back at the garage, working on an older car. the owner wanted body work done and driver had asked no questions about the dents and broken things here and there. it wasn't his business anyway and he didn't think that whatever it was would come back on him for working on the car anyway. his happy place is here, working in the garage. bringing the car back to it's former glory.

the chime of his phone is ignored for a few minutes while he finishes up a task. wiping grease covered hands on an old rag, he grabs his phone and opens up the text messages. jaw drops only a little, mouth open slights as pupils widen at the image of something that he really likes.

thoughts of his childhood rear their ugly head. his father had been a career criminal who tried desperately to beat crime into driver's veins. and driver supposes those beatings must'a stuck at least a little because driver had been good at being in the criminal underworld. truthfully? he wouldn't have ever left it if it wasn't for spencer.

spencer made him want to try. because spencer had a shitty dad and a mom too mentally ill to care for him too. and look how spencer had turned out? - spencer was good. no. he was better than good. and better than what driver deserved.

occasionally, as part of his deal to not go to prison, driver went with the bau on their cases. usually he's just asked to drive or to take care of the maintenance on cars for agents in the field. it's rare that he's allowed to or asked to do much else. it was a fine job, especially when spencer was only tasked with staying at the precinct and working the geographical profile of the case. then, driver didn't have to worry about spencer.

except with the rest of the team talking to leads or walking crime scenes, driver had watched his ex boyfriend practically sprint out of the precinct. it was driver's assumption that spencer must have discovered a clue or thought he was onto something that needed immediate attention. and so driver followed him.

trailing behind spencer, keeping him safe from the proverbial shadows, he spotted their unsub ahead, stuffing some poor victim into the trunk of his car. clearly too engrossed in his work to notice the fbi agent getting close. but driver recognises the situation as dangerous ( pretty sure he recognises the unsub as someone the bau questioned earlier, too ) and that spencer would probably get shot because he wasn't being careful enough for driver's liking. and spencer, as far as driver could tell, didn't see the second unsub who would definitely get the drop on spencer if spencer was noticed.

quickly and quietly closing the distance between them, he wraps one arm around spencer's waist from behind, the other hand smacks over spencer's mouth simultaneously as he pulls spencer back behind the closest wall. "it's me," whispered words in spencer's ear so spencer won't scream when driver pulls his hand off spencer's mouth.

it was definitely dangerous and foolish to be a criminal asking a fed out on a date. but he'd done it anyway. thrown caution to the wind because there was something compelling about dr. reid that driver liked. even if they'd only be in la for a bit on a case, he still wanted the chance to take spencer out anyway.

picked up food somewhere in town that he knew was good. a restaurant that wouldn't have a sister store in dc, so that he could impress spencer with la's good food. and then taken him out of the city to a place where he could park that overlooked los angeles from above. a sorta picnic.

silently he offers spencer food. smiles at him constantly. "tell me more about that stuff you were saying on the way up here," quiet words, asking spencer to keep infodumping as they eat.