summary: Spencer is used to people who constantly tell him to shut up, but somehow, he feels even more embarrassed and sad when he thinks you want him to stop talking after looking at the tired and confused expression you have when he's trying to help you. The thing is you hate when people do that to Spence and would spend years just listening to his voice.
genre: fluff
pairing: Early seasons!Spencer Reid x bau!reader
warnings: mentions of the team shutting Spencer down. Derek and JJ being a little mean to him when he's spreading information. Spencer being a cutie potato. Mention of a stomachache and its causes (mention of miscarriage as one of the causes, but nothing happens). Reader not being a native english speaker, but just a slight mention.
a/n: Dr. Spencer Reid is a genius.... I am not. I literally had to search for information and copy-paste here in some parts, so if there's misinformation, it's Google's fault, lmao. I wrote this yesterday when I was about to sleep, so I'm sorry if something is wrong with the writing (even though I already edited). English isn't my first language, please be kind <3.
Navigation Criminal Minds masterlist Spanish ver. On Wattpad (coming soon)
Spencer and you arrived early that morning. He hated being late for anything. He couldn't afford to be late if he wanted to stick as closely as possible to his assigned schedule, especially because he took public transport. On the other hand, you had no choice but to arrive early when you woke up at four in the morning thanks to a severe stomachache and couldn't go back to sleep.
That's how your conversation started. Your genius workmate was surprised to see you, first hour in the morning, when he walked in the office, even before Hotch arrived.
“Are you feeling better?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. You couldn't deny that the expression was too cute for your own good.
“Yeah… I think so. It's not even the stomach ache that bothers me, it's the fact that even if I was sleepy, I couldn't fall asleep again. You know? That happens to me a lot. Once I open my eyes, I can't go back to sleep. I've also been feeling mildly unwell for a week, but even though the medication is controlling it, it doesn't stop."
At this point, he already set up his desk, leaving his briefcase on his own chair to walk over to you and sit at your desk, next to the chair you were sitting in, to listen to you attentively and answer.
“The brain works with different phases of sleep: light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. The cycle usually restarts every eighty to one hundred minutes, and we typically have four to six cycles each night.”
Hotch came out of the elevator and walked upstairs after both of you waved at him, and he let out a soft “good morning”. Emily arrived a few seconds later. You greeted her too, as she took place on her desk, but that didn't stop your conversation.
“So, it's completely normal that we wake up in the middle of the night because of that process, but if it is frequent, for three months or more, it may be a symptom of insomnia.”
Your view went to the floor, and your head nodded in a semi-unconscious movement, because although you knew that your sleep cycle was ruined by work, you had not come to that conclusion, maybe that was it.
“Now, the stomachache…” He said, taking one pen from your pencil case to concentrate. He usually never took other people's belongings or shared his own stuff because of the germs, but somehow, after a few years of working together, he had come to have a good amount of closeness with you to borrow some stuff from you. Months ago, it hadn't gone unnoticed by Penelope that Spencer had a box full of pens reserved for you, in case you needed one, nor the fact that he denied JJ one of them once, when the blonde girl needed something to write with quickly.
“The causes can be the most common, such as gas, indigestion, a muscle injury, or stress. Although there are also more serious causes: gastrointestinal infections, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage..."
“Wow, what are you trying to do? Scare her?” Derek's voice invaded the place and Emily smirked.
“What? No, I'm just saying the possibilities…” Spencer whispered, looking down, a little worried that he might actually scared the person he cared more, besides his mom.
“It's okay.” You answer loud enough so your friends and coworkers would hear. “Thanks, Spence. I already went to the doctor, so I have none of… those.” I gave him a little smile. “But about stress…” The sentence hung in the air, so Spencer looked up and continued speaking automatically.
“Stress can cause stomach pain because the autonomic nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract reacts to the same hormones and neurotransmitters as the brain. This is because the digestive system is connected to the nervous system, and the enteric nervous system, which is located in the digestive system, is able to send and receive impulses and assimilate emotions.” He started to talk faster.
Your focus on the genius boy and his explanation was sincere, but maybe it was the fact that you didn't rest well, plus the fact that he was speaking too fast and not vocalizing all the syllables, that for a moment your brain didn't process what he was saying.
It was weird. At some point you didn't even hear words, just sounds from his mouth. That didn't happen to you for a really long time because you already had experience with the native speakers, even if english wasn't your mother language. The exhausting feeling of not being able to sleep well was definitely to blame.
While your brain was coming to that conclusion, Spencer could only see your furrowed brow, tense jaw, tilted head, and dissociated look.
“You want me to shut up, right?” That whisper was enough for you to come back to reality. His cheeks were red and his eyes looked a little sad, not to mention the way his mouth formed a line like whenever he felt awkward.
“Yes, please!” Derek answered instead, leaning back in his seat and looking up with his arms outstretched as if he'd had to deal with seven unsubs in the five minutes he'd been there, listening from his place to the information Spencer was giving you.
“Little genius boy got excited… again.” JJ said, looking at some documents in front of her, opening her eyes wide in an expression of tiredness and disinterest.
The young profiler stood up from your desk thinking about returning to his chair, a little embarrassed, but you took his pinky with yours —that way you wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable in case he wasn't in the mood for physical touch, something he refused unless it was you. Again, another special treat—. “Wait. It wasn't like that.” Hazel eyes looked at you intently, still with a bit of doubt. “I'm sorry Spencer. Yes, you got excited, but that's not something bad.”
“It isn't?” He questioned.
“No, but you started to speak fast, and the fact that there are some words that I have a hard time processing in English and I couldn't quite catch what you were saying because I didn't sleep enough, well, that distracted me. Would you mind repeating it again, slower?” This time, you were the one with warm cheeks.
“Oh. Are you sure you don't want me to shut up?” The boy was actually intrigued and a little surprised.
“Why would I want that?” The fact that your teammates often shut Spencer up when he tried to share extra information, or information that he had been asked about, was something you had noticed from the moment you started working with the team. You thought that was rude. You understood that sometimes Spencer got excited, gave information that was perhaps better saved for another time since you were investigating a case, or people could be tired and want silence, but the team either silenced him or made fun of him most of the time. Plus, there weren't many other things you liked more than hearing his voice.
The sweet, soothing tone of his words helped you sleep on the jet after a long case, or made you want to hear more about whatever he was talking about. Feeling like he was sharing with you, a mere mortal, some of the vast knowledge he had was nice.
“I'm always happy to hear whatever you need to say, even if it's about something I don't understand. And, right now, you are helping me a lot, so, please, don't shut up.” The crimson color returned to the tall boy's face, this time not because he was uncomfortable. Your kind and somewhat complicit smile made his heart race, like almost every time he was with you. Spencer knew that no matter how tired he got, he would never shut up if you wanted him to keep talking.
Some people may know that Doom (2016) had a board game made after the game’s own design philosophy. In it, a team of up to 4 UAC marines fight against the demonic Invader controlling the demonic horde. In the many cards and mission briefings, the board game has a great deal of flavor text that further fleshes out the world of Doom. Since I have yet to see… well, anyone cover it, I have taken it upon myself to mark down some of the interesting lore given to the demons, UAC, and the wider earth civilization in Doom. This post will focus on lore given from the various cards in the game. The canonicity of this game to Doom (2016)’s story is a bit dubious, so some of this may be overwritten by lore properly given the mainline titles. Without further ado, let’s dive into some niche Doom lore that nobody’s ever heard of!
1. Armor
In the game, all marines start with a standard deck of 4 cards, plus 4 each for their 2 primary weapons. One of the default cards is Armor. Its flavor text reads “A proprietary design based on the Praetor Suit. The UAC tactical armor system provides superior protection and a modular HUD that interfaces with a variety of weapon systems.” It is interesting to note that this means the UAC was able to glean some useful information from analyzing the Praetor suit.
2. Reposition
In addition to armor, every marine gets 2 copies of Quick Shot, whose flavor text is the same as the weapon’s in game codex entry, and 1 copy of Reposition. Reposition reads “Every UAC employee is provided a standard UAC EM (Energy-Matter-Gel) Sidearm upon promotion to Tier 2. This sidearm is reliable and effective at short range.” This card alone paints the UAC as more of a military company than energy production, indicating a heavily armed workforce.
3. Static Rifle
Some of the primary weapons in this game come from Doom (2016)’s multiplayer mode. One of these is the Static Rifle, a weapon that fires more powerful shots while moving. It’s two cards in game, “Charge” and “Discharge” read as follows: “Eschewing traditional ammunition, the Static Rifle builds power through constant motion. While idle, a government mandated safety mechanism disperses excess power” “The Static Rifle stores and amplifies kinetic energy through an Argent process for an incredibly powerful, high-precision energy blast.” Not much to note here.
4. Burst Rifle
Another weapon from the multiplayer, the Three Round Burst card reads “A selective-fire battle rifle equipped with a reciprocating barrel assembly. Approval for Burst Rifle Assignment requires a training course, two written exams, and a live-fire interview.” The level of training needed for this is insane. With that roster, you’d expect it to act like the BFG 9,000.
Fireteams
While this could fit into the mission briefing section, there isn’t as many cards with lore that isn’t already covered in Doom 2016’s codex, so I opted to include it here. The game features various specializations dictated by which fireteam you’re playing as. While the individual specialization cards aren’t given additional lore, the Fireteams are, so I’ll get started with the first one.
5. Fireteam Claymore
“Known for their reliability, Claymore is a well-established squad with a pristine record. An ideal choice for any combat assignment.” Nothing to say here.
6. Fireteam Halberd
“Halberd Agents are subjected to constant teamwork simulations until hey operate as a well-oiled machine. Halberd agents have the highest survival rates in the UAC.”
7. Fireteam Javelin
“Javelin began as an experimental training program for unique skills and weapon specialists. Javelin operatives are often given unusual clearances.” like a fucking burst rifle.
8. Fireteam Khopesh
“The UAC will occasionally employ mercenary teams like Khopesh. Those who exceed expectations are offered lucrative employment packages in the UAC security corps.” This is the first we hear of independent military contractors in all of Doom, and this idea will be alluded to further in the mission briefings.
9. Fireteam Scimitar
“Exclusively hired from military veterans, Scimitar operatives are disciplined soldiers with unmatched effectiveness.” This further alludes to possible military conflicts not involving demonic hordes invading Earth and mars.
10. Fireteam Tomahawk
“Often deployed in hazardous environments, the pathfinders of Tomahawk squad are well regarded as an adaptable, all-terrain engagement team.” I suspect that, if these fireteams are canon, they are the soldiers who accompanied Samuel Hayden into the Kadinger Sanctum to retrieve the Doom Slayer’s sarcophagus.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll make an additional post soon covering the mission briefings. Believe me, that one will be juicy. See ya then!
i think the rpg series is also its own canon even though theyre the main source of the "Doomguy and BJ are related" concept (which most people dont really research, to be honest)
that and they're obscure phone games that have yet to get official re-releases
i recall a UAC website that gave a name to its CEO, though
The UAC is an abbreviation that appears as part of a logo on various textures in the Doom games and stands for the "Union Aerospace Corporat
In Doom RPG and in the extended Doom 3 universe, Ian Kelliher is the CEO, president, and chairman of the board for the Union Aerospace Corpo
The line "Slayer threat level at maximum" implies there exists the possibility that the Slayer's threat level is ever not at maximum which raises serious questions. How exactly are we measuring this?
