite pass-time. All in all, there were a lot of things One-eighty-seven didn't know. Especially when it came to a certain Derek Morgan.
Anyway, Reid supposed he'd never actually blushed THAT much before because, even being obviously unable to see himself when that happened, he could tangibly feel his face burning up like when you sunbathe for 5 hours straight - not that he'd know what that feels like. It's just one of those things he'd heard people say to be more "conversational", as he liked to put it. At times he wondered whether if someone pressed a finger pad to his flushed cheeks it would leave behind that stark-white print for a few seconds, typical of sunburns. Oh, Emily would LOVE to try that, wouldn't she.
"Hey, Reid"
...
"Reid?"
...
"Pretty boooyy" Morgan's sing-songy voice and a finger bumping playfully on the tip of his nose managed to awaken Reid.
He shook his head and looked up at his colleague, once again leaning on his desk and absent-mindedly rummaging through the array of various pens and pencils and markers in one of the many mugs the genius had appointed as pen holders years ago; as though having the permit to consider everything that was Reid's also his own - it was equally annoying and...something else, which Spencer couldn't quite define but was at least loud enough to balance out the annoying part.
That genuine smile of Derek's reached Spencer's sight, blinding to the point of almost searing his tired corneas.
"Mm?" he mumbled. Much to his relief - really, though? - Derek was now wearing a hoodie AND his beloved leather jacket. No risk in getting caught staring at his biceps anymore.
Morgan chuckled - again, Lord help me.
"I'm done with the reports. You good to go?"
Reid's brows shot up as he shook his head vehemently - he must have been quite the show. "Oh, yeah! Sorry- I got distracted..."
"Yeah, I noticed. C'mon." the other man replied, standing to his feet and nodding his head in the direction of the sliding doors.
Spencer stood up as well like a puppy following orders, nearly knocking off the computer keyboard while grabbing his satchel from the desk. Luckily enough, if Derek noticed he didn't mention it.
Reid made an almost visible effort to put a halt to his upcoming eye-roll, when the two of them had to stop in their tracks right under the porch of the building to figure out how to get to the car without wetting themselves head-to-toe from the pouring storm that had burst in the exact second they'd stepped out of the elevator.
The last thing he needed was to walk a hundred feet sheltered by the only umbrella they had, side-by-side with arguably the most handsome man who had ever cared to address him in his life. Aka his best friend. Co-worker, whatever.
It's not like he had any choice, though. He took the mini-umbrella out of his satchel and watched the surprised AND grateful expression form on Morgan's face.
"You really are the one always saving the day, aren't you?"
Spencer nodded, biting back a smile. "I guess I am."
For some reason - certainly not one that could be supported by thermodynamics laws - Reid didn't feel cold at all throughout the whole 100 ft walk toward Morgan's car, despite the prickling cool wind blowing right in their faces.
He refrained from letting his brain unrequestedly form an answer of its own to that - because the answer would've been either the matter-of-fact option A) Derek Morgan radiated warmth like a flat out heater; or the dreadful B) the mere proximity with Derek Morgan sparked up an all-encompassing heat through Spencer's body. Or a well measured combination of both instances.
Morgan on the other hand, was in fact shivering, and the genius found himself amusedly thinking that the man must've been quite the dummy to assume Reid wouldn't notice it underneath that cloak of tough-guy-ness of his.
Spencer pushed aside the urge to wrap an arm around his shoulders; because for starters that'd be inappropriate, and secondly his skinny limb wouldn't make the guy any warmer. As simple as that.
He led Morgan to the driver's side of the car and then jogged his way around to get in the passenger's seat.
"My hair's dripping anyway..." he mumbled once they were both safely inside, after having taken a quick look at his soaked self.
Morgan glanced at him with a look in his eyes the genius couldn't place - a little too fond, if he really had to find a word for it; however assigning a specific term to said look seemed to do nothing to justify the unexpected nature of it.
"Better than nothing." he then merely said, shrugging as he started the car.
Spencer would've assumed - because it seemed obvious - that Derek was referring to the fact that even so much as his mini-umbrella had done something to repair them from the rain; but that damn look deep in the man's eyes blazing through the genius' skull almost suggested some additional, unspoken meaning - it didn't seem accurate to assume he meant only that right off the bat.
Not that he could've named what that other thing was, anyway.
It was only after 10 minutes of quiet car ride that a simple, almost routine lift to his place slowly morphed into something a bit less routine; another situation Reid did definitely not need that night - the first one being their previous striding trip to the car; helpless prey to the unforgiving rain.
Derek's phone started buzzing. Spencer's pupils traced apprehensively between the driving man's face and his pocket, back and forth.
Morgan sighed and distractedly slid it out of his cargos with the hand that wasn't on the steering wheel - Reid somehow managed to find a crumb of comfort in the fact that at least Derek didn't avert his gaze from the road to check the screen, picking up without bothering about who was calling.
"M- Morgan?? You're driving AND it's raining what the-"
"Morgan." the man answered the phone, blatantly ignoring his passenger's worry; and it was only because Reid was a polite man - and a man concerned about his life if he'd distracted Derek further - that he didn't try to cut him off with statistics about car accidents due to talking on the phone.
"Mrs Brooks! Yeah, I was- I was about to call you, I'll be home in... half an hour or so to pick up Cloon-"
"...What??"
"Since when?"
"But- are you alright? Is there anything I can do or-?"
"You think? You really don't have to do that, I already owe you a million favors come on-"
"You sure?"
" 'Kay then... keep me posted. And please, call me if you need anything at all."
"Thank you again Mrs Brooks, see you later then."
Spencer carefully listened to the conversation with a frown pasted on his face, trying to read his colleague's expressive features - eavesdropping Mrs Brooks' part of their exchange wasn't an option, considering that the rain outside was noisy enough to render inaudible even the sound of his own thinking.
"...what was that about? Isn't Mrs Brooks your-"
"Neighbor. Yeah. She's the lady who keeps Clooney when I'm away." the other man finished Reid's phrase with a deep sigh.
"...and? Has something happened to her?"
Derek stopped the car at a red light and turned his head toward him with eyes full of something akin to apology.
"No, not to her-"
"To- to Clooney then?? You can just drop me off here really, if- if something-"
"No, kid, nothing like that." the corner of Derek's mouth quirked up in a reassuring smirk. "There's a blackout in my whole neighborhood. Damn thunderstorm."
"Oh. Well, that's not good still."
"Nope." Morgan agreed, popping the 'p' of the word as the streetlight went green again.
The minute-long silence of the two men was filled by the drumming sound of water against the car body and windshield.
Spencer raised his gaze after he'd given quick thought to something. "But it must be... 50 degrees outside, you're gonna freeze at your house without heat."
Morgan grazed his upper teeth on his bottom lip, nodding but still seemingly unable to tear away that apologetic look ever-so-slightly veiling his godly features. "Yep."
Another thought flashed into the genius' mind, almost as if one of the lightnings from outside had poked through the roof of the car and branded it onto the forefront of his brain; and he had to let it out before the boldness to voice it could leak out of him.
"What do you say if uh...if you stay at my place until the light is back?" Reid asked; a hint of unbidden hope warping his otherwise kind tone.
All things considered, one could argue that Spencer was purposely shoving himself in that not-exactly-routine situation. Though he wasn't sure if blaming or thanking himself.
His mind started to hastily race through each and every possible one of Morgan's answers to his question, and - ever the self-conscious guy - Reid couldn't find ONE that would imply the man's enjoyment in coming up to his apartment: even if he said yes, the treacherous bug constantly lurking inside Spencer's brain would undoubtedly file the apparent consent under the "times Derek Morgan agreed to do something with you out of courtesy or pity or most likely mockery" folder.
Of course he doesn't want to; the man has already spent the entirety of a 8-hour work day around you, he even bothered to give you a ride; how did it cross your mind to ask him to spend yet another hour if not more with you? Plus, your place is such a mess he probably would rather go back to his big, neat house at the cost of freezing his ass; I don't know on the base of what exactly you think he'll accept; you must have quite the nerve to ask him yet another favor-
Morgan's full-on, relieved smile met Reid's eyes. "Oh thank God you got the hint, pretty boy. Would've been hella embarrassing to ask explicitly."
...Oh.