Spencer Reid, autistic profiler

by KT.gd744

Basically this is going to be a collection of stories about Reid and his autism, and how he and his team deal with it. One chapter may not particularly follow on from another, i one Reid may be in a relationship, the next he’s not ect. If you have any requests or suggestions then I would be happy to hear them, I would love it in fact. (This is the first time I’ve ever done this)

5. Spencer and Derek

For the purposes of this story Derek and Spencer are in a relationship

Today, was not a good day.

We'd woken up late, never a good start, and so the whole morning routine was rushed. We got to the bullpen at 8:06am, as Spencer told me repeatedly, 6 minutes late. Hotch, of course, didn't care.

There was no case, meetings weren't until 9 and we were pretty up to date on paperwork, 6 minutes did no harm, unless you're Spencer.

Spencer obsessed on it, like, the whole day. He doesn't even need to talk about it, you can tell just by looking at him, his eyes go darker, his muscles stiffen and it seems to pain him to stay still.

He once described it as feeling like his bones were expanding or bubbling, something I hope never to experience.

When the meeting started things only seemed to get worse. Every little noise seemed to bother him. Tiny grimaces, micro expressions, hands trailing up and down to his ears, jaw tightening, extended blinks, it was all adding up. I wasn't the only one to notice, at the end of the meeting Hotch let Spencer stay behind in the round table room, giving the excuse for him to look over the files again. I hung back as well, wanting to check in. Of course, Spencer insisted he was fine, but gave me permission to give him a hug, and I did, tight.

The weighted blanket works wonders, I figure a tight hug, if given permission, is probably going to work too, and it did, temporarily, but by lunch he was starting to get agitated again.

It was subtle at first but over time it became more and more obvious. By the time they were heading home it was obvious that the evening was going to be largely lead by Spencer, hopefully doing what he needed to avoid a full blown meltdown.

As soon as we walked through the door Spencer turned the arrow on his dial to red.

The dial was something his psychologist had recommended, a traffic light system so Derek knew if Spencer was up for being touched or not, they had a few around the house and Derek even used them sometimes, and red means no touching unless for safety.

I hate restraining my pretty boy, but I hate it a hell of a lot less than letting him hurt himself.

Spencer went straight to the bedroom where I could hear draws opening, pyjamas on I'm guessing. I went to the sitting room, putting the tv on quiet so as not to disturb Spencer.

A few sitcoms later the bedroom door opened, Spencer, clad in his pyjama bottoms, dark blue and red checked, and one of my T-shirt's, emerged holding another of the dials, he handed it to me and I saw he had bypassed the indifferent orange and gone straight to the green, which means he would like some physical contact, not anything that involves taking clothes off, verbal permission only for that, my rule, but usually, in a situation like this, it means he wants lie in bed with me hugging him and comforting him.

"Alright pretty boy" I said, getting up from the couch and moving with him into the bedroom.

That's how we ended up like this, his head against my chest, me running my hands up and down his arms and back, and my fingers through his hair. I'm not sure when Spencer fell asleep, but I am sure it's worth it. It's worth the bad days, the meltdowns and the days that Spencer doesn't seem to want me to exist in the same house as him. It's worth it for times like this, when I can just lie here with Spencer, just relax and be ourselves. Honestly, that's all I ever wanted.