Disclaimer: I only ever love and never own.

Author's Note: I'm back, and this time with the almost mandatory High School AU. I warn you, people - there will be teenage angst, there will be dating and heartbreak, unrequited crushes en masse, jocks and nerds, slash, femslash, a bit of adult-minor romance, horrible parenting, and sudden changes of style.

I hope ya'll enjoy!

Summer break, 2006

The heat made the air shimmer and when the young man squinted against the light, the retreating figure got an almost ethereal look, the settling sun making his hair shine in different shades if gold and amber like a halo around their head.

"Are you two going out?" he asked the girl behind him, who was busy checking the cash register now that her friend and their last costumer has left. He paused his sweeping and leaned against the bare wall next to the refrigerator. The shirt clung to his back, damp with sweat.

"Nope," she answered curtly and closed her eyes as she counted soundlessly, her mouth moving with each number. She looked cute with her high ponytail and flushed cheeks, despite the unbecoming, light green shirt their boss made them wear. Hers were stained dark green on the chest and under her arms. He suspected it would be just as dark on her back too.

"Do you think he likes you then? He's been here every day for the entire season." And he had, more or less. He came half an hour before closing and bought the cheapest ice cream they offered and ate it while he chatted with the girl about her day and his.

"God, I hope not." The girl sighed and looked at her coworker with big, worried eyes. "Do you think he-"

"What do you mean by 'God I hope not'?"

"Er," she said, taken aback by his interruption. "Just that I really hope that he doesn't like me that way, I guess." She looked down on the bills in her hand then to the broken fan next to her on the counter, carefully avoiding his accusing gaze. He saw the her grip tighten, crumpling the bills in her hand.

"Why? Isn't he good enough? He's smart and nice and... And okay, so he's a bit younger than you, but from what I've seen he's probably more mature than I am." The back of his shirt was sticking to the wall.

"Don't I know it," the girl muttered and they fell silent, him waiting for her reply, her trying to avoid to say any more.

The freezer was buzzing continuously in the background.

"So?" he asked when he grew tired of waiting. He pushed off the wall and swept the small pile of dirt underneath the doormat, then he turned the sign in the window, declaring to the last few people walking along the docks that they were indeed closed.

"Listen, I know he's amazing, I was his first friend here – he's all you said and more, I'm aware of that! But when I say I hope he doesn't like me like that there's a reason." She met his eyes briefly, her eyes silently praying that he was content. He kept his stare as accusing as ever.

"And what would that reason be?" he demanded and walked slowly to the cupboard to stow away the broom.

"The reason is," the girl started but trailed off, her seeking his compassion but he was coolly awaiting her reply. He walked back to the wall as she stuttered, "the fact is I," and leaned back in the same spot as before.

He looked at her as she clenched her jaw and her fists and took a deep breath, her chest expanding and the fabric tightened around her breasts.

She opened her eyes and met his gaze, a feeling of confidence in her gaze that hadn't been there before. She didn't flinch when she saw the emotions in his eyes.

"I hope he doesn't like me like that because I can never like him like that back." She smiled, as if she only just realized how easy it was to speak and opened her mouth to continue.

x

Start of school year, 2005

The car slipped into the parking lot easily and Emily turned the engine off. When she didn't move to unbuckle her seatbelt Spencer didn't either, still too nervous around her to do anything without a long time of considering the consequences. Too scared to make a wrong move and lose the only of his peers who had ever been something other than mean or dismissive of him.

"This isn't going to be easy," Emily said to the windshield. She turned to face him after a while when he didn't answer. "Quantico High is a tough crowd. I should know, I've seen my share of public schools over the years." Spencer offered her a weak smile. "It was a fight for me to get accepted here and you're two years younger than all the kids you'll have classes with..." She trailed off but Spencer knew what was implied.

He was going to be beat up, just like he was back in Vegas.

"I can take care of myself," he stated, sounding more sure of himself than he actually felt. "I always did back..." home. He still hadn't gotten used to Quantico being his home. Still wasn't used to a town where everything wasn't open 24/7 and the where the streets wasn't thickly populated by prostitutes and people trying to sell you useless junk.

Emily smiled to him. "Sure you did," she said and took the keys from the ignition and threw it into the air and caught it easily when it came rushing back down. "But now that you're here I'm going to have to look out for you a bit – I can't have you ruining the good family name."

"I won't. You're a Prentiss I'm a Reid."

"But people will know," she insisted.

Spencer didn't understand why she cared so much about it. He didn't expect her to act all big sisterly. He never had a big sister before, just like Emily never had a younger brother. He wondered if she was trying to prove somebody something. Then he decided that the somebody was probably herself.

"People don't need to know," he said, and in a surprising moment of courage he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.

He was halfway to the big building when a girl jumped in front of him, all smiles, blonde hair and bright colors.

"Hi there sweety, you're new!" she stated, her eyes glinting with curiosity and eagerness. "I'm-"

"Leave him alone, Penny," Emily said and stepped up next to him. He glanced at her wondering why she wasn't taking the opportunity he had offered her.

Back in Vegas nobody had wanted to talk to him or be friend with him.

"Ooh, you know him, do you, my lovely raven-haired beauty?" the girl named Penny asked, her eyes moving so quickly from Spencer and Emily that he worried they might take damage.

He always worried about the same whenever he zapped past a tennis game on TV in search for interesting documentaries. He had a suspicion watching tennis might cause whip lashes if you didn't stretch before it started, it was a mystery to him how one would stretch the muscles in the neck though.

"He's my brother," Emily simply said and dragged him along when he opened his mouth to specify.

"That wasn't the entire truth," he insisted, but only when they were out of earshot of the Penny girl.

"I know it wasn't, but I didn't feel like telling Penny the entire truth that easily. But I guess it wasn't the baddest thing that could happen." The beautiful 17-year old smiled to him and let go of his wrist. "In five minutes half the school will know that you and I are related, and then most of the jocks won't bother you."

"Why?" Spencer asked and struggled to keep his messenger back on his shoulder while keeping up with Emily's fast pace.

"Because I tutor them in the subjects they're failing at."

"Oh," was all he managed to say as he was pulled into the office where a big red-haired woman smiled to him and gave him his timetable.

He felt utterly lost when Emily left him in front of the door to Spanish a minute after the bell sounded.

"Where are you going?" he asked, and hated how pathetic and young he sounded.

"I have French now and I'm already late." She looked a bit annoyed but managed a small smile when she noticed how nervous he looked. "But don't worry and just wait for me out here when you're done. We'll walk to Calculus together afterward."

He smiled feebly and she started down the hall, half-running as to avoid coming too late. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door and pushed it open when a muffled voice from the inside invited him in.

"You must be Spencer," the man at the desk said and smiled encouragingly to him. Spencer nodded. "I'm Mr. Anderson," the teacher said and turned to the gathered class. Spencer tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but failed. "Class, this is Spencer Reid. He just moved here from Las Vegas and he only just turned fifteen years old and is therefore two years younger than some of you. He's in this class because he has an IQ of 180-"

"187," Spencer muttered under his breath. The fan above him flapped loud enough to drown out his voice and the teacher ignored the correction and happily chattered on.

"- and is a real genius." Mr. Anderson smiled accomplished to Spencer, completely oblivious to the fact that he had ruined all and every chance of him getting any friends aside from Emily. "Do you have anything to add, Spencer?" He shook his head. "Alright, then. Please sit down next to Jennifer."

Spencer slowly made his way down to the girl who put her hand in the air and the only free seat in the entire class room, making sure to avoid any opportunity to stumble and fall and make a spectacle out of himself. He breathed out a nervous but relieved breath when he settled in the chair and smiled nervously to Jennifer who beamed back.

He was wary immediately.

"Actually, nobody but Anderson calls me Jennifer," she whispered and pushed her book to the middle of the table so Spencer could see where they were. "Call me JJ, all my friends does."

"O-okay," he said tentatively and glanced at the teacher who was babbling along in Spanish, seemingly more than content to hear his own voice.

"So, Spence – can I call you Spence?" He nodded, speechless. "I've heard a lot about you."

"You have?" he said, his voice cracking from nerves.

"I have." She still smiled and Spencer felt a bit less on edge than he had when he had seated himself next to her. "I've heard that you're Emily Prentiss's secret bastard brother, and that you grew up in a brothel in Las Vegas until Elizabeth Prentiss found where you were. Apparently you were kidnapped at birth and she brought you here to offer you a more normal life."

He was speechless again.

"How much of that is true?" JJ asked with a playful glint in her eyes, and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"None?" Spencer said hoarsely. "I'm her step-brother."

"Oh." The word was a sound of light surprise, but she sounded pleased too and he tried a smile getting one in reply. "It does sound more likely," JJ concluded lightly before nudging him in the side with her elbow and pointing to their left where a big boy with greasy brown hair was asleep across his desk. His mouth was partly open and saliva slowly dripping onto the open book under him.

It was an odd sensation to chuckle with somebody and not be the reason why everyone was having fun.

He decided he could grow used to it.

x

It was only his second day in Quantico High when Spencer was left in front of the doors to the boys' dressing room for his first PE class. JJ had waved to him and told him to meet her by the bleachers before hurrying to the other dressing room, where he had just seen Emily disappear with a wink and an encouraging thumb up.

He took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and timidly stepped in.

It was odd how much this new room resembled the one back in Vegas, how much alike they smelled. Like sour feet, cheap cologne, and sweaty bodies. The sounds were the same too, the shifting of clothes, young men's laughter, loud voices arguing, the occasional sound of someone spraying on deodorant.

"Get a move on," a deep voice rumbled behind him, and Spencer fought a yelp and scurried to the nearest free space. A look behind showed the rumbler to be a lanky boy over six feet tall. He was laughing at something his friend had said and Spencer blushed and started to unbutton his cardigan, his eyes firmly on the PE bag on the bench in front of him.

Don't look up, don't look around, he said to himself while he methodically removed first his cardigan, then the shirt he wore underneath. The knowledge that there were boys undressing around him made him feel acutely aware of himself and exceedingly nervous. He hated that he always perspired more changing his clothes than doing the actual workout.

Don't look up, don't look around.

"Don't you think he's a bit small to be here with the big boys," a loud voice said and Spencer bit his lip and willed the recurring blush to fade.

"He'll have to play with the girls – we wouldn't want him to get hurt, would we?" The sound of several boys' booming laughter washed over him as he fumbled with the button of his pants. He was super aware that somebody was stepping behind him.

"We wouldn't want the small genius to get hurt, right, Genius?" He stiffened for briefest moment before forcing his hands back into action and they pulled his pants down, leaving him almost naked, completely defenseless.

He hadn't thought far enough he concluded and reached for his shorts, trying to to ignore the boy behind him, but the sound of a whip and sharp and sudden pain on the back of his right thigh made it impossible and he yelped and jumped left, away from the pain's origin.

"Don't try and ignore me, whelp," a boy said and stepped closer.

Spencer felt a shiver run down his back when he saw the angry look in the boy's eyes and drew his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Leave him alone, George," a voice said behind Spencer and to his great relief and astonishment the boy did. Spencer was almost too afraid to turn around and see who it was but somewhere deep within him he found the nerve to do so.

Oh, gosh.

The boy smiled apologetically and gave a small shrug.

"Sorry about them, George and his goons are always tough on the new guys and you've already gotten yourself a bit of a reputation." He dropped his bag next him. "I'm Derek by the way, Derek Morgan."

Spencer smiled feebly. "Spencer Reid," he introduced.

"I know," Derek said and winked. His smile was big and bright and a line of perfect white teeth enhanced by his just as perfect mocha skin and Spencer felt a stirring in the pit of his stomach that he had come to love and fear.

"I think I'm going to finish changing in the bathroom," he muttered, grabbed his clothes, and rushed off before Derek had a chance to object.

He spent a few extra moments in the small stall to breathe deeply and tell his slowly growing erection to grow the hell back down.