(no subject)
Title: Two Princes
Part3
Summary: Another take on those fics where the team is in high school. Will be Reid-centric and include him meeting two guys who seem interested in him. Featuring Hotch as a prep, Morgan as a gang member, Emily as a goth and Gideon as a concerned dad.
Pairing: Morgan/Reid, Hotch/Reid
+++++++++++++++
Thank you guys so much for reading and commenting! Keep it up :D
This is where Reid meets Emily -and one of the guys...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
His good feeling lasted exactly two and a half more periods.
Then followed fourth period -which was the moment Spencer Reid found himself alone, out of the safe environment of a classroom and in the most horrifying situation he could think of.
He was standing on the school's football field, meekly staring at his worn sneakers and fumbling with his oversized t-shirt while his new coach was in the process of assigning them into groups. For now it looked like a mere separation into boys and girls.
He looked around him, his horror growing when he took in his new peers who were gathered in the usual groups, all of the guys at least five inches taller and easily forty pounds heavier than him.
Even with his oversized brain Spencer could not figure out what he could have done to God for someone like him to end up playing football.
He was going to die. Painfully and more or less slowly.
"Alright, guys.", the coach -who actually looked like someone who had played football in high school himself and therefore would have no pity on him- said: "This is how its gonna go. In this class we´re going to cover several sports starting with football. Form four teams, girls against girls and boys against boys."
If Spencer hadn't already known for a fact that hell existed, he would have been convinced ten minutes later.
He´d suffered through odd looks and jeers, through being the last one selected for teams and then constantly being either ignored or run over by players from both teams.
Devastated and utterly exhausted, Spencer eventually took advantage of being in the ignorance portion of that game and quietly slipped away when the coach wasn't looking.
He hastily found cover under the bleachers and sagged against one of the metal poles with a pitiful whimper. God, he hated this, always being too young, too small, too weak, too different.
One day in and he already hated school. Great.
"You hiding from P.E., too?"
Spencer´s head snapped up when an unexpected voice close by startled him, instinctively half ready to bolt should he find himself in danger.
Over him stood a girl who looked about seventeen and could have starred in the Adams Family with her thick black hair, pale face and heavy makeup which matched her black jeans and shirt.
He quickly recognized her as the girl from next door he´d seen that morning. His neighbor.
He mustered her closely for a moment trying to figure out whether she was being friendly or whether he should leave as long as hadn't worsened his day yet. Her expression was hard to decipher under all the color masking it, but she seemed to be smirking slightly.
He thought of her argument with her family that morning and how Gideon had dismissed her immediately because of her appearance. She likely was a social outcast just like him. Plus, she was alone and obviously hiding here, too -so maybe she could be more of a fellow tortured soul.
"Uh…yeah."; he finally decided to answer, shrugging slightly embarrassed: "I'm not exactly physical as you may have noticed."
The girl snorted bemused at his answer and took it as a cue to slump to the ground next to him:
"Hmm, well, this is my hiding spot…but you can stay here if you promise not to tell."
Spencer quickly shook his head, promising his silence: "I won't."
The girl nodded, satisfied for the moment, sitting cross-legged as she began going through her black purse. After a moment she pulled out some cereal bars and stuck one in his face unceremoniously: "Want one?"
Spencer wasn't actually very hungry, but he figured it wouldn't be polite to decline so he thanked her and started nibbling at the snack, both of them quiet for a while as they watched the other students run around the field from their hiding spot.
After some minutes in which he had convinced himself that the girl wasn't going to get him into trouble, he decided it would only be appropriate to engage in some kind of conversation:
"So… why are you hiding?", he asked.
She shrugged: "I refuse to partake in this indoctrination center´s efforts to exhaust us so much we won't be able to think clearly and realize what a big scam the whole system is. I'm a child of the night and that is beneath me. Plus, the sun is ruining my complexion."
She finished her little speech, looking like she had just answered a question about the weather. Spencer stared at her in surprise for all but three seconds, then he couldn't help but smile.
"Well, that reason is better than mine, I guess.", he shrugged: "I'm just really bad at sports."
The girl chuckled, playing with a strand of her long hair: "Yeah, that, too.
They both chuckled and Spencer began to feel a little better again in her company.
"I'm Emily."; the girl told him, her smile taking away a little from her scary make up: "But my friends call me Anathema. I mean they probably would if had any."
"Nice to meet you.", Spencer smiled warmly, suddenly sure that they were very similar deep down where it counted.
Emily was like him in a way. She would understand him. The thought made him all but giddy; he´d never had anyone who understood.
His hopes were answered when they got talking about themselves and he realized they were indeed very alike. Emily was a loner and more than a little unpopular with the other students but she was also very smart and funny and had read most of the books Spencer told her about.
The hours flew by and before they knew it the class was over and the other students were leaving the field.
"Wait a few more minutes so no one will see us for sure:", Emily held him back when he made to get up and Spencer complied gladly.
Truth be told, he wasn't particularly eager to get home anyway. But at least now he could walk home with Emily which was nice.
They waited until there was no one left in sight, then got up and made their way out from under the bleachers, careful not to hit their heads. They were almost out when their path was suddenly blocked. Emily stopped in her tracks, cursing when she saw them and Spencer almost ran into her because of it.
When he followed her gaze, he felt his heart skip a beat when he recognized six of the burly wannabe gangster rappers from his Spanish class who came towards them with threatening expressions on their faces, practically surrounding them.
Now that he saw them move in unison and outside of the class room it was obvious that they belonged to the same gang. It was also obvious that they weren't here to chat about the weather.
Spencer felt the old, all too familiar dread rise within him as the young men closed in, mean expressions on their face.
"Hey, look who we got here.", one of them snarled, grinning threateningly: "Little Miss wannabe vampire."
"Get lost, Kyle.", Emily snapped viciously, tightening her grip on her schoolbag.
Kyle just grinned at her before turning to Spencer and giving him a not-so playful push to the shoulder: "That your new boyfriend, batgirl? A bit on the scrawny side is he? Think he´s gonna protect you?"
Surprised, Spencer stumbled back only to have one of the other guys grab his arms painfully tight. Now really growing scared, he tried to pull but was instead pushed harder, sending him sprawling to the ground. He whimpered quietly at the hard, painful impact very much to the amusement of their bullies.
"Nah, looks to me like he needs himself a protector.", the second guy laughed darkly and the others joined in.
"Leave him alone!", Emily yelled, hurrying to his side only to be shoved back roughly herself. One of the guys grabbed her bag, and she fought him for it, scratching and yelling loudly.
Spencer struggled to get up from the ground despite his fear, knowing he had to help Emily against those gangsters before things got out of hand. He would probably end up with at least a bloody nose…but at least he was used to it instead of her.
Before he could get to his feet though, Kyle kicked him in the ribs, sending him back to the ground gasping in pain. Spencer felt tears burn in his eyes at his own helplessness, hating himself for being so weak that he couldn't even help his new friend.
Kyle gave a derisive snort at his expression and made to bend down and grab him by his collar when a loud voice suddenly interrupted them.
"HEY! What do you think you're doing?", someone shouted angrily, and then there were two pairs of feet running towards them.
Spencer dared to look up to find that Emily had been let go and the gangsters were slowly backing off, looking disappointed at the interruption.
Kyle shot Emily a derisive look, sneering: "Aw, mommy and daddy to the rescue."
She merely shot him a look of disgust, one which surprisingly didn't change much when she turned to look at their rescuer. The couple coming towards them were a guy and a girl, one which Spencer immediately recognized as JJ.
The guy with her looked to be about eighteen, tall, with carefully styled dark hair and handsome features. He looked more than a little pissed off as he stalked towards them coming to a stop in front of Emily.
"Why don't you take it up with someone your own size, Kyle?", he growled, arms crossed over his expensive looking suit jacket.
"I have no problem with that, Hotchner!", Kyle snarled menacingly and took a step closer, looking ready to take a swing at this opponent when JJ suddenly stepped in between them.
"Walk away, Kyle.", she demanded calmly but determined: "Don't you have enough trouble already?"
Kyle smirked down at the petite girl, all but leering at her: "I might if you give me a ride…home, that is."
Behind them, the guy called Hotchner growled angrily at his words but JJ didn't seem the slightest bit fazed, just smiling at him pitifully: "In your dreams."
Kyle's expression distorted to one of anger at her words and for a moment Spencer worried he would hit her, too, but then he just shrugged, seemingly indifferent: "Stuck up, bitch. Like I would want to be seen with you anyway."
He abruptly turned around, gesturing for his gang to follow as he left.
"We´ll catch up later, Hotchner."; he called over his shoulder: "When you don't have your little club of freaks to hide behind."
The remaining four looked after them until they were out of sight, then the guy raised an eyebrow at JJ, looking skeptical: "I could have taken them, JJ."
She just grinned, patting his arm: "Of course you could have. But nobody wants a student representative with a black eye. You can thank me later."
Spencer watched them bicker speechlessly, still trying to calm down while Emily seemed pretty familiar with them, her expression sour as she eyed her rescuers.
"You stalking me now?", she snapped at the guy, successfully diverting his attention from JJ.
He turned around, frowning at her: "You're welcome, Emily."
Then his eyes fell on Spencer who was still sitting on the ground and he walked over, offering him a hand. Spencer took it hesitantly and the guy pulled him to his feet with ease.
"You okay?", he asked, giving him a friendly smile.
Spencer nodded silently, quickly pulling his hand back and rearranging his disheveled wardrobe. The guy seemed friendly enough but he had only known him for three seconds and the way Emily was glaring at him wasn't exactly reassuring.
The guy seemed to sense his hesitation because he stepped back slightly, giving him some room.
"I'm Aaron Hotchner."; he introduced himself: "Emily´s brother."
He smirked in amusement at Spencer´s surprised expression as if to say he wasn't surprised by it. "Yeah,… she always hides here. Sorry she got you into trouble, uh…"
"Reid.", Spencer answered quickly, feeling reassured knowing that Aaron was related to Emily: "Spencer Reid-Gideon."
"Gideon?", Aaron looked at him with surprise.
Spencer nodded, suddenly realizing that it was Aaron he had seen this morning in front of his house: "I just moved in with my dad. He's your neighbor."
"I know Jason.", Aaron nodded: "He's a nice man who serves this community very dutifully. I didn't know he had a son."
"Well, now you do."; Emily suddenly fell in, sounding annoyed and impatient: "Can we get going already? I´m sure you've got stuff to do, people to charm and suck up to for the next election…"
Aaron´s expression darkened briefly when he glanced at his moody sister, but he caught himself pretty quickly, hiding his frustration fairly well.
"Sure, let´s go. JJ, you still coming to my place to help preparing the campaign?"
The blonde girl nodded, smiling brightly: "Sure, if you can drop me off at soccer practice later."
Aaron nodded before turning towards Reid, extending an inviting arm: "Come on, I'll give you a ride home, too."
Spencer blinked in surprise at the unexpected offer, about to politely decline when Emily simply hooked her arm into his and pulled him away, towards the parking lot.
"Yes, come on, Reid.", she mocked her brother: "Aaron doesn't mind. He loves to make new friends."
And before Spencer had time to understand how he had ended up in the middle of this odd, twisted dynamic or come up with a better excuse he was sitting in the back of the Hotchner family car, sitting quietly and a little awkward while the siblings continued bickering with occasional calming comments from JJ.
After a while, she just gave up though and started talking to Spencer about their Spanish homework; he tried to keep up with her easy small talk but feared that he wasn't coming over as very conversational.
If so, JJ didn't let it show, merely smiling her friendliest smile when they stopped in front of his house, waving him good bye.
"See you tomorrow.", Emily called after him, making it sound like a statement rather than a question.
Spencer nodded in agreement, and then turned towards her brother to thank him for the ride.
"Anytime.", Aaron smiled as he leaned out of the driver's window: "Maybe we'll see each other again, too, sometime."
He winked, then drove the rest of the way towards their family home.
Spencer looked after them for a full five seconds before he remembered that he was supposed to go inside. That had been weird…all in all, a scary, yet pleasant, yet confusing day.
He didn't know much about human relations but he wondered if there hadn't been something odd about this whole encounter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morgan is up next! Please let me know what you thought.