masterpiece; spencer reid x reader

chapter two; hindsight

chapter two

SPENCER HAD JUST finished setting up his office. It looked barren, and strange, as he discovered he had less to unpack than he had planned on, so he was left to wander the unfamiliar halls alone. He couldn't help but wonder if he was ever going to fit in here.

First mission: find the break room.

On this journey, which proved to be much harder than originally anticipated, he located many other rooms such as lecture halls, labs, the copy room, and the janitors closet. Unfortunately though, no such luck finding a mini-fridge to put his lunch in.

Just as he was about to double back to his office to relax in his usual solitude, he saw someone who he hadn't met before.

It was a woman, that was for sure.

He pushed the thought from his mind as soon as it entered. She was wearing brightly colored converse, and casual clothes. He suddenly felt completely and utterly overdressed. Just as he was about to say hello, she let out an extremely loud and obviously frustrated sigh.

"Are you okay?" He hadn't even realized that maybe he shouldn't have approached her so quietly, because she spun around like he'd hit her with a baseball bat.

"Mother of fuck!" The woman exclaimed, and he couldn't help but conceal the look of amusement on his face. As she turned around he was able to look at her face. She was unmistakably attractive. Even with her shocked expression contorting her features. It was oddly endearing.

She then proceeded to look him up and down about three times, like he was a mannequin on display. An overwhelming feeling of insecurity crept into his head. Maybe he is overdressed? Is it weird? Does she think he's weird?

She's your coworker, not your middle school crush, Spencer.

The voice in his head was right this time. At this time, the woman had come to her senses, and had begun to respond to his question, asking where the copy room is. Hey! One of the rooms he did know!

As he led her there, he attempted to slow his pace when he noticed her shorter strides struggling to keep up. They made what Spencer perceived as polite conversation.

"You must just get to go with the flow right? Since they're just art classes."

When it came out of his mouth, it sounded much worse than it did in his head. The pissy look on the woman's face was a pretty clear indicator it was the wrong thing to say.

By the time they reached the copier Spencer could practically see the steam coming from the woman's ears. He hadn't always had the best luck making conversation, but burning a bridge with just a first impression was a personal best for him. What a way to start the day, huh?

•

He did eventually find the break room. Just in time for lunch, too. It was tucked into some obscure corner of the building for some inconceivable reason.

So he sat at one of the small wooden tables, eating his salad alone. It would have been kind of sad if he had thought about it too hard, so he tried to occupy his mind with tweaking his syllabus on his computer. In fact, he hadn't even notice a few people walk in.

"You the new guy?" One asked. He looked older, with deep set wrinkles along his forehead, and gray hairs dominating most of his head. An expectant expression was on his face.

"Y-yeah that would be me." It sounded clumsy coming out of his mouth.

"I'm Richard. Good to meet you, welcome to Yale!" He reached his hand out.

God, what was it with people here spreading germs through hand shakes? Spencer once again shook his head. "Agh, germs, right? I get it man!" He chuckled heartily, and the people he entered with joined him. It was actually slightly creepy.

"Thank you, uh, Richard. I don't think I started off on the right foot here, actually." He said it like an inside joke with himself.

"What do you mean?"

The story just kind of spilled out, with no one else to confide in, it was much easier to tell your stories to anyone who would listen. All the other staff in the room also listened to him until he was done.

"Oh, forget all those art geek freeloaders they just coast by." One said, laughing and snorting.
"Yeah, like they'd survive in one math class higher than geometry!" They all laughed again.
"They're dooming all those poor art students to a future of living in the streets! It should be a crime!" Another round of laughter.

Spencer didn't like these guys too much. In all honesty, he found the arts to be quite interesting, and he read about them often. He didn't exactly wanna be lumped in with these guys.

They were too focused on themselves, bouncing bad jokes back and forth a little too loudly to even notice Spencer slip silently out of the room.

Not great so far. But it could only go up from here, right?

Just then he looked outside to see heavy raindrops pounding the sidewalks outside. A mangled sigh escaped his lips. Well, shit.

He dragged his feet all the way back to his office, where he finished sorting papers, reorganizing, and hoping that by the time it was 5:00 the rain would have stopped.

He gathered his coat, sliding it over his shoulders and gathering his worn brown satchel. It was a little tattered, but it was trusty.

He walked out to the doors only to discover the rain had only started to fall heavier since he last checked. Luckily, he had just a bit of foresight, and had remembered an umbrella.

As he walked out he unfolded it carefully, and relished the dryness it provided.

But he looked to the side, and saw the one and only Y/N L/N walking out of the doors of the art building, her hands over her head in the worlds worst umbrella. As much as he knew he wasn't exactly the most socially aware, he was at least a gentleman.

He walked to the other side of the courtyard until they made eye contact.

"I'll walk you to the parking lot, come on." He had to shout over the pounding water. Y/N looked conflicted for a moment, but as she stood in the rain, the choice was clear. She quickly took up his offer, and huddled under the cover of dryness.

They were quite close. Spencer was hyper aware of the woman's side pressed snugly against his arm. He tried his best to ignore the feeling of imaginary electricity that shot straight up his spine at the contact. They walked in silence, just trying to reach their cars as quickly as possible.

When they reached the parking lot, Y/N pointed to a car across the lot.

"That's my car." She looked up at him, mascara dripping, hair now sopping wet from the rain, but still (by Spencer's evaluation) quite beautiful. A look of shame overcame her face. "Thank you." It was quiet, and maybe if he wasn't listening he wouldn't have heard it.

"Of course." He nodded reassuringly.

She left from under the rain shield and ran through the heavy sheets of rain to the drivers seat of her car. Spencer just watched her go.

Maybe his day really hadn't been so bad after all.

___________________

a/n

awwwww gentleman spence

i luv reid he's just stupid please hang in there y'all it'll get spicy eventually

much love,

may