Hi everyone, it's been awhile! I successfully completed the year at uni and managed to move all of my things out, so hooray! In response to the temporary freedom of summer, I decided to write up the second chapter of this, and post this fic here (it's already up on my AO3 account, if any of you prefer to read you fanficcage there).
Anyhow, about the fic! As is probably evident from my other story Divergence, I've been on a Criminal Minds kick lately, and I find the dynamic and the relationship between Spencer Reid and Nathan Harris (from episode 2.11, "Sex, Birth, Death") to be really fascinating. Since I have a thing for school AUs and teacher-student relationships, I decided to take Reid, Nathan, and some of the other cast members and stick them into a university/high school setting, and see how it panned out! Reid is 25 here, and I'm assuming that Nathan is 15-16 here, as he probably is in season 2's canon.
Heed my warnings, there WILL be underage hanky-panky of some kind as well as a good deal of content revolving around depression, psychopathy, neglect, and self-harm. Given what we all know about the Nathan of canon, this kind of content shouldn't seem too surprising.
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, unfortunately. :P If I did, canon would have stopped at the end of season 5, ahaha.
Here we go!
Occam's Razor
By Eden Lies
Prologue
A formal invitation to a one-on-one meeting with the one and the only Jason Gideon could only mean something serious had come up. Gideon, normally more content in keeping to himself, or at the very least, with keeping things casual, had pulled Spencer out of his auditorium after his three o'clock undergrad class and had asked to have a quick chat with him in his office once the day was through.
His office.
Despite the fact that Spencer Reid was already twenty-five years old, a holder of three Ph.D.'s, and a part-time lecturer at one of the most well renowned universities in the country, but there was just something about Gideon that brought the little boy within him back up to the surface of his skin. It was that part of him that couldn't help but to feel like he'd done something wrong, almost as cliché as stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar. Anxiety coiled low in his stomach. Reid could hardly even bear the thought of Gideon reprimanding him, or God forbid, being disappointed with him.
After stumbling through his last two lectures on the Philosophy of Science (Aristotle and hylomorphism and-), Reid packed his materials back up in a hurry and began to make his way down to Gideon's office. 102, 104, 106- ah, there it was!
Room 108. The shiny brass nameplate adorning the door read:
Jason Gideon, Ph.D.
Department Chair
Philosophy
He'd only been here once before (when he'd initially been interviewed by Gideon for the part-time job), and despite the fact that he'd gotten to know the other man very well over the course of his stay here, the thought of stepping back into the office and being psychoanalyzed by Gideon set his nerves alight. He took a deep breath. Overly stuffed leather armchairs and Gideon's diplomas all hanging on the left wall, framed, about 5.1 inches apart from one anoth-
Spencer rubbed his eyes furiously. My name is Jason Gideon, it's so nice to meet you…that must have been hard on you, being so young…something is bothering you…Bennington Sanatariu-
He took another shaky breath.
It wasn't that he disliked Gideon's company; in fact, it was far from it. Gideon was one of the most fascinating people he had ever met. No other professor, intellectual, or department chair could even hold a candle to the man whose office he was lurking in front of, just for the plain and simple fact that unlike the others, Gideon knew how to be both an academic and a person. He served as both a father figure and an ideal role model to Reid, who was painfully aware of his lack of people skills.
Wiping his slightly clammy hands on his pants, Reid finally mustered up enough courage to raise his fist begin kno-
A large hand landed on his shoulder and he heard an amused voice ask from somewhere just over his shoulder, "How long have you been standing outside?"
He was instantly flooded with embarrassment.
"Uhm, n-not too long..?" Reid squeaked, "I, uh, just didn't know if you were in."
"As you can see," Gideon said with a small smile and a pat to Reid's shoulder, "I wasn't." He paused for a heartbeat and then added, "Let's go inside, shall we? There's an important matter I'd like to discuss with you."
He dropped his hand from Reid's shoulder, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Reid followed.
Jason began with very little preamble.
"Do you know why I asked you to come here today?"
Seated behind his massive mahogany desk, glasses perched slightly lower than usual upon the bridge of his nose, Gideon looked every bit the part of the serious and aging professor.
Reid wrung his hands in his lap.
"To be honest," Reid admitted, "I've been trying to figure that out since you first spoke to me."
Gideon gave him another one of those small smiles and said, "And..? Have you figured it out yet?"
The older man's head shifted a little, and for just a moment, Reid swore that he could see Gideon's eyes flashing from behind the shield of his glasses.
Shit.
"Ah, well, I have a few theories-"
(He'd heard a song, once. The lyrics...when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light…that split the night- fireworks, neon signs, ones filled with Mercury, Hg, atomic number 80, the periodic table-)
Reid cleared his throat.
"It's either that I'm overdue on paying for my parking, or that I've done something out of line, maybe?"
He couldn't bear looking Gideon in the eye, and so instead, trained his gaze upon a small stain on the office's carpeting. The stain, slightly red-ish in nature, was likely a sauce of some kind, perhaps a result of a quick meal eaten on the run.
"I've been trying my best, Gideon, honestly."
There was a split second of silence before Gideon said, "I never meant to imply that you weren't."
Reid's stomach was roiling. He was holding his breath, just waiting for the catch. The probability that 'I never meant to imply that you weren't, but I've just found someone better suited to the job' was about to come out of Gideon's mouth was a very high one. And despite the fact that part of him was angry about being dismissed so easily, the other part of him, the more pathetic one, acknowledged that he wasn't really well suited to be a teacher.
After all, he felt uncomfortable in crowds, was a poor speaker, and had difficulties aiding students emotionally. He loved knowledge and learning, but these days, he wasn't so sure that his students felt the same way.
"Spencer," Gideon said, and Reid knew that it was a silent plea for him to look up. And no matter how nervous he was, no matter how frozen he felt, he couldn't help but to respect Gideon's wishes. Reid slowly tilted his head up and shakily made eye contact with the other man.
"You've been doing a wonderful job here. Don't you doubt yourself for even a second."
It was eerie, Spencer decided, how Gideon could read his mind so well. It seemed to him, occasionally, as if Gideon were some sort of mind-reader or profiler in another lifetime. All other thoughts aside, Gideon's statement had settled most of his jitteriness and caused a warm feeling to spread throughout his body. He wanted to thank Gideon, in some way, reach out and say 'you didn't have to tell me that', but Gideon continued speaking and the moment was lost.
"In fact, just this week I was approached by Erin Strauss, the headmaster of The Morton School," he said, "and she was hoping that we could help her out of a bit of a bind."
Gideon paused to make sure that Reid was following the conversation.
"The school is in need of a philosophy teacher to substitute for the sophomore and junior classes, Spencer. Appropriately, I recommended someone to her."
Spencer's jaw dropped, his brain whirring away-
"You chose me," Reid whispered, torn between happiness and disbelief, and Gideon inclined his head in a nod. The room suddenly felt like it was spinning.
"But why?"
"Because you are qualified for the position," Gideon said simply, "and because I believe that you would do a lot of good there."
"But what about Alex, Professor Blake, she-"
"Reid," Gideon cut in firmly, "I've already made my decision."
The young man fell silent.
When Gideon next spoke, his tone was much more gentle.
"Whatever it is that you may think, Spencer, I hope you know that you deserve a lot more than what you have."
"Gideon-"
"And that sometimes, it is okay to want to take some happiness, some good things, for yourself."