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It was a gorgeous April afternoon in the middle of Quantico. Dr. Spencer Reid had the rare day off. He'd been busy cleaning up his apartment, rearranging his many books and dusting off his collectible figurines. As he looked around, proud of his handiwork, a thought crossed his mind.
It's been a while since I've checked my mailbox.
Normally, Spencer checks it on his way home from work, but for the past week, he'd been gone on a case, hence the day off. He was well aware of the time of day, figuring most people would be at work or inside their own apartments. With that in mind, he opened up his front door and descended the staircase down to the mailboxes. He was only dressed in a pair of boxers and a pair of pajama pants.
Little did he know, a fairly new neighbor was also choosing to leave her apartment at the same time one floor above him.
Y/N, too, presumed that everybody in her new building wouldn't dare be as weird as her, checking their mail in the late afternoon. She was soon proven wrong. As she was walking down the last set of stairs, she looked up to see a shirtless man also checking his mail.
Spencer glanced up as he heard footsteps making their way towards him.
No sooner did his eyes fall on the woman who came down after him, he quickly averted them back, noticing she was only wearing a loose tank top and short shorts. What Spencer didn't see was how red Y/N's face got the moment her eyes found his naked torso, though she did stare quite a bit longer than he had.
Quickly, she opened up her mailbox, grabbed a handful, and rushed past him in hopes of disappearing into her apartment without any more interaction.
Once the shock of the whole ordeal wore off, Spencer, too, grabbed his mail, noticing a letter was left on the floor below. He bent down and grabbed it, quickly deducing that it wasn't his. For a moment, he thought it was the mystery woman's but he took her rushing past him as a hint to leave her alone.
He didn't want to bother her any more than he felt he already had.
-
Once inside her apartment, Y/N rummaged through all her mail, looking for a specific letter that should have arrived. Frantically, she flipped through all seven envelopes over twenty times.
No letter.
She momentarily thought that maybe the handsome stranger could have seen it and picked it up if by the likely chance she dropped it. But, she didn't even know his name, or which apartment he lived in. Y/N pulled out her phone and gave her friend a quick call, asking her to fill her in on the contents of the letter, since her hot-looking neighbor picked it up, instead.
Spencer tossed the letter in an empty basket on his desk. He thought, maybe, if he ever was able to introduce himself to his beautiful neighbor, then maybe, he could not only give her the letter that was clearly meant for her, but then, maybe ask her out.
Then...it hit him.
He had her name. He also had her address.. which came with her apartment number. He picked up the letter from the basket.
Y/N Y/L/N.....and she was one floor above him.
-
"Hey, Chica! Did you get my letters?" Y/N's best friend, Jaclyn asked from the Zoom video. Y/N had been busy catching up on her laundry, Jaclyn begging her for as many details as possible about the half-naked man she gushed about during their last conversation. "I know you can hear me? C'mon! It's boring here. I need to live vicariously through you! Give me something!"
Y/N tossed her basket on the couch and plopped next to it in a huff. "I already told you. He's tall and lean, some muscle..." She drifted off once the picture of him came to view in her mind. Jaclyn caught on.
"Y/N!"
"Sorry, I was just...picturing his sex lines," she said, completely giving up on keeping anything from her best friend. "You know, the V you can.... sometimes see if their pants hang just a little low--"
"Y/N! Damn, girl. Okay, now you are going to have to snap me a picture of this man." Jaclyn cut Y/N off.
"Great plan, Jackie, but how do you gather I do that? You know, without looking like a total and complete idiot?"
"Simple. Just pretend you're taking a selfie. But, please, have the camera facing him. You know I forever love your gorgeous face, but I want to see him." Y/N bursted into a fit of giggles at her friend's words.
How in the hell was she supposed to do that?!
"As always, thanks for the chat. But, my laundry ain't gonna fold itself. Ciao, darling."
"Pictures, Y/N! Bye."
With a heavy sigh, Y/N grabs her basket of clothes and makes her way to her bedroom closet. As she places each item, either in a drawer or on a hanger, she finds herself concocting devious plans to get those pictures her friend is clearly thirsting for.
-
It's been a couple of weeks now since Spencer's run-in with the beautiful woman at the mailboxes.
He's noticed two additional letters from the same address to hers placed in his box by mistake. He decides that today's the day he's going to go knock on he door and pray that she answers so he can introduce himself and hopefully allow her to do the same, so he can address her by name without sounding like the weird idiot neighbor.
Here goes nothing, he thinks as he stands outside her door, letters in hand.
knock, knock
Y/N hears knocking while in the middle of doing dishes. Who the fuck could that possibly be? She makes her way to the door, towel in hand. Shit, it's him! Her brain is screaming at her to do something.
Anything.
Y/N stands there with her door open, seeing the hot shirtless man, except now, he has on a button-up with a tie and cardigan. As her eyes take him in, she notices he creases his slacks, and shines his shoes.
"Hi, um, my name is Spencer. Spencer Reid. I uhh, believe I got some of your mail, by, um, mistake." She urged her voice to speak, her limbs to move...but nothing. She was jelly in front of him and that in of itself was bound to pose a problem.
"So-sorry, you, I-um, want to come inside?" Smooth Y/N. Real smooth. She glances back towards her kitchen and Spencer follows her there after she shuts her door behind them and locks it.
"Can I-can I get your name?" Spencer asks her, his voice squeaks throughout her apartment. In her haste, Y/N completely blanked on introducing herself. Play it cool.
"Oh, sorry. I just assumed since you ended up with some of my mail, you'd know my name."
As she locked eyes with him, she swore she saw his cheeks blush a rosy shade. It was the most adorable, sexiest thing she felt she'd ever see. Without thinking, Y/N pulled out her phone and swiped and clicked on her camera app, snapping shots of him. She thanked every god and goddess she could think of, taking note that her phone was muted so Spencer couldn't hear the shutter noise the camera normally makes.
"Y/N...were you taking pictures of me?" Shit. Lord, I've been caught. Dropping her phone on the counter, she decides to pretend she didn't hear him and goes to yank her letters out of his hand.
"Thank you, Spencer, for bringing these to me. I'm sorry, but I have a lot of....stuff to do, so I'll uhh, walk you out." Y/N practically tosses Spencer out of her apartment faster than he had walked in. "Thanks again, bye." The second she shuts it and locks it, her hands are on her face and she falls to the floor.
-
Spencer is just shell-shocked. He has been staring at Y/N's door for the past five minutes. He hears her mumbling near the door. "Stupid..stupid." He wants so badly to knock again, but as she continues to talk to herself, Spencer remains glued to his spot in the hallway.
"Yeah, sure, Jackie, great idea. Take a pic of the hot shirtless man next time you see them. Fuck!" Spencer snorts as he listens. Shit. All of a sudden, his feet and legs work and he carries himself back to his place, not wanting to look back in case he got caught.
Y/N scrambled to her feet, knowing it had to have been Spencer who made the sound she heard from outside her door. As she opened it, she barely caught his backside before it disappeared behind a door just down the hall.
Number 23.
She mouths it silently to herself as she tip toes back inside her apartment.
Jackie📲: Yo, Y/N, do you have the pic? Y/N's friend did always know how to cut to the chase.
Y/N📲: Yes, Spencer even called me out on it! Upon realization, Y/N slapped a hand to her mouth.
Jackie📲: Spencer, huh? Sexy, send me his pic, please. Y/N sighs, pulling her phone away from her ear so she can send her favorite pic to Jackie.
Y/N📲: There, it sent. Now, what? Oh, I figured out he lives just down the hall on my floor. Giggles ensued from both women.
Jackie📲: Damn, Y/N. Spencer's hot. Like Magic Mike hot. You sure he's single? Y/N had no clue. She never thought to ask him. Of course she didn't think to ask him. You know what? Nevermind, you say you saw which apartment he lives in, give me his number.
Y/N📲: Jackie, I don't have his number.
Jackie📲: His apartment number, Chica. I'm going to send him a letter. Y/N's brain short circuited.
Y/N📲: Jackie, no! I like him. Last thing I need is for Spencer to think I'm weird.
Jackie📲: Girl, weird is the new sexy, and respectively looking at your neighbor...I'd say he fits that particular bill to a tee.
Y/N📲: Why am I not surprised...sure I can't convince you to leave this one alone? Y/N loves Jackie to bits, always has, but, sometimes, when it comes to boys, she takes it just one step too far.
Jackie📲: One time, Y/N. And, Spencer was shirtless when you first met him, right? Now way is he a prude. Trust me, honey, I'll be doing you a favor. Y/N sighed again.
Admitting defeat, she ended the call and began pacing in her living room, her mind wandering to what Jackie would write in her letter to him.
-
After another grueling case, Spencer dragged his dead feet through the apartment building doors. He stopped at his mailbox, emptying the contents into his satchel to read over for later. He's amazed that he managed to walk the entirety of the stairs up to his door.
He lets his eyes wander over to Y/N's. Hot shirtless man. Her words rang through his ears. He scoffed. No way she'd ever think about me that way now. He haphazardly made his way inside, kicking off his shoes and dropping his bag on the floor with a thud.
As he bends down to grab a book from inside, he notices a familiar envelope stuck in the middle of his pile of mail. Curious, Spencer takes it out and examines it. He recognizes the return address right away. Y/N's pen pal. What catches his eye most, though, is that his name and his address are neatly written there, instead of Y/N's.
No way that was by accident.
Quickly, without even an ounce of precision, Spencer rips through the envelope, only careful not to tear the letter that must be clearly meant for him.
To Y/N's Spencer:
Hi, my name is Jaclyn McCoy. I'm Y/N's best friend and pen pal. I'm in the Navy, so, if you date her and it goes south, just know I'll come for you.
Spencer couldn't help himself. He laughed. Just you wait when you find out exactly what I do for a living, he mused.
In case you haven't caught on, Y/N likes you. Like wants you to ask her out on a date, likes you. Please go easy on her, she's shy. I swear, she believes she already ruined her chance with you because she thinks you caught her gawking at your shirtless self by the mailboxes. Yes, I know everything. Yes, Y/N did take a picture of you, but only cause I asked her to. Though I wouldn't put it past her that she now has one of those as her background on her phone. Also, I'm due to blackmail her, so I've enclosed a Polaroid for your safekeeping of Y/N that was taken back in college. She was drunk. She doesn't remember that I took it. You're welcome.
Feel free to write me back about your date. ;)
The best friend who will murder you,
Jackie.
If Spencer thought his sour mood was bound to stay with him all weekend, he was just sorely proven wrong.
And he rarely loves it when he's proven wrong.
He caught the Polaroid that Jackie was referring to. It was Y/N, alright. She had the widest grin across her lips, and she was scantily clad in lingerie. Spencer now found himself wondering if she still owned this piece. Simmer down, Reid, he scolded himself.
Afraid he was going to lose his nerve, he hopped off his couch and bolted out his door.
knock, knock
Y/N opened the door, this time, she was dressed in a flowy periwinkle blouse with tattered jean shorts and sparkly converse. It quickly became a look of hers Spencer would grow to love.
"Hey, um," he slowly lifts his hand up, holding Jackie's letter in it. "I'm told I'm supposed to ask you out on a date." Y/N's eyes went wide. Did he not want to? Spencer's brain caught up and gained traction upon the girl's stare. "So-sorry, I mean, I want to ask you out, I'm just--I--I like you."
Y/N felt her cheeks grow pink. "Actually, Spencer. I was just about to go out and grab some much-needed coffee. Care to join me?" Spencer about fell from where he stood.
"Ye-yeah, I'd love to, Y/N." He watched as she grabbed her purse and locked her door in front of them. Y/N continued her newfound streak of confidence by grabbing Spencer's shoulders and leaning up to plant a kiss on his cheek.
As she dug her phone out of her pocket, she saw his hand come up to feel where her lips had just been. Quickly, she opened the camera app, and gave him another cheek kiss as she snapped a photo. "What was that for?"
A Cheshire cat grin came over Y/N's face. "The kisses were simply because I like you too, Spencer. And the photo, well, Jackie needs proof somehow, doesn't she?"
Y/N looked him dead in the eyes and winked. "Oh, and don't think I don't know exactly what she sent you, Spencer."
He gulped, his mind going to that Polaroid. She leaned towards him, her lips hot on his perked ear. "Play your cards right and maybe you can decide between the black and the red one."
~ The End ~