It was nearly a year since Reid first stood on these steps. He had knocked on this door thirty four times, with breaks for academic vacations and work trips and a few additions for the occasional party.

The study group had changed over the months depending on the courses being taken in the frat, mainly as a result of his second visit.

"You said you did Chemistry." Sean's attack came out of nowhere as Spencer tried to extract himself from an unexpected bear hug from Mike.

"What?" It was a little hard to concentrate on the conversation as Mike had moved on to, still somehow friendly, noogies.

"I spoke to Aaron had he said you were a Doctor of Mathematics. Why'd ya lie?"

Spencer really couldn't see what the problem was here. They wanted help in Math, why were they arguing about Chemistry? His reasons for not being totally open were easy to profile. A degree in Chemistry qualified Spencer to tutor them in the math they couldn't do. Three degrees qualified him to be in a girl group. Three doctorates plus another two unrelated degrees qualified Spencer to be a freak asking to be tormented and abused."

Trying to pick his words carefully, Spencer choked out an answer. "I have the doctorate in Math as well as the Chemistry."

"Anything else?"

"Chemical Engineering." That was at least close to the Chemistry and could, conceivably, be done together - if you had no idea of the intensity of any engineering degree.

"That's it?"

"Yes. No more doctorates."

Spencer suddenly found himself on the floor, where he had fallen when Mike suddenly let him go. Staring at him as if he was some sort of new bug Mike held out his arm to pull Spencer up. His face breaking into a grin, Mike turned to Sean. "Dude, we are so making the Dean's list!"

So many things had happened that no-one in the office was aware of, so many actions commonplace here that his colleagues would never believe possible.

Since the first time, when Sean decided to use him as an object lesson for Mike, Reid had been kissed on either entering or leaving by a wide variety of people. The entire thing had become some sort of in joke, part of the 'payment' for the help. The kisses had been mainly on the cheek but there had been the one sweeping gesture of overenthusiastic romantic intent, damn Valentine's Day and Mike's idea of a laugh.

Morgan hadn't been told. Reid honestly believed that Derek thought he'd never kissed anyone, let alone a fairly random selection of frat boys and sorority girls. Morgan also hadn't been told about the number of strange places, and people, he had woken up with following either parties or study sessions that morphed into poker nights; poker nights where the brothers invariably learnt a little more math then they planned - if probability rather than calculus.

Spencer woke to a warm body getting in beside him. Sleepily turning over he was could just about make out the shape of Sean in the moonlight.

"Move over a bit, as long as you are awake." The whisper was barely audible, even though the house was quiet.

"What?" Genius or not, no-one could be expected to produce a witty response when woken from a deep sleep.

"The bed isn't that big. You need to move over so I'll fit." The explanation made sense but there was something wrong, if only Reid could work out what it was.

Sean wasn't supposed to be there. That was it. He was supposed to be over at the current girl's apartment. Mike had said it would be alright to crash when the poker session had tripped over into morning and this was supposed to be an unoccupied bed. "Katy's?" Conversation was still a none-starter.

"She threw me out. I shouldn't have criticised the cooking even if she did add too much oregano." A warm hand went under Spencer's shoulder and lifted, trying to get him to roll back onto his side.

"I should go." Spencer tried to sit up but his body didn't appear to be under his control.

"Don't be stupid, it's three in the morning, nothings running and it will take you hours to get home. Go back to sleep. Just don't snore! You can be my giant hot water bottle, it's freezing out." Sean finally managed to get Spencer back on his side and curled in around him.

With the warmth at his back and the arm draped loosely over his chest it took only seconds for Spencer to snuggle down and slip back into his dreams.

The door opened to Reid's knock and the familiar cry of "Sean, you're boyfriend's here" rang from the mouth of the freshman. No-one even reacted anymore but Reid was told that Sean was in the kitchen preparing something for the Monday night feast. It had only taken a few visits for it to become extremely clear that Mike was incapable of preparing anything in the food department that didn't involve chips or a phone.

Pushing open the kitchen door, Reid was greeted by the sight of Sean dancing around in his socks to an old film soundtrack while stirring something in the giant pot.

A soft "hi" got Sean to look over his shoulder and smile, so at least he seemed in a relatively good mood. With finals done and the end of the semester approaching at least it wouldn't seem too odd if Reid never came back.

Sean picked up a spoon and dipped it in the concoction on the stove. Skidding across the floor he put on a falsetto and joined in with the song. "Flash, Flash I love you but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!" He held up the spoon only to pull it away when Reid made to take the proffered food. "Careful it's hot."

Reid rolled his eyes but dutifully blew on the food before tasting. "Flash? Hmm, needs oregano." He added with a smile.

"Well if you're the 'boyfriend' that must make me Dale and you Flash, in the context of the song at least." He hit Reid on the nose with the spoon. "And no, it doesn't, it has the perfect amount of oregano, thank you very much." Sean turned back to the stove and adjusted the heat. "So anything interesting happen over the past week, catch any more psycho bad guys?"

"I went on a date." Reid deliberately didn't look at Sean while he pulled the stool away from the counter. This didn't stop the other man moving to lean over and look at him.

"Oh really? With?"

"JJ." Reid continued to look down at his hands. "Gideon gave me a couple of tickets for my birthday and suggested I ask her out."

"The hot blonde?" The grin on Sean's face was really disturbing but Reid nodded. "How did it go?"

Reid closed his eyes as he recalled last night's fiasco. "It could have been... better." Even without sight Reid knew that the grin on Sean's face was growing wider. This was the reason he hadn't told Morgan about the date, the mocking was not worth the relief of no longer being pestered for details. "We went to the Redskin's game."

"Wait a second, back back back. You had tickets to the Redskin's game and you took a girl? Whatever you do don't tell Mike!"

"Don't tell Mike what?" The two men at the counter turned to look at the man in question, who crossed the room to give Reid a one armed hug that threatened to crack a couple of ribs.

"Nothing," it was Sean who answered, while Reid tried to prise the constricting arm off. "Can't you see we're trying to have a conversation here?"

"You vant to be alone? I understand. Just remember he has a gun." With a final squeeze he let Reid go. "What I really want to know, anyway, is when do we eat? I need to return something to the library before I start accumulating charges that would eclipse my student loans."

Sean glanced at the clock on the wall and offered a thirty minute grace period. Neither said anything until the door closed behind Mike's retreating form.

"So, you went to the game, without us but we are ignoring that for now. What happened then?"

Reid blushed. "I think I may be slightly demophobic. It was so loud, so many people. Watching football with you lot through there is nothing like being there in person. I never want to go to another major sporting event, ever. He breathed in deeply and watched Sean move back to the stove, unconsciously giving him some space.

"But I came up with a theory." This was the part that was going to be difficult and Reid was glad that Mike had actually left the building. If this all blew up in his face at least he would be able to escape without any awkward questions. Sean could always say that he got called in on a case. "And like any good scientist I need to test the theory." Reid stood and walked over to join Sean at the stove.

Taking hold of the younger man's arm he pulled him far enough away from the hot plate that no-one was going to get burnt. Sean started to look puzzled, Reid was still avoiding meeting his eyes; didn't want to see the same rejection that had been in JJ's the night before. Unconsciously liking his lips Reid leaned in slowly, deliberately giving the other man the chance to avoid the unasked for intimacy.

The first kiss was tentative, unsure of the response it was a fleeting touch before Reid's courage deserted him and he started to pull away. Sean reached out and grabbed his arm to pull him back in. They looked at each other for a moment before leaning in again and tentative gave way to passion.

Reid's hands came up to grasp Sean's face, reminiscent of the first time they had met, while the other man grabbed his hips to bring the two flush together. Angles changed as each tried their best to consume the other, tongues battling to see who would be the victor.

They finally broke in order to each take in some deep breaths. After a final peck, more akin to the kisses of the past year than the past 5 minutes, Sean cleared his throat and broke the silence. "So you said you had a theory. What was it?"

Reid smiled, it didn't look like he was going to be running from the frat this evening at the very least, unlike the football stadium the night before. "It is just possible that I might not be entirely straight."

"And the result of the test?"

"Well initial indicators seem to confirm the hypothesis but will need to be tested multiple times in order to ascertain whether or not those results were a fluke."

"Ascertain if they are a fluke? Well let me say now that I offer my services, in the interest of furthering the knowledge of science of course." Sean smiled as he leaned in for another kiss but stopped just short of making the connection. "Just so we are clear, so there are no misunderstandings, you don't need to go looking for any other test subjects."

Mike closed the door with a click and turned to glare at the freshman who wanted to enter the kitchen. Those two had taken enough time getting their asses in gear that the last thing they needed was to be interrupted by some eighteen year old barely out of high school. With a smile he grabbed the short loan book and the car keys. He could give them grief later.

AN: Rewatching early season one - there is a conversation between Reid and Elle, essentially it boils down to the reason Reid doesn't date is he doesn't ask anyone. So getting them together meant that it had to be post the date with JJ if I was going to even pretend to trying to keep this in canon.

And now that they are together, I think I'm going to leave them in peace. At least for a little while. Maybe make Rossi shout at Hotch instead for upsetting the good doctor a couple of seasons on.