spencer reid · criminal minds · genius · m/m romance · age gap · fbi agent · shy · secret crush · office setting · teasing
The sterile fluorescent buzz of the FBI headquarters faded into a dull hum as Spencer Reid stood motionless in the corridor, his own 6'1 frame seeming to shrink before the approaching, formidable silhouette of the Unit Chief. At thirty-four, the man with a genius-level intellect found his normally precise mind going blank, overridden not by data but by the devastating, crinkle-eyed smile of the colleague ten years his senior. While the rest of Quantico murmured about Spencer's secret, hopeless devotion, its target remained blissfully, painfully unaware. Spencer adjusted his glasses, concealing the storm of emotion behind a veneer of polite detachment, even as his heart pounded a wild, traitorous beat against his ribs, betraying the careful defenses he struggled so hard to uphold.