Work Text:
Spencer hummed to himself as he watered the flowers in his apartment. Somehow the African Violets dominoed into many other house plants, mainly just greenery rather than flowers, but Spencer’s apartment felt more alive with it all. And he was taking good care of them!
Sure, sometimes the dirt was too gross and refused to touch it when he was having a bad sensory day, but he was proud of himself for not giving up. Today, he did end up having to touch the soil to make sure it had enough moisture to last for the day and that’s how he figured out it was a weird texture day. Not a bad one, just a weird one.
And somehow weird was worse?
Getting to work was a bit more difficult than expected, because it didn’t stop at texture. It ventured to all of his senses, hearing, sight, taste. The shops on his walk were too loud, but headphones sat weirdly and he didn’t prefer wearing them if he didn’t have to. The scent of street vendors mixed with the natural odor of ‘city’ in general made Spencer plug his nose, but he wasn’t nauseous. Being bumped into made him tingle, but it didn’t cause him to have to stop, lean against a wall, and count to 30 before continuing.
As he made it into work, he was thankful for the break in the elevator as he rode up alone, the ding of the door rang in his ear as he reached his floor, but thankfully the ring faded as he walked into the bullpen. It was mostly quiet, since he was one of the few people in, but he noticed Aaron in his office, working away.
He walked into the break room, making himself a sugary coffee, he found himself also making Aaron one (with less sugar and cream of course). Quickly, and quietly, he made his way at Aaron’s door, knocking softly, but enough to get his boss’s attention.
“Reid, c’mon in. You’re here early,” Aaron said, barely glancing up.
“I get here at the same time every day,” Spencer said, a little softer than his usual tone. He set Aaron’s cup down, careful not to clank it against the wood.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to make me a cup,” Aaron said, his tone significantly dropping as well, like he knew.
“I saw you were in here,” Spencer shrugged, taking a sip of his own.
Aaron glanced the genius up and down, the wheels turning in his head. “Bad sensory day?” He asked, and Spencer shrugged, sitting down. Aaron carefully closed the file and set his pen down.
“It’s less bad and more… weird?” Spencer explained. “Like, I don’t wanna pull my hair out when something doesn’t have the right texture, but it breaks my skin out into goosebumps and I know I’ll do anything to let it go. Or some noises ring in my head but it’s not giving me a headache. The lights, they’re bright and it’s slightly annoying, but I don’t want to hide away in the darkness and never see the light of day again, like I would on bad days. It’s not bad. It’s just… annoying.”
“How much work do you have today?” Aaron asked.
“The rest of my files from our last case, some new paperwork from Jones, Derek and Emily traded some of their files to me in exchange for them to bring me my favorite donut and buy me lunch today and tomorrow,” Spencer said, and Aaron cracked a smile. “And a couple other odds and ends, why?”
“I was gonna offer if you wanted to work here, on that couch,” Aaron said. “I’ve got both lamps, so we can turn off that top light if it’s too much, and I know the bullpen can get rowdy. I’ve got meetings but they’re all in different rooms.”
“I don’t want to impose-“ Spencer started to decline.
“Don’t worry about imposing, just be comfortable,” Aaron insisted and that pretty much ended that debate.
The rest of the day, Spencer worked, almost dead silent, in Aaron’s office on the couch. The lighting dimmed, Spencer ended up taking his sweater vest and shoes off, (Aaron insisted it was fine when he saw Spencer messing with them) and no one really questioned it when they saw Spencer flinch and squint at the light when the door opened as Derek came to give him the donut.
By the end of the day, Spencer had finished all of his work of the day, and even some for the next, and ended up doing some reading and studying for a class he was taking (for fun) at a community college in town while Aaron did his own work and went to his meetings.
Somehow it felt… good for Spencer. Being in the room was nice. Everything around, despite being a government office, had a little touch of Aaron to it. While Aaron put on the show of a neat-freak, Spencer could tell there was some… hardly even untidiness, just some humanity in the room. The name tag wasn’t completely straight, the lamp twisted a specific way, some books pulled out more and others pushed in.
Spencer felt comfortable.
It kinda sucked he’d be out in the bullpen tomorrow, but he didn’t think of that as he slipped his shoes back on, stacking some files to return to his desk. He looked up at Aaron, who was still scribbling away.
“What’d you want for dinner?” Spencer asked, blinking slowly as he waited for Aaron’s response.
Aaron glanced up at him. “I was… I was just gonna eat leftovers when I get home.”
“Nonsense, what’d you want? On me,” Spencer insisted.
“Spencer-“ Aaron said, falling out of the ‘Hotch’ mask, “You don’t have to buy me dinner.”
“Good thing I want to,” Spencer insisted. “C’mon, you made today comfortable and easy. What would you like?”
“There’s that new Asian Buffet that opened,” Aaron reluctantly mumbled, checking his watch. “It’s open for another 2 and a half hours.”
“Better start packing up, then,” Spencer smiled, and Aaron returned it with a shy glance.
“Guess so,” He agreed, signing a file before closing it.
-7-
Dinner was nice, Aaron was soft spoken and Spencer felt relaxed. The food was delicious, and definitely something Spencer wanted to return to, but now they’re driving home. Aaron dropped him off at his apartment, walking up the stairs with him.
“Come in for a second,” Spencer insisted, unlocking and opening his door. Aaron silently followed him in, smiling seeing all the greenery.
Spencer grabbed a small echeveria handing it off to Aaron. “Jack told me he really liked succulents,” Spencer said, shyly, and the chief smiled warmly as he chuckled.
“He’ll love it,” Aaron said softly, and Spencer nodded slowly, with a timid proud smile.
“Thank you, by the way. For the office space,” Spencer said softly.
“Of course. My door’s open whenever you need it,” Aaron promised. “And if it ever gets too bad, just let me know, and I’ll bring you home.”
“I wouldn’t- I haven’t ask before-“ Spencer started.
“Even though you should’ve,” Aaron cut him off. “You can’t do your best work unfocused, Spencer. And we all know how you feel when you can’t put 100 in, it’s okay to need breaks.”
Spencer smiled, nodding slowly in agreement. “I’ll keep that in mind,” He promised.
“Good,” Aaron nodded.
There was an odd stall of silence, neither moving from the semi-comfortable area they’ve placed themselves, but within a minute Spencer found himself engulfed in Aaron’s arms. Somehow, his brain short circuited as he doesn’t quite remember who initiated it, but it was warm. Spencer, for once, felt completely safe with someone’s arms around him, and due to Aaron having an inch or two on him, he was able to rest comfortably against him for a moment before they pulled apart.
“Goodnight, Spencer,” Aaron whispered.
“Goodnight, Aaron,” Spencer whispered, then silently watched Aaron leave his apartment. He lingered in the place where he stood, and he slowly started smiling to himself as he pushed himself, almost giddily, to go into his room to get ready for bed.
Surprisingly, today was easy.