maniac. | spencer reid

| sixteen |

"jesus christ spencer, y-you could just say yes or no to my question." she deadpanned, not making eye contact with the man. was she breathing right now? gracen couldn't tell.

when the elevator door opened, she bolted out, not looking twice behind her.

"hey i was kidding! don't leave me!!!" spencer yelled, jogging to her side. now that he got that treacherous, cringey, act over with, he felt a little more at ease knowing the battle field was even.

gracen jones on the other hand, was utterly annoyed that he was probably thinking about how she was blushing like a teenage girl. game on. gracen thought to herself. game on spencer.

after a few moments of silence as they walked to their respective cars, gracen broke it.

"i thought about your offer...and i guess that counts as quality time, right?" she asked innocently.

the genius threw an arm over her shoulders as he chuckled, shaking his head. "actually, i was thinking maybe we could just watch a movie at yours with popcorn."

gracen's mouth dropped open and she lightly shoved his arm off, hmphing like a child throwing a tantrum. "you're being irritating."

"alright then, we can, since you want it so badly—"

she stuck her foot out, tripping spencer. the man stumbled around on his long legs, regaining balance. "kidding! kidding." he recoiled, scared gracen was about to throw hands at him. "don't hit me."

gracen jones rolled her eyes, a smile slowly making its way up to her cheeks. the two laughed in harmony.

they were both surprised at how easy it was to connect to the other. yeah it was awkward, since everything was awkward for spencer. but for gracen jones, being around him meant that the outside world could disappear, even just for a moment, along with all her other worries.

spencer and gracen were two grown adults who acted like high schoolers around each other.

but they both wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

—

on the way up to her apartment in the elevator, gracen started to internally panic.

she thought back to her apartment—was it clean enough? gracen knew spencer was a germaphobe and probably a clean freak. would be judge her? would it smell like cigarette smoke when they step inside? would he see that all she ate was fast food and instant ramen?

gracen gulped as she pulled out her keys, unlocking the door and opening it, walking inside. hearing spencer close the door and locking it behind him, she inhaled deeply through her nose.

she was correct. her apartment did smell like cigarette smoke. gracen prayed spencer had a stuffy or nose or something at the moment.

"hey gracen, why does it smell like smoke?" he asked, sniffing the air.

gracen sneakily snatched an empty box of cigarettes laying on the dinner table, crumpling it in her hands and stuffing it in her jacket. spencer didn't seem to notice. "i burnt my toast really badly this morning." she replied sheepishly.