Title: Shut Up
Authour: prettychemistry
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Criminal Minds and do not own its characters.
Type: Prentiss/Reid
Summary: Reid/Prentiss experiment. Distress-era Reid.

***

"Shut up, okay, Emily - stop trying to be my friend! I don't need you -"

 

"No, you don't. You need to feel heard, and I understand that, but I don't deserve to be your punching bag - "

 

"You think you know how I feel?" Spencer gave her a dark look, like a challenge, or a threat.

 

"That's not what I'm trying to say - "

 

"Yes it is. Come on, Emily, profile me."

 

Prentiss took a deep breath. She knew she shouldn't, but she was notoriously over-competitive. In the back of her mind, she thought, perhaps this is why I do badly on dates. "You resent that I get more respect than you do, even though you're more qualified. You act like I don't belong here, but… but really you're worried I might eventually fit in better than you do. You feel angry because you were victimized, and because you don't like that we saw you when you were vulnerable. You don't want sympathy, you just want to be normal. You feel the need to vent, and maybe to act out, do things you aren't supposed to do - "

 

Reid stepped into her personal space, and she noticed for the fist time how tall he was. She couldn't read his eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, embarrassed by how small her voice sounded in the empty space between them.

 

"Like what?" He seemed closer than he had been.

 

"Like I'm - "

 

"Something I'm not supposed to do?" His hands were on her waist, she was right up against him before she could think. She could only describe his expression as bait. He was baiting her.

 

The best thing you can do is be normal, diffuse the situation, then let it go and never mention it. He doesn't mean this, he's using you to fuel an inner need for power and control in the face of -

 

While she was busy thinking, he kissed her. Hard. She started to say something - just say anything - and his tongue slid into her mouth. He tasted like too-sweet coffee and he kissed like she'd never expected him to kiss, firm and forceful and encouraging her to battle back; because that was what this was - a power struggle.

 

Dr. Spencer Reid had a need to regain power and control after his victimization by Tobias Hankel. Who was she to interfere with that?

 

Emily wrapped her arms around Reid's neck and kissed him back.

***