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It wasn’t like you were unfamiliar with the BAU. In years of working with the FBI you’d heard an infinite amount of great things about the unit and you’d even had the honor of doing some of their paperwork when you were working a desk job.
The one thing you didn’t expect was to be accepted as the newest member. Sure, you’d studied a bit of human behavior in college, but you were nowhere near as professional as the people you would be working with. You assumed the reason you made it in was a mixture of success in the field and measure of your intelligence.
You had to admit, the interview with Aaron Hotchner was one of the most challenging ones you’d ever done. The man was infamous for being very staunch and serious. You managed to make him laugh once or twice during your questioning, which made you feel a bit more confident when finished.
You must’ve made quite the impression, because fast-forward two weeks and you were moving your things to a desk in the BAU bullpen.
“You getting settled in okay?” JJ, one of your new team members, asked you as she passed your desk.
“So far everything’s great!” you assured her. “I can’t wait to meet the rest of the team.”
“I’m sure,” she agreed. “I think you’ll like Spence- er- Reid the most. You guys seem to have a lot in common.”
“I doubt that,” you muttered, laughing. “I wrote some of your reports when I was working a desk job and Dr. Reid seems much more intelligent than I will ever be.”
“Well, I can tell you one thing,” she said, pointing to the pile of books on your desk. “You both love to read.”
“I guess I can give you that one.” You paused. “How long until I get to meet the team?”
“Whenever you get settled in here, everyone’s in the conference room excited to meet you.”
You felt really rushed to finish putting things away and shoved a few things into a drawer. JJ gave you an odd look. “I can finish this up later, JJ. I’m just really anxious to meet everybody.”
She shrugged and led you over to the conference room. As soon as the door opened you saw everyone turn to face you and suddenly felt very nervous. “Guys, this is Y/N. I’m sure you all know who she is by now but we finally have her here in person.” JJ paused. She pointed to each person around the table. “This is Aaron Hotchner, who I know you’ve met,” she began, “David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, Penelope Garcia, and Spencer Reid.”
They each waved at you as you sat down before you began to make small talk. “Why’d you wanna join the BAU?” Derek asked.
You thought for a few seconds. “A new challenge I guess. You guys are the best of the best and I wanted to try my hand at behavioral analysis, I guess.”
“Well you’re definitely smart enough to be here,” Spencer blurted out all of a sudden. “I read some of the papers you wrote in college and judging by those you should’ve started out with us. Not at some boring desk job.”
You thought his comment was a little out of place, but you decided you’d take any amount of flattery from a genius like Dr. Reid. “Uh, thanks,” you replied. A few members of the team stared at Reid like he was a ghost. “That’s really honoring coming from you.”
You continued talking for an hour or so before you all went out to lunch (miraculously there were no cases that required the team’s immediate attention). You continued to get to know your fellow teammates and it turned out you did have quite a bit in common with Spencer. Plus he was incredibly nice which was always a plus.
You finally convinced yourself you were going to fit in just fine at the BAU.
Not long after you had started going with the team on cases. And you were killing it.
From what you’d seen in a few months you loved your job. Sure, some of the cases were pretty fucked up, but at least you got to say you put the bad guy in prison.
Not only did you love your job but you loved the people you worked with. You’d become great friends with everyone on the team but above all you were best friends with Spencer.
You guys had a lot of the same hobbies, and the two of you had even started a mini book club. Spencer may have been able to read about 50 times faster that you but you still loved discussing the books with someone who could actually appreciate a plot.
Spencer even played chess with you on the plane. You hadn’t played someone competitively since high school, so it was a nice change to be playing someone above your level, even if it did mean losing almost every time.
You did stuff out of work as well. Sometimes you’d go to lunch or the bookstore together; you’d even gone to a few movie marathons and a convention that was in town.
Everyone in the team seemed to notice this and it had become an inside joke between the rest of the team that the two of you were dating behind their backs. You never got in on the joke so their giggles and snickers when you were around Spencer confused you.
One day out of the blue, Emily came up to your desk. “So, what do you think of Spencer?” she drawled.
You contemplated the question. “Uh, he’s a great guy,” you said, almost like a question. “He’s fun to hang out with and he’s really, really smart.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Emily quipped. “I meant- like, you guys are practically joint at the hip. You’re with him all the time and I’ve seen the way you look at him.”
You rolled your eyes. “Alright, fine. Maybe I have a little high school crush on him but that doesn’t mean we’d be a good couple.
"Are you kidding me, Y/N?” she practically yelled, earning a ‘shush’ from you. “Are you joking? You guys would be amazing together.”
“And when did you become the love doctor?” you retorted. “I’m pretty sure Spencer has no interest in me becoming his girlfriend.”
She looked like she was going to say something else but seemingly decided against it. “Alright, whatever. I really came over here to ask if you wanted to get dinner with JJ, Penelope, and me tonight. We might get some wine or something and hit up that new place in DC. Sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds really nice,” you nodded. “Just send me the address and I’ll meet you guys there.” Emily gave you a thumbs up before walking back to her own desk.
When you arrived at the restaurant, you didn’t see any of the girls anywhere. You figured they may be stuck in traffic or some other delay, so you sat down at the table they’d reserved and waited for a while.
After about 20 minutes or so, you pulled out your phone to call Emily but as you were pulling up her contact, you heard a familiar voice.
“Y/N?” Spencer asked, immediately pulling your attention to him. “What are you doing here? Have you seen Hotch, Rossi, or Morgan?”
“Uh, I don’t think so,” you muttered. "I was supposed to meet JJ, Emily, and Garcia here." You quickly typed out a text to Emily.
Where are you? And why the fuck is Reid here?
She responded almost immediately.
Three things- 1. I'm at home, enjoying a glass of whiskey and marathoning Parks and Rec. 2. Reid is there because the entire team set you two up. 3. You're welcome.
"Well, Reid, I think our friends ditched us. I guess it's just you and me."
He frowned slightly but sat down at the table anyway.
"You know we can just go home right? We don't have to eat dinner."
"I don't mind eating dinner with just you, Y/N. In fact I think I'd like that more than hanging out with the guys."
Admittedly, that made you blush. "That's sweet, Reid." You paused. "You know they set us up because they think we like each other, right? Crazy, huh?"
"Do you think that's crazy?" he asked in a sharper tone than normal. "I mean, I can see why they would think that. Can't you?"
"I didn't mean to sound mean, Spencer. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he assured you. "It's just- the entire team is right. At least on my part." You froze. "I'm sorry if this is weird to hear but I really do like you as more than a coworker and more than a friend." You were speechless; you didn't know how to respond to that. "I really do apologize if I just ruined our friendship. I just can't keep that to myself anymore."
You finally mustered up the courage to respond. "Spencer, you didn't ruin our friendship. Not at all. They were right on my part too. I really do like you and I would love to be... more than friends."
He looked relieved as soon as the words left your mouth. He let out a small chuckle as he grinned at you. "Now that we got our little love confession out of the way, let's have some dinner."
After you finished eating, Spencer walked you out to your car. "Well, I don't know about you," you began, "but I had a lot of fun with you."
He looked down at your small frame. "I definitely agree." He scratched at the back of his head for a moment. "Uh, is it okay if I kissed you?"
You beamed at his request before wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling his lips to meet yours. When you finally broke apart, he looked starstruck. "I'll see you at work tomorrow, Spence," you whispered.
He nodded, pulling you in for another peck before he walked to his own car.
Before you began to drive home, you pulled out your phone to text Emily.
FINE. You were right. Maybe your dumb set up was a good idea in the end.