Autistic Spencer Reid

Chapter 1

Spencer had always felt different, that was nothing new. He'd been researching about his difficulties and had come across many different things, including autism. He knew there was loads of stigma around it, so hoped a better explanation came to light, it didn't. He was comfortable identifying as autistic, in his head it made absolutely no difference whether he was autistic or not. But he knew that loads of other people had existing assumptions, which he didn't necessarily want to be on the receiving end of. 

He had done extensive research and fit every part of the diagnostic criteria, he knew who he was, so didn't feel the need to get a diagnosis. He wanted to ask for accommodations whilst he was at work, he struggled there the most because of his line of work. There were lots of social interactions and quite a few judgy people who he felt would benefit from being called out. But he didn't feel deserving of that, because he hadn't gotten a diagnosis. 

This was why he initially reached out to his doctor, he wanted to see whether he could get onto the waiting list to be assessed. In 5 years, he'd either be diagnosed and 5 years older, or he'd be undiagnosed and still 5 years older. He didn't feel like he had anything to lose.

He had spoken to his doctor and she agreed that going forward with the assessment would be a good idea and gave him a questionnaire to fill out, this was to see if he met any of the initial requirements and whether his case would be urgent. The questionnaire was quite a few pages long and he didn't want to answer wrong so he took it with him and told the doctor he'd bring it back the week later because he had a work case to get to.

His phone was blowing up while he was running to the metro, it wasn't far but he'd had his phone turned off during the consultation and hadn't realised the team had been calling him. 

"Hey Hotch, sorry my phone was turned off. Everything okay?" Spencer said, after answering the call from his team leader.

"Reid, where have you been? I've been calling for 10 minutes, I almost sent Morgan to check on you," Hotch replied, his stern voice created a pit in Spencer's stomach. He really hadn't meant to ignore the calls, but he'd booked the morning off, with the exception of new cases, and hadn't had a call all morning so thought he'd be okay for a bit.

"I'm really sorry, I was ... Sorry. Where do you need me?" Reid stumbled, he didn't want to freak anyone out with the fact he was at the doctor's, even if nothing was wrong. He didn't want to worry anyone, and it would ultimately lead to questions he wasn't ready to answer.

"It's wheels up in 15 minutes, can you get here in time? I've got the file with me so you can brief on the plane," Hotch responded. Spencer breathed a sigh of relief, Hotch hadn't pestered him about where he'd been and he could make it to the plane in time. He was only 5 minutes away now anyway.

"Okay, I'm almost there"

"And Reid..."

"Yeah?"

"You're not getting away with it that easily, I'll talk to you about your whereabouts when we get back," Hotch said authoritatively. Spencer gulped before humming a response and hanging up. 

What would he tell Hotch, he definitely couldn't explain the real reason, he wasn't ready yet. He needed to wrap his head around everything a bit longer. And he didn't want to be forced to say it, he wanted it to be in his own time, looks like it's not going to be that way. He'd think about that later.

Spencer arrived at the plane a few minuted later, luckily he had left a go bag on the plane last time they were on a case, the police department rescinded the invitation just when they were boarding the plane. At least he didn't have to go back to his apartment or Quantico to grab one.