Chapter Text
Prologue:
“Okay, this is really getting kind of sad. Like, plot of a rom-com movie, sad.” Penelope Garcia turned to the rest of the team. “How can they not know how obvious they are? We need to do something.”
Spencer and Y/N had both just walked out of the conference room, headed out to talk to the family of the victim in their current case. The team had recently been noticing the frequent looks of adoration on Y/N’s face when listening to Spencer’s energetic explanations, as well as his poorly masked fear at Y/N being sent out in the field during attempts to catch UNSUBs. Although the two were not in a relationship, it was obvious to every person they knew and worked with how much each of them loved the other. Thus began the team’s intervention.
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Your POV
You stormed out of the house, frustrated at the lack of cooperation this family was showing. If they wanted their daughter’s killer to be caught, they needed to stop hiding things from the investigation! You felt Spencer come up behind you, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder.
“You need to calm down. Remember, these people aren’t the killers. They just want their privacy. It’s hard on them,” he said gently.
“I know! But you’d think a family who experienced this would want to be more helpful to prevent others from dealing with the same thing! It’s hard NOT to get mad at people like that.” You whipped around to face him, cheeks burning, embarrassed at your own outburst, but still having trouble calming yourself down.
Spencer pulled you to him, wrapping his arms tightly around you, giving you time and comfort to get yourself together. Slowly, your anger faded and you stepped back, breaking out of Spencer’s embrace. “We better get back to the office and let the others know what we found,” you say.
As you began to walk to the SUV, Spencer’s phone rang. “Hey Garcia, what’s up?”
You listened to his side of the conversation, waiting for him to hang up to hear whatever news couldn’t wait for you to return. They must need us to go somewhere else before going back to the office, you thought.
Spencer’s next words seemed to prove you right. “So, apparently, they have a lead on where the UNSUB may be targeting his victims. They think the women went on dates with him at a restaurant uptown before he took them to the various points around the city where he killed and dumped them. They want us to go there tonight undercover to see if we can spot him.”
“How will we spot him? We don’t have a sketch or any real idea of what he looks like.”
“That’s what I said, but it seems we’re to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. They aren’t expecting us to actually find him tonight, but they figure it’s worth a shot,” he explained. “The thing is, this place requires a bit of an outfit change for us, so we’ll have to run home and get ready for tonight. Garcia said they’ll meet us there for surveillance.”
You nod. “Alright, well if I have to get dressed up, you better go ahead and drop me off now. I’ve got a lot to do.”
He continues to explain the plan as he drives the short distance to your apartment. “Our cover is as a couple on a date. We’re to sit at a table in the corner of the restaurant to keep an eye out for any behavior that could lead us to the UNSUB. If we think we see someone for the team to keep an eye on, we should walk by and ‘accidentally’ bump their table. They think our guy will get overly aggressive over such an insignificant issue and it might bring him out.”
As he pulls up to your apartment and lets you out, Spencer reminds you what time to be ready to be picked up and drives off.
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Despite knowing that all this is for a case, your heart starts to flutter as the clock ticks closer to time for Spencer to pick you up. You had taken time to curl your hair, changed your outfit about 10 times, and even tried something new with your makeup (thank you YouTube!). Ever since the night you had shared a room with Spencer, you had wondered what it might be like to go on a date with him, to hold his hand, to just talk and get to know each other more. Even though this wouldn’t exactly be that, you could at least pretend and get a taste of the relationship you knew your job would never allow you to have.
After your 8th trip across the living room between the window and couch, you finally heard a knock at the door. You jumped up, grabbing your clutch as you ran to open the door. You blushed at the initial wide-eyed look of shock on Spencer’s face as you stepped out.
“Wow, Y/N. You look beautiful. I mean, wow. Um, are you ready to go? Of course you are, you locked your door. Um…” He rambled on, periodically reaching up to smooth his hair and adjusting his suit jacket.
You watched him and smiled, secretly reveling in the fact that your appearance had caused him to be so flustered. If he was going to look at you like this all night, it would be too easy to allow yourself to pretend that he was really your boyfriend, that you were really going on a date together. The ringing of Morgan calling to check on your location interrupted your thoughts, and you made your way out to the car.
The trip to the restaurant showed you just how good Spencer could be at this ‘dating’ act. He opened car doors for you and offered you his arm as you walked into the restaurant, reminding you again of the shared hotel room and your walk to get coffee the next morning. As you made your way inside, you looked around, trying to find a sign of the rest of the team, but noticing no disguised vans or anyone they knew blending into the crowd of the restaurant. Immediately after being seated, your phone rang. Confused as to why Garcia would be calling when you were supposed to be undercover, you dismissed yourself to the bathroom to find out.
“Hey Pen, what’s going on? What is there no one else here for surveillance? I thought we were trying to root out suspicious behavior?”
At your words, you heard laughing on the other end of the line. “Sweet girl, we set you up! We knew you two would never do anything on your own, so we planned a date for you.”
“Oh my God, Penelope Garcia, why would you do that? How am I going to tell him that you sent us on a date? He probably doesn’t want to go out with me, and that’s why nothing has happened. You’re going to make it awkward and then work is going to be uncomfortable every time we have to go on assignments together! This is so embarra-“
You were cut off as Morgan’s voice came through the line, “Y/L/N calm down! I know for a fact that Pretty Boy does want to be there. I’ve know him well enough, for long enough, to know when he has a crush. And what he has for you is definitely more than that. Before you say anything, we already know you feel the same way. We just got tired of waiting for one of you to make the first move, so we’re making it for you. Don’t worry about anything. I already texted Reid and told him it was a set up, and that we were paying. So go back out there and have some fun with your Lover Boy.”
You were frozen, standing in the bathroom, still holding the phone to your ear despite hearing the click that told you Morgan had already hung up. You couldn’t believe what you had heard. They set you up? On a date? Spencer liked you…. a lot?
A grin slowly stretched across your face as you made your way back out to the table to officially begin your date with Spencer Reid.