TETHERED ⟢ spencer reid x greenaway!reader
summary: spencer has spent so long being the one who steadies you, up until an unsub he sees too much of himself in knocks him off-balance. he asks for space but ends up at your door anyway, and you become the tether you didn’t know he needed. genre: hurt/comfort tags/warnings: reader is elle's sister, canon-typical violence: unsub is killed (suicide by cop), mentions of trauma & bullying (reid’s goalpost story from 3x16), brief mentions of parental mental illness/neglect, needy clingy spencer, kissing, emotional intimacy, non-sexual nudity (showering together), no use of y/n a/n: i pulled inspo for this fic from s3e16 “elephant’s memory” — the case/unsub isn’t meant to be exactly the same, but you’ll recognize key parts of 3x16 here (and there’s a slight canon divergence where you have to pretend Reid & Morgan’s bullying convo in that ep never happened). next greenaway!reader fic is coming later this month (sneak peek) before my event and will be a BIG one, so stay tuned! | GIF by eva @reidgif 🫶🏼
The unsub’s hands are shaking.
He can’t be older than nineteen. He’s too thin for the coat he’s wearing, swallowed by it, shoulders hunched like he’s been bracing for impact his whole life. The rifle looks huge and wrong against him, like a prop someone handed the wrong person. He looks like a kid. He is a kid.
Spencer is ten feet away with his palms up. His voice is low and steady in that way that always makes your chest ache — like he thinks if he stays gentle enough, the world will be gentle back.
“You don’t have to do this,” he says. “I know you’re scared.”
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