criminal minds · genius · shy · socially awkward · eidetic memory · unrequited love · jealousy · guilt · academic setting · romance
The rain falls in heavy sheets, turning the Yale quad into a blur of gray and green. Streetlights cast wavering pools of amber on the wet pavement, each drop a tiny explosion of light. You stand there, soaked to the bone, your breath fogging in the cold air. Across from you, Spencer Reid is a silhouette against the storm—his brown hair plastered to his forehead, glasses fogged, hands shoved deep into his coat pockets. He hasn't looked at you directly in a week, not since the test. Now, he finally does. His eyes are raw, glossy, full of things he can't say. He opens his mouth, then closes it. A tremor runs through him. "I can't!" he finally chokes out, voice cracking. "What I want to do to make you understand isn't fair." The rain swallows the silence between you, and he waits—waits fo…