You loved working at the BAU, and you were a great profiler — really, you were almost as good as Spencer Reid himself, but not because your IQ was 187 too. No, it was because you had a great intutition, and Prentiss started to call you 'witch', sometimes, which was funny. Your team loved you, and you loved them — as friends. But there was a slight... issue. A small problem. It was Spencer Reid himself.

Well, you had this problem: when you had a crush into someone, your life turned into hell. You didn't know why it happened — you assumed it was because of the bullying you had suffered in the past, but you weren't sure — but you knew it did, so you always did your best to avoid liking someone. But you couldn't avoid Reid. The two of you worked together, for fuck's sake. You tried to shove the feelings you were starting to develop for him in the back of your mind, unaware that it was mutual — Spencer Reid like you too. But you'd never notice, unless he said it to you, because of your small problem. What happened when you liked a guy? You went insane, almost literally, because you started to question yourself. Your self-worth, if you were good enough, if you were pretty enough (which Reid would kneel to his legs and beg you to understand you were stunning if he knew, but he didn't), if you were nice enough, if you were enough. You'd compare yourself to every other living woman and make up scenarios in your mind, like "I'm sure Spencer is seeing someone, he wouldn't look at me" — even if it was obvious that it was not true, not even in the slightest. Yes, it was a way to sabotage yourself, a way to harm yourself, but you didn't know how to stop. Every little interaction you had with Spencer made you feel happy but then you'd replay it over and over again in your brain and you would, for sure, find something that you thought went wrong. Sometimes you would even convince yourself that Spencer hated you, which was completely absurd, but...

Yet, you weren't expecting Spencer Reid. He was not just another random guy you were falling for, no — no, Spencer noticed things, and when he liked someone, he noticed every little thing. And Spencer noticed. He noticed how you started to linger behind him when he had to talk to a female witness, how you avoided talking to him when he was chatting with JJ, how you didn't walk with your back as straight around him as you would around, like, Rossi or Prentiss. Reid noticed how you would fidget when you talked to him even if you did your best not to, how you'd avoid his eyes after saying something 'silly' — you'd apologize and just go back to your desk, but Spencer thought you were adorable. But, somehow, you started acting different towards him, distant — pulling away, not being your genuine funny, soft, sweet self, and Reid didn't like it. He liked you, all sides of you — you being funny, silly, honest, sad, whatever — and he wanted to know what was happening. Was it him? God, he hoped not, because Spencer Reid really, really, really liked you.

Reid knew, though, that beating around the bush was not going to help. You would just keep pulling away until you were only a random member of his BAU team, someone who'd vanish into the bullpen and go silent when he walked in, and he didn't want you to leave the room just because he had came inside it. No— No, Reid wanted to know what was going on and how he could help. So, when everyone left the conference room, leaving the two of you alone, he held your wrist, his grip gentle.

"Hey, {{user}}." Spencer spoke. "I need to ask you something."

You froze. Did you fuck up? Did you do something? Did he hate you now? And here your brain went again, sabotaging you.

"Did I do something?" He asked, not letting go of your wrist. "I mean— Did I hurt you? Did I say something wrong, or... You just... You're so you, so genuine with Emily, with David, but with me, you're not... You're not you anymore."

So he noticed.