Koy

“OWH- SON OF A BITCH!”

“Oh come on! Stop being so dramatic, Jeez!” The taller boy said with an exaggerated eye roll, already jogging toward where the football had landed.

The younger boy groaned while clutching his eye, hunched over and blinking rapidly.

“Did your glasses actually fall off?”

No response.

Morgan frowned and scanned the grass. A few seconds later he spotted the scratched frames a couple feet away.

“Dude.”

Again, silence.

“It wasn’t even that hard!”

Reid’s shoulders shook slightly. A sharp sniff escaped him.

Morgan’s expression immediately changed.

“…Are you actually crying…?”

4:28 PM, Nurse's office

"Just keep the ice pack pressed on your eye for about 15 minutes, if it still hurts after that then wait an hour or two and keep an ice pack pressed for about 15 minutes again. And I do suggest paying a visit to the optician as this could affect your eyesight." The nurse instructed.

Reid nodded, balancing the ice pack against the growing bruise around his eye.

“And no sports for the rest of today.”

Morgan snorted but nurse shot him a look.

“That includes football practice.”

His grin disappearing instantly.

A few minutes later, Reid thanked her and stepped out of the office. Morgan followed awkwardly after him. The hallways were mostly empty this late in the afternoon.

Reid adjusted the ice pack against his eye and started toward the front entrance without looking back.

Morgan shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Sooo..." he started cautiously as he caught up and fell into step beside him.

The only response he got was a heavy sigh.

"No, I haven't forgiven you yet."

The answer came so quickly Morgan almost laughed.

"Reid, I promise you I did not do that on purpose."

"I'm sure you didn't."

His tone somehow managed to sound both unconvinced and exhausted.

"Why would I do that on purpose?" Morgan asked, emphasizing the word why.

Reid shrugged one shoulder.

"To humiliate me. To hurt me. To make fun of me."

Morgan stopped walking for a second.

"Oh my god, I'm not some bully."

Reid paused in his tracks.

Slowly, he turned toward him, raising an eyebrow.

"Right."

The sarcasm practically dripped from the single word.

Morgan stared.

"You think I bully people?"

"What have you been doing to me for three years straight?"

"Not bullying. It's mutual beef."

"Just because I talk back doesn't mean it's not bullying."

Morgan threw his hands into the air.

"You literally started it today! In math!"

"I corrected you."

"You challenged me on purpose."

"I answered the question."

"You corrected me in front of everyone."

"Because you were wrong."

Morgan let out an incredulous laugh.

"See? This! This is exactly what I'm talking about."

"Oh my god," Reid muttered.

"You always do this thing where you act like you're the smartest person in the room."

"That's rich coming from you."

Morgan pointed at him.

"There! Right there!"

Reid rolled his visible eye.

"Oh my god, you literally forced me to play football only to give me a black eye."

"That is not why I got you to train!" Morgan snapped. "I already told you it was an accident. I was seriously trying to teach you. It's not my fault you can't catch."

Reid's jaw dropped.

"Are you calling me physically incapable?"

"I wasn't even thinking that but now that you say it—"

"Oh, that's unbelievable."

Reid started walking again, faster this time.

Morgan hurried after him.

"Come on, don't act like I'm the bad guy here."

"The football literally hit me in the face."

"Because you moved your hands!"

"You threw it at me like you were trying out for the NFL!"

"You were supposed to catch it!"

"You gave me a black eye!"

"You gave yourself a black eye!"

Reid stopped so abruptly Morgan nearly walked into him.

"That is not how physics works."

Morgan groaned loudly.

"See? See? This is what I mean!"

"At least now that I'm injured I won't have to participate in this stupid military training."

"A black eye lasts like a week or two. The game is in four months."

"Why are you so obsessed with this?"

"I'm not obsessed."

"You absolutely are."

"I'm trying not to fail!"

The words came out sharper than Morgan intended.

For a moment both of them froze.

Morgan looked away first.

He hated how desperate he sounded.

Reid crossed his arms.

"Nobody is going to fail because of a football game."

Morgan laughed once.

A short, humorless sound.

"Easy for you to say."

Reid frowned.

"Maybe if you actually did something in school instead of starting fights and harassing people then Mrs. Strauss would leave you alone."

Something in Morgan's expression changed instantly. The frustration that had been building all afternoon suddenly boiled over.

"Oh my god, this is exactly what your problem is—"

"Oh, this aga—"

"No."

Morgan cut him off. For once he wasn't joking. Wasn't smirking. Wasn't trying to get under Reid's skin. His voice echoed through the empty hallway.

"No. This is exactly what your problem is."

Reid blinked. Morgan took a step forward.

"You have this annoying habit of thinking you know everything about everything and everyone."

The words came faster now.

"You sit there judging people like you've got everyone's life figured out after talking to them for five minutes."

"I don't—"

"Yes, you do."

Reid actually fell silent. Morgan laughed bitterly.

"Here's the thing, Reid. Not everyone has the privilege you have."

His hands clenched into fists.

"Some of us don't get nice houses and nice parents and nice neighborhoods."

The hallway suddenly felt much quieter as Morgan's voice lowered.

"Some of us just get screwed over."

Reid stared. The anger was still there, but now there was something else too. Surprise, confusion. Maybe even guilt. Morgan shook his head.

"The only reason you get less punishment than me when we both get in trouble is because you get perfect grades and have lighter skin."

Neither of them spoke. Morgan swallowed. The silence afterward felt heavy, like all the air had been sucked out of the hallway.

"Now stop assuming you know everything about everyone's lives!"

The silence that followed was after heavy in the air. Reid, for once in his life, had no argument, no smart retort or quick comeback, but actually stunned to silence.

Morgan sighed before speaking again. "Listen, man. I'm sorry about your glasses and your eye and all that but fuck, man, you're irritating as hell. I mean, no offense but I get why people bully you."

The silence stretched.

Morgan’s chest rose and fell hard from the rant. He hadn’t meant to say that much. Definitely hadn’t meant to say any of that.

Reid just stared at him.

For a moment Morgan almost expected one of Reid’s usual response, a sarcastic remark, a correction, some annoyingly clever comeback. But nothing came.

Then, without a word, he adjusted the ice pack against his bruised eye and started walking again.

“Reid.”

No response.

“Hey.”

Still nothing.

Morgan groaned.

“Would you stop doing that?”

Reid finally stopped near the exit doors.

“What?”

“The thing where you get all quiet.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t aware I was required to continue this conversation.”

Morgan opened his mouth, closed it then opened it again.

“I didn’t mean—”

“Yeah. You did.”

“You’re just leaving?”

Reid glanced back over his shoulder. One eye hidden behind the ice pack. The other looked exhausted.

“Believe it or not, Morgan, getting hit in the face and then getting yelled at isn’t currently how I want to spend my afternoon.”

And with that, he walked outside. The door swung shut behind him, leaving Morgan standing alone in the hallwayThen he dragged a hand down his face.

"Great"

2:34 PM, English class, classroom 124

Unfortunately, he'd been late because someone had shoved him into a locker, stolen his glasses, and placed them on top of a bookcase halfway down the hall. With his horrible -6 prescription and the fact he wasn't exactly blessed with height, he'd eventually been forced to ask a teacher to retrieve them. Even more unfortunate, upon entering he found the only available seat was next to Derek goddamn Morgan, and if that wasn't bad enough it was also behind a blonde popular girl he always figured is a mean girl by the name 'Jareau' and another girl who always talked back to teachers by the name 'Greenaway'.

Sighing, he reluctantly sat down next to the jock after apologizing to the teacher for being late. 

And if getting assaulted, harassed, being late and sitting behind a popular girl and next to his enemy since freshman year, said enemy is now whispering to him, whispering absolute bullshit in his opinion.

"Reid. Reid. Reid. Spencer." He whispered profusely.

"We are not on first name basis." Replied Reid.

"Then don't ignore me" He whisper yelled.

Reid rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Well as much as we both hate it if you are gonna be playing you are gonna need training and-"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll figure out a way to get Mrs Strauss to drop this because there is no way that i'll be participating in that cult activity"

"Once again, it's football, not a cult."

"Either way i'm not doing it"

Jareau glanced over her shoulder, amused.

"I give it three minutes before one of them gets kicked out."

"You're optimistic," Greenaway replied. "I give it ninety seconds."

Neither boys acknowledged them.

Morgan rubbed his forehead.

"Mrs. Strauss isn't changing her mind."

"I'll figure out a way."

"You won't."

"I'm smarter than she is."

Jareau nearly choked on her water.

"Oh, that's bold."

"Actually," Greenaway said thoughtfully, "that's probably true."

Reid pointed at Greenaway without looking away from Morgan.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. You're still annoying."

Morgan groaned.

"Mrs Strauss is stubborn, she's not gonna drop this"

"I'm more stubborn"

"You fold immediately when someone asks you to do their homework"

"That's because they would invent a new way to break someone's bones if I refuse"

"Do you always exaggerate this much?"

"I'm not exaggerating."

"Sure, but Mrs Strauss isn't dropping it"

Reid sighed tiredly "So what are you suggesting?"

"I'm not flunking this game so i'll train you"

Reid paused before responding "If this drives me to suicide it's factually murder"

"You are so incredibly dramatic"

"You try being forced to play the one thing you can't master with your nemesis and the people who bruise you as a hobby"

"Chill, it'll be fine"

"Easy for you to say"

"My god, you're infuriating"

"You're actively damaging my brain and giving me chronic migraines."

"Oh for fuck's sake—"

"Morgan. Reid." The teacher interrupted through their alternating. "It would be much appreciated if you guys go one lesson without bickering"

"Sorry sir" Reid atoned.

""Sorry sir"" Someone mocked across the classroom in a goofy tone, followed by some giggles from others.

Reid sighed and grabbed his notebook and pen while the teacher continued, and so did Morgan.

"So today after school?"

"Oh my god"

"What time are you done?"

"5 before 4 PM, i've got biology"

"Cool, me too, we can walk to the PE gym together"

Reid whined before replying "You're too compliant about this"

"Better to accept than dwell"

"Where'd you learn such advanced vocabulary?"

"Oh the teacher just explained it"

“WHAT!?” was both of their exact first reactions to the news. Because there was absolutely no way this teacher was serious… right?

“Ma’am, you know I respect ya, but ya gotta be pranking us right now.”

“No. I am very serious, actually.” Mrs Strauss folded her hands neatly on her desk, clearly already exhausted. “You two have been refusing to get along and causing discourse throughout the entirety of this semester.”

9:34 AM, Mathematics, Classroom 323

“What do you mean ‘tell me where the number is?’ It’s right there! You’re not Dora the Explorer.” Morgan exclaimed dramatically at the teacher, throwing his hands in the air in disbelief.

“He means tell him the coordinates, obviously…” Reid muttered from the desk behind him, not even bothering to look up from his paper for the first half of the sentence.

Morgan paused mid-rant and slowly turned around toward the source of the comment, already irritated.

“Okay, smartass, you answer the question then.”

The teacher, Mr Smith, sighed deeply, already dreading the conflict that was inevitably about to unfold for the hundredth time this year.

“Gladly.” The boy adjusted the glasses resting on his nose before continuing. “The coordinates to Y are 2.5, 3, and 2.”

Mr Smith opened his mouth to thank him, but Morgan beat him to it.

“Okay, you know how to count. Good for you.”

“Actually, it’s not counting, it’s identifying plotted points on a three-dimensional graph—” Reid started, his voice laced with irritation, until he was abruptly interrupted by the crackling sound of the overhead speaker turning on.

"Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid, please report to the principal's office immediately. I repeat, Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid, please report to the principal's office immediately."

Morgan and Reid both groaned simultaneously and exchanged looks of mutual annoyance and confusion while students around them snickered quietly.

“Already?”

“She sensed y’all’s bickering from her office.”

“Oh my God, shut up,” Morgan muttered while grabbing his bag.

They both stood up, already dreading the god awful conversation. What could it even be? They haven't done anything today yet. They made their way out of the classroom and down the hall, forced to walk together in awkward silence.

"So what do—" Morgan started before immediately being cut off by the other.

"Shut up, stop."

"Jesus, I was only making conversation."

"Unnecessary conversation"

"You're unnecessary"

"I get amazing grades for every subject and with my IQ will probably make it far in life, what have you done?"

"Okay first of all, you're failing PE, so not all subjects—"

"PE is an unimportant and fundamentally useless subje—"

"Oh, of course you'd say that—"

They immediately dissolved into pointless arguing, talking over each other loud enough to earn annoyed glances from students passing in the halls. By the time they reached the office, both of them reluctantly quieted down.

Reid entered first and deliberately let the door swing shut directly in Morgan’s face.

Morgan caught it before it slammed completely, glaring daggers at the taller boy as they both sat down in front of Mrs Strauss's desk.

The principal, Mrs Strauss, looked up at thrm entering. "Ah, have a seat, please. You're both probably wondering why I called you over here."

They both nodded in response.

"Well, as Morgan probably knows. Nick Lee, one of the football players, has broken his leg after an unfortunate accident and is now unable to play. And with the big game coming up the team is in desperate need of a new member."

Morgan frowned slightly but nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that.”

“That’s really unfortunate and all, but uh…” Reid gestured awkwardly toward himself. “What exactly does that have to do with me?”

"You'll be replacing him." Mrs Strauss replied.

"WHAT!?" They both exclaimed in complete horror.

So that was how they ended up in this absolute disaster of a situation.

“Actually, we’ve been ‘bickering’ since the beginning of high school—” Reid started correcting her automatically before Morgan interrupted him.

“Reid. Not helping.”

“Right.” Reid sighed before looking back at the principal. “I don’t know how to play football.”

“Morgan can teach you.”

“Yeah, no way in hell that’s ever happening,” Morgan replied immediately.

“You will,” Mrs Strauss stated firmly, leaving no room for argument.

“Are you kidding?” Morgan gestured toward Reid dramatically. “Look at him! He’s all skin and bones. He can’t play.”

“Excuse me!?” Reid snapped instantly, offended. “You wanna talk about me?"

Morgan scoffed loudly and leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah, I do. You look like you’d lose a fight against a strong breeze.”

“And you look like you failed the fourth grade three times.”

Morgan’s expression flattened.

Mrs Strauss immediately regretted everything.

“I'm not listening to someone who looks like a sick Victorian child.”

Reid stared at him in disbelief. “And you look like a failed audition for a cologne commercial.

Morgan let out a loud scoff. “See, this is exactly why nobody likes you.”

Reid turned toward him sharply. “I know this may be difficult for someone with repeated head trauma to understand, but not everybody enjoys concussions as a hobby.”

Morgan laughed once without humor. “At least people actually invite me places.”

“Oh yes, because standing around screaming at other sweaty boys every Friday night is so impressive.”

“Better than spending lunch alone reading Russian dictionaries.”

“I was learning a language.”

“You were crying over punctuation.”

“I have hay fever.”

“It was pathetic.”

Mrs Strauss pinched the bridge of her nose as the argument rapidly escalated.

“Enough,” she interrupted sharply.

Neither listened.

“And another thing,” Morgan continued, leaning back in his chair, “football requires actual physical activity. You get winded walking up stairs.”

“I do not get winded walking up stairs.”

“You literally stopped halfway to chemistry last week.”

“That was because I was carrying six textbooks!”

“You carry six textbooks everywhere because you don’t trust lockers.”

“They’re statistically unsafe.”

Morgan blinked slowly before turning toward the principal. “See what I mean? He’s weird.”

“Oh, and you’re normal? You bark at people during football practice.”

“It’s called motivation.”

“It’s called concerning behavior.”

Mrs Strauss rubbed her temples harder. “You two are proving my point right now.”

“No, he’s proving my point,” Reid corrected immediately.

Morgan looked offended. “What point?”

“That football players are intellectually exhausting.”

Morgan let out a sharp laugh. “And there it is. Knew you’d eventually say something pretentious.”

“It’s not pretentious if it’s statistically supported.”

“You always talk like a robot with superiority issues?”

“And you always talk like you failed every English class you’ve ever taken?”

Morgan sat forward instantly. “I have never failed English.”

“Barely passing isn’t the accomplishment you think it is.”

Mrs Strauss slammed her hand against the desk.

“Enough!”

Finally, silence.

The principal exhaled slowly before continuing.

“You are both going to cooperate for one semester. That is final.”

Reid stared at her like she’d sentenced him to prison.

“Morgan and I have not willingly spoken to each other without arguing since freshman orientation.”

Morgan nodded immediately. “Worst day of my life.”

“You spilled orange juice on my book.”

“You walked directly into me!”

“You were running in a hallway!”

“You were standing in the middle of it reading!”

“Because unlike you, I had priorities beyond tackling people for entertainment.”

Morgan stood up abruptly. “Okay, see, this is exactly why nobody can stand you.”

Reid stood up too. “Nobody can stand me? You’re one bad grade away from punching drywall.”

“At least I don’t act like I’m smarter than everyone in the room.”

“You aren’t smarter than everyone in the room.”

“Oh my God—”

“Sit down. Both of you,” Mrs Strauss ordered before they could escalate further.

They sat while glaring at each other with actual hostility.

“You’ll attend practice after school today,” she continued firmly. “Morgan, you’re helping Reid learn the basics.”

Morgan immediately shook his head. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No, absolutely not. He’d complain the entire time.”

“I complain because your entire sport revolves around unnecessary violence and chronic brain damage.”

“It’s football, not war.”

“Debatable."

Morgan rolled his eyes so hard it almost looked painful.

“You know what your problem is?”

Reid crossed his arms. “Unfortunately, I think you’re about to tell me."

“You think you’re better than everybody.”

“I am better than most people academically.”

“Oh my God, you hear yourself, right?”

“I’m not responsible for your insecurity regarding intelligence.”

Morgan barked out a harsh laugh. “And there it is again. You talk like everybody else is stupid.”

“No. Just you.”

“Funny. Real funny.”

“It wasn’t meant to be funny.”

Mrs Strauss quickly stepped in before things got worse.

“Okay. Conversation over. You two will either learn to function together or you’ll both spend the rest of the semester in detention every single day.”

Morgan looked annoyed.

Reid looked horrified.

“You can’t legally do that,” Reid argued.

“Watch me.”

That shut him up.

Mrs Strauss inhaled slowly, clearly counting to ten internally. “You two are going to work together whether you like it or not.”

Morgan crossed his arms. “This is psychological warfare.”

“And probably a violation of several educational policies,” Reid added.

“It is not.” Mrs Strauss slid a paper across the desk toward them. “Practice starts today after school.”

Reid stared down at the paper like it had personally insulted him.

“…There’s mud on this."

“It’s a football schedule.”

"Even worse"

Mrs Strauss pointed toward the door.

“Leave. Now.”

Morgan got up first, shoving his chair back harder than necessary.

Reid followed seconds later, keeping as much distance between them as physically possible while walking out of the office.

The second the door shut behind them, Morgan spoke.

“You really think you’re better than me?”

Reid didn’t even look at him. “I think you’re arrogant, loud, immature, and one suspension away from becoming a cautionary tale.”

Morgan laughed bitterly. “And I think you’re a condescending freak who thinks having a high IQ makes up for having the personality of wet cardboard.”

"Good to know it's mutual"

"You started it"

“I made one comment in math class.”

“One annoying comment.”

“It was factually correct.”

“Oh, this is gonna suck.”

Reid turned toward him immediately. “Says you? You’re not the one being publicly sacrificed to high school athletes.”

“You say that like they’re wild animals.”

“They travel in packs, Morgan.”

“They’re your schoolmates!”

“They hit each other recreationally!”

Morgan looked genuinely thoughtful for a second. “Okay, fair point.”

"I should be glad but i'm disgusted you agree with me."

"And i'm disgusted I agreed with you."

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you harder."

An awkward silence filled the air