Chapter XIX: Little Things

✫small picture but whatevs✫

"To fall in love with someone's thoughts - the most intimate, splendid romance."- Sanober Khan

~"Both of you, hush! Let's get you ready."~

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Penelope cheers as Eden comes out of her room in the blue dress, her hair half up half down, and curled lightly, natural makeup to go with it all, and nude flats.

As much as she'd like to wear heels, she knows she won't be able to walk by the end of the night.

"You like?" Eden asks nervously.

"Like? LOVE! Let me take some pictures," the blonde pulls her phone out and starts motioning at Eden to spin.

"Okay, mom," Eden chuckles as she gives Penelope a twirl. 

"If he doesn't propose to you, I will."

"Woah, no proposal happening," Eden announces as Penelope frowns, "and no pouting, no marriage for me yet, or maybe even ever."

"Ever?! Oh no, missy, I need to be the maid of honor," Penelope declares. 

"Of course Penny, now leave."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, I'm the adult here," Garcia crosses her arms.

"Were both adults, Pen."

"Not tonight, you aren't. I need to make sure this boy is good news and will bring you home by 12 sharp!" Garcia pulls out a shawl to cover her shoulders from her bag and sits down on the couch, in a very serious manner.

"I need to ask Hotch if he's gotten you drug tested yet, " Eden mutters under her breath.

Just then a knock is heard from the entry and before Eden can go over to open it, Garcia shoots up and bolts to the door.

"Dr. Reid, " Penelope says in a monotone voice.

"Garcia..?" Spencer responds.

"What are your intentions with my Eden?"

"Bye, mom!" Eden exclaims as she grabs Spencer's hand and leads him out of her apartment building.

"Home by 12! And use protection!" Garcia shouts leaning on the door frame, watching the couple run to the elevator. Penelope is stuck in a trance before being interrupted by Flora.

"They're finally going on a date?" The older woman asks.

"..Uh yeah, they are, " Penelope responds.

"Finally, this 'will they, won't they' was annoying Andy and me. I don't need to hear that boy complain about anything else."

Penelope chuckles before bidding goodbye to the neighbor and heading back inside the apartment to, of course, guard the fish.

~

While running away from mother goose, they finally reach the exit, Spencer getting a good look at Eden.

"Eden, " he says grabbing her attention, "You look..., " he says breathlessly.

This man might have an eidetic memory but right now he's forgotten the entire English vocabulary.

Eden's face heats up and blush is painted across her cheeks as she knows he can't even find the words, "You don't look too bad yourself, Dr. Reid, " she chuckles and grabs onto his collar.

Spencer laughs along and grabs her face in his hands, kissing her softly before grabbing her hand and leading her to his car.

He opens the passenger door for Eden. "And they say chivalry is dead, " Eden jokes. Spencer lightly chuckles before jogging to the driver's side. He comes into the car and drives out of the apartment complex's parking lot.

Eden quickly reaches for the radio and looks for songs to play to fill the silence. Little Things starts playing, Eden's lips turn up a bit before she settles back into her seat. Spencer glances at the woman beside him, wishing he could stay enchanted by her soul.

A few minutes pass before Spencer takes his right hand and reaches over to interlace his fingers with Eden's. The two arrive at the restaurant and walk out of the car, fingers interlocked, in comfortable silence. Spencer opens the door and lets Eden walk through first.

"Spencer, you continue to be this gentlemanly and I'll put out on this date instead of the third," Eden jokes, leaning into Spencer.

"Is the bar really that low?" he asks.

"Yes, yes it is."

The couple walks up to the host, "Reservation for Spencer Reid, " Spencer says to the host.

"Yes, sir, this way, " The host smiles.

The two are seated and the host speaks up, "a waiter will come in a moment."

The host leaves the two to their date. Eden leans in and whispers, "This place is really fancy, " she giggles lightly.

"Rossi found it, " Spencer shrugged with a smile.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he owned it, " Eden says as she grabs a napkin and lays it on her lap. Spencer mirrors her action before grabbing her hand, he then simply looks at her.

"What?" Eden asks amused, tilting her head.

Spencer just blushes and smiles.

"What?" She pushes his shoulder with her free hand and laughs.

"You're really pretty, " Spencer says.

Eden moves her gaze to her lap and blushes profusely.

"You are too, " she giggles and rubs her thumb in circles on his hand. Spencer now blushes and keeps gazing at his date. Eden speaks up,

"I have to confess. I haven't been on a date in...almost two years and the last time we went to a nightclub and I saw her kissing a random dude, " Eden chuckles humorlessly.

"I haven't been on a date... have I ever been on a date?" Spencer questions.

Eden chuckles and leans on her palm, "tell me about yourself."

"What do you wanna know?" Spencer asks.

"anything. Everything. I wanna know you, Spencer."

"You do know me, " he laughs lightly.

"I know your coffee order and that you're a genius and... That you really like Halloween. I wanna know you. The good and bad parts."

He chuckles lightly and before he can speak a waiter comes by. They order some wine with water and order their food. They give their menus to the waiter and he nods before walking away.

"My grandpa used to make an amazing Skillet Chicken Piccata, " Eden says.

"Really? Where is he now?"

"He's dead."

Spencer chokes on his water from the bluntness and Eden laughed.

"He died when I was 8."

"I'm sorry," Spencer says sincerely.

"It's fine. I've made peace with it."

"Is your grandma still alive?" He squeezes her hand.

Eden nods, "I'm not sure for how long though." Spencer looks at her with sad eyes and she swats her free hand in the air, " It's okay, she's been prepping for her death since I enrolled in college, " she laughed, "this woman really said she wants to be the only one wearing black at her funeral since it's her color. It's like wearing white to a wedding in her mind."

Spencer chuckles and Eden asks, " don't think you're getting out of a getting to know conversation, " she points her finger at him threateningly.

He puts his hand up in surrender, "fine, fine. I'm not really close to my grandparents."

Eden glares at Spencer, knowing that he knows that's not what she meant.

"Okay!" he chuckles, "My mom...is still in Vegas, " he pauses glancing at Eden listening, not speaking as she knows there's more, " she's a paranoid schizophrenic, " he mutters quietly.

Eden fills with guilt, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried-"

"I want to tell you, " he squeezes her hand and grabs her other, holding them both in his own.

Eden nods and stays quiet, letting him continue. "My dad left when I was younger, so I never really knew him," he averts his gaze to their hands, she lets him play around with her fingers, "I spent most of my time either reading books or taking care of my mom," he sighs, "I didn't really have the most normal childhood."

"That makes two of us, " she laughs and he joins. After a moment of silence, she speaks up, "I'm glad you told me, " she smiled gently.

"I trust you, " he looks up and stares into her eyes. He grabs her hands and kisses them both and lets them rest on his own. The rest of the dinner goes as normal, the way it would if the two were just hanging out at work or home, talking about anything. Everything.

At around 10:00 they leave the restaurant after a ten-minute debate on who gets to pay. Eden lost. As they walked towards the car, hand in hand, Eden turned to spencer, her back pressed against the car with his hands around her waist.

"I don't want tonight to be over, " she pouts.

Spencer ponders for a moment, " I have an idea." He opens the passenger door for her to which she mumbles a 'thank you' and he runs to the passenger side and just starts the car, letting Eden wonder where the hell he's taking her.

"Where are we going?" Eden whines while looking out the window for hints of where they could be going.

"That is a surprise," Spencer grins.

"Are we there yet?" she wails like a little kid.

"We just got in the car," Spencer chuckles at her antics.

"you didn't answer my question," she crosses her arms like a toddler.

"No, we aren't."

A few beats of silence pass before Eden speaks again, " what about now?"

"No."

Silence. "now?"

"No."

She humphs before leaning back in her seat. A few minutes pass and Eden turns her head to stare at Spencer.

She pouts, "...now?"

"You're insufferable," he simply responds.

"I know, " she cheers, " it's my best quality, " she wiggles her eyebrows making spencer laugh. Eden stops the whining once they finally get to the spot. Spencer tells her to close her eyes, and as she obeys he runs to her side after exiting the car and helps her out. He covers his hands over her eyes to make sure no peeking is done.

"Ready?"

Eden nods eagerly and Spencer takes his hands off her face letting her view the blanket laying on the grass with a few throw pillows and another blanket on top.

"Where are we?" she asks in awe as she sits down on the blanket.

"We're at your park!"

Eden looks at him confused, as she sees no pond, no bench, and no ducks. 

He continues, " when you couldn't hang out with me on your free weekends because you were helping andy, I decided to explore."

He starts organizing the pillows, "at first I would just go to the library but I've read most of the books and I got bored. I went to your Park because it reminded me of you and I wanted to see if I could bump into you there."

He blushes furiously and keeps his gaze on the covered ground, " I never did, but I knew you wouldn't be there. You're so passionate when it comes to the people you care about. So, I explored without you and came upon this hill, " he gestures around and looks back at Eden who has the biggest grin on her face.

"Really?" she asks softly, interlacing their fingers.

He kisses her gently, "Really."

☻︎☺︎︎☻︎☺︎︎☻︎☺︎︎☻︎A/N: I WAS READING FINE LINE BY reidsbau AND I TOTALLY FORGOT SPENCER HAD A DATE WITH JJ LETS FORGET THAT RQ. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and ill try to publish the next one asap. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) but also read fine line by reidsbau for clear skin🤪

ᴀʟsᴏ, ᴛᴏᴛᴀʟʟʏ ᴜɴɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ᴡᴇ ғᴇᴇʟ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ʜᴏᴛᴄʜ ғɪᴄ?

Thank you for reading!

also here's the dress i had in mind: