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Everytime Derek thought he couldn’t possibly like Spencer more, the man did something that changed that. His crush had so far been successfully hidden. Aside from Garcia that was, but he was convinced that she knew him better than he knew himself. If anyone else noticed the fact that his flirtatious comments weren’t actually meant in a joking manner or that he often caught himself staring at Spence, well they had never bothered to mention it.
He had vowed to never mention his not-so-little crush to the man in question, no matter how much Garcia pushed him. He was his best friend. There was no way Derek was going to throw their years worth of friendship away for a painful rejection.
But sometimes, like now, when Spencer had cornered him in the breakroom with a massive, adorable grin on his face, Derek was finding it very hard not to break the distance between and kiss him.
“Pretty boy, what’s going on? I really want to make some coffee before Garcia springs all of her holiday cheer on us-“ She had been in charge of decorating the office, or well- she had taken that task on herself, organized a secret santa and had brought in Christmas themed baked goods for the last week and Derek loved her, he really did, but no one faced a loudly singing, dressed up Penelope Garcia the day before Christmas without a little bit of caffeine.
“I uh- I got you something for Chtistmas. I wanted to give it to you beforehand since it’s not part of the secret santa and you know how noisy everyone can get,” Spencer caught himself rambling and pursed his lips together, cheeks flushed. “Anyway-“ he held out the parcel for Derek to take. “This is for you.”
Derek took the neatly wrapped gift, eyeing it over curiously. “You really didn’t have to! I didn’t get you anything-“
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Spencer waved it off. “It’s not that big of a deal, really. I didn’t tell you that I would get you something so I didn’t expect anything in return.”
“You got me all curious now,” Derek grinned. He began to unwrap the paper, trying to be neat while in reality he just wanted to tear the paper apart, but it was obvious that Spencer had put a surprising amount of effort into it.
The paper moved away, revealing a slightly familiar yet new light gray, knitted sweater. Derek’s eyes widened. “Wow, Reid- how did you..?”
Spencer’s cheeks flushed and he took a deep breath. “Well- I felt so bad when I dropped coffee all over your favorite sweater and you said it wasn’t a big deal, but it clearly was because you looked pretty upset and I wanted to take it to the dry cleaning, but it was completely ruined. Garcia noticed that I was upset and I told her about what happened and she explained to me that your mother had made the sweater for you a long time ago and I felt so bad because well, hand made things aren’t easy to replace and I could hardly ask your mother for a new one so Garcia and I scoured the internet for a bit trying to find a good pattern and I know it’s not the same and I am not nearly as good at knitting as your mom, but I wanted to at least try, for you.”
Derek stared at Spencer once he finished his rambling explanation. “You knitted this yourself..? For me? I didn’t know you knew how to knit.”
Spencer smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t know. I had to learn it. It was a lot of fun, surprisingly enough. Do.. Do you like it? I understand if it is a bit silly or too personal or like, weird, but I am used to being weird so-“
Derek couldn’t help himself anymore. Any previous promises were thrown to the wind. Spencer had knitted him a sweater, had spent hours and hours working on making it perfect and Derek, who had thought that he couldn’t like Spencer anymore than he did, realized with startling clarity that his crush had gone from liking Spencer to loving him a long time ago.
He didn’t give himself time to think as he pressed his lips against Spencer’s, successfully silencing him . His eyes fluttered shut as his hand cupped Spencer’s jaw. Spencer’s lips were soft and sweet despite the hint of coffee on his lips and Derek was convinced he could spent the rest of his life kissing him and be perfectly satisfied.
Panic was starting to settle in when he realized that Spencer was just standing there, frozen, for a few seconds too long and he was about to pull away when he felt the younger man melt into his touch; responding to the kiss with matching enthusiasm.
Derek deepened the kiss, a small whimper falling from Spencer’s lips and he couldn’t help, but smirk against the man’s lips with satisfaction at the fact that a simple kiss could pull such sounds from his lips.
When they pulled apart Spencer was blushing furiously, nervously tucking a curl behind his ear. “So- you like it?” He found himself asking.
“Oh, I love it, pretty boy,” Derek grinned with a wink.
“If I knew that all it took for you to kiss me was by knitting you a sweater I would have done so much earlier,” Spencer said, still blushing, but he couldn’t hide the smile that had appeared on his face.
“You have no clue how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” Derek said. “I should probably try this on, don't you think?”
He slid his own shirt off his head without any shame. He knew that he looked good and was there really anything wrong with being confident?
A chuckle escaped his lips when he noticed Spencer’s wide eyes staring at him with newfound interest. “You like what you see?” He asked and only laughed when the man sputtered out a rambling explanation that he didn’t quite catch. “I am just teasing,” he promised.
He slid the sweater over his head and smiled. “What do you think? Does it look good on me?”
Spencer perked up at that. “It does! I am glad it fits. Is it comfortable? There are so many different kinds of yarns to use, it was a little overwhelming, but extensive research confirmed that silk yarn was both the most luxurious and very light weight and I figured that would be nice- It just needs to be hand washed and hung out to dry,” he explained
Derek knew he must look ridiculous, but he couldn’t help himself from constantly smiling. The amount of thought Spencer had put into this gift was really sweet.
“It is very comfortable,” Derek promised. He swung one lazy arm around Spencer’s shoulders. “Listen… we should head to the conference room before Garcia yells at us for being late, but can I like.. maybe take you out some time?”
Spencer looked at Derek, his cheeks flushing bright red and for a second Derek found himself imagining the way that flush would spread all the way down his neck and chest and oh- he had definitely imagined Spencer in not-work-appropriate positions before. Right now was definitely not the time.
“Are you asking me out on a date?” Spencer asked.
Derek nodded, “Yes, I am,” he said, smirking.
Spencer’s eyes widened at that. “Why would you want to go out on a date with me?”
“Pretty boy… I thought that kiss was enough of an explanation,” Derek said, rolling his eyes with a level of fondness he could only muster up for the man next to him. “I’ve been having a crush on you for years. Unless I misread the situation-”
“No! No, you didn’t,” Spencer said hurriedly. “I didn’t think- Garcia tried to tell me, but I didn’t believe her,” he admitted.
“So.. that means you will let me take you out properly?” Derek asked.
“I would like that,” Spencer said with a blush.
“Good,” Derek grinned, “don’t worry Spencer. I will blow your mind.” He led the man out of the break room and towards the conference room where the rest of the team was waiting.
The two of them both tried to avoid meeting Garcia’s gaze, knowing that after this was over they had a lot of questions to answer, but for now Derek just pulled Spencer in for a quick side hug before letting him go and plopping down onto one of the seats.
Merry Christmas to me, he thought quietly to himself; unable to stop himself from smiling.