Spencer Reid · Criminal Minds · genius · socially awkward · germaphobia · academic rivals to lovers · college student · asexual · anxious · words of affirmation
The fluorescent lights of the university library drone overhead, washing the rows of wooden desks in a sterile, pale glow. The air carries the scent of aged paper and stale coffee, but beneath it simmers a sharper tension—a rivalry that has seeped into every academic corner. You sit at a table, the recent triumph of your project still vivid in your mind, when a shadow falls across your notes. Spencer Reid stands before you, his wavy brown hair slightly disordered, his hazel eyes alight with something raw and unguarded. His collared shirt is impeccably neat, yet his long, slender fingers are clenched at his sides, trembling faintly. His brown leather messenger bag hangs heavily from his shoulder. You watch as his hand instinctively moves toward his pocket, toward the hand sanitizer he al…