Title: Perfect (1/?)

Author: crazyauthoress

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Rating: T

Summary: Everyone knows the name of the one who's perfect for them - it's written on their palm for everyone to see. Spencer Reid loathed the name on his palm. For Derek Morgan, it was the one thing that kept him going during the darkest times. When they meet, their lives will never be the same again.

Warnings: There will be spoilers for episodes in this. Off the top of my head, I know there'll be spoilers for "Profiler, Profiled" (2x12), "The Big Game" (2x14), "Revelations" (2x15), and "Soul Mates" (4x12). I'll know more when I write more, but I'll always warn for episode chapters so it won't catch anyone off guard.

Beta: None

Spencer Reid learned how to read by tracing the name on his palm. It wasn't unusual for children to learn how to read that way, eager to find out the name of the person who was made for them and them alone. At first, Spencer would ask his mother to read it to him but eventually he learned how to read it all on his own.

Derek Morgan

He was the only boy in school who had a boy's name on his palm. Most of his childhood was spent being tormented for the name on his palm and because he was smart, smarter than the rest of his class. A genius, his mother called him fondly in her moments of lucidness.

As he got older, he began to resent Derek Morgan. Spencer knew that he couldn't hate Derek, not really. His body wouldn't let him; they were made for each other, after all, if his mother's tales were true. But, then again, his father abandoned him and his mother, even though Diana Carlton was written across his palm.

Spencer learned the hard way that just because you were made for someone it didn't mean you would stay together.

Instead of searching for the person written on his palm like everyone else, Spencer threw himself into his studies and wore fingerless gloves to hide the name written on his palm. He couldn't bear the thought of finding Derek only for him to hate Spencer like everyone else. By the age of 22, he'd joined the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI and had completely forgotten about the name written on his palm.

And then he met Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan.

-.-.-.-.-

Derek Morgan didn't learn how to read because of the name on his palm. His mother would read it to him every day and before long he could look at his palm and say the name written on it. He didn't know what the letters were, but he knew the name and would shout it proudly, no matter who heard it.

Spencer Reid

His mother had told him that the name on his palm was the person who would love him the most, more than everyone else combined. She would always look at his father when she said that and they would kiss, causing the kids to wrinkle their noses in disgust, even though they didn't actually mind. They loved their parents, even if they were gross some of the time.

But then his father died and their world shattered. Their mother was alone and Derek did everything he could to provide for his family and keep them save. He didn't count on being sent to the juvenile detention center.

He didn't count on Carl Buford or what Carl Buford did to him. It didn't matter that Derek hadn't wanted it, it didn't matter that Derek was saving that - along with every other first he had - for Spencer Reid. When he got too old for Buford to want, he forgot about his promise to himself and did everything he could to forget.

Derek learned the hard way that your soulmate wouldn't be your first anything because people would take what they wanted from you, even if you didn't want to give it to them.

So Derek became a cop and then joined the BAU. He did everything he could to make sure what happened to him never happened to anyone again. But he refused to hide the name on his palm, no matter how many people urged him to. He was proud of the name on his palm and he would never forget that name because, on the nights when it was the worst with Buford, Spencer Reid was the only salvation he had. Even so, he'd almost given up hope of meeting him.

But then he met Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid on his first day at the BAU.