Dr. Spencer Reid looked up from his desk in the bullpen and glanced around only to see Hotch running… no not running… hurrying to his office. It seemed to Spencer every time he entered a room or turned to look around Hotch hurried away. Spencer's head dropped to his desk with a thump, it took all of his will power to not pick up his head and repeat the motion another ten or fifteen times. He had thought the feeling was mutual, or at least he had thought there may be a chance. Derek was always telling him, If you like the girl you have to put yourself out there and try or you will never know what could have happened. So he had tried, and just as he had figured no one wanted poor little Dr. Reid. If he hadn't known the exact decibel of sound that needed to be produced in order to rupture an eardrum, he would have thought that was the purpose of Hotch's no. He had said it so loudly and emphatically when Spencer had asked him to go have drinks. He had thought it was so well planned, he had waited till they were back from a case and when Hotch's had turned down Derek's request to go out with the team Spencer had followed his lead. Then after waiting for everyone to make their way to the outside he had stepped up to him and just asked him if he wanted to go get a drink. Spencer knew there was a chance he wasn't gay so he figured that would be a way to make it a friends only invite if that is what Hotch had seen it as. Apparently though he knew of Spencer's predilections and found them disgusting. Feeling a tap on his shoulder Spencer looked up at Morgan with his face drawn.
"What's wrong, Pretty Boy? Anybody big brother Derek needs to take care of?"
Returning Morgan's smile he nodded, "Can we catch a cup of coffee after you finish your paperwork, Derek?"
"Yeah, of course kid you know anytime."
Spencer nodded, yes he did know anytime. Derek had become the big brother he always could have used in school. Whereas the rest of the team had known about his drug problem, only Derek had tried to help him get through it, Derek had held him through the shakes, cold sweats and nausea that came with detoxing. Then last Christmas Spencer had been inducted into the Morgan family, Derek knew Spencer would fly to Vegas to spend a day with his mom before spending the rest of the holidays in a hotel room by himself. So he had convinced Spencer to fly out to Chicago after visiting his mom, upon arriving there Fran and the kids had shown him what a real family Christmas should be like. It was like having a second mom and three siblings; for once he wasn't the only kid in class. A year later and it still wasn't a Sunday if he hadn't heard from Momma Fran or one of the girls. Derek knew almost everything about him, everything except for the fact that he was gay. Only Desi knew that and the only reason she knew it was because she had confronted him about it. She had thought he had a crush on Derek and that was why Spencer was there. Once he explained the reality of the situation, she had laughed and thus had begun her campaign to push him to Hotch, she was convinced he had latent tendencies. She was going to mourn this week's update.
"Hey Reid, I am sure your paperwork is already done, always got to be showing off for the boss." Spencer turned a gentle shade of pink and Derek continued, "You know it's ten till the weekend if you helped me we could be out of here in fifteen instead of an hour and fifteen." Spencer nodded and Derek passed him the larger stack of folders residing in his inbox.
Spencer nodded and took the larger half of the pile, glancing up he saw Hotch packing up to leave, seeing him run out on time meant he must have Jack this weekend. Spencer smiled at how hard Hotch was trying with his son, finishing his stack of the paperwork he looked up to see Derek grabbing his coat.
"Come on, Pretty Boy. Let's go get you a cup of sugar and talk."
Smirking back Spencer grabbed his satchel and followed Derek to the garage. Derek always drove when they were in town something about Spencer taking the laws of driving a little too literally. Derek drove them quickly to their normal coffee haunt when they were in town and got out walking straight to the counter to order. Carrying back a black coffee and a caramel macchiato only three fourths of the way full back to the table, Derek sat down and pushed Spencer's coffee and the sugar container to him. Watching until the coffee reached the brim of the cup due to the ungodly amount of sugar Spencer needed to make his brain work. Waiting until Spencer had taken the first fortifying sip, Derek started the conversation.
"Why are you so down? Hell even Ma noticed when she talked to you on the phone yesterday, you are lucky they are letting me try to talk to you first or you would have all of the women descending on you as we speak."
"I took the advice you are always throwing at me, I asked this person I had liked for a while out and they said no. Now whenever I see them they run away from me like I am some walking carrier of the black plague, even though it was mostly rats and fleas that carried it and while I may be a little…"
"Stop! Okay let's get to the part of that speech that wasn't Spencer's genius rant to cloak the actual issue. So you asked some girl out and she turned you down. Well Spence, I hate to tell you this man but rejection is part of the game. It's not like you can see this girl that often anyway, nine times out of ten we are in the office or out in the field for a case… Oh God, is it some someone on the team? Please Spence, tell me it is not Prentiss, anyone but Prentiss."
"It's not Emily, though she is a perfectly likable woman, which you would know if you gave her half a chance as a human being. It's none of the girls on the team, Derek, calm down. Though you may revise your views of anyone but Emily after you figure out who it really is."
"Oh so it's the coffee gal, Elvia or whatever her name is. You don't even really know her man, girls like her they are a dime a dozen, just pick a new one and try again. If it's hard on you we can pick a new coffee joint."
"It's not Evia…"
"Is it-"
"You are never going to guess Derek, and if you did it would be such an anomaly that I would go into shock and then you may never get all of the sordid tale. So why don't you just let me talk?" Derek motioned for Spencer to continue, "It's not a girl at all okay, I am gay."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Since when? Why am I just now learning about this? Who else knows?"
"I have had an inkling that I was more attracted to males since I was a sophomore in college, so I was about fourteen. At first I didn't really know how you would react after learning about your childhood traumas and then the more time that went by it just didn't seem that important-"
"NEVER SEEMED THAT IMPORTANT!!! I have been pushing girls at you and vice versa for years now, especially since the family adopted you. If you would have told me the least I could have done was push you towards the right gender, but NO… Derek is to scarred by his past to understand the words choice and consensual."
"I never said that Derek and you know it, and if you would shut up long enough I could finish my story. I have never felt that you would bash me for being gay just maybe it would be difficult for you. I have only told one other person, and I only told Desi because-"
"Did you just say Desi…Desi as in my… I mean our sister? You told her before you told me! I always thought we were close, Spence, and could tell each other anything."
"Look Derek either let me get through this or I will call Desi and tell HER about my rejection. I am trying to let you in and all you can do is gripe and interrupt me. Now Desi confronted me about being gay, she thought I had some weird twisted crush on you and she wanted to disabuse me of that notion. After we discussed and she figured out who I really liked she was a lot more accepting of me and my place in her family. She was trying to protect you from me because she knew you could never return my supposed feelings." Derek opened his mouth to comment and Spencer gave him a death glare causing his mouth to snap back shut, "Ever since then she has been pushing me to take a chance, but I read that is what sisters do." Derek nodded thoughtfully, "So after a year of pushing and prodding, I finally gave in and asked Hotch out for drinks at which point he shouted no at me and has not hung around me since."
"Wait just one second pretty boy, did you just say Hotch? As in SSA Aaron Hotchner?" At Spencer's meek nod Derek continued, "Oh baby boy, you just can't keep life simple can you? Look I know this is hard to believe but there are plenty of fish in the sea and the awkwardness and heartbreak will fade in time. If tall dark and brooding… emphasis on the brooding is your type, and the quickest way to get over rejection is to get back on the horse… I know this bar tender who may be right for you. I'll set it up, okay?"
"Yeah, I guess… Do you think I am an idiot, Derek?"
"Of course not, kid. You can't control who you like but we will work on moving on, okay?"
~~This occurs the same time as Hayley's talk with Hotch… If you didn't gather that.
