It's not very tactful but then again, tact isn't what Reid would say is necessarily his strongest suit in the first place. His mind tends to work too quickly to really consider the consequences of a particular question or comment and sometimes, that does end up working in his favor but right now, he's too aware of himself and how warm his cheeks are having asked when Luke's birthday is. He doesn't have any plans to do anything with the information, at least not until he determines whether the date has passed yet or not, but he knows it sounds nosy. People don't like nosy.
Then again, Luke had invited him to this party after weeks of getting to know the way he operates so maybe it isn't such a terrible thing.
"Your birthday, I mean," Reid quickly continues, though he's sure Luke has understood that well enough. "I had the opposite experience with the team when mine would come along, I was always the baby of the group." JJ is only a little over a year older than him but that had never seemed to matter. He's suspected for quite some time that it has to do with his hair, though he hasn't been able to prove it. "Every year, I'd get a little cake, sometimes with a ridiculous hat, and I'd blow out the candles even though I would keep explaining that doing that started as a German tradition in the 1700s and really doesn't have any significance at all other than to commemorate each year of life but the thing is, it'd almost always be after solving a case so it just seemed... I don't know. Secondary, I guess."
He's not bitter about that, which he hopes is clear enough by his casual tone and shrug, it's just the truth.
"I'll be thirty-five this year, and I'm not going to have anyone reminding me that no matter how much older I get, I'm still the youngest." Reid pauses then, his shoulders dropping slightly as the corners of his lips twitch into a sad smile. "Now that I say it, I'm realizing how much I think I might actually miss it."
For a long time, knowing that the team had looked at him that way, like the baby brother who always needed protecting, had bothered him in some small way. It hadn't been offensive but at the same time, there'd been a part of him that felt that much more pressure to be better, whether it be in the field or out of it. The things that have happened to him over the years, things that he's barely scratched the surface of with Luke and is so worried will make this man that he's come to care about so dizzyingly quickly want to turn around without another word, they've all made it difficult to say that he's fine; but that had, in a way, also been a nice safety net. If he'd fallen, his team would be there to pick him back up.
He observes Luke for a moment, maybe even for a best too long, sipping thoughtfully on his cider before nodding just slightly to himself. Reid has decided it already, he'd decided it on the first day they'd met, but it seems important to confirm it with himself again. He trusts Luke. Maybe it'll work against him or get him hurt somehow one day, but he doesn't care. Reid trusts him and given the fact that he can't say that about a single other person in this town, he thinks that's a pretty remarkable to realize.
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It's not very tactful but then again, tact isn't what Reid would say is necessarily his strongest suit in the first place. His mind tends to work too quickly to really consider the consequences of a particular question or comment and sometimes, that does end up working in his favor but right now, he's too aware of himself and how warm his cheeks are having asked when Luke's birthday is. He doesn't have any plans to do anything with the information, at least not until he determines whether the date has passed yet or not, but he knows it sounds nosy. People don't like nosy.
Then again, Luke had invited him to this party after weeks of getting to know the way he operates so maybe it isn't such a terrible thing.
"Your birthday, I mean," Reid quickly continues, though he's sure Luke has understood that well enough. "I had the opposite experience with the team when mine would come along, I was always the baby of the group." JJ is only a little over a year older than him but that had never seemed to matter. He's suspected for quite some time that it has to do with his hair, though he hasn't been able to prove it. "Every year, I'd get a little cake, sometimes with a ridiculous hat, and I'd blow out the candles even though I would keep explaining that doing that started as a German tradition in the 1700s and really doesn't have any significance at all other than to commemorate each year of life but the thing is, it'd almost always be after solving a case so it just seemed... I don't know. Secondary, I guess."
He's not bitter about that, which he hopes is clear enough by his casual tone and shrug, it's just the truth.
"I'll be thirty-five this year, and I'm not going to have anyone reminding me that no matter how much older I get, I'm still the youngest." Reid pauses then, his shoulders dropping slightly as the corners of his lips twitch into a sad smile. "Now that I say it, I'm realizing how much I think I might actually miss it."
For a long time, knowing that the team had looked at him that way, like the baby brother who always needed protecting, had bothered him in some small way. It hadn't been offensive but at the same time, there'd been a part of him that felt that much more pressure to be better, whether it be in the field or out of it. The things that have happened to him over the years, things that he's barely scratched the surface of with Luke and is so worried will make this man that he's come to care about so dizzyingly quickly want to turn around without another word, they've all made it difficult to say that he's fine; but that had, in a way, also been a nice safety net. If he'd fallen, his team would be there to pick him back up.
He observes Luke for a moment, maybe even for a best too long, sipping thoughtfully on his cider before nodding just slightly to himself. Reid has decided it already, he'd decided it on the first day they'd met, but it seems important to confirm it with himself again. He trusts Luke. Maybe it'll work against him or get him hurt somehow one day, but he doesn't care. Reid trusts him and given the fact that he can't say that about a single other person in this town, he thinks that's a pretty remarkable to realize.