RSVP - Spencer Reid x Reader

Rumours Through the Grapevine - Part Four

"No, you're wrong."

"I'm not, you just can't accept the truth."

I looked to Spencer with the sternest expression I could muster, mug clasped tightly in my hands as I feel my discontent radiating out of me.

"I won't accept anything because you're wrong, simple as that."

"Tell me how I'm wrong," he challenged.

"You just are, anyone that says The Devil's Backbone is better than The Orphanage is wrong."

"That's not an answer," he protested, going up a couple of octaves.

"Is now," I replied with a tongue poke before sipping my drink.

"Well, there's one of two ways was can settle this matter."

"And how would that be?"

"We can either agree to disagree or play a chess game, winner is right."

I stared at him for a moment, internally squeeing at the smile he was giving me before letting out a gross sounding snort.

"Okay, you win by default, my life could be on the line and I still couldn't play chess."

Spencer looked almost aghast at my revelation.

"So, you're part of the ninety percent?"

"Huh?"

"Although it's extremely difficult to work out definitely, the going number is around six to seven million people worldwide that play chess and while that sounds like a lot, statistically speaking it would only work out at about ten percent of the population."

"Wow, that's a fair bit then."

"If the numbers are correct, but the likelihood of it being so is small as there's no way to clarify who is and isn't playing chess at any given time if they don't document it."

He stopped his rambling as our eyes connected, a small frown coming across his face.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

I snickered and shrugged, "I love how you just know things."

For the first time I can recall since meeting him, Spencer's brain seemed to shut down as he faltered, gave a tight smile and looked away from before, eyes occasionally darting towards me as he thought.

"I'm...genuinely speechless."

"Miracles do happen."

I stood up from my spot and put my mug down on the coffee table before rounding it, snatching up the DVD case.

"Any idea for what you want to watch next?"

Turning to Spencer as the disc ejected, I gave him a smile as he lifted his eyes to meet mine for longer than a brief second.

"Actually," he started, quickly licking his lips, "I'd like to sit and just talk for a while."

"Oh," my eyebrows rose but I still shrugged and turned back to set the disc in its case, using this moment to turn the TV off while I was stood there, "I'm fine with that."

Setting the DVD next to the TV, I grabbed the empty bowls we'd been working through over the course of the evening and tell him to wait a moment while I brought in the last remnants of our Halloween snacks, quickly jotting down a note to pick up more before the actual day came around in a week's time.

Once I returned with our goods, I settled in and looked to Spencer with an affirming nod.

"Okay, so let's talk."

And talk we did.

Through varying subjects of ourselves and opinions to utter nonsense, we simply talked a couple of hours away.

As time went by, Spencer seemed to relax and became more open with things, nothing that I would deem 'too soon' deep or intimate, but enough for me to notice that this wonderful, cheerful man may have needed more help than he was willing to admit that he needed.

Not that it was my place to tell, I wasn't a therapist nor Spence himself, but something in the way his haunted eyes were downcast during some softly told stories told me that may have been the case.

I didn't voice any presumptions, I simply let him talk while interjecting a comment here or there.

It could have been comical, with the way his words contrasted with the glow-in-the-dark skeleton shirt that had made itself further known once the TV had been turned off.

Part of me had wondered if lighting some candles or turning on a lamp would have been wise, but I think we both found a form of confidence in the dark, the only bit of light coming from the hallway.

Watching this man sit in front of me, pouring his soul into whatever he was saying made my heart flutter with both pain and admiration.

How anyone could hurt him was a mystery.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out with the person you were talking to," I said before even thinking about it.

Spencer looked at me in slight bewilderment, pausing for a moment before shrugging lightly and looking down at his lap.

"It's fine, I'm kind of used to it now," he nodded slowly, turning to me again, "besides, I don't think we'd have lasted long if it went further."

"Don't say that first bit," I pouted at him, "it makes me feel really bad."

"I don't mean to, it's just the truth."

With a frown, I shuffled along the couch to bridge the gap between us, resting my hand on top of his.

"I wish it wasn't, with all my heart do I wish it wasn't."

Spencer Reid was truly something else, not just because of his genius status and what skills that gave him.

I'd never felt connected with someone as quickly as I did with him and it all, even despite the time we spent together at the wedding, felt a little too soon, a realisation that frightened me as this single minute lingered on longer.

Hanging in uncertainty.

Until something snapped between us.

I don't know if Spencer felt it as strongly as I did, but if his leaning in was any indication then I would have confidently said that he wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss him.

His hand twisted to take hold of mine, squeezing it just before our lips connected.

It was the sincerest kiss I'd ever experienced, not that there were many to pick from in my years, though suffice to say that it was also the only kiss I'd had where I felt just as passionate as my partner.

A kiss from Spencer was unique in a way I couldn't describe, a way purely for myself to enjoy in this moment until we broke away.

Much to my disappointment.

He leaned back first and I composed myself before meeting his eyes, both of us looking at the other uncertainly, a thick silence lingering as my lips tingled.

"That was something," I eventually smiled.

"Not a bad something."

"Not at all," I shook my head.

"It's no surprise, around forty percent of couples were friends befo-"

With a huffed laugh, I leaned back in and cupped his face in my hands, smushing his cheeks just a little to silence him.

"Just this once, Spence, I'm going to ask you to please stop and just do it again."

He looked at me with slightly widened eyes as I let his face go, though he still smiled and nodded, reassuring me that I hadn't unintentionally hurt his feelings.

We leaned back in and continued where we had left off.

Thankfully, this was also the perfect distraction from me having to tell him that we were technically barely friends just this morning.