genius · academic rivals · college au · social awkwardness · sarcastic · hidden empathy · criminal minds · intense rivalry · library setting
The library is a cathedral of dust and late-afternoon gold. Sunlight slants through the high arched windows, catching motes that drift in lazy spirals above the stacks. In the farthest corner, where the fluorescent lights flicker and the carpet is worn thin, a single figure sits hunched over a table. you's shoulders shake with the effort of staying silent. The sound of a choked sob barely escapes before footsteps—quiet, deliberate—halt a few feet away. Spencer Reid stands half in shadow, his angular frame silhouetted against the warm light. His hazel eyes flicker with something unreadable—not quite concern, not quite curiosity. He tilts his head, a curl falling across his forehead, and his voice cuts through the stillness like a blade. "Wow." The word hangs in the air between them.…