A/N: Luke wants to ask Spencer to move in together...

Chapter Thirty One

Seven Years and Holding Hands

Luke made his way into work a little scatter brained, he'd thoroughly lost track of what things of his were at his apartment and which were at his boyfriend's place. If it was just his own stuff he wouldn't be so bothered although it was surrounding everything from clothes to Roxy's toys. They spent more than enough time at each other's places and at ease in each home that it never felt stressed or like they were a 'guest', but Luke's morning had been one little thing after another. He thought he'd bought more shampoo, he had, but it was at Reid's place, he spent a long time trying to find the belt that went with his pants but only to realise it was, again, at Reid's, the gel for Roxy's stitches had been replaced but, of course, at Reid's, so he had to contact the sitter and tell her which one to get and he'd reimburse her.

But worst of all had started the moment he woke up, the moment of tired peacefulness in the morning had him reaching out in his bed to blindly find his boyfriend not there, Spencer at his own place for the night, and the ache just to have him reliably next to him in bed in the morning, the craving for that company, was something Luke was shocked by just how powerful it was. To put it simply, he felt a little sad, maybe a little lonely, without his most favourite person in the whole world to hold in those quiet times before the rest of the world kicked into gear.

So when he reached the bullpen his heart felt excited to see that messy head of hair, the hazel eyes and sweet smile he loved so much, likely downing coffee to start his day, and yet as he stepped into the open space he realised the genius hadn't arrived yet. Despite his series of confused moments earlier he seemed to have gotten through them quicker than expected and checking his watch he realised his lover likely wouldn't arrive for another ten minutes if he took public transport as he often did and he felt deflated, knowing it was going to be the most boring and long ten minutes to wait out.

As he sat at his desk and had said hello to Tara and Emily who were already in he felt a little glum and twiddling his thumbs, Emily had implied that once everyone had arrived they'd be going over a new case so he didn't have much to distract himself with in the meantime. Instead he slowly started to realise the solution to his unpleasant morning and the feeling of missing his boyfriend, the question of whether or not he should ask to move in together rattling about his brain. The moment it fully occurred to him just what he was considering he grew a little nervous and tried to think over it effectively.

His place was not ideal for moving into, especially with Spencer's teaching and vast collection of books, plus he really wasn't attached to it, and while Spencer's place suited him for now, in the long run he wondered if the genius would want a different place if he was going to live with a dog all the time. So essentially he would be asking if Spencer wanted Luke to move in with him and make the space to accommodate both Luke and Roxy, or to move out of his place and get an entirely new home? It was a big ask and something they'd have to discuss in detail if they were to move forward like that. If he even wanted to at all. Part of him worried Spencer might feel it was too soon or maybe his personal space, which was important to the man, might be too compromised, but they'd been head over heels for each other before ever confessing their feelings and having been friends first, it was just so hard to gage.

Tara and Emily were off chatting when Penelope made her way into work, others not there yet, her loud heels usually notifying people to her presence and if that didn't do the trick her colourful clothes would, yet as she passed by her friend's desk brown eyes didn't focus, lost in thought, until she greeted cheerily "hi newbie." He seemed a little surprised, not having noticed her until the last moment and she looked at him curiously as he returned a quiet hello. The man looked in his own head, maybe a little nervous so she asked "what's got you all serious looking?"

Luke turned a little in the spinny chair to look at the bubbly blonde and give a smile, finally snapping out of his inner ramblings enough to focus as he said lightly "I'm fine, don't worry Pen" and she looked at him skeptically as he continued "I'm just thinking about stuff, good stuff" and she looked at him intensely still, eyes analysing him for signs of weakness or lies.

"'Good' stuff?" she pressed.

Quickly glancing around Luke saw it was just them around and knowing he and Penelope had grown very close over the last while and he would be unable to hide the little bit of nervousness from her he knew she wasn't going to stop wondering what was the cause of it so he opened up. "Don't get excited" he warned "but I've just been thinking about…asking Spence to move in together…" he said quietly and watched her expression as she processed the words, shifting from suspicious to elated in seconds.

Her painted lips went from pouted to an excited jaw drop and wide grin with a gasp "really? this isn't a joke, like…you're serious? of course you're serious, oh my gosh!" she said and started to fidget with the sudden boost of energy and joy, practically bouncing on her feet "I need to get a house warming present, this is wond-"

"Penelope" Luke stalled her with a strong look but smiling at her mood "I haven't even asked him yet…"

"Oh sweet Luke…" she said softly, grin still in place as she said "to my lair, let's talk…also you can't stop a lady from shopping no matter how prematurely" she replied in her half joking and half serious tone she often used. Luke could only sigh and give in, but in truth he really did want to run his thoughts by someone, her optimistic ways likely to make him feel a lot better but hopefully not blindly so. All he knew was that he really missed Spencer when he wasn't around, not in an unhealthy way, he just enjoyed his company so much and there were so many moments of doing nothing, why couldn't they do nothing together sometimes? It sounded so nice just having that extra presence around the house, nothing smothering, just a shared home.

As the team hit the ground running in a small Michigan town the case was ironically surrounding a series of elaborate home invasions by a gun happy unsub seeking to play out a fantasy, they'd spent their time between the coroners office, crime scenes and the local police department. A lot of time was spent talking with survivors who had been made to play out what the unsub told them too and try to calm them enough to speak but they were making strong headway already. As Luke and Rossi searched through a targeted home, broken glass impossible not to step on but photographs had been taken already, the place a mess but it told them a lot about the profile of the killer.

Stepping over to the body Rossi discovered a small note of paper left in the victim's shirt pocket and as he showed it to Alvez both saw what was clearly a coded message though what it said they weren't sure and knew it was a task for the team genius as he sent a photograph over. The whole day it was like they barely got to see each other, the moment Spencer had entered the bullpen they were debriefing and travelling, Spencer hadn't had great sleep the night before which was common enough given his occasional headache but it meant that after discussing the profile he'd snuck in a nap on the jet, then it was all systems go upon landing and being sent on separate tasks.

After a while of just staring at his boyfriend's number in his contacts, enjoying the name as he voiced it internally and thought of the man it represented, his heart a flutter at the mere thought, Luke had to move his eyes away and pocket his phone to get on with work. After having the little chat that morning with Penelope Luke had been able to voice out a lot of his wants as well as his concerns in asking Spencer to move in, and while the blonde had been excitable and optimistic she seemed no stranger to the dangers of commitment and was empathetic about his nerves. She had reminded him that regardless of the answer their relationship was strong enough and their communication good enough that they could figure out the barriers in a safe space if needed but also be willing to wait and hopefully not feel too awkward. However, while both were understanding of the genius' possible rejection of the idea, they were hoping very much that he might say yes.

Luke had decided he would ask Spencer to move in together at some point soon, he couldn't deny that it was something he really wanted but would be considerate to his partner's needs and not pressure him into anything he didn't absolutely want to do. Loving someone and being comfortable giving up their solitude very different asks and not necessarily connected elements. The idea of waking up next to each other and falling asleep side by side made him weak at the knees however, their things mingled even more than they already were, to build upon their lives together one day at a time.

As Luke and Rossi made their way back to the station Dave had been eyeing him curiously, clearly aware of Luke's daydreamy nature so far but respected his privacy and didn't ask. As they entered the building Luke made a beeline for his boyfriend to see how he'd gotten on with the coded letter, also just to see him in general. The genius was hunched over a desk making all sorts of scribbles and comparisons, especially as the discovery of one note had lead to searching for more with the other victims and three more had been discovered. The whole display was a bit boggling with numerical sequences written out and a list of cypher types crossed out one by one as the good doctor worked on decoding.

Before Luke could say anything hazel eyes saw him and Spencer instantly smiled "oh, hello" he said cheerily, "I've been going over the codes and I've figured out what cypher they're using, I'm just trying to figure out what it translates to exactly" Spencer said, before also picking up a magnifying glass to inspect the penmanship and pressure on the paper.

"So what do you think?" Luke asked, curious at what his genius could figure out for the case.

"The code is not important to the unsub itself, it's not an egotistical taunt, I reckon he's used one of those online converter generators to apply cyphers hence why the fact that the notes are coded is really obvious. Once decoded though the words are vague so I'm matching word choice and phrasing to see what it can tell us" Spencer explained. "Masculine, strong english language but his second, the message at first looks like it's about materialism but when I compare them it seems more likely the killings are meant as some sort of gift."

"Huh…but, a gift to who?" Luke asked and he'd thought it would be left open to further investigate except the genius smiled and showed off just what else he'd found.

"Likely someone to come across the note, could be a police officer, family member, even the coroner…" Spencer supposed "but what's more interesting is that by the handwriting he's written all of these notes left handed, while all the witness reports and evidence points to our shooter being right handed."

"Wait, so at least two unsubs?"

"At very least whoever wrote these notes is not the shooter…or the killer is a statistical anomaly and ambidextrous and happened to only pen with his left consistently while only firing with his right" Spencer shrugged but it was clear he wasn't suggesting the improbability of the comment making them smile as they made progress in the case.

"Great work, Spence" Luke praised "what would we do without you?" he said rhetorically and felt a pang, wanting to just blurt out the personal question but holding it in much better times and places for such a decision to be discussed but he felt really excited by the idea and just really wanted to know where they stood.

The case progressed over the next couple of days, the whole thing escalating as they started to make connections between three unsubs, one who was the leader but never fired a gun, instead manipulating a pair of brothers and communicated in codes in places to find it. They'd arrested the very coroner they'd been working with as the emotional manipulator of the whole thing who got off on the bodies delivered for him to look over and from there things had gone into high gear. The two loose unsubs acting out wanting their leader back and out of police custody, no way to get around the fact that bringing them in would include guns blazing.

They'd managed to seal off the perimeter around a hotel they'd managed to narrow them into, the pair with nowhere to go and swat ready to bring them out though the building was complex and lots of levels, balconies and pillars making it difficult to know exactly where each shooter would be. This is what Luke told himself when he found himself backed up against one of the pillars avoiding the stream of bullets in his direction, chipping and picking off pieces of brick instead of him. No matter what anyone said they couldn't talk them into handing themselves over peacefully not to stop firing at law enforcement, they wanted to take out as many as possible before taken down in a hail of bullets.

Taking shots as safely as possible, also amongst other agents and police doing what they could to stop the threat when suddenly Luke felt a powerful burning sensation in his arm, pain shooting through his muscles and as he looked to his left he noticed he was bleeding through his sleeve on his upper arm and while he was sure he hadn't been shot directly to was likely a bullet ricochet which was still one hell of a weapon. It hurt like a bitch and the throb was adamant that he shouldn't be moving it but with adrenaline going he was able to focus enough to take a perfect shot taking down one of the unsubs, the other quickly following by a shot from one of the local officers.

With bullet fire silenced Luke holstered his gun and gripped his arm through his soaked shirt, the pressure stinging something awful and he grit his teeth suddenly in a sweat as the burn continued to flare up in his flesh. Taking a deep breath he also flexed his left hand, it hurt the muscles but he could move it just fine and counted himself lucky but he did need to see a doctor and he had to assess the bleeding. In a blur he found himself met with the team again and with a couple of ambulances at the ready, a few local officers and himself had to make their way to the close by hospital and a concerned Spencer was quick to join him in the vehicle.

While a medic had him removing his shirt and inspecting his wound, it was hard to see at first through the blood and the angle at which Luke could view his own limb but they knew by now that no major arteries or bone had been hit and while they seemed positive about removing the fragment they wanted to wait until they reached the hospital in case of further bleeding during the procedure. The top priority was to keep the injury clean and under pressure, it stung and burned like fire but Luke remained calm, largely being able to focus on his boyfriend who was sat in his company.

At a particularly painful throb of his arm Luke hissed and grimaced and Spencer reached over to take Luke's good hand "you sure you're okay?" the genius asked sweetly.

Luke forced a smile through a wince and replied "oh please, compared to you this is nothing" he laughed and between the medic's attention and Luke's ability to communicate easily with him Spencer felt a little better about it, from the basic flexes and movements the medic had made Luke do as well they were pretty sure it was just a flesh wound so no broken bones.

"So how does it feel?" Spencer asked, his voice more even than it had been at first.

"It's okay overall but burns like hell" Luke answered and saw the genius nod with an expression that told him it was par for the course from the twice-shot boyfriend of his.

"Sounds about right" Spencer replied.

"That all? Where's my injured sympathy?" Luke joked making puppy dog eyes to the now giggling genius "not even some statistics on it or fun factoids."

Spencer decided to up his comfort game and said "I'm just glad it was just your arm and that it missed arteries, you had me worried for a moment there" he said sincerely.

"Come on, distract me," Luke prompted, genuinely wanting to hear his genius' rambles and he caught on after that.

"Okay" Spencer said squeezing his lover's hand in his with a gentle smile "did you know there are 37.2 trillion cells in the human body?" he started. "And the human skeleton fully replaces itself cell by cell every 10 years, though that's for the thicker bigger bones so your arm is approximately likely to be closer to every seven years." Spencer's voice alone seemed to sooth the injured agent, caressing his boyfriend's hand in his affectionately and encouraging him to continue.

"All the cells, blood, skin, muscle, tendons and bone all get replaced…so in seven years when we hold hands they'll be completely different hands" Spencer said, the wording of it while loaded with all sorts of factual parts had suddenly grown into something more sentimental, not to mention the wonderful notion of being together that long being so easily said aloud. "But the brain has 86 billion neurons and the memories will persist as though it's the same hands that touched years before" he concluded the interesting and lovely ramble with a smile and soft hazel eyes.

Luke just watched his boyfriend in a dreamy awe, the man never failed to amaze and move him and as they held hands in that private little moment despite all the craziness going on around them Luke could only smile back and lift the hand in his to place a kiss to the back of Reid's hand. "That sounds weirdly, super romantic..." Luke said with a warmth in his voice that made Spencer feel like he did a good job comforting his boyfriend and felt a little proud and also relieved as Luke seemed to fully relax as they neared the hospital.

Luke had sat through the unpleasant experience of fragment removal from his arm, the x-rays came back clear, he had been stitched up and his abrasions were cleaned and wrapped, he'd also been offered painkillers but he decided against them, ibuprofen to help the swelling and likely all he would need given his sheer good luck on the way the fragment had hit him. It looked worse than it was and he would have a noticeable couple scars out of it but nothing he wasn't fine with. He also considered it a win that the rest of the team were doing most of the clean up and tying up loose ends work while he just got to zone out and focus on getting patched up and in the loving company of his boyfriend.

Eventually the case wrapped up as much as they could and were cleared to head to the jet and finish up paperwork from the base, and while each of the team had checked up on Luke's wellbeing they were just relieved he was alright, Penelope probably having made the most fuss out of everyone screeching over a call to him to be more careful which was sweet in a loud manner. But it was as Luke sat in the back seat of the SUV with Spencer, hands still joined, with JJ and Emily driving and chatting in the front heading to the jet, that Luke felt that familiar set of thoughts fill his head. The idea of Spencer heading home to his own place away from him to grab clothes and books before being able to settle down with Luke and Roxy for the night just felt a little off, Luke wishing nothing more in that moment than for Spencer to be able to comfortably just stay with him like it was very much, perhaps exactly, his home.

"Hey Spence?" Luke said quietly, brown eyes seeking out hazel ones and squeezing his hand.

"Yeah?" Spencer responded with a smile, Luke watching him with such affection he could feel it, he expected Luke to say something sweet or about making plans for the evening but instead the handsome man looked suddenly very shy but determined.

Luke decided he had best just ask, be clear and open and direct, truly wanting nothing more than to know if Spencer wanted the same things and if they could have that domestic bliss stuff everyone always spoke about. "I've been trying to come up with fancy ways to ask this but…I" Luke started, nerves building a little but as he looked into sweet and patient hazel eyes he made himself continue with a bit of bravery "I was wondering if…you wanted to move in together?"

Surprised, Spencer's eyes widened a little as he processed what Luke had just asked him, his expression clearly making the man a feel vulnerable as the ex-ranger started to qualify what he had said with "we don't have to, I just…I would really want to if you want and we can work out if it's your place or a new place, no rush" Luke rambled "but…I've been wanting to ask…so I've asked" Luke let the words sit in the air between them, nervous but hopeful and waiting for Spencer to respond while steeling himself for rejection.

Spencer really hadn't expected such an offer from his boyfriend, he'd been so happy lately in their relationship it hadn't even thought about asking for more, though he did miss Luke at times and ached for him he'd thought these sorts of endurances were a kind of normal, reasonable almost that he should miss the wonderful boyfriend as much as he did. But as he realised just what Luke had asked, what Luke wanted with him and to be moving a step forward in their relationship the idea of waking up with him, making a home with him? His surprised expression shifted to an excited and flattered smile and replied "I'd love that."

"Y-You would?" Luke said in response, almost in disbelief that the genius had said agreed and having to check his brain that he hadn't imagined the answer, but as he saw Spencer nodding he gasped in relief and kissed him, the action so enthusiastic it gained the attention of the two ladies in the front of the car. "You sure?" he asked double checking and both were clearly very happy about the idea of moving in together.

"Yeah…" Spencer replied "I…I hadn't thought about it till just now, but…I want to. How about we get some have a chill night in and sort out the details?" the genius' smile so full of warmth and giddy. Spencer had thought that his quirks and needs were a little tough to handle for most, the precious nature of books, his neatness in some areas of life and messiness in others, but the idea that Luke saw him and wanted to share a home together made him feel so loved and wanted he couldn't help but beam at him.

As Luke nodded and was about to reply the staring from Emily in the passenger seat became very noticeable and JJ's curious blues in the rear view mirror were almost comical and both men chuckled as they faced the girls, blatantly caught in their eavesdropping. A smiling, curious JJ lightly pressed the topic, having heard something good was clearly happening but didn't hear what exactly it was she asked "so boys, what're we missing that's got you so smily? and we totally didn't start to eavesdrop on" her wording calling herself out for being a little nosey but kept the mood friendly.

Spencer decided to meet the cheekiness and said casually "oh nothing much, just…Luke just asked me to move in together…"

"What?" both ladies exclaimed excitedly, wide grins flashing brightly. "Aw, congrats guys!" Emily cheered and JJ practically bounded in her seat as she had to focus on the road but voiced "I'm so happy for you two!"

Both men just giggled and said their thanks before a little further chat on their drive, but after a little while they found a private moment again huddled together in the back seat, both unable to stop smiling and looking forward to getting to talk more on it and hang out in the evening. In one particularly sweet moment Luke's brown eyes looked deep into hazel ones and chimed "we're really doing this…" with a softness that made Spencer's heart beat faster, especially as he was kissed tenderly.

After a cute moment they both heard JJ from the drivers seat giggling "get a room!" getting Emily to near cackle, nothing but good feelings in the SUV after the fun news was shared "oh wait, you're moving in together - never mind" she joked and got a laugh from everyone in the car. No retort was given, both just clearly overjoyed at the new chapter in their relationship opening up and both ladies exchanged a glance, silently communicating how precious the whole thing was.

Quote: "You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.'
First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written.
Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants…They wanna hold your hand.
They have such a feeling that they can't hide."

― David Levithan, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist