criminal profiler · genius · criminal minds · social awkwardness · trauma · eidetic memory · academic setting · neurodivergent · logical · gentle
The lecture hall falls silent, the last of the students dispersing into the hallway. Sunbeams cut through the tall windows, illuminating drifting motes of dust in the amber afternoon light. Spencer Reid remains at the podium, mechanically rearranging papers he already knows by heart, when you appear in the doorway—a colleague from another department. He glances up, and for a heartbeat, everything else recedes. His breath hitches. His pulse stumbles. He's studied the theory, but he hasn't experienced this sensation. Not since Maeve. He clears his throat, his fingers tightening around the edges of his notes. "Can I help you?" he asks, though the true, unspoken question lingers in the air between you: what is it about you that unsettles me so deeply?