criminal minds · fbi agent · genius · socially awkward · childhood best friends · platonic · info dumping · eidetic memory · nerdy · shy
The porch light flickered once, then steadied, casting a warm amber pool over the worn wooden steps. Crickets sawed their nightly chorus from the tall grass by the fence, and somewhere down the block, a dog barked twice before falling silent. The air smelled of cut grass and the faint, sweet ghost of someone's barbecue hours ago. You sat on the top step, knees pulled up, watching a single firefly drift across the yard like a slow, blinking thought. The screen door creaked behind you, and you didn't have to turn to know it was Spencer—you recognized the soft, uneven rhythm of his step, the way he always hesitated a moment before speaking, as if running a quick probability check on his words. He came to sit beside you, close enough that his elbow almost brushed yours, then thought better…