The Way You Lie, Part 3/?

[coffeebuddha]

Title: The Way You Lie
Author: coffeebuddha
Rating: R/FRT (rating is subject to change)
Characters/Pairings: Spencer Reid/Ethan, Spencer Reid/Derek Morgan, eventual appearances by entire team
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
Summary:  Spencer's angry, Ethan's in town, Derek's jealous, and nobody's telling the complete truth about anything.
Note: This is the sequel to Hot Like Mexico. Ethan and Spencer's back story for this fic can be found in Fall Apart. Huge thanks go out to luredin for betaing for me, and topetine , who has yet to tell me to shut up when I'm filling her inbox with my crazy ideas.
Part One / Part Two

 

***

"In the end, it turned out that the leather daddy was a physics professor at a local university! He and Spencer spent the rest of the night at the bar arguing over string theory while a self proclaimed dungeon master tried to convince me that I secretly wanted to be dominated."

Derek slumps a little more in his seat and tries not to look as sulky as he feels when Spencer laughs against a grinning Ethan's neck and Garcia snorts into her glass. When Garcia had cornered him in the parking lot, he'd been frozen, too stunned by the actual evidence of Spencer and Ethan's relationship to react. Not that he hadn't known, of course. There'd been no doubt from the moment he'd seen Spencer the night before that the two were involved, that it wasn't just a ruse on Ethan's side to taunt him. But knowing and seeing are such completely different things, and he hadn't been prepared for the blow of actually seeing Spencer step into someone else's arms. It's somehow worse that the exchange had been so clearly about comfort and not just sex. Lust he would have been able to deal with, could possibly have overcome, but he's at a loss as to how to compete with Ethan when there's an obvious emotional attachment between the two of them.

It was stupid, masochistic to stick around, but he hadn't been able to make his legs move. They'd felt weighted down, heavy as lead, and try as he might to leave, his surprise had left him rooted to the ground as surely as if he'd been planted there. So, when Garcia had looked away from Ethan and caught sight of him, he'd been too concerned with his sudden paralyzation to think up a single excuse to get out of joining them and getting 'to know Reid's delish friend'. Of course, now that he's trapped in the booth from hell with Garcia laughing at his side and Spencer and Ethan practically cuddling across from him, he can think of a million excuses he could have used to get away, all of which would probably have made Ethan flash that damn, patronizing smirk at him. Still, he thinks as he drains his second drink and motions for the server to bring him another, as annoying as that would be, it probably wouldn't be half as painful as sitting across from Spencer and Ethan while they play the part of the happy couple. He toys with his phone and wonders at the odds of getting a call from JJ about a case. Her calls aren't the sort of thing he normally looks forward to, but even a briefing would be better than this.

Derek frowns at that and silently rebukes himself. He shouldn't be wishing for something terrible to happen to someone else just to get out of here, even if the fact that Spencer seems more than a little happy to have Ethan's arm looped over his shoulders makes Derek twitch with the desire to hit something, anything. It certainly doesn't help that Spencer's cheeks look so alluringly flushed from the warmth of the room and alcohol that Derek struggles to rein in his desire to lean across the table and kiss him then and there, or that Ethan seems to be just as enchanted by it as he is if the way he keeps drawing the tips of his fingers across Spencer's cheek is anything to go by. If Spencer's at all aware of what he's doing to Derek, it doesn't show. His blush darkens every time he looks up and sees Garcia, almost like he keeps forgetting that she's there and is embarrassed all over again whenever he remembers, but he's been steadfastly refusing to look in Derek's direction at all. He can't decide if being purposely ignored is better or worse than being forgotten, but he does know that he can't stand the way Spencer sort of lights up when he looks at Ethan. It physically hurts how much Derek wishes he was looking at him like that instead. His fingers tighten around his glass until his knuckles feel sore from the pressure and he mentally yells for their server to hurryupmoveitgetoverherenownownow with his refill.

It feels like he's been caught in his thoughts for ages, but when he forces himself to pay attention to the table again, Ethan's only just handing Garcia a napkin so she can mop up the alcohol she dribbled down her chin when he made her laugh. Derek settles his arm on the back of the booth, and Garcia absently pats his leg and leans against him, all friendly warmth and softness. He watches her fondly and reminds himself that there's no way she could know the hell she's forcing him to endure right now. She's still snickering and her good humor is so infectious that the corners of Derek's mouth twitch before he looks up and notices Ethan looking at him. For once the other man doesn't look smug or snide. His mobile face is smooth and his usually mocking eyes are sharp, intense. Again, Derek remembers Spencer mentioning competing against Ethan. Derek wonders exactly how smart Ethan has to be to have gone up against Spencer and stood any sort of a chance, and what he could possibly be thinking about that has him watching Derek like he's some sort of complex equation that could result in massive destruction if not handled just right.

"What I want to know is why the two of you were in a leather bar to begin with," Garcia says, and there's an intrigued glint in her eyes when she looks at Spencer. Derek looks down at her, a little startled, and tries not to get any more distracted from the conversation. When he glances at Ethan, the other man has turned his attention back toward Garcia, his charming smile firmly back in place. "Not exactly what I would have thought of as your scene, sweetness."

Derek closes his eyes for a moment and sees Spencer swaying on a crowded dance floor, his tantalizingly short skirt swishing against his slender thighs. He's suddenly parched, so dry he feels like his skin will crack, and he snags Garcia's drink and takes a swig. He halfheartedly winks at her when she makes an outraged noise and swats at his arm, even manages a smile.

"I think our resident genius probably has all sorts of secrets that we'd never guess at," Derek says. He takes another sip of Garcia's drink, barely registering the way its over sweet flavor makes his taste buds tighten and his teeth itch, and gives Spencer a slow, considering look. Spencer looks at him blankly, his lips pressed flat with tension, and Ethan smirks and lifts his glass in a mock toast to Derek.

"You have no idea, Dirk." Ethan half rolls his eyes at Derek, as if his obvious attempts to push his buttons is some private joke they're sharing. "Does he still do that thing with you guys where he pretends to not know anything about popular culture? He's gotten a ridiculous amount of mileage out of that particular schtick." Ethan tugs affectionately at a lock of Spencer's hair and presses a kiss to his temple. Spencer, who had been looking back and forth between him and Derek with a small frown, glares at him. Derek bites back the sudden urge to laugh at the borderline petulant look on Spencer's face, because it's somehow so fitting that he's been overplaying his naivety for years as an extended personal joke. 

"I knew it!" Garcia crows, practically bouncing in her seat. She turns toward Derek with a triumphant grin and steals her drink back from him, then waggles her finger at Spencer with feigned sternness. "I knew there was no way anyone could be as oblivious as you acted about some things."

"I won't be able to after this," Spencer mutters at Ethan, not giving any indication that he heard Garcia at all. There's no real anger in his voice though, and Derek has to look away when Ethan bends in even closer to brush their lips together. He's almost pathetically grateful that the server picks that moment to bring him his new drink just so he'll have something to distract himself with.

"So," Garcia says loudly before the kiss has a chance to deepen. Spencer jumps a little in his seat and pulls away from Ethan, his blush spreading to stain his neck and ears red. Ethan smirks, so smug Derek thinks he might as well have yellow feathers in his teeth, and arches an eyebrow at Garcia."How long were the two of you an item the first time around?"

"Six years, ten months, and almost three weeks," Ethan says immediately. Derek chokes on his drink, wondering if he's ever committed to anything other than Clooney for that long. Garcia and Spencer are both staring round-eyed at Ethan, although they seem surprised for a different reason.

"That's a lot more precise than I expected." Garcia leans forward, props her chin up on her palm, and drums her fingertips on her cheek as she looks between the two men again.

Spencer laughs, his eyes bright with amazement, and shakes his head. "You can't remember your own mother's birthday, but you remember that?"

"What can I say," Ethan asks with a shrug. He takes an overly casual sip of his almost untouched drink and glances around the table, his eyes locking hard with Derek's. There's a challenge there, and Derek grinds his teeth together to keep from sneering back at him. "Spencer's just that unforgettable."

Garcia looks from Ethan to Derek, and she elbows him once, a sharp jab that makes him break his gaze with Ethan and look down at her. He must have been unsuccessful at keeping his thoughts entirely off his face, because her smile is sharper than usual and she hisses 'play nice' at him under her breath before raising her voice to say, "You two are disgusting. I guess it wasn't a messy breakup?"

Ethan freezes, visibly uncomfortable for the first time since Derek's met him-and isn't that more satisfying than it has any right to be?-and it's tempting to try a smirk of his own. Or it would be if it wasn't for the sad, faraway look Spencer's giving his tightly clasped hands. He nudges Spencer's foot under the table, and his head snaps up. Their eyes meet for the first time since the four of them slid into the booth together, and Derek shivers at the jolt those hurt, pretty doe eyes send through his body. Another reason to hate Ethan, he decides, tearing his eyes away from Spencer to glare at him.

"It wasn't messy after we cleaned up the broken glass and plastic," Spencer says with a laugh, and if his laughter sounds a little forced or his smile looks a little fake, nobody says anything. Ethan's finger's curl into Spencer's hair and he lets out a long, sad sigh when Spencer doesn't pull away.

"That was my fault. I was out of line and you-"

"No," Spencer says, cutting him off. His voice is steadier now, and there's no room for argument in the hard look he gives Ethan. There's something so vulnerable and private in the way the two men are looking at each other that it multiplies Derek's desire to be anywhere but here until it's almost unbearable. "We were both in the wrong. I knew we were in trouble weeks before that fight, but I never tried to fix it. I thought if I kept ignoring it, that somehow it would magically fix itself once we got to Quantico. That was a mistake. I'm not saying that I wasn't angry when you left." Spencer's voice falters and his eyes dart toward Derek for a fraction of a second. "It hurt to come back and find you just gone, but it was as much my fault as yours that you felt like you had no other option."

Garcia sniffles into a napkin, and everyone turns to look at her, the moment broken. Spencer's cheeks turn impossibly redder with embarrassment and he starts to sputter something, but she laughs and flaps a hand at him. "Sorry, it just sounds so sad! It's like a soap opera. But it obviously all turned out okay since you're together now, right?"

Ethan and Spencer exchange a glance and Spencer opens his mouth to say something, but he's interrupted by the shrill trilling of Derek's phone. Derek grabs for it eagerly, nearly dropping it in his haste to answer it. The tinny voice in his ear is making some sort of pitch for a politician whose name he only vaguely recognizes, but Derek tosses down a twenty and motions for Garcia to move so that he can slide out of the booth.

"It's been fun," he says, ignoring the way Ethan's eyebrows quirk up at that, and bends to peck a pouting Garcia on the cheek. "But duty calls. Be safe on your way home, baby girl. Reid, I'll see you tomorrow. Ethan," he trails off, then just nods and waves shortly as he hurries away before any of them can say a thing to stop him.

*

Maybe Derek's blatantly blowing them off shouldn't matter so much, but it does. Spencer's angry, so angry he can taste it like copper in the back of his mouth. He mumbles something about being right back as he slides out of the booth to stalk after Derek. He catches up with the other man in the parking lot just as he's swinging a strong leg up over his bike. Spencer grabs at his arm, his fingers hooking into the crook of his elbow, so that he sways and staggers back a step. Derek whirls around, his handsome face creased with annoyance mixed with surprise when he sees Spencer glaring at him.

"What the hell, Reid?" Derek's voice should be loud, but the drone of traffic nearly drowns him out, and Spencer takes a step closer just to hear him better. He crosses his arms across his chest, tucking his fingers against his side in a vain attempt to stop them from tingling where they touched Derek's skin. Adrenaline pumps through Spencer's veins and he bounces on the balls of his feet as he leans in closer to hiss in Derek's face.

"That's what I should be saying to you. What was that in there, Morgan? I've met your mother. I know she raised you better than to behave that rudely." Derek's head whips back, and for a second Spencer thinks he's going to walk away. Instead, he steps forward so that his chest brushes against Spencer's folded arms and his hot breath hits Spencer's lips when he exhales, and Spencer's blood sizzles to life and screams 'Oh, good God yes!'

"Leave it alone, Reid." Derek's eyes narrow dangerously, his pupils blown so dark and wide that Spencer can see the outline of his reflection in them, even with the poor lighting. "Just go back to your fucking boyfriend."

"That right there," Spencer exclaims. He pokes Derek in the sternum for emphasis, but once he's touched him, he can't bring himself to pull his hand away. He splays his fingers over Derek's chest, his hard muscles jumping under his palm, and Derek's breath goes ragged. "I know Ethan isn't always the easiest guy to get along with, but he hasn't done anything other than mess with you a little," Spencer says, his voice uneven in his own ears. "Why do you hate him so much?"

Derek's fingers curl around Spencer's hand, and Spencer's certain he's going to move it, but he only presses it tighter against him. Standing this close, the scent of his cologne is dizzying, and Spencer tastes its memory on his tongue. All he can feel is Derek's heat enveloping him, pulling him in, and he feels the low, rough rumble of his voice before his ears register the sound.

"I hate him because he has you."

Spencer's still trying to make sense of that when Derek's lips collide with his. The kiss is brutal, biting, and all Spencer can think is 'finally' when Derek fists a handful of his hair and sucks his lower lip between his teeth. "He gets to touch you," Derek growls against his mouth. "He gets to kiss you and fuck you and wake up to you, and I want to kill him for that."

Derek bites his jaw and his tongue is scalding against the delicate skin behind Spencer's ear, and Spencer digs his fingers into his shoulder and tries to process what he's saying, because his superior intellect is pointing out that the words coming out of Derek's mouth might be a tiny bit more important than what he's doing with it right now. Every nerve ending in his body screams at him to stop and just let the man keep doing what he obviously does best, but Spencer twists his torso away and shoves at Derek hard enough that he stumbles back into his bike. He curses and manages to catch both himself and it before they can fall over, but the heat in his eyes isn't from anger when he looks up at Spencer.

"What are you doing?" Spencer wants to sound outraged or furious or just plain pissed, but his voice is more distressed than anything. He swallows and rubs his hand hard over his neck, trying to erase the feel of Derek there, but it doesn't work. He can feel his pulse pounding erratically under his fingertips and he takes one deep breath after another to try and slow it down. Derek straightens and reaches out toward him, but Spencer scurries back a step, away from temptation. Derek's arm drops to his side and Spencer stares at his strong, blunt fingers, unsuccessfully trying to stop himself from imagining all the wonderfully depraved things those hands could do to his body.

"Why him?" There's a bewildered, almost hurt note in Derek's voice that makes Spencer look at him. His mouth is tight and there's a furrow between his eyebrows that Spencer aches to smooth away. He swallows again and shakes his head slowly when Derek takes a step toward him, but doesn't back away. "Tell me why you're with him."

"There are a lot of reasons." Spencer rakes his fingers through his hair and blows out a harsh breath. "He's a good man, Derek. I know you don't see it, but he is. He cares about me and calls me on my shit and I have fun when I'm with him. He always has been and always will be my friend."

Derek blinks, confused, and frowns. "What about all the years when you weren't talking because he walked out on you? Were you friends then?"

"First, Ethan would have gotten the quote, which is another point in his favor," Spencer says with a short laugh. "And second, you aren't exactly in a position to be judging him. At least he left a note."

Spencer wants so badly to still be angry, but that's not who he is. It's too tiring to keep up that level of resentment-even if a part of him does still want to hurt Derek-especially when he still cares about him so much that just his touch makes his entire body quake with a heart wrenching yearning. He closes his eyes and his lips curve in a small smile, and when Derek starts to say something, he lifts his hand to stop him.

"Go home, Derek. Figure out what it is you need to do to get over this and just do it. And stop letting Ethan bait you. You're better than that." Spencer backs away from him toward the door to the bar, and when Derek makes no move to stop him, he nods once and leaves.

*

Inside, Ethan smiles vaguely at Garcia and tries not to be too obvious about watching the door for Spencer. He knows he's not Spencer's keeper, that the other man's allowed to do whatever he wants, but it doesn't settle well with him to know that he's out there all alone with Derek-fucking-Morgan. They're both so painfully deep in denial that they might as well move to Egypt. Ethan frowns, a little annoyed at himself for even thinking such a bad, cliched joke. He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't notice Garcia's talking to him again until she hits him in the face with a peanut.

"Sorry," he says, picking up the peanut and weighing it in the palm of his hand. He likes Garcia, really he does. She's sharp and happy and bright, but if she throws another legume at him, he's going to have to take her down. "Could you repeat that?"

"I asked how long Spencer's been keeping you his little secret." Garcia smiles at him, and Ethan doesn't think there's anything sneaky about it, but he can't really be certain. At first glance she's like an open book, everything right out on the surface, but he's quickly starting to realize that she's more like a cleverly encrypted file, only showing people what she wants them to see. "How long since the two of you got back together?"

"We aren't," Ethan says bluntly. His eyes are drawn back toward the door like a magnet to true north, and he nearly misses the surprise that flashes across her face. "We're just friends now. Don't get me wrong, we're still...close, but there's nothing more to it than that. We decided ages ago that we'd never be able to make an actual relationship work."

"I wouldn't have guessed." Garcia's voice is soft, thoughtful. When he looks back at her, her brilliantly painted lips are drawn to the side as she studies him. "Are you sure that's all it is?"

Ethan sips his drink and keeps his face as blank as possible as she assesses him. "It doesn't matter if it isn't. He's in love with someone else, and I've given him little reason to trust me enough to try and plan a future."

"Seven years isn't exactly nothing." Garcia tilts her head to the side and leans forward, her hands flat on the table between them. "That has to count for something."

"How much do you know about his father," Ethan asks, his smile humorless.

"Enough," she finally says after a long pause.

Ethan leans forward confidentially. "He left. I left. Spencer has this thing about people leaving. It pisses him off. I'm back in his good graces, but things will never go back to the way they were."

Garcia sits back and her lips form a soft circle of understanding. "Oh. There's nothing you can do to change that?"

"Maybe," Ethan says, his eyes glued on the door again. "Stranger things have happened. But, like I said, he's in love with someone else. Why does this bother you so much?"

"Because it's obvious that you two care about each other, and Spencer deserves to be with someone who loves him. Are you really okay with him wanting to be with someone else," Garcia asks. Her voice is thick with disbelief, but Ethan ignores it as the door opens and Spencer walks in, a strange light in his warm eyes. He's all the way across the room, but Ethan has no problem catching sight of the darkening mark on the pale column of his neck or noticing how red and swollen his already full lips are.

Ethan's breath catches in his throat and he gulps the rest of his drink to force it down. He can see Garcia watching him out of the corner of his eye, and he wonders exactly how much she sees. Probably more than enough, he decides when he looks over at her. At least enough to not look at all convinced when he makes himself smile and say, "The only thing that matters is that he's happy."

***

Part Four 

 

Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!

My head canon for the end of Ethan and Spencer's relationship can be found in Fall Apart. You don't need to read it to understand the entire fic, but it will be referenced once or twice.

I'm so sorry this took so long. Between real life blowing up and a massive case of writer's block, I've barely been able to write my name, much less fanfic. Forgive me?

ETA: Do you see that flashy cool icon? That is one fucking amazing icon! All credit goes to topetine who whipped it up for me after I jokingly requested it. I'd be lying if I said I loved you all equally. I totally love her more than you guys. ;)