paint and literature ♡ [spencer reid]

part three- flourishing

The following days were spent largely in isolation, sparing a few coffee runs and grocery trips, the outside world simply fell out of Lacy's mind.

To her, there was a sort of pain that came from a blank canvas. And now, her apartment was covered head to toe with white walls and no colour.

A true crisis.

After a week of living in her new significantly more spacious apartment, she was finally given the okay to paint the walls however she wanted, so long as the work was gone by the time her lease had ended. With this information in hand, Lacy prepared for a venture out to fuel up.

It was an oddly warm first week in February and with this in mind, a pink tank top with only a few paint stains and some significant paint-stained jeans were dawned and the trip to a local coffee shop was embarked.

It would be foolish to say that when looking for an apartment, a close and good coffee shop was a requirement but, Lacy had turned down several amazing places solely because of the coffee offered nearby. This place, a cosy corner coffee shop, had some of the nicest liquid energy that she had ever consumed.

When she arrived, a small line had formed and after joining in, Lacy had a brief look at the pastries on offer. She never knew why her brain insisted on checking, she always got the same almond croissant yet, she still had to be sure that she was making the correct choice.

The line was pushed through fast and soon enough, she was next to order. However, it would be an order with a side of surprise as a somewhat familiar voice was heard from behind, "D4?"

She turned around, a bit stunned to see her neighbour behind her. Over her first week, she had seen him once and not heard him at all. What could just be the perfect neighbour to many instead puzzled Lacy as she knew for that entire week, he wasn't home. Yet here he was, in a tie and shirt in the unusual heat. "Hello there, D2."

"Big coffee drinker?" He smirked, nodding forward to show I was next in line.

"Oh definitely, sorry could I get a caramel iced latte and an almond croissant please?" She asked, pulling out my wallet and paying for her breakfast.

"Hmm, that's a good choice," He pondered to himself, "Could I get an Americano and an almond croissant?"

"Wow, we have a copycat in our mix,"  Lacy laughed to myself.

"Excuse me? I came here before you even knew it existed, so who's the real copycat?" D2 returned the laugh.

"Still you," He poured, "Hey, I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."

The coffee only took a few minutes and afterwards, instead of sitting down, D2 and D4 both agreed that we were busy people with places to be and embarked on the walk home.

"So what do you do, Mr. D2?" She asked, becoming more and more curious by the day.

"I hunt dinosaurs." He bluntly responded.

"That is so not cool, what did they ever do to you?"  Lacy lectured, he laughed.

"I work with the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI, I hunt bad guys, not dinosaurs," He turned to explain.

"I still don't believe you,"  She responded and to that, he pulled out his FBI badge, all while still remembering to cover his name, "Holy shit."

"Yeah, it's quite the job. Now I'm guessing by your jeans that you are a trauma surgeon?" He joked, looking at my paint-stained clothes.

"You know, it's not that far off the stress levels are the same." She joked back.

"So you paint?" He asked, pressing a traffic light and stopping in front of her.

"It is one of my many talents, yes," She laughed.

"Oh yeah, and what other talents have you got?" He questions, walking across the road to the green light.

"I'm afraid I'm going to need a name before I go revealing all my secrets," She looked him up and down, his brown sacral handing around his waist, hitting against him with every step.

"Oh no, not happening. You can feel free to tell me your name?" He suggested as they arrived at our shared building.

"Not a chance D2, not a chance."

D4 and D2 rode the evaluator to their shared floor, and conversation flowed with a mix of evening plans and a few calls for a name. When they reached our floor, it came to a close.

"So, because you are an FBI person, is that why you left for over a week? Like do you guys always travel," Lacy asked as she twisted her key in the door.

"You noticed I wasn't here for a week?" He looked startled and for the first time, an awkward flourish came over his body paired with a nervous laugh. "I do a lot of travelling for work, yeah" He finally responded.

"Good to know," She suspiciously said, a joke that cracked his spell of nervousness. "Have a good evening, Mr. D2."

"You too, Ms. D4."