Title: Dancing In Clubs
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Reid/Morgan, Prentiss, team, OCs
Genre: Romance

Rating:K+
Summary: Weekend. A promise of no cases. A severe lack of sleep. This is the perfect time for Spencer to do his new favorite thing; clubbing with a pair of friends. When he dances he doesn't remember all those bad things. It's nice. It's fun.
Author's Note: I dedicate this to Rayne McKenna, because she did some awesome pics that I got to peek at (and did I ever!). The idea for this story occurred to him during the weekend when I was stuck with my roommate and her new boyfriend. In Copenhagen at the most epic festival ever. Staying with a couple, not always as much...

Disclaimer: Srsly? But I would have brought Thomas Gibson back too! I have big hopes for the next season!

Warning: None! We have some (a case of extreme and flashy) gay pride but that's it. A slight spoiler to that episode where we find out Morgan was raped by Buford.

"Listen up, Erin," SSA David Rossi said and looked intently at the sour woman on the other side of the desk. "Even if our team is the best one out there, and we complete cases no one else has even a shot at, it doesn't change the fact that we're only human. We've been working our asses of the last month – we've barely been home in Virginia! I can't remember the color of my bathroom anymore!"

"Didn't you just redecorate?" Erin Strauss asked, severely miffed that Rossi continued to piss her off by using her first name.

"All the more reason for me to remember!"

"You're not listening, director Strauss. This is not us asking for the weekend off," Unit Chief Aaron 'Hotch' Hotchner said coolly. "This is us telling you that none of our team members, not even Agent Jareau, will be answering any calls about cases between Friday afternoon and Monday morning."

The woman looked at the serious faces in front of her, and even if she hated giving in to the them she knew they were right. Hell, she had planned to let them off easy for a while herself.

Not that she was ever going to let them know.

He loosened his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt while looking at the black t-shirt and pair of jeans lying on his bed. They were both a lot tighter than the clothes he usually wore but it was a special night and Spencer had promised Prentiss ("Emily! I'm Prentiss at work and Emily off the clock! How come you always forget – I thought you were a genius!") and she carried a gun and a good shot. Plus, he was actually looking forward to going out with her.

His new closer relationship with Prentiss – Emily – started around the time he had told Garcia he was gay. The tech analyst had been ecstatic and talked about anal sex for fifteen minutes before he had to excuse himself and stumbled into Emily who had been right behind him listening to Garcia's ramble.

She had been even happier than Garcia about Spencer's sexuality and was the sole reason he found himself on a blind date with a friend of hers, Lucas, who "was such a sweetheart and so much fun, and they would just be the cutest couple ever". Lucas and Spencer was quick to determine that they had absolutely nothing to say to each other and decided to go to a club Lucas knew. Spencer had been reluctant at first, but then Lucas gave him a brief introduction to dancing and suddenly Spencer didn't mind. The next weekend they went out again, this time bringing Emily who turned out to be a 'fag hag', a term Spencer hadn't heard of before Lucas had fallen down his chair laughing at his lack of knowledge.

Their outings turned to a sort of routine. Every Friday Spencer and Emily didn't have to work, they would call Lucas and the three of them would go out, dance and bring home strange men.

Or Lucas and Emily would, Spencer didn't have the nerve.

And he really didn't want to.

He knew it was stupid and illogical, but he couldn't help but feel unfaithful if he even danced with someone beside Emily and Lucas. He would beat himself up about it every time he came back from a Friday of dancing and promise he would try to be more outgoing the next time and that Morgan didn't care.

Never would.

Spencer tried hard not to glance over at Morgan every few moments, but he could see something was troubling his friend and he just ached to help him. He sighed silently and forced his eyes back to the papers in front of him. He could ask what was wrong, but Morgan's distress was barely visible if you didn't watch closely, and Spencer didn't want anybody, and especially not him, to know just how closely he was watching his best friend and unrequited crush.

He permitted himself a small glance again and tried to make it seem natural as he swept his gaze around the room from Anderson to Prentiss. Who was looking right back at him. With a knowing look in her eyes.

Oh, crap.

She knew.

She smiled faintly and left with a softly muttered 'bathroom' and Spencer counted to twenty in his head before getting up from his chair and moving as slowly as possible across the bullpen the way Prentiss had disappeared.

He found her resting against the wall next to the vending machine, looking down at the floor, her fingers tapping a soundless rhythm on her forearm.

"You know?" Spencer breathed and almost didn't expect Prentiss to have heard.

"Of course I do."

"Does Morgan know too?"

Prentiss finally looked at him a thoughtful look on her face. "I honestly don't think so."

"But Morgan is just as good a profiler as you, if not better. Not to insult you or anything, I'm just being objective. Well, as objective I can be while harboring romantic feelings for an involved part. Although some would claim that I wouldn't be able to be even remotely objective since I know the both of you, and I can see their logic-"

"Calm down, Reid. Call it female intuition. He still thinks you're just the adorkable Spencer Reid, his best friend and nothing more."

"I think that hurt more than intended," Spencer said after a long pregnant silence.

"Truth often does."

He discarded his trousers and started the struggle to pull on his black jeans. He remembered the big discussion he had had about the size of the pants but Emily had been hard as steel and watched him carefully when he had paid. He had felt very much like a kid at the time.

But they did make his butt look great, he had to acknowledge when he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

Someone sounding like they were in a horror movie and the killer was right at their heels knocked on Spencer's door and he smiled a little and shook his head as he pulled on his tight black shirt and walked leisurely through his living room and unlocked the door to face a pretty pouting man and Emily in a short blue dress.

"What took you so long, bitch?" the man said and pushed Spencer to the side so he could enter the sparsely furnished room. He was wearing a pink shirt and had bleached hair. If you were the type who supported generalization you would expect him to own a tiny dog with a silly name that he would carry around in big colorful handbags.

The dog was a chihuahua called ChiChi and Lucas had four different sized and colored bags but never brought his Baby to the clubs the frequented.

"I'd prefer if you didn't call me names, Lucas," Spencer called after his friend and locked the door after Emily.

"But you're such a tease, Spency – I just can't help it! Do you have any alcohol?"

"We didn't come here to get drunk, Luke," Emily said and dropped down in the couch next to where Lucas had decided to leave his jacket. He was standing next to it tapping his foot impatiently.

"Well, then we have to go soon, because I'm just going to die if I don't get something fruity and sugary with alcohol in it soon! Is that what you're going to wear? Looks nice, can I put some makeup on you?" Spencer hadn't taken some time getting used to Lucas and his moods.

"Yes, this is what I'm going to wear, thank you, and no. I just need some shoes and I'm ready to go."

"You're so boring! Even if you do have gorgeous eyelashes," Lucas said.

"It fits you well," Emily said at the same time.

Spencer hid his smile by leaving the room to find his shoes in his bedroom. He could secretly use some sugary drink too, even if it had alcohol. He felt a bit depressed already, he wouldn't mind going all out for once.

Prentiss held up three fingers for Spencer to see, their secret sign telling that they would be going out. He nodded in reply and collected some files he would look at Saturday afternoon when he had gotten the sleep he needed. He was interrupted by Morgan.

"So, do you have any plans for the weekend, Reid?"

God, he was so beautiful. "Yes, in fact I do."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Well, erm... Actually me and Prentiss have this-"

Spencer was saved from answering any further when Morgan's phone rang. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or what as he really wanted to spend time with the oder agent but he wasn't comfortable with letting him know just how he spent his Friday nights.

"Morgan." Derek didn't recognize the number and he was annoyed. If the caller didn't have a very good reason for calling his language might turn colorful.

"Derek! Hey, it's me – Tony!"

"Tony, my man," Derek said and a bit of his annoyance left him. Not all of it though. "What are you doing calling me all of a sudden?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I happen to be in D.C. tonight and I don't fell like spending the night alone. Any plans?"

Derek glanced at Reid who was packing his messenger bag with his back turned to him. "Nope, no plans whatsoever. You're bringing the pizza, I'll provide the beer?"

"That sounds like a plan! I'll be at your place at seven."

"I'll text you my address."

Derek ended the call, his emotions a mix of anticipation and regret. You'd think he would learn eventually.

"Have a good weekend," a voice called and Morgan turned around to see Reid's backside disappear out the door.

It was by far his favorite place among the bars Emily and Lucas had dragged him to, and there had been a few. It wasn't a gay bar (they had quickly figured out that those places and Spencer didn't go well together. Apparently Spencer looked disturbingly like a stereotypical twink, a new term to him, and everybody expected him to be a lot stupider and somewhat of a slut) but it was gay friendly and played decent music at a level that didn't render your deaf after a couple of hours. And there was lots of space for dancing, which was why he allowed the others to force him with them. As they said after trying to convince him to go one of the first time, a man and a woman arriving together looked like a couple and they were very much not a couple.

So here they were.

In the middle of the dance floor.

Spencer sandwiched between Emily in front and Lucas in the back, grinding like their lives depended on it. And it was exhilarating and Spencer could feel his heart beat rip through his body and hear his loud pulse beat in his ear. He was sweaty and thirsty and his head buzzed from a few fruity drinks with names he blushed from saying out loud. To put it short; Spencer was enjoying himself immensely.

With a wink Emily left the two men to dance with each other as she spotted a muscular man at the bar who had been checking her out for the past ten minutes and Spencer was suddenly turned around to dance with his front to Lucas, one of his legs wedged between his, and they were so close he could smell the alcohol on Lucas' breath and they burst into laughter and threw their heads back and gave up their control for the sake of the hypnotizing beat.

When Spencer was dancing he always forgot just why he had been doing drugs.

This was so much better.

Emily was having a lot of fun too. Her hips swayed from side to side with a strange man's hand on the left side for support and her back pressed against his chest.

She wasn't completely sure if she had heard it right but she thought his name might be Brad and she didn't really care – he wasn't one of the men she would bring to her home. Tonight she would go home alone so she could regain some of the sleep she'd lost in the past month's time, and going out with her gays (which she herself found to be a clever pet name for her favorite gay guys) were really just a way of venting some or her pent up emotion.

Tonight she was here to dance and feel wanted and let herself go for an hour or two. Then she would go home.

Well, unless of course she met Mr. Right, in which case all rules were suspended, but all women knew that.

She smiled and let her hand trail up her torso and bury in her hair, lifting it to let some air cool the back of her neck. It wasn't exactly cold air, but it felt nice against the sweaty skin and she smiled and looked around her, searching for Spencer. She always felt responsible for him when they went out. She was older than him and she was the one to introduce him to the tornado called Lucas. She had never expected for the two of them to work, but Spencer would need someone he could relate to with his sexuality, even if that was the only point. And she had to admit that Lucas really was the very opposite of Spencer. He was all colors, and parties, and lovers, and-

Wait!

Was that?

It couldn't possibly... Right?

She stopped moving and gaped at the spot at the bar where she had picked up Brad what felt like only minutes ago.

Morgan.

What was he doing here?

Only one way to find out, Prentiss decided and smiled apologetically to Brad before making her way to the bar where Maybe Morgan was looking right back at her with an unreadable look on his face.

"Morgan?" she asked when she finally made it through the crowd. "What are you doing here?"

"Having a beer with a friend," he said and nodded towards two beers on the tabletop. "What are you doing here? I thought you had plans with Reid, he told me so earlier today."

"Well-"

"Is he here too?"

Emily's silence seemed to be sufficient of an answer as Morgan hopped of his bar stool and looked at her expectantly.

He hadn't seen Tony for three years. They had gone to college together, Tony being on the football team with him but continuing even after Derek busted his knee. He was nice to him afterwards and would continually invite him along when the team did things together. When Derek thought about it Tony had always been annoyingly invested in his life, be that social or otherwise, as he had gone and actually gotten him a tutor when he had experienced some trouble with some of his courses.

Now it looked like he was doing it again.

"I don't feel like going out. I've had about ten hours of sleep put together these last three nights," he said and felt disgustingly like he was pleading.

"Not important," Tony said and showed Derek the entire content of half chewed pepperoni pizza in his mouth in a manner so very like college. "I've heard about this place from one of the guys I worked with and I feel like going out."

"Why don't you go with that guy then?"

"We work together – that would be beyond awkward!"Tony took a long draft from his beer and laughed silently. "Go out with a coworker! Right!"

Derek looked down at the slice of pizza on his plate and knew he was about to do something incredibly stupid, but wasn't able to stop. "I'm in love with one of my coworkers."

"Oh... That's stupid!" Derek gave Tony a scathing look and his friend shrugged. "Is she hot then?"

"Actually," Derek cleared his voice, "actually, it's a man."

"Sorry, is he hot then?"

And then one of those stunned silences happened where one part is completely at ease and not at all as surprised as the other part had expected.

"Is that all you have to say?" Derek asked in disbelief. With all the nights of complete agony he had gone through he found it hard to believe that one of his best and oldest friends accepted it that easy.

"Well, I've kinda suspected it for a while."

"Wait – what? What do you – how long? Why?"

"Not to rub you past in your face, but you were always a bit too interested in the other guys when we showered after training – not that I minded, I knew you were way too scared to actually act on it. But it was there and I saw it."

Derek rubbed his face and sighed heavily. "I feel stupid now."

"Great, does that mean we're going out?"

Spencer was so caught up in moving in sync with Lucas that he didn't notice Emily before she actually tapped his shoulder. He might have jumped a bit at the unexpected intrusion but regained his wit quickly and turned to see what she wanted.

And froze when he recognized the figure next to him.

"Well, hello there," Lucas crooned behind him and Spencer felt heat rise to his face. "And who might you be?"

"Morgan," Spencer said breathlessly but the song ended and everybody heard it during the small break in the music. He could feel Luca's curious eyes on the back of his skull but he couldn't force his eyes from the man in front of him.

"Reid." Morgan raised his voice above the music and he didn't sound happy at all. "What are you doing here? You hate going out and bars especially."

"I never said that," Spencer said, feeling a bit defensive at Derek's accusing tone.

"Then how come you never had fun when we went out together?"

"Perhaps I just like this place better."

"They're almost identical!" Their voices had been loud to begin with so they could hear each other above the music, but as they exchanged words their voices grew even more in volume, slowly stepping closer to each other so they were all the other would see.

"Maybe," Reid said and tried hard to let a certain amount of chilliness into his voice as he almost-yelled at Morgan, "it has something to do with you abandoning me to go dancing with all those women every time."

"Why didn't you join? Nobody forced you to stay at the table! And apparently you're a perfectly good dancer." Morgan let his eyes wander to Lucas behind him and Spencer felt pure anger rise in his chest.

"I don't like the competition!"

Morgan's face fell a bit and he looked at bit hurt. "I would never go for a girl you wanted. I thought you knew that much."

"I wasn't talking about you." Spencer's voice were flatter than a pancake, which was quite and accomplishment while still keeping his so loud Morgan would hear. The other man frowned as if he didn't quite understand what Spencer meant and he was just about to open his mouth and say something hurtful about Morgan's lacking intelligence when he was interrupted by the present of a strange man who stuck his face up next to Spencer and Morgan who was so close their noses were almost touching.

"So! Who do we have here?" the stranger asked and Morgan jumped back from Spencer with a scowl at the newcomer.

"Tony," he said warningly but was interrupted by Emily.

"I'm Emily Prentiss and this is Spencer Reid, we work with Morgan at the FBI. Oh, and that is our friend Lucas who will grab your butt if you don't watch out." Tony smiled at Emily and gave her an appreciative look before gaining a look of deep thought and moving a bit closer to Morgan while looking to Spencer who crossed his arms in front of him.

"Hey – is this the coworker you're in love with?"

His seemingly innocent question was followed by a stunned silence in which Emily found Morgan to hold a look of pure horror that were very unfamiliar to him.

"I think this is my cue to leave," she said and looked to Tony who looked very content and accomplished. "And you're coming with me," she said, took his arm, and dragged him after her.

"And my cue too," Lucas declared somewhere behind Spencer who felt a slap on his butt and was left to stare at Morgan who was staring right back at him.

He supposed he now understood why people called alcohol liquid courage.

"So," he said and pulled Morgan close by curling his fingers around his belt loops and pulling.

A/N2: "I heard you like Mudkips." Anybody gets the joke? Roommate thought it to be hilarious... I didn't think so... Damn memes!