they/them. infp. black queer enby. 2002. sag sun, libra moon, gemini rising. my masterlist.
DNFI! you silence black fans feelings/opinions. can't hold faves accountable. say slurs you can't reclaim. racist, homophobic, zionist, any other -phobic or -ism. a minor/under 18.
DISLIKES! insects. weaponized ignorance. lack of creativity. bigots. ship wars. ai slop.
INTERESTS! slipknot. deftones. linkin park. txt. red velvet. sza. kali uchis. rico nasty. hemlocke springs. final destination. jennifer’s body. carrie (1976). criminal minds. interview with the vampire. stranger things. it: welcome to derry. gravity falls. avatar: the last airbender. bridgerton. life is strange. undertale.
authors note: all lowercase intended. definitely a bit self indulgent, imagined reader as a black femme southerner. part two to nerd in shining armor no one asked for lol.
after a week of no calls or texts from strange numbers, you assumed spencer just wasn’t interested in seeing or talking to you again. which hurt, you had assumed that you weren’t making the connection up in your head. plus, he was kind enough to ward off that older man harassing you in the store. he didn’t have to do that. well, he was an fbi agent, maybe he felt somewhat of a moral obligation to do so. and if how fast he spoke was reflective of how fast his train of thought was, he might’ve been wracking off facts about stalking, racial profiling, and harassment at lightning speed. you knew he was probably busy on his job, but you still hoped to at least text him. even if sporadic. but before you had more time to think that through, you heard your phone go off. an unsaved number with y’all’s area code .
spencer didn’t know why he felt compelled to call you after some of the most stressful days of his life, but he did. not only did the case the bau recently resolved resulted in the unsub dead, but his mom’s condition had worsened and he just came home from visiting after a death scare with her. his mind was fried trying to get his mom to remember him along with attempting to not let the recent case haunt him. maybe it was that, but he just needed to hear a soothing voice. and instead of further pestering his teammates, he had hope you’d be willing to distract him. plus, he admittedly loved hearing you speak with your accent.
“hello?” you asked softly.
“hi. it’s spencer… the guy from the bookstore?” he answered meekly.
“hey spencer. how’ve you been?” you asked, your southern twang coming off more prominent than you meant to.
“i’ve been okay… how have you been?”spencer said in a soft but exhausted voice.
“okay.” you responded. you decided not to pry on why he sounded like that and instead tested the waters by ranting about something that’s been bothering you.
“i’ve just been feeling slightly homesick lately. i miss actual sweet tea and ironically, i feel like i stuck out less. not that stickin out can’t be good, but the amount of looks i get in stores ain’t sumn i’m used to. that day we meet at the bookstore? i’ve been gettin all kinds of looks like those everywhere i go, an it’s rarely ever good attention. and i keep forgetting sir and ma’am is rude up here.”
“i’ve noticed that many southern states ironically to have less segregated commonplaces versus the north. also, in terms of diversity, georgia is pretty high up on the list of states, placing 11th in the country. i could understand the culture shock. and i’m sorry people stare. but why does sweet tea add to the homesickness?” spencer asked curiously.
“ion know why but y’all’s sweet tea ain’t sweet, and that’s a problem. i gotta sweet tea from a diner i went to with a friend and that shit was nasty. excuse my french.” you spoke bluntly, your accent unknowingly becoming thicker as you spoke.
“well, i’ve never really had sweet tea either way, so i wouldn’t know.” spencer retorted with a chuckle.
“it’s a southern staple and it’s good when it’s actually sweet. you should try some if you ever find yourself down south.” you responded.
“well, we’re actually supposed to go to your hometown tomorrow on a case. i’ll make sure to try some while i’m there.” spencer stated with intrigue.
“uh oh, what done happened in savannah?” you asked curiously.
“a serial killer is targeting priests and pastors within the city.” spencer responded flatly.
“well damn! i know for a fact the community shook up from it. you killin pastors in the bible belt?” you interjected with shock.
“exactly. the savannah police department called us in yesterday while we were still in nevada. so it’ll be an early flight in the morning.” spencer responded.
“mm, then why you up talkin to me, it’s 12:45 in the mornin?” you asked playfully.
“i… wanted to talk to you. wanted to hear your voice.” spencer said honestly, giving up on coming up with an excuse.
“mm, so that’s why you not talkin my ear off? tryna hear me talk?” i asked playfully again, even though i knew there was a deeper reason.
“yeah. i wanted to hear your voice.” he repeated softly.
“mm, but can you afford to hear my voice? i ain’t got work in the mornin like you tomorrow?” i asked bluntly.
“mm, do you mean do i have the time to?” he asked.
“yes.”
“not really. but i wanted to talk to you again even if i can’t see you right now.”
“come on now. i’m not tryna keep you up too late. even though i like talkin wit-cha.”
“mm… is it okay if i call you tomorrow night while i’m on the case though?” he asks softly.
“yes, that’s fine. but i think we should call it for tonight, i hear you gettin sleepy on me.” you chuckled.
“alright, goodnight.”
“goodnight spencer.”
while spencer was a bit tired walking into the meeting room, he still didn’t regret talking with you so late. despite having to down an extra cup of coffee, he was slightly more happy than usual. and at any other job he might’ve been able to go under the radar, but the room full of profilers managed to notice the slight change in temperament. and seeing as he was terminally seen as the team’s youngest and innocent member, of course some of them teased. but, he didn’t budge on who made him so happy. the two of you just started getting to know one another, and neither of you were in a rush to force a connection.
he was just happy because you continued to talk to him and treat him like a normal person. it was still something that alluded him. for most of his life, he’d either been treated like a freak or a super genius. never had anyone spoken to him as casually as you have. he didn’t know how or why you found it so easy to treat him that way, but he didn’t want to ruin it by spoiling the growing relationship so quickly. so, spencer did what he always did with people and things he wanted to protect: kept you close to him. that’s why when the team asked him why he wanted to try certain places while on this case, he merely went on his usual ramblings about the place’s history and not the fact that you recommended them. and for the first time, spencer was eager to rest. not because he valued rest, but he valued time spent talking to you.
“hello?” you spoke softly as you picked up the phone.
“hey. just wrapped up work today. how have you been?”
“i’m good spence. did you go to any of the places i recommended?” you asked curiously.
“yes, i liked them. the people were nice and sweet tea is good.” spencer responded with a chuckle.
“didn’t i tell ya? don’t try no sweet tea when you get back though, i’m tellin you compared to what you had, the shit is ass.” you ranted.
“i’ll just take your word for it.” spencer chuckled. “did you start the book i recommended?”
“oh yeah. i ‘ppreciate it, i’ve been tryna start mixin in non-fiction books in my reading. i’ve always been interested in cults personally, so readin bout them is intriguing to me. i know you’re more of a non-fiction person, but would you ever read some fiction or fantasy or anything like that?”
“it depends. i’m more inclined to read it if it’s classic literature, but i just tend to like nonfiction more. but i’d read fiction if you recommended something.” spencer admitted.
“i think you should read ‘monday’s not coming’ by tiffany jackson. its a psychological ya novel and it makes its commentary about how the justice system and society at large really fails black girls. the main character claudia is tryna find her best friend monday, and there’s a bit of an insane plot twist at the end. she’s one of my favorite authors at the moment.” you rambled, stopping yourself from saying too much more about the book.
“mm, sounds interesting. i’ll pick it up when i come back then. would you happen to have a copy?” spencer asked.
“yeah, i can loan it to you.” you answered, happy he’s choosing to indulge in one of your interests. “why do you prefer the classics and nonfiction though? you never wanna dive into fantasy worlds?”
“not too often, no. the real world is already interesting enough. besides, after a while of picking up fantasy novels, they seemed to just repackage flaws and biases that already exist in this world whilst also trying to make utopian aspects coexist. and it never makes sense. or never really fully explored in an interesting way.” spencer rambled.
“well, i agree some fantasy series can be a bit monotonous and repetitive. but in terms of blending utopia and reality, i think that can be the interesting bits if executed right. besides, while you want to explore different realms, you need to have something grounding the plane of existence your characters reside in. if it was full utopia, there probably wouldn’t be a conflict or any action or anything of interest for the plot of that story.” you rebuttal.
the two of you spent many hours debating this subject before you reluctantly got off the phone with each other. slowly, late night phone calls became frequent with you guys if you hadn’t seen each other. and while spencer skipped out on better sleep, he didn’t mind the sacrifice in order to add you to his routine.
authors note: all lowercase intended. definitely a bit self indulgent, imagined reader as a black femme southerner. brief mentions of racist profiling (reader gets followed in store). let me know if anyone’s interested in a part two ??
you moved to dc from savannah, georgia for work, which gave you quite the culture shock. suddenly, you were rude for calling cashiers and waiters ma’am and sir instead of polite. “thank you ma’am” and “thank you sir” was so deeply ingrained in your schema for service worker interactions that it would take a year for you to finally stop. your accent stuck out like a sore thumb, and subsequently made everyone treat you like you were dumb. which angered you to no end, you had two masters degrees and were working on a phd. but the most glaring change were the stares. yes, you were black and inevitably got a couple stares every blue moon back in savannah. but the stares in dc made you feel like an intruder. like you were in a sundown town and not one of the most racially diverse cities in the country.
after a couple of months, you accepted these things along with other minute changes. however, as you settled within the city, you started to notice a lot more men were interested in you than back home. a lot more white men at that. while you weren’t one to discriminate, it never really crossed your mind to date white guys as you grew up weary of them. but them and their advances all started to blend together after a while, and you denied them all kindly due to the weary gut feeling you tended to have around most of them. that was until you met one that was your intellectual counterpart and nerd in shining armor: spencer reid.
you were at a bookstore, innocently scanning the different shelves. while you were lingering in the nonfiction section, you noticed an older man beginning to follow you. he’d followed you through the ya section and the graphic novel sections as well. so anxiously, you decided to scan the store, looking for someone trustworthy enough to stay beside to hopefully ward the older creepy man away from you. almost as if the universe heard your thoughts, you bumped into a tall lanky guy turning into the horror and thriller section.
he had light brown curly hair, scarily disarming hazel eyes, and a kind disposition. you just hoped subconsciously he would be kind enough to let you linger around him until the man left. but you stopped observing him and helped him pick up the books he dropped due to crashing into you.
“I’m so sorry sir-“ you spoke, cutting yourself off and mentally cursing yourself for calling someone around your age ‘sir’ yet again.
“it’s fine, i should’ve been looking.” he spoke softly.
once he fully took you in, it seemed like time stopped for him. you were extremely beautiful to him, like a goddess roaming earth. your voluminous dark brown curls framing your warm face, your flowy off-white dress fitting you perfectly. in the midst of him admiring you, he realized you were trying to ask him something.
“yes?” he softly stuttered.
“is it alright if i stick ‘round you for a while? just until that creep leaves the store.” you asked in a hushed voice.
suddenly, his profiler eyes scanned the store and immediately found a couple of people eyeing you in a creepy and sinister manner. he looked back down to you, putting two and two together.
“that’s more than alright.” he responded, still soft but more assured.
the two of you scanned all the other sections in the store, softly talking about your preferences while you did so. somehow the two of you had lots in common: both of you were grossly educated, both of you were from out of town, both had deep interests in psychology, history, and art, and the two of you were currently working on phds. and it was the first time in a while that a stranger hadn’t insulted your intelligence due to your slightly strong accent. while the interaction started from fear, you found yourself relaxing quite a lot around spencer despite only knowing him for less than an hour.
spencer also found himself relaxed, not needing to defend himself, not needing to defend the value of his interests. he didn’t feel the need to tone down his ramblings. he felt understood and seen in a way he hadn’t been in awhile. he only really inquired about your accent out of curiosity, feeling validated that he guessed your accent was a result from growing up in georgia. he was so deep in conversation, the type of conversation that came rarely to him throughout life, that he had forgotten that people were staring at the pair of you. thankfully, spencer was engaging enough that you had forgotten too.
he found himself extending the time for you to talk, inviting you to an impromptu coffee. you accepted, of course, not really wanting to part ways yourself. he continued to ramble about the statistics of americans coffee preferences as we walked to the shop he preferred and continued to ramble about the statistics of iced coffee drinkers when he heard you order your iced caramel macchiato. you quite liked his rambling, it took off a lot of social pressure for you to continually resuscitate conversation. you silently realized other people in his life might not be as fond of it due to him randomly stopping and apologizing. but you assured him that you were happy and content with it.
“sorry i’ve been rambling a lot.” spencer spoke bashfully, looking down at his coffee cup.
“it’s okay.” you spoke with reassurance. “i don’t mind it. at least you’re rambling about something interesting and not sports or something.”
“i’m not much of a sports guy. i also don’t like what it does to people. you know that domestic violence spikes 10 percent after nfl games are played?”
“yeah, all the aggression some people have for sports is scary to me.” you agreed.
the two of you then spent hours bonding over your shared hatred for sports, discussing why society cares so much about it and the nuances of that. before you two knew it, the coffee shop you’d been sitting at for hours now was beginning to close. the two of you reluctantly got up and walked back to the parking lot of the bookstore, a bit saddened to leave each other. however, you of course didn’t leave without sliding spencer your number.
authors note: barely canon compliant lol, wanted to write for claudia bc i barely see anything for her
you along with the other coven members were quite thrilled by louis and claudia. after all, it had been a while since you had crossed paths with vampires you’ve never met. for you, it had been a while experiencing anything or anyone new as an ancient. so safe to say, the pair of them intrigued you. however, it was claudia that intrigued you most. thankfully, she took equal interest in you. maybe because it was clear as day that both of you had been turned as teenagers.
you were only a year and some change older than claudia when you yourself were turned. and while the first few years were fine, eternity as a teenager ate away at you the same way it ate away at her. because of this, you two developed a deep connection. a connection that would become stronger than your connection to armand and the rest of the coven. you met someone that understood your unique struggle.
outside of being eternal teenagers, you two talked each others ears off about a lot of things. you’d ask her questions about her past in new orleans, and she’d ask you a myriad of questions about your travels throughout history. even though you had armand and claudia had louis, she was the first vampire to ever make you feel as light as she did. her smile was warm, her hair was beautiful, her eyes inviting. she made you feel safe, which was something you hadn’t felt in a while… safe. the way she made you feel made you want to give her the world.
even though claudia made you feel feelings you had to reacquaint yourself with, you unknowingly made her feel things she’s never felt before. you made her feel seen, made her feel like a priority, made her feel chosen… not even when she was a human did she feel like someone’s confident choice, but after decades, she finally found something with you that she never knew was missing. while you’d give her the world, she would burn the world if it meant that you’d always be with her.
once she trusted you enough, she told you the full truth about her time in new orleans. that she murdered lestat. her usually warm face and disposition turned cold with fear. fear that i would abandon her. fear that i would turn on her. i held her hand lovingly, rubbing her deep brown skin to calm her.
“i’m not mad at you, claudia. i never liked the bastard either.” you spoke softly, chuckling a little at her admiringly brazen nature.
“i… i lied. i know that’s against the coven but-“
“don’t justify yourself. you were smart to lie. these idiots praise him too much. and we never would have been able to know each other.” you spoke calmly, bringing her closer to you.
“what are we going to do?” claudia asked, soft and still visibly scared.
“we’ll have to leave soon.“ you responded calmly.
no coven, not even armand could stop you from your decision. when you realized you two were caught, you and claudia were already in london. you respected and treasured armand, but your heart lied with claudia. you don’t know how you survived centuries without her, but you know that you won’t go on spending the rest of eternity without her. your coven was claudia, and her coven was you.
