masterpiece; spencer reid x reader

chapter five; prove it

chapter five

IT HAD BEEN a completely uneventful few months at Yale. The world, despite how it felt, had not stopped turning after the roughest first week of school ever. Classes had actually been going rather smoothly, and you'd started to better know your students.

"And then she just completely blocked me on everything!" One of your students said as you leaned over her station. You had inquired about the inspiration behind her piece and gotten more of a full-fledged backstory, but you didn't mind. Your students were the best part of this job.

"No way!" You exclaimed, shaking your head. "That's so manipulative." You spoke like you had knowledge in the relationship field, which wasn't exactly true.

You'd always been the friend to give love advice, but hadn't really had much first hand experience in the "romance" aspect. You definitely dated around in college, but you were more interested in other things than trying to maintain a relationship with any frat boy. Nothing since then had stuck, except one long term relationship that had broken off about a year ago. You cringed internally at the thought of it. That's when your dry spell had began.

It wasn't as if you couldn't find a man. You knew that  in the right circumstances, you could break it, but it was simply that no one had interested you. You were done with flings and one-offs, which left pretty slim pickings.

"Ms. L/N?" Someone called from across the studio, and your head perked up, willing the thoughts of the past to stop clouding your head. Luckily, you were over it. But that didn't mean you didn't miss having someone to come home to.

•

"Oh, come on! You're the youngest of all of us, Y/N, you've ought to come out tonight!" One of your coworkers from the art department chastised you as the youngest professors in the building stood in a circle in the staff lounge. They were right, it was Friday and you hadn't done anything except commute to campus and back for months.

"Okay, fine." You caved, and the other professors cheered jokingly. You only half-smiled. At least you could try to get some free drinks, right?

"Finally, Y/N has deemed us worthy of her weekend." Another chipped in and more laughter echoed around the walls. Okay, okay, maybe you weren't big on clubbing with your 30+ fellow staff, but that didn't mean you weren't actually quite the social butterfly when you had a few drinks in you. You just hoped none of the straight edge types showed up to ruin the night.

"I'm only going out only under the promise of alcohol." You conceded, and the soft sounds of agreement from the others were at least a bit comforting.

You all walked out to the parking lot in a group, just talking and chattering about nothing in particular. Other professors from multiple buildings were also on the lawn, but most minded their own business. The art teachers were seen as the less clean-cut, least experienced, more 'eccentric' group between the Yale staff.

Another professor did join you, history maybe? He easily began talking with your coworkers.

"Hey, you guys will be there tonight, right?" He asked, and most people confirmed.

Oh.

You didn't know this was a school-wide staff shindig. The other departments didn't mingle much. Who else was going, and how on earth were you supposed to avoid dancing around every coworker attending if you didn't even know them? Oh no, maybe you should just back out now? No, your wine supply is already low at home, and you don't think you can eat another delivery pizza alone without losing it.

"Yeah, apparently even some STEM guys are coming, but not many, obviously." The other man added, and everyone laughed. This day just kept getting worse and worse, didn't it? But Richard would probably throw a knee out on the dance floor, so that rules him out, and for some reason, Dr. Reid didn't seem the type to go out to bars. Maybe it was the sweater vest?