"spencer." gracen whined as they stepped into the elevator. "why aren't you answering my question? it's not that difficult—"

spencer, in fact, was just a little hurt that gracen jones didn't think that he'd had sex before. of course he had, if he hadn't done it by age 30 spencer would've been really questioning his life.

did she think he was incapable of going down on someone? many thoughts of reasoning ran through spencer's mind, trying to figure out what exactly gracen meant by "so i'm assuming that you've never had sex then?"

spencer had a lot of hidden sides to him—one of them being a really good dwayne "the rock" johnson impression—but spencer decided it wasn't the right time to pull that one out just yet. he concluded that he needed to start showing her his dominant side—the snobby confident one—and hopefully that would change her opinion of him.

but the thing was, gracen jones made spencer nervous 24/7. she was just so like, not awkward. unlike him. gracen was good at flirting and good at basically everything. it was hard to stay confident around her, exhausting, even.

"um hello?" gracen waved her hand in front of spencer face as the elevator dinged closed. "earth to doctor spencer reid."

"why do you want to know so badly?" spencer asked, leaning against the wall and raising his eyebrow at her.

"curious." she said plainly.

spencer chuckled lightly as he neared her, stepping closer and trapping gracen into the corner of the elevator. her eyes widened and she gulped, and of course spencer noticed. she was nervous. that made him less nervous.

the man said nothing as he leaned in closer to her face, his breath fanning her. gracen's face turned pink and her breath became erratic.

looks like his dwayne johnson impression was doing him some justice.

kidding.

spencer bit back a chuckle at his own joke. he was surprised at himself. i really did just make a pretty bold move. the man thought to himself. props to him. one step at a time.

gracen bit down on her button lip, her eyes glinting with playfulness. his heart started picking up speed, but spencer didn't think about it. he just wanted to tease her a little bit without his heart doing flips on him. but they were doing flips on him right now and it was not helping whatsoever—

"you know," spencer muttered under his breath. "i think it would be easier for me to answer that question if i just showed you instead."

gracen's heart did fifty thousand flippity-flip-flips and her brain was suddenly cluttered with—not-so-innocent—thoughts. her stomach was twisted in butterflies—no, right now, they felt like a bunch of ants instead. her palms were really sweaty, and she carefully wiped them on her black pencil skirt.

she knew spencer reid was playing around, of course, but this dominant side just was too much for her to handle. for god sakes, it was too hot for her to handle.

as noticeably redder blush crept up her cheeks, spencer backed off. he noticed her posture relax immensely and how she let out a small breath.

"jesus christ spencer, y-you could just say yes or no to my question." she deadpanned, not making eye contact with the man. was she breathing right now? gracen couldn't tell.

when the elevator door opened, she bolted out, not looking twice behind her.

"hey i was kidding! don't leave me!!!" spencer yelled, jogging to her side. now that he got that treacherous, cringey, act over with, he felt a little more at ease knowing the battle field was even.

gracen jones on the other hand, was utterly annoyed that he was probably thinking about how she was blushing like a teenage girl. game on. gracen thought to herself. game on spencer.

after a few moments of silence as they walked to their respective cars, gracen broke it.

"i thought about your offer...and i guess that counts as quality time, right?" she asked innocently.

the genius threw an arm over her shoulders as he chuckled, shaking his head. "actually, i was thinking maybe we could just watch a movie at yours with popcorn."

gracen's mouth dropped open and she lightly shoved his arm off, hmphing like a child throwing a tantrum. "you're being irritating."

"alright then, we can, since you want it so badly—"

she stuck her foot out, tripping spencer. the man stumbled around on his long legs, regaining balance. "kidding! kidding." he recoiled, scared gracen was about to throw hands at him. "don't hit me."

gracen jones rolled her eyes, a smile slowly making its way up to her cheeks. the two laughed in harmony.

they were both surprised at how easy it was to connect to the other. yeah it was awkward, since everything was awkward for spencer. but for gracen jones, being around him meant that the outside world could disappear, even just for a moment, along with all her other worries.

spencer and gracen were two grown adults who acted like high schoolers around each other.

but they both wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

—

on the way up to her apartment in the elevator, gracen started to internally panic.

she thought back to her apartment—was it clean enough? gracen knew spencer was a germaphobe and probably a clean freak. would be judge her? would it smell like cigarette smoke when they step inside? would he see that all she ate was fast food and instant ramen?

gracen gulped as she pulled out her keys, unlocking the door and opening it, walking inside. hearing spencer close the door and locking it behind him, she inhaled deeply through her nose.

she was correct. her apartment did smell like cigarette smoke. gracen prayed spencer had a stuffy or nose or something at the moment.

"hey gracen, why does it smell like smoke?" he asked, sniffing the air.

gracen sneakily snatched an empty box of cigarettes laying on the dinner table, crumpling it in her hands and stuffing it in her jacket. spencer didn't seem to notice. "i burnt my toast really badly this morning." she replied sheepishly.

spencer's eyebrows furrowed. he knew it was scientifically impossible for the smokiness of burnt toast to not diffuse and fade away in the time that she was gone. but he didn't say anything.

"make yourself comfy. i'm gonna go change out of my work clothes because i'm uncomfortable." gracen said, quickly fleeing the scene.

gracen closed her bedroom door, locking it and exhaling through her mouth. my god, if spencer reid walked his ass into her room he would be running out the door.

her clothes were scattered messily around the floor, chairs, and on just about any inanimate object in the room. gracen grabbed her undergarments that were laying around and stuffed them into her laundry basket, along with some dirty clothing.

gracen stepped on something soft, and rubbery, immediately retracting with a shriek. she almost threw up then and there. gracen felt horrifyingly ashamed as she slowly picked up the used condom off the ground, making sure to only use her fingernails. she was really panicking now.

"hey! are you alright?" spencer asked through the other side of the door, and gracen saw the doorknob turn as his attempt of opening it. thank god she locked it. if spencer reid walked in seeing her holding a used condom right now she wouldn't know how to explain.

"i-i'm fine! there-there was a spider but i killed it." gracen said, running to her bathroom and dropping the disgusting piece of rubber into her trash can. she gagged fo herself as she gathered her pill bottles scattered on the bathroom counter and shoved them into the cabinet.

long story short, she was a mess and didn't want spencer to think she was an absolute pig.

"i didn't know you were afraid of spiders." spencer chuckled. "did you know, 72% of american citizens have a genuine phobia of arachnids?"

"thanks for enlightening me." gracen said sarcastically, pulling on a tight long sleeved thermal shirt and some black leggings. she opened the door, revealing a bored spencer leaning against the frame.

he looked her up and down, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he turned away. gracen wondered what went on his that brain of his. "what?"

"huh?" the man asked, but when she rolled her eyes, he replied with, "oh, i was just used to seeing you in office clothing."

"spencer, you've seen me twice in office clothing." the girl deadpanned.

"eidetic memory, remember?" spencer tapped twice on his temple.

"right." gracen mumbled. "what movie?"

spencer shrugged. "something off netflix, maybe?"

"sure." they both settled on the couch, sitting awkwardly about four inches away from the other. after bickering a little over whether to watch friends or the office, they finally settled on watching the good place instead.

gracen grabbed a blanket, draping it across both of their legs. "is this what they call netflix and chill?"

spencer looked at her weirdly. "what's that?"

she shrugged nonchalantly. "i saw it on the internet somewhere."

"sounds like it." he mumbled. they sat in silence, both focusing on the tv.

"ah! popcorn." gracen said, getting up and jogging to the kitchen. she was low key thankful for her realization because watching tv with spencer reid was awkward as hell. it was like the moments they spent together were either really nice and comfortable, or just downright uncomfortable. there literally was no in between. gracen figured it was the fact that the two literally had known each other for about a week.

"hey, can i use your bathroom?" spencer asked from the living area.

gracen stuck her head out see him, nodding. "it's in my room."

spencer reid got up, entering the girl's room. he paused and looked around, not surprised that it was pretty messy, like her desk. before spencer got the urge to snoop around any further, he stepped in her bathroom.

her bathroom looked like his, which wasn't surprising because they lived in the same building and most of the rooms were identical. spencer finished using the restroom and paused, squinting down at the mini trash can next to the toilet.

there was a condom in there. a used one, too. spencer bit back a gag and backed away. seemed like gracen did a little bit more dirty work than he thought she did. it didn't matter to spencer though, it wasn't his business to care anyways.

but spencer always did have a nosiness issue. maybe that's why he didn't have friends in high school.

he exited the bathroom, knowing one more detail about the girl, who was now laid comfortably on the couch, taking up the entire length of it while stuffing popcorn in her mouth.

"i'm back." spencer acknowledged his own presence. "and i see you didn't leave me any room."

gracen let out an evil chuckle, crumbs flying out of her mouth. spencer cringed. germs, gracen. germs.

"move please." spencer said, attempting to push her to the side so at least his butt would fit the couch.

the girl didn't budge, sticking her tongue out at him. was she twelve years old? because she acted like she was.

"gracen!" spencer whined, struggling in her grip for dominance of the couch. "stop acting like a child and let me sit!"

"this is my couch, spencer reid!" she kicked him in the jaw. "my rules!"

spencer grabbed the biceps of her arms, pinning her down underneath him. she giggled, laughing like she was having the time of her life, making spencer do the same. her happiness was really contagious, he realized.

but the laughter soon died down, replaced by something else. they looked into each other's eyes, tension rising along with redness rising in their cheeks.

spencer was close. real close. he shuddered when her minty breath tickled his jaw, and he smelled a hint of something else also—something gritty, like cigarette smoke.

his heart pounded in his chest as he slowly met her eyes. they held non-readable emotions, even for a profiler, like him.

if he leaned down 2.039 inches he could feel her lips on his. they could kiss—if he initiated it. but spencer reid didn't want to. he knew it wasn't right.

gracen could feel it as well. she knew that he could kiss her right now. part of her wanted him to—part of her didn't. it was simply just to early in their non-existent relationship. but my god, his lips looked so beautiful, plump and pink and—

spencer inhaled as he lifted himself off of her, readjusting his position so that he was sitting again. "n-not your couch technically, because your rent covers only 64% of the apartments expenses while tax money covers—"

"oh shut up." gracen rolled her eyes, sitting up with her legs crossed, still a blushing mess.

spencer not kissing her proved her theory correct. he wanted them to stay platonic.

it's only day two. platonic was fine with her.

—