Chapter Text
Spencer faltered as he stepped from the car. Loud music pulsed from the building in front of them and he turned to his friend, his eyes widened in panic “Morgan, you said we weren’t going to a club!”
“Relax, kid,” Morgan told him, a gentle smile on his face. “It’s not a club, it’s a bar. They just have a live DJ every Friday night.”
Spencer’s eyes narrowed. “And I assume there’s people - drunk people - dancing to said DJ?” His friend nodded. “Morgan, that’s the very definition of a club!”
Morgan laughed and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t worry. The team got here a while ago and snagged us a booth in one of the quieter corners in the back room. It’ll be fine. No one’s going to make you dance unless you want to.”
They had almost reached the entrance when Spencer hesitated. “I don’t know about this, Morgan. I’m useless at social situations in general, and being out at clubs and bars, with drinking, and talking, and meeting new people, and what if they don’t like me? You’ve told me so much about them and you said that they know all about me but what if they find me too weird and eccentric and all I do is sit in the corner by myself all night. Maybe I should go home and meet them another night?”
“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, Reid!” Morgan placed his hands on his shoulders and squeezed gently. “Yes, I’ve told the team about you. You’re my best friend, and the smartest guy I know. And yeah, you’re also the quirkiest guy I know - but even with knowing all that, they still really want to meet you.”
“But what if they don’t like me?” he mumbled again whilst chewing on his lip.
Morgan sighed. “I can’t make them like you, kid. I honestly think they’ll love you, but you gotta give them a chance to get to know you. If you sit in the corner and disappear inside that big brain of yours for the whole night, they won’t have a chance to like you. You have to meet me halfway here, okay?”
Spencer nodded. “Okay, you’re right. Sorry, I’m just not good at this stuff.”
“I know. But it’ll be fine,” Morgan said, slapping him on the back. “Now will you please come and finally meet my second family?”
They made their way into the building and paused to allow their eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. The bar was already crowded, and a dance floor to their left was heaving with bodies. The pair weaved their way through the tables towards the rear of the building and as they passed through a doorway into the back room the noise dropped noticeably. Although the music was still too loud for his liking, Spencer felt himself relax just a little. This area had booths as opposed to high tables and stools and although just as busy as the front room, the groups of people here seemed more inclined to chat than dance. Their eyes were drawn to the far left corner as a woman dressed in a bright pink halterneck dress waved frantically at them. Morgan led them over and the woman tottered over on the highest heels Spencer had ever seen and flung her arms around Morgan’s neck.
“My delicious chocolate sex god, you made it!”
Morgan laughed and squeezed her tightly. “Of course, Baby Girl. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” He turned to face Spencer, one arm still around the woman’s waist. “Reid, this here is the one and only, Miss Penelope Garcia. Garcia, this is Doctor Spencer Reid.”
Garcia beamed at Spencer, but didn't offer to shake hands. He had the feeling that Morgan had warned his team about his aversion to shaking hands and he felt a wave of gratitude wash over him. Spencer felt awkward enough as it was in most social situations but when he had to start explaining his quirks, it increased that awkwardness tenfold. “It’s so lovely to finally meet the infamous Reid,” Garcia told him.
“Infamous?” Spencer asked warily.
Garcia winked at him and for the first time, Spencer realised she had a feathered ostrich pen tucked into her hair. “Trust me, it’s all good. Morgan doesn’t usually wax lyrical over anybody but we’ve all heard great things about you.”
“I feel like I might not live up to those expectations,” Reid told her as his face turned bright red.
“Ignore her, Reid,” Morgan told him. “I’ve told them lots of horrible stuff too. Garcia’s just too nice to mention it!”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” he squeaked.
Garcia pulled away from Morgan and whacked him on the arm with her purse. “You stop that right now, Super Special Spiffy Agent Derek Morgan! Reid, take no notice of him. Let’s ignore him completely so you can meet everyone else.” She waved him over to the table and shushed the group sitting there. “Listen up, people! Morgan finally graced us with his presence and he bought Doctor Reid with him!” The small group cheered and held up their drinks. Spencer got the feeling they’d already been drinking for quite a while. Garcia pointed to a petite blonde lady squeezed into the corner of the booth. “This is JJ, next to her is Emily, and the stud muffin on the end is Rossi.”
“David Rossi?” Reid asked, surprised.
“The one and only,” Rossi replied with a smirk.
“I’ve read all your books! They were fascinating. I actually based my final thesis for my Psychology course on one of the cases you detailed.”
“I’m glad I could be of help,” he said. “I’d love to hear which case it was and how you interpreted it.”
“Yeah, yeah, not now, Rossi.” Garcia waved him off. “This night isn’t about you, you know.” Rossi laughed and mouthed Later at Spencer, who nodded. “The cutiepie in the corner is JJ’s boo, Will.”
“Nice to meet you,” Will drawled in a heavy Southern accent. Spencer smiled and gave a little wave.
“Last but not least,” Garcia continued, “Is our Bossman, Hotch.” She pointed to a dark haired man seated next to Will, who was dressed in a black knit top and jeans.
Spencer felt his mouth go dry and his stomach lurched as Hotch offered him a smile. “Hi,” he managed to stutter out, his mind suddenly spinning at his inexplicable reaction to Morgan’s boss.
“It’s great to meet you,” Hotch replied.
“Likewise,” Spencer almost whispered.
Morgan must have mistaken Spencer’s flustered reaction for anxiety at being introduced to the team, and he placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. “How bout you have a seat and I’ll go grab us some drinks? And don’t worry, I’ll make sure I grab you something non-alcoholic. I gotta take care of my designated driver!”
Spencer nodded and slid into the empty space next to Hotch. Morgan asked around the table for everyone’s orders and then he and Garcia made their way to the bar. Emily and Rossi resumed the debate they must have been having before their arrival and soon JJ and Will were drawn into the lively conversation. From what Spencer could make out, it revolved around the best recipe for pasta sauce and it got very heated, very quickly.
“You’ll have to excuse them,” Hotch said, leaning toward him a little so Spencer could hear him over the racket. “They don’t often get a chance to talk about inconsequential topics.”
Spencer gave him a small smile, and tried to ignore how his heart rate had accelerated when Hotch had moved closer. “I understand. Obviously Morgan can’t tell me the details, but from the general gist of his stories, I know it’s a hard job you guys have. It must be nice to just get away from it all every now and then.”
Hotch nodded. “I couldn’t even begin to guess the number of times we’ve tried to let our hair down only to be called away before we’ve even started.”
“It must be difficult to relax when you know the phone could ring at any moment.”
Hotch shrugged. “It’s part of the job, so you get used to it. We’re on stand down this weekend so if a case comes up one of the other teams will take it. At least we know we won’t get called away tonight.” He gave his team a fond look. “It’s nice to see them relaxed. They need the break. I just wish I could arrange time like this more often for them.”
“Morgan is always telling me what a hard ass you are. I think he must be exaggerating somewhat.”
Hotch raised an eyebrow. “Does he now?”
Spencer winced as he realised the social gaff he’d just made. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that he said that. He’s going to be so pissed when he finds out.”
“Don’t worry - I won’t mention your name when I use it to blackmail him.” His look was so deadpan that it took Spencer half a minute to realise he was joking. Morgan also always told him that Hotch had no sense of humour, but it seemed it was just too subtle for Morgan to see.
“Drinks are here!” Morgan announced as he and Garcia returned. “And now that we’re all here, let’s kick this party off!”
Garcia perched next to Rossi and Spencer was pushed along the bench as Morgan squeezed in next to him. They all raised their glasses for a toast and when they lowered them back down he found his entire right hand side was being pressed against Hotch. Spencer drew in a sharp breath and waited for his anxiety to spike but instead he found himself relaxing into the touch. As conversation bloomed around him he took a few moments to try and analyse the change in his reaction. He had always shied away from physical contact - not just because he was a slight germaphobe, but because growing up most of the contact he’d had was being shoved against the wall by the school bullies. In his adult life he accepted casual contact only from close friends - Morgan was the prime example - but otherwise it was something that made him distinctly uncomfortable. He’d only had one romantic entanglement and he’d had to have several drinks to sufficiently lower his inhibitions to initiate that.Yes, he’d ended up enjoying it, but only because it had been with a close friend whom he trusted implicitly. It wasn’t something he’d ever consider with a random stranger. And yet here he was with his thigh, hip, and arm plastered against someone whom he’d only just met and he wasn’t phased at all. In fact, it felt good.
“So what do you do for work?” The smooth voice broke into his thoughts and Spencer found Hotch looking at him.
“Um, I’m a research assistant at one of the local universities.” He shrugged. “It’s nowhere near as exciting or glamourous as what you do, but I enjoy it. Plus it gives me time to work on side projects, and indulge in my hobbies.”
“Don’t believe everything Morgan tells you - our job isn’t as glamourous as it sounds. And if you enjoy your work, that’s what matters, right?” Hotch took a sip of his whisky. “So what sort of side projects do you do?”
Spencer paused, taken aback by the question. He’d expected the original question as a courtesy and was confused when Hotch looked genuinely interested. “Um, well apart from reading, a lot, I write some articles for several scientific journals, and guest lecture for one of our sister universities. I try to make my lectures as different as possible so I’m not just covering the same old material. It makes it a much more interesting learning experience for the students.” He forced himself to stop there before he blurted out his love of cosplay conventions and classic science fiction.
Hotch nodded. “It’s nice that you put in that effort. When I was doing my law degree we had numerous guest lecturers and it all seemed to be the same stuff, delivered the same way, just from a different mouth. I’m sure the students appreciate it.”
“You have a law degree?” Spencer tried to hide his surprise but he was pretty sure Hotch saw through it.
“I used to be a district attorney before my work at the BAU.”
“Wow, that’s quite the change.”
Hotch gave a wry smile. “There’s something to be said for stopping the bad guys before they get caught. It brings a lot more satisfaction to the job.”
“And you said your job wasn’t glamourous.”
Hotch opened his mouth to reply and then shut it again, then shrugged. “You make a valid point.” He then grinned impishly.
Spencer laughed, and felt his stomach flutter at seeing the grin on Hotch’s face. From what his best friend had told him, the Unit Chief rarely smiled, but he seemed to be smiling quite a bit during their conversation. He knew it was most likely because of the whiskey that Hotch was drinking, but Spencer took it as a win all the same. He made a note to ignore everything Morgan had told him about his boss because it didn’t seem to apply outside of their job.
“So tell me, Reid - how did you and Morgan become friends?” Hotch took another sip of his whisky and turned his body slightly so he was facing the doctor even more. Spencer felt their legs press even closer together and he hoped his face wasn’t as red as he feared.
“It’s not the most exciting of stories. When I first moved to Virginia I lived in a dodgy apartment building that was falling down around my ears. Morgan was renovating the apartment next to mine and after a particularly bad storm, the building had a lot of flooding and damage. Morgan came around to do some repairs and saw me struggling to patch up my place. He offered to help, and ended up spending most of the weekend helping.” Spencer glanced over at Mogan and smiled at the memory. “I guess he took pity on me. I understand the theory behind engineering much better than applying practical principles - which means I’m not all that handy with a toolbox. Anything more advanced than the very basics leaves me struggling. After that, every time he was there doing some work he’d drop in for a drink and a chat.”
“It never ceases to amaze me the joy he finds in fixing up old places. I personally despise home renovations,” Hotch admitted.
“I’ll drink to that,” Spencer said.
Hotch raised his glass and tapped it against Spencer’s. “To a mutual hatred of painting and plasterboarding.”
They broke out into matching grins before each taking a sip of their drinks. There was a nudge in his ribs and Spencer turned to find Morgan looking at him.
“You doing okay, kid?”
“Yeah. I’m having more fun than I thought I would.”
“Glad to hear it. Garcia and I are going to head out to the dance floor. You wanna come? Or are you good here?”
Spencer wrinkled his nose in a grimace. “I’m fine here, thanks.”
“No problem. See you in a bit.”
Emily joined Morgan and Garcia, and Spencer found himself drawn into a conversation with the others at the table as Rossi regaled them with a tale of a doomed book tour he’d once gone on. As the night wore on he grew more and more relaxed and he told himself he’d have to tell Morgan that he now understood why the team felt like family. They’d only known him for a few hours and they’d already embraced Spencer and treated him like they’d known him forever. He’d never before felt so comfortable with a new group of people as he did with Morgan’s team.
Just before midnight the dancing trio returned, faces flushed and grins on their lips. They fell into the booths and Garcia looked at the table in despair. “Where did all the drinks go?”
“There’s either a hidden magician lurking somewhere close by,” Emily told her with a furtive look around the room, “or it’s possible that we drank them all.” She leaned over the table and put her nose close to one of the empty glasses. “From the evidence in front of me, I think it’s most likely that we drank them.” She sat back up and winked at Garcia and the two broke into drunken giggles.
“How about I get us one more round and then we call it a night?” Hotch suggested.
“Awww, Hotch! No fair!” Emily pouted. “We’re just starting to have fun.”
Rossi laughed. “Emily, if you and Penelope have too much more to drink, you may succeed in turning the blood in your veins into pure alcohol.”
“But we’re having fun!” Emily whined.
“Mamma bear isn’t happy,” Garcia said, turning to glare between Hotch and Rossi. “We don’t want to go home yet. You don’t want to make Mamma bear unhappy or you might regret it!”
“Baby girl, you ain’t no Mamma Bear,” Morgan told her. “More like a cute little koala bear.”
“Actually, despite their namesake, koalas aren’t in fact bears,” Spencer told them. “Because they look similar to bears, early settlers in Australia called them koala bears, and also monkey bears or tree-bears but they’re in fact marsupials.The generic name is Phascolarctos which is latin for ‘pouch’ and ‘bear’ and this has helped to further the misconception. I also wouldn’t liken Garcia to a koala because they’re very asocial creatures and spend as little as fifteen minutes a day in social interactions, whereas Garcia appears to thrive in a social setting. Also koalas have some of the smallest brains in proportion to body weight of any mammal and from what I’ve heard, Garcia does not have a small brain…” Spencer trailed off as he realised everyone was staring at him with their mouths slightly agape. “Er, um, sorry about that. I was rambling, wasn’t I?”
“That. Was. Amazing !” Emily squealed. “How do you even know all that?”
“I told you, Em, my boy is a certified genius.” Morgan looked over at Spencer with a grin.
“Yeah, but there’s genius and then there’s genius,” Emily protested. “Do you have some sort of special interest in koalas or something?”
Spencer dipped his head shyly. He wasn’t used to being praised for his knowledge. Most people tended to think of him as a freak, or a show off. “Well, I have an eidetic memory so I remember almost everything I read. A few years ago I was reading a few articles on Wikipedia and one click led to another and I found myself at 3am reading about marsupials.”
“You mean to say, you read an article once and you can recall all of it?” JJ asked him.
“Yes.”
“Wow.” Her eyes were wide. “That’s so cool.”
“Will you be my Phone a Friend?” Emily asked.
“Oooh, tell us something else about cute little furry critters!” Garcia said.
“No, no, I want to hear about how you found out you had super memory powers,” JJ cut in.
Spencer felt his face flush under their scrutiny and he squirmed in his seat.
“I think it’s time I got those drinks,” Hotch announced. “Reid, how bout you come give me a hand?”
Throwing Hotch a grateful look, Spencer nodded and stood up. Ignoring the disappointed noises the girls were making, he shuffled past Morgan out of the booth and waited for Hotch to follow. They made their way to the busy bar and stood in the queue.
“I don’t mean to embarrass you any further, but that was pretty neat.”
Spencer glanced over and saw Hotch offering him a small smile. “Uh, thanks,” he stammered. “I’m not used to getting such a positive reaction to it.”
“That’s a shame. It’s a unique gift you have.”
Spencer shrugged. “Not many people think so. I think it makes them feel uncomfortable.”
“Well I hope you don’t put too much stock in what others think.” Hotch looked around at the unmoving line they were in. “I don’t think we’re going to get served anytime soon. I might find a bathroom if that’s okay with you.”
Spencer nodded. “Of course.” Once he was alone, he eyes wandered around the bar as he waited. A couple of men moved away from the bar and the crowd shuffled forward, the people closest to the front fighting for the harried bartender’s attention. He found his mind drifting to his sudden and overwhelming attraction to Hotch. He couldn’t make sense of it and he was feeling a little out of sorts by the strong reaction. Most of the time he didn’t find people physically appealing at all and when there was a spark, it was due to their intelligence and knowledge. He realised that Hotch was both gorgeous, and smart, but he concluded that it was that damn smile that had gotten him. He’d do almost anything to be the reason it graced that handsome face.
After a while he noticed that someone had moved a little too close into his personal space on his left. Glancing over, Spencer saw a young man with a well manicured beard openly staring at him. He was dressed in what could only be what Morgan described as Lumbersexual attire - a close fitting orange and white checked shirt, low slung corduroy trousers and brown suede boots.Spencer looked away but when he peeked back a moment later the man was still staring. Actually, leering would be a better word for it.
“Can I help you with something?” Spencer asked uncomfortably.
“I guess it all depends,” the man replied. “If the help you’re offering is to get me out of these clothes, then yeah, you can.” He ran his gaze suggestively down Spencer’s body.
Spencer gulped. “Um, sorry, that’s not the kind of help I had in mind.”
“Maybe you’ll let me buy you a drink and I can change your mind.”
“I don’t think so. I’m here with friends.”
The stranger raised an eyebrow. “With friends? I’m pretty sure if they’re good enough friends they’ll be happy to see you make a new friend.”
The queue shuffled forward and Spencer found himself against the bar. The man pushed closer against him but with how busy it was he couldn’t back away. The bartender took the order of a woman several places down so he couldn’t even use ordering the drinks as an excuse to end the conversation. “Look, thanks for the offer, but I’m really not interested.”
“You’re not even going to give me a chance? How do you know you’re not interested if you don’t even know the first thing about me? I promise you I can show you a good time.”
“I know that you don’t seem to be able to take no for an answer. Why would I want to get to know anything more?” He tried to keep his voice steady but the slight squeak betrayed his anxiety. He jumped as he felt an arm wrap around his waist and his head whipped around to see who had touched him.
“Is everything okay here, babe?” Hotch asked, shooting the bearded man a hard look.
“Um, yeah, sure.” His voice squeaked again, but this time for an entirely different reason. “I was just explaining to this gentleman that I wasn’t interested in having a drink with him.”
Hotch tightened his grip around his waist and Spencer had to fight the urge to lean into him. “I’d like to know why he’s still here if you’ve told him no?” His glare intensified and Spencer saw the man flinch under it.
“I didn’t realise the friends you were here with included your hookup. My bad.” The man turned and moved away into the crowd and Spencer let out the breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. Hotch removed his arm, and it was all he could do to not wrap it back around him.
“I’m so sorry,” Hotch immediately apologised.
“For what? You didn't do anything wrong.”
“Morgan told us you’re not comfortable with physical contact and I deliberately violated that. I shouldn’t have interfered - I’m sure you’ve had more than enough practise at declining offers from strangers. I’m sorry that I overstepped my boundaries.”
“Hotch, no!” Spencer protested. “You have nothing to apologise for. I don’t know what you mean by having practise at this, because as I’m sure you could see, I wasn’t having any luck convincing him to leave me alone.”
Hotch didn’t look convinced. “I could have handled it differently though. I would hate to think I made you feel uncomfortable. Something about him just felt wrong and I reacted without thinking it through. Pretending to be your boyfriend seemed the fastest way to get rid of him.”
Spencer laid a hand on his arm. “Seriously, Hotch, it’s fine. I’m glad you stepped in. And you didn’t make me uncomfortable - that creep did. Thank you.”
After a long moment, Hotch smiled. “I’m glad you’re not upset at me. But seriously, have you not noticed the looks you’re getting? I’m surprised he was the only one that tried hitting on you.”
Before Spencer could react to that statement, the bartender appeared in front of them and asked for their order. By the time they’d made their way back to the table and handed out everyone’s drinks it was too late to bring it up casually. Spencer pushed it to the back of his mind and told himself it must have been a throw away statement to make him feel better.