Fic: Zeroes and Ones 8/? (Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, NC17)
Title: Zeroes and Ones 8/?
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Rating: NC17
Summary: AU. This diverges from canon directly after 4x01. When Derek's offered the job heading up the NYC field office, he takes it for the good of his career. He expects to leave the BAU and everyone he knew in Virginia behind, but some people are easier to let go of than others.
A/N: Short chapter is short. Sorry.
Derek put Garcia back on the train on Sunday with one graphic novel tucked safely in her bag. He went back and forth for most of the weekend until finally he settled on the one about H.H. Holmes, Chicago's first documented serial killer. And yeah, maybe it was a little obvious, but it wasn't like he could get much past Reid anyway, so there was no point in trying. He thought about sticking a note inside like the yellow Post-it still stuck to the front of Reid's copy of The Odyssey, but the last thing he needed after twenty-four hours of relentless teasing from Garcia was to throw more fuel on the fire. Even if he stuck it inside he knew she'd find it and read it before she handed it over, so in the end he just kissed her on the cheek, handed her the book, and shook his head when she smiled knowingly.
He distracted himself from wondering what, exactly, Garcia was going to say to Reid when she gave him the book by spending Sunday evening tearing out carpet on the main floor. It was too late to take it back, to stick the book in the mail so Garcia wouldn't have a chance to embarrass him. It wouldn't stop her anyway, because she knew he'd bought it even if she wasn't the one to deliver it, and he'd never known Garcia to keep her mouth shut when it came to really good gossip.
Not that there was anything to gossip about. Yeah, he'd bought a few books, but Reid was the kind of guy who liked books. Besides, he'd given Derek a going away present, so really Derek was just returning the favor. It was just a way to let Reid know that Derek hadn't forgotten his friends just because he'd taken a new job. It didn't mean he was interested in more than friendship, no matter what Garcia thought. He couldn't be, because even if Derek hadn't moved almost three hundred miles away, they were both FBI agents.
Technically they wouldn't be breaking any rules now that they weren't on the same team. And if Hotch did find out that Reid was dating a man, Derek was pretty sure Hotch wouldn't hold it against him. He might hold the part where it was Derek against him, but the rest of it might not even come as that much of a surprise. Then again, the only relationships Derek had ever heard about Reid having were with women, so it was possible he wouldn't even be interested. Not that it mattered, because there was still the whole problem of the distance between them, not to mention the fact that Derek was pretty much Hotch's equal now.
Even if nobody called him on the whole subordinate thing, dating guys as a field agent was a lot different than dating guys as the head of a whole field office. He knew how the game worked; he'd seen Hotch jump through enough hoops -- different hoops, sure, but it all boiled down to the same thing -- and before that he'd seen the same game played in the Chicago P.D. It was the main reason he never got involved with a guy he could get serious about when it was easier just to have a little fun once in awhile with no strings attached. Then again, he never got serious about any of the women he dated, either, and when he was still with the BAU it was easy to tell himself it was just because he hadn't met the right girl yet.
Maybe he did have a soft spot for Reid; he was pretty sure he wasn't the only one. Reid was the kind of guy who made you want to take care of him. If he was a victim they'd saved, his picture would be in Rossi's -- and before that, Gideon's -- office, and somebody would check in with him every so often. He'd come a long way in the years they'd worked together, but the way he'd reacted to Derek's promotion proved that in a lot of ways, he was still a kid. He still didn't know how to deal with his own feelings half the time, and now Derek wasn't around to help him. So maybe Derek was overcompensating by trying so hard to keep in touch, but there was nothing wrong with trying to be a friend.
He was coming out of the subway station on Monday morning when his phone beeped at him, and Derek reached for it as he joined the flow of foot traffic crowding the Manhattan sidewalk. He expected -- okay, hoped for -- an e-mail or maybe a text from Reid, but instead it was a missed call notification. Derek looked at his caller ID, frowning at the office number before he pressed redial. A second later the line connected, and he heard a crisp voice on the other end of the line.
"Agent Barnes."
"It's Morgan, what's up?" he said, and when Barnes started talking he forgot all about Reid and started walking faster.
~
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Rating: NC17
Summary: AU. This diverges from canon directly after 4x01. When Derek's offered the job heading up the NYC field office, he takes it for the good of his career. He expects to leave the BAU and everyone he knew in Virginia behind, but some people are easier to let go of than others.
A/N: Short chapter is short. Sorry.
Derek put Garcia back on the train on Sunday with one graphic novel tucked safely in her bag. He went back and forth for most of the weekend until finally he settled on the one about H.H. Holmes, Chicago's first documented serial killer. And yeah, maybe it was a little obvious, but it wasn't like he could get much past Reid anyway, so there was no point in trying. He thought about sticking a note inside like the yellow Post-it still stuck to the front of Reid's copy of The Odyssey, but the last thing he needed after twenty-four hours of relentless teasing from Garcia was to throw more fuel on the fire. Even if he stuck it inside he knew she'd find it and read it before she handed it over, so in the end he just kissed her on the cheek, handed her the book, and shook his head when she smiled knowingly.
He distracted himself from wondering what, exactly, Garcia was going to say to Reid when she gave him the book by spending Sunday evening tearing out carpet on the main floor. It was too late to take it back, to stick the book in the mail so Garcia wouldn't have a chance to embarrass him. It wouldn't stop her anyway, because she knew he'd bought it even if she wasn't the one to deliver it, and he'd never known Garcia to keep her mouth shut when it came to really good gossip.
Not that there was anything to gossip about. Yeah, he'd bought a few books, but Reid was the kind of guy who liked books. Besides, he'd given Derek a going away present, so really Derek was just returning the favor. It was just a way to let Reid know that Derek hadn't forgotten his friends just because he'd taken a new job. It didn't mean he was interested in more than friendship, no matter what Garcia thought. He couldn't be, because even if Derek hadn't moved almost three hundred miles away, they were both FBI agents.
Technically they wouldn't be breaking any rules now that they weren't on the same team. And if Hotch did find out that Reid was dating a man, Derek was pretty sure Hotch wouldn't hold it against him. He might hold the part where it was Derek against him, but the rest of it might not even come as that much of a surprise. Then again, the only relationships Derek had ever heard about Reid having were with women, so it was possible he wouldn't even be interested. Not that it mattered, because there was still the whole problem of the distance between them, not to mention the fact that Derek was pretty much Hotch's equal now.
Even if nobody called him on the whole subordinate thing, dating guys as a field agent was a lot different than dating guys as the head of a whole field office. He knew how the game worked; he'd seen Hotch jump through enough hoops -- different hoops, sure, but it all boiled down to the same thing -- and before that he'd seen the same game played in the Chicago P.D. It was the main reason he never got involved with a guy he could get serious about when it was easier just to have a little fun once in awhile with no strings attached. Then again, he never got serious about any of the women he dated, either, and when he was still with the BAU it was easy to tell himself it was just because he hadn't met the right girl yet.
Maybe he did have a soft spot for Reid; he was pretty sure he wasn't the only one. Reid was the kind of guy who made you want to take care of him. If he was a victim they'd saved, his picture would be in Rossi's -- and before that, Gideon's -- office, and somebody would check in with him every so often. He'd come a long way in the years they'd worked together, but the way he'd reacted to Derek's promotion proved that in a lot of ways, he was still a kid. He still didn't know how to deal with his own feelings half the time, and now Derek wasn't around to help him. So maybe Derek was overcompensating by trying so hard to keep in touch, but there was nothing wrong with trying to be a friend.
He was coming out of the subway station on Monday morning when his phone beeped at him, and Derek reached for it as he joined the flow of foot traffic crowding the Manhattan sidewalk. He expected -- okay, hoped for -- an e-mail or maybe a text from Reid, but instead it was a missed call notification. Derek looked at his caller ID, frowning at the office number before he pressed redial. A second later the line connected, and he heard a crisp voice on the other end of the line.
"Agent Barnes."
"It's Morgan, what's up?" he said, and when Barnes started talking he forgot all about Reid and started walking faster.
~