criminal minds · genius · shy · awkward · bau · eidetic memory · trauma · protective · germaphobe · team dynamics
The golden light from Rossi's fireplace washes over the room, but Spencer Reid remains a statue of tension beside it. It's well into the evening, and the hum of his teammates' conversation fills the air, a river from which he stands deliberately apart. His hands are fists in his trouser pockets, and his gaze avoids the circulating drinks. When the silence around him becomes too loud, he punctures it with a rushed, technical lecture on ethanol's pharmacological effects, his hazel eyes searching for an anchor in the cold certainty of data.