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gray-skiess · 8 months

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hey there stranger | s.r.

summary: spencer's been spending a lot of late nights at a cafe

warnings: i really can't think of anything, mentions of working late, unedited, bad writing (probably), caffeine addiction, gender neutral reader, no use of 'y/n', general overthinking, this is my first time writing for spence ;-;

word count: 1.8k

masterlist

11:03 pm

You were almost done with your usual closing shift, taking a glance and the ever so slowly moving hands on the clock across the cafe every once in a while. You didn’t have any plans, per say, but were anxious to get home and finally rest.

The cafe wasn’t particularly busy this late, but still had its usual stragglers coming in to burn the midnight oil.

“Hey there Mr.Delancey, the usual this evening?” You grinned at the older man in front of you. Mr.Delancey was the owner of a bar downtown that closed just an hour before your cafe. It was typical of him to stop by after closing up.

“You got it,” The man took out his wallet, paid, and took his drink to go, almost like second nature. You let your shoulders slack after he walked out, looking once again to the clock and then finding your eyes caught on a familiar mop of brown hair in the corner of the seating area.

You turned to your coworker who was doing some sort of ‘pass the time’ task.

“Manila folder guy’s back again?” He must’ve come in during your break- you would’ve remembered his soft brown eyes and even more so the bags underneath them. You didn’t know much about him, not having been able to make small talk with him whenever he came in.

“Yeah, I think this is the third night this week,” Your coworker looked over to the man briefly before returning to their task. “I mean, you can’t really beat the late great closing time of midnight around here” you joked to yourself, entering a tip amount into the computer system. You coworker chuckled then looked out of the front windows.

“Hey you mind if I grab a smoke? There’s hardly anyone coming in.” You shoo your coworker off then look back to the man in the corner. It took you another 10 minutes to muster up enough courage to approach him.

You walked up to the table, a refill of the man’s familiar order in hand.

“So what are you working on this late?” Your own voice startles you to some amount, breaking the silence that occupied the shop for what felt like eternity. The man didn’t bother to look up, instead continuing to flip aimlessly through the folders. You caught a look at the pictures in them, cringing before tilting your head to the side.

“They’re all wearing rings.” You muttered. The man looked up, then back down to the folders, his eyebrows raising. “Sorry, I don’t know what this is, and I don’t think I really want to know but-yeah. On their pinkies, the small gold ring.”

“Nice, uh, nice catch. I don’t know how I didn’t see that.” He spoke finally, writing something down then looking back up to you. “I’m Spencer. Reid. I’m a profiler for the FBI.” Your eyebrows raised then. “FBI huh? So looking at cryptic photos in a manila folder isn’t just a hobby?” You kind of laugh to yourself, crossing your arms and shifting your weight. Spencer doesn’t seem to think your comment was as funny as you did, but still offered a soft smile.

“I’m afraid not.” The silence is back and fuck you are realizing that this guy- this rando FBI profiler is really cute. Before your brain can catch up your mouth is already running again.

“Have you always wanted to be in the FBI?” From there you manage to carry a small conversation, taking the seat in front of him and listening as he talks about his high IQ or eidetic memory.

11:34pm

Your coworker whistles at you from behind the coffee bar, pointing to the clock and beginning to shut down the espresso machines.

“Well Dr.Reid, it was great meeting you. I hope you catch whoever is doing- that,” you motion to the now closed folder.

You get up to move back to the coffee bar, taking off your apron and placing it by the register. Spencer continues to look over his notes. Against your better judgment you turn back around to face the brunette man.

“I know this is probably really forward of me- but would you want to grab dinner sometime?” You began to ramble about some diner down the street and Spencer takes another sip of his coffee. “I mean- it could totally just be a casual thing but I would really like to get to know you more…” You trailed off- your motor mouth finally running out of fuel.

Spencer’s eyes softened, and he looked down at the workload in front of him. It was almost like he was debating with himself.

“I- I would love to but I’m really usually caught up with work so I don’t have a lot of time for,,, dinner…” You nod. “Right yeah- yeah of course. Have a good night, Spencer.” With that you walked behind the coffee bar and sunk down to the floor behind the espresso machines.

“Ouch,” You run a hand over your face, embarrassment flowing through your veins. You decide to brush it off and begin busying yourself with sidework.

12:03

The cafe was finally closed. Spencer had left in the last 10 minutes and you managed to spot clean every single spoon in the store.

“Dude I just- I know I like don’t even know him but that was so embarrassing” You whine, counting the dollar bills in the register and taking note of them.

“What do you mean?” Your coworker was checking the temperatures in the different mini fridges.

“Like- of course he wouldn’t want to go out with a total stranger. I don't even know why I asked.” Your hands flopped back down on the counter in front of you. You were tired, you were embarrassed, and you just wanted to go home for the night.

“I’m sorry who are we talking abou-”

“Spencer! I thought I told you.” You turned around and leaned against the counter. “Manila folder guy- he- he’s cute. In a dorky kinda nerdy way.” You grinned at the thought.

“Oh! No he was totally looking at you all night when you got back here.”

“No he wasn’t.”

“He was! I saw him with my own two eyes.” Your coworker laughed and gestured to their eyes. “I think maybe he’s just genuinely busy with work… You said he was a cop or something right?”

“He’s FBI- I don’t even know if I should’ve told you. I feel like that’s something that’s supposed to be a secret. Or is that CIA? I can never remember.” You shook your head, your thoughts trailing from the initial subject of the conversation.

“Whatever- the point is, he was totally making eyes at you after you walked away.” You rolled your eyes at this, turning back to finish counting the money.

The rest of the night is quiet after that.

1 week later, 3:45pm

It was a rare occasion for you to not work the closing shift. You weren’t complaining since it meant getting home earlier and maybe even getting dinner from somewhere other than a 24 hour convenience store.

You were working with the same coworker you normally do, and you were thankful since you weren’t really close with any of your other coworkers.

The afternoon regulars were different from the evening regulars. They were still kind, but definitely far more impatient.

“I’ve got 1 medium hot cappuccino and a large iced cold brew with oat milk to go.” You write the order on the side of the cups and move them to your coworker down the coffee bar. You take the customer’s payment and give them a smile before readying yourself for the next customer.

“Uhm, the usual?” You knew this voice. You didn’t think you’d hear this voice again.

“Spencer. It’s nice to see you again. You catch that bad guy?”

Spencer laughed at this. He thought you were easy to talk to that night, and he still thinks so now. He could tell you were a little out of your element when you initially approached him but you were generally easy to build rapport with.

“Yeah- we did. But there’s always another one out there.” You nod, then realize you hadn’t entered his order in the computer yet.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry-” You tapped one of the buttons and grabbed a sit-in mug. You nodded to your coworker. “A manila folder.” Your coworker nodded back and when you returned your attention to Spencer you found him with his eyebrows furrowed.

“It’s what we call your order. Since you always have those folders.” You shrug and Spencer nods. “Anyway, it’ll be $3.75.” You put your customer service smile back on and take the $5 from the man.

“Keep the change and actually, I wanted to come by and see if that dinner offer was still on the table? Work is light this week and- uh- I’d like to get to know you more too.”

You’re taken aback, but your coworker who suddenly has supersonic hearing peeks over your shoulder.

“They get off at 5.” Your head whips around to look at your coworker who simply mouths a ‘you’re welcome’ before continuing to make Spencer’s drink.

“So I’ll stick around until 5 and then maybe we can check out that diner?” You nod.

“Yeah- yeah I’d really,” Your voice catches in your throat and you swallow before continuing, “I’d really like that.”

extra:

It was a Monday morning, the day after Spencer supposedly rejected you. While you were retracing the conversation in your mind to think of things you’d do differently, Dr.Reid fiddled with his notepad, looking over the tip you gave him about the rings.

Hotch had dismissed the team to continue on their individual tasks, but Spencer hung back almost lost in his own mind.

“Okay pretty boy what’s got you distracted today.” Derek Morgan sat with his chair turned and raised a brow at the genius.

“Nothing at all. Just thinking about- about the case.” Spencer tried to cover but as smart as he was, he wasn’t very good at hiding his current thoughts.

“Bullshit- what’s on your mind.”

“Well I think- I think someone asked me out last night.” Derek’s once cheeky look turned to that of surprise.

“You’re kidding.” Spencer shook his head, “You’re not, well what did you say?”

“Well I told them the truth- we’re pretty busy right now.” Derek laughed. “No way- you rejected them? I didn’t take you for a heartbreaker, Reid.”

“I’m not! I just- we are pretty busy..” Spencer trailed and Morgan shook his head. “You need to go back and ask them out, clearly if you’ve been letting this get in the way of finding this damn killer, they’re worth it.”

“Yeah- okay maybe I will.”

“But not before we solve the case, so let’s move it pretty boy.”

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