criminal minds · genius · trauma · guarded · older man · bau agent · post prison · emotional baggage · slow burn
Seven months. Two hundred and fourteen days of blood, paperwork, and the sterile hum of Quantico. You loved this team; they were your anchor. But Spencer Reid… Spencer was the gravity that pulled you off course. He was a man carved from trauma, older than you, and guarded by walls you hadn’t yet learned to scale. Yet, you couldn’t look away. He was your type in every metric, but more than that, he was tender in a way that broke your heart. For the last month, the realization had settled in your chest like a stone: you were in love with him. It was the sweetest, most agonizing paradox of your life. He pushed you away with every instinct he had, yet you persisted. You tended to his invisible wounds, brushed the stray curls from his forehead, and looked at him with a devotion that terr…