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Derek couldn't sleep - a reoccurring issue that he should probably deal with - and decided to go for a late night jog. Usually in these situations he'd call Garcia and chat until they were sick of the others voice but he knew he'd already abused that privilege enough this week. Besides, the night was lovely. He could see the moon and as much of the stars as the light pollution would allow. That was the long way to say that Derek Morgan was an idiot.
Because that's how Derek finds himself cornered in some gross alleyway with two guys pointing knives at him. He was cursing every inch of his tired brain right now. How did he even get to this part of town? Why didn't he just stick to his normal route? Instead, he decided to jog aimlessly until these clowns could grab him while he took a break to catch his breath. He didn't bother bringing anything other than his keys so he couldn't even give these losers petty cash to leave him alone. If it were just one guy with a knife this would have been easy but two is risky, especially with no phone to call for help. Nope, he had to talk his way through this one.
"Listen," Derek started, sounding way more annoyed than scared, "you really don't have to do this."
"Shut up!" Loser one hollered out.
He then continued to shout cliché robbery things about 'getting on the ground' and 'handing over money' but Derek couldn't hear it over the sound of his own exasperation. Before there was any time to try Talk-down-method-number-2, an unfamiliar twhiping sound filled the cramped space and both muggers hit the floor.
The shock didn't last long when Derek noticed what was keeping the men on the ground. Oh great, he thought, this is just perfect.
"Hey! Sir? You alright over there?"
"Yup." Derek answered, not bothering to look up. He knew who it was, he'd heard about him all over the news. The goddamned spider webs told him who it was.
The newest participant in Dereks awful evening was approaching quickly,"Hey, are you alright? Did you need me to call anyone? Are you hurt?"
"No thanks," Derek replied curtly, "that'll be all."
"You're probably in shock right now. This is a lot to process. Did you want me to-" Spider-Man quickly cut himself off when Derek finally met his eye.
"Listen pal, this is embarrassing enough as is, I don't need you offering to hold my hand too. I had that completely under control before you jumped in here! Now I'm sure you mean well dancing around in spandex and trying to help people but vigilantism is a crime. Do you hear me? You could have gotten all of us hurt! I'll let you walk away right now and we can both forget about this but you best believe that next time I see you I'll be bringing you in."
Spider-Man nodded very quickly before turning and running back down the alleyway into the street. Guys got a silly stride, Derek thought. He didn't even know he had such strong feelings towards the vigilante, the words just started pouring out. He wasn't even sure he meant any of it. Either way, he was now - finally - tired.
So Derek walked home where he promptly fell asleep. Hopefully someone would find the muggers in the alley. He really didn't want to think about it.
~*~*~*~*
A few days went by and the BAU finally got a case that could put this whole Spider-Man thing out of Dereks mind. He hadn't told any of the team about it, he knew they would have a lot of things to say and he didn't feel like talking. Besides, the whole thing really was embarrassing. This case they were on needed a lot of his attention so he gladly let it go for now.
It was a local case. The Unsub was kidnapping young women, keeping them for days at a time and then making it appear as though they've committed suicide. The only problem was that this particular Unsub was way more unstable than they originally thought. One bad media coverage and this guy was kidnapping women at a frenzy and instead of killing them before getting a new victim he was keeping at least seven somewhere. They caught a break in the case when Garcia found security footage from their latest victim and traced the car he used.
"Alright Garcia, I'm going to need you to pull everything you can to find out where his car might be. We know he's still hunting so it has to be out on the street." Hotch said into the phone.
"We know he's agitated and scared so he'll most likely stick to his comfort zone." Reid added,"It might help if you narrow it down to the east end."
"Got it!" Garcia chirped,"He got a parking ticket not too long ago and security footage nearby confirms that he's still parked there. Sending the coordinates now."
"Thanks Garcia. Let's go." Hotch hung up and the rest of the team followed him out to the SUVs.
When the team got there it was clear that this wasn't going to be easy. The Unsub was on the roof of a building with a gun pointed at the new hostage wrapped in his arms.
"He must've seen us coming. He's panicking," stated Hotch, "Rossi, Prentiss you're with me. We need to try and talk him down and get him to surrender. Morgan, call Garcia again. See if there's anything she can find out about where those women might be held."
Garcia couldn't find anything on him. His address was a one bedroom apartment that clearly couldn't fit seven women and there were no bank statements or secret bank accounts that could hint at another location. Even with Derek, JJ and Reid giving suggestions with things to look into next, they were coming up empty. Looking back uptown the roof of the building and it was clear the rest of the team weren't making any progress either. They weren't going to win this one, Derek could feel it.
"I need to go," Muttered Reid after a few beats of silence, "I can't watch this."
Derek and JJ nodded sadly before turning their attention back to the Unsub. Neither of them blamed Reid, this wasn't going to be pretty.
It was no surprise when the Unsub wrapped his arms around the hostage and leaped backwards off the building but it didn't stop the shout that tore from Dereks throat. This was it, there was nothing to be done. There was no way that either of them would survive a fall from that height.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. Especially not when he noticed a figure dressed in red swinging in to save the day a few floors before they would have hit the ground. In one quick motion Spider-Man grabbed both the hostage and the Unsub in his free arm and gently lowered them to the cement. The Unsub was in such a state of shock that once his feet touched the ground he released the woman and the vigilante was able to web his hands together without a struggle.
It took everyone a moment to figure out what had happened but Spider-Man didn't give the team time to come to their senses and just started to flee. Derek was the first to snap out of it, shouting at JJ to grab the Unsub and find Reid all while he was gunning it after the vigilante. It didn't matter though, he vanished without a trace and Derek couldn't help but be pissed off at the fact that he got away. Deep down he was slightly grateful that he was able to save that woman's life but that didn't stop the dread creeping in that told him that Strauss would have their heads for letting a well known vigilante get away.
They found the women still alive and relatively ok with the help of the still alive Unsub, something that Derek wasn't expecting to happen but still relieved to see. He was headed back home with Prentiss and Hotch and it seemed like everyone didn't want to talk about the same thing. Spider-Man saved their case and no one knew what to do about it. They spoke about everything but the last few hours and Derek could practically feel the elephant in the car the entire ride home.
~*~*~*~*
It's been about a month since the incident and Strauss was finally off everyones backs about "allowing a vigilante to undermine the BAU". Derek couldn't stop thinking about it though. Why did Spider-Man run immediately after? Did he spot Derek and remember his threat? And how did he know to tie together the Unsub's hands? Was he watching the scene? Does he follow open police cases? Derek couldn't sleep again but now the reasons were all spider related. It was driving him insane.
There seemed to be an increase of away cases since then and Derek officially didn't have anything to eat at his place anymore because of it. He promises himself that he'll get real food tomorrow and heads out to a corner store to grab instant noodles for a quick dinner. Just as he was about to pay, a hesitant shout burst from the man behind him.
"Put your hands up!" The guy says, looking like he really doesn't mean it. He's got a gun in a shaky hand and what appears to be a pillowcase in the other. Dereks witnessing someones first attempt at a robbery and it's really sad. The guy doesn't even have anything covering his face! Anyone could tell the police what he looked like. Derek starts to laugh more than he means too and it clearly upsets the thief. It doesn't matter though, gun or no gun Derek was completely confident that he could take this guy down.
But just like before, a twhip sound filled the store and the almost-criminal was on the ground. Spider-Man was standing in the doorway and stared at Derek for a moment too long before heading over to the cashier.
"Are you alright, ma'am? Did you get hurt?" He questioned politely, sounding genuinely worried.
That made Derek think for a second. That's the same tone that he used on him the night he was almost mugged. Derek realized earlier that he wasn't really the nicest when the man first tried to help but now hearing the sincerity in his voice again, he feels like a real ass for how he treated the man that night.
"Hey, Spider-Man, I think we need to talk." Derek said, trying to sound apologetic.
"In a moment." The other man didn't even turn to look at Derek when he spoke, he just kept focusing on the cashier in front of him even after her repeated thanks and assurance that she was fine.
"Hey, come on now. I owe you an apology. I wasn't the nicest the first time we spoke." Derek tried again. This time the vigilante did peer over his shoulder slightly.
"So you aren't going to arrest me?" He questioned.
"No, not yet at least." The attempt at a joke didn't land and Spider-Man nodded and headed out the door.
"Wait!" Derek shouted as he followed him out, determined not to lose him this time.
He chased and cornered the man into an alleyway behind the store. Both of them knew that if he really wanted to Spider-Man could get out of this. But instead he turned around so they faced each other.
"You've saved my life twice now, and you helped catch a criminal for the FBI. Let me thank you." Derek could tell that the man in front of him was hesitant, even without seeing his face. "Please? Let me at least buy you dinner."
Derek wasn't sure where this sudden gratitude was coming from - he was still technically a criminal - but he meant what he said. Spider-Man did help him out, even if he thought he could handle it himself.
"Fine." Spider-Man said, still sounding unsure, "There's a great Chinese food place a block from here. I'll wait."
Derek wanted to laugh at how demanding the other was all of a sudden but he didn't. Instead he flashed a friendly smile and made his way towards the Chinese food place.
When he returned, Spider-Man was still where Derek left him except he was sitting on the ground.
"Here you go." Derek said as he dropped the food into the other mans lap. "Thank you, seriously." He wasn't quite sure where to go from here. Even with the mask on the vigilante looked surprised that Derek actually bought him food. So, he just nodded in acknowledgement and turned to leave the man to his takeout.
"Wait," Spider-Man called after him, "you can stay and eat if you want. It's just- I mean, you got so much food. I can't possibly eat this all myself."
"Well, if you insist."
~*~*~*~*
Derek didn't mean for this to happen but he sure as hell wasn't going to put a stop to it. What started off as dinner one night turned into a great evening and a promise to do it again the next week. And then the week after. And then the week after that. And before he knew it he had a standing dinner with Spider-Man every week. Of course, he couldn't make all of them but neither man minded too much. As long as they knew that there was going to be a next time they didn't mind missing the occasional dinner. Spider-Man still had his duties to attend to too. Sometimes he would just perk up in the middle of dinner, excuse himself and then come back twenty minutes or so later. Derek knew he was off fighting crime but the way he saw it as long as it wasn't actually confirmed that that's where he went off to then he didn't have to arrest him for committing a crime. There seemed to be that understanding between them without having to talk about it so the vigilante never spoke about where he went. He would just greet Derek when he came back and sometimes brought dessert if he knew he left the other man waiting too long.
Derek didn't even realize that his feelings towards the other was changing until he caught himself staring at the others lips when he lifted his mask slightly to eat the hotdog Derek bought him. After that revelation to himself, Derek realized all the other things he was unconsciously keeping track of. Like which restaurants were his favourite or how to start a conversation when the other was clearly having a bad night. But then he started putting together other quirks. Like the way his hands fiddled when Derek spoke about something the other didn't particularly agree with. Or how the vigilante would sort every handful of M&M's by colour before eating them. Or all the statistics that could be pulled out of thin air every time Derek made a rhetorical observation. All of these seemed so... familiar. His mind kept pulling him back to one particular head of wavy brown hair that he got so used to seeing every morning. He didn't know for certain and he sure as hell wasn't going to ruin anything by asking but when Derek got bored when he was alone he couldn't help but toy with the idea. His Pretty Boy as Spider-Man, not a bad daydream.
~*~*~*~*
Spider-Man was just leaving for the night when Derek called him back. He always crawls up the side of the corner store that they still meet behind and disappears off the roof. But tonight just as the vigilante is out of sight Derek shouts for him to come back down. The other man peers over the side of the building, looking slightly annoyed, but still attaches a web to the side of the building so he can slowly descend upside down and meet him at eye level.
Derek didn't have a plan. He didn't know why he wanted him back but something in him yearned. He wanted this and he wasn't quite sure what it was yet. Slowly, Derek raised his hand towards the part in the others mask where he knew it split from the rest of his suit. He tentatively curled his fingers underneath the mask and pulled it down so it rested right on Spider-Mans nose. With a hand still on the others face resting gently on his cheek, Derek leaned in with the same slow and steady movements giving the other man enough time to back out. Just as Derek was getting close, Spider-Man huffed out a laugh, put a hand on the back of Dereks head and pulled him in the rest of the way for a kiss.
The kiss felt like relief for both of them. Like coming home after a long day. At least that's how it started. Once the feeling pleasure replaced the fear of rejection, both of them realized how much they wanted this and started getting bolder. A nip on Dereks upper lip made him smile like mad and allowed him to slip his tongue into the others mouth. Derek now had both hands on the vigilantes head and sneakily tilted his head around enough to knock some hair loose from underneath his mask. As soon as he got enough hair coiled in his fingers he gave a short tug which released a gorgeous moan from the man. Derek took a quick glance at the sight in front of him and his heart rate skyrocketed.
There was no denying that the man in his hands was Spencer Reid and Derek couldn't be happier. With the brown waves spilling out and that goofy smile that was leaning in for another kiss, it was the last piece to click into place. Derek gave a chuckle and leaned away from the man in front of him.
"I think that's enough for tonight, don't you?"
Reid just huffed in annoyance in response but it wasn't fooling anyone. That wicked grin was still plastered on his face.
"Alright Pretty Boy, I'll see you tomorrow."
With that announcement, the smile faltered a little. Reid reached up to put the mask back on but Derek grabbed his hand and kept it in place.
"You meant next week, right?" He replied shakily.
"I meant what I said." Derek answered before giving Reid one last peck on the lips and rolled his mask up for him.
With that, Reid climbed back up the side of the building and disappeared into the night like he always does.
~*~*~*~*
Nighttime Derek doesn't always process the trouble he gets his daytime self into until he has to face it. Like right now.
Here he is not wanting to leave the break room because he just remembered that he basically told Spencer that he knows he's Spider-Man right after they kissed. He knows he's already attracting attention to himself because all of his team - except for the Pretty Boy himself - has come in here for a coffee with Derek standing right in the middle of the room with obviously no intention to move. He was going to drive himself insane with this. He was going to die in this room. What was he even-
Reid opening the door stops his train of thought. They both stare at each other without moving, clearly surprised by the others presence, until Reid points to the coffee pot and starts walking towards it. This is fine, Derek thinks unconvincingly, we can move on as if nothing's happened. This is cool. Coolcoolcool.
"So are we going to talk about last night?" Derek hears himself ask. Not cool.
Reid freezes mid pour, pulls a face as though he's about to deny it then lets the façade crumble immediately.
"I'm sorry." Reid lets out quietly.
"No, none of that." Derek reaches out to put a hand on top of the one Reid has squeezed around his cup. "Why didn't you just tell me it was you?"
"You threatened to arrest me the first time we met."
Derek couldn't help but huff out a laugh at the memory. Reid looked a bit more relaxed for it.
"Besides," Reid started, "would you really have kissed me if you knew it was me the whole time?"
Derek couldn't help but stare blankly at the man standing before him. How could a man so smart be so dense?
"Pretty Boy," Derek said, slowly getting closer, "I kissed you because I was hoping it was you. Do you know how thrilled I was to figure out I was right?"
Reid stood there with his mouth slightly agape and Derek took this opportunity to remove the cup from he was holding and replaced it with his hand.
"Last night, I didn't kiss Spider-Man, I kissed Dr. Spencer Reid. On purpose. And I'm hoping I'll get the chance to do it again."
With that comment the same grin from last night returned to Spencers face and the two men wasted no time meeting in the middle for another sweet kiss. And another. And another.