Special Agent Jennifer Jareau grumpily tore open a packet of sugar, dumping the contents into her coffee cup with a frown.
"Good morning, JJ," Dr. Spencer Reid squeaked as he entered the BAU's kitchenette, eternally embarrassed by his continued awkwardness around her. His eyes darted towards the blonde woman beside him, as she gave no answer.
"Bad night?" he asked timidly, unsure of how she would react to his questioning. Sometimes it was hard to tell where the boundaries were with regards to each other’s personal lives.
JJ blinked, her eyes abandoning the coffee cup in front of her to acknowledge the young profiler for the first time.
"Oh, hey, Spence," she mumbled, offering a small, distracted smile. "Uh, you could say that."
Reid turned to face JJ, waiting for her to continue. For a minute, it looked like she was going to, but she shook her head, as if waving the thought away.
"You don't want to hear about it," she assured him.
Spencer protested this, secretly eager for the chance to speak to her and happy that she was considering letting him into her confidences.
She sighed, looking a little embarrassed with herself.
"Well," she started, her eyes returning to her coffee cup. "I pretty much had the worst date in history last night.”
Reid's heart sank as he realized where the topic of conversation was heading, but did his best to keep the emotion off of his face.
JJ blew out angrily. "I mean, for starters, the place he took me to was a complete dive. I swear the place was crawling with roaches. Then I had to put up with three hours of conversation about his ex-girlfriend who dumped him for this guy at his office. And then after dinner, which he made me pay for, by the way, he had the nerve to ask if he could come up to my apartment!"
Spencer sighed inwardly as he listened to JJ rant. It was nothing new to him - he was always the one to hear the girls complain about the jerks they dated. It never seemed occur to any of them that they were dating the same losers over and over again instead of seeking out the guys they claimed they wanted: Guys who were sensitive, who listened to their problems, who would never dream of cheating on them. Guys like him.
He had pondered the conundrum a number of times. Women always claimed that they wanted the 'nice guy', but they never seemed to realize that he was right in front of them. Instead they went on date after date with men who continually disappointed them, forever acting surprised when the jerk broke their hearts. And when that happened, Reid was always there to offer support, to listen to their empty promises of learning from their mistakes. He knew that by next week they'd be dating another loser, and he'd be alone again. It was almost like they wanted to get hurt.
What was it about him that made it impossible for girls to consider him romantically? He knew popular opinion at Quantico was that he was the 'safe', little brother type. It was always, 'nice guy, but I don't think of him like that'. He'd even heard Garcia refer to him as a "gal pal" on one occasion, an incident that had subjected him to weeks of ridicule at the hands of Derek Morgan. When would girls like JJ realize that they were searching for something that was already there?
JJ's angry diatribe had slowed, and Reid was nodding understandingly. He offered his sympathies awkwardly and she smiled, convinced of his outrage on her behalf. She sighed, relieved to have vented some of her anger.
"Sorry," she smiled apologetically, picking up her coffee. "I didn't mean to get all carried off like that."
"It's alright. You needed to get it off your chest."
Her smile was more genuine this time. "Thanks for listening, Spence. You're a good friend."
She patted him on the shoulder as she walked away.
"Why can't all guys be like you?" She threw over her shoulder as she made her way to her office.
Reid smiled sadly as he watched her go.
Because then you'd never give any of us a chance.