washing machine heart

the reunion

"Derek! Derek!" Spencer shouted from across the house, his voice pitched and slightly squeaked as he called out. His tone caused Derek to leap up from his cosy place on the corner of their couch, his feet instantly taking off to run towards the room at the end of the hall where the voice came from. His heart was pounding like a racehorse in his chest, stomach in his throat, thoughts pummeling his brain as he weighed what could be happening to cause this. He hesitated as he slowed infront of rthe door, preparing himself, if one could prepare themself, for what he was going to see.

He pushed the door open, gently peering in. "Boo!" The younger boy jumped out, startling Derek who instantly scowled in response. "Haha! Gotcha!" Spencer grinned, wrapping his arms gently around Derek's waist.

"You scared the shit out of me, asshole." The older boy grimaced, glaring at his smug boyfriend. Unfortunately, his angry demeanor was forced to fade as Spencer developed a pout on his lips, toying with Derek's admiration for the kid. "I still love ya, dude, even if you're slightly mean." Spencer removed the frown from his face, leaving his boyfriend to go sit on their bed. Derek hadn't even acknowledged that Spencer was screaming from their bedroom, and he nibbled slightly on his lip as he sat next to him.

"So..." the brunette boy began, toying with his fingers as he looked at Derek. "You know how Pen is throwing that reunion party in a couple weeks?"

"Yeah, the one in Quantico, right?" Derek raised an eyebrow, curious for what was about to come. He had hoped it was him, but he could tell this conversation wasn't about to be especially lighthearted.

"She invited JJ and Emily." Spencer spat quickly, panic settling in his eyes as he watched Derek physically freeze. The mention of the two girls caused his heart to lurch just as it had when he heard Spencer scream, just as it had when he realized they were never going to talk to them again 3 years ago, just as it had when he watched Spencer sob over Emily not coming home to watch him graduate. He cleared his throat, waiting for Spencer to continue. "...And they said yes." The older boy turned his gaze to the floor, the thoughts of their little crew flooding his memory. There was no denying that he missed them very much, but he couldn't help the anger he had towards them.

"Maybe we shouldn't go, babe." Derek said softly, taking Spencer's small hands in his own larger ones.

"Are you serious, Derek? We can't just NOT go. We haven't seen any of them in like a year, and we haven't seen you know who in how long? It's not fair to Pen, man." He trailed off, taking a deep breath. "We're going. Sure, it sucks that Emily and Jennifer forgot about us, but are you denying that it wouldn't be nice to see them? To hear about their lives? You don't have them on anything." He rose from the bed.

Derek let his face fall in his hands, weighing his options. Sure, seeing his best friends would be nice, but also seeing the two girls who had completely abandoned their relationship, not one text, not one call except for their last one in 3 years?

Spencer took a moment before sitting back down, wrapping a skinny arm around Derek, gently massaging his shoulders as a means of comfort. Derek did want to see them, especially Emily, but he was terrified. He didn't know why they stopped talking to them, no one did. Emily feared them abandoning her so much that she turned around and did exactly that? Spencer simply assumed they became too busy, but so was everyone else. Derek worked for the FBI, for fuck's sake. Everyone else managed to make time.

Who even knew if the two girls were still together? Married? Engaged? The group knew virtually nothing about them now and it was frustrating, but this was an opportunity to find out why exactly they did what they had done.

"You know what-" Derek finally spoke, lifting his head to look at Spencer. "Fuck it. Let's go."

The brunette lit up, his shoulders perking up accordingly. "Really?" He grinned, leaping forward to tackle his boyfriend to the bed. Derek gasped, laughing and wrapping his boyfriend into a tight hug.