The Epic Tale of How Running in the Hallway Forever Changed the Nation


A/N: Some of their plan is revealed! Oohs and aahs may commence.

-blueSpandex


Chapter Nine: Lovely Eyes

Spencer

Sliding into his seat in detention, he waited patiently for his boyfriend. Spencer paused. Wait. Can he actually call Derek his boyfriend now? They were friends. They were study buddies. But, when they were alone… they held hands, kissed, whispered soft words to each other. Friends and study buddies don't necessarily do that, do they? Hell if Spencer knows. He's never been in a relationship before.

He let out a soft smile. What if they were actually together? Like boyfriends, admirers, lovers. Spencer sighed to himself. Wouldn't that just be the best thing in the world? Trading secret love letters, sneaking out to see each other, finding a tree in the park where they can carve their initials. That sounds beautiful, and if all goes well, Spencer's on his way to it. An actual future with Derek. Of all the things to have happened today, this is something he can't wait to tell his mom about when he gets home.

I mean, why not? She supported them.

Fretting over that alone was all that kept Spencer up at night, and since this morning, he hasn't had to think about it anymore. Now all he has to worry about is… oh, right… keeping his kind-of boyfriend from being thrown ruthlessly out of school for protecting him from a racist dick. Should be simple.

Looking up as the door opened, he noticed Derek making his way in beside Penelope. Spencer stole a look down at his own outfit to make sure it was in check. Blue slacks, a deep navy button up, a thin grey tie topped with a blazer that matched his slacks. Spencer's navy bowler hat was sitting on the table, and as he glanced down, he tugged his pants down past his ankles. He decided that he doesn't want them to see his mismatched socks. Penelope rushed over while Spencer signed them in.

Spencer smiled, "Fancy meeting you here."

"Cat, you don't know what it was to land my straight laced ass back in here. I had to egg the vice principal's car for this little pink slip." Penelope waved it around dismissively, looking around at the room which seemed to only contain Spencer, Derek, the ever-present detention moderator and herself.

Spencer leaned forward and gasped, "You egged the vice principal's car?"

Penelope replied, "The first egg was for fucking with Derek, the second egg was for letting Foyet go, and the third egg… was just there. I didn't know what to do with it, so I panicked and chucked it."

Spencer began to laugh and felt a presence lean behind him, cover his eyes, and whisper into his ear, "Guess who."

Looking up, Spencer began to grin into the darkness, "What? Derek?"

Derek pulled his hands from his eyes and kept his lips beside his ear to breathe, "Has anybody ever told you that you have the sexiest smile?"

Spencer elbowed Derek gently and hid the lower half of his mouth with his hands before replying to him, "You have."

Penelope sighed blatantly, "Okay, you two are cute and all, but we have to get down to business and pronto if we want to bust Derek out of the playpen prison-break style."

Derek took a seat onto Spencer's desk. Leaning into him with ease, Derek slipped his hands into Spencer's hair and ran his fingers through it, asking her, "Fine. Any ideas, Pen?"

She scoffed, "Heck naw. I was hoping you had a plan."

"I do," Spencer spoke up with a knowing smile, "Anyone here ever heard of Plessy vs. Ferguson?"

Derek raised his hand, "Obviously. It's the reason I have to enter the movie theatre through the back and drink out of unpurified, mucked up fountains, right? That 'separate but equal' bullshit?"

Spencer nodded, "It is that exactly. But, there's more to the equation."

Penelope folded her arms, "Prove it, bundy boy."

"…" Spencer touched his hair self-consciously at the nickname, "Do I really need to cut it that badly?"

Derek leaned closer to Spencer in a possessive motion and tousled Spencer's hair, "No. You're perfect the way you are."

Penelope joked under her breath, "…because Derek likes having something to grab onto."

Spencer cocked his head to the side, "What does that mean—"

"Nothing! Nothing, you sweet, innocent child," Derek interrupted, glaring at Penelope and stressing the words 'sweet' and 'innocent' as he spoke, "Continue on with your theory."

Spencer shrugged and spoke, "It all started in 1860 with the Separate Car Act in Louisiana. The train cars were being segregated, and a man who was 1/8th black was still refrained—"

Derek nodded, "Yes, yes, we all know the story. Can you skip to the part where it helps us?"

"No need to be a dick." Spencer folded his arms, "Now; to continue. Plessy, the man starting the ideal spoke that this ran against the U.S. fourteenth amendment which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. So, when 'Separate But Equal' became all the rage in America, things were becoming very unequal, very quickly. Derek, you spoke of the water fountains being unclean."

Derek responded zealously, "Yeah! They're horrible."

"Besides the fact that giving special, inconvenient laws to citizens just as American as everyone else is completely opposed to the 14th amendment," Spencer replied, "That's not the only thing that's unequal! The school systems, while a part of a very long list of unequal contingencies, are all unevenly matched. Schools housing colored students are underpaid, understaffed, and under resourced. How come they are separated from us, but not given the same education?! How come we are given more?! How come everything is so separate and unequal?! We have this stigma we're raising that we're not even paying attention to! We're repressing people for no reason—"

Derek patted Spencer's back and rubbed his shoulder calmingly, "Whoa, whoa, kid. Where did this badass social activist come from?"

Spencer looked up at Derek, "I feel like I have nothing to fight for. Well… I had nothing to fight for. And if we're going to really challenge something, how about this? It's so big, but… I think we can make people listen."

Penelope grinned, "You know what? You've got a point. We've gotta take a stand! Rage against the Man! Start some fires, flip over tables!"

"Now, now, Ms. Garcia. That wouldn't be wise," a voice called from the other side of the room.

As they turned to see whom uttered the words, the stoic, quiet, powerful man looked over from his desk at the three teenagers whom were the only other people occupying the room. Mr. Hotchner stood and walked over to the desk with a smooth stride that seemed almost robotic. He had this look on his face that was nearly terrifying in its unmovable calmness. Dude looked like he was ready to fuck shit up.

Derek moved away from Spencer's back and glanced up at the man. Mr. Hotchner placed his hand at the table and gazed down at the children, "You must take a simpler approach if you want anything to get done."

Penelope gasped, "Hotch, you're… agreeing with us?"

Mr. Hotchner let out a small quirk of his lip at her given nickname, "Yes. You would be surprised how many people do, and are waiting to—as you say it—take a stand."

Spencer grinned up at the teacher, "Well, how do you think we should go forth with this? We'd be really excited to receive your input."

The man spoke, "I know a man. He's got a lot of power and we might be able to get him to give your case a listen if you—"

"Case?" Derek asked, pulling at the collar of his shirt as he finished, "We never said we were going to go that far with it. I just want to get my neck off of the chopping block."

Mr. Hotchner replied, "I understand. Just…" he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet and extract a single business card, "Know that this man can get a lot of things done. Things you could hardly imagine. He's respected in his field; very wealthy and influential. I'd keep his number close by. It never hurts to have a strong ally."

Derek took the card and watched as Hotchner made his way back to his desk, "Wait, your advice is to call him? That's it?"

Hotchner sat patiently at his desk and opened his book, saying with that looked like the beginnings of a smile, "I said nothing."

Spencer and Penelope crowded around Derek and peered down at the card which touted that the man on it was a lawyer, a confidant of the Federal Bureau, and a philanthropist. The card was simple colored, a light shade of chestnut as the name was spelled out boldly in all capitalizations: DAVID ROSSI.


Derek

Trudging through the front door, Derek grabbed his bag and hurried up the stairs alone. He switched on the radio at his bedside and let the cool sounds of Elvis Presley scratch through his speakers. Derek gathered his thoughts and arranged his mind for what he was going to present to his mother.

He'll have to tell her about Foyet. He'll have to tell her about the expulsion. He'll have to tell her about Spencer.

Derek fiddled with his fingers as he wasn't sure if he actually wanted to tell his mother al that there was to know about him and Spencer. To be friends with and defend Spencer would be one thing, but to charge at a man who'd laid hands on his male lover is completely different territory. He won't even go into the harsh words spoken by Foyet to Spencer (and how goddamn angry they made him feel). He can't.

So, he waited. Derek let the cool sounds of the radio pour through as he fiddled through the homework Spencer and he didn't finish in detention. Just as he was finishing a small essay, he heard the door open in the floor below and he rushed out of his room and down the steps to meet his mother.

She was closing the door and pulling off her peacoat, turning to meet Derek with a surprised look on her face, "Oh, hello, handsome. Awfully close to the door today, huh? What do I need to know about?"

Derek took her coat and hung it on the rack beside the door, "I got in a fight today."

His mother replied easily, "I know. I could tell from that lump taking space on your head and that sorry expression on your face. Wanna tell me more?"

Derek turned and released, "The vice principal wants to expel me."

Mrs. Morgan's eyes widened, "Oh, really? What about the other kid? What's he getting? Suspension? Month's detention?"

Derek answered, "Him and the other four guys who came at me are getting nothing. I'm getting the axe and they get off with barely a warning."

"Five boys came at… and you're getting..." his mother fanned herself with a gloved hand and took a seat at the kitchen table before sighing, "Okay, I'm going to need a little backstory."

Derek sat beside her and explained, "You see, I was walking Spencer Reid to class—you know Spencer."

She nodded, "Yes, honey. Kind boy. Lovely eyes."

Derek gave her a look, "You think he has 'lovely eyes'?"

She shrugged, "Do you?"

"No," Derek lied and deflected, "And I'm not talking about Spencer's eyes right now. I'm trying to explain something."

His mother began to laugh, "Why so defensive? All I said was he has nice eyes."

Derek waved his hands around, "Okay, fine, he has pretty eyes. Congratulations Spencer for your mile-long lashes and honey colored irises. Now, can we get back to the task at hand?"

She gasped with a smile, "Honey colored irises?! Boy, have you been reading sonnets?"

Derek fumbled, "It's hardly a sonnet and why-why would I be writing sonnets about Spencer, he-he's freaking-he... you know what? I'm dropping it."

Mrs. Morgan asked, "Dropping what?"

Derek folded his arms, "This."

She laughed, "Alright, fine. Tell me about what happened?"

Derek raised his eyebrows, "Oh, now you want to know what's up?"

Mrs. Morgan grinned and rested her head on her hand, "I'm waiting."

Derek continued, "Well, he's been having trouble with kids bullying him, so I walk him to class when I can; make sure people stay off of his back."

She added, "How nice of you."

Derek started, "Ma."

She gestured, "I'm not saying anything. Go on."

Derek finished, "Thing is… white guy and a black guy become friends, people start talking. So, this guy, Foyet, comes up to us when we're walking to class and starts insulting us loudly in front of the whole school. All we want to do is get there on time, and him and his entourage are getting pretty racist with us. We keep our heads down until he calls me the 'N' word. That set me off, so I turned and told him to say it to my face and he spat on me. Then Spencer, bless his heart, starts talking out of his ass trying to get this kid away from us, but his big words only make this guy angrier. So, Foyet decides to ask Spencer if… if… well, no need to go into it. He ended up—"

Mrs. Morgan asked, "Asked him if what?"

Derek touched his temple and muttered, "If I was performing… acts on him to keep his friendship, because a kid like me couldn't possibly be friends with a kid like him unless I was giving him some sort of incentive."

She gasped, "Oh."

Derek shook his head, "Spencer. Went. Off. I ain't never seen that cat that angry. Ever. And Foyet slammed him into a locker to shut him up and… Spence wasn't moving. He looked like he wasn't going to for a while. And I got scared and I panicked and all that crap he was saying got me so riled up. So, I punched him in the face."

His mother frowned, "Shouldn't have done that."

"Trust me, I know," Derek replied, "It was only supposed to be one hit, but his four back-up boys hoped in and started beating the living crap out of me. I had to defend myself or they were probably going to kill me just because they knew they'd get away with it. Ended up in Putnam's office."

She swore under her breath, "Fucking Putnam."

Derek nodded, "You're telling me. Anyway, making a long story short, if I didn't know about the way the school system worked, he would have expelled me on the spot. But, a hearing is being organized within the school system for me and there will be a chance for me to tell my side of the story. Good thing Spencer was the kid I was caught with, because he has an eidetic memory."

Mrs. Morgan asked, "And that is…"

Derek replied, "He can't forget anything seen or heard and he was there during the entire thing."

She leaned forward and took his hand, "We're going to pray on it, alright? Call up your friend and see if he can come on over. We've got some talking to do."


A/N: Don't be scared to give some sweet love in the reviews if you liked it, I like reading your sexy, sexy words. And you know you want to be on the giving end of some literary bowchickawowow ;)

Or not.

-blueolay

P.S. hahahaha wtf even was that?!