𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 [spencer reid]

16. ray of sunshine

"𝐈 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓, 𝐓𝐎𝐎!"

It was a breezy, Wednesday afternoon for Francesca and Spencer's scheduled pumpkin picking date. With Halloween a few weeks away, Spencer couldn't be more ecstatic. He figured the best way to introduce the girl to his love for the holiday would be to bring her along on his favorite autumn pastime. They moseyed through the pumping patch, eagerly pointing out the plumpest pumpkins to later paint. After they found their ideal canvases, the two headed back to Spencer's apartment to get their creativity on.

Francesca was never artistically gifted, so she was mesmerized by Spencer's intricate spiderweb that he focused intensely on. His brushstrokes were flawless despite his hand slightly shaking with attentiveness. He kept his focus after Francesca's compliment, his tongue wiggling it's way past his lips in concentration. "I've studied a lot of painting techniques in my lifetime."

"I would imagine," Francesca raised her brush off her pumpkin, which she just completed lopsided triangular eyes on. Her eyebrows slanted, trying to decided whether or not the shapes were aligned. "What do you think?" she flipped the pumpkin to face Spencer, who sat cross-legged on the other side of the coffee table draped with newspaper.

Spencer put down his own creation. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from chuckling over the clearly off-center and disproportionate eyes on Francesca's pumpkin. "Do you want my mathematical or personal opinion?" he asked genuinely.

Francesca sighed, knowing one of his options would result in a critique. "Hit me with both."

"The left eye is dilated approximately 1.6 times larger than the right, and it seems as though they've taken a natural twenty-three degree angle, possibly twenty-four."

"And the personal opinion?"

Spencer grinned bashfully. "I think it's adorable."

Francesca's nose scrunched with happiness as she confidently began working again. "I didn't picture you as a fall guy. I thought you'd be more of a spring boy."

"What's not to love about the fall?" Spencer replied with a rhetorical tone, but he continued to answer himself anyways. "The changing leaves, the wind, apples, pumpkin-flavored everything, Halloween."

"Halloween?" Francesca was surprised. "You deal with enough monsters on the daily. How could your favorite holiday possibly be that?"

"I don't know," Spencer shrugged, putting the finishing touches on his painting. "When you know the monsters are fake, it's a lot easier to have fun."

"Hey, who's to say ghosts aren't real?" Francesca teased, getting a head shake out of Spencer. "Last time I checked, my work's basement is haunted."