Chapter Text
Spencer has always been too smart and too young for his own good.
Ten with an ill mother and no father in sight taught him early, taught him what selfish and scared people did when life went awry.
Twelve in a Las Vegas public high school taught him early, taught him what jealous and insecure people did to those they percieved as below them.
Fifteen with bills to pay and not enough money taught him early, taught him what depraved and predatory people did to those who needed a way out.
Seventeen in a casino with a fake I.D taught him early, taught him what desperate and inebriated people did to those who stole their last hope away.
*****
There was a pale blue sticky note on the fridge-
Dont look for me, I am not coming back.
There was no signature, but the lazy scrawl was familiar to Spencer. He quickly crumples the note and hides it under dirty paper towels in the trash can. Mom is having a lucid day, no need to ruin it when it'll only bring pain to her when she remembers it. Spencer is not foolish enough to believe that his father will be sending money, nor is he foolish enough to believe his mother's savings will tide them over forever, but he has time to plan.
His mother calls for him, and he leaves the kitchen with finacial and care plans swirling about his mind. The rage that he will feel for years to come festers when she asks for William.
****
Spencer is tweleve, the boy- no man, next to him is nineteen, they are seated next to each other in their shared English class. Spencer is graduating high school next semester, Brian, the man, is not.
Spencer has been bullied all through out his, admittedly short, high school experience. He is far too aquainted with over half the school's lockers and the taste of toilet water. Far too aquainted with bruises that don't even bother to hide underneath clothes.
But five days before graduation, in nothing but striped boxers with enough holes to shame a golf course, Spencer is tied to the unused bike rack.
When he gets back home, his mother blames the government for stealing his clothes then bruises him more in search for government issued implants hiding beneath his skin.
Spencer breathes easier at CalTech.
***
Spencer can't get air into his lungs.
Spencer looked at his filled desk, his long completed homework, his utility bills, and his mother's uninsured medical bills stare back at him. He was already working two jobs and getting his PhD in Mathematics. His scholarship covered tuition and housing, but his mother needed utilities and her medicine. He needed money, badly. The bills weren't overdue, but Spencer certainly couldn't get the money before they were.
He looked at his options, he couldn't pick up a third job, he couldn't get a better job when he was fifteen, and he wasn't old enough to gamble.
Spencer considered getting a fake I.D, but he was aware he looked young for fifteen, let alone twenty-one.
His roomate enetered the room, "Dude, why are you studying still?"
Spencer shrugged, preferring Dylan think he was an overachiever than finacially burdened.
"You seriously don't even have to bro, but you do you I guess." Dylan shrugged back at Spencer.
Spencer liked Dylan, he was seventeen, also young for college, and never judged Spencer for staying away from typical college life.
"I know you're probably going to say no, but theres a party at Jake's, I can drive you there." Dylan offers, hoping to rope Spencer into going.
Spencer shakes his head, "Sorry, I really don't do parties, did you know statistically-"
Dylan cuts Spencer off, "I know, I know, parties are dangerous, yada, yada, but..."
Dylan trails off, intruiging Spencer.
"Jake told me he's gonna hire like... strippers dude, don't you wanna experience some fun here? You've been a hermit bro!" Spencer balks at Dylan, but turns it over in his head. Not because he was interested in getting anywhere near the absolute germ infested party, but because he finally had a semblance of how he could pay his bills.
Spencer isn't happy about the discovery, sex workers are high risk victims for just about everything dangerous, but it was his last resort.
When Dylan left with an empty threat to drag Spencer out one of these days, Spencer got to work, contacting a girl who had creeped him out with her insitance of dressing him up "real pretty."
Spencer came to his dorm with no Dylan there, as expected. He threw up in the bathroom and wiped off the already smudged make up. Spencer felt disgusting, the ghostly hands squeezing bruises into his hips brought up acid this time.
Spencer counted the money. He barely made enough in combination to his earnings, but he made enough.
Stacy was always happy to dress him up, and Spencer had made a friend out of her. However, he couldn't go to her dorm without antipatory bile crawling up his throat.
**
Dylan sat suspiciously, hands idle in his lap and eyes darting to not look directly at Spencer. Spencer pretended to be focused on the book in his hands until Dylan cleared his throat, "So....."
Spencer looked up and waited for him to fully get his statement out. "So, uh, I know you don't like parties-" Spencer raised an eyebrow, Dylan having invited him to one last week "- but what about a really chill bar?"
Spencer looked at Dylan with increduality. "Neither of us are twenty-one, Dylan." Spencer pointed out dryly.
"I know! But we look passably twenty-one, you look passably twenty-one, I already have a fake I.D and a friend!"
Spencer sighed, Dylan was still adamant Spencer have a true college experience even after years of rejection. Fake I.Ds cost a pretty penny, even with a friend. Spencer did not have any disposable income, and no need for a fake I.D beyond going to bars with Dylan to spend money, he reiterated, he does not have.
Spencer can feel the sharp no form on his lips, but it stops short when a long forgotten option becomes available. Spencer is a Vegas boy, with a PhD in mathematics and an intense interest in psychology. Maybe, he could stop the raising bile that comes with Stacy's dorm.
Spencer agrees to the fake I.D despite himself, surpising a very excited Dylan.
Four weeks later, Spencer gets kicked out and banned from the first of many casinos.