Chapter Text
Methos has resigned himself to being guardian to an ever-growing list of wards. Eighteen, however, is all the indication that Methos needs to know that he has no control over that list. He probably should have realised this long ago, but he was always very good at lying.
"There's a kid you need to meet," Theo tells him over a beer one night.
"Oh?"
Methos keeps his tone casual. Even though Theo has been brought into the fold, she stays on the periphery, holding herself apart, and she's never asked him for anything, so he considers this a big step. She gives him a critical look before nodding to herself.
"He's working at a coffee shop. He's only been there a few weeks but he looks ready to skip town for something else because if he doesn't try too hard at anything then he can't fail. And he won't admit it but he's terrified of failing."
"I'm not sure what you want me to do about it," Methos says, although he knows exactly. He is curious what justification Theo would give.
"Meet him. He's half homeless and I'm pretty sure he doesn't find a couch to borrow or a one night stand half as often as he pretends."
"Anything else I should know?" Methos asks, resigning himself.
"He doesn't flinch, but he keeps exits in his sight lines. He's hyper aware all the time. His most prominent thought is his father's disapproval or his anger and always, always his disappointment," Theo says, clearly having prepared her arguments. She's only been working on her Masters in child psychology and doing supervised sessions for a few months, but her instincts are good even without her extra abilities.
"Alright."
...
Methos spots him immediately. The kid is chatting amiably with several customers, deducing things about them and their lives that seem impossible to them until he explains it. It's a good trick and Methos knows plenty of cold readers who can do much the same, but the sheer volume of information the kid processes is astounding. There's also the fact that some of the leaps the kid makes are too good to be guesses, not with the overwhelming ratio of correct to incorrect deductions.
"Back to work Spencer or you won't have a job for much longer," the manager yells and the kid makes some quick apologies to the customers and hurries into the back. The customers sigh in disappointment, pay their bills and leave the cafe.
The kid has charisma, he has skills, and he's wasting them in a dead end job that doesn't appreciate his abilities and that he clearly resents. Methos isn't in the habit of saving people from themselves, but for all that the kid is technically an adult, he's still just a kid. If nothing else, he has a vested interest in saving children. And Theo asked it of him.
He's not even a little bit surprised when less than an hour later there's a huge crash and then the kid yells "My bad!"
"That's it Spencer, you're done. Get out of here. You can pick up your final check at the end of the week."
"Oh, come on," the kid says like it wasn't exactly what he'd been aiming for because apparently his brand of self-sabotage meant that if he was going to fail at something then getting fired was better than quitting. Probably because he could pretend it wasn't his choice. Someone had really messed up the kid.
Methos rises when the kid steps out from behind the counter, pulling his apron over his head and then balling it up and tossing it at one of his ex-coworkers.
“Catch you on the flip side,” the kid says, throwing a peace sign over his shoulder as he walks out.
“Hey kid,” Methos says, jogging after him.
“Not interested,”the kid says, not slowing down.
“I want to offer you a job.”
“Definitely not interested.”
Methos rolls his eyes, although he can’t blame the kid for the suspicion.
“I need an au pair.”
That does stop the kid short and he turns to stare at Methos incredulously.
“I just got fired for incompetence and being distracted and you want to put me in charge of a child?”
Methos shrugged at the kid’s incredulous expression, not quite able to hide his amusement.
“Ned’s a good kid, the best kid, but he's a weird little guy and he doesn’t have any friends his own age. You’re observant and good with people and only a few years older than him.”
“You want to hire a friend for him?” the kid was even more incredulous and Methos laughed outright.
“I want to hire someone to keep him company and look after him in ways which I am unable.”
“It’s your money dude,” the kid said with a shrug.