Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N: This was of course written before we found out that JJ made the horrible decision to invite Garcia to the football game.

JJ was looking forward to the Redskins game though she was still astonished that Spencer had asked her to go to it with him. She was sure he'd never been interested in following any sports let alone football. Two tickets for some of the best seats in the stadium was a huge extravagance for an outing between friends especially for someone who seemed quite frugal most of the time except for his coffee consumption. She really really hoped he wasn't planning on this as a date. She appreciated him as a colleague and was coming to like him as a friend, liked the way he was kind and gentle though his lack of social skills and ability to notice behavioural cues except when profiling victims and unsubs sometimes made him say inappropriate things. Most of the time she found his innocence and enthusiasm endearing and had to admit that if he was dressed more fashionably and did something with his hair he could probably be beautiful, they got along well but she just wasn't attracted to him as a potential boyfriend and turning him down would make things extremely awkward at work as well as damaging his confidence and potentially hurting his feelings.

She'd been relieved to hear from Elle that Spencer hadn't purchased the tickets but had been given them by Gideon for his birthday, though that could cause complications in the office too if Gideon had been trying to set the two of them up on a date. It surprised her that Gideon had read her feelings towards Spencer so poorly, or were Spencer's feelings towards her more friendly than anything else and he was just trying to give Spencer a way to build a true friendship away from work.

JJ was also worried that the tickets were the only gift he'd received since he hadn't mentioned receiving anything else or plans to meet with family or friends to celebrate which made her slightly sad and she hoped it wasn't true. But if it was she wanted him to enjoy the football game and she wasn't sure that Spencer would tolerate the crowds even if football had been his thing. She realised he never spoke about his family so maybe he was just trying to keep his work life separate or they were planning to surprise him. She put on her favourite comfy jeans and her Redskins top and pulled her hair back into a ponytail without straightening it. With minimal makeup she definitely didn't look like she was going on a date but she doubted that Spence would pick up on that. He wasn't the type to notice or care about what people were wearing.

Spencer picked her up, right on time, in his ancient Volvo.

JJ looked at it in askance, "Would you like me to drive?" She asked, realising that he always caught the train to work and she'd never seen him drive the work SUVs either.

"I can drive! Just because Morgan never lets me drive doesn't mean anything. He's just a control freak," Spencer objected.

"Okay you can drive. I just thought since you don't drive to work or the SUVs that perhaps you didn't like driving and would prefer me to," JJ backtracked placatingly.

Spencer frowned suspicious that he was being patronised. "Well, I like to commute by train, it gives me time to people watch or read, but with the work vehicles it's mostly because Hotch, Morgan and Elle always demand to drive, alpha personalities like to be in control and it isn't worth fighting about," he explained.

JJ agreed with that assessment of their colleagues and got into the passenger side wondering if she was making a mistake in not insisting to drive but Spencer proved to be a calm and very competent driver and he stuck to the speed limit even if he did tend to weave through the traffic more than JJ liked and they arrived at the stadium in less time than JJ had expected when she'd given him a time to pick her up making them earlier than she would have liked.

Spencer filled in the time rambling various facts about the game and the two teams playing. Unlike his normal rambling JJ could tell he was nervous. She also realised that he must have done all this research specifically for today since Elle had told her that she overheard him tell Gideon that he didn't even recognise that the Redskins were a football team when Gideon had given him the tickets, which had made her frown. Why on earth would anyone spend so much money on tickets for a friend to a game they knew nothing about especially if you weren't planning to go with them. She wondered whether Spencer had done the research in order to get more enjoyment out of the game or for her sake. It was kind of endearing that he'd gone to so much effort to fit in. Even wearing jeans and a brand new red hoodie rather than his usual early to mid twentieth century professor clothing.

JJ knew from Gideon's attitude at work the day before that he had been trying to set them up on a date, but it was only now that she realised that Spencer was actually hoping that this was a date too. She wondered if she should tell him now that she didn't see him that way, or if it would be better to wait until after the game. She didn't want to get his hopes up and hurt him but she also thought it might be better to wait until Spencer had the opportunity to walk away after being rejected without walking out on their date, which she thought he was probably too much of a gentleman to do.

It was almost a pity she didn't see him as a man she could want a relationship with because he was kind of adorable, and quite good looking now he wasn't dressed like an eighty year old man, and she knew that no one else would ever go to as much trouble to learn something he had no interest in merely because she liked it. Even with his reading speed and memory he would have had to put in several hours research. It was kind of sweet in a geeky way and she followed him up to their seats hoping that he had a good time at the game before she had to let him down.

-o0o-

In spite of all his research into the players and the game itself, it was clear that Spencer was having difficulty following the game and was increasingly uncomfortable being in the noisy crowd with everyone around him so excited, and was anxious about the game. It was clear he was trying hard not to show that he wasn't enjoying himself at all.

'Gideon should have known that he'd hate this,' JJ thought angrily. She also thought that Gideon should have known her feelings for Spence were purely friendly and protective not romantic, and was angry with the older man for putting them both in this situation where Spence had to endure this noisy crowd of people pressing in on him hours setting off all his anxious twitches, and then to have his feelings hurt by someone he thought of as a friend. The man was supposed to be one of the best profilers in the world, how could he have got this situation so horribly wrong. She only hoped it wouldn't ruin their friendship or worse, their ability to work together as well as they did. She was very worried that it would, Spencer already lacked self confidence with personal relationships and being turned down by her would embarrass him hugely and reduce his confidence even more when she was around.

She could see Spencer start to breathe more easily as they got in the car and he was protected from the crush of people exiting the stadium.

"Umm… would you like to get dinner, I mean have dinner with me?" Spencer asked shyly.

JJ thought about just agreeing and going along with it. Spencer had endured more than enough for one day and this was supposed to be a birthday treat for him, and they could have a nice meal together, but she realised that it would only hurt him more in the long run to lead him on like that and she really didn't believe her feelings would change.

"Spence, you're a great guy and I would enjoy having dinner with you. I've had a lot of fun today, but if you're hoping that this will turn into a real date then I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I just don't see you that way and I didn't want to give you the wrong impression by accepting dinner as a friend when that's not what you meant," JJ said awkwardly. 'God! I made a mess of that. Could I be any more awkward?' she thought to herself disgustedly.

Spencer looked down. "I can't say that I'm not disappointed, but I understand and it's not unexpected," he said softly. "Can we still be friends?"

JJ hugged him impulsively. "Of course, we are friends Spence," she said. "Good friends. Now do you still want to grab some dinner? I'll understand if you would prefer a raincheck. We can do dinner another day."

Spencer thought for a moment, which was a long time for him with the usual speed of his thoughts. Part of him wanted to escape from this situation, to go home and curl up in his bed and hide from the world. The more sensible part of his mind reminded him that running away now would only make their next meeting far more awkward and given that it would be on Monday in front of Morgan and Elle and the team he wanted to avoid that. Also, he was hungry and he didn't have any decent food at home. He needed to buy groceries and he wasn't in the mood to do that tonight, if he left now he'd probably go back to his flat, go to bed hungry and spend the rest of the weekend what his mother would call moping, so dinner with JJ was the sensible choice whichever way he looked at it. "I'd like to have dinner, where would you like to go?"

"Where would you like to go Spence. I've never heard you voice an opinion when we go out with the team?" JJ asked.

"I eat almost anything, I'm not fussy," Spencer replied.

"Yes, I know you do and believe me I'm grateful not to have one more person arguing for their choice of restaurants when we're trying to get everyone fed as efficiently as possible during cases, but you must have a favourite cuisine or restaurant?" JJ asked.

"I love Thai," Spencer said smiling. "And traditional Mexican, not so much the commercialised overly processed American Mexican food but the real thing with a lot of fresh vegetables but it's difficult to get here."

"Thai has a lot of fresh vegetables too, doesn't it?" JJ asked.

"Yes, real Thai does and it hasn't become too Americanised like the Chinese food has outside of Chinatown," Spencer replied, trying hard not to start to ramble about the history of Thai and Chinese foods in America and the corruption of the cuisine as it becomes popular in America, or about how disappointing it is that Americanising food from any culture seems to result in less taste, a higher fat content and less fresh vegetables.

JJ smiled. "I can tell that you want to tell me all about it. Do you know of a good Thai restaurant near here? You can talk to me about the history of Thai food on the way. Just try not to tell me anything that's going to prevent me from enjoying my dinner," she warned, knowing that letting him ramble would help cheer him up and get them back to normal.

"The best Thai restaurant is about thirty six minutes from here in this traffic," Spencer said.

"Let's go then," JJ agreed.

Given encouragement to talk Spencer had no difficulty talking about Thai food, Thai culture and then the differences between Thai food found in Thailand and the Thai food available in the DC area, for the entire thirty six and a half minutes it took them to get to the restaurant. JJ was amused how accurate Spencer's estimate of the travel time was but knew that if she asked him about it she would receive a dissertation on the traffic patterns in DC which she had no desire to listen to though she had enjoyed hearing him talking about Thai food. She resolved to put Thai forward as an option when they were away on cases in cities that had an authentic Thai restaurant.

They ordered their food and JJ asked him about his home town, she found herself learning a lot of interesting facts about Las Vegas and next to nothing about Spencer's childhood or family. She decided not to press the issue and instead told him about what it had been like to grow up in a small farming town in Pennsylvania and about playing soccer at high school.

"I helped coach the basketball team in my senior year," Spencer volunteered, shocking JJ.

"You coached but never played?" JJ asked.

"I wasn't big enough to play even if I had had the physical skills, which I don't. I used math to break down the opposing team's strategies and pointed out the weaknesses and which of our plays would exploit those weaknesses the best. I made a real difference to their win/loss ratio," Spencer explained.

JJ laughed. "Only you, Spence," she said admiringly.

"Spencer can I ask you a personal question?" JJ asked hesitantly as they finished eating.

"Sure, I won't answer if it's too personal but you can ask," Spencer replied.

"Are you a virgin?" JJ asked.

"You can tell?" Spencer asked, looking at the ground, blushing when he realised his reply had told her that he was.

"No it isn't something anyone can really tell. In college I thought that I could tell but I was wrong. What I can tell is that you lack the confidence of someone that either knows they're good in bed or is loved by their partner, or who has plenty of experience and is deluding himself that he's great in bed," JJ said.

"So, either I admit to being a virgin or you assume I'm lousy in bed? That's a lose, lose situation," Spencer retorted snarkily. 'No wonder she wasn't interested,' he thought.

"You don't need to admit it. I know you Spence, you're too self-aware to be deluding yourself like that, so if you'd had an encounter that didn't go the way you hoped it would, you would have studied everything you could about sexual intercourse and how to please a woman and you're not innately selfish so I have no doubt you could learn to please a woman if you wanted to, and that you're observant enough to recognise if she was into what you were doing or not and change your techniques, even if profiling your date would take some of the romance out of it," JJ replied.

"Then why did you ask?" Spencer asked, feeling humiliated.

"I wanted to offer to help. I don't want a relationship at the moment. Not a serious one with anyone, it isn't just you, though I am more attracted to the alpha male type. But with our jobs I no longer feel safe having a one night stand with a stranger and I do enjoy sex with someone I trust and I would like to help you learn to enjoy it too. We both have far too much experience in dealing with rape and sexual assault. I want you to experience the positive side of sexual relations as well," replied.

"You're offering to have sex with me?" Spencer asked incredulously.

"If you want to. I propose we go to your place and start with a kiss and see where it takes us. But only if you believe that you can do this without developing romantic feelings for me," JJ replied. "I don't want you to be hurt by this. I'm just a friend who wants to help you learn a new skill. Can you think of me like that?"

"I don't think I will be hurt," Spencer replied. "I like you JJ but I never really expected you to want to date me. I didn't get my hopes up about it. I've learnt so many new things from the BAU, I can think of this as a tutoring session."

That made JJ's mind up. That Spencer, funny, beautiful and brilliant Spencer Reid, with his generous heart that was as big as his brain, had automatically assumed that she wouldn't want to date him, that nobody ever would want to date him because he was socially awkward, was just so wrong. He just needed a little more confidence. She vowed to do everything she could to give it to him.

"You're not physically unattractive, in fact with more fashionable clothing I bet you could have as many women trying to pick you up in the clubs as Morgan," JJ said.

"But you're not attracted to me," Spencer retorted.

"Sexual attraction is just one of those things; nobody can predict exactly who another person will be drawn to. I just tend to go for guys…" JJ began.

"…more like Morgan. There's no mystery in that," Spencer finished flatly.

"No, definitely not like Morgan, I'm probably even less attracted to him than you. I was going to say more like Hotch. Alpha males that are confident enough in themselves that they don't need to posture about it. Natural leaders that are fit but not bodybuilders or jocks, and generally older than me, someone who is a natural gentleman without being chauvinistic about it," JJ corrected blushing a little.

"You're attracted to Hotch?" Spencer asked incredulously.

"No not him personally, that's not to say that if he was a little younger, single and asked me out I might not have been tempted, but a man like that," JJ replied, thinking that with a little more confidence, well a lot more confidence Spence could become a man like that one day. Perhaps not the old family manners but he did have a gentleness about him and a genuine respect for women, and if anyone could learn manners as an adult and remember to use them it would be Dr Reid