i wanna share an apartment, a room and a bed ☆ spencer reid series
☆ author's note: this series is going to be looooong and sloooow burn im warning you (i already have like 4 chapters ready and 15 chapters drafted). i do not think that this is my best work because it's my first time writing a fic in english, so there might be some mistakes but at least no AI!! tell me what you think and please reblog if you liked it!! + cecile's presentation is coming ;)
｡*ﾟ+ see all the chapters to: i wanna share an apartment, a room and a bed ｡*ﾟ+
☆ summary: spencer reid asks penelope garcia to help him find someone to rent his guest room to. the girl she finds turns out to be the most interesting topic in the doctor's apartment. and we all know that when spencer reid's curiosity is sparked there's nothing you can do to stop him.
☆ tags: rommate!au, season 2 spencer, possible mistakes about dc and quantico geography and american uni and things idc really, fluff?? i dont know how to tag things I'm so sorry i just know they're cute
☆ words: 2.7k
1 the guestroom
It was a cloudy but warm morning in Quantico and rare sunrays crossed the office of the Behavioural Analysis Unit giving Spencer Reid the hope of the actual start of spring. The office was quiet and everyone was pretty tired after a weekend of really harsh cases, so they didn't even have something to mindlessly talk about while waiting for Hotch to remind them to work. The whole team sat down at their desks, their arms folded over piles and piles of reports, aware - having seen JJ doing the same thing and not researching new cases - that those were going to be their only mansions for the day.
Everything suggested that it was going to be a slow and quiet morning, or so Spencer thought.
In her internet-cave Penelope Garcia seemed to have other plans for him. Smiling and chuckling at her computer screen, she browsed quickly on a house-renting forum. A chat request had piqued her interest: Cécile Jones. French?
“Hi! I'm interested, is this still available?” the coloured message in the private chat read.
Penelope smashed up the keys on the keyboard faster than she could. “Of course!”, she sent.
As she was copy-pasting the information about the apartment, the girl was writing again.
“The photos of the room are cool! But I’m new to the area, could you give me some info about the neighbourhood?”
A grin appeared on Penelope's face. She knew that when Spencer went to her, asking for help to find someone to rent his guestroom to, he definitely didn't mean cute and female, but that wouldn't hurt, right? Plus, if he was so desperate and lonely to need a roommate, a girlfriend was going to solve all his problems.
She took one more look at Cécile’s photo in the forum, smiled and then wrote: “Why don't we meet for coffee and I can show you around, so you can also take an extra look at the room?”.
“Sounds good! Where can we meet?”
The fast and loud sound of Garcia's heels on the floor echoed all around the lobby.
“I have good news for you, my Good Doctor!” Penelope practically screamed, approaching Spencer's desk, bringing all attention to said Doctor’s puzzled face.
"Mmm? What?” he said, lifting his eyes from the million sheets of paper under him.
“There's this girl who wants your guestroom, so you have to be at that café near your house in an hour: you have to tell her more about the area, since she said she's new, and then show her the apartment. He has your permission, right Hotch?” Garcia talked even more quickly than usual, and then continued, without even waiting for Hotch’s answer. “Right, right. C’mon! Get up! Didn't you hear you have to meet that poor girl in an hour? You have a long car ride ahead of you and you don't want her to wait! Up, up, up!”
“A girl? You already said girl twice.” Spencer said, his mind racing, while his friend was trying to make him wear his jacket. Not that he didn't want to live with a woman, his mind was just telling him that a woman wouldn't probably want to live with him.
“Yes, girl, her name is Cécile… mhmm... Jones! And you have to take her in: she’s so kind and she seems just a little desperate. I feel like we are going to become great friends!”
Morgan and Prentiss laughed softly from their desks, looking at poor Reid's defeated face and at Garcia's mischievous look in her eyes.
Spencer got into the elevator, anxiously looking at his watch. As soon as the door closed, a loud laugh came from Derek, who rose from his seat to go and hug Penelope.
“Are you trying to set our Pretty Boy up?” he asked.
“I am actually helping him get a roommate. If I accidentally also find him a girlfriend, it just means I'm a very good friend and matchmaker.” Garcia answered, nodding comically, still having that mischievous look on her face.
“You are crazy, woman. That's why I love you”.
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When Spencer saw Cécile waiting outside the café, she looked really nervous.
Statistically thinking, Spencer realised, accepting to meet with a totally unknown man, found on a forum, and having to go live in his house, must be really scary for a young woman.
Looking at her, he couldn't help but notice that she was beautiful: maybe it was the way the sunrays fell on her hair making it shimmer or the fact that he was seeing a woman for the first time in a while - even if this encounter wasn't romantic at all - but Spencer was starting to think she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.
He shaked his head to push away that embarrassing thought and approached the woman with the most friendly smile he could put on his face, holding his hand up to try to get her attention, while she was too distracted mindlessly biting into the cuticles on her lips.
“Hey! Are you Cécile Jones? I'm Spencer Reid, for the room.”
“Oh! Yes, yes, it's me! Hi, sorry, this is all so sudden, but your apartment seems really cool and I also really need a house.” She talked quickly and smiled at him, while tucking a little strand of hair behind her ear and offering him the other hand to shake.
Knowing he had to make a good impression, Spencer held his tongue in place, kept his statistics about all the germs that are passed by shaking hands in his mind and took her hand into his.
They were probably going to share a house, after all.
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The café was crowded and noisy. The table where they sat was sticky and that, added to the feeling of his potential roommate’s eyes on him, made Spencer’s mind go crazy. Cécile was definitely fun, charming and kind and he was nothing but awkward.
“So you work for the FBI… sorry, I just can't believe it!” Cécile said, smiling at the young man in front of her.
“I will show you my badge!” Spencer answered, almost frantically searching in his pockets to show her the plastic ID. When he got it out, he handed it to the girl, smiling awkwardly, while she was examining the photo on it.
“Well, I'm glad,” she said, returning it, “I was really scared you were gonna turn out a maniac, or something.”
“Technically, I'm the one hunting them down.”
“Oh, so you'll protect me. Good.” Cécile responded (sarcastically?) flirting and winking at him, then she drank the last sip of her coffee. A little hint of red appeared on Spencer’s ears, while he tried to fake a laugh and seem totally used to receiving this kind of comment from women.
“So…” he said, though his voice cracked in embarrassment and he had to clear his throat, “do you want to see the apartment? I can show you ‘round.”
They walked out of the café after Spencer had paid for both of them, in his mind Garcia’s advice telling him he had to make a good impression. He walked her a few blocks to his apartment - which he didn't even get time to tidy - and he showed her all the services in the area, never stopping his fingers from fidgeting. He excused himself for the mess while opening the door, but Cécile didn't seem to mind at all.
“Oh my god, you have like a million books!”
Spencer chuckled and told her they might need a new bookshelf, if she needed space for hers, since some of his new books laid on the floor, on the coffee table and on the TV stand.
“Come see your room, this way” he gently opened the door to his guestroom, which had a second bathroom near it. “You have a bed, obviously, a desk, a wardrobe - I know it's small, but… - and you have space for some cabinets and shelves for your things. You can do whatever you want, I don't really mind. And you have a bathroom with a shower next to the room, so we just have to share the kitchen and the living room.”
Cécile seemed really excited looking at the room, like she was already fantasising about all the things she could do to renovate it and make it her own. She stayed silent and looked around while Spencer continued talking.
“Anyway, I'm not at home most of the time, for work, so it will kind of feel like living alone, I guess. So… what do you think? You seem to like it.”
Cécile turned to Spencer and looked at him in awe. “It's really pretty, it's… perfect. And from what you've shown me the neighbourhood seems safe so no complaints here. I'm near my university, so… it's a deal for me, if it's okay with you.”
The boy seemed surprised, even if he actually had no reason to. Was it so easy to find someone that would agree to live with him?
“Yes, yes, totally! Emh, I guess it's time for your lecture and I gotta go back to work, but if you give me your number we can arrange everything. You can stay here from… tonight, I guess, if you need to.”
Everything was set and Spencer Reid officially had a roommate.
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When he got back to the BAU, the whole team seemed to be waiting for him.
Even JJ and Hotch, usually closed in their offices, were lingering around their colleagues’ desks waiting for their youngest co-worker to come back from what they had already started referring to as a date.
“So, so?! How did it go? Did she like you?” Garcia asked, jumping from the seat she had taken near Emily.
“She liked the room. She'll move in tonight.” Spencer said, slowly taking off his jacket and falling, with a tired look, onto his office chair. “I need to get off a little early so I can help her bring her things home, is it okay?”, he turned to Hotch, who quickly said yes, trying to hold back his soft smile, hearing Morgan's laughter.
Garcia started to ask him so many questions - about her accent, her hair, her studies, her style, her voice - that Spencer thought his mind could actually explode, but he answered each and every one of them, grateful to his friend for her precious help.
Their other colleagues listened carefully, trying to catch in every one of Spencer's microexpressions a glimpse of his attraction to this mysterious Cécile girl whom Penelope thought was so perfect for him.
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That same night, Spencer was sitting on his well-worn couch, studying the face and body of his new roommate, while she was concentrating on making dinner for the two of them. She insisted on cooking to thank him for letting her move in so quickly and Spencer thought that Penelope was a great profiler after all: Cécile was actually really sweet and just a little desperate.
“Dinner's ready! Can you help me set the table?” Cécile asked, breaking the silence that lingered in the house.
“I'm really tired, I was kinda thinking of eating here,” Spencer responded, blinking tiredly, “is it okay with you?”
“Oh, I already love living here!” the young woman exclaimed, bringing two plates and setting them on the coffee table in front of the couch. Spencer laughed softly and took the plate, thanking her for the dinner.
While they were eating, Cécile kept her eyes fixated on whatever talk show was on TV, but could feel the studying eyes of the man beside her looking at every one of her movements and expressions. She could feel that Spencer was looking at her hand holding the fork, at her mouth folding in a smile when something funny was happening in the show, at her eyelids fluttering after looking at the TV for too long.
“What are you staring at?” Cécile built up the courage to ask, after she had filled a cup of water from the sink.
His eyes, half-hidden behind his glasses lenses, were still following her.
“You didn't tell me a lot about you...” Spencer responded, caught a little off guard, since he thought he was being so low-key about his profiling attempt.
“So you're psychoanalysing me?”
The man’s eyes changed in a ‘sorry’ expression, already thinking that his new roommate would want to move out next thing in the morning, having understood that she took the guestroom of a total psychopath.
“What have you got so far?” Cécile asked again, surprising Spencer for the hundredth time that day.
The young man cleared his throat and adjusted himself on the couch, preparing himself like he did when he had to deliver a profile while he was on a case. “Well, you have a French first name, but you do not have an accent or habits that suggest having lived outside America, so you probably have French origins, but you never lived there. You keep your nails short and, seeing the small calluses you have on the tips of your fingers, you probably play guitar, but for some reason you don't have it here. You know how to cook, really well actually, and you’re not uncomfortable in a new house, which means you've probably already lived alone, or with a roommate, and moved houses quite a lot. You've recently moved to DC and switched universities from Chicago - I saw that on your suitcases when I brought them in - and you did it in the middle of the semester, which means that something in your life must have come up, also taking into consideration the fact that you made it very clear that you needed a place to stay pretty quickly. But I cannot understand what could possibly have happened to make you switch universities and look for a roommate so far from Chicago.”
Cécile stayed silent, blinking and taking in all the - true - information Spencer had just blown out in her face.
“Wow. Is that all?”
“For now, yes. We've only known each other for twelve hours.” Spencer said, deciding to keep for himself the notes he made about her anxiety and need to always be liked and perceived as helpful. He definitely already crossed the line, he didn't want to also sound rude.
Cécile smiled at his remark and passed a hand in her hair, aware that it was time to tell her new roommate a little about her life, especially because if she didn't, he was probably going to find out on his own.
“Okay, Sherlock, you're right: my mom is French, but we never lived in France, even though I can speak the language pretty well. I play the guitar, but I also play the piano and sing: my guitar is coming in the mail in a few days. I was waiting to have a stable address to ask my parents to send it to me. And about uni, well, Washington was the only university that had a place for a new student in my master's course, and considering it is the middle of the semester - like you said - they didn't even have a place for me at Campus, so I needed a roommate.” She paused, looking at Spencer connecting all the dots in his head. “I didn't really like uni back in Chicago, I had some problems, then I broke up with my boyfriend and I just felt the need to change, to start from scratch, so I just decided to move.”
Cécile knew that Spencer, an FBI Special Agent and profiler, had probably noticed she was omitting something, but she realised, looking at how he nodded and smiled, that he had also noticed the fact that she was uncomfortable.
So Spencer didn't ask and Cécile didn't continue: in a strangely already-comfortable-with-each-other kind of dance, they brought their dishes to the kitchen. Spencer washed them, Cécile leaning softly on the kitchen counter, while the two of them talked about their routines and habits, making sure that nothing would uncomfortably surprise the other.
In her empty room, Cécile began to think that she really could live there forever and fell asleep hopeful for her new life, but still feeling that pit in her stomach, making her feel too exposed.
If you want ‘to start from scratch’, maybe going to live in a profiler and genius’ house isn't the best idea.
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see next chapter!
｡*ﾟ+ read cécile's description!! ｡*ﾟ+