Chapter Text
“Spence, seriously, I’m gonna need you to stop sniffling like that.”
“I can’t help it,” Spencer whined, rubbing miserably at his face. “I can’t get my nose to stop running.”
JJ sighed. “The sniffling is so gross.”
“You’re one to talk, Jayje, when you have a cold you wipe your nose on your sleeve,” Penelope retorted.
“Only when I don’t have a tissue!”
Spencer sniffled again, his nose scrunching up. “I’m so congested,” he complained. He rummaged in his cardigan pocket for a rumpled, already used tissue and blew his nose loudly. “My nasal passages hurt. They’re all dried out.”
“Don’t let Alex and Hotch hear that, they’ll make you do one of those saline nose rinse things from hell,” JJ said. She patted his shoulder. “It’s the last class of the day, buddy. Almost done.”
Spencer sighed heavily but it turned into a wet, congested cough. “Almost done,” he echoed, absently wiping his nose on his sleeve. Penelope shuddered.
They ducked around the crowds in the hallway and fought their way towards their English class; the two girls kept tabs on Spencer as he lagged behind. “He’s been so cranky today,” Penelope said under her breath.
“As long as he doesn’t sniffle all the way through class,” JJ said. “I can’t take much more of this.”
She might have jinxed herself with that one. They had just gotten to their seats when Spencer blew his nose again and let out a startled shriek. “My nose is bleeding!” he yelped.
“You’re fine, Spencer,” Penelope said patiently as she unzipped her backpack. “Hold on, I’ll get you more…tissues. Oh my god. JJ?”
JJ flipped through her book, trying to remember if she’d done the assigned reading. “What?”
“His nose is bleeding.”
She looked up and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, Jesus, Spence.”
He clutched the tissue to his face but it did almost nothing to stem the flow. “But I don’t want my nose to bleed!” he wailed.
Penelope frantically dug through her backpack until she whipped out a pack of tissues. “Here, here, take one of these, take all of these!”
“Oh, god, I think it’s too late for that,” JJ said. “Spence? Spencer, take a deep breath, okay?”
He wiped at his face, but blood was dribbling down his chin and his eyes were welling up. “I want it to stop!” he said.
“I think he’s gonna crash out,” Penelope said.
JJ snatched the tissues out of her hand and pressed a wad of them over Spencer’s nose. “I’m gonna take him to Hotch,” she said.
“No! Not Hotch! Hotch can’t do blood! Take him to Alex!”
“Oh god, you’re right.”
“Hotch doesn’t do blood, Alex doesn’t do vomit.”
“I knew that!”
“She’s in Russian class right now, I think. South wing!”
JJ took Spencer by the arm and dragged him through the maze of desks and past their confused teacher. “I’ll be right back!” she said. “Spencer, please don’t crash out, all right? You’re okay, I’m taking you to Alex right now.”
He tripped over his own shoes, sobbing into the blood soaked tissues pressed to his nose. “I don’t want this!” he said. “Make it stop!”
“I’m trying! I’m trying!” JJ said. “Stop going limp noodle on me!”
Spencer wailed in earnest, barely staying upright. She gave him a little shake. “I need you to keep it together, Bug,” she said.
“I can’t breathe out of my nose and I’m bleeding!”
“We’re gonna fix it, okay? Just keep moving!”
JJ hauled him the rest of the way to Alex’s classroom. She barged in without bothering to knock. “Sorry, I need Alex Miller, her little brother-“
Alex was already out of her desk. “Oh my god, what happened?” she said. “He looks like a crime scene!”
“He kept blowing his nose and then it just started bleeding,” JJ said as Alex scooped Spencer up and set him on her hip. “Then he kind of freaked out.”
Alex brushed Spencer’s hair back from his forehead and clicked her tongue, then turned to the teacher and rattled off something in Russian. The teacher sighed heavily. “Well, since you asked so nicely and your grammar was correct…I suppose your little brother can stay here. As long as he isn’t disruptive.”
Spencer nodded, his eyes still welling up as Alex cleaned the blood off his face. “See, Bug, it’s already stopped,” she said softly. “You’re okay. You want to stay with me for class?”
“Mm-hm,” Spencer said, wiping at his eyes and leaning his head on her shoulder. “I think that’ll help me feel better.”
Alex squeezed JJ’s arm. “Good move bringing him to me instead of Hotch.”
“I almost did, but Penelope stopped me,” JJ said. “We would have had two crash outs instead of one.”