This chapter was a suggestion by Petunia! During my rewatch, I had written down that during these two episodes, while nothing explicitly goes on with Reid, he was kinda quiet and at one point he let out a cough (which I'm sure was probably MGG just getting something stuck in his throat, but I'm choosing to read into it). Anywho, Petunia suggested I do a fic where Reid is starting to get a little too skinny for the team to ignore, and I love this idea. I don't want to jump into an Eating Disorder fic as I myself don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject and do not want to misrepresent people who struggle with EDs. Instead, I am going to show this more as Reid has a fast metabolism already and pair that with constantly forgetting to eat on cases PLUS lots of stress causing him to forget about his hunger. Thanks so much, enjoy!

S2 EP7-8

The last two cases had occurred one after the other. No one got a break when they arrived back from North Mammoth. Not five hours after they landed, the team was called back in to fly to Seattle for the bomb threat. Everyone was feeling the pressure of the case. It wasn't an easy one either. They were working under tremendous time constraints once more, hoping to catch this bomber before he caused too many casualties.

The bomber had made them run all over town, setting tiny bombs, one after the other, to distract them from the bigger picture.

Then, Morgan had almost gotten blown up with one of the women who was being targeted, and Hotch about had a heart attack having to watch his agent go through that.

The whole BAU team was immensely stressed out, each of them dealing with their own problems of lack of sleep, food, and general care of their own wellbeing.

Perhaps that's why Reid managed to slip through the cracks.

He was just as stressed as anyone was, but he could physically feel his body starting to shut down. He couldn't remember the last time something other than coffee passed his lips, and he hadn't slept in a few days. Before that, the little sleep he was getting was far from adequate and he'd pushed himself to the brink during the first case as well.

When he'd changed his clothing that day, he knew he was probably in some sort of trouble. He had to make a new notch in his belt a few days earlier. However, now that one was too loose too and he used his pocketknife to make a second one.

His clothing hung off of him like he was nothing but a hanger. His cheekbones were always prominent, but now they were incredibly gaunt. His eyes looked exhausted and his hair hung loosely around his face. His clavicles stuck much too far out of his skin and sternum was obvious. He made sure to button his shirt all the way up, layering a sweater vest over his long sleeve shirt to make himself look slightly bulkier.

He knew he should just stop and eat, but Reid never had more than a few seconds to shove something in his mouth and move on. The thought of eating a full meal made him feel ill.

That was his other problem, he didn't feel hungry at all.

He knew that, logically, it was only because of the way his body processed stress. A few years earlier he spoke to his doctor during a physical who told him that stress was the underlying cause for his underweight body. Not only that, but his metabolism was incredibly fast. This meant that Reid already didn't feel hunger since he was almost constantly stressed due to his job, and what little food he did remember to ingest was processed too quickly for his body to hold onto.

Reid knew that he should be able to have control over himself better. In fact, recently he'd been doing really well. His teammates would make him pause for five or ten minutes and eat something, like a sandwich or a bag of chips, to make sure he didn't forget. Sometimes they would take away his coffee until he paused, it was the only way they could get him to take a break, but it worked.

Other times they would physically drag him out of the room and lock him in a room with a couch until he got some sleep. He was slowly starting to come around to leaving with another team member when they headed to the hotel, but this week had thrown a wrench in his plans.

The past week had been too much for all of them, so Reid had forgotten. He'd fallen back into old habits, neglecting sleep and food. And now, sitting on the jet on their way back from the last case, he felt like shit.

He sat in one of the chairs, head leaning against one of the cool windows, attempting to fall asleep. However, Reid's mind wouldn't stop running. His hands were shaking in his lap and he couldn't repress a shiver that continually went up and down his spine.

He really needed something to eat, he decided. Opening his eyes, he noticed JJ sitting across from him. She was digging through her purse, looking for something. His brows furrowed, quietly watching her. She suddenly stopped, having found what she was looking for.

It was almost as if she read his thoughts. She placed a granola bar in front of him, smiling gently.

"Eat, Spence." He rubbed his eye absentmindedly, attempting to rouse himself slightly and smiled back at her.

"Thanks JJ." She nodded at him, before standing up to move seats. He watched her walk away. She quickly settled in another chair across from Morgan, who was asleep with headphones in. Reid glanced around the jet, looking for his other coworkers. Gideon was also laying asleep in one of the other chairs. He didn't see Hotch, he was probably in the bathroom or something. He felt like someone was missing.

A pang of guilt rang in his chest as he remembered Elle. Another tragedy that had been forgotten in the past week. Her sudden leave had shocked them all, but no one had time to process it as they'd had to jump straight back on the jet.

"You gunna eat that or are you just gunna keep reading the ingredients?" Reid was startled out of his thoughts by Hotch, who was standing in the doorway next to him, sipping on a water.

"Yeah… uh yeah sorry." Reid said, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it.

Hotch took the seat across from him that JJ had previously occupied, a serious look on his face.

"Reid…" He started, sounding unsure of what to say, "you know we need to discuss this, right?"

Reid tilted his head slightly in confusion, "What?"

Hotch scoffed slightly, shaking his head. "Come on Reid, you don't think I've noticed how much weight you've lost in the past week? We're profilers. I might have been distracted most of the week but if you thought you could make two new notches in your belt without us realizing then you have much less faith in us than I would've hoped."
Reid looked down, ashamed.
"I know, I'm sorry…" suddenly it all seemed like too much and he burst into a bout of rambling, "I just get so caught up in the work I forget to eat and I'm too stressed and my metabolism is too fast and then I can't sleep because my mind is racing trying to come up with an answer and-"

"Spencer, hit the brakes." Reid immediately clamped his mouth shut, looking at Hotch with wide eyes. "Is it the stress? Is that what you said?"

Reid nodded before answering in a small voice, "my doctor says my metabolism is incredibly fast, and mix that with my stressed brain shutting down its response to hunger and… well… you can see what happens."

"So you… knew, about this issue? This has happened before?"

"Yes. Um back when I was in college, I was severely malnourished and was rushed to the hospital. I-I was stressed trying to finish my three theses and my m-mom had just been sent to the hospital because… w-well, I'd just turned eighteen…" he paused, wringing his hands awkwardly, looking down in his lap, "I was always on my own in terms of taking care of myself, but I had to take care of my mom too." Reid looked up with sadness in his eyes, making eye contact with Hotch. "So I ate when she ate, I slept when she slept, but when she wasn't a part of the equation anymore… I just… forgot. And I landed myself in the ICU." He shook his head, dropping his eyes once more. "After that, I did pretty well taking care of myself. I was not as stressed during FBI training, more excited for the job than anything. So it wasn't hard to remember to eat and sleep. But… taking on this job, especially in times like this when we have such a taxing case back to back with another one… it's hard for me to remember." Reid finished with a shrug. He glanced up at Hotch who had a look of understanding in his eyes.

Hotch cleared his throat, "Reid, you should've told me before. You know the team is more than willing to help you with things like that-"

"but I don't want to be thought of as a child" Reid interrupted, a sad yet stubborn look on his face. "I-I shouldn't need help. I am 25 I should be able to take care of myself. I shouldn't need a bunch of chaperones everywhere I go-"

"Spencer" Hotch said, leaning forward and grabbing the kid's hands which had been gesturing wildly. "It's okay to need help."

Reid swallowed a lump in his throat. He reluctantly nodded, willing himself to believe Hotch's words. Hotch let go of his hands and sat back against the seat.

"Now please eat your granola bar."

Reid smiled, letting out a laugh. He picked up the granola bar with a shaking hand. He took a bite, his body immediately praising him for allowing something other than coffee to grace his system.

Regardless of what Reid might have thought, the other members of the team were not oblivious to the conversation which took place on the jet that night. And each of them came up with a way to help Spencer out while on cases.

JJ began carrying granola bars and rice crispy treats with her wherever they went, offering one to Reid whenever she felt like it had been a while since she'd seen him eat.

Since Morgan typically shared a hotel room with Reid when they were on cases, he tried to buy some fruit to keep in the room, that way when they woke up in the morning the kid would remember to eat breakfast.

Garcia began making him cookies and cupcakes and other sweet treats, which she'd leave on his desk. She began being very creative with them, theming them to some of his favorite things, like Doctor Who and Star Trek, which he absolutely adored.

Gideon decided to stock the kitchen of the jet with snacks, making sure there was plenty of food to eat on the plane.

And Hotch decided he'd keep a watchful eye on him. If he looked like he needed it, he would pull Reid away from the board, taking him to a sandwich shop or diner for a meal and a break.

The team also continued to make sure he was getting enough rest on the case. It was easier to do when they shared hotel rooms, Reid couldn't sneak away, trying to figure out the case alone, when he was rooming with someone. Conveniently, it seemed like they were sharing hotel rooms more and more frequently on cases, but no one complained.
It wasn't too long before Reid started looking more like his -still a little too skinny- old self.

Turns out, Reid figured, Hotch was right. It was okay to need help.