"Spence! Hey, Spence!" Derek called down the hall, running up to meet the boy as he turned to look at the older man. "How are you?" He flashed his normal bright grin and looped an arm around Spencer's tiny shoulders, allowing the boy to lean into him.
"Derek." Spencer nodded, looking up at him. Derek wasn't too much taller than him, but Spencer definitely had to look up slightly to make direct eye contact with him. "Thank you for meeting me for breakfast again, I'm… a bit perplexed after the events of last night and felt that a conversation with someone that isn't Emily would be appropriate."
"Oh yeah, for sure. Come on!" Derek dropped his hold on the younger boy which disappointed him quite a bit more than he was comfortable with. He didn't normally allow for someone to touch him in the way that Derek did, but he wasn't concerned. In fact, he was completely comfortable. He enjoyed his touch, something he hadn't felt since the last time his mother hugged him.
The two of them slowly made their way to the cafeteria, making small talk about the events they had planned for the day: their classes, there was some play tonight at a theatre nearby in town that Spencer wanted to attend, and Derek was thinking about going to a party that he invited Spencer to. He didn't normally get invited to parties so he was a bit confused as to why he was being invited but agreed, nonetheless, as long as he stuck by Derek the whole time. (In Derek's words, not Spencer's.)
Sitting at the table they were sitting at the other day, the two of them sorted their belongings on their chairs before skipping over to get their food. Derek piled his plate as usual, while Spencer only grabbed his normal muffin but also a slice of the cinnamon sugar toast- he couldn't pass it up this time. It was strange how in only a few days he had added something new to his strict palate of food.
Sitting back down, the two of them began to dig into their food, quiet as they ate. They weren't sure where to begin. Should Spencer have asked why he held such a tight grip on his thigh that night? Or perhaps the way he asserted his dominance over him multiple times? Or should he ignore it all together and bring up Emily instead? His final decision was to allow Derek to start the talking, see what he wanted to discuss.
"I can't believe Emily kissed JJ." Derek finally cut through their silence, setting down the donut he was currently in the middle of scarfing down. "I thought their relationship was weird, and I had my suspicions that Emily never liked Elle but… I certainly did not expect her to act on it. Especially not in front of her girlfriend, like, my god." Originally, Spencer began to get a bit defensive in favor of his best friend. He knew her actions as of recently were poor, but it didn't take away the fact that he could never hate her for any reason- especially not for acting on her true feelings.
"I knew Emily didn't like Elle. I knew Emily liked JJ. She refuses to say so, but it's obvious to me. If you read her body language around the girl, even the dumbest person in the entire world could perceive that. She was overly affectionate with Elle from the beginning, I would never act like that with a person I just recently got into a relationship with." Spencer shrugged slightly, taking a bite of his toast and resisting the urge to moan at the mere taste. Unfortunately for him, it slipped slightly and the two boys turned bright red, staring at one another.
"Yeah, I had this girl back home- Savannah, we never acted like that around people when we first got together. So close, so touchy, having sex when they know other people would walk in. I don't know man," He shrugged, fighting his smile as he watched jealousy flood Spencer's face. A part of him hoped it was because of him talking about another person, but another part of him wondered if it was just because Spencer wasn't in a relationship with anyone, he never had been.
Spencer looked down at his almost empty plate, and began playing with a crumb of his muffin, rolling it between his fingers. "So, how many people have you had the experience of being with? I understand you are quite the "player"," he teased, looking up at Derek with a sly smile. "But seriously. How many people have you actually been with?"
The older boy took another bite of his food, looking at the younger boy with curious eyes. He knew the rumors about himself- he fucked every girl at that school except for the exceptions of the "'emos" and the gays. It obviously wasn't true, and since he had started… Whatever he was doing with Spencer, he was a bit insecure of the fact that people thought of him that way- especially him. He didn't want to be seen simply for his body, nor for his sex. He was a person too, an intelligent person, who enjoyed art and science, who liked football and baseball, he wasn't just… a sex object. He hated that Spencer knew people thought of him like that.
"I'm not like that. I don't… I've only ever had two people. Savannah," he nodded, "and a girl named Ashley. Ashley was my first. Everything. When I was 15. My first girlfriend, my first date, my first kiss, my first… you know." He took a sip of the water and sat on the table, taking a pause as he allowed Spencer to digest the new information. "Then we broke up because I...I just knew it wasn't going to work out. I couldn't picture myself with her in the future, as much as I wanted to." Spencer furrowed his eyebrows, reaching forward to touch Derek's hand. Immediately realizing what he had done, he pulled his hand away but Derek grabbed it gently, looping his fingers through Spencer's.
The younger boy froze, staring at Derek who stared at him with a soft smile, assuring he was alright with what was happening. Derek continued, looking at Spencer every so often to make sure he was still comfortable, and that Spencer was. Derek highlighted his breakup with Ashley, then talked about how he found Savannah and even almost got engaged but something always stopped him from doing so- he knew he would find someone someday he could picture a future with. Derek didn't want to freak him out by saying something like he could picture it with Spencer, so instead he kept that talk to a minimum, instead using it to reference his exes.
Spencer listened without judgement, watching Derek carefully as he talked heavily about his past life before and during his first year of college- he even mentioned his family, and how they adored Ashley but despised Savannah- but how they didn't care, and ran off together. There was a bit of jealousy consuming Spencer's heart, but he understood it wasn't the time. He just wanted to listen to Derek, without interrupting him or making it about himself. It wasn't about him. They weren't together, and they never would be. He'd just have to enjoy their current handholding and the way Derek looked at him.
Before they knew it, they had already missed their first classes of the day and broke into laughter, realizing just how long they had been talking for- at least 3 hours. "Time flies when you are having fun, I suppose." Spencer joked, which quickly drew Derek's confused attention. Spencer rarely jokes, in fact, Derek wasn't sure he had ever heard him do such a thing. He thought it was hilarious, and broke out into laughter, which Spencer thought was a tad bit unnecessary but appreciated nonetheless.
Spencer rose from his seat and went to throw his plate away, taking Derek's as well. Derek allowed his eyes to fall for a moment, but quickly drew them up as Spencer came back, who observed Derek's look. He thought it was quite cute that someone was checking him out, he had never had such a thing happen before. He didn't want to embarrass him further though, and with a soft smile, he began to collect his things and put them into his small black bag, throwing it on his back. "Would you like to walk me back to my dorm? I suppose since I've missed my only class of the day, it's probably best for me to just head back there and check in on Emily." Derek quickly nodded, also retrieving his things.
The two boys walked towards the dorm hall, walking a tad bit closer than they would normally. Every so often Derek's hand would brush Spencer's, which would cause a blush for the both of them. Spencer didn't disapprove of it, though. He would never deny Derek Morgan holding his hand, touching him, or simply just being in his presence.
Or at least he thought so, until Derek Morgan's friend David Rossi walked up to them. Rossi was an Italian dickwad, with too gelled-up hair that fell to his shoulders, and often made too many dark comments. Derek thought he was funny sometimes, although his jokes turned to racism a couple times and he tried to distance himself. This didn't stop the asshole from coming up to him every so often. "Morgan! Haven't seen you at any of the parties lately, whatcha been up to?" He punched him in the shoulder, flashing him a smile.
"Hey, Rossi, I've just been busy, you know." He shrugged, stepping away from Spencer which caused a look of hurt to flash across the boy's face. Derek looked David up and down, trying to ignore his TRUMP 2024 shirt he flaunted so proudly.
"Busy, hmm? Busy with this little freak?" David chuckled softly, poking Spencer in the chest a little bit too hard, causing him to stumble back slightly. "Just joking, Reid."
Spencer didn't respond, just looking up at Derek, who was becoming increasingly angry. "Okay, we have to go, I'll talk to you later, Rossi."
Rossi chuckled slightly and stepped between them, putting a hand on Derek's shoulder. "You should come hang out with me now, instead of hanging out with him. Don't you know that he's…" he lowered his voice to whisper, "gay?"
Derek chuckled, pushing Rossi away from him. "Okay, so what? So am I. Bi, at least." He shrugged.
The entire world froze around them as his voice was a bit too loud for the private conversation they were having. Spencer sat there and stared at him, fighting the smile as he was so relieved that he wasn't just some experiment to the boy. It was the only positive thing about this situation, finding out that maybe, just maybe, Derek had the chance to reciprocate his feelings.
He was a bit too focused on Derek's statement that he didn't notice the argument breaking out between the two. Something about Derek being gay is disgusting and he shouldn't be allowed in the locker room ever again, which caused Derek to be angry, then Rossi made a dig at Spencer and that's when everything got fuzzy.
Until he heard a slur thrown around, and then Derek's fist connected with Rossi's face which caused a fight to break out. "Derek!" Spencer shouted, watching as the scene broke out in front of him. He wasn't sure how to react. He understood the consequences of trying to break up the fight, but it seemed like nothing would stop them at this point. "He's not worth it, stop!" which made Derek freeze for a moment, allowing a moment of weakness. David tackled him to the ground, throwing punches towards Derek's face, which caused Spencer to stop listening to his own instincts. He needed to stop them before security came in.
He grabbed David's shoulders to try and prevent his punches, but this only caused him to reach back and punch Spencer in the face, breaking his nose. It was like a fire had broken out in his skull, pain trickling throughout his face, blood pouring down into his mouth. "Holy shit," he mumbled slightly, stumbling backward. Derek saw him being hit, and something broke out in him. He was angry before, but now he was livid. How dare someone lay their hands on Spencer Reid. He jumped up from the floor, knocking David back down once again and endlessly beating him.
Spencer could barely focus.
The world around him started spinning, the corners of his vision growing fuzzy.
He looked down at his hands which were trembling and pulled them up to his face, feeling the blood, which only made him more queasy than before.
He heard someone calling his name, but couldn't decipher who, and turned to look around for them, but as he turned his vision blacked out and he fell against the floor, the world around him disappearing.