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Spencer had never broached the subject of moving in with Derek, even after they’d passed their one year anniversary. He had always been told he was a lot of deal with and maybe he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And here the shoe was, a glittering key that had been pressed into his hand.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his legs across Derek’s lap, a hand settled on Spencer’s knee, so painfully intimate but they were in Derek’s apartment where they had nothing but privacy.
“I’m sure,” Derek said, impossibly warm and Spencer could feel the heat burning across his face.
“But I get overstimulated and I-I ramble—” He could come up with so many reasons not to move in together, but none of them were all that great.
That made Derek chuckle. “Yeah, I know. I’ve known you a while now to know how you tick.” The way he said it was practically salacious and it made Spencer's mouth go dry.
“And a lot of people consider that a major turn off,” Spencer pressed. Even their coworkers would often cut Spencer off if he rambled too much or say something about wishing they hadn’t asked, and these were people that genuinely liked Spencer.
“I like to hear you talk, pretty boy.”
Spencer flushed darker, considering the key in his hand. Derek’s apartment was bigger than Spencer’s which had always been endlessly cluttered with his books.
“You’re barely there…and I built you a bookshelf and everything,” Derek coaxed grinning as he leaned in to kiss Spencer who couldn’t help but hum against him, utterly content and happy in a way he’d never been before.
It was a nice apartment and the rent was a steal…mostly because there had once been a murder in it and since then no one had been willing to rent it, until Spencer who didn’t particularly care, being an FBI agent who didn’t believe in ghosts.
But he also knew something that Derek didn’t.
He waited until Derek was out the door with his tools, dusting a kiss to Spencer’s cheek as he poured wine into a glass, telling him not to have too much fun with his sisters, and Spencer could only give a careless wave as he laughed.
“I have a question for you,” he said to Sarah before she could conference in Desiree.
“Is this specific to me?” she asked. “Or can I call up Desiree?”
“In a second,” Spencer said, mouth twitching in amusement. He was the only one that knew that Sarah had applied for a position at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center to begin her residency. She was holding off telling anyone else until she was accepted.
Everyone except Spencer, which had surprised him at the time.
“All right, spill it, pretty boy.”
“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t use your brother’s pet names,” he said archly.
“When did I agree to that?” Sarah giggled and he had to assume that she had been drinking before even getting on the phone.
“Forty-three days ago.”
“I love your accuracy, sugar.”
Spencer arched a dubious eyebrow that she couldn’t see.
“Okay, okay,” she said, correctly interpreting his silence, “what did you want to tell me?”
“If you get the position at Sentara…would you be interested in an apartment?”
Sarah paused and he could just see the smile growing across her face. “Why, Spencer,” she purred, “tell me…why would you not be in need of an apartment?”
“I feel like you know why,” he said, taking a sip of his wine.
“I am going to table that specifically for Desiree,” Sarah decided. “What’s the rent situation?”
“Pretty cheap. It’s only three hundred a month and is a thirty-minute drive from the hospital,” Spencer explained.
“I love cheap…why is it cheap, though?” she asked, clearly suspicious.
“I guess that depends on how you feel about someone being murdered in the apartment.”
The silence was long.
“Spence, I’m starting to wonder if anything phases you,” Sarah said, utterly exasperated. “How long have you lived there?”
“Four years,” he said.
“…I guess that’s fine,” she decided. “For that much of a steal, I’m choosing to overlook the homicide.”
“Big of you,” Spencer said.
“Oh look, Desiree’s calling-hey, Dee—”
“I swear, if you two started without me, I’m gonna pitch a fit!” Desiree declared.
“I think Sarah was drinking before she called me—”
“Don’t be a fuckin’ snitch, Spence! I’ll make Derek my favorite brother again!” Sarah threatened.
“Oh, no, your own brother your favorite, imagine that,” Spencer said dryly.
“We should never have taught him sarcasm,” Desiree said with a low groan.
“Dee…Spence is moving!” Sarah said in a sing-song tone.
“Moving where?” she asked, dubious. “No way you guys are leaving Quantico.”
Spencer cleared his throat. “I’m moving in with Derek.”
“…I’m gonna be real with you, I thought you’d already moved in with him a long time ago,” Desiree sniggered. “So domestic.”
Sarah cackled and Spencer’s cheeks flushed. “I am regretting these Wine Nights.”
“Nooooo, you looooooovvvvvvvveeeeee usssssssss,” Sarah crooned.
“Girl, you are so drunk,” Desiree giggled. “How much did you drink?”
Spencer stirred to the sound of someone creaking the door open and a few minutes later an all too familiar body slotted against his, pulling the blankets up. A kiss pressed to his shoulder had a smile twitching onto his mouth as Derek dropped right off to sleep.
Joining him was the best idea for the night.
“Are you coming to Sarah’s graduation?”
Spencer paused. “Um…I’m not sure she actually wants me there. She’s probably just being polite.” Sarah had certainly never said anything about it to him, despite all their Wine Nights and Spencer wasn’t about to ask, not until he'd gotten the invitation in the mail. But he still waffled on agreeing to it.
Derek laughed. “Baby, she doesn’t do polite, she likes you, probably more than me, which is annoying—”
“Annoying?” Spencer’s brow furrowed in confusion before Derek cupped his chin, drawing him into a kiss.
“I hate sharing you,” Derek breathed against his mouth.
Spencer was getting flustered even though he knew it was a lie. Derek didn’t do possessive and Spencer didn’t like possessive. “Liar,” he mumbled between kisses. “Who all is going?”
“Mama and Desiree, and then my aunt Yvonne might show up, we’re not totally sure.”
“Ah,” Spencer said, remembering the story about Derek’s cousin’s disappearance. “Sarah’s sure she doesn’t want just family?”
Derek gave him a look. “You are family, Spencer. We’ve been together for more than a year.”
All of Spencer’s counters were so flimsy to his mind.
“I’ll ask Hotch for the time off,” he promised.
And Derek beamed like the sun, twice as radiant as the real thing.
Spencer was moving his things over to Derek’s apartment little by little because he was so particular about his things, but Derek wasn’t about to harass him about how long he was taking when the bookshelf that he’d built for him was slowly getting more and more full of Spencer’s books and his closet space was steadily decreasing.
He’d never thought domesticity would ever be in the cards for him, but warmth and joy bloomed in his chest when he would find Spencer in his armchair, working on an assignment for his philosophy BA, interspersed with a case file that Gideon had wanted him to review, utterly at home in the life they had built together.
Maybe in a few years he’d ask him that question and slide a ring onto his finger but it was certainly much too soon.
But he still thought about it, introducing Spencer as ‘my husband’.
“I think they’re spiting us,” Emily decided.
“Who?” JJ asked absently, rifling through the sheer magnitude of files in her office.
“Reid and Morgan, taking vacation at the same time.”
That made JJ laugh. “It’s not like they request a lot of time off to start with…besides, I think Reid got invited to Morgan’s sister’s graduation.”
“Maybe they’re dating?” Emily offered. “They seemed close in Chicago.”
JJ arched an eyebrow. “Reid? You sure? He always seems to put his foot in his mouth around women.” Their team was the token exception, but clearly he wasn’t romantically interested in any of them; it was unclear if romance was even in the cards for Reid.
“You didn’t see him at Morgan’s mom’s place…both his sisters liked him, way more than me, a long-distance relationship wouldn’t be too outside of the norm.”
“I suppose,” JJ conceded, trying to remember any of Reid’s interactions with the Morgans in Chicago. She was pretty sure she saw Sarah Morgan clinging to him as she sobbed far away from Damien Walter’s funeral. Reid had never seemed much like a physically affectionate guy, that much she knew well enough. “I’m just not sure he’d ever be interested in that…he does give off bisexual energy, though.”
“That’s what I thought!”
“Don’t fuss, you look fine,” Desiree hissed out of the corner of her mouth as Spencer fiddled with the cuffs of his blazer’s sleeves.
It was May and he was wearing a sweater vest over his shirt, which was certainly a choice but he’d been told far too many times that he was too thin so he figured hiding it under an additional layer was the way to go.
He knew they didn’t mean anything about it, but he didn’t want any attention to be on him when it was Sarah’s day.
Desiree’s admonishment didn’t quell his anxiety, though, so Derek reached out and settled a hand over his knee, his other hand taking one of Spencer’s.
That did much more for him and his twitching eased up.
If Spencer caught Desiree’s amused smirk on his other side, he’d never say.
“Sarah Morgan, Doctor of Medicine—” Their whole section of Sarah’s family, Spencer included, jumped to their feet to cheer and clap.
Derek whooped several times as Desiree shrieked in delight, but all Spencer could do was clap as he beamed.
“Virginia?” Derek was gaping. “Did you know about this?” he asked, appealing to his partner and Spencer’s mouth twitched.
“Wow, you kept a secret from Derek? Impressive.” Desiree grin was too conniving.
“She’s going to take my apartment when I move out,” Spencer said simply.
“So that’s the real reason you’ve been taking such a long time moving out,” Derek realized.
“I thought it was because he was getting cold feet,” Desiree admitted and Sarah sniggered as Spencer gave her a dry stare.
Sarah’s graduation party had concluded some time ago, and Fran had bowed out early with Derek driving her home before returning to join the rest of them at the bar.
“I don’t get cold feet.”
“Hm…” the pair said in unison.
Spencer sighed towards Derek, who couldn’t help but grin and kiss the edge of his temple.
His aunt Yvonne had shown up and had been smiling and happy but not completely. Spencer had glanced over to her a few times to note the misery edging into her expression. He could only assume that it was nothing short of agony to watch your brother’s children grow and flourish while your own was gone without a trace.
But she had been very warm with Spencer, everyone was, which was still throwing him off.
“You’re going to have Wine Nights together without me!” Desiree was saying, making Sarah laugh.
“Just because we’re going to be living in the same city doesn’t mean we’re going to be hanging out all the time!”
“It totally does!” Desiree countered. “Now I need to come up with a new bonding activity with Spencer!”
“You already have one,” Derek’s tone was utterly dry. “You’re learning sign language together.”
Desiree was a linguist, an unparalleled polyglot who was currently being courted to join the UN’s Interpretation Service, which she was going to say yes to because the money was too good and the vacation time was stellar, she just worried about leaving their mom all alone.
“That’s so we’ll be able to talk shit about you from across the room.”
Spencer snorted.
“Baby, you wouldn’t talk shit about me in sign language, would you?” Derek crooned towards Spencer, who had to consider it briefly. “Spencer!”
He laughed. “Only one way to find out, I suppose.”
“No! He can’t learn with us! It’s our thing!” Desiree stressed. “Find your own hobby, Derek!”
“My hobby is taking up all of Spencer’s time.”
“You’re doing a great job at it,” Spencer told him earnestly, making his sisters cackle as Derek’s eyebrow twitched.
“How was your girlfriend’s graduation?”
“My what now?” Reid asked, utterly baffled as he sat down beside Morgan at the round table just as Morgan inhaled his coffee up his nose and coughed and choked and laughed until he had tears streaming down his face.