"Reid, my man, what are you doing?" Morgan started in mild confusion at Reid, who was sitting under a desk with a bag of ice pressed against his neck. They were on a case in Phoenix, Arizona investigating a string of murders where the bodies of the victims were left posed on park benches all around the city. The early July weather was terrible, for sure, but Morgan wasn't sure it was 'hide under a desk in an air conditioned building with a bag of ice' terrible.
They had just returned from visiting the latest crime scene- a man laying down on a park bench thought to be asleep by passersby until one tried to check on him only to realize that he was dead. Reid had mostly stayed in the shade, and had disappeared with the files as soon as they made it back to the building. After awhile, Morgan had gotten concerned and went to check on him, leading to the situation they were now in- with Reid scrunched awkwardly under a desk with his face as close to the air conditioning vent as possible and a bag of ice held under his jaw by his wrists.
"It's too hot." Reid complained.
"Yeah, it is." Morgan agreed, crossing his arms, "But not hellishly so. Are you alright?"
The younger agent sighed, "I'll be fine, just give me a minuet. I have ice at the major pulse points, and since the blood vessels are closer to the skin there, I should cool down faster."
"Or you could wear a short sleeved shirt instead of a long button down like you have on."
Reid peered up at him, "Yeah, because having my arms bare while we worked with local law enforcement worked so well last time."
Morgan thought back to the previous incident with the Kansas City arson case, "I see your point. But this isn't going to work if you have to spend half an hour cooling down after every time you go outside. We need you on the case."
"I know." Reid griped, "but I also don't want to pass out from heat exhaustion."
"What's up with that? It's hot, but not passing-out hot." Morgan bent down so that he was level with Reid and lowered his voice, "Is this a dragon thing?"
"Sort of. At most temperatures, I'm fine, but I don't do great with extremes- more so with heat than cold. Because my body's a weird mix between endothermic and ectothermic, I retain a lot of heat with no great way to get rid of it quickly."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Well it's not usually a problem! We don't have that many cases in the southwest in the summer, which is really the only situation where it would be that bad." Reid explained.
Morgan laughed mirthlessly, "How did you even pass medical examinations to get into the FBI in the first place?"
Reid shrugged, unfolding out from under the desk, "It's not like they had a lot of background information on my 'condition' which I originally said was just a skin condition similar to Ichthyosis Vulgaris. Some stuff I didn't know about and most I didn't think would impact anything. They had already waived a bunch of other physical requirements, so I guess they just kind of went with it…" he trailed off as Morgan laughed, claping a hand on his shoulder.
"What are we going to do with you, kid?"
Authors Note: It's summer, it's hot, and my air conditioning isn't working. I swear my skin is melting off. And remember kids, if you start getting overheated either get an ice pack on your pulse points (neck, inside of wrists, behind the knees, and inside the elbows) or run them under cool water (this works best with the wrists for obvious reasons). As always, tell me what you think or if there's anything you'd like to see. Thanks for reading!