Chapter Text
Felicia Forester had been staring Spencer down for a good few minutes at that point, it made his skin crawl.
“You look just like Matthew Grey,” Ah, there it was. She had been staring because she recognized him- not for his academic achievements, not for his papers, not for his work in with the BAU, but a part of himself he had left behind in his adulthood.
Spencer was taken aback for a moment, thankful no other members of his team were around to observe the interaction. “Who?” He knew any one of his coworkers- even Penelope, despite not being a profiler -would have caught the falter in his tone and slightly delayed reaction immediately.
“Matthew Grey,” the woman repeated, “He was a model, worked with some big names like Vogue, he quit back in two-thousand and three or four, I think. It’s a shame,” she shook her head, “he was built perfectly for it, handsome face, amazing body, stunning proportions…”
Spencer cleared his throat, trying to ignore how his face heated up at that, “Oh that’s- uh- interesting,” suddenly, the wall behind her seemed a lot more interesting than the idea of maintaining a normal amount of eye contact, “So, Mrs. Forester, How well do you know Nicholas Coleman?” That was what he was here to talk about in the first place- their unsub had been abducting, mutilating, and killing (and then mutilating some more) blond-haired blue-eyed white men in their twenties, and Nicholas Coleman seems to be his current victim; he fit the killer’s M.O. to a T, and had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth about twenty-seven hours prior.
Twenty-six hours and fifty-three minutes, to be exact.
“Well,” she started, pausing for a moment to think, “We were very close in highschool, we never dated or anything like that but we were good friends. Once we graduated, I went out of state for a while, went to university, I did some modelling work myself- nothing fancy, some print and stock photo stuff for some extra cash, found myself a husband,” her eyes flicked to a framed photograph resting on a side-table to Spencer’s left, he didn’t need to look to gather that it was likely a photo from their wedding day “And then we moved back here to settle down, about a year ago I’d say. That’s when I got back in touch with him. Him and Thomas- that’s my husband -get along like house on fire”
Get along like a house on fire , he had always hated that idiom- it was nonsensical . He understood it, knew the meaning, but the words themselves made no sense. He nodded nonetheless, mentally noting the name Thomas Forester for further investigation, possibly an interview.
“
Did you notice any change in his behaviour recently? Maybe he’s been more withdrawn, speaking to others less?”
Felicia shook her head, “No, no changes in his behavio u r- he did mention that he’d been talking to a man named Jeremy, said he met him at a club.”
Spencer nodded, “Do you know the nature of their relationship?”
“They were, uh” she looked away “Y’know.”
“It was a sexual relationship?”
She nodded, “Yeah, but it wasn’t… Exclusive, per se. It was usually the two of them and someone else, not sure if it would be another man, or a woman, or either.”
Reid nodded slowly- his mind was going a thousand miles a minute. Jeremy had immediately bee-lined to the top of his suspect list. “ And do you know anything else about Jeremy? Full name, details about his appearance, anything else like that.”
The details Felicia had given to him about Jeremy had lead to his swift arrest, and getting a confession out of him was a piece of cake- piece of cake , another idiom Spencer disliked, how did a dessert correlate to something being easy? -he had been kidnapping and killing these men out of jealousy, convincing himself that the women they shared preferred the other man over himself because of their ‘Aryan features’.
Spencer found it more likely that they preferred the other men because Jeremy was an absolute creep.
That didn’t matter now, though- he was behind bars for at least forty years before he had the possibility of parole, which he likely wouldn’t get.
“So, pretty boy,” Morgan’s words startled Spencer from his thoughts. The team had boarded the jet twenty-seven minutes and thirteen seconds ago, with little conversation- mostly due to the time of day, most of them had just wanted to get back to sleeping.
“Hm?” Spencer didn’t bother to turn his head towards the other man, yet another thing he found pointless and illogical - looking at people while speaking to them, as if he heard with his eyes instead of his ears.
“ I chatted with Felicia a bit-”
“You know she’s married, right?” Spencer joked.
“Not like that, Spencer,” Derek grinned, “She brought up this guy, said you look just like him-”
Oh. There it was. Spencer felt a pit in his stomac h. “Matthew Grey, right? She told me about him as well.” It wasn’t as if his team finding out that he used to model would be horrible- mostly just a bit embarrassing.
“Yeah, so I looked him up and you really do.” Spencer took this moment to finally look up at Morgan. He was standing with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking down at Spencer with some kind of look on his face. Expectant, maybe? Spencer couldn’t quite pinpoint it.
“Does he?”
“So, I had Garcia look into him a bit,” Derek rested his hand on Spencer’s shoulder, “Why didn’t you tell us you used to model, pretty boy? You were in Vogue, that’s a pretty big achievement.”
“I- It’s-” he felt himself flushing, “How am I even supposed to bring it up, like ‘hey guys, I used to model, fun fact’? That would make me sound like a total asshole, Derek. It’s just something I did for a bit to help pay the bills” he shrugged.
“I always thought you looked more like a runway model than an FBI Agent.” Rossi spoke up from his spot on the couch. Spencer could have sworn he was asleep just a moment ago.
“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult.” Spencer laughed
“ Little bit of both.”
Chapter Text
Spencer had assumed that the conversation on the jet would be the last he heard of his past career from his coworkers. He has no idea why he came to such a stupid conclusion, considering the people he works with.
The moment Penelope showed up for her shift (8:57 AM, one hour and twenty-seven minutes after Spencer had arrived) she had more or less dragged Spencer into her office.
“Boy genius, how could you not tell us, your best friends , that you used to be an actual model !” she sat down in her desk chair while Spencer stood awkwardly near the door, hands clasped in front of his torso “I mean, I’ve always thought you had the looks for it, but this !” familiar photographs filled the screens surrounding her, “I mean, you were in Vogue !” she pointed with a cyan-painted nail towards the photograph of him in a dishevelled tuxedo, casually reclining in the back seat of a vintage car.
“ That one is actually from Vogue Italy,” he took a few steps forward, pointing to another photo on a different screen which featured him sitting on a balcony in front of a cityscape, “This one is from Vogue Japan, I have some in Vogue America, I don’t see them here though.”
“ You’re just acting like this is no big deal,” Penelope spun around in her chair to face him “But this is a very big deal, a huge deal, Spencer! Our little boy genius was a model !”
“Penelope, it’s not a big deal, I just-”
“Massive deal! Huge huge big massive deal! The biggest deal ever, even! Vogue , Spencer!”
“Why do you keep bringing up Vogue? I worked with other brands,” he glanced at the screens, pointing out an image he always found quite ridiculous- he was wearing a intricate gold and royal blue top that was far too unbuttoned for his liking -“This one was with Sisley Paris,” he pointed to another one, featuring him wearing a ridiculous amount of denim for one outfit, and the legs of a woman he never heard the name of, “And Tommy Hilfiger . And I was on the runway for Louis Vuitton and- ”
“ Louis Vuitton?! Spencer, you-” she made a noise of some sort, “- Louis Vuitton ?!”
“What about Louis Vuitton?” Spencer jumped and whipped around at the sudden voice, only to come face-to-face with JJ, holding a cardboard tray with three cups of coffee tucked safely inside.
“187 here used to be a model , I mean,” Penelope gestured towards her screens, “Just take a look for yourself!”
JJ handed off the drinks to Spencer, knowing better than to get them too close to Penelope’s precious equipment, “Oh my god Spence,” she turned to look back at him, grinning, “This is-”
“-Embarrassing?” he cut her off.
“No! Okay, a little bit- but I’m mostly impressed! I mean, you’re so awkward- no offence -I never thought you would be out doing,” she gestured towards Penelope’s screens for emphasis, “This kind of thing!”
Spencer was about ready to shrivel up and die. “One of those coffees is for me, right?”
“Oh, yeah, of course. Everyone out in the bullpen already has theirs” she waved a hand at him, “go ahead”
Well, things could be worse.
“ You guys having a party without me?” Emily stood in the door way to Penelope’s office.
Things were progressively getting worse. Why was it now that everyone decided to show up at Penelope’s office, of all times?
“Yeah, a ‘ Spencer used to be a model and never bothered to tell any of us ’ party” JJ responded.
“I’m just going to-” Spencer decided that now would be a good time to escape, get back to his desk with his coffee and have a fun day full of paperwork and pretend this never happened. His attempt to leave was squandered by Emily, who was very much content in her spot in the doorway. “-pardon me-”
“No way, Spencer. We gotta get Hotch, Morgan, and Rossi in here, this is great” Emily grinned. Spencer decided the universe didn’t want him to be happy.
“ Oh, Emily, you are so right!” Penelope spun in her chair to face her phone and dialed Derek’s number with practised precision, “Hello my delectable chocolate thunder, you’re on speaker!”
“Hey babycakes,” Derek responded, “What’s up?”
“You, my absolute snack, need to bring your hunky self down to my cave of wonders. Grab Rossi and Hotch on your way.”
“Why, is- oh, this is about Mr. Model, isn’t it?” Spencer could practically hear his grin through the phone.
“Don’t call me that!” Spencer exclaimed, his voice cracked as he spoke.
“I’ll be down in a second babygirl, see you soon,” Derek ignored his protests.
“Thanks sweet stuff!” Penelope snapped her phone shut, “This is gonna be great.”
Spencer groaned, “Listen, I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this, I signed with an agency to help my mom pay the bills.” the hand that wasn’t holding his coffee was at his side, tapping his thumb and index finger together repeatedly.
“Who’s that?” Emily’s question brought his eyes back to the countless monitors in the room. She was pointing to another photo from the Sisley Paris shoot, he was wearing the same ridiculous outfit, but this time a woman with her underwear around her thighs stood between him and the camera.
“I’m not sure, I didn’t really talk to other people on the sets.” he took a sip of his coffee.
Emily gasped, “This woman had her whole pussy out and-”
“She did not!” Spencer’s face went beet red at the implication, “She was- you can see she was wearing a skirt, it’s right there!” he pointed towards the top of the photo, “And shorts under it!”
“ I’ve never met a man so eager to talk about how he didn’t see pussy.” JJ joked, earning a laugh from the two other women in the room and a groan from Spencer.
“ This is horrible, you’re all horrible” Spencer grumbled.
“What’s horrible?” Morgan’s voice sounded from behind Emily’s spot in the doorway.
“Nothing is horrible,” Emily moved to allow Morgan in, followed by an exasperated looking Rossi and an ever-neutral Hotch. “We’re just looking through Spencer’s old modelling portfolio.”
Spencer would like nothing more than to disappear into thin air.
“Well, pretty boy, now I’m sure the nickname suits you!” Morgan’s hand clapped against Spencer’s shoulder, his eyes scanning the screens.
“You’d think you would have a better fashion sense, dress less like a depressed librarian.” Rossi commented.
“I quite enjoy the ‘ depressed librarian ’ look,” Spencer protested, “It’s comfortable.”
“ I’m sure it is.” Rossi responded, before walking up to one of the screens and tapping on the same Sisley Paris photo they had just been discussing, earning him a glare and a light smack from Penelope, “Does she just have her whole hoo-ha out?”
“No!” Spencer exclaimed as the girls all burst into laughter, “I- she- she’s wearing a skirt!”
“If you say so,” Rossi shrugged.
Hotch broke his silence, the slightest hint of a grin on his lips, “Alright, I think that’s enough. We have work to do.” He gave Reid a pat on the shoulder before he left, and Spencer was more than happy to take the invitation to leave and get settled back down at his own desk.