A/N
Okay, well, I gave this idea a shot.
A one-shot. (Oh my God it's too late at night to let me make jokes, I should be asleep already. LOL)
"Isn't she a bit too old for you?" Morgan said, following Reid's dreamy glance. Reid tore his eyes away from SSA Blake and back to his file.
"W-what are you talking about?" he asked, scrambling to catch a couple of loose papers that were about to get knocked off the desk. Morgan caught them and placed them back in front of the younger man.
"What do you think?" he chuckled. "I'm talking about Blake."
A bright red began creeping up Reid's neck and into his cheeks.
"What do you mean, what about her?"
Morgan grinned.
"You have a crush on her, don't you?"
Reid's cheeks only got redder and redder.
"No", he said, fiddling with the file without actually looking at it. "I just happen to think she's a good agent. And she's a brilliant linguist. You know, I've guest lectured with her a couple of times before she joined the BAU."
"Oh I know that, alright. You walked around in a daze for at least a week after each one."
"I did not!" Reid snapped.
"Yes, you did, Pretty Boy. I guess I can see the appeal, though. She's smart. Looks good, too. But still… she has to have about twenty years on you."
"Seventeen years minus one day," Reid corrected him, then looked like he was about to bite his own tongue off.
"I hear you've bothered to check. That doesn't bode well."
"Even if I did have 'a crush' on her, which I don't by the way, it's none of your business," Reid said.
"I'm just looking out for you, man," Morgan said, and his playful mockery was replaced by seriousness. "You do know she's married, right?"
"Who's married?" JJ asked.
"Blake."
JJ smirked and gave Morgan's shoulder a little punch.
"I thought we agreed we wouldn't embarrass him about that!"
"Wait, what?" Reid's face had reached a shade of red so intense it could hardly be found on the colour chart. "You've been talking behind my back? I don't have a crush on her! You want me to spell it out for you? Fine!"
He took a deep breath, and JJ and Morgan both tried to stop him before he said anything, but he was blind to their frantic headshakes and scowls.
"I do NOT have a crush on Alex Blake!"
A moment of dead silence followed this statement, and then a soft, teasing voice spoke behind him;
"No? Well, I guess I'm a bit too old for you anyway, aren't I?"
Reid first looked panicked, then murderous as he glared at Morgan and JJ. He turned around to face Blake. She tried to look stern, but her amusement was obvious.
"Alex… I was just…"
"Don't worry, Spencer, you can stop pretending now. You're not very good at it either way. I just cleared it with Strauss. We're fine, as long as it doesn't affect our work on the field."
"What is going on?" JJ asked, suspiciously.
"I think we're coming out as a couple," Blake said and reached for Reid's hand. Morgan noticed that Blake's wedding band was gone, and when he thought about it, it probably had been absent for at least six months or so.
"We had decided to keep it secret," Reid said, lacing his fingers together with Blake's. "Mostly because of protocol – there isn't an actual rule that forbids two agents from having a relationship, but various offices can have different unwritten policies – but also because, uh…" the blush, that had started to fade, flared up again. He looked to Blake, almost apologetically. She shook her head a little.
"Because Spencer was afraid I'd get a reputation as a cradle robber," she filled in for him. "I never thought much about that part, to be honest. I don't feel that dating a man in his thirties makes me a cradle robber – I'm not that old. And I'm no Mrs Robinson, either."
This time it was Morgan's cheeks that heated up with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, Blake. It's just that we… well, I guess we still think of Reid as a kid."
"You have to take that apology to him," Blake replied, but she smiled. She had been much better at hiding her feelings than Reid had, but now that they knew, yes, it was visible. It was in her body language; it was in her eyes. It was in that smile. "We've been together for almost four months now."
"One hundred and five days," Reid specified, and JJ laughed.
"Listen to him. I'll never have to worry about him forgetting an anniversary, that's promising," Blake joked.
"I don't have a crush on you though," Reid said and leaned in to kiss her. She was still smiling when their lips met. "I'm in love with you," he added in a mere whisper, and kissed her again, more thoroughly and intense this time.
Hotch and Rossi came back from lunch just in time to see the second kiss, and Rossi, without saying a word, took out his wallet and pushed a 50-dollar bill into Hotch's hand.
"Told you they wouldn't last throughout October before going public," Hotch said.
"Hotch? You're my best and my oldest friend, and I say this with all due respect: shut up."