#rc tpoh

[reidsconverse]

The Price of Happiness - iv

Prof!Spencer X Fem!Student!Reader

Summary: Spencer and Reader take a shopping trip 

Warnings: 15 year age gap, Eventual Smut, Sexual Themes and Undertones, Bad Language (is this a warning?) 

Word Count: 7.4K | once again, thank you to @spencersawkward ily bestie!!

A/N: i am so sorry for the long ass chapter, once I started writing I could not stop! i’ll try to keep the rest no more than 5K from now on!! also thank you so much for all the love and support I appreciate it so much! ps smut is coming soon, patience is a virtue my dearies. 

The second your class ended at 2:55, you were sprinting across campus to the staff parking lot. You'd agreed to let him drive the two of you to a mall about thirty minutes away, and your stomach was fluttering with anticipation and nervousness at the thought. There were stores nearer of course, but after what had happened last time you'd been together off-campus, you didn't want anyone seeing you. Iris thankfully wasn't in your last class, because she definitely would have questioned the frantic exit, and that was a conversation you just were not in the mood to have. You stopped at the entrance of the car park as you scanned around to see if you could spot him, and sure enough, he was standing exactly where he said he would be. He was leaning against a vintage-looking Volvo looking down at some files with a coffee cup precariously placed on the top of his car, he was so focused on his reading he didn't notice you walking up meaning, when you stopped in front of him it took almost a minute to realise you were there.

He jumped a little when he finally noticed your presence which resulted in a few papers flying out of his hand, the startled reaction made you giggle, "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." You said before bending down to pick up the papers he'd dropped, it was an innocent action, just you trying to be helpful so when you straightened back up and turned to hand them back to him and saw his face was flushed pink, you were more than confused. "Are you okay?" You asked, slightly concerned and completely oblivious to what you'd just done. In your defence, by this point in the day, you'd completely forgotten about the outfit you were wearing which meant you were unaware of the way your tiny skirt had left Spencer with a completely unrestricted view of the adorable pink panties you had decided to wear that day, the same panties which were about to be the sole reason for sending him into a cardiac arrest.

"M-me? I-uh I'm fine." He stuttered out in a flustered state, his hands were clammy as he reached out to take the papers from your hands and he silently prayed that you weren't able to tell. "Thank you for uh...helping me." He slightly waved the papers in the air as he let out an awkward laugh that in all honesty sounded more like a choked cough.

You narrowed your eyes, not completely believing him. "No problem..." The two of you stood there for a few moments, just staring at each other before you finally spoke up. "Nice car."

Nice car, you thought to yourself, how fucking lame are you Y/N...nice car god you loser.

Spencer, however, didn't think it was lame at all, he smiled at you before speaking, "Thank you Y/N, it's... it was a gift." You could hear a slight change in his tone, and his demeanour shifted to one of slight sadness as a distant look crossed his face, as though he was thinking deeply about something... or someone. He didn't dwell on it for long though as he quickly looked back up at you and began walking to the other side of the car gesturing for you to follow him. He reached for the passenger side door and opened it up for you, "Here you go...feel free to adjust your seat how you wish." He moved out of the way to allow you to sit down, which you tried to do as gracefully as you could, even at the grand old age of 22 you still hadn't mastered the art of getting into a car without struggling for at least a few moments.

"Thank you." You said as you finally managed to settle into your seat, he smiled down at you before closing the door and running back over to his side, he placed the papers on the backseat before getting into the driver's seat and placing the keys in the ignition. You felt as though you were forgetting something and as you looked around at your things you realised what it was.

"Uh, Dr Reid...?" You said, he let out a small 'hmm' as he checked all his mirrors and adjusted his seat. "You uh... you forgot your coffee."

"What?" He asked as he turned to you in confusion. You simply pointed up to the roof of the car and watched as the realisation washed over his face, "Oh... right yes hold on." He quickly got out of his car and grabbed the cup that was still sitting on top of the car before placing it in the cupholder and looking at you with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry about that..it's been a long day." It hadn't been that long if he was being completely honest, but there was just something about being in your presence that made his brain turn into mush.

"Don't worry about it, I completely get it. My dad always said I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to my body." You said, trying to reassure him that you weren't someone to be embarrassed around and from the small laugh he left out, he seemed grateful for this. He turned his gaze away from you and began to back out of the parking space. His hand moved up to hold the headrest of the passenger seat and you couldn't help the way your gaze slowly moved across his face as you drank in the way he looked as he concentrated on assessing the road behind him. Before you could think about what you were doing, you found yourself studying the striking features of his face....the slightly rounded end of his nose, the perpendicular perfection of his jawline. 

It's so unfair, you thought to yourself, how is he hot, so smart and so respectful....and rich? it's just so unfair.

You noticed him removing his hand from behind you and you tried to look away from him before he realised you were staring at him but you weren't fast enough. He caught you and for a moment you both locked eyes as a slightly confused smile began dawning itself on his lips. You tore your eyes away from him before it got too overwhelming, opting to rest your head against the window. You found yourself lost in your thoughts as he reached to turn on the radio, it was tuned to the classical station which made you smile, it was very fitting. The soft sounds filled the car and when you heard him subconsciously humming along, you couldn't help but sneak another glance at him, there was something about Spencer, a blissful unawareness of his cluttered beauty, that brought warmth to your cheeks and endeared him to you.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked you and you could practically hear the smug smirk on his face. Your jaw dropped slightly as you quickly moved your glance to your lap, suddenly finding great interest in the small patterns that adorned the material of your skirt.

"N..no sorry. I just...I didn't take you for a music person." You mentally cringed at how timid you sounded, and despite him slightly chuckling at your response and not you, you couldn't help but feel embarrassed by how obvious the effect he had on you was.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." You doubted he was implying anything by his words, after all, it was simply a fact. But there was something about the way he said it, it made you curious and you suddenly had a million or so questions floating around your mind.

"I'm sure there is, Dr Reid." You looked at him again, your legs moving so your knees were now facing him. The light had turned red as he finished his sentence so he turned to look at you and gave you a small smile and somehow, for some strange reason, you felt a surge of confidence rush through you and before you could stop yourself you moved your elbow to lean against the centre console as you spoke, "So, tell me something."

"Like what?" He replied, turning back to concentrate on the road as the light once again turned green and you'd be lying if you said you didn't miss his eyes on you, something about the way he looked at you, his eyes shining with attentiveness and intrigue never failed to make your heart stutter. The loss of his attention made you shift back to your original position, leaning back to rest your head against your seat, slightly tilting it to allow you to stare intently out of the window, the view was nothing particularly interesting, simply a blur of cars but something about it felt comforting. You sat in silence as you thought about his question for a few seconds, desperately racking your brain to come up with something you could ask. There was no shortage of things you were curious about: what made him laugh, what it was like working for the FBI, what kept him up at night but you knew these were way too personal. You realised you'd been silent for far too long so you blurted out the first and only non-invasive one you could think up.

"Do you have any pets?" You asked and the moment the words left your mouth you regretted them. You had never wanted to slap yourself more in your life, truly, you wished that you could melt into the leather seats of his car and never be heard from again. Out of all the things you could ask him, you picked something that doesn't matter in the slightest.

Spencer, however, didn't look confused or put off at all, he simply broke into a slightly amused smile before answering. "Yes actually, I have fish."

"Fish?" You repeated back, giggling to yourself at the idea of him sprinkling fish food into a water tank every morning, it wasn't completely absurd, he just seemed more the type to own a cat.

"Yes, a few carassius auratus," He said, and as though he could sense the confusion running through your head as you tried to associate the name to an image he spoke again, "They're goldfish." He clarified and somehow, the way he said it didn't make you feel completely stupid. "You know fish are pretty practical pets, they're actually often quite low maintenance."

"Really? I suppose it's good they don't interfere with your busy schedule." You didn't mean to sound like you were prying and if you did, he thankfully acted oblivious to it, simply opting to nod in response before answering.

"Something like that." He said and you couldn't help but take notice of the vagueness of the answer however you brushed it off as he followed with a question of his own. "How about you, you own any pets?" He turned his head briefly to look at you, and you exhaled sharply before shaking your head.

"No way. I can barely look after myself, I couldn't handle being responsible for another living thing." You joked and when you heard him laugh in response, you felt a warmth rush through your body at the sound.

"Understandable. I remember my senior year of college I bought a plant. I can't even remember what made me do it and if I'm being honest I should've known it was a bad idea but I bought one anyway." He paused for a moment, as though he was reflecting on the memory and a smile crept onto his face as continued. "A few weeks later, I went home for christmas break and when I came back it was dead. I never bought a plant again." He didn't mean it to be funny, you were sure of that much but something about the idea of a young Spencer Reid purchasing a plant and accidentally killing it made you laugh, a lot. "What?" He asked you but you just shook your head, mumbling a small 'nothing' as you turned back to look out the window.

You wished you'd had the hindsight to bring a pair of sunglasses as the sun began to hit the car almost blindingly and you felt your eyelids gently flutter shut to block it out. You stayed like that for a few moments, still not satisfied with the basic relief closing your eyes had brought you and it wasn't until a shadow fell across your line of sight that you opened them again. You thought that a cloud had drifted over the harsh glare of the sun, but what you saw instead was Spencer bringing down the sun visor on your side of the car for you. You couldn't stop your heart from fluttering at the simple action, "Thanks." You said, taking a small glance at his face through the corner of your eye taking in the smile on his face and his simple hum of acknowledgement, he seemed as though he was about to say something, but before he could the sound of the navigation system took over the short moment of silence, '15 minutes to your destination.' it said and unintentionally your eyebrows shot up in surprise at how little time had gone by, you honestly weren't sure if the past 15 minutes had been the longest or shortest of your life.

You wondered how Spencer was feeling. If he was at all nervous like you were, he was doing a good job of hiding it. You thought back to the few times you'd paid attention in his class as you took in his demeanour and actions, he'd made minimal eye contact since you'd begun your journey but in his defence, he was driving so it made sense he wouldn't keep his attention on you. Another thing you noticed was that aside from the brief moment where he'd leant over to help adjust your visor, he'd pretty much kept both hands firmly gripped on the wheel. There wasn't much need to do so and you could have just brushed this off as him being a cautious driver, after all, you'd witnessed the way he'd adjusted his mirrors multiple times not to mention how he'd triple checked with you that your seatbelt was on correctly, but every so often you would see the obvious shakiness from what you would describe as being from the nerves that were rushing through his body. You smiled to yourself at this, a small display of his humanity that made him seem less intimidating, even for a second.

"Dr Reid?" You muttered, and he, once again, seemed startled by the sudden sound of your voice, this time breaking through the peaceful sounds of Chopin that rang through the air.

"Yes Y/N?" His tone was gentle, as it almost always was when he said your name, there something about the way he said it that made your stomach flip, you loved the way it sounded coming from his mouth, it was sweet... almost melodic.

"Thank you." You didn't specify for what, but truthfully you didn't need to. He knew what you meant and some part of him filled with guilt at the complete innocence of your gratitude. He could tell himself he was doing this just to help you and that it was completely selfless, as much as he wanted but deep down he knew the truth and he wondered if that was the part of the reason that being around you was so difficult. Sometimes he wondered if you'd have accepted his proposition if you'd known the true reason behind it if you would have still been as hesitant around him as you were right now.

The rest of the car ride was silent and before either of you knew it, you were pulling into a rather deserted parking lot situated in front of the mall. He quickly found a spot near the entrance and without much of a struggle, he parked the car before turning it off and removing his keys from the ignition. You moved to make your way out of the car, but before you had a chance to swing open the passenger side door, a hand wrapped around your upper arm causing you to drop your bag and turn around. The moment you made eye contact with him, Spencer let go of your arm and you couldn't stop the indescribable feeling that washed through you at the loss of contact.

"It's cold outside." He said matter of factly as he got out of the car and opened the trunk. Although he hadn't explicitly told you to stay sitting, you decided to do so anyway, opting to watch him through the reflection in the mirror, he fumbled around for a few moments before returning with a maroon cardigan. It looked awfully comfortable and you knew from the logo inscribed on the front pocket that it hadn't come cheap, "Here you go." He said, and for the second time that day, he handed you something with no explanation.

"What's this for?" You asked him, your fingers nimbly grabbing the soft material from his hands.

"It's for you." He said bluntly and though it should've, it didn't sound rude. He must've seen the perplexed expression that etched itself onto your face, because he quickly opened his mouth to speak, "It's cold outside." He repeated.

"Okay... but the cardigan-?" You held it up as if to emphasise its presence. It wasn't an unwelcome gesture, but part of you was still baffled at his generosity. Before you could trail off, however, he smiled and interrupted you,

"--Is for you to wear..," He watched as you dropped your gaze to look at the expensive fabric resting on your lap, "...so you don't get cold." He added on, and this made you look back up at him with a slight grin. You decided to toy with him a bit, noting the slight trepidation in his tone. "Right...because it's cold outside." You said teasingly, and if it hadn't been for the aforementioned chilly weather you would have assumed the light blush that spread across cheeks was due to your comment. You slowly lifted the cardigan and put it on, the warmth of the oversized garment enveloping you as you threw open the car door and got out. Spencer sat there for a moment, his mind reeling at the sight of you looking so adorable in his cardigan and it wasn't until you lightly knocked on the drivers' side window that he was snapped from his thoughts. He quickly got out of the car and locked it before beginning to walk in the direction of the entrance, you swiftly following behind.

You hadn't been to this mall before, mostly because you didn't really have money to splurge on shopping trips nor did you have time to make the trip out, but you'd heard a lot about it and so you had mentally prepared a list of stores you wanted to check out. There was still a tiny niggling thought in the back of your mind, telling you that this was wrong and you were sure you may come to regret saying yes to this, but right now, you were just really fucking excited to shop.

"Where do you want to go?" Spencer asked you, the two of you began your ascent up the escalator that would take you to the floor with most of the stores.

You thought about it for a few seconds, racking your brain for what you definitely needed, you didn't want to ask for too much despite his continuous instance that it would be fine to do so, "Maybe a few basics if that's ok?" You asked him and, unsurprisingly, he was quick with his response.

"Whatever you need," He said, his attention straying to the people frantically rushing in and out of stores, you noticed him watching their movements with a clinically fascinated expression. "I'm not a fan of shopping.” He said, his nose slightly twitching as he took in his surroundings, a small trait which you had noticed him do often and found more adorable each time you witnessed it. The fact that Spencer didn't enjoy shopping made you smile to yourself; it's not surprising in the least and it was something you found quite endearing if you were being honest.

In an attempt to pull him from his distracted state, your fingers slowly reached up to touch his elbow, the small action getting his attention. You gestured for him to follow you as you made your way to find a store that interests you, the various windows are full of displays, the clothes on show all things you had on your pinterest board but could never afford to buy. You stop outside one particular store, a jewellery store. Your gaze focused on a beautiful rose gold necklace that you'd seen online and jokingly added to your basket with no intention of actually purchasing it. It was even more beautiful in person and as though Spencer could sense your adoration he spoke up.

"Do you want to go in?" He asked, looking between you and the necklace with a small smile on his face. You wanted to say yes, of course, but you couldn't. It wasn't something you needed so much as desperately wanted so you couldn't in good conscience ask him to buy it. You simply shook your head and began walking away but you didn't get far. In fact, you barely even took a step before his hand grabbed yours to pull you back. You couldn't stop the short gasp that fell from your lips at the feeling of the warmth of his palm placed against the back of your hand. "Y/N, if you want to go in we can, I don't mind." His eyes darted from your face to the where your hands were connected and as though the realisation of what he'd done, for the third time that day, washed over him he pulled his hand away from you.

"No, it's fine honestly." Your fingers ran over where his hand had been as your eyes began scanning your surroundings in an attempt to direct both yourselves and the conversation elsewhere. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him raise an eyebrow as if to say he didn't quite believe you but you brushed it off as you caught sight of a store you weren’t at all familiar with but looked interesting. "Can we go there?" You asked, your hand moving in the general direction of the store and he turned his head to look where you were pointing.

"Of course we can." He replied as you both began walking away from the jewellery store, and although you had no reason to, you kept a small distance from him, "You don't have to ask." He added on as if to remind you. You gave him a small tight-lipped smile before nodding to let him know you understood, though you had no doubt you would do it again, several times.

The bright lights, soft music and slight scent of sophistication overwhelmed your senses as you walked through the double doors of the store and the sight of racks filled with beautiful clothes caused your jaw to drop. You weren't used to shopping in places like this, truth be told 90% of your clothes were either thrifted or from Target, which in all fairness had done you just fine over the years so you technically hadn't needed to shop elsewhere, or at least that's what you told yourself. Spencer didn't need to be a profiler to tell you were feeling out of place, so, in an attempt to not make you feel embarrassed by your unconscious reaction, he subtly called over one of the assistants to help guide you. She quickly made her way over to you and greeted the two of you with a smile on her face and Spencer made quick work of introducing the two of you to the girl who was going to be helping you. 

"I’m Faye, how can I help you guys?" She said. You looked over at Spencer who simply shrugged his shoulders and gestured for you to explain what you wanted. You were sure he was doing it to be polite but it was like he’d thrown you into the deep end and was simply watching you drown. Bastard. 

"I-I need some new clothes, obviously but I'm not sure where to uh, start I guess?" You said, your cheeks heating up when you saw a small smirk creep onto his face, clearly amused at what a mess you were. Before you could think about what you were doing, you found yourself connecting your elbow with his ribs, the slight force of the unexpected motion causing him to let out a small "ow". The smile on the assistant's face grew bigger at the interaction and something about it calmed you which in turn you made you feel much more comfortable. "I just need a few basic items, shirts, jeans... things like that."

She nodded before leading you over to the back of the store where the fitting rooms and waiting area were placed, "You're welcome to take a seat as I pick out some items for you or if you prefer, feel free to have a look around yourself. Then we can try them on and see what you like best." She explained before getting out the small iPad she kept by her side. 

Holy shit, you thought to yourself, this place is so fucking fancy.

"Would you mind telling me your sizes so I can get you your items?" She smiled once again before handing you the iPad. You fumbled momentarily at the transaction and entered your measurements onto the screen before giving the small tablet back to her with a smile. Out of habit your eyes slowly moved to look at Spencer who was, thankfully, lost in his own little world and hadn't caught the awkwardness of the situation, something which you were grateful for. You weren't sure why but you always seemed to be embarrassing yourself in front of him, as though the universe would collect a whole week’s worth of embarrassment and unleash it on you the moment you were near him. It sucked, it truly did.

Faye thanked you before rushing around the store picking out clothes for you to wear. The prospect of not choosing your clothes made you nervous, you weren't super into fashion, which wasn't exactly your fault. You barely had enough time to breathe so looking fashionable, or at least well put together was never a huge priority for you. Well, apart from when you were attending Dr Reid's classes, obviously. You began wandering the small vicinity around you, taking a look at the racks full of clothes you could only dream of buying. One dress, in particular, caught your eye. It was beautiful, the scarlet material slipped smoothly over your hands, and you couldn't help but lift it off the rack to take a better look. You spent a few moments taking it in, the way the chest was low cut enough to be fun but not enough to be scandalous, with thin straps that you thought would sit nicely upon your shoulders. Its simple elegance completely enamoured you.

"Do you like it?" Spencer's voice coming from behind you made you jump and you almost dropped the dress, just managing to catch it before it hit the floor. "Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

"You didn't!" You rushed out before quickly retracting your words, "Ok well, you did but it's fine and to answer your question I do like it, it’s very...elegant" You took one last glance at the dress before placing it back on the rack and walking over to the chairs to take a seat. 

“Why don’t you try it on?” He asked, seemingly genuinely confused. He took a seat next to you and looked at you intently, clearly waiting for an answer. But you couldn’t give him one, because looking at him with his eyebrows furrowed, his hair gently falling in his face as that morning’s gel wore off and with a slight pout on his face you realised that he had well and truly baffled you. There were so many sides to him that you were starting to understand that you weren’t entirely sure of who he was. You thought back to the first day that he’d called you into his office, how he’d looked at you, how he’d spoken to you, how he’d held your face in his hands. He’d been so sure, so confident in his movements and it had shocked you. But what had surprised you more was the quick change back to the nerdy, slightly awkward yet charming professor that you’d grown to know. It was almost like there was a switch, something that brought out the other side of him, and even though it was wrong, you wanted to see it again. You opened your mouth to finally reply to him but were interrupted by Faye coming back clutching several baskets of clothing. 

“Okay, I got as many things as I could find that I think would look amazing on you. If you want to follow me, we can get you into a fitting room to try them on?” She spoke quickly, almost out of breath and you could only smile at her dedication to doing a good job. You nodded as you got up, ready to follow her to the row of fitting rooms when she paused for a moment and turned around taking a quick look at Spencer before looking at you, “Your boyfriend can come along as well, there’s chairs outside the rooms.” And before you could correct her, she began walking away. 

You could practically feel Spencer’s gaze burning into the back of your head and if in that very moment, the earth had opened up beneath you and swallowed you up, you would’ve had no complaints. “Do you want me to join you?” He asks softly, and you can hear the hesitation in his voice.

You don’t bother turning around to answer, you’re sure you’ll melt into a puddle if you look at him, “If you want, it could be useful to have a second opinion.” If you’re quite honest you would rather be hit by an oncoming train than have him sit outside as you undressed, there would obviously be a thick plank of wood that would block his view but you would know and he would know and that was enough to make you want to say no. But you didn’t, mostly because you didn’t want to seem rude but also because there was a small part of you that didn’t want to be too far away from him, and that part was worrying you. You began following Faye, your steps quickening in an attempt to catch up to her, and you could feel Spencer walking closely behind you. 

He let out a light laugh before responding, “I’m not sure how much help I’d be, my knowledge on Women's fashion is quite limited.” He paused for a moment, as though he was recalling a memory,  before speaking again. “My friend Emily tried explaining the reasoning behind women and their vast amount of shoes but it was a concept I was never quite able to grasp.” The name Emily rang a bell, it sounded so familiar and you tried to remember where you’d heard it but your thoughts were, once again, interrupted by Faye walking over to you, her arms finally free of the bags and no longer out of breath. 

“Oh good, you decided to join us.” She gestured towards Spencer who gave her a tight-lipped smile, one which you’d seen him do on multiple occasions especially those where you assumed he was slightly uncomfortable like when he realised most of the girls in his class were simply there because they found him attractive, yeah...that had to be one of the uncomfortable moments that you had witnessed in your entire life. “Spencer, you can take a seat right here,” She pointed out the seat that was adjacent to the door of the fitting room, “Y/N, you can find all the clothes I chose in those bags, once you’re done you hang them up on either the Yes or the No rack and we can take it from there. Give me a buzz if you need anything!” She pointed to a little button on the side of the dressing room door, and you quickly thanked her before closing the door and locking it behind you and for the first time in what felt like forever, you could breathe. 

The try-on process was going pretty well, in fact, you surprisingly loved almost everything that Faye had picked out for you. There was a handful of casual tops, skirts and jeans and she’d even picked out a few formal dresses which you would never have had the hindsight to do. So yeah, it was all going pretty well, that was until you attempted to try on the last dress in the bag. It was a lovely, rather business formal black sleeveless dress that fell to your mid-thigh and hugged your form nicely. The only problem was that the zipper was impossible to zip yourself. You gave up after struggling for a few moments, opting to press the button Faye had told you to use if you needed help and sat down as you waited for her to arrive. You needed this moment to just think, reflect on what had happened, what was happening and what would happen once you left this room. 

A few more moments passed with you just sitting there lost in your thoughts and yet there was no sign of Faye. You’d even tried the button a few more times but to no avail. You sighed before standing up to look in the mirror, the way you saw it you had two options: either take the dress off or, and the thought of this made you want to hurl with nerves, ask Spencer to find Faye. You took a deep breath and counted to 3 before turning around and opening the door. The slight creak caught Spencer’s attention and he looked up at you with a smile on his face. 

“Are you ok?” He asked sweetly as he got up from where he was sitting. He must’ve realised the way your head was poking out of the door at an awkward angle, hastily moving so he was closer to where you were. 

“Kinda.. can you do me a favour?” You replied, and he nodded in response. “Could you uh, could you get Faye for me?” You weren’t sure why you were embarrassed by this, honestly, it wasn’t embarrassing in the least and yet somehow everything you did around Spencer made you feel like a complete idiot. 

“Can I ask what’s wrong? Maybe it’s something I can help with.” He responded, and you shook your head frantically. If you thought the act of asking him to call for help was bad enough to make you hurl, him being the one helping you felt like game over. There was absolutely no way you could let him do that…too bad your mouth seemed to disagree with any logic your brain was suggesting. 

“I just need to do up my zipper.” You said, attempting to point to the undone zipper on your back before realising you were still hidden by the door meaning he couldn’t see it. You awkwardly shuffled away from the door to open it further and allow him to see what you meant. It wasn’t rocket science and you knew he would’ve understood without the visual demonstration, and yet you didn’t stop. 

“I can do that.” He said without hesitation, and it honestly took you by surprise. He must’ve seen the way your eyebrow shot up because he quickly spoke again, “Only if that’s okay with you.” And despite all your intentions to say no, you couldn’t stop yourself from letting a small, “yes” tumble out of your mouth. 

You moved back into the tiny space and he slowly followed behind, keeping enough of a distance to allow you to turn around so that you were facing the mirror. Your gaze was fixed on his reflection, watching as his eyes trailed down your nicely accentuated figure. Your eyes locked with his as he looked back up, his cheeks turning red as his fingers nimbly began moving the hair away from the zippers reach. The featherlight brush of his fingertips against the bare skin of your shoulders sent shivers down your spine and you hoped he couldn’t hear how fast your heart was beating. His hand travelled down your back as he maintained eye contact with you and despite all your mental efforts to look away, you physically couldn’t, it was as though you were enchanted by him. The power he held over you was evident in the smallest of ways, and no matter how hard you both tried to convince yourselves that there was nothing more than a professional relationship between the two of you, every accidental touch and sideways glance weakened your resolve bit by bit. He easily slid the zipper up and stepped away from you, looking at you through the mirror. His eyes softened as he began speaking, “Wow...you look…” but before he could finish, Faye knocked on the slightly ajar door and peeked her head through. She really needs to work on timing, you thought to yourself. 

“Is everything ok in here? I’m so sorry, I got caught up with another customer. I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience.” She said, her eyes darting between you and Spencer. 

“Everything’s great, thank you!” You said hastily as you attempted to get Spencer to leave the room, “I just needed some help with my zipper but it’s sorted.” Spencer slowly backed away and sat back in his seat, disheartened by the way your moment had been cut short, but you, on the other hand, were relieved. It’s not that you didn’t love the way he looked at you, the way he touched you or the way he acted with you. But it was too much all at once, you were barely getting over the whole deal. There’s no way you were in the right headspace to start something... right? 

“Great! Do you want to go over what you want to keep?” She asked but you shook your head, at this point you just wanted to get out of this room, out of this store and quite frankly out of this mall. She nodded and walked back out but not before telling you to put your keeps in a bag and bring them to the checkouts. You got dressed back into the clothes you were wearing when you entered, you never thought you’d find such comfort in cheap polyester and an oversized cardigan that didn’t even belong to you. You quickly gathered all your things in their bags and walked out. 

“I’m all done.” You said without looking up from the floor, but when you were met with no response your eyes drifted up to where he should’ve been sat. Keyword being should’ve-- meaning he wasn’t there. There was no trace of him ever being there and you looked around frantically before walking out of the fitting room areas to the checkouts, keeping an eye out for him the entire time. Your heart was racing with both fear and anxiety, what if this had all been some elaborate joke? A prank perhaps? But you quickly shook those possibilities from your head, there’s no way Spencer would do that, right? You were nervously chewing on your lip whilst rocking back and forth on the balls on your feet when Faye walked up to you again. 

“Y/N! Ready to pay?” She asked kindly, and your eyes widened with worry. In all the excitement of the last hour, you had completely forgotten the main part of this trip, payment. 

“Uh, about that... the man that I was with? Do you know where he went?” You asked her, your fingers playing with the soft fabric of the cardigan to distract yourself from the stress you were about to crumble under.

“Spencer? He said he’d be right back, he left us his card so we can process your transaction and get you outta here don’t worry!” She spoke cheerily and if she saw the way your shoulders dropped in relief she didn’t mention it. She took the bag from your hand and began to scan the items before dropping them into another large glossy white bag and you didn’t doubt that the single-use bag was probably worth more than you would ever be. “Right, I’ll just put the card through for you it should just be a minute.” She asked you a few questions whilst the two of you waited for the transaction to go through, just simple things about school and whether you’d liked the clothes but for the most part it was quiet. It was no fault of hers, you were just so lost in your worries that holding a conversation wasn’t even feasible and you were just grateful she understood that. The sound of the receipt printing along with the rustling as she threw it into the bag with the clothes broke the momentary silence.  “Here you go, thank you so much for shopping with us and we hope to see you back here soon.” She had a wide smile on her face as she handed you the bag and Spencer’s card. 

“Thank you for all your help.” You replied, expressing your gratitude before taking the bag from her and walking out of the store. You walked over to an empty bench to take a seat finally understanding why people said shopping was tiring, you were fucking exhausted. Taking out your phone to check the time you saw an email from your landlord, your heart sunk as you read what it said,

Resident of Apartment 203, 

The damage is more extensive than we thought. I have been advised to let you know you will be unable to return to the apartment for at least a week. I have also been told to allow you to collect a few essential items for your time away which I can do today before 6. Otherwise, you will not have access to your apartment indefinitely. 

Lenny Martin (Building Landlord) 

Fuck. What the fuck were you going to do, it was already 5:23pm. 

“Are you ok?” Your head shot up to find Spencer staring down at you in concern. You quickly stood up and put your phone back in your pocket before replying. 

“Where did you go?” You asked him, completely ignoring his question. 

“I had to uh, do something.” The vagueness of his answer should’ve piqued your curiosity but the email you’d just received had stolen all of your attention. You just hummed in response before digging into your pocket, looking for his card. 

“Here,” You said quickly as you began walking away from him and towards the escalator. It was as though his brain had to take a second to process what was happening, he paused in place, his card hanging loosely from his hand as he watched you move further away. 

“Y/N?” He said, finally pulling himself to there and walking quickly to catch up with you. “What happened? Where are you going?” 

“I just- I have to get home. Thank you for everything, I truly appreciate it but I- I have to go home.” You were trying so hard to keep a calm facade but it wasn’t working, Spencer could see the panic and worry on your face and he softened at the sight of you close to tears. 

“Okay… okay I’ll take you home is that ok?” He couldn’t stop himself, his hands came up to hold your shoulders, his thumbs stroking the skin in a way that soothed your nerves a bit. You weren’t sure how to respond--you needed to leave, but you didn’t want to leave him. 

“Thank you.” Was all you were able to say as his hand moved to take the bag from yours, his other hand wrapping around your shoulder to guide you back to his car. There was something about his touch, the warmth that spread through you at his gentle hold and for a brief moment, you felt like everything was going to be alright. 

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[reidsconverse]

The Price of Happiness - i

Prof!Spencer X Fem!Student!Reader

Summary: Spencer makes reader an interesting offer and Reader discovers a different side to her professor...

Warnings: 15 year age gap, Eventual Smut, Sexual Themes and Undertones, Bad Language (is this a warning?)

Word Count: 3.6K

You cursed your poor timekeeping skills as you tried to quietly sneak into the classroom full of students who were avidly listening to the professor talk. You couldn't count the number of times you had been late to class, and it was almost normal for you at this point. You never did it intentionally, you just always seemed to be running behind, just as you were this morning. Your eyes darted around the room, looking for somewhere to sit and your eyes catching a familiar head of pink hair. Spotting the empty seat she'd saved you, you quickly rushed to where she was sitting.

"Hey Is," You said, placing your bag down and taking a seat beside her. Iris, as was her full name, smiled at you before looking at her phone and showing you the time.

"You're late." She teased, not truly minding your inability to reach anywhere on time. She just hated being left alone in what she referred to as 'the most boring class she's ever had to take.' But you couldn't blame her for that, after all, she was an art major who was only taking this criminal justice class because you didn't want to take it alone.

"I'm sorry, I overslept." You said, getting out your books and resting them on the table so that it looked like you were attempting to pay attention.

"But you had time to get coffee?" She pointed at the coffee cup in your hand with an eyebrow raised. You knew she wasn't mad; this was just her way of asking if she could have some. You pushed the cup over to her, turning to face your professor, who was currently talking about something or another. You tried to pay attention, but it was almost impossible.

"He looks good today." You whispered, gesturing towards the man pacing in front of you. Professor Reid, or Dr Spencer Reid as he'd introduced himself on the first day of class, was spewing out endless information about, from what you'd been able to gather, statistics and their importance during an investigation. But, honestly, all your focus was on the way his dark red cardigan fit just right on him and the way his pants made his ass look incredible, not to mention how his hair fell across his face perfectly, not the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Oh yeah...the things I would let that man do to me." She replied with complete seriousness, but the wink she sent you to let you know she was just teasing.

It wasn't that funny, in all honesty, she was entirely right. But for some reason, you laughed, much louder than you had meant to, and it unintentionally captured Spencer's attention. He quickly turned to see where the noise had come from, his eyes scanning the classroom until they landed on you, giggling to yourself. He watched as you turned your attention to your notebook, seemingly beginning to doodle on the page, and his momentary pause made the room fall silent. The rest of the class followed his gaze, which sat intently on you, and when you eventually glanced up from your page, wondering what had caused the silence, you found yourself locking eyes with him.

"Is something funny Miss Y/L/N?" He asked; his tone laced with exasperation, and the way he was looking at you was so intense you swore he could see into your soul. Your mouth gaped open for several moments as you tried to find the words to explain yourself.

"N..No, Professor Reid... I'm sorry." You stuttered out, and you could feel your face heating up,  praying he would move his attention away from you quickly. Truthfully he had never gotten angry at anyone before; he was more passive, simply requesting them to stop disrupting so he could continue. But something about the way he was looking at you seemed unfamiliar, like he was agitated at the fact that you had interrupted his class. However, he didn't say anything. Instead, he nodded in acknowledgement of your apology and continued with the class. As confused as you felt, you were grateful for that.

The rest of the class was simultaneously a blur and also the longest 30 minutes of your life. You hadn't wanted to risk anything else, so you sat there in silence, ignoring the several nudges and whispers Iris sent you. You usually wouldn't have cared about being yelled at by a teacher, aside from the apparent humiliation that would come with it. But something about angering Dr Reid made you... well, it was just something you didn't want to experience. You were ready to leave the classroom when you felt a tap on your shoulder. You sharply turned around to find him standing behind you, "Miss Y/LN, I'd like to see you in my office later. 5PM, don't be late." He said before walking away without giving you a chance to reply. Oh fuck.

5 PM came around much quicker than you'd have liked, and you found yourself standing in the hallway where Spencer's office was. Your hand rested against his office door as you wondered if you should knock or just turn around and walk away. You had been thinking about what would happen once you walked into his office. Was he going to yell at you or even kick you out of the class? The door swinging open alongside a slight, awkward cough startled you from your thoughts, and you looked up to see Spencer staring down at you, "Come in." is all he said before he walked back into the room, and you followed him obediently.

Your eyes moved across the quaint office earnestly, wanting to take in every little detail that you could. It was decorated with more books than your average library, with stacks of them littered all over the ground due to the overloaded bookshelves. An array of awards and accolades hung from the walls, and though it seemed wrong to do so, you made a small mental note of the lack of personal pictures. The only images that you could see were of Spencer, and two small boys and another with a radiant woman dressed like a rainbow had thrown up all over her. You couldn't help it, against your own better judgement, you began wondering who they were... if those were his kids and who the woman was, the thoughts filled you with a feeling you couldn't quite put your finger on. The room smelt faintly of coffee and the cologne he wore. The combination made your head dizzy, so you were grateful when he held his hand out towards the chair that sat adjacent to him and gestured for you to take a seat.

You tried to distract yourself from staring at him and analysing his facial expressions as he peered through the mystery paper in his hand. You were sure your lips were red from how you were nervously chewing at them, and your fingers were sore from the way you were anxiously picking at them. You subconsciously began squirming in your seat as he continued to read through the paper he held; his eyebrows furrowed in what you could only assume was a mixture of confusion and disappointment. It was stupid, but you felt an overwhelming sense of sadness wash over you. You had wanted him to like you. He was intelligent and attractive, his credentials were incredible, and it would be an honour to be respected by someone like him.

Spencer noticed you had fallen into your thoughts again and attempted to snap you out of them by placing the paper back on his desk. He bit back a smile at the way you jumped out of your trance. His hands came to clasp together, leaning forward as his eyes met yours, "Miss Y/L/N..." He started, and before you could stop yourself, you interrupted him.

"Y/N is fine... or Miss Y/L/N, whatever you prefer sir." You mumbled, shrinking back into your chair as the embarrassment of your sudden interruption overtook you.

Spencer raised his eyebrow in amusement, his lip turning up into a slight smirk at the honorific, a smirk you would've missed if you hadn't been staring intently at his face,

"Very well Y/N, I assume you know why I called you into my office?" He asked, and you couldn't tell if the question was rhetorical, so you decided to answer just in case.

"If this is about earlier in class, then I truly am sorry." You replied, watching as he shook his head.

"It's not and I apologise if I seemed harsh today but I hope, after I show you this, you will understand why." He gave you a small smile and handed you the paper he'd been looking through, the letter D circled multiple times in red at the top of it made your stomach sink. He'd handed you your midterm. You knew you hadn't done well, but you hadn't expected it to be wrong, especially not a D.

"Y/N, I know you're smart and more than capable of doing better than this. Now, I'm aware there have been some problems but I like to believe I was understanding of your situation and I had hoped you'd feel comfortable to talk to me if you were facing any more issues." He said; a look of concern filled his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, a subtle way of telling you this was an opportunity to explain.

You felt bad, you knew you should've talked to him, and you thought back to the last time you'd had a conversation with him, It was three weeks into the semester, and you were yet to hand in any of the assignments he'd set, he was rightfully concerned. Hence, he asked you to stay after class for the two of you to discuss the issues you were having. When you told him you had to sacrifice classwork to work and put yourself through school, he was more than understanding. He granted you an extension and told you to come to him if you had any more issues. You had hugged him as a form of gratitude, you knew it was inappropriate, but at the time, you didn't care, especially not when he hugged you back for a few seconds. Then he'd pulled away from you, told you were free to leave, and that was the end of that.

"Professor Reid, I'm so sorry. My laptop broke and I couldn't afford to repair it and then there was a leak in my apartment and the stupid landlord wouldn't fix it so I had to work more than usual and I didnt have time to study for the midterm and I-"

"Breathe Y/N, it's okay I'm not mad." He spoke calmly as he got up from his chair and walked around to lean on the desk in front of you. You were more than confused by this and even more so by the words that followed. "Actually...I might have a solution to your problems."

He paused for a moment as though he was contemplating even continuing, and your head began racing with what he could potentially say. "I'm not sure where you're going with this sir." You told him, once again not missing the way his face twitched when you tacked on the title at the end of your sentence. You weren't sure if you imagined these reactions or if they were indeed happening. Either way, it confused the hell out of you.

"I would like to help you out..." He said hesitantly, watching as you raised your eyebrows expectantly. "...financially." You couldn't stop your jaw from dropping at his words. You were sure you were dreaming, that was it... you'd fallen asleep during class, and this was just some weird, wacky dream. You brought two fingers to your thigh, pinching yourself to test out your theory and wincing as the pain took over the spot. Nope, this was real. Completely insane but definitely real.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean financially?" You questioned, now you weren't stupid, you could attempt to deduce what he was proposing to you, but you needed to hear it one more time to ensure you hadn't made it up in your head.

"Well I'd help you pay for whatever you needed, that way you wouldn't have to worry about anything but your education." Spencer stated cooly, as though his tone would make it sound like what was offered was glaringly obvious and completely normal even if both of you knew deep down that this whole situation was most definitely far from ordinary.

You fell silent for a moment, your eyebrows furrowing in confusion as you tried to understand the offer he had just put on the table, "So let me get this straight...you would give me money...?" You looked up at him for confirmation, and when he nodded, you continued your query, "and in return all I'd have to do is focus more on school?"

"That's correct. I understand this offer may sound strange, and you probably have a lot of questions, but know that I see a lot of potential in you Y/N. I know you could do much better if you were able to focus solely on your work, and as your professor all I want is to see you succeed." You were shocked by how calm he was. Perhaps if you hadn't been so stunned by what was happening, you would've noticed the way his fingers were dribbling against the wooden desk or how he kept biting at his lip nervously, both giving away his facade.

You, on the other hand, were a wreck. You didn't trust yourself to speak when you were nervous; you always seemed to lose your filter and didn't want to risk saying anything inappropriate, especially not right now. But the silence in the air was full of expectancy. You knew you had to say something eventually, so, once again, before you could stop the words from tumbling out of your mouth, you said, "So, you'd kind of be like my sugar daddy huh?" It was supposed to be a joke, something to break the air of subtle awkwardness that surrounded the both of you, but it turned out to be the catalyst that threw you both down a rabbit hole.

His face flushed red, and he let out a short amused laugh, "Not quite Y/N, I want to reiterate that I expect nothing in return, other than you getting better grades in my class. This is simply my way of helping you out." He flashed you a toothy grin which caused your heart to flutter and made you feel safe. You could feel the stiffness, perpetuated by the unknown situation, leaving your body, your shoulders visibly relaxing.

You weren't sure what happened, where the rush of confidence that overtook you came from, maybe it was the way he looked at you when he thought you wouldn't notice or the way your name seemed to roll off his tongue perfectly, or maybe it's the way you'd caught him staring at you when he should've been paying attention to his class... multiple times. Whatever it was that fueled it, you found yourself leaning forward, propping up your elbow on your knee and resting your chin on your hand. You were completely aware of the way your chest was pronounced in this position, and you didn't miss the way his eyes momentarily glanced down to your chest. "What if I wanted to give you something else in return?" You teased, reaching your hand up to touch him briefly. You didn't know why but you had this sudden overwhelming need for physical contact with him, and the slightest brush of your skin against his made you feel content, even if it was short-lived. He pulled his hand away from your touch, bringing back to rest in front of him out of your reach.

"I'd be careful of what you're implying Y/N." He muttered quietly,  subtly biting down hard on his lip, almost as though he was trying to contain the groan of frustration that was tunnelling its way to his throat. You followed the movements of his body intently, watching as he moved his hand away from your reach and began fiddling with the ring that adorned his pinky finger. You had always thought his hands were incredibly sexy, often daydreaming about those long slender fingers, inside you, around your neck or even innocently holding your hand.

"I'm not implying anything sir," You still weren't entirely sure where this newfound confidence had come from. Still, it was only propelled further by the way he had scanned up and down your bare legs multiple times during the conversation and the way he couldn't stop himself from continuously focusing on your chest. You were not naive; you could sense the tension in the air. "I'm simply asking a question."

The next few seconds were a blur. Spencer wasn't sure what came over him; it was something he couldn't entirely control. All he knew was his hand came down to grasp your cheeks between his thumb and index finger. His eyes stared intently into yours as he got lost in the innocence that hid behind the mischief in your eyes. The short gasp that left your pouted mouth quickly brought him back to reality, his hand pulled off of you as if the touch of your skin burned him, and though you tried to reach out and pull him back to you, he was already removing himself from the desk and stumbling his way back to his chair.

"That's enough Y/N, take a few days to consider my proposal and get back to me whenever you can" He wasn't angry; he just felt stupid. He knew deep down that this whole situation was wrong, but he couldn't help himself. From the moment you'd stepped into his classroom, he had been completely enamoured by you, the way you held your books close to your chest, the way your hair was always slightly unkempt, the outfits you wore that he swore you chose just for him, he felt dirty for the thoughts that rushed through his head when he saw you, especially when you looked at him as you were now, all doe-eyed and innocent.

He'd been reckless, and it scared him, it was so unlike him to lose control, especially to a girl who was first and foremost his student, but something told him this was just the start. There was no doubt in his mind that the young girl was going to wreak havoc in his life, whether it was intentional or not. His mind was going a million miles a minute, but he was trying his best to keep a calm exterior, not wanting to worry you further; he pulled a stack of papers towards him and began pretending to read the page, trying his best to avoid glancing back at him you.

You, however, were stunned into a short-lived silence, finally speaking up after a few moments. "Professor Reid I-'' You started, pausing to ponder on what exactly it was that you wanted to say, did you want an explanation or perhaps the chance to tell him you didn't mind what he'd done; that you'd liked it. You looked at him, concentrating on the way his facial expressions contorted to try and conceal the thoughts that were rushing through his head, and all you wanted was to put his mind at ease. However, you didn't get the chance because he spoke up before you could finish your sentence.

"Miss Y/L/N, please leave my office now." He said abruptly, his focus remaining on the papers in front of him. You felt ridiculous, but it hurt you to see him suddenly acting so cold, so different from the sweet man you saw moments ago. You couldn't help but blame yourself for pushing him too far, you hadn't established any boundaries, and these were the consequences. All he had done was offer you something unique, an opportunity that you knew would help you immensely, and you just had to go and push his buttons.

You picked up your bag off the floor and quickly readjusting your skirt, which had gotten all messed up from the number of times you'd nervously shifted in your chair. The movements caught Spencer's eyes, his eyes trained at the unrestricted view of your legs, and he had to physically force himself to look away as you began making your way towards his office door. You stopped and turned around momentarily, debating if you should say something before you left, an apology perhaps. Still, after seeing his cold exterior, you decided against it, not wanting to upset him further.

The second you were back in the large hallway, you released a breath you didn't know you had been holding. You took out your phone to check the time and saw a dozen text messages from your friend asking what Spencer had wanted to talk to you about and why you had been in there for over an hour; you sighed as you scanned your brain for some believable explanation for your unexpected meeting with your professor. You typed back a quick reply telling her that he'd just had some book recommendations to offer and you'd gotten caught up discussing them, you hated lying to your friends, but you didn't want to tell anyone about what he'd offered; you weren't sure if they would understand, hell you didn't even know if you fully understood what was happening. But all you knew is that you had to make a decision and make it fast.

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[reidsconverse]

The Price of Happiness - Masterlist

Prof!SpencerReid x Fem!Student!Reader

Warnings: 15 year age gap, Eventual Smut, Sexual Themes and Undertones, Bad Language (is this a warning?)

Summary: Money can’t buy happiness. As a man of logic and science, Spencer Reid knows that. But when he strikes a deal with Y/N Y/L/N, one of his students, he starts to question if he’s found the true price of happiness.

Chapter One (10/03/21)

Chapter Two (28/03/21)

Chapter Three (16/04/21)

Chapter Four (25/04/21)

Chapter Five (19/05/21)

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Epilogue

A/N: thank you so much to @railmereid for putting together an incredible summary and making me a beautiful moodboard for this series 🥺 and thank you so much to @spencersawkward and @voidsfilm for the continuous support and help in writing this series 💛

Taglist: @seasonfivereid @mcntsee @fueled-by-fanfic @reidsbbg @shamelessfangirl-3 @diabeticlichen-thropy @idgafayiowf @teaspoonsandpearls @gubleryum @classyunknownlover @elitereid @willowrose99 @spencerreidsimp @agentcarterisgay @piggyinthesea @halseysunset @cxnceled @biafbunny @akkusdnz @voidsfilm @spencersawkward @rexorangecouny @mellowalieneggsknight @x2moonlight2x-blog @deadpoetat3am @reidabookforonce @onlyhereforthefanfics @dr-spencerr-reidd @mercy-burning @spencers-dria @emmuut

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[reidsconverse]

The Price of Happiness - ii

Prof!Spencer X Fem!Student!Reader

Summary: Spencer and Reader discuss the terms of Spencers proposition

Warnings: 15 year age gap, Eventual Smut, Sexual Themes and Undertones, Bad Language (is this a warning?)

Word Count: 3.3K | tysm to @voidsfilm and @spencersawkward bc this wouldn't have been written without them!

A week had passed since Spencer had called you into his office, and you were yet to give him an answer. The two of you hadn't talked since that day, and it was safe to say the slight tension was getting unbearable, and you swore you had whiplash from the number of times you'd turned away from his glances. Finally, you decided enough was enough and vowed to see him after class to discuss the events of last week.

"I'll catch up with you later, I have something I need to do." You said, ignoring the look of concern your friend shot at you. They could tell something was off; you'd been quieter recently. A constant replay of your last interaction with Spencer played in your mind, and you found yourself lost in thought more often than not.

You made your way down the familiar hallway and stopped outside his door as you once again debated this whole idea. You couldn't stop the endless stream of possibilities from rushing through your head; what if he'd changed his mind? What if he'd decided to choose someone else? What if it'd all been some elaborate joke?

You quickly shook your head, trying to get rid of the doubts niggling away at your mind and knocked on his office door, waiting for permission to enter. You heard him let out a muffled "Come in" and slowly opened the door.

"Hey." You said nervously, chewing on your lip as you slowly rocked back and forth on your feet.

He froze for a moment before placing his pen down and shifted his body to face yours, "Miss Y/L/N, what can I do for you?" He said, and you suddenly felt intimidated by his attention on you.

"Do you have a minute?" You asked, walking over to sit on the chair across from him, memories of what took place in this very spot rushing through your mind as you took your seat.

"Of course," He said, a smile forming on his face," I've been meaning to talk to you. I would like to apol-" He started, but you cut him off before he could finish.

"Dr Reid, it's fine. It was fine last week and it's fine now." You reassured him, he opened his mouth to challenge you, but you spoke before he had the chance. "Would you like to get coffee...with me?" The words came out far quicker than you'd intended, wanting to get your question out of the way before you lost your nerve.

"Like..right now?" He asked with furrowed brows, and you wanted to laugh at how confused he looked.

"Only if you are free, I wouldn't want to take you away from your work." You said quickly, not wanting to seem too enthusiastic. However, you were sure your body language was giving you away already.

He hesitated for a moment; truthfully, he had a mountain of work that needed to be marked. Honestly, deep down, he knew it was a bad idea to be alone outside of school grounds with a student, but something about you made him prone to bad decisions. He looked at you for a few seconds, and he knew he'd kick himself if he passed up an opportunity to spend time with you. "Coffee sounds great." He answered with a smile.

The two of you stared at each other for a few moments before you finally decided to speak up. "So...should we go?" You asked, unsure of what he wanted to do.

"Oh right, yes let me just lock up." He said, getting up from his chair and gathering his belongings as he ushered you outside before locking his door behind him.

***************

If 3 months ago someone had told you that you would be walking to get coffee with your professor, you would've laughed. When you had signed up for his class, you could never have imagined you would be in this position. You had simply made your decision based on the young, attractive professor who would lead it and were more than intrigued. Now you didn't think anything would happen, not even when your friends spent one very drunk night trying to convince you that Professor Reid had a thing for you; they said it was something about the way he looked at you. You thought it was absurd, you didn't even think he liked you. You were always late to his class and started debates about topics that required no contradictions, which you only did because you'd grown to love the look of annoyance that crossed his face when he heard your voice, not to mention it was nice to have his attention on you.

The walk to the coffee shop was brisk; the place itself was sort of far-out, but Spencer had said it was his all-time favourite place, so you decided to check it out. You both kept the conversation to a minimum. You wouldn't say it was awkward. Still, the way your hand kept accidentally brushing against his and the occasional brush of shoulders made it hard to concentrate on anything that he said.

You felt his hand grasp your arm, halting your movements, and you turned to look at him, watching as he nodded to the building in front of you, "We're here." He said, opening the door and allowing you to walk inside first. The strong smell of coffee hit your nose the moment you entered, the familiar scent filling you with comfort. The cafe itself was small but in a quaint way; the floor to ceiling windows allowed sunlight to fill the store, and the faint sound of melodic jazz hummed through the air adding to the calm atmosphere. You could see why he liked it so much.

"Window ok?" He asked, gesturing towards the small table that was pushed up against the glass. You nodded slowly, the awkwardness of the situation becoming more apparent as you walked over and took a seat.

"Do you want coffee?" He posed another question, he was also becoming all too aware of how uncomfortable you felt, and he wasn't sure how to react.

"Oh, yeah sure thanks." You answered, fiddling with the menu that sat at the table. You heard Spencer let out a small sigh, and you quickly looked up at him. "What's wrong?" You asked.

"I should be asking you that, you asked me to coffee and now that we're here you're being weird."

"I am not being weird." You said defensively, he was right, and you knew it. Still, something in you wanted to defy his every word and every thought, regardless of whether he was correct or not.

"Yes you are, you're so...quiet, you're never quiet." He joked as he thought back to all the times he'd had to ask you to quieten down during his class or when you would argue his point just for the sake of a debate; you always had something to say, so seeing you so silent was unusual.

You let out a real laugh, not one done out of obligation, and Spencer felt himself relax as he heard that sound he was beginning to adore, "You're right, I'm sorry... it's just strange I guess," Spencer raised his eyebrow as a way to tell you to go on, "Getting coffee with my professor y'know." You finished.

"Y/N we don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with, if you need to take more time to think then you can do that." His hand subconsciously made its way to yours, and you almost took it before you remembered your surroundings; you swiftly moved your hands away, placing them on your lap as your fingers began fiddling with the edge of your skirt.

"Dr Reid, I- I just...." You began, trying to decide what to ask him about first, you'd had all week to prepare and had thought about this moment endlessly, but now that you were here, sitting opposite him, your mind was going blank.

"You have questions?" He said in an attempt to finish your sentence, and you instantly nodded in agreement, thankful that he had understood you, "Ask away."

"Why me." You asked, and you watched as his face twitched slightly, as though he was trying to conceal his genuine reaction to your question. Then, finally, he leant back in his chair and took a deep breath before answering.

"Y/N I-I told you this last week, I-" He started answering, but he didn't get to finish his sentence before you interrupted him. Although truth be told, you couldn't handle the 'I believe in you' spiel all over again, you wanted real answers, and you were going to get them.

"- See a lot of potential in me, yes I know but there's so many people in that class that are smarter than me and you could've helped any one of them. Why did you choose me?" You leant forward, closing the space he had created when he had moved away from you. Your elbows were placed against the table, your chin resting against the palm of your hand as a curious look took over your face.

"Y/N..." Spencer paused for a moment pondering the answer to your question. He knew you were clever enough to see through the answer he had prepared and that you'd be more stubborn in your questioning, and yet the speed of your rebuttal still took him by surprise.

"Dr Reid..." You teased, laughing to yourself as his eyebrows shot up in amusement.

"You don't like making things easy do you?" He said, flashing you a smile as he watched you shake your head. He was trying to hide the fact that his mind was running a million miles a minute to come up with an answer that would satisfy your curious mind. He knew he couldn't tell you the real reason he was so invested in you. But the last thing he wanted was to start this... relationship with a lie.

"I see myself in you," He confessed, and at the sight of your confusion, he continues, "W-What I mean is that...I understand how hard it is to have to balance school alongside the obstacles of life, and I want to help you out any way I can."

"Right..." Your eyes narrowed slightly as you tried to understand what he was saying, "and your way of helping me is by paying me?"

"W-Well not you specifically but I would like to pay for expenses related to your education and strictly your education." He replied quickly, "like tuition or your books."

"Oh wow, that's..wow. Could I have a moment to think?" You asked, and he nodded as he quickly got up and walked over to the counter to finally order your drinks. He watched as you leant back in your chair and averted your gaze to the view outside the window, truthfully he did his best to refrain from profiling you, but he couldn't help it. The furrow of your brows and the way your arms moved across your chest sent him small signals indicating your thought process, and he began to prepare himself for the rejection you were about to throw at him. Finally, he picked up the drinks from the counter and made his way back to the table, setting your cup in front of you.

You silently thanked him for the drink and looked up at him, following his movements as he sat back in his chair and adjusted himself. "Okay...I accept your offer." You said, the words coming out hesitantly, you weren't naive, you knew his offer had to have some sort of underlying motive, but something about the sincerity in his eyes, and the genuine kindness in his voice told you to trust him, "But we have to work out some more terms and I have some more questions."

"Of course, you can ask anything you like." He said with an understanding smile, the type of smile that instantly put your mind at ease.

"How can you afford this? I mean I know you have a cool job and I'm sure teaching a bunch of college kids in your spare time is rewarded fairly but you know as well as I do that tuition is way more than any government salary and I don't want to lecture you on your finances but," You paused for a moment, your face burning hot as you realised you had been rambling and embarrassment took over. "Sorry." You grinned sheepishly.

"It's fine...I-uh, I just came into some money, more than I need and I want to use it to help someone, and that someone just so happens to be you." He says with a shrug, and you don't doubt that there's more to the story. Still, you decide to let it slide, opting to make a mental note to ask him about this mysterious sum of money another day.

"Well, that's very noble of you Dr Reid." So you said, and although it came off as a joke, you truly were appreciative. You knew that the gravity of his offer hadn't quite hit you yet. The positive impact it would have on your life wasn't lost on you, but you couldn't deny the whole situation felt surreal.

It was silent for a while, but comfortable silence. Your eyes glanced over at Spencer occasionally, wondering what was going through his mind in the brief moments the conversation stalled, and you cursed yourself for not paying attention in his class. If you had, you'd probably be able to read his emotions, to get a feel of what he was thinking. You had spent the last few days debating whether or not to research him, not in a weird way, but you wanted to know more about him before you considered his offer. You knew the obvious from when he'd introduced himself on the first day of class; he worked for the FBI. He had an array of educational accolades, but he didn't divulge into his personal life. You thought back to the woman and kids in the pictures in his office; you still didn't know who they were, and you decided now was the time to find out.

"Dr Reid?" You asked quietly, you didn't want to overstep, but you felt like you had a moral duty to yourself to make sure what you had agreed to wouldn't be harming anyone.

"Y/N?" He replied before lifting his cup to his lips; the steam from the hot drink fogged up his glasses and you felt your heart momentarily stutter at how adorable he looked, but you quickly shook out of it.

"Are you married?" The words came out quickly, but Spencer was choking on his drink and devolving into a coughing fit before you could even finish. You jumped up into action, handing him multiple napkins to clean himself up as apologies tumbled out of your mouth.

You made your way back to your seat and watched as he wiped up the spilt coffee before cleaning his face and turning to you with a serious expression, "Of course not Y/N, why would you think that?"

"I just...I saw the pictures in your office and I..." You said, stuttering over your words.

"The boys are my godchildren and the woman, Penelope, is my friend and colleague." He said, and you felt your shoulders visibly relax as an embarrassed smile crept onto your face.

"Oh..right sorry I- I just wanted to make sure...." You started, but he held his hand out to ask you to stop and interjected before you could finish.

"I understand Y/N, it- it just took me by surprise." He smiled at you, and you were about to say something in return when his phone rang. He quickly fumbled through his pockets to collect his rather old looking cellphone before looking at you apologetically and answering the call. All you heard was a hushed "Emily?" before he got up and walked outside to continue the conversation.

You used this time to check your phone and realised a couple of hours had passed since you'd looked at it, you had several missed calls from your friend, and you quickly called her back, the phone barely ringing twice before she picked up.

"Hey, where are you?" She asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Uh, I'm just at some coffee shop downtown why?" You slumped in the chair and looked out the window, getting distracted by Spencer pacing outside, and as if he could sense your gaze on him, he looked back at you and smiled. You sent him an awkward wave, and he quickly turned his back to you, focusing on his conversation. You'd almost forgotten you were on the phone when your friend's voice crackling through the phone brought you back to reality.

"Y/N? I asked if you were alone?" Her tone was quickly turning suspicious, and you couldn't blame her. You were acting weird or at least different than usual.

"Uhhh...yeah I'm alone" You began biting at your lip as you nervously began fiddling with the chain around your neck, you'd never been good at lying, especially not to your friends, and the guilt was quickly setting in.

"Right...because I just saw you about 30 minutes ago engaged in a very interesting looking conversation with Professor Reid."

To say you were speechless was an understatement; you knew there was a possibility of someone seeing you, especially with where you were sitting, but you didn't expect it to actually happen. You were about to answer when the bell attached to the door rang, and you saw Spencer walk back in. You sighed quickly before saying, "Look... I'll explain everything when I get home just don't tell anyone okay?" and you put the phone down before hearing her reply.

Spencer walked back over to the table and picked up the jacket he had draped over his chair, and put it back on before collecting the rest of his things, his actions were rushed, and you had a feeling this coffee 'date' would be ending pretty soon. "Is everything ok?" You asked him.

"I have to go." He said, collecting your cups and throwing them in the trash. He saw the frown across your face and stopped for a moment; his hand gently came up to touch your arm. "Y/N I know we still have a lot to discuss." He paused for a moment and got out a notepad and pen from his messenger bag before scribbling something onto the paper, ripping it off and handing it to you.

You looked up at him with a confused expression; your fingers gripped the small slip of paper tightly, "What is this?"

"Text me or call me, whatever you prefer." He saw the hesitation on your face and continued. "You don't have to, I just thought it would be a good idea in case you had any more questions before we see each other next."

You nodded wordlessly and placed the slip of paper in your pocket, making sure it was safely secured before looking back at him. He began walking outside the shop, and you instinctively followed, the fresh air refreshing against your flushed skin. "Well...thank you for the coffee."

He smiled at you before answering, "No problem Y/N. I have to go but I'll see you soon okay?" His fingers twitched as he resisted the urge to reach out and hug you; he buried his hands in his pockets and watched as you subconsciously copied his actions.

"See you soon Dr Reid." You watched him walk away and quickly hail a cab before getting in. Your eyes followed the car until it was out of your sight, and you released a breath you didn't know you were holding.

What did you just get yourself into

...

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[reidsconverse]

The Price of Happiness - iii

Prof!Spencer X Fem!Student!Reader

Summary: Reader has dilemma and Spencer has a solution....

Warnings: 15 year age gap, Eventual Smut, Sexual Themes and Undertones, Bad Language (is this a warning?) flashback in italics 

Word Count: 3.9K | thank you to @spencersawkward bc this wouldnt have been written without her!

A/N: ok this was originally going to be like 8K but I split it into half so chapter 4 will be a direct continuation of the ending of this! Also thank you so much for being patient with my awful upload schedule, you guys are truly amazing!

Your week had, strangely, been going great. You'd managed to finish all of your assignments, completed all the menial household tasks you'd been too busy to, and you had even managed to binge-watch every single episode of the new series of Doctor Who.

Yeah, your week had been great...until it wasn't.

Fire alarms, your neighbours arguing and the hollow rattle of your old radiator.

You were used to the nightly noises of your apartment building, but the sound of water hitting the floor and the creaks of the leaky pipe above you drew you out of your sleep. It took you a moment to realise what was happening, but a tiny droplet of water hitting your face made you open your eyes and look frantically around your room. The first things you noticed were your clothes and belongings soaked in dirty water.

You were tempted to ignore the problem for just a few more minutes, but the incessant sounds taunted you until you finally threw off the covers and slowly knelt to the ground, visibly cringing as your knees met the awful feeling of soggy carpet. You began to sort through the mess on the floor, the heaps of clean laundry you'd been telling yourself to put away for weeks were ruined, and you swore you could hear the faint sound of your mother's voice in the back of your head, telling you that it was your fault for being lazy and letting it pile up in the first place.

It had just turned 7:30 am when your landlord showed up and began pounding on your door. You quickly got back up and walked out into the living room so you could open the door for him. You'd called him a few moments after you'd woken up, almost an hour before he'd showed up. He'd responded with a gruff, "What do you want?" you could practically hear him rolling his eyes on the other end of the line as you explained the reason behind your call.

"How did this happen?" You said, wiping your damp hands on your pyjama shorts and walking over to where he was standing. Your landlord sucked; he was an older man who always came across as slightly creepy and was notorious for being a cheapskate nearly everything in your shitty apartment was falling apart, half the appliances didn't work, and you swore you almost froze last winter because he refused to turn on the heat for the building the only reason you had agreed to rent the place was that it was rent-controlled and 5 minutes from campus.

"Pipe must've burst overnight." He said with a shrug, and maybe it was the fact that you were so sleep deprived from staying up late last night studying for the redo of your midterm for Dr Reid's class or maybe it was that stupid nonchalant look on your landlord's face, but all you wanted to do was yell at him and give him a piece of your mind. But you couldn't, so you settled for getting together your most passive-aggressive look and speaking in a manner that would no doubt show your irritation.

"You mean the leaking pipe that I told you about that you said you'd fixed?" You crossed your arms over your chest.

"I did fix it...I think. Anyhow someone will be by later to repair the damage." He said, turning around to walk back towards the door, he looked at you again, and a small smile appeared on his face before he opened his mouth. "I'll just add it to your rent this month." That bastard.

The moment he left, you began scrambling around looking for your phone, and after sifting through the piles of clothes in your, you finally found it. Your relief was short-lived, however, because when you saw the time, your heart sunk. 8:25. You only had 5 minutes to find something to wear and get to class. Because your luck was basically non-existent, one quick look at your schedule reminded you it was none other than Professor Reid's class. As much as you wanted to see him, you couldn't deny part of you hoped he was still away. But, truthfully, you didn't know if you were ready to face him.

You let out an exasperated sigh as you bent down to open the bottom drawer of your dresser, which you'd aptly named 'the junk drawer'. It was full of things that hadn't found a home elsewhere in your room, such as old clothes that you hadn't had time to donate, fancy dress costumes and old nick-nacks you'd decided you just had to bring from home because you had an awful habit of forming emotional attachments to inanimate objects. Reaching into the packed drawer, you pulled out the first two things that could pass as an outfit and put it on. Usually, you would take your time getting ready for his class, even if you were late. It wasn't that you wanted to impress him; you just liked looking put together so he wouldn't have more reason to judge you, not that you expect him to be that kind of person. Still, he always seemed to stare at you, and you couldn't help but wonder what he thought when he saw you. You just hoped it was all good things... Ok, so maybe you did want to impress him and honestly, who could blame you.

But today, with everything that had happened, you did not have the energy to care about your appearance and besides, you hadn't seen Spencer in a week, and since then, he hadn't given you any indication that he was back in town or at the college. You honestly had no reason to think that he would be there. So when you entered the stuffy classroom at exactly 8:39, wearing the old high school skirt that you had packed as a joke paired with a tiny tank top that had shrunk in the wash and you saw him standing at the front of the class with a shit-eating smirk on his face, you wished you had at least taken the time to stop in front of a mirror before leaving your apartment,

"Miss Y/L/N, nice of you to join us," He said, and you couldn't help but take notice of the way his eyes were trailing your body as you quickly moved to take a seat in the row directly in front of him. He slowly paced the floor, making his way towards where you were sat, standing straight in front of you and the look he gave you was almost intimidating. He smiled, and you noticed his attention was solely focused on you, as though the rest of the class had disappeared and it was just the two of you in the room, "I'll see you after class." He quipped, his gaze still stuck on you, and though the moment was only a few seconds long, you felt as though it lasted for hours. He gave you one last glance before turning his attention back to the class, his hands moving energetically as he continued with the topic he'd been discussing before you had walked in.

You felt someone nudge your side, and you heard them speak before you could turn to face them, "Damn he wants to see you again?" Iris, your friend, said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, she'd been suspicious of you for a while now, and you could tell she knew something was up, especially after your conversation last week...

You'd gotten home from the cafe to find Iris waiting for you outside your apartment, and you'd barely had time to get through the door before she was hurling questions at you.

"Was it a date?" She asked you as she ran to take a seat on your old beat-up couch, crossing her legs and turning to face you.

"Iris..." You sighed, taking off your jacket and placing it on the armchair before taking a seat beside her, placing a cushion on your lap so you would have something to fiddle with. You had a bad habit of having to play with something when you were nervous, and right now, your nerves were through the roof.

"What? You said you would tell me...you always tell me everything." She was right, you two had known each other since high school, and she had been the one person you knew you could run to in any situation, so keeping this secret from her was much more challenging you had expected.

"It was nothing, I saw him at the cafe and I decided to ask him about my midterm..."

"The one you failed?" She said before letting out a slight squeal as you threw the extra cushion at her playfully.

"Yes, the one I failed, thank you for reminding me." You said, jokingly rolling your eyes and laughing as she held her hands up in mock surrender, "Anyway, he's like never available when I am so I just took my opportunity."

"And?" She persisted,

"And nothing, he invited me to sit with him so we could discuss it and that's what I did. I wasn't ready to leave and I wasn't there with anyone so I didn't have any excuse." You got up to walk over to the fridge, grabbing an unopened bottle of wine and 2 glasses before making your way back to the table.

"Right..." Her tone was riddled with suspicion, and you couldn't blame her. She quickly took the glasses from your hand, pouring herself a drink before doing the same for you. As she handed you your drink, you saw something unreadable pass over her face.

"What?" You could hear the defensiveness in your voice. Truthfully you had known that whatever tale you spun wasn't going to be good enough. For a moment, you debated telling the truth. Still, you knew it would end up being too messy, mainly because, despite the talk with Spencer, you were still confused about what was going on.

"Nothing... he just seems to be very friendly with you s'all..." She lifted the drink to her lips to hide her smirk, and all you could do was roll your eyes.

"I'm not discussing this again.. he does not have a 'thing' for me." Your fingers formed quotations around the word to emphasise the ridiculousness of the situation. However, you had to admit you'd been wondering if that had been the real reason behind his sudden and less than expected offer.

"Whatever you say..." Her teasing tone made you throw your head back in frustration, and you quickly finished the drink in your hand. "It wouldn't be all bad though, I mean he's really att-..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Is." You said, but the look on your face told her you weren't about to disagree with what she was about to say. She just shook her head with a laugh and thankfully changed the topic to talk about her awful boss. Though you tried to listen, your mind wandered to your conversation with Spencer and when you would speak to him next...

*

"Hello... Earth to Y/N.." Iris's voice made you jump in your seat, and she laughed as she watched you turn to glare at her, "Wow, someone caught your eye huh?" She teased, and you couldn't stop a flustered look taking over your face.

"What? I don't-." You stammered out; the heat began rising to your cheeks in embarrassment as she gestured her head towards something, and as your eyes followed her gaze, you realised you had been staring at Dr Reid. He was deep in a conversation with someone about... well, you didn't really have a clue given that you hadn't been paying attention to anything he'd been saying. Still, you couldn't stop the small smile that crept onto your face when you saw how enthusiastic he seemed about the discussion.

"Oh my god, not again... Y/N!" She lightly smacked your arm to bring you out of your daze. You inadvertently let out a tiny whine which, unfortunately, attracted the attention of the one person you had been hoping to avoid for as long as you could.

"Is everything ok?" He asked, looking away from the student, who looked less than pleased with the loss of attention from him, to face your direction. He had his ridiculously attractive smirk on his ridiculously attractive face and a slight hint of amusement in his tone. It's weird, you thought to yourself, the way a simple action could make you dizzy and how when he spoke, it was like it was the only sound in the room, as though his voice encompassed your entire being.

"Just peachy Dr Reid." Iris shot him a quick smile, ignoring the obvious glare you were subtly throwing at her. You heard him let out a hum, one that told you he didn't believe what he had been told, but he brushed it off and began turning back to what he was doing, but not before glancing at you again and shooting you a quick wink. Your eyes widened at the gesture, and if it hadn't been for the slight smirk still placed on his face, you would've thought you were making it up.

"Anyway," Iris began speaking, and you turned to face her, making sure this time your attention didn't stray elsewhere, "I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight, we could watch New Girl and drink wine and I can tell you about how I'm pretty sure I met the love of my life last night."

"Tonight?" You asked. She nodded as you began racking your brain to remember if you had any previous plans, "Sure, I'll be by at 8?"

"Great! Mind picking up Chinese from the place by your apartment? I'd do it but the guy always gives you spring rolls and I could really use the free food." She giggled at her own comment, and you didn't hesitate to stick your tongue out at her jokingly before nodding to confirm that you would do as she requested.

You suddenly became very aware of everyone around you shuffling and packing away. After taking a glance at your phone, you realised the class was over. Shit. Iris had clearly also realised the time given that she quickly gathered her belongings before getting up as she looked at you with a teasing smile, "Enjoy your talk with Dr Reid...." She said before walking away, and before you could respond with a sarcastic remark, she'd walked away. You sighed as you slouched back in your seat, waiting for the classroom to empty so Dr Reid could talk to you. You weren't sure if this was about your conversation last week or if he was genuinely mad at you for being late, it didn't seem like the latter based on that wink, but if there was one thing you'd learnt in this class, it was that human beings were confusing. Dr Spencer Reid was no exception to that fact.

It took a few moments for the room to empty, and it somehow felt smaller with fewer people in it. Your eyes followed Spencer as he moved around the room, collecting his belongings and packing up. He closed his bag and slung it across his shoulder, all without even glancing up at you. You were getting antsy, the suspense of simply speaking to him was overwhelming, and you subconsciously began tapping your fingers against the desk in front of you. It seemed like hours before he called your name to get your attention.

"Y/N?" He spoke softly, still not looking at you as he began walking towards the door, "Walk with me." It wasn't a question or an option; it was a demand. So without even thinking, you picked up your bag and rushed out of the class to where he was standing in the hallway. You once again found yourself walking side by side with him. It was silent, but you were grateful; you were so overflowed with nerves you weren't sure you were capable of formulating a sentence.

After what seemed to be the longest 5 minutes of your life, the two of you reached his office, and he wordlessly opened the door and gestured for you to follow him. He walked over to his desk and placed his bag on his chair before turning back to face you. His eyes trailed down your body again, and whilst his undivided attention didn't make you uncomfortable, you were becoming more aware of how revealing your outfit was. Instinctively your hands moved to pull your skirt down, so it covered more of your legs, and the action snapped Spencer from his almost trance like state. He let out a small cough and smiled at you.

"Would you care to explain why you were late...again?" He said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the desk. His question came from a place of concern more than an annoyance. Despite everything that was happening between the two of you, he was still your professor. It was his responsibility to make sure you were following the rules.

You paused for a moment, and you were unsure why you were so hesitant to explain your situation. It wasn't your fault that everything had gone to shit. The whole situation was taking an emotional toll on you, the leaky pipe, the added stress from your landlord, and how up in the air your 'arrangement' with Spencer was..everything was piling up. You felt like you were close to completely losing it. Instead, you found a new interest in your beat-up converse, slowly analysing each scuff and stain on them as you tried to find a way to answer his question without choking up. You took in a deep breath before answering, "My apartment is...well it's falling apart and that leaky pipe I was telling you about? Yeah, that burst... all over my clothes and might I add this isn't my usual attire it's just all that I had left. Anyway, I had an argument with my landlord about the whole thing and I lost track of time, I'm sorry."

As you finished your rant, you saw his face soften. He sighed before turning around to bring his bag in front of him. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so hard on you." You watched in confusion as he pulled his wallet out of the bag and took out a single black card. "Here." He said as he handed it to you, so casually...as though it was normal as if he didn't need to think about it.

"What...what is that for?" Your hands stayed glued to your sides as your eyes darted from the card in his hand to his face as you searched for even a hint of humour in them.

"You said your clothes were ruined?" He questioned, watching your expressions closely, and when you hesitantly nodded your head to confirm what he'd asked, he began walking towards you. "Buy yourself some new ones."

"But I thought you said-" You started to say, you were more than confused at this point. When the terms of your agreement had been made, he'd been unequivocal that the money he would give you was only for things that would help your education. He'd written you a check for your tuition and reimbursed you for the books you'd had to buy. You'd been able to use the money saved on education to pay your rent this month and pay off some bills, which had been amazing. You were so grateful, but this...him giving you money for clothes was too much. You were about to enter a different territory of this agreement, one which you hadn't discussed, and it made you nervous. "I can't do that."

"Yes you can, I choose how I want you to spend my money y/n." His words came out so nonchalantly, and he took another step towards you. He was so close you could smell his cologne and the slight hint of coffee on his breath, something which ordinarily you would've found unappealing. Still, it seemed as though everything about Dr Reid was enticing to you. His hand was slightly shaking as he lifted it to once again hand you his card, "Buy yourself a few things."

"Dr Reid... I don't... we didn't agree on this." You wanted to say more, you wanted to protest more, tell him he was ridiculous, and there was no way you would take his money to go on a shopping spree, but you couldn't.

Because the moment he saw you open your mouth to speak again, his hand hesitantly reached out to wrap around your wrist. He lifted it slowly before turning it over, so your palm was laying flat in front of him. His touch was soft, almost featherlike, as though you were made of glass and the simplest of motions would shatter you. He gently placed the card into your hand and instantly took a step back, so you had no other choice than to hold onto it. Your skin from where his hold had been felt like it was tingling, and you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks from how overwhelmed you were.

"Look you can't come to class without clothes right?" He said, and you bit back a slight smirk. You were eternally grateful for the nerves that were allowing you to keep your mouth shut because the crude comments that were flying through your head would have turned this conversation really awkward, really fast. You nodded in agreement with him, and he continued, "And if you can't come to class you'll fall behind...correct?" Once again, you nodded. "So technically... doesn't this count as helping with your education?" A smirk took over his face as he saw your face fall in defeat, Cheeky bastard. He'd cornered you, and he knew it. His stupid smart brain and his ability to have an explanation for everything was something you both hated and admired about him.

"Come with me." It was his turn to look surprised, his face dropped for a moment, and you almost kicked yourself for letting the words fall out of your mouth. "I'd just... I'd feel more comfortable if you were there."

He was silent for a moment as he took in your words. He wanted to say yes, he wanted to spend time with you, he always did, but truthfully he didn't know if he could handle it, handle you. "Y/N..." He said; his voice was low, and his hands moved across his face, hesitant.

"Please?" Your eyes grew wide, and your mouth formed a slight pout, you looked adorable, and at that moment, Spencer knew he was trapped. There was no escaping the hold you had on him, and he wouldn't have it any other way. His hands brushed through his hair, and he let out a sigh before answering.

"Meet me in the parking lot at 3, I'll be waiting outside my car." He said quietly as if he didn't want to hear the words he was saying. His stomach was fluttering, and he couldn't tell if they were from excitement or worry. Either way, his decision had been made, and once he saw the smile that beamed across your face, he knew he'd made the right choice.

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tpoh taglist: @seasonfivereid @mcntsee @fueled-by-fanfic @reidsbbg @shamelessfangirl-3 @diabeticlichen-thropy @idgafayiowf @teaspoonsandpearls @gubleryum @classyunknownlover @elitereid @willowrose99 @spencerreidsimp @agentcarterisgay @piggyinthesea @halseysunset @cxnceled @biafbunny @akkusdnz @voidsfilm @spencersawkward @rexorangecouny @mellowalieneggsknight @x2moonlight2x-blog @deadpoetat3am @reidabookforonce @onlyhereforthefanfics @dr-spencerr-reidd

[reidsconverse]

The Price of Happiness Chapter 3 Teaser

heres a small little excerpt from the newest chapter which should be out tomorrow! 

“I choose how I want you to spend my money y/n.” His words came out so nonchalantly and he took another step towards you. He was so close you could smell his cologne and the slight hint of coffee on his breath, something which ordinarily you would’ve found unappealing but it seemed as though everything about Dr Reid was enticing to you. His hand was slightly shaking as he lifted it to once again hand you his card, “Buy yourself a few things.” 

“Dr Reid… I don’t... we didn’t agree on this.” You wanted to say more, you wanted to protest more, tell him he was being ridiculous and there was no way you would take his money to go on a shopping spree but you couldn’t. 

Because the moment he saw you open your mouth to speak again, his hand hesitantly reached out to wrap around your wrist. He lifted it slowly before turning it over so your palm was laying flat in front of him. His touch was soft, almost featherlike as though you were made of glass and the simplest of motions would shatter you. He gently placed the card into your hand and instantly took a step back so you had no other choice than to hold onto it. Your skin from where his hold had been felt like it was tingling and you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks from how overwhelmed you were.

here’s the masterlist if you would like to catch up before tomorrow: tpoh

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taglist:

@seasonfivereid @mcntsee @fueled-by-fanfic @reidsbbg @shamelessfangirl-3 @diabeticlichen-thropy @idgafayiowf @teaspoonsandpearls @gubleryum @classyunknownlover @elitereid @willowrose99 @spencerreidsimp @agentcarterisgay @piggyinthesea @halseysunset @cxnceled @biafbunny @akkusdnz @voidsfilm @spencersawkward @rexorangecouny @mellowalieneggsknight @x2moonlight2x-blog @deadpoetat3am @reidabookforonce @onlyhereforthefanfics

strike through could not be tagged

[reidsconverse]

so uhhh who wants tpoh 5??? 😁😁

this part will be a little.... steamy 😌😌

masterlist to read/catch up HERE

motivate me to write pleassees 💛💛

[reidsconverse]

HI PLEASE SEND FEEDBACK FOR THE NEW CHAPTER, i’ve never written anything that long before and this is the furthest i’ve stuck with a fic so i would really like to know what im doing well/can improve 🥺🥺

[reidsconverse]

im going to sleep now but first im gonna be annoying and beg for your feedback or validation on my work, tpoh is my first series and i want to make it as good as i can so if you have anything you wanna see more or less of, or if you have any suggestions please let me know !

heres the newest chapter: chapter three

and heres the series masterlist if you would like to catch up or start reading: series masterlist

thank you my lovelies! i appreciate you taking time to read my work, and letting me know what you think about it, so incredibly much 🥺💛

[reidsconverse]

Hi! I adore your writing I was wondering if I could be adding to “The Price of Happiness” tag list pls??

omg hi yes of course!

Im surprised people still read/remember it 😭

i have GOT TO UPDATE IT 😭😭

[reidsconverse]

how’s everyone feeling about tpoh chapter 6 coming out this week - i’ve finally!!!!!! finished 🥰

read chapter 5 here if you haven’t already

[reidsconverse]

do y’all want a little snippet of tpoh3 before i post it tomorrow 😁

[reidsconverse]

hey besties how are we feeling about another 6k ish chapter of tpoh? I’m 4K words in theres still sooo much to add 😭

[reidsconverse]

for the tpoh suggestion thingy, jealous spencer!!! he is a bit more mellow/lowkey in this series so i think it would be spot on to see him throw shade at one of the guys in his class. in a comedic-reader calls him out in his bs-type of way. also i just wanted to say i love the series so far ++ you are a super talented writer 💗

RIGHT WHO GAVE YOU A COPY OF MY PLAN 🤨🤨

NO BUT FR IM IN TGE MIDDLE OF WRITING SMTH LIKE THIS W A SPECIAL APPEARANCE FROM A CHARACTER W HAVE SEEN BEFORE HEHEHEHE

OHH JEALOUS SPENCER IS SO 😽😽😽😽😽 AND MISS Y/N IS READY TO PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE !!!! GOD IM SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS CHAPTER

and thank you sooo much bestie i genuinely appreciate your sweet words, they mean the world to me!!!

[reidsconverse]

uhh how are we feeling ab tpoh4 tmrw... motivate me besties 😁😁😁

[reidsconverse]

would y’all hate me if chapter 4 of tpoh was 5/6K words 😭😭

also it was supposed to be out today but i got busy with school and packing to go back to my mums that i didnt have time to finish it but.. we are getting there !!! 💛