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hands, capable and warm, run their way slowly down the sides of your torso. you can’t quite remember his name, but with the way he whispers your name into the side of your neck like a prayer, you suspect he’s probably known you a while. you’re currently doing your best to loosen the tie he’s wearing but his wandering left hand curving around the back of your thigh is making the simple task a bit more complicated. giving up, you move your hands into his hair and try to hide your smile at his low moan at the movement. he slowly moves his lips from where they currently reside on your neck up to your lips, hovering over them for a moment with a crooked smile before-
you hate alarms. you hate mornings. actually, that’s not true. while you’re not a fan of early mornings, you do appreciate a structured start to your day. however, when the early morning interrupts the best dream you’ve had in a while, well. you hate mornings. bleary eyed and slightly annoyed, you roll out of bed and check your messages. a text from your best friend gives you a small laugh.
erin: kick ass today!! love you! :)
her slightly vulgar message has to do with your TA job starting today. working your way through your masters in one of the most expensive schools in one of the most expensive cities in the country is, well…expensive, and this paid TA job came at the behest of one of your favorite professors. Professor Woods was one of your favorites in undergrad, so when she sent you an email about the opportunity you jumped at it. in addition to your part time job at the record store, this would allow rent and student loans make less of a dent in your monthly expenses. you might even be able to eat out once in a while. you smirked at the thought. you knew that extra money was already committed to whatever records you’d been eyeing at the store and a couple books at the bookshop next door. giving a big stretch you sighed and spoke to yourself, “Okay. Let’s do this.”
after your usual morning routine you pulled on a simple sweater and your least wrinkled pair of jeans, finished with a bit of makeup and looked in the mirror. “Today will be a really good day.” you spoke aloud. you were a cynical person and affirmations had always seemed corny and ridiculous to you. but you were gonna need all the good vibes and positivity you could get to make it through today so hey, why not try it? grabbing your bag and keys as you headed out the door, you checked the time. 7:32. that’s plenty of time to grab a sandwich and coffee. the coffee shop on the way to class was a personal favorite, and as you made your way through its front door you spotted devon, the barista there most days when you came in. “Hey! The usual, right?” he asked with a smile, already grabbing a cup. Devon was kind and a little cute in a dorky way, he always asked about your day in the way that made clear he actually wanted to know your answer. of course, this could also be due to the slight crush you suspected the undergrad student had on you. either way, him being at the shop this morning seemed like a good sign. “Yeah, and a croissant sandwich too please.” you replied. as he wrote your name on the cup you began to dig through your bag for the cash. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile and a shrug. “Gotta fuel you for that first day on the job, right? You look great by the way.” you thanked him as you went to go pick up the order but internally cringed a bit. maybe he liked you a bit more than you originally thought he did. you checked the time again. 7:43. you didn’t have to be at the new professors office until 9, so you sat down to eat a bit and read. your current read was frankenstein, a personal favorite that you read every fall at the first sign of the leaves turning. it was dark, gothic, and at times a bit sad but you couldn’t deny your love for the book and its themes of creation and human nature. your analysis of the book was what made you stand out to Professor Woods in undergrad. she’d called it “pretty good” which, to a 20 year old you was the highest praise you could imagine. the analysis itself sparked conversation between the two of you on mary shelley and other women authors. The professor was known for her deadpan affect, which to some students came off as rude, but you found hilarious. the woman took a personal interest in your education, ensuring that you graduated on time and with honors at that. you held a great amount of admiration for her and were forever grateful for her guidance. speaking of, you remember should probably check to make you’re not late and glance at your phone. 8:52. FUCK. you scramble to gather your things and give a half hearted wave to Devon as you rush out of the coffee shop. late on the first day, that’s really great isn’t it?
you run up the steps to the building and down the hall, thankful that you decided to do a walkthrough of the building a few days before in case of this exact scenario. you stop a few feet from the new professors office to take a moment to gather yourself. the clock across the hall reads 9:01. not bad. mentally you run through what you know of the professor. Dr…Reid. adjunct, he was a hot shot FBI guy who had class pretty irregularly due to his work. you’d also heard that he was a genius and kinda hot, but you’d heard that from erin who was not to be trusted on such topics since she’d said similar things about a date she’d set you up with that went terribly. you straighten your sweater and take a deep breath. first impressions were everything to you, on both sides. you’d be judging him and you knew he’d be judging you. trying not to overthink too much, you knock twice and wait a few moments for a response before entering. you push open the door to find a cozy, softly lit, and slightly messy office. the man behind the dark wooden desk seemed to be engrossed in whatever it was he was reading. you take a deep breath and paste what’s hopefully a charming smile on your face. “Good morning, Dr. Reid? I’m your new TA, it’s nice to meet you.” you said, walking over to his desk. you’re met with complete silence. the pleasant “nice to meet you” smile drops from your face. there’s no way he’s just…ignoring you, right? you stood there for a few seconds, waiting fr him to look up. worst case scenarios rush through your head at top speed. you’d heard horror stories about professors on power trips that treated their TA’s like dogs. dry cleaning runs, all nighters grading papers, and misogynistic dismissals ran through your brain at top speed. oh no, you were not the one for that. you gave him exactly 7 more seconds before, in a voice not quite as sweet as before, you asked again, “Hello?” and his head snapped up immediately. “Oh!” he seemed surprised to see you standing there. you raise your eyebrows in a “yeah, hi.” way. so this was how it was going to be. you steeled yourself, preparing for the arrogant academic type you’d encountered many times before. The professor began to shuffle papers around as if realizing the disarray his desk was in due to the sudden presence of someone else. a glance at the watch on his wrist cleared his face of confusion. “The time completely slipped away from me,” he said and a kind, apologetic smile appeared on his face as he gestured to the chair in front of him. “Please, have a seat. I’m sorry, I don’t necessarily shake hands but it’s very nice to meet you, I’m Dr. Reid.” your smile returned as you took a seat. that’s more like it, you thought. not an ass, just a bit absent minded. alright, you could work with that. “That’s alright, I’m not a fan of shaking hands either, honestly.” you replied. you’d had a thing about people touching you since you were a child that eternally irked Erin, who’s love language was being glued to your side. Dr. Reid’s face lights up at the commonality. “Hands have one of the highest pathogen transmission rates on your entire body, so avoiding handshakes is actually a very healthy decision. Of course not always avoidable, but glad to know we’re on the same page about that.” you nod with a polite smile. pretty random info dump but hey, good to know. hopefully your shared apprehension toward handshakes puts you on his good side. nice or not, TA’s sometimes ended up taking the brunt of the professors grading work, and with your schedule this year, you’d need a little lenience. he begins straightaway. “So as I’m sure you know, I work with the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI as a profiler, which means that i’m often called away assist with cases. Because of this, a significant amount of the lecturing may fall to you. Is that all right?” he asks this genuinely, you note, not as a way of weeding out any weaknesses. you admire that. “Professor Woods briefed me on the situation when she recommended this position to me, it’s not at all a problem.” you reply. “I’ve read up on the course materials already and did some extra reading since behavioral science isn’t my discipline; David Rossi’s books have been my entire reading list the past few weeks.” you chuckle at that last part, thinking of how confused the bookstore owners had been at your bulk ordering of books on serial pathology after your last reading kick of fantasy romance. Dr. Reid nods, seemingly impressed with your diligence. you pause, internally wondering if you should be proud that you impressed him or insulted that he might have underestimated you. fully distracted, you file that bit of overthinking away for later analysis, focusing back on what he’s saying. “…actually funny, Dave’s on my team!” you sit up suddenly, your carefully perfected first impressions facade quickly falling apart. in preparation for the class you’d spent the summer reading David Rossi’s books and had become something of a fan. you gasped, “Seriously? I wanted to attend one of his book signings a couple months ago but ended up having to work. and I thought he retired in the late nineties, that’s amazing that he’s still working with the BAU. He’s a legend of the field. ” Dr. Reid chuckles a bit at the last part. “He’s also a legend at cooking, you should taste his carbonara. Next time he makes something for the team I’ll bring some, if you like.” the smile that breaks onto your face is genuine when you reply, “I’d love that actually, thank you.”
this was not at all what you expected. from the bits of information from Professor Woods and Erin mixed with your own overactive imagination, you’d prepared yourself for a strict, no-nonsense, possibly misogynist, mean old professor, not the absentminded, kind man in front of you who couldn’t have been older than 33. perhaps this would be easier than you thought. the conversation flowed easily for the next few minutes, ranging from lesson plans (he agreed to have them waiting for you in his office dropbox at the beginning of every week) to favorite holidays (you both favored halloween). as he spoke, you annoyedly admitted to yourself that erin was not wrong. he was cute. he was dressed a bit like a 1950s accountant but with his gangly frame and nerdy mannerisms it worked. his hair was messy in a way that made you think he didn’t pay it much attention, but with his curls it was endearing. and his hands. God, you-he had stopped talking. why had he stopped talking. you eyes shot to his face, where a small smile rested. “What?” you asked, slightly panicked that you’d been caught. “You’ve been profiling me, haven’t you.” he asked softly. you stared back at him quietly, thinking of how best to respond. he wasn’t wrong, aside from you checking him out a few moments ago, you’d been making mental notes of every comment, response, and answer he’d given. not to mention that it had become clear to you that the genius thing wasn’t a rumor or oversimplification, his messy office, verbiage, stacks of annotated books, and unfinished chess game sitting on a coffee table all indicated to you that he was the real deal. you decided on the truth. “Yes, but not intentionally. It kind of happened subconsciously, and I tend to overanalyze things anyway.” you wondered if he would ask what you’d observed about him, but he didn’t. it was his turn to go quiet. he held your gaze for a few moments and you fought the urge to turn away from the intensity you found in his eyes. it was only fair, you’d been analyzing him, now it was his turn. his eyes roamed your face and you tried not to tense up under his gaze. you knew that your crossed arms implied defensiveness, your chipped manicure revealed that while you tried to take care of yourself, you didn’t always have the time for it, and that the resume that was sticking out of your bag implied that you were the over prepared type, especially since you technically already had the job. you allowed him to see all this about you, taking deep breaths through the silence. finally, he leaned back in his chair and you exhaled slowly, waiting for his response. he gave a small smile and simply replied, “You’re going to be great at this.” at that moment his phone rang and he excused himself. you sat back in your chair, grateful for the excuse from a conversation that had gotten suddenly very intense. there were probably a great many other things he’d observed about you, and you couldn’t help but be a little grateful that he didn’t point anything else out. after a few murmured words he hung up and turned back toward you with an apologetic smile, the intensity from a few moments before gone without a trace. “That was my boss, Aaron Hotchner. We’ve got a case.” he began gathering his things and you stood up with him, getting the feeling that this nice and slightly strange interview was coming to a close. he headed toward the door, holding it for you as you walked through. “We should be back within a few days, absolutely no later than a week. Either way, I should be back for the first day of class.” he said.
you’d walked through the building together and now stood at the front of the building by the staff parking lot. “Do you need a ride home? It looks like it’s about to rain.” he asked. you looked up at the overcast sky that had been perfectly clear earlier on your way here. of course it’d rain on the day you’d brought no umbrella. judging the darkness of the clouds, you replied, “No, I should be alright, I don’t live too far. And I don’t want to hold you up, I'm sure you’ve got a plane to catch.” he nodded, shouldering his brown leather bag.
the wind began to pick up and you smiled a bit. despite your lack of preparedness for it, you loved the rain and the smell of it in the air had you preparing to spend the rest of the day inside, maybe you’d even take a nap. you looked back toward Dr. Reid, who was already looking at you. you noticed his gaze and pulled up the side of your sweater that had started to slip off your shoulder. interesting, you thought, and filed the interaction under “pick apart later” in your head. he gave you a small (possibly embarrassed?) smile and said “It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you in about a week or so?”
“Sounds good.” you nodded and began your walk in the opposite direction. “Good luck on your case, Dr. Reid.” you added as you passed him. as you walked away it dawned on you that for him to get called in to investigate a case, someone must have died. been killed actually, your brain clarified for you. Dr. Reid catches killers. you wondered how different the professor was from the kind, intuitive man you’d just met when in an environment with an active killer. as you turned away he called something back that you couldn’t quite hear over the wind. you turned back around and called “I’m sorry?” The professor struggled for a second, as if he wasn’t sure whether to repeat himself or not. “Reid! You can just call me Reid, if you like.” as the wind blew between the two of you, you tried your hardest to suppress a grin and failed. Reid. “Good luck, Reid!” you called back.
the next week crawled by slowly, with a few shifts at the record store to break up the monotony. Erin worked there as well and when on Friday you caught her up on your introduction with the new professor it took her under 3 seconds to begin gloating. “I told you, didn’t I literally say it? I saw him a few times back when I was dating Nick - remember he was a Criminal Justice major? Anyway, I would walk Nick to class and I definitely saw him in there a few times, with that whole dorky nerd genius thing he has going on. I wonder if he has a girlfriend. Did you ask him if he had a girlfriend?” you and Erin had been friends since childhood, moved to a new city together and were completely inseparable. and because you had spent so much time around her, and because Erin could talk for weeks on end without taking a breath, you’d perfected the art of tuning her out. she snapped twice in front of your face and you looked up from cataloging the C section of jazz vinyls with an exasperated sigh. “no Erin. i did not ask the man who is essentially my employer if he has a girlfriend during my first conversation with him.” you replied dryly. she rolled her eyes and continued swinging her feet as you pushed the cart holding her and several records down an aisle. “You’re boring. I mean how are you supposed to have hot-for-teacher hookups with him if you don’t know whether he’s taken or not?” you abruptly stop pushing the cart, causing Erin to stumble off of it. you fix her with a glare. “Number one. I am not hooking up with Rei-Dr. Reid, at all. not happening. And two, don’t we both work here? Why am I the only one cataloging right now?” pushing out a dramatic sigh, she began to walk back over to her own cart in the rock section, much fuller than yours that’s now almost done. “You know I’m not capable of multitasking. It’s one of my very, very few flaws.” turning back towards your section with a smile, you mentally thanked her for not mentioning your clear slip up with how casual just “Reid” sounded. and she probably also knew that you’d left off some details, like how you’d almost got caught checking him out, or how you might’ve caught him checking you out. for as much as she teased, the girl knew you well enough to know when to stop pushing. the interview itself had been on your mind in the days since it happened. later that night after work, making yourself a cup of tea before bed you wondered, how many had this serial killer killed before the BAU had been called onto the case? had they figured out the signature yet? how did Reid deal with the weight that a job like this surely left one with? settling into bed, you picked up your phone to distract you from your sudden barrage of thoughts, only to be confronted by them.
Unknown Number: Hi, this is Spencer Reid. Sorry to text at such a late hour, I hope it’s alright that I got your number from the faculty directory. Just wanted to let you know that my team finished our case early, so I’ll be back soon if you’d like to meet up at my office around 8:30am on Monday to go over the syllabus?
you literally laughed out loud at the propriety of the message. you might’ve been right about your 1950s analysis, he sure did text like an old man. you spend the next 12 minutes trying to come up with the most casual yet professional and not too nosy response.
you: hey! yeah, i’d love to meet up and go over the syllabus together. did everything work out with your case?
you couldn’t help with the last question, you’d been wondering for days about the details of the case. maybe it was an invasive question, but your curiosity outweighed your capability for small talk. his response didn’t come for a while, and as you showered and got into your pajamas, you worried that you’d overstepped. you had just met the man, why should he have to answer that question from you? you grumpily cursed erin for planting thoughts of nosiness in your head. it wasn’t until right after you’d finished your nightly chapter of frankenstein that his response came.
Reid: It went pretty well, actually.
No details, but it sounded like the case had ended happily. The short message had actually satisfied your curiosity, for now. It was his next text though, that sent you into a slight spiral.
Reid: I think your good luck helped.
you put your phone down. picked it up. typed something. deleted it. put it back down. got up and walked in a circle. sat back down. Then typed out a message and quickly hit send.
you: i’m very glad it did.
you set the phone down with a frown. then once again, picked it immediately back up, took a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to Erin with an all encompassing “????”. what did he mean by that? glancing at the clock you sighed, knowing you had a shift in the morning and needed to be asleep already. it had been a long week, and with classes of your own starting soon you’d need all the sleep you could get. these next few months would be a lot, you knew. with classes, TA’ing, and the record store, you could feel every available free minute slowly disappearing. you’d always hated to be idle and as a way of overcompensating, would occasionally take on too much. you would always appreciate the breaks from constantly being on the go, but at the same time could feel each minute not used productively slipping a way, second by second. so you took on one job, then another. you had promised yourself that you’d finish your masters this year, and degrees don’t fund themselves. you sighed, long and loudly, exasperated at your own neuroses. you wondered at the ethics of smoking a joint when your almost-boss was in the FBI. deciding not to tackle that dilemma, you turned out your lamp with a sigh. you would have to spend the next few days getting your mind ready for what this semester would bring.
as you slipped under the covers though, you tried to suppress a smile. you didn’t really believe in luck, and had just said what you did to Reid as a way of goodbye and a hope for a safe journey. but the fact that it had lingered in his head long enough for him to associate his teams success with what you’d said? it put a warm feeling in your chest that stayed there as you drifted off to sleep.
Monday morning came fast. After a stop at the coffee shop for another coffee and pastry from Devon-you suspected you might be onto something with the crush theory after this one was “on the house” as well-you made your way to the criminal justice building, making your way upstairs with all the energy of someone who’d gotten 4 hours of sleep. In preparation for your meeting with Reid you’d spent the night before compiling what little you could find of the class curriculum from the schools website. you were nothing if not prepared. your slightly neurotic train of thought was interrupted however, as you heard someone calling for you to hold the door. “Hey!” Reid called as he jogged up to the door. “Thanks for holding it, my car wouldn’t start so I had to take the metro.” He looked slightly disheveled, his jacket and tie askew. however, what drew your eye more immediately was two things. one, he’d gotten a haircut. his hair that had been an unruly mess upon your first meeting was now a much shorter unruly mess. you could see the shape of his face much better now, and golden brown curls fell across his forehead, almost touching the sunglasses that were beginning to slip down his nose. he looked…good. any other dangerous adjectives that might have followed that were cut off by your notice of the second thing, two cups of coffee, one in each hand. he noticed your glance and gave a sheepish smile. “I figured since we’re getting an early start that I might get us some coffee.” his eyes caught on the half empty coffee cup and pastry in your own hands and he sighed. “Clearly, you had the same idea.” you glanced down at the cup, suddenly self conscious of your free drink in the presence of his probably better and hotter free drink. “Hey, i’ll take it! This one wasn’t great anyway, I got it for free from a place right by my apartment.” you said, throwing the cup into the trash as he held the door for you to walk through. for as much as you loved that little coffee shop, you only suffered their coffee out of convenience. you took the cup from him with a small smile, and on a second thought, broke your lemon cookie in half and handed him a part. “You should eat something too. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or so I’ve heard.” the smile he gave at this simple offer almost shocked you. it was adorably radiant and surprised, as if people didn’t think to give him half of a probably slightly stale cookie very often. “Hey, thanks! And you’re completely right, the caloric intake needed in the hours after you first wake up really does sustain you for the entire day. While sugar isn’t necessarily the best carbohydrate to do the job, I find it really gives me the rush I need to start the day. I also really like lemon cookies, Garcia will make them for me sometimes if I ask nicely. ” he said all this walking in stride with you toward his office, gesturing animatedly with his hands. you took his cup from him as he unlocked the door to his office, continuing his talk on breakfast carbohydrates and his coworker Garcia’s frequent baking habits as you sat down and began to go through your papers. then he suddenly stopped talking, and you glanced up. his face had gone from excited to quiet and shy so suddenly you thought you’d done something wrong. he stood by the couch with a sheepish smile, once animated hands now shoved deep into his pockets. “Sorry for talking your ear off so early in the morning. I know I can talk a lot, you can let me know when it’s too much. My team likes to tease me about how I go on and on.” he then moved toward his desk quietly, arranging his things as he sat. you frowned. “Reid.” He looked up from the disarray of papers in front of him. “You didn’t have to stop, I liked hearing about breakfast. i don’t know about your team, but personally? I like fun facts. Like, enough to watch the history channel and jeopardy before bed.” you said with a chuckle. how strange that a man who was a lecture professor felt bad about talking. the stare he gave you was indecipherable, somewhere between amusement and confusion. “Thanks. That’s really nice.” was his reply. this guy. he was kinda weird. he was talkative at times, and shy at others. and yet, he had already brought you coffee, offered you a ride, seemed to consistently hold your door. and more importantly, he had noticed that you tended to notice pretty much everything upon your first meeting. not many people noticed your noticing, and it felt strangely good to be seen by someone who did the same. so weird as he may be, you liked him. you lifted your second free coffee of the day toward him in a mock toast. “To fun facts. And lemon cookies.” you said with a small laugh at your own corniness. but he just lifted his cup too with a smile and added, “And free coffee.”