Title: The Man with the Smile
Author: grufflepuff-writes-stuff
Rating: G
Prompt/Summary: Imagine teaching Spencer how to use chopsticks on a date, per this imagine. Just a quick little piece.
Main Character(s): Spencer Reid, Reader Insert
Trigger Warning: None.
Word Count: 1103
Beta/Editor: Er…me. grufflepuff-writes-stuff again.
Multishot: Nope, just a one-shot.
Author’s Notes: I’ve written a bit of Criminal Minds fanfic in the past, but never anything worth posting. I saw this imagine and the first line of the story popped into my head and I just kind of went with it. I guess the ending’s kind of abrupt, but this story addresses the imagine so…I hope you like it. It’s fluff. Could fit in almost anywhere in the series; doesn’t really have anything to do with any cases or plot arcs. If you like it, I’m not opposed to trying to flesh it out a bit on my own blog. I guess it all depends on all of you! :) I hope you enjoy.
Morgan arc spoilers?: No.
“Oh my god, your IQ’s like, a million, how can you not get this?” It had been a long time since you’d laughed like this, especially on a first date. Especially on a blind date. Truth be told, a big part of it was sheer nervousness. You hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but the tall, lanky man who had greeted you with that shy smile had almost immediately put you at ease.
“I'm—it’s not…” He looked away, but he didn’t quite stop laughing either. He fiddled with the chopsticks one last time before putting them down and shrugging helplessly. “It’s not that high. And, you know… there are always forks. Did you know that, in order to make disposable chopsticks like the ones you’re holding right now, they have to cut down an acre of trees every fifteen minutes? And that’s every single day.”
You nodded thoughtfully. “So it’s not that you don’t know how to use chopsticks, it’s that you’re dedicated to preserving Earth’s forests.”
“Exactly.” He speared a chunk of chicken and took a bite, then treated you to yet another brilliant smile. “It's—What can I say? I care about the environment.”
You found yourself having to suppress the strange urge to reach out and tuck some of his hair back behind his ear. You’d known this guy for a grand total of about forty-five minutes, and already you wanted to touch him? JJ had been talking about him for years now, but she’d never mentioned anything like this. You hesitated for a moment, watching as he placed his fork back on his plate, as he tapped his fingertips lightly against the table, and then finally gave in, scooting your chair a little bit closer to his.
“Spencer Reid, you are too smart and too beautiful a man not to know how to work these things. My four-year-old niece knows how to work these things.” You slid your (disposable) chopsticks out of their sleeve and held them lightly, if only to figure out how to explain the correct positioning to him. He picked up his own set without any prompting, for which you were grateful—oh god, did you call him ‘beautiful’ out loud?—and you showed him how to hold the first stick. “This one doesn’t move, yeah? So all you really have to do is let it sit there. The base of your thumb will hold it in place when you’re holding the other chopstick correctly.”
You glanced over to make sure he was holding it correctly and nodded. His eyes were fixed intently on your hand. What a man. Dozens of people by this point had probably tried to show the poor guy how to use chopsticks, but he was just sitting there, letting you try anyway. It was almost enough to make you want to put down your own damn chopsticks and let him use his fork if he wanted to, but…that would be weird. No backing down now.
So you tried to ignore the way your fingers were trembling as you slipped the second chopstick into position between your thumb and index finger. Spencer’s eyes followed the movement and he mirrored you perfectly with his own. When you clicked your chopsticks together a few times, figuring it would be easier to show him how to move the top stick than trying to explain it, he copied that movement too. When he met your eyes, his face was alight with triumph.
“Okay, so…disclaimer. I’m pretty sure I don’t hold chopsticks the way all the diagrams say to. I’m not an expert or anything. But, I mean…I get the food from my plate to my mouth okay, so I figure that counts for something…”
But he didn’t seem to hear you. Instead, as you watched, he managed to successfully pinch a piece of broccoli between his chopsticks and get it to his mouth. He’d barely finished chewing it before he all but threw the chopsticks down onto the tale and flung his arms into the air. He had a gorgeous smile. You got the feeling that not a lot of people got to see him like this, in the throes of triumph. You tried to hide your grin behind your hand but he tugged lightly on your wrist so that you were beaming at each other.
“No one’s ever bothered to teach me before,” he said. He had yet to let go of you, and was instead absently tracing designs on the underside of your wrist with his thumb. “Normally people just laugh at me and let me go on using a fork. Oh, or sometimes JJ will take a hair tie and a napkin and do that rubber-band trick, but…” He lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. Your heart surged in your chest, but you couldn’t think of anything clever to say, so you just picked up your chopsticks and took another bite. When he followed suit, finally releasing you to return his attention to his own chopsticks, you forced yourself to ignore that little rush of disappointment that he wasn’t touching you anymore. When he’d gotten the sticks correctly positioned in his grip, he clicked them at you, much as you’d done only moments ago, and you smiled again.
“You’re a fast learner.”
He dragged his eyes away from his hand and met your gaze. Suddenly you were aware of just how close you were. Something in his face softened and the look that he gave you was less about triumph and more about…affection?
“I had a good teacher.”
You held his gaze for as long as you could handle before ducking your head again. Were your cheeks burning? You sent a silent prayer out to whomever might have been listening that the lights in the restaurant were dim enough to hide it. Thankfully, Spencer didn’t seem to notice: in fact, he seemed a bit distracted by his chopsticks and the fact that he was actually using them. You were all too happy to go back to eating. Your conversation was nice: light but not too shallow. He didn’t really crack many jokes, but he did laugh appreciatively at most of yours. Once, you looked away to take a sip of tea (gone lukewarm, the two of you were lingering so long over dinner) and when you looked back, his eyes were fixed on you. It was like he was studying you, drinking you in…and you found you didn’t…mind it as much as you might have thought. This guy was trouble. But he had the most gorgeous smile.
