Under My Skin - A Spencer Reid Fanfiction.

Chapter 4: Pulled Too Tight

Song for the chapter: The Less I Know The Better — Tame Impala 🎵

"I was doing fine without ya'

Till I saw your face, now I can't erase''

📖

5:13 pm Saturday
FBI Team Group Chat

Hotch: Evening, team. Mandatory team-building event tonight. 7 PM sharp.

Morgan: Wait, mandatory? On a Saturday? Hotch?

Garcia: Hotch you destroy all things perfect! I had plans with RuPaul's and takeout...

JJ: ??? What exactly are we doing? Paintball? Laser tag? Please not escape rooms again... 😖

Emily: If Hotch is planning this, it's probably gonna be something intense like trust falls. 😉

Garcia: If there's physical exertion involved, I'm rebelling in the name of fabulousness. I'm the tech analyst who's supposed to sit pretty and perfect in my cave of computer things!! Why do I have to take part...

Hotch: You'll find out, please just be there.

Reid: Statistically, studies show that group bonding activities improve team productivity by 25%, and teams with high levels of cohesion have a 35% higher success rate in problem-solving tasks.

Morgan: Pretty boy, come on. We're not in class.

JJ: It can't be that bad.

Mira: I don't know, JJ. With Hotch, it's always a 50/50 shot.

Hotch: Everyone needs to attend. 7 PM. Don't be late.

Morgan: 😑 Guess I'll cancel my plans.

Garcia: That makes two of us, sugar.

Mira: Hotch, I'm assuming there are consequences for being late?

Hotch: Yes, Mira. You'd be correct.

I stared at the illuminated screen of my phone, the glare casting harsh shadows on the ceiling above me. Hotch's final message sat at the bottom of the group chat, a neat reminder that my Saturday evening was officially cancelled. I had mentally prepared for nothing more strenuous than a glass of wine and reruns of Forensic Files, but apparently Hotch had other plans...

I groaned, flopping back onto the couch head first. A team-building event? On a Saturday? Mandatory? Oh, this better be good.

It was a special kind of torture only Hotch could conjure— I was sure he was a sadist of his own!!

The group chat, predictably, had devolved into a whole blend of complaints, with Morgan and Garcia leading the rebellion, as per usual. I scrolled up, rereading Reid's contribution to the chaos: Statistically, studies show that group bonding activities improve team productivity by 25%... Of course, he had facts for this. He always had facts.

I rolled my eyes, feeling the familiar burn of irritation gnaw at the edges of my thoughts. Spencer Reid and his facts. His incessant need to insert logic into everything, no matter how much it grated on me and everyone else. Lately, it has been impossible to separate the analytical machine from the man—not that I wanted to anyway after our exchange at the begining of last week. I wasn't sure if I could get through the night without biting his head off...