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The bullpen was almost empty when he walked through the door on Monday, Spencer, of course, was not even a bit surprised by that. The fact was that last week had been unbelievably tiring, and all of them were just left with tons of paperwork to do, and almost one second after six on Friday afternoon, nearly all his colleagues had been way too ready to run away from the headquarters, and never came back.
He knew perfectly that they had more important things to invest their time that staying there on a Friday night to do extra reports, although it was not his case, of course, because he had spent all his weekend finishing the remaining paperwork. If someone asked him about it, he would say It was not a big deal. Honestly, he was in need of distractions, even if it sounded kind of depressing calling working on a Saturday, a distraction, everything was better than letting his thoughts about certain person round his mind in an infinite spiral.
He was sure letting his brain trick him in that way again, would be the end of his fragile sanity.
He sighted, dropping his messenger bag on a chair, from that place he was able to see that Hotch was already discussing something with JJ inside his office. Attentive, he observed them for some minutes trying to decipher the severity of the situation ahead of the team that week, but two seconds before he was able to arrive to a conclusion, someone surprised him with unexpected physical contact. He knew it was too late to control the jolt that went through all his body and the panic in his expression, but came back to reality almost immediately, and Penelope was in front of him, apologizing repeatedly and with a worried look showing on her soft features.
“Doesn’t matter, Garcia, I’m fine”, he tried to calm her down, but she was not convinced.
“Are you sure?”, she asked hesitantly, “I’m really sorry, boy wonder”
He looked at her briefly, and smiled, "It’s fine… how was your weekend?" he asked with the intention of letting the matter slip into the past. She relaxed and breathed deeply before smile at him, in that brief moment he had the opportunity of looking at her, there was a bag in her hands, bright silver and with the name of a popular shop in stylish black letters on it.
“I, well, we went to do a little shopping; JJ, Emily and me, you know, Henry and Will went fishing for the first time, so we take it as a girl's weekend, nothing big really...", she paused for a second, they looked at each other and he knew that probably they overpassed their budget on Saturday morning, "The point is we bought you something”, the blonde offered the package to him, and Spencer knew that saying they didn’t have to, was not going to make him any favor, but he couldn't stop himself before the words came out of his mouth.
“Thank you, but you know you don’t have to g…”
“Yes, yes, I know, pretty, and they know too! but we found this” she said putting the bag in his hands with a smile and bright eyes, "and it’s perfect for you, so just accept it as a demonstration of our love and try it on, please", he looked at her, eyes wide open.
“I'm very grateful, but... Now? Do you want me to try... this on now? Here?”, he questioned her with reluctance printed on his features, she looked at him with pleading eyes. They stayed in a silent conversation for two seconds, and when he was about to speak again, Penelope was suddenly aware it was her last chance to get things went her way, or it would turn into the first big debate of her week. She knew his lovely Spencer could be exceptionally obnoxious when he wanted too, and she was not about to find out the limits of his deliberation capacities on a Monday morning.
She smiled softly and took his hand guiding him to the male’s restroom without listening to his protests, “Here, sweetie”, she pushed him in, and closed the door, “I’ll be waiting!”, she finished, no sparing room for rebuttal.
Spencer looked at his own reflection with disbelief. Clearly, it was a one-way plan from the beginning, but he didn’t understand wherefore. “Maybe it’s a prank”, he mumbled to himself, but that idea certainly, didn’t make any sense; However, he knew that the only way to get an answer was to see what was in the bag. So, still with some doubt, he reviewed its content. He took the garment carefully, dismissing the idea that it was a joke. It looked like just a long-sleeved shirt, it was made of soft navy-blue fabric, and had a V collar with a white double line on it.
Reid held the item in front of his eyes, and noticed that it seemed too short, perhaps they had confused his size, and that was the reason Penelope had insisted that he try it on right away. A little more relaxed, he began to unbutton his shirt, and took it off, as well did with his white undershirt, folding both carefully and putting it inside the bag.
He took the new shirt, and put it on, immediately noticed that his abdomen was uncovered, although the sleeves were fine. He frowned in confusion looking in the mirror, even if the shirt adjusted to his ribs, there was the end of the fabric, leaving exposed his skin. Spencer took a moment to process how he was feeling about it, a lot of thoughts flying through and out of his mind, before heading to the door to tell Penelope that they had unquestionably mistaken his size.
But as soon as he opened the door, he noticed that she was no longer there, he looked in both directions and decided to change again, he could comment on the slip-up later; He was about to take off his new too-short shirt, when the analyst appeared at the door with Emily next to her, they both looked at him amazed, and he apprehensively tried to explain them about the situation, or, at least, the version he had made of it, on his mind.
They did not catch a word, and no opportunity for clarifications was left before they started talking. The black-haired agent made her way too him first, “My god, you look amazing, Spencer!”, she praised, Reid tried to find any sign of mockery in her voice, but she seemed totally genuine.
“T-Thank you, Emily, but I think it is too—”, and finally, Garcia reacted like a storm, she walked in his direction smiling like the Cheshire cat itself.
“Don’t dare to say something awful about yourself, you look gorgeous, sweetie! JJ has to see you”, and Spencer found that it was no way out of the situation, and that point, he was feeling frustrated, even upset, but they pushed him out of the restroom and back to the bullpen like he was some kind of doll.
While Emily disappeared to bring JJ from wherever she was, he turned to face Penelope, “Hey, I’m thankful, Garcia, but I know you mistaken my size, maybe we can go after work to change it and…”, and all of a sudden, she started laughing, cutting of his words.
Reid was losing his mind, Penelope noticed it, and change her expression to the same she would make when explaining something pretty simple to a toddler, “Oh my dear genius…" she started, with certain decadence on her voice, "Is not short, It’s a crop top! And certainly, you would get paid for modeling it"
Every rivet in his brain started turning the other way as soon as he heard it, damn it, he would be lying if he said he didn't know what a crop top was; however, that idea had been lingering in the back of his mind, almost forgettable, until that second.
Illogically enough, he wished to become invisible, because he was there, on a floor of the FBI headquarters, in the middle of his office, wearing a crop top. An internal panic apprehended him; abruptly. he was traveling away from his physical location at unbelievable speed.
Situations like his, he thought, couldn't get worse. He was mortified, and his awareness of people starting to arrive consistently to the bullpen was not helping his nerves. Just to think about what his colleagues would think when they saw him was maddening, but he couldn't help it, he couldn't move. His colleagues, his friends…
Derek.
Derek. He repeated in his mind, over again to make reality acquire some sense. But the dark-skinned man was already standing three and a half meters from him, looking astonished. That curious burning sensation crept up Reid’s neck straight to his face, chocolate eyes looking him up to down at the same time.
A usual morning at the end of spring, it was all it was, except for the fact he had woke up with the wrong feet, literally and figuratively.
Derek knew it was nobody’s fault, apart for his own, that Clooney had left one of its toys near his bed, and also it was nobody’s fault that at 4:45, that same morning, he had move out of bed just to step on it. Certainly, the absence of someone to blame had been the main reason he decided to kept going with his day after some minutes lying on the floor of his bedroom; the second reason, of course, was having no witnesses (that could talk) of his less-than-graceful stumble.
Being honest with himself, he was grateful nobody but his dog, would ever know about that ridiculous situation.
He kept going with his morning routine, with nothing out of the ordinary happening; apart from the failure of one of his private gym machines, the almost unbelievably fact he could only found one of his dumbbells —he even asked Clooney about it— and the subsequently absence of hot water on the shower.
it was not a bad day, he told himself, he was clearly not losing his mind.
Even when an hour later, the line to the counter on the coffeeshop was too long, he waited patiently, and when he bit egg shells on his triple sandwich, he just swallowed the food, and silently threw the rest of his breakfast in the trashcan on his way to the elevator.
He tasted the bitterness of his coffee, even if it was nearly as bitter as his mood at the moment and kept walking. Derek knew he was late, but he didn’t think about it as a big deal, just rolled his eyes almost hearing Hotch’s voice scolding him. He opened the glass doors to the bullpen and walked in, no pick-up line on his mind for when he encountered Garcia, a bad sign, if someone dare to ask.
He got lost in thought for a moment, that place was a reminder of his biggest distraction. Of course, he had spent most of the weekend thinking on how the kid was doing, what was he doing, he even had to stop himself before calling him to ask if he was fine, because it would be somehow creepy. That need to protect Reid was getting out of his hands, and he didn't consider it something inherently detrimental, of course, but the truth was he cared about Reid way too much. Morgan was aware that from months now, it was not just about caring, because he cared about all his friends, and did not spent hours on end thinking about them because of it.
He took a deep breath, deciding it was going to be better for his sanity just not to think about that situation now, and pulled himself back to the real world, overviewing the place, he had barely walked two steps, when the image hit him harder than the floor of his bedroom that morning. He halted right in that piece of ground, slowly processing what was going on. And found almost impossible to stop his eyes from checking Spencer out.
The young man was wearing a crop top, the dark fabric contrasting with his creamy skin, the curve of his tiny waist exposed, and a faint line making his way to his navel just inches before the dark grey trousers’ waistband started. Derek blinked, he had seen a lot of people in that piece of clothing, but he couldn’t quite believe his own eyes.
Nonetheless, when he was able to order his brain to move his feet again, Reid was still there, same outfit, but now he was blushed, his lips slightly open, and Derek knew, that the feeling that was booming in all his body, was not near to the concern for a friend, or to an unassuming attraction. He did not even know if he can put a name on it, as it just felt like a pure force dragging him directly to Spencer Reid.
Those too long fifteen seconds were enough for Penelope, she cleared her throat, bringing both her colleagues back to reality, Derek moved fast, leaving his things on his desk, turning back immediately, “is this a new style you trying, pretty boy?”, words climbed out of his mouth, gradually bringing back his confidence, “It fits you”
“Thank me first, Sugar, I gave our handsome genius this one, he looks amazing on it, doesn’t he?”, asserted García, who was next to a still unresponsive Spencer, pointing to the garment.
Morgan smiled slightly, something he didn´t consider possible a minute ago, His day had started badly, but in that moment, another thoughts were already filling his mind, “Yeah, Doll Face, he does”, he answered shortly. Of course, he believed Reid looked beautiful, and it didn’t have anything to do with that day in particular, but for God’s sake, it had been an unexpected surprise, he wondered how Spencer had get along with Garcia’s fashion choices. And that was what took him back to reality, he dared to look back and an uneasy feeling filled his chest when he glanced at Reid’s eyes, “Hey, kid, are you fine?”.
The genius took a deep breath, overthinking an answer, what was he supposed to say? Did Morgan really thought he looked something aside from ridiculous wearing a crop-top? Or were all of them just making fun of him in a sort of common way for messing with friends that he didn’t comprehend? The truth was that he was feeling exposed, enough to mumbled a merely understandable apologize before sprinting back to the restroom, where he remembered he had left his clothes.
Derek and Penelope looked at each other worried, then, without words, the agent followed the same pathway after the younger man.
"Reid! Wait!", Derek called making Spencer stop for a second, before turning nervously to face him, "Is everything alright?" the older asked again, trying to sound calm, even when his brain was turning into a mess.
Spencer gazed at him before lowering his view, "It is, I just have to change, I can't be wearing this at work, is ludicrous", he simplified, but his best friend was standing there watching him carefully, "I'm fine, Morgan, go back to the bullpen, probably Hotch is already looking for us, I'll be there on a moment", he said in a last attempted to convince the other, and failing dreadfully.
"First, kid, look at me", he demanded, keeping a gentle voice and a fake calmness, he was not even close to have. On the other hand, Reid swallowed thick before looking up, maybe he had been way too naive thinking Morgan couldn't see right through him at that point, the solely idea of it, made him want to throw up, but the other man just kept talking in a soothing tone, "Did we say something that make you uncomfortable? I'm really sorry if I did, wasn't my intention, you know that".
Spencer sighted, and nervously moved his hand to put a lock of his hair behind his ear, in the process making the crop top lift up, exposing more skin, "I told you, is okay, I just don't get why you, all of you” he corrected, “expressed all those compliments", he said, trying to avoid the main reason the situation had turned overwhelming, and kept getting more and more nerve-wrecking.
Derek gave a quick glance down, and immediately regrated his poor decision making. He convinced himself he was just being a good friend, and put his hand in Spencer's shoulder guiding him into the restroom, "We told you all those compliments, because you look good, that's all the truth, I think that by now it was clear, pretty boy", he explained, and some gloomy ideas ran thought his mind, the insecurities Reid carried prevented him for believing not only in his own physical beauty, but in his own value as a human being, he knew that by heart and that fact made him feel worst that any bad thing happening directly to his own persona.
Reid scrutinized the other’s expression for a moment, before talking again, "You call me that way sometimes, and I never ask if you meant it or If was just a game, after a while, I assumed it was just another joke", he answered quickly, adrenaline controlling his brain. Clear enough, he regretted it the second after he let it happen.
Derek stood there, his calming smile fading while he gazed into his colleague's eyes in the mirror, "I wasn’t joking about it”, he murmured, and chose his word carefully before kept talking, “You are beautiful, crop top or not, Spencer", he paused briefly just to taste the undeniable tension around them, and tried to ease it a bit, “but I wouldn’t mind if you wear it more often”.
It clearly backfired. The younger perceived the intensified physical manifestation of neurotransmitters having a party inside his brain, he felt like his own system was about to make him look like a fool if he didn´t gain back control, "T-thank you, Derek, but…", he breathed deeply, fighting his anxiety and looking for a rational answer to that comment, "I'm sure the FBI dress code forbid its agents for wearing this kind of clothes".
Morgan laughed softly, his hand sliding down from Reid's shoulder to his back, and moving away from the agent just three seconds later, "I think I understand why", he answered, clearly aware of his own embarrassing reaction just minutes before, "but maybe you should try this kind of clothes, off work, on a date or… something", he suggested, with an unusual fear of rejection well hidden in his voice.
Spencer trembled feeling Morgan's touch, and felt a mix of relieve and emptiness when he put some distance between them. He was clearly caught off ward with the last words, barely believing his senses, he was intelligent enough to understand the implication, but for a second, he wondered if he could play dumb for his own sake, but decided otherwise before turning to look directly to Morgan, "Are you asking me out?", he questioned fearing having make a fool of himself by assuming that scenario so easily.
Derek looked back at the other man, his mind going at incredible speed through all that happened to him that same morning, and how his consequential bad mood had change drastically just with Spencer’s presence. The young man was able to make even his dark days look brighter just by existing and that fact hold a meaning he was starting to accept: he was falling in love, and in that moment, there was not a single reason to deny it or back down.
"If you are comfortable with it, yes, Spencer, I'm asking you out", Morgan asserted.
Reid thoughts stopped for a second, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. he knew how attraction between humans worked, theoretically, but certainly the sensation was far from what was described in books. He felt a spark ignited where Derek's hand had touched him, sending signals to every nerve in his body, it felt right, the situation, the contact, even the crop top, "I am comfortable with it", he answered, choosing not making an explanation about what exactly he was referring to.
He was aware Derek knew exactly what he meant.