Work Text:
Reid was the first out of the SUV. He was running towards the theology department before Morgan could even close his door. The team was running behind him, trying to catch up with him through the throng of startled college students.
Students were already rushing out the back entrance when the rest of the team reached the classroom. Reid was standing between the door and the podium, gun pointed and mouth running. The unsub - Samual Lucien - had a hostage on the stage, his gun at the man's head.
Rossi recognized him as a professor that had spoken at a convention he had visited once, but the name escaped him.
"You won't accomplish anything if you hurt him," Reid said, voice pitched with nerves. "He's not your father, Samual; your father's dead." He took a step closer, slowly, so Samual didn't panic. "He can't hurt you anymore."
"No!" Samual yelled, shaking his head and jamming the gun into the professor's temple. "He- he- he won't go away! He- I just- just want to make him proud! Why can't he love me as much as he loves them?!"
"But he did love you, Samual," replied Reid, calm in a way that signaled the end. "He loved you so much, and that's why he wasn't home all the time. He wanted to make money so you could have a good childhood and an education."
Samual shook, then pushed the professor away from himself and putting the gun to his own head. Reid ushered the professor behind him gently, but the professor refused to move when Prentiss urged him. Reid was moving steadily closer, face earnest and sincere.
"He never meant to hurt you, Samual," said Reid. "He just wanted you to be happy."
Samual hesitated. "He did a bang-up job," he said, then pulled the trigger. Reid was standing close, too close, and shuddered when blood splattered his face. Samual's body thumped against the stage and silence reigned for but a moment.
And then the professor was moving forward, past Hotch and Morgan, to Reid's side. Reid was standing stalk-still, eyes never straying from the corpse. The professor touching him slowly, like one would a cornered animal. Reid looked up, eyes glassy and face smeared with red.
"Spencer..." the professor murmured (to which JJ and Prentiss shared a look), voice rumbling, shaking Reid from his stupor. He fell forward into the professor, who caught him deftly and dragged the agent away from the body.
Meanwhile Hotch burst into action, calling clear into his radio and checking the kid's pulse - which was fruitless, of course; his face was gone. Morgan approached the professor and Reid cautiously. He could hear the professor mumbling to him, but he couldn't understand what was being said.
"Agent," the professor said, voice like whiskey and stone, "could you bring the paramedics here?"
Morgan blinked. "Yeah, they're on the way." He looked passed the professor. "Hey, Pretty Boy, you okay?" Reid was gripping the professor's white dress shirt, but the color was returning to his face and his eyes were refocusing. He was processing, compartmentalizing. Locking the emotions away to sort through them in privacy.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I'm good," he assured, raising his hand to wipe his face but stopping at the professor's look. "Right, yeah, blood."
Suddenly, Morgan and the professor were being pushed out of the way by a paramedic. "I'll be right here, Spencer," the professor said, gentle and reassuring.
"Okay," Reid said. His eyes never left the hard blue of the professor's.
...
"Center for Cyber Stalking and the All-Knowing Search Engines, what can I do for you?"
"Hey Baby Girl, I need a favor," said Morgan, grinning.
"Anytime, anywhere," Garcia replied.
Morgan laughed. "I need a name. I just sent you the picture, this guy is a theology professor at Georgetown."
"One moment, my dear," she said. He could hear her typing over the line. "Okay, here he is. A one Doctor Castiel Novak. Not only does he have a very pretty name, but he has very pretty credentials. A doctorate in theology, a masters in literature, and a bachelors in entomology."
"Bugs?"
"Weird, I know. Going back, I see that he's the youngest of six, his mother died during childbirth, and whoa baby, his dad was arrested for eight charges of child abuse in 1982. The oldest - Michael Novak - raised them after that."
"That's a recipe for an unsub. Look at his phone and bank records."
"Already got it. There are a lot of calls to our boy genius - is that why you're asking about this guy?"
"Yeah. I think they might have something going on."
"And he didn't tell us? Junior G-Man and I will be having words when he gets back. Anyway, there's a few more calls to a Dean Winchester and one to a Charlie Bradbury. There's a text from his brother Gabriel that wasn't answered.
"As for his bank records, after work everyday he stops at a bookstore and purchases one book. Once a week, he goes out to eat and it looks like he's paying for two people, most of the time." There was a squeal. "They have date night! Oh my god, that's adorable."
"His record's clean?"
"Squeaky."
"Thanks Mama. We'll be back soon."
"Send my baby back to my lair for me."
...
JJ bit her lip as she watched the professor - Morgan said his name was Castiel Novak - dote over Reid, who was smiling at him with gooey eyes. Prentiss stood next to her, brows raised.
"Since when does Reid have a boyfriend?" she asked.
"Since when does he have a thing for men ten years older than him?" JJ countered.
"Since when do we snoop through our team's lives?" Hotch intoned from behind them.
JJ and Prentiss turned to Hotch sheepishly. "Wait," said JJ, "why are you smiling?"
"Did you know about this?" Prentiss asked shrilly.
Hotch raised an eyebrow. "Not that it's any of your business," he said, "but Reid approached me a year ago for an address change."
A squeal came from JJ's earpiece. "They live together?! Oh my god!"
"Ow, Garcia, calm down," JJ complained.
Prentiss elbowed them both and motioned to the ambulance where Reid was sitting. He was hooking his fingers through Castiel's belt loops to drag him in and press a chaste kiss to his lips. Castiel said something and pressed into another, longer kiss that had Reid's fingers curling in the man's trench coat.
"Adorable," Rossi said dryly from beside Hotch.
...
"I have to get back to work, Cas, at least for a little while."
Castiel sighed and kissed Reid's temple. "You should be resting."
Reid laughed. "Me? You're the one who just had a gun pointed at him."
"But you are the one who watched Samual kill himself," said Castiel, eyes sad. "Come home soon, please. I'll make tea."
Reid hopped off the ambulance. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Be sure that you don't," Castiel said, pulling Reid into one last kiss before sending him away.
...
Garcia stood outside of Reid's new address, glaring at the door. She stomped up the walkway and rang the doorbell with as much strength as she could manage. There was silence for about twenty seconds before the door opened to reveal Castiel Novak in sweatpants and a Yale shirt.
"Can I help you?" he asked. His head was titled slightly to the right, blue eyes wide. He was handsome, if she was honest with herself.
"Where's Baby Genius?" she demanded, pushing passed the man and storming in.
Castiel looked after her with confusion. "You mean Spencer?"
Thumping came from the stairs and then Reid was rounding the corner, asking, "Cas? Who's at the door?"
Garcia couldn't help but stare. Reid was standing in a shirt that was clearly not his own with his hair tied up behind him. "Dear god," she murmured, "you are adorable."
"Um," said Reid.
Castiel walked closer to Reid, kissed the side of his head, and pulled the hair tie out. "I'll be in the kitchen."
"Why didn't you tell us you had a boyfriend?" Garcia cried, throwing her arms around Reid. "Why on earth would you keep it a secret?"
Reid carefully extracted himself from her arms and led the way to the couch. "I didn't keep it a secret as much as I never brought it up."
Garcia huffed. "That's no excuse!"
"Well," Reid said, "none of you ever noticed."
She scowled, then sighed. "When can we meet him? Like, really meet him? I want to make sure he's perfect for my little cream puff."
"All right," Reid laughed. "Cas?" he called.
A head of black hair popped out of the kitchen. "Yes?"
"How do you feel about a Christmas party here instead of Dean's?"
Dark eyebrows met dark hair. "Am I finally going to meet this team of yours?" he asked.
"That's a yes," Reid chuckled. Garcia had never seen him so content.
...
"Do you think Dean and Morgan will get into a fight?"
Castiel smirked and wrapped Reid up in his arms. "I don't know, Spence; I've never met Morgan. Or should I call him Derek?"
Reid screwed his face up. "I have no idea."
A knock sounded at the door. Reid wrung his hands. "I'll get it, sweetheart," Castiel said, kissing Reid gently. "Go get some coffee and calm down."
"Lovely idea," he said, and then he was gone.
A woman was standing behind the door, dark hair curled and red dress classy. She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You're not Reid."
"I'm not," Castiel agreed. "Castiel Novak, Spencer's other half." He waved.
"Absolutely," she said. "Emily Prentiss."
...
The next to arrive was Dean, who immediately gravitated towards Prentiss. He was turning on his charm when Reid drifted in, hugging Prentiss then turning on Dean. "Please don't alienate my friends before you get drunk."
"I don't-"
"Dean." Castiel was standing next to Reid now, face blank. He handed Dean a beer as Reid fished his keys from his pocket. "You can have those back in the morning."
Dean glared. "You suck."
"I do," said Castiel before he swept away to answer the door. Reid turned red and Prentiss doubled over in laughter.
...
The last people to arrive were Sam and Jess, with the excuse of leaving the stove on and having to turn around at the halfway point to turn it off. Rossi, in response, said, "You would think he had a brain to match his size." Sam bitch-faced while the entirety of the group laughed.
Reid was pleased to see that Morgan and Dean did not, in fact, start a fight, but instead arm wrestled then bragged about their exploits with women and building things. Prentiss watched on in a mixture of disgust and amusement.
Hotch and Bobby got along well, which Reid was ecstatic about. Both of his father figures were in the same room and being amiable; it was more than he could ever ask for. He told Castiel this, to which he replied: "Heaven and Hell would get along for your sake," and kissed him soundly.
Garcia got a picture.
Charlie was right behind her, grinning widely in her Christmas Spock sweater and antlers. She demanded a copy of the photo, then promptly pulled her own camera and dropped a Santa hat on Castiel. She declared it screensaver-worthy and dashed off to harass a now more-than-tipsy Dean.
Rossi was drifting between Ellen and Bobby, cradling an eggnog and scotch mixture and yearning for a cigar. His Italian jokes were a hit with Jo, who then declared herself an Italian-in-training and promised to watch The Godfather the next day.
JJ and Will were huddled with the Jack, Henry, and Kevin (who could drink, but chose not to). Jo migrated over when she realized there were small children to mother-hen, and she sat with JJ and cooed over Henry (and his godfather) while Will and Kevin discussed law enforcement - Kevin had a few choice words when Crowley wandered by.
Prentiss noticed, half way through the party, that none of Castiel's siblings had shown up.
When asked about it, Castiel said, "I invite them, but they don't reply," and left it at that. Reid shrugged and took another picture to send to his mom.
As midnight was drawing near and the kids were put to bed, Dean really-very-drunk-but-denying-it Winchester stood up and made a toast.
"Man, Cas and Tiny over there have been together for what? Three years? And never once have I met any of Mini-Sammy's friends." He stopped to belch. "But! But, but I like them, now that I know them. Especially the feisty one." He winked sloppily at Prentiss and (though he would deny it) wobbled on the table he was standing on. "Anyways, I jus' want to say that Spencey's friends are cool, like really cool, and I can totally beat Der-Bear in a fight."
Reid blinked. "Is that Sexually Repressed Dean talking," he whispered to Castiel, "or Super Hammered Dean?"
"It's hard to say," Castiel replied.
"I say," Crowley said from behind them, "that we lock them in a room together and come back in the morning to see what happened."
Reid's scientist brain started whirling and Castiel could see it. He sighed. "Okay," he said loudly, "I think it's time for this party to end." Charlie and Garcia began to argue, but then they saw the amount of eggnog and rum shots they had taken and decided to split a cab. Morgan volunteered to come with them for protection and Charlie punched his arm in a demonstration of how much protecting she didn't need.
"You can get your cars in the morning," Reid added, already setting up the couch for Dean (who was, at this point, swaying dangerously to the left).
It was another half an hour before everyone had gone home - Sam had to drag Kevin from the living room and drive him home. Reid stumbled up the stairs with Castiel in tow and changed into his pajamas just before he faceplanted in the bed. Castiel rearranged him and lied down behind him.
"Love you," he mumbled into Reid's neck, before kissing the skin there softly.
Reid groaned. "Now's not the time to get randy, Cas," he muttered, then gasped when Castiel wedged a hand into his pants. "Ugh, god, okay," he panted, "you win."
Castiel grinned. "I've won every day for three and a half years," he crooned.
"You sap," laughed Reid. "Lo-ove you," he whimpered, breath hitching in his throat.
Downstairs, Dean scratched his armpit, grunted, then rolled over on the couch.