luvrz (spencer reid x male!oc)

hate crime

I was awoken to my phone at 4 this morning. It was Hotch, we had a new case, and we needed to leave immediately.

I gathered my things and made my way to the BAU. Walking to the conference room through the bullpen, I fell in step alongside Spencer. In the past couple weeks we had gotten to know each other better. We had similar interests and views, so the team made sure to stick us together as often as possible.

I sat between Spencer and Emily, stirring the Splenda into my coffee. JJ started presenting the new case: "So far there have been six men in southeastern Michigan who have been killed coming home from gay bars. Each victim had...." She paused, clearly not sure how to proceed. "Each had a certain slur carved on their bodies."

I immediately tensed up. I'm from Michigan, and I'm gay, but they don't know that. "Where in Michigan?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

"Ann Arbor."

I sighed. I went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, I graduated just a few years ago. The rest of the team looked at me, obviously in some distress. "Sorry I.... I just lived there for a time and.... Yeah."

They nodded in understanding. "Well, wheels up in 20. Want a head start on this case," Hotch said before exiting the room.

I stayed seated while everyone else moved out, needing a minute to collect myself. Gideon stayed behind as well, pretending to be reading a file until everyone was out of the room. Once we were alone he looked up at me. In recent weeks we had found we got along very well; He was like the dad I missed in childhood. "Harvey," he started. "You've got this." Gideon didn't tend to say much, but what he always got his message across.

I looked up at him, fiddling with my fingers and bouncing my leg a little. "You know?" I thought, "You know?"

"I don't know how anyone else doesn't," he said with a gentle smile.

I sighed. "I know I make it pretty obvious but..... Damn," I looked down at my hands, slightly shaking my head. I eventually returned my gaze back to Gideon, who was still looking at me. "Well, we should get going," the thoughts of the case came back to me. "Don't wanna be late for this one."

We stood up and started out the room, holding our bags as we exited the conference room. "You know," I heard Gideon from behind me, "Reid talks about you a lot."

I turned to him, scoffing, and playfully rolled my eyes. Gideon chuckled. Secretly I was elated. Spencer talks about me? Wow.

The thought of Spencer preoccupied my thoughts until I was reminded on the jet. "Okay, so let's form a preliminary profile," Hotch said from his seat.

"Obvious sexual sadism," Emily stated. "They were tortured pretty.... thoroughly," she grimaced.

"Also an obvious hate crime," Spencer pointed out, drawing my attention. "I mean.... the.... the slur, you know. Historically been used against gay men, denoting their seeming inferiority." I, accidentally, made eye contact with Spencer before quickly looking away.

"With this number of victims I doubt the unsub knew them personally," JJ pointed out. "Probably stayed at gay bars and hunted them instead."

"So what caused this? What was the stressor?" Hotch asked the team, scanning our faces.

I finally piped up. "Either he plain hates gay people, or he has deep internalized homophobia. This," I searched for a word, "This view of these people was probably formed during childhood. I mean, it's Michigan, so there's not a lack of homophobes there." I said in a half joke before realizing how suspicious this could've seemed. "That ingrained attitude, paired with potential mixed feelings surrounding this unsub's sexuality, could've pushed him to become unstable. Maybe some type of trauma surrounding his parents is what set him off?" I finished.