Five Times Spencer Reid Didn't Stim In Front of His Team and One Time He Did
1.
As creepy as it probably made her sound, Penelope Garcia liked looking at Reid's hands.
Firstly, Reid had lovely hands. All long fingers and smooth skin. Her mother would've called them piano hands. Also, they always seemed to be moving, like a dance to some music only they could hear.
And she noticed the times they moved least was probably the times they need to move most.
On their team the whole 'no profiling the team' rule was often cited and rarely followed, so the team have come to an agreement that their youngest isn't neurotypical. They all reached the same conclusion.
But Reid has very rarely stimmed in front of them (these times including once spinning on a chair, another doing a very slight rocking/bouncing motion in one of the Round Table chairs, and other small barely noticeable stims) and while Garcia was sure it wasn't because he distrusted or was uncomfortable around them, he just wasn't comfortable stimming in front of them.
Just like now.
They were watching Doctor Who at her place when he went into one of his 'Reid rants' when it happened.
The man did this long almost swatting motion and raised it a bit, the second time his hand swatted down it started to look more like a flapping motion.
As his hand swatted down again Garcia thought hand flapping was a fitting stim for such busy hands.
Something in her face or body language must have given away her delight (for all the times for Reid to understand body language it had to be this one!) because his expression changed and his hands were put on his lap and long fingers twisted together.
She didn't dare say anything, she figured the best way to let him know he could stim in front of her was not make a big deal out of his stimming or lack thereof. Which for her was hard.
Garcia leaned back and turned her attention to the TV and said nothing.
Reid also said nothing but nervously twisted his fingers.
2.
After working with Reid for a few days, Aaron Hotchner started researching autism.
After a rather extensive internet search, he came to the conclusion yes Dr. Spencer Reid had autism.
And did nothing to alter his behavior.
Hotch reasoned that Reid could take care of himself without special accommodations and used it as a sign of trust. Trust that Reid was a capable agent.
That's why he was never annoyed when he gave the young agent a clipped 'Reid' when he went on a rant and during the LDSK case he was half afraid Reid wasn't going to get his plan.
Right now he wished he did a bit more research on stereotyped movements.
It was after the Tobias Hankel case, and Reid was on the brink of a sensory meltdown.
His eyes were tightly shut and he clenched a fistful of the hospital blanket while he flinched at any noise.
The rest of the team went back to the hotel an hour and 26 minutes ago, much to their dismay, and still Reid hasn't moved.
The elder man could only assume Reid was just too uncomfortable to stim in front of him.
Hotch could understand, trust was difficult. To build it and keep it, but add in the severe bullying his agent most likely endured during school building trust was even harder.
The black-haired man smiled faintly at the memory of Reid saying he kicked like a nine-year-old girl, but faded as he remembered that wasn't that long ago.
Reid let out a faint pained noise and Hotch finally decided to act.
"Reid."
He flinched, but slightly turned his head to the general direction of Hotch's voice.
"I'm going to go to the cafeteria. I'll be gone for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Is there anything you want or need?"
At first the younger didn't react, but after a few moments did a vague motion at his neck and chest.
"Your tie?"
A nod.
Hotch quickly grabbed the requested garment and placed it over Reid's re-clenched hand.
He turned around to leave and out of the corner if his eye he saw Reid unclenching his hand, turn it over, and grab the tie.
Reid was most likely going to have some sort of fallout after this case, and Hotch had no idea what to do about it.
3.
Spence was the little brother she never had.
Which is probably why she mothered him a bit and tried to be there for him.
It was the case with Sammy Sparks that she was sure he had autism.
Which, when she thought about it, explained a lot about him.
It wasn't until Henry started showing signs of repetitive behavior she looked up stimming and sensory disorders.
It not only explained Henry's behavior, but explained a few things with Spencer too.
Not that he has often stimmed in front of her, but why he never seemed uncomfortable around her son's 'odd' behavior, additionally why he seemed more sensitive to certain noises, lights, and motions.
She noticed his lack of public stimming rather later.
It was when she had ridiculous amount of paperwork to do, and for once Reid left the office on time while she was there for an additional two and a half hours.
What she didn't expect was a clean apartment, the smell of food, Will passed out on the couch, and a young voice whisper-shouting "Let me taste Uncle Spence!" Before a hastily added 'please'.
"Henry…?" She cautionly said turning to the kitchen.
"MOMMY!" Was her response as a blond blur started running towards her.
"Hi JJ." Was Spencer's much more subdued response.
After Henry had some hugs and kisses, JJ hoisted him on her hip and walked to the kitchen.
"I didn't know you could cook." She said sniffing what was cooking in her crock pot. Spaghetti sauce?
Reid shrugged. "It's essentially chemistry. You just have to know what ingredients go with what and pay attention so nothing burns."
No long rant. Spencer stirred the noodles in the pot.
The rest of the cooking time was spent in silence (except for when JJ sent Henry to wake up Will, so there was a loud gasp and a "WAKE UP DADDY!") and the clatter of setting the table.
After the blonde woman prepared her son's helping, Will preparing his and Jennifer's, and Spence waiting until they were done before getting his own helping.
It was when he sat down she noticed it.
He automatically tucked his feet under him as he sat down.
'Pressure stim' JJ thought as she watched his expression change and he leaned to left to try to untuck his feet without drawing attention to himself.
"We don't have a rule against sitting on your feet at the table." She said (hopefully) casually as she started eating her spaghetti. Spence was a pretty good cook surprisingly.
This was obviously the wrong thing to say.
He stiffened noticeably but said nothing.
After that he wasn't as affable, and as soon as all four of them had the kitchen cleaned up (he insisted) the genius claimed to had to go.
After almost prying her son off his godfather, Spence gave a small half-smile and left.
After doing more research she found out about the "quiet hands movement" and adding that to the bullying she was sure he endured; she never spoke of it again.
4.
Rossi had to admit his original opinion of Reid was poor.
He just came out of retirement to be thrown to the whole 'team' thing so, even if he wouldn't admit it, he was thrown off balance.
Then there was this kid who looked like he was still in high school. And was a 'fan'.
It wasn't that he dislikes the people who read his books, he dislikes fans, and he disliked being made into a celebrity.
His opinion of the kid improved once he adjusted to him and the team.
And he always knew Reid was autistic.
He saw the signs early on, recognizing them from one of his nieces. And seeing with Sammy Sparks just cemented his suspicions.
He was just curious why Reid didn't stim in front of others.
While he knew some autistic people didn't stim but he guessed by Reid's twitchy hands he did. And also between an eidetic memory (that can cause sensory overload disorder) and a schizophrenic mother (people with schizophrenia also stimmed more than neurotypicals) Rossi would be more skeptical if Reid didn't stim than if he did.
The young man was cringing and squinting his eyes when Rossi looked over.
It was obvious he had a bad headache but it was his hands the senior profiler paid attention to.
His fingers were twisting a pen. He clicked it and was about to finish a report before he paused.
He clicked it again.
Rossi's face tightened a bit. He had a pet peeve about people repeatedly clicking pens. He didn't even know why. His niece had a lot of auditory stims. Including meowing, clicking her tongue, and listening to the same song on repeat (then infodumping about them. He could have gladly gone his whole life without knowing there was a band named Puscifer, knowing everything about them, and being able to sing the entirety of 'The Humbling River')
Reid must've realized what he was doing because he clicked it again and wrote the report.
Rossi was somewhat remorseful. Even with people Reid trusted and considered his family he was too uncomfortable to stim in front of.
'Eventually.' Rossi thought as he sat up and headed to his office.
5.
Morgan liked teasing Reid. As did Reid liked teasing him.
Most of the time he recognized it as joking, and if he goes too far Reid has gotten much better about telling so (i.e. the whistle incident).
But he didn't like the idea of that, possibly, the reason Reid refused to stim in front of them was because he thought he would tease.
A conclusion that the team has come to was Reid did stim. He just didn't do it in front of them.
Whether it was from fear of being made fun of, an expectation pounded into him, or just discomfort they all thought hiding it wasn't necessary.
Morgan decided if it was something Reid didn't want to do in front of them then he won't mention it.
And if Reid wasn't saying anything about his possible autism, then they wouldn't say anything either.
Additionally if they had to go to some club on a case he tried to make it as short as possible because he knows the noise and lights bother Reid, having a extra pair of sunglasses in case the younger man loses his, or also having a playlist of classical music his mp3 player in case Reid needed it no one mentioned it. Especially him.
Because while autism explained some of Reid's behavior, he was still like a younger brother to him, and he wasn't just autistic.
He turned around to see Reid.
The genius was staring at the evidence board, leaning forward slightly.
The conference room this police station was letting them use had no windows that the police officers could see them, so that's most likely was why Reid started to unconsciously stand on the balls on his feet. After a moment or two, started slowly bouncing.
Morgan looked away and turned back to his file.
He looked back a few minutes later to see if Reid has had a epiphany yet, only to see his heels planted firmly on the ground.
He turned back to his file.
+1
Dr. Spencer Reid was on the brink of a meltdown.
It was the end of a case and they were on the jet going home.
He still saw the crime scene photos. It pressed inside his skull, it made every noise louder and light brighter and it hurt.
Between his pulsing head and that bout of influenza he spent three weeks getting over he didn't not care.
And he trusted his team.
The rocking started slowly and picked up speed as more of his agitation seeped through.
What he didn't notice was no one was looking; but no one was uncomfortable. The team just carried on in their own conversations and thoughts.
He was grateful.
Not that he suddenly felt fine regularly stimming in front of them, this was one of those few times he has stimmed in front of people (besides his mother) but while he knew they wouldn't judge, he was glad for them treating it as normal. Which it was.
By the time they landed he felt much better.
If anyone is offended by my writing please explain it to me and I'll see if its something I can fix. Thank you for reading!