Reid carefully drew up beside Morgan's empty Suburban and put his own black SUV in park. Snow flurries immediately blanketed the windshield and as he slid out of the driver's seat, Reid made sure that his loafers were planted firmly on the ground before making any further movements. The last thing he needed was to go flailing through the snow and crash through Garcia and Kevin's front door.
Garcia's "Let's celebrate Christmas ridiculously early" party had started about 20 minutes ago and since Reid was usually the first to arrive for everything, he had vigilantly decided to experiment with being fashionably late.
His phone chimed with a new text.
Get lost Snow White? D
He worked his fingers over the screen of his iPhone, which thankfully had been replaced after his last one had been flung at Emily accidently.
Here. Let me in? S
Reid felt a wave of excitement flutter through his stomach and down to his groin. The lights had finally come back on at work a few moments after the two agents had apologized to one another and now standing outside of Garcia's house brought Reid back to the familiar fuzzy feeling of being outside of Morgan's childhood home in Chicago only a few days back. He normally wasn't one for parties but even Hotch had announced he was coming and Morgan had been assaulting him with text messages since he had returned home to his apartment with promises that if he came to the party for dinner, he would bring dessert home to Reid.
Whatever that meant, though Reid was pretty certain there would be no food involved.
The door flew open and Morgan's figure cast a shadow across the trampled snow that covered the pathway to the house.
"What did you do, ride a tricycle here?" He joked, grabbing hold of Reid's slim wrist and dragging him inside.
"No, I drove. Slowly. There's a blizzard outside." Reid smiled and unwound his scarf from around his neck.
The small hallway to the house was already decorated with holly garlands and red bows and the familiar scent of baked brownies caused Reid to remember how hungry he was. The only thing he'd eaten today was an entire jar of Nutella.
"You look good, Pretty Boy. Got a hot date?" Morgan ran his eyes appreciatively up Reid's form, taking in his navy and white striped T-shirt that lay beneath a charcoal grey blazer.
"No," Reid blushed, feeling as though he were back in Morgan's bed before they had kissed. "You look nice too, though."
"Thanks." Morgan drew Reid into his arms and gave him a small kiss. "So you ready to be fed to the lions? They've been driving themselves nuts trying to avoid asking me questions about us since I arrived."
Reid paused. Morgan seemed strangely okay with all of the attention they had been getting since the lights came back on at work earlier. Both Emily and J.J. had run to give the men hugs, congratulating them with the same enthusiastic tone that was normally reserved for weddings or pregnancy announcements. Rossi had simply slapped a twenty into Emily's hand and mumbled "about time too."
"You're okay with all of this?" Reid asked curiously, searching Morgan's dark eyes for any hints of deception.
Morgan shrugged. "That blackout was kind of a blessing, really. I got to thinking about everything and came to the realization that we're a family. And family supports one another through their endeavors. And if two people like each other then since when is that a crime?"
Reid smirked at Morgan. "Get that nice speech from Hotch?"
"Okay, fine. But I really did think about us. Spencer, you're worth a whole lot more than some stupid reputation that I previously had at work. Hell, you're worth the whole world. And I'm working on that, so be patient. But in all seriousness…I want this to work. This thing between us is something. And like you said that night in my bed, this meant something to both of us."
Reid smiled. He couldn't believe these words were coming from Morgan's mouth.
"And if two people, uh, you know, love… each other, then who I am to break that spark?"
Reid's heart slowed momentarily as he took in Morgan's words. He watched Morgan's lips.
Love?
"Love?" Reid reiterated out loud.
Morgan's lips twitched up in a small smile. He took Reid's hand in own warm palm and led him through to the kitchen. "Come on, Pretty Boy."
"Look who it is, our boy wonder and our cocoa muffin!" Garcia cooed from her place over the stove where she was stirring a delicious smelling sauce.
"Garcia, you have to keep stirring!" Rossi flapped a hand at the tech in true OCD chef fashion. "Otherwise the sauce will clump together."
"Sorry, I'm late, guys." Reid held up a hand in greeting. "Good to see you again, Kevin." He nodded at Garcia's boyfriend who was leaning against the countertop next to J.J.
"You too, Spencer."
There was am awkward quietness that settled over the group as though no one was sure what to say. Morgan scooted slightly closer to Reid and put a warm hand on his back to soothe him.
Hotch cleared his throat. "Want some wine, Reid?"
Reid nodded, grateful for the interruption. He really was hoping this wasn't going to be awkward.
"How about we all move into the living room and I'll help Pen here?" Morgan coughed and moved to excuse everyone from the room.
"Keep stirring!" Rossi called as he exited through the dining room.
The room was empty and Garcia immediately abandoned her sauce in favor of gossiping with her best friend.
"Okay, awkward, much?" She widened her eyes.
Morgan sighed. "I know. I didn't think this was going to be an issue. I don't want to freak Reid out."
"They were asking questions though earlier and you were fine with it."
Morgan looked up at Garcia. "I wasn't talking about that, actually."
"Then what?" Garcia smoothed a hand over Morgan's shoulder. "You can tell me anything."
Morgan paused. "I think I may have let it slip earlier that I love Reid and I'm not quite sure what to do about it."
Garcia's eyes widened and she pulled Morgan into a tight hug. "Oh my God! My cocoa baby loves my vanilla muffin! This is so fantastic! Can I plan the wedding? Oh my God, no, we should go on a double date!"
"Whoa, whoa, Pen. Calm down." Morgan laughed.
"I don't see the problem though. Just tell him you love him?"
"It won't freak him out? I mean it's Reid."
"Reid is a lot more grounded than you give him credit for, baby." Garcia scolded Morgan. She flicked her finger at his cheek. "Besides, it's not exactly unrequited love."
"What do you mean?"
"God, you men. You're absolutely useless. It's so obvious that Reid is in love with you too. I mean, duh!"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Tell him."
Morgan leaned away from Garcia and looked down at his shoes to think.
He could tell him. Why the hell not?
"I have mistletoe if you need anything to get you going?" Garcia raised an eyebrow. "It definitely helped Kevin out last year."
"Thanks for sharing," Morgan chuckled, hugging his best friend. "Well we'll see how the night goes. I might tell him."
"Okay, well skedaddle for now because I need to bring Rossi's sauce back from the dead. I'll see you out there in a bit."
Reid sipped his wine slowly, willing himself not to chug it just to have something to do. He was faced with ten pairs of wondering eyes and he knew what they were all thinking.
"Okay, just ask if you must." He sighed, sitting on the arm of the couch. He looked down at J.J. who was grinning. "You can start."
J.J. tucked her legs up under herself and adjusted her skirt. "I wasn't going to ask anything, Spence. But I was going to tell you that Emily and I had it pegged from the start."
"That we did." Emily agreed.
"So that's why you guys were acting outside your normal behavior patterns?"
"Pretty much. No offence, Reid, but I'd rather not have sex with you on the copy machine." Emily smirked, clinking her glass of prosecco against J.J's.
Reid reddened and he took a gulp of wine from the deep glass. "Good to know, I suppose. Not that you're my type anyway."
"I think we are all away of your type now," Hotch joked uncharacteristically. Evidently the wine had gone straight to his head after a long day at work.
"I think I'm going to go make a call before this gets anymore heated." Rossi excused himself from the room and went out into the hallway.
Reid forced himself to look at J.J. who put a small hand on his leg.
"In all seriousness, I really am happy that you and Morgan found each other. After the whole Emily situation I felt like maybe you had completely shut down your emotions." The young blonde said quietly.
"Thank you. I appreciate that. I really do love him." Reid gave a small smile and looked down at the cuffs of his blazer. He had never admitted to being in love with Morgan until just now and he was tempted to pull at the threads just to have something to do with his hands.
"You love him? Does he know?" J.J. asked, leaning up on her haunches.
"No, I haven't told him yet."
"Why not?"
"I'm not sure…maybe I'm scared he won't say it back? We, uh…this all happened so fast that I feel as though it might be too soon."
"But you guys have known each other for like nine years now. You guys met when? When you were 22 and he was 30? You're 31 now, Spence. That's a long time to know someone and be so close with them."
Reid laughed. "What is with you guys giving us these sentimental speeches today?"
"Seriously, though, Spence. Tell him."
Reid thought back to how Morgan and him had been fighting over Thanksgiving. How confident Reid had felt exchanging playful insults at each other. Morgan made him feel more in control of his life. Like he was something outside of the BAU. At work he was Spencer Reid, genius man and that was it. But outside of work…with Morgan…he was Spencer Reid, a sweet and hopeful individual who had earned the love of another man who could easily have any person in the world at his disposal. He had hobbies and pet peeves. He did weird things in his sleep…he wore mismatching socks and had a collection of RayBan sunglasses that totaled somewhere north of sixteen pairs.
He became a whole being with Morgan and the older agent accepted that.
"I will."
Morgan planted a sloppy kiss on the underside of Reid's jaw, moving his body upwards as he lay on top of his slender boyfriend. The younger agent whimpered in response, placing his hands on Morgan's neck and drawing him in for a kiss.
"Hey," Reid murmured, a light sheen of sweat covering his creamy skin. He bit his lip as he paused.
"What's wrong, Baby Boy?" Morgan ran a hand gently through Reid's hair, pushing it back away from his face.
"Nothing's wrong….I just…that was…"
"Amazing?" Morgan smiled. This was only the third time with Reid in bed but it hadn't ceased to blow him away each time. Reid knew instinctively how and where to touch him…what made Morgan's eyes roll back and his lips to emit a deep growl.
"Yes. But I actually was going to say something else." Reid fiddled with Morgan's necklace that hung down around the older agent's neck and draped itself across Reid's collarbone. He felt a blush creep upwards towards his ears.
"Pray tell."
Reid held Morgan's gaze with his hazel eyes. His heart was pounding so hard he momentarily wondered if it was on speakerphone. He drank in Morgan's chocolate brown eyes, smooth dark skin and chiseled jaw. He ran his eyes over well muscled biceps and smoothed both hands down over Morgan's back, letting them settle on the SR-3-24-7 tattoo on Morgan's hip.
He was going to muster every ounce of confidence he had. For the first time, Reid was going to dive in. Head first, breath bated and cannonball into this.
"I love you, Derek." Reid whispered simply.
It was in that moment that Morgan's realizations came to a head.
"I love you too, Spencer. You are and always will be my Pretty Boy."
Hope you guys liked this story as much as I loved writing it! I'll be starting a new story soon but I'm taking suggestions as to what you guys want to read! So if you have any ideas just PM me! Please don't forget to review also! Love xo