Criminal Minds Imagines and One-Shots

Fire Escapes and Juice Boxes (Spencer Reid x Reader)

The dinner party was overrated. It had always been, yet the rest of the BAU members managed to drag him along every year. It was always the same fine wine and pretentious minds according to Spencer. He didn’t care to dress up in a suit and make small talk with people who pretended to be interested in the useless facts he’d spew out.

He’d gone off in search of the kitchen, hoping to find something to drink other than the red wine that he’d never been a fan of. The house was massive and people tried to act like they knew who he was. Spencer smiled and nodded, knowing they were only trying to be polite, and continued to walk past them. Enormous paintings of nude women and goddesses and angels lined the hallways in their gaudy, golden frames. The halls seemed to stretch for miles with countless rooms protruding from each side. None of them were the kitchen. He knew penthouses were typically larger than regular apartments but this was ridiculous.

Spencer ended up wandering into a dim room with an entire wall made of glass, revealing the glowing city below.

“Are you hiding too?” A small voice from behind startled him.

“I’m sorry?” He turned around after clasping his hand in fear.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” She laughed. She was small and slender with dark hair falling over the side of her shoulder. Her short, dark dress matched her tresses and clung to her body.

Spencer cleared his throat as his face reddened, “No… I was just startled is all. And I’m not exactly hiding.”

She looked from the floor up to him with an amused look. A dimple appearing prominently as the side of her mouth curled to a smirk. “Not exactly?” She asked.

“More like I got lost actually.”

“Ahh.” She nodded and made her way to the window wall. “Wow…”

“Beautiful isn’t it?” He looked out at the skyline. Her hand pressed to the glass and she sighed. “I’m actually hiding.”

“From what?” Spencer moved to admire the baby grand piano beside him.

“People.” She sheepishly smiled and sat down at the piano seat.

“I’m a person.” Spencer pointed out as he sat beside her. She moved her dark locks to her other shoulder. What he was guessing was a nervous habit as she’s done it three times since she’s entered the room.

“You’re not very threatening.” She gestured to the piano, “So do you play, mystery boy?”

Spencer lifted his bony fingers and cracked them before running them over the keys. “I’ve never tried but essentially it’s all math.” He reached down and started to play.

“Woah. I’ve never played either but I don’t know how you just did that.” She looks up at him and he shyly shrugs as if it were nothing.

He boldly reaches for her hand and the two of them move off the bench and towards the door. “Want to help me find the kitchen?” Spencer offers.

The pair walk past countless rooms until they come across a magnificent kitchen filled with high tech appliances and an enormous double fridge. Lining the island in the center were bottles of red wine and champagne. Spencer grimaced.

“Problem?” She asks when she notices the changed expression.

“Not much of a drinker.” He says as he searches for another option.

“Hmmm…” She taps her chin then moves to the fridge.

“We probably shouldn’t be going through their things…” He begins but is silenced when she pulls out two juice boxes. “What about this?”

“Well that’ll work.” He laughs while shoving the plastic straw into his container of apple juice. “Mmm” He closes his eyes while gulping down the drink. “I haven’t had one of these since I was a child.”

She leans across the island sipping hers while swarms of servers come to refill their trays with more alcohol. Spencer notices her behavior change once she moves her hair to the side. Her eyes are focused on the granite counter tops when he come up with an idea. “Fire escape?”

---

It’s probably midnight now but the city keeps the sky lit. Spencer and the girl sit beside each other on the top step of the fire escape, keeping an appropriate few inches between each other.

He grasps the railing and looks up to see the blinking of airplanes and the occasional helicopter pass by. “I wish we could see the stars brighter. You know, most stars we see are actually a part of two binary star systems, not one like most people assume.”

She turns to look at him, his head is tilted up to the sky while his hair blows back in the breeze. She shivers.

“The closest binary star systems are 4.3 light years away. That’s why they appear as just one speck of light.” He continues. “Can you imagine? How far that is, I mean one light year is already 10 trillion kilometers.”

He took another sip of the juice and shook his head to himself, “I ramble a lot.” When he turns to her, he immediately takes his suit jacket off and drapes it over the shoulders of the shaking girl. She gives him a small smile, after sipping her juice.

“I’m Scarlet, by the way.”

“Spencer.” He lifts his hand out and they shake and laugh.

Scarlet sighs, “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to come to parties like these and actually enjoy them.”

“I didn’t want to come at all actually, my coworkers said it’d be a great time.” He stretched his long legs out that had been tucked into the small step below and gazed up at the stellar oblivion above the two outcasts.

“Yet, here you are outside with me.” She smiled and scooted closer, closing the gap between them.

“Sometimes I just wonder…” He pauses when he feels her head lean on his shoulder.

“Wonder what, Spencer?” She whispers.

“When I’ll start being an adult instead of just acting like one.”