Delicate [spencer reid x reader] ✔️

the movie

warnings: spoilers for Little Women

You sigh, eyes scanning the pages of your Word document, the letters practically swimming off the page. You've been writing for a couple hours, and the more you look at your dissertation, the more your head hurts. You push your laptop away from you, scooting back from your desk. Standing, you walk into your kitchen, flicking your electric kettle on. You stand on your tiptoes to grab a mug and put the teabag and sugar in, waiting for the water to boil. The little click from the kettle rings out around the empty room, and you pour the hot water into the mug, stirring it slowly before heading back into your room.

Your phone buzzing on your desk makes you jump, and you knit your brow, glancing down at the caller ID. An unsaved number. Your heart races slightly as you pick up the phone, knowing it was probably who you've been waiting to hear from the past two days.

"Hello?"

"Hello." Spencer's voice is soft from the other line, and you smile to yourself.

"How are you?"

"I'm alright," he says. "I saw your text a couple days ago, I'm so sorry, I've just been so busy."

"It's fine!" You reply, your voice reassuring. "How's work?"

"It's okay." He pauses for a moment. "How's your dissertation?"

You sigh, leaning back in your chair. "It's good. I'm tired of looking at it."

Spencer laughs, the sound high-pitched and bubbly in your ear. "I never asked you what it was over."

"Free will."

"Free will?" He questions. "Hm. What's your stance?"

"Well," you start, "Hobbes and Hume suggest that free will exists so long as nothing prevents one from carrying out their decision."

"And do you agree with them?"

"I think they fail to understand the distinction between freedom of will versus freedom of action."

Spencer pauses. "Free will is necessary for the performance of free actions."

"That's only if you believe free will exists," you say, taking a sip of your tea. "But I'm specifying free will and determinism in my dissertation, not free action."

"Mm," Spencer hums on the other line. "Do you believe in determinism?"

"I do," you respond. "I believe everything happens for a reason. Everything is...pre-determined. The universe has already laid everything out for us. I believe in fate."

"Fate." Spencer says the word like it's almost foreign.

"Yeah, fate." Your lips turn up at the corners.

"So...the universe planned on me calling you tonight?"

You laugh, nodding to yourself. "Yes, it did. It was pre-determined."