Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I'm really sorry for the lack of updates lately. Thanks to my beta Taomerline and your nice reviews.
After having finished his pile of paperwork, Reid cleared his desk and checked his watch. He went to the break room to grab a bottle of water. Emily was in the break room standing at the counter. Looking at Reid, she asked, "You don't have any plans for tonight, do you? Morgan's gathering the team to go for drinks after work."
"Sorry, I'm a little tired. As you know, I don't particularly like hanging out in bars," Reid replied, as he put the bottle in his messenger bag.
He had two reasons for declining Emily's invitation : Firstly, ever since he had overheard Morgan's nasty comments (in the gym), Reid had stopped socializing with Morgan outside of work. Now he only interacted in a strictly professional manner (with Morgan) at all times. Reid missed hanging out with the rest of his team, but it was the best way to handle the situation if he wanted to preserve his, as well as Morgan's job. Despite the anger and disappointment, Reid still respected Morgan as an agent and a team profiler.
Secondly, Reid had planned a home-cooked dinner for Cooper's return tonight. As Strauss's assistant, sometimes he had to travel with her. This week, Cooper had spent four whole days in NY city. Reid realized how much he missed seeing Cooper every day and decided that tonight he was going to move their relationship to the next level. Five weeks had passed since Reid had begun dating Cooper, and so far things were going great between them.
Smiling and lightly teasing Reid (hoping to get him to give up some info), Emily said, "That's too bad. It's been a while since we all hung out together … but I'm sure you have much better things to do, tonight."
Over the last month, Emily had noticed how happy Reid always seemed and the goofy smile he always made whenever he received a non-work text message. She was sure that he was dating someone (she knew that Reid was bisexual) and Emily was dying to find out more about who Reid was dating. Even so, Emily respected Reid's need for privacy because she was a rather private person herself. She didn't push him to answer.
"Well, I have to go," Reid grinned, as he left the break room and headed home.
Reid raced home and got things started. As soon as Cooper came in, Reid greeted him with a searing kiss and asked when they finally stepped apart. "How was your trip ?"
"It was good, but I missed you. I brought home some gifts," Cooper smiled. He handed Reid two gift-wrapped packages and said, "Come on, open them," as he follow Reid into the kitchen.
Reid opened the first package and found an Empire State Building snow globe. It took him a few seconds to understand its meaning: While out on one of their dates, Reid had let slip that his mother collected snow globes. Actually, it was the only time that Reid had spoken of her. He wasn't ashamed of his mother's condition, but he was still a bit apprehensive about Cooper's possible reaction. Unsurprisingly, the people whom Reid had dated in the past had never taken that news very well.
His eyes still focused on the snow glob, Reid heard Cooper say "Ever since the first time I saw King Kong on TV, I've wanted to visit The Empire State Building. Yesterday, my dream finally came true. While I was there, I stopped by the gift shop. I remembered what you said about your mom collecting snow globes. That's for her. The other gift is for you." Reid unwrap the second present: an I (heart) NY mug. "So you can think about me when you're drinking coffee."
"Thanks, I love them," Reid replied, smiling gently and giving Cooper a short sweet kiss. He was touched by Cooper's presents. No one had ever brought him gifts just because. Even the people he called his friends sometimes forgot his birthday.
"You're welcome," Cooper grinned after the sweet kiss. "Something smells really good," he said, sniffing the aroma coming from the oven. After giving Reid a quick peck on the cheek, Cooper headed to the bathroom to wash his hands before dinner.
While they were eating dinner, Cooper asked, "Are you still free on your lunchtime, tomorrow?" Reid nodded yes, and Cooper continued, "Tomorrow I'm checking-out an apartment and I'd like my boyfriend's opinion about it."
Reid was a little surprised to hear Cooper use the term boyfriend. Sure, over the last few weeks they had spent a lot of time together and Reid had begun feeling really close to Cooper. It made sense, but Reid hadn't been sure how Cooper felt about him because they still hadn't had sex yet. It wasn't because Reid didn't want to have sex with Cooper; it was because of those same ugly comments that Morgan had made.
Reid had known and trusted Morgan for years, but their friendship hadn't stopped the older profiler from sexually using and insulting Reid; so how he could trust this man (whom he had been dating for only a few weeks) not to hurt him emotionally ? On the other hand, Reid really liked Cooper. He was nice, smart, and funny. More importantly, he always respected Reid.
"I'll be happy to call you my boyfriend," Reid said, finally then they continued chatting throughout dinner.
Afterwards, Cooper helped Reid clean up the dishes then they headed to the living room to cuddle and to watch Avatar.
When the movie ended, Reid raised his head and kissed his boyfriend's neck. To Reid's great satisfaction, Cooper responded very well. He began to kiss Reid and slowly maneuvering their bodies until he was on top of Reid. Everything was going fine until Cooper slid his hands under Reid's shirt. It lasted for only a second, but Cooper noticed when Reid's body went still. Immediately, feeling Reid's discomfort, Cooper pulled away from him.
They had made out passionately before, and both had decided to take things step-by-step until they were comfortable enough with each other. Reid had enjoyed the slow progression of their relationship, but he also wanted to have sex with Cooper. Reid felt embarrassed and couldn't explain his reaction, "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about. Please Spencer, look at me," Cooper pleaded until Reid faced him, "You told me that you had a bad break-up. I understand that you need to be careful."
"I thought I was ready to move on with you," Reid bemoaned. Internally, he damned Morgan for ruining his sexual confidence.
"Listen, I do think that sex is important in a serious relationship, but I only want it if you want it. You need time, and I hope you know that I'll never pressure you to do anything you're not ready for," Cooper gave Reid a gentle peck on his lips.
Reid smiled in answer to Cooper's statement. That's why he liked spending time with Cooper. The man always found the right words to cheer him up or to make him smile.
"Okay, it's getting late, and I have an early meeting with Strauss tomorrow," Cooper said as he stood and pulled Reid up with him. As they walked to the front door, he continued, "Thanks for a great dinner and a great night."
Cooper grabbed his coat and keys then wrapped his arms around Reid and gave him an excellent good night kiss. They were both grinning happily as Cooper left and Reid locked the door.
The next morning at work, Garcia presented a new case to the team. At the end of the presentation, Hotch ordered "Wheels up in 30." He then said, "Morgan, can I have a word with you?"
"Yeah, sure. What's up?" Morgan replied.
Hotch waited until the rest of his team had left the room then he looked directly into Morgan's eyes and asked, "What's going on between you and Reid ?"
Though Hotch didn't always approve when his team played childish jokes on each other, he was used to it; but lately, he'd noticed a Berlin Wall between Morgan and Reid. It was becoming a problem to the team's working dynamics.
Looking into his Unit Chief's stoic face, Morgan was sure that his past fuck-buddy antics with Reid were still a secret. So looking Hotch straight in the eyes, Morgan lied, "It's nothing. I mean … we did have a little disagreement, but it's nothing we can't handle."
The truth was that even though Morgan missed his friend and kept inviting the team out for drinks in the hope that Reid would join them, he refused to make the first step to repair their friendship. When he realized that Reid was being strictly professional with him, Morgan did the cowardly thing and left it at that. In some ways, he was relieved because he didn't have a discuss his closeted homosexuality.
"I do hope so! Otherwise, I'll have to intervene," Hotch warned. He hated having to threaten his team, but his job as Unit Chief was to assure his team's security. Hotch couldn't allow two of his teammates to be remain mad at each other, it could put the team at risk when out in the field.
"Intervene? What do you mean?" Morgan asked. He knew what Hotch meant, but he needed to hear it.
Hotch sighed heavily. He regretted having started this conversation right before a case but since Morgan asked, Hotch couldn't deflect his question, "You know that communication is key to our safety when we're out in the field. You and Reid are barely civil towards each other. I can't have that on my team. If I don't see a positive change very soon, I'll have no choice but to transfer one of you."
"You mean me," Morgan stated.
"You're a good agent, Morgan, and I value your work; but Reid is ..." Hotch faltered, searching for an acceptable word that wouldn't create further animosity.
"Yeah, I know. Reid is Reid. I understand. Can I go now?" Morgan said, eager to stop this discussion before he overstepped his bounds with Hotch.
Hotch nodded. As Morgan left the conference room, he made a promise that no matter how difficult or painful it was going to be … that he'd find the time to talk to Reid and try to fix things between them.