Anonymous: Hello! Can you do a one shot where Spencer keeps losing his wedding ring at work. Then he tries to convince his wife he shouldn't have to wear it at work anymore, but him wearing it means too much to her for him to stop. So she comes up with the idea of getting each others initials tattooed on their ring fingers and somehow convinces him to do it and the BAU is all shocked Spencer would do something like that. Thank you!!!!!
Warnings: None
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"Oh no. No, no." Spencer was panicking by now. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead to drip on his paperwork as his hands fumbled through everything that sat on his desktop. "No, no, no. This can't be happening. Not again." He had once again lost his wedding band.
It was a common thing now for him to misplace it. His fingers were very thin, and the band they'd gotten for him ended up being just a tad too large. Spencer and (Y/N) had meant to take it to a jewelers to get it adjusted, they really had, but with the recent cases and (Y/N) having to do some of the renovations in their apartment by herself, neither of them had much time for something so seemingly menial. At least it seemed menial, until Spencer had lost it for the umpteenth time.
"Aha, yes!" Spencer cried, triumphantly holding up his wedding band. Morgan laughed from where he stood at Emily Prentiss' desk and made his way to Spencer.
"Playing Lost and Found again, Reid?"
Reid rolled his eyes, not out of annoyance with Morgan, but out of annoyance with how often this sort of thing happened. "For the millionth time," he exaggerated. "You have no idea how irritating this is, Morgan. I mean, obviously I'd love to have it fixed but (Y/N) and I keep forgetting to take it to the jewelers to get it resized."
Derek nodded. "Is it just work getting in the way?"
"Well, that's one of the reasons," Spencer sighed, slipping his wedding band into his sweater vest pocket. "(Y/N)'s also been remodeling some parts of the house. We're re-doing the master bedroom right now; she's been painting and putting new shelves in the closet."
"All by herself?" Morgan asked with a raised eyebrow.
Spencer returned the skeptical look with one of challenge. "Oh I think (Y/N) can handle herself. She insisted on doing it herself anyway; she said that she might as well do something worthwhile at home while I do something worthwhile here."
A nostalgic smile swept over Derek's face. "Yeah, that's (Y/N) all right."
Spencer nodded in agreement. "And I'm not one to argue with her, either," he added, and both he and Derek burst into laughter.
Later that evening~
Spencer took a deep breath as he entered his apartment, instantly coughing from the strong smell of paint. Those fumes were definitely not going to help his nerves. He was planning on suggesting to (Y/N) that maybe it would be better if he didn't bother wearing his band anymore, since it would just cost more to fix it anyway. He could only hope it would go over with her somewhat smoothly.
"(Y/N)?" the doctor called out into his apartment, and not a heartbeat later his wife's voice answered back.
"Welcome home, dreamboat!"
He blushed at this, and didn't bother hiding it or his shy smile when she came out of the master bedroom, wearing her painting clothes, light gray dots speckling her face, arms, and hair. But even though she was sweaty and tired and spotted with paint, her bright smile didn't fade.
"How was work?" she asked sweetly, stepping close to Spencer but not hugging him, afraid that she might get paint on his adorably dorky clothes.
"Work was good," Spencer replied, leaning down to plant a loving kiss on his wife's lips. He seemed cool and collected on the outside, but on the inside he was rushing to think of a way to smoothly transition into the whole ring discussion.
"I'm so sorry I don't have dinner ready, sweetheart," (Y/N) apologized quickly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I just got so caught up in finishing the painting—which I did, by the way—but if you want I can order some takeout or a pizza or—" she suddenly stopped, having caught sight of the lack of a ring on Spencer's left hand— "Where's your wedding band, love? You didn't lose it again, did you?" she added with a chuckle.
"No! No," Spencer assured her, pulling the ring out from his vest pocket and showing it to her. "It just kept coming off at work, so I figured I'd keep it in a safe place. Um, (Y/N)," he continued before she could say anything, "I was thinking...may—maybe it would be easier if um, if—if I...didn't wear the band...anymore." Spencer's heart practically stopped beating at the look on his wife's face. She didn't look angry, not even close to it. He instantly regretted posing the suggestion to (Y/N) because she simply looked so hurt. So sad.
"Why don't you want to wear it anymore, Spencer?" (Y/N)'s voice was barely above a whisper, and Spencer didn't know if he could handle the guilt much longer. When (Y/N) whispered, it was either because she was in the library or because she was about to cry. She was going to cry any second, but she still wanted to say something while she had the strength.
"No, no! No, no, no, no! (Y/N), (Y/N), (Y/N), listen, okay? Listen to me," Spencer was now panicking on the inside and outside. Way to go, boy wonder, he could practically hear Morgan say, Now you've gone and made your lady cry.
"(Y/N), it's not that I don't want to wear it! Believe me, wearing this wedding band just lets me show off to everyone who sees it how proud I am to call myself your husband...to call you my wife. It's not something I want to stop wearing. Never. I just...it doesn't fit just right, and I feel like maybe not wearing it at all is a better alternative to having to pay a fortune to get it resized. Can you see that?" Spencer was so desperate at this point, and he felt helpless since (Y/N) had allowed a few tears to glide down her rosy cheeks.
He gently wiped away her tears, all the while doing his best to hold back his own. He leaned down once again to kiss (Y/N), all of his sincerity and gentle love poured into it. (Y/N) eventually pulled away, pressing her forehead to Spencer's.
"Darling," she began, her voice stronger now, "I completely understand. Rings can be very uncomfortable. And if they don't fit right then it's just that much worse. It's okay, really." Looking up, her bright (e/c) eyes met her husband's warm hazel ones. "I love you, you know that?"
Spencer laughed, pulling (Y/N) into a close hug with her head on his chest. "I love you more, doll." They stayed like that for a while, (Y/N) listening to Spencer's heartbeat while he rested his cheek on top of her messy hair, until she moved a bit and spoke up.
"You know, some couples get each other's initials tattooed on their ring fingers so they don't have to wear a ring?" Spencer moved to look down into her eyes, an eyebrow raised warily at her suggestion. She giggled and nodded, "My best friend and her husband got them done after they married. They love it."
Spencer thought about it for a minute. "I suppose it sounds like a...decent idea...but do you know that out of the 21% of adults in America who have at least one tattoo, anywhere between 0.5% and 6% of them have experienced a tattoo infection. Which can be extremely serious, too."
"Oh, I know," (Y/N) said with a smile, "but listen to those numbers. They're so small, we're barely taking any risk."
Spencer shrugged. "I'll think about it."
The next week when Spencer arrived at work, his coworkers were...a little more than surprised to see their young, geeky doctor with a tattoo.
