Summary: You're attending the first of many BAU barbeques where you'll get to meet all of Spencer's friends and co-workers.
Warnings: none
A/N: A Fluffcember 2025 prompt response.
Spencer Reid Masterlist | Character Masterlist
Spencer's been to a lot of barbeques in his time. Well, in the time since he joined the BAU. Not so much before then.
But, he's never really been to one with someone who could be more than a friend.
"They're a lot," he warned you for what could've been the hundredth time that morning. "They mean well, but they can be a lot."
"Spence, I'm going to love them," you promised. "After everything you've told me about them, I'm certain of it. Well, as certain as one can be in any social situation, that is."
You grabbed his hand across the console of your car and squeezed it. Faint tremors of excitement had his hand buzzing within yours, but you didn't mind. He was someone constantly in motion most days, so why wouldn't he still be on a day as important as this for him? Having known him some time now, you've learned his tells, and this was one of them.
For a man who could play poker with the best of them, he still had some tells that he couldn't hide if he tried. He certainly didn't know about them, and you weren't going to be the one to tell him, either. You liked these small imperfections in him, reminded him and you that he wasn't just a genius. That he had some normalcy to him that made him more accessible to common people like you. Not that he'd ever let you believe such a thing about yourself. No, you were a light in the dark world in which he worked so often.
His whole team did as you'd learned.
Hunting down serial killers and other big bads that terrorized different areas of the United States, day and night.
They held such a great responsibility on their shoulders, and you knew that weight wasn't an easy one to carry. Not that Spencer ever truly complained about it. At least, not that often anyway. No, he would rather share in the small things with you, learn about your days with the brighter, happier aspects of human life. Granted, not all of them were happy or bright, but they were far preferable to what he did daily.
"Remind me again. We're going to Dave's place or Hotch's? Is it Hotch or Hotchner?"
"Hotchner is his full surname, but we rarely call him that. It's Hotch most of the time. He just bought a new house with his second wife, so we're going there. She's good for him and his son, Jack. The house is actually less than five miles from his old one that he shared with his first wife. Four-point-six miles to be exact. It's exactly six-point-two miles from his old apartment. He wanted to keep Jack in the same school district, so he wouldn't lose his friends. An important aspect of children's growth and development, particularly at Jack's age…and I'm rambling again. Sorry."
"Oh, don't stop on my account," you gently assured him. "I like hearing what you have to say."
"You can still tell me to shut up if I get too lost in it."
"I'm not going to tell you that, Spence, so please, remind me about the others. Anything you think I should know before we get there."
That was all the opening he needed.
The rest of the trip was spent with him regaling you with one story or another about his various co-workers and friends. More like family with the way he so often spoke of them and how much they clearly meant to him. Then again, with all they've witnessed and experienced together, you had little doubt that those feelings were reciprocated between them all for one another. Protective and close-knit, and you couldn't ask for anything more for the man who'd gone and captured your heart.
Pulling into Hotch's driveway, Spencer pointed out which car belonged to whom as you brought your car to a stop and into park.
With the engine shut off, you turned to him and asked, "Ready?"
He nodded though you could see his nerves coming back again.
"Help me with the desserts I brought? I fear I may have gone a little overboard."
"Nervous baking?"
This time, you nodded. "Yeah, something like that. Just wanna make sure they like me, you know?"
"They're going to love you."
His voice held a note of certainty within it that had your own nerves settling down again.
The two of you quickly gathered up the few containers of treats you'd made and headed towards the gate leading to the backyard.
A loud squeal sounded when the two of you were spotted.
Penelope.
You couldn't quite contain your smile.
"It's about time you two got here. The others have been dying to meet you," she said, coming up to you and taking the containers from your hands. When her eyes slid over the contents, she nearly squealed again at spying all the goodies. "You're going to spoil us. No wonder our Boy Genius has gained a few pounds lately. He's not all skin and bones anymore, which we're all thrilled by, you know."
"Garcia," Spencer warned though she quickly shushed him.
Biting your lip, you finally managed to hold in your laughter. "It's nice to see you again, Pen."
"Again?" Spencer exclaimed. "You've met before?"
The scandalized look on his face nearly had your laughter bubbling out of you again, but you just bit your lip harder. It took a bit longer to bring yourself back into control.
"Yeah, she introduced herself about a month after we started seeing each other. She kinda cyber-stalked me to make sure I was sincere in my affections for you."
"Garcia, you didn't?"
Spencer's voice begged in such horror that you honestly felt bad for him. At least, a little bit. Honestly, as annoyed as you first were, you appreciated Penelope's protectiveness over Spencer. It told you all you needed to know about how much she cared about those she worked with.
Penelope did apologize, much to her credit, echoing that same apology to Spencer now.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Spencer asked you after Penelope took off with your containers, clearly ready to make herself scarce for a bit. "Wait! Is this how you knew when cases hit me particularly hard? You've been communicating with her all this time."
That last one, you heard the conviction of his certainty but also the question within it.
You nodded. "Yeah, but only because we wanted the same thing. We wanted to make sure you were being taken care of, especially after those tougher cases you've had to deal with lately. Please, don't be angry with Pen."
This time, you bit your lip due to being nervous about Spencer's reaction. You hadn't ever gone behind his back like this before, and you hadn't really meant to this time, either. Despite your reasons, you knew it'd been wrong of you to ask Penelope to do such a favor, but you'd only wanted to help. Best intentions as they were and what they usually paved.
He didn't answer right away.
Then again, you didn't expect him to.
Spencer usually needed a moment to figure out his feelings in a way that he could express them, and you were adamant in giving him that moment.
"I'm not mad, but I'm not happy, either," he admitted finally, his voice softer than you expected it to be. "I understand your motivation, but can you promise you'll ask me in the future? In return, I'll do my best to be more open when I'm not doing well."
Your smile returned, smaller than it'd been before. "Yeah, I can do that, but would you hate it if I didn't stop talking to Pen? She and I actually have a lot of other things in common, and I do consider her a friend already."
"Yeah?"
Your smile deepened at the hopeful note you detected. "Yeah."
That settled the matter, and the rest of the barbeque was spent getting to know everyone.
In the end, you'd won them over with not only your sweet goodies but also your equally sweet personality. Dave even commanded Spencer marry you after tasting the special treat you'd made with him in mind, some tiramisu that had taken you three tries to get right. Hotch and Derek both added similar sentiments before the end of the party. As for JJ and Emily, well, you would be joining them and the others of their growing group on the next ladies' night. They'd already made it known they wanted all the details you'd give them about your relationship with Spencer.
All in all, your first meeting had been a success, and you'd never seen Spencer more proud or happy than he'd been on the way back home.
I had an extra sketch leftover from Karume's reference sheet commission that went unused, due to it feeling too out of character. Since the character was a lion and had very similar body proportions to Dexter (who I did a bunch of stickers for recently), I decided to offer the unused drawing to DexChillViber. He not only accepted it, but he decided to turn it into a full-on polished commission too! :3
