Chapter Text
Title: A Sleeping Beauty - Part 1
Author: totalfanfreak
Rating: K+
Prompt/Summary: there wasn’t actually a prompt, people were requesting fluff so I thought I’d try to provide – Spencer has to get his tonsils removed and you’re there to take care of him.
Main Character(s): Spencer Reid/ Reader
Trigger Warning: Not that I know of, fear of doctors, I guess.
Word Count: 2, 400
Beta/Editor: Me
Multishot: Yes, I’ll make a part 2 of it
Author’s Notes: No
Morgan arc spoilers?: Nope
“Ugh, how have I not noticed those when you talk?”
“It’s not funny, Y/N, it really hurts, to be honest.”
“I know, Spence. I didn’t mean it to be funny; I only meant they never stood out to me before.”
Spencer smirked, and then winced, his voice starting to grate like nails on chalkboard. “It’s kind of hard to notice tonsils, seeing how they’re in the back of my mouth.”
“Not for long though.”
“That’s not funny either.”
“You need them out, Spencer, you can’t lie to me, I know they’ve been bothering you for a while. They’re keeping you from getting better, aren’t they?”
Spencer nodded begrudgingly. He’d come down with a nasty case of bronchitis a few weeks ago and each time it seemed he was over the hump to recovery those tonsils kept inflaming and dragging him back down. Being the good friend you were, you threatened him with pictures you’d taken on a night he was passed out on your couch, your old teddy bear, Mr. Skufflekin, clutched in his arms. Oh, the fear of Morgan seeing that surpassed his stubbornness and he let you take him to the doctor. Only to find out the best thing to do was take the pus bombs out. Now you were both sitting in the waiting room until his name was called.
Spencer was wringing his hands nervously. “You know, one in five adults who have their tonsils taken out will have abnormal bleeding. It can happen a week after the procedure, the scabs, where the incision will be, can just break open at any given time. I could bleed until I need a transfusion. Y/N, I could be the one in forty-thousand people who die from the procedure, no, no way, I can live with being sick.”
It was then Spencer went into a hacking fit, and you pulled him back down; drawing the attention of an elderly couple and kids who were waiting along with you both. “It’s going to be okay, Spencer. I know it’s scary right now, but it’s one of those things that you’ll be glad you did when it’s over. You’re in good health – you don’t smoke, don’t excessively drink, you exercise now more than you ever had, you’re eating more veggies. Come on, the risks of complications are slim in your category.”
“I don’t know, Y/N.”
“Trust me.”
He looked at you now, more sure than he had been, though the flick of fear was lingering in those brown eyes. “I trust you more than anyone.”
Your eyes softened, you couldn’t get a better compliment than that. You let him lean his lanky frame against you, letting yourself strum your fingernails through his hair and scalp. “I’m glad you let your hair grow back out, Spence.”
“Shouldn’t be that surprised as to how much you groaned about it being short.”
“I did not, it just wasn’t –“
“Me?”
“No, it was you, I just got used to being able to do things like this, or tug it when I needed your attention.”
He shook his head, smiling. “You’re so weird.”
“There has to be weirder out there than me.”
Before Spencer could reply a nurse came out and called his name. He looked at you and back to the nurse before slowly getting up and walking over to her. You gave a small smile and wave, hoping to encourage him before the doors shut. Getting caught up in the closet gossip magazine you lost track of time until Spencer came bumbling out of the door. His pants and converses were still on, but his upper attire had been replaced with a hospital gown. If you weren’t so caught off guard, you might’ve laughed at the sight. But the tremendous amount of fear Spencer was giving off was looming.
“Y/N, they want to put me to sleep, please, I need you in there for it. Please?”
You looked over Spencer’s shoulder to the nurse who had come back out, frazzled by the looks of it, it was a tad obvious she never had an adult patient for this procedure try and make a getaway. His hand shot out for yours gripping it tightly, his eyes begging imploringly, you turned your gaze back to the nurse. “I’m not allowed to be there for the anesthesia, am I?”
The nurse shook her head, hands tiredly on her hips. “No ma’am, but Dr. Reid is talking about the sedative we give beforehand, we usually only let family members during that, but under the circumstances it should be fine.”
The way she said doctor made it clear that the nurse couldn’t believe someone this age and afraid of a simple operation could be a doctor of any kind. But instead of stoking a fire, you let Spencer take your hand and letting him lead you to his room, brushing past the nurse in silence.
“At least you have a nice room.”
Spencer rolled his eyes, his breathing going back to normal, now that someone was in here with him. The nurse looked between you both. “I’ll give you a moment to undress and I’ll be back to prep you.”
Hearing the door click you looked back up to him. “You would’ve left if I weren’t here wouldn’t you, Spence?”
Letting out a shaky breath, he nodded. “I don’t want to die like this, Y/N.”
You couldn’t help the sad laugh that escaped you. “I’m keep telling you Spence, you’re going to be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I promise.”
“I know, I know it’s irrational, and then they said I had to have a sedative first, I’m sorry, I just needed you here.”
“Don’t be sorry, Spencer, I know you would’ve done the same if our roles were reversed.”
“Of course I would have. But if you haven’t noticed I’m looking kind of pathetic on my side right now.”
You went to him hugging him tight. “Not pathetic Spencer, not ever. But pretty damn human, and it’s okay to be human every now and again.”
You lean in and kissed his cheek, as always, he’d put his hand there in disbelief. “Hurry up, strip, and get in bed before nurse Ratchet comes in.”
Spencer chuckled, going out of the bathroom to scramble out of his clothes, coming back in with his hand clutched to keep the back closed. You gave him a wolf whistle, resulting in you getting a dirty look from him. You pulled your chair close to his bed when he was situated. You took his hand in yours, strumming your fingertip across his knuckles. He shivered, causing you to look up.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, just don’t let go.”
“I’m not, Spencer. Unless we’re on a sinking ship then I’ll have to.”
Spencer smiled, and then went into another coughing fit as the nurse walked in with her tray. Washing and gloving up she came over to the vacated side of the bed. She rolled up the gown sleeve, seeing Spencer start to tense up you decided to distract him.
“Tell me something.”
He looked at you skeptically. “Like what?”
You shrugged. “Something random, how about how many dimples are in a golf ball?”
Spencer’s face eased as the answer flowed from him. “Oh, it does depend on the dimple size where some balls have around three hundred and others five hundred but the main approximation is – Ow!”
Spencer rubbed his arm where the needle stuck him, and the nurse gave a sly smile, and patted his shoulder. “We’ll give that a few minutes to kick in before we come back for you.”
Spencer watched her leave, as if she’d stick him again if his sight on her faltered. You couldn’t help but tap him, drawing his attention back. “So what is it? The approximation?”
“Oh, around three hundred and thirty-six on an average ball.”
You shook your head, giggling. “I’m not sure I want to know what research you were doing to discover that.”
“In high school, I used to help break down shooting strategies for the basketball team, after the season was over the golf team asked if I could do the same for them.”
“How’d that go?”
“Pretty well, but one of the opposing schools thought I was helping the team cheat so the principal thought it’d be best for me to stop with my ‘coaching’ not long after.”
“So you were with the in-crowd, I knew it.”
Spencer tried to stifle a yawn, failing. “Not really. As soon as I had to resign I was kicked back in the shadows, or more accurately lockers.”
You frowned, you hated he had to go through things like that. Leaning over him, you looped your arm around his neck, letting your forehead rest on his shoulder. He exhaled deeply. “I like this.”
His voice was starting to slur the medicine making its way through his system. “I like this too, Spencer. I’m going to be here waiting for you when you come out. You’ll probably get to go home today.”
“Are you going to come with me?”
“Of course.”
“Good, I don’t want anyone else but you there. It’s always you, Y/N, the only one…I want.”
His head was drooping onto his chest, and you tilted it back to the pillow, brushing the locks out of his eyes. His eyes opened at the gesture and he smiled sleepily. “I love you, Y/N. Only you.”
You hoped there was a defibrillator nearby, you knew it was the drugs talking, but you couldn’t decipher how much he was saying was truthful. You smiled hesitantly. “I love you, too, Spencer.”
He smiled more broadly, then frowned, discouraged. “But not the same way I love you, right? I know from the way you flirt with Morgan, I’m just the buddy, always the genius and never the boyfriend.”
The way he was gesturing with his hands kept flailing his body, and you had to keep propping his body back into place before he fell out of bed. You couldn’t help but snort at his assumption. “I do NOT flirt with Morgan, that’s the way he is, the way he jokes, so I joke the same way right back.”
“So you don’t like him?”
“I like him as a friend.”
“Could you ever like me as more than a friend?”
You blushed, wondering if these confessions would erase from his memory once the all the drugs have worn off. “I already do, Spencer. I wish we could’ve talked about this differently, but I do care about you as more than a friend. I was just kind of waiting for you to say something.”
He tried to prop up on his elbow, falling once, before he reached out to you. You touched your hand to his, carefully pushing back down on the bed. “You’re supposed to be knocked out before the nurse comes back, Spence.”
“I don’t care the woman I love, loves me back. It’s a Christmas miracle.”
You laughed outright, cupping your hand over your mouth to muffle the noise. Spencer looked at you, confused. “What?”
“It’s nowhere near Christmas, Spencer. Your head’s running away from you.”
“Help me catch it then, just one kiss before I fall asleep, like in Sleeping Beauty. I heard you reading it to Henry and it kind of goes with the situation. I got stuck with a needle and I need help waking up.”
“No, you’re supposed to be going to sleep, Spencer, remember?”
The look on his face told you he didn’t recall what the hell was going on and you shook your head ruefully. The nurse walked in then, hands on her hips in disbelief. “You’re still not asleep yet, Dr. Reid?”
Spencer looked at her startled, finally realizing what was going on. “I will as soon as she kisses me.”
“Spencer?!?”
You couldn’t help the flush of embarrassment come over, a total stranger knowing the ends and outs of something you weren’t even sure of yet. The nurse looked at you sympathetically, before her attention went back to Spencer. “I’m sure she’ll give you a kiss when you come back.”
Spencer shook his head on the pillow. “No, I need it now, it’ll keep the nightmares away when I’m under, and it’ll help me wake up, Y/N.”
How could you argue with that? The desperate need in his voice was enough to make you do anything he wanted. Though whenever you had given yourself over to the dark side and thought of your friend as more than a friend and kissed him. He wasn’t drugged out of his head. Propping yourself over the bed again, you lean in and brushed your lips against his, smoothing your hand across his cheek, before pulling away. The sigh he made was beautiful, and you couldn’t help but feel the need to go back in.
But the nurse viewing the scene was enough to make you pull away.
“He should be out cold before we get him into surgery.”
Nodding you looked back down at Spencer, seeing his eyes closed, steady breathing starting to rasp out of him. Giving a final kiss to his temple, you let the nurse wheel him out. “I’ll see you when you get out, Spence, I’ll be right here.”
The nurse smiled before leaving the room. “It’s nice to know he has a girlfriend like you to take care of him.”
“I’m no –“
She left before you could answer, leaving you to crash back into the chair. Looking at the empty space where the bed was you began clenching your hands on your knees.
He was going to be okay. He was in good health and he’ll just have a sore throat for a few days. You told yourself this letting the worry for half the situation ebb off. The other worry was the world exploding in less than an hour. It was all the drugs, maybe Spencer had a slight crush on you, you knew you had thrown him off when the two of you first met after joining the team a few years ago, but it was just an infatuation. Just like what you felt for him was an inherent admiration. It was fleeting, right? Just like there was a good chance he wouldn’t remember anything when he woke up, right? You didn’t know what you hoped for more.