CHERRY FLAVOURED || Re-Write

SEVENTEEN

[This was a really short chapter; kinda a filler. but I wanted to get something intimate out, even if it isn't the sexual intimacy that so many people crave. this is just two individuals still trying to find themselves.]

SPENCER REID POV

I sat in bed with my journal nursed in my arm and my pen slowly slipping through my fingers. I looked up at the door many feet away, past my bedroom door and sleek wood floors. It was shaking from the knocks barreling against the door.

I pushed my journal and pen aside and slowly steadied myself on the floor. I grabbed my crutches balanced against my bedside table, placed them below my armpits, and made my way towards the front door. The knocks continued as I walked, but as soon as I looked through the peephole, the knocks stopped.

"I can hear you breathing," she said.

Her shrunken face and dark eyebags stared at me. Her eyes were as warm as they'd always been, but her face was sunken into her skull, which made sense considering she almost...died. However, even with her saddened features, she was beautiful.

"Can you?" My voice cracked and it sounded like I'd choked on my own spit.

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. You're breathing really hard. Are you fine over there?"

I inhaled as sharply as possible and breathed out against the wood. She could definitely hear it, as loud and obnoxious as it was. "...No. Maybe I am."

"Well let me in please," she said. Her voice was confident as always and her posture hadn't changed one bit. She was the same old YN, and somehow, it worried me.

I nodded and quickly unlocked the door. I pulled it open and stood still. There was a wedge between me and my apartment and I didn't move one inch. She'd been gone for a full five days yet it seemed like forever. I wasn't completely sure if it was her or my sleep depravity pulling tricks on me.

She mirrored my stance for a minute before leaning against the door frame. She pulled her eyes from mine and instead followed the outline of my body. She looked at my foot and smiled. It wasn't fully sinister nor guilty–it held a bit of both.

"You're staring," she said.

I scoffed and replied, "You are too."

"Well you have a stupid lonely cast on your foot."

"Well you just came back from–"

"Why has no one written on your cast?" she asked, cutting me off from saying anything else. It was inappropriate, but I knew she'd continue with cruel banter so I tried anyway.

I smirked. "I was waiting on you."

"Hm." Her eyes spun around my lower half before meeting with me once again. She studied my face and continued to bite down on her lip. "You haven't slept."

"Yeah," I replied.

"Why?"

I shrugged. It was self-explanatory, but according to YN, she needed to know why. "I dunno. 'Cause of you."

"Sleep deprived Spencer Reid looks really good."

I shook my head and stepped back. The wedge between my apartment and I grew further apart to where YN was able to walk in. She walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the island with her arms flat out against the table, stretching across until she hit the center. She sunk her cheek into the cold marble slab and shut her eyes.

"Are you tired?" I asked. The answer was evident, but there was nothing I wanted to talk about so I stuck with something plain and obvious.

She nodded. "I couldn't sleep in the hospital."