AN: Prologue= dull backstory. Normal teenage angst here. Any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions hmu. Lotta OCs in here and of course Spence is OOC. Also the goth elements are very subtle (hint hint I don't think I put in any lol) There will be! Honest!

Warning: Contains swears and delinquent things. hell yeah.

High school is, of course, known as a big beginning, but so are all new years of education. So, why not start at senior year? Twelfth grade is the beginning of the end after all.

On August 9th, 2018, Spencer Reid had attended his first Boys' Volleyball practice. It went rather well considering he only had the knowledge of Phys. Ed. volleyball and watching a majority of the Girls' Volleyball games from the last spring. He, himself, could not fathom the intensity of being on a team that was giving their all. It was an exciting concept, and his grandfather, Chuck as the rest of the world called him, had been a constant psychological pressure to join some after school activity. Of course, Chuck supported the idea of football for Spencer a lot more than a girls' sport such as volleyball, but hey, he made an effort... the last year of high school.

Anyway, the practice went well. The friendly acquaintance he had made the previous year in his "astronomy" class had added him into the group chat, therefore got the last minute affirmation of 8 am in the school's gym. Said acquaintance, Sam, greeted him right off the bat and even peppered with him. Sam helped directing Spencer to what exactly they were doing, and he only messing up on positions twice. Spencer left practice that day, after Sam called a "Bye, Spencer! Hope to see you next week!," feeling very accomplished with his decision.

Next week the same friendly vibe rang throughout the gym and Spencer even found a new peppering partner who turned out to be a sophomore. The week after that was tryout week, to which the first day was fun like the past three practices. Then they split all the players up into varsity and junior varsity. Spencer, just because he was a senior, was then put into the varsity side of practices. That Tuesday was a brutal wake up call as to how childish people can be.

There were the two laps and stretches like always, with the coach's add-on workouts, and there was the peppering. Peppering is when two people volley the ball back and forth between each other, stretching and practicing swift movements, until the coach would blow the whistle. Spencer didn't have his usual partner (Chris he came to know) so no one came up to him. But he saw that there was a group of three. He went over, ball in hand, faded black hair tied back, and timidly waved.

"I don't have a partner," he called while cringing, as though walking on eggshells. That was when Michael voluntold Luther to be Spencer's partner. Luther's mood seemed to diminish entirely. His usual happy and exuberant self changed into a completely different person. He barely spoke a word. It was the most depressing thing.

"I'm actually pissed at you right now," Luther had informed Michael matter-of-factly.

"What? Why?," he responded genuinely confused. The reason was lost on Spencer's ears, but of course, he knew it was about him. It hurt. He shook it off though and kept going. Even after Kaeden got very, very annoyed at him for some reason.

Spencer knew that he had some damage dealt to his mental health that day, if the tears streaming down his face was any indicator. Although he was a rather sensitive kid. He cried at pretty much every movie, even Mamma Mia! 2. He got made fun of for that one quite a bit. Nevertheless, he decided that Wednesday would be a mental health day. He texted Sam in the morning: "I don't think I'll be able to make it today. It's probably best that way lol." He hated the message as soon as he sent it. It was very depressing.

He didn't expect an answer but one came: "That's okay but are you coming for the rest of the week?"

"Yes I'll be there." Oh, how he wanted to curl up into a ball forever. To comfort himself, he continued to watch the documentary on the BAU which he and his friends started. He was the most engrossed with that kind of stuff out of the three of them. It wasn't like he romanced horror or anything, like those American Horror Story lovers. He loved the idea of figuratively dissecting a person's brain and finding out the exact behavior, to be able to predict someone's next move, to scientifically guess where that person is hiding, and to be right! Well, most of the time.

He even knew the names of everyone on the team. Like Agent Aaron Hotchner, but it was usually shortened to "Hotch", and Agent Derek Morgan, usually called just "Morgan", and Agent Jennifer Jareau, who preferred to be called "JJ."

Spencer adored everyone on the team, but Hotch, Morgan, and JJ were his favorites. His all time favorite was Agent Jason Gideon, but after a particularly rough case, he disappeared without a trace. Spencer was rather sad that day and took a break from the BAU to watch some cartoons to cheer himself up.

He was on the season three finale when his bestie started blowing up his phone.

Corrine 12:03

"hey how was practice"

Spencer sighed and paused the show, knowing full-well he couldn't focus on two things at once.

Spencer 12:04

"Sucked ass"

Corrine 12:06

"kinky"

He smiled and shook his head. He could imagine her saying "kinky" in that deadpanned tone she usually had.

Corrine 12:08

"I wish I could've been there"

Spencer 12:09

"You really don't."

Corrine 12:12

"Oh?"

Spencer 12:15

"I'm easily the worst one on the team."

Corrine 12:16

"bet"

Spencer 12:17

"The freshmen are better than me."

Corrine 12:19

"there's freshys on varsity? Ouch."

Spencer 12:20

"Yeah"

He put the phone face-down on the armrest and unpaused his show. Agent Prentiss and Detective Cooper just chased one the unsubs into an alleyway. Cooper was shot down and Prentiss shot the unsub. He liked Prentiss, but he missed Elle a lot more than she could ever help.

Practice the next day started off pleasantly. Karl had greeted him right off the bat. Karl also had only started volleyball their senior year too.

"Spencer! Where were you yesterday?," he asked, genuinely curious.

"I was really sore and didn't wanna come," it wasn't technically a lie.

"Bro, I feel that. But I'm glad your back, man." That simple little comment boosted Spencer's confidence level to the point of him knowing he'd finish tryout week no matter what.

Warm-ups were a big pain in the ass though. Then there was Six Minutes Hell, which those bruises would last until the next week. Not to mention Kaeden nearly pelting a limb off of Spencer with the only warning of "DOWN." Then the end of Friday practice came before anyone realized and they were called out one by one.

"Spencer," the coach called into the gym, ominous clipboard in hand. Spencer grabbed his stuff and walked out the doors without so much as a wave goodbye. He knew he couldn't make varsity, which he was truly grateful for. The kids on the team, although considered popular, were in fact some of the biggest losers he had met. They vaped, they played Fortnite, and that very morning confessed to actually stealing from stores. Luther "finessed" new equipment, or so how he puts it. Spencer even suspected Sam of being an alcoholic. Sam said that junior prom was fun because he "got fucked up" that night. Spencer used to think the reason Sam enjoyed it so much was because he was prom king, but it was the mysterious after party.

Sam was a good person in Spencer's book, nonetheless. He was kind and genuinely cared about others. He lived in the moment and always gave off a positive vibe. Also, he was absolutely gorgeous, with his hypnotic, blue eyes and soft-looking, dirty-blond hair. His muscles were defined, his shoulders were broad, and his skin looked so invitingly soft.

That was an added bonus on trying out for volleyball. Those uniforms truly brought out the best assets of the other players. He wouldn't stare obviously; he wasn't perverted like Corrine. Or even how Nick was sometimes. But those chancing glances were the highlight of the day.

As one may be suspecting, yes, Spencer does like men, but he's bisexual: which means he likes both men AND women. He's also never actually had a boyfriend before (despite his attempts), and only had one girlfriend, who hilariously turned out to be his best friend and ex simultaneously. And that lucky girl would be Corrine.

It wasn't as awkward as some might imagine. It felt like they were always best friends, but with some experimental kissing. Besides the kisses, nothing actually changed after the breakup. They still found comfort in one another without any societal pressure of a relationship. Besides, Corrine was more lesbian than pan nowadays anyway.

Speak of the devil and devil shall appear, or so they say. A rhythmic buzzing vibrated through the whole couch. Spencer lazily struggled out of his cocoon of blankets and pillows and answered the Facetime call.

"Hey, Hot-stuff, how's it hanging?" A pale, smooth face came into view. It had navy blue lipstick on, winged eyeliner, and a piercing going diagonally through her eyebrow. Her straight, dyed hair covered the numerous earrings in both ears. The roots of her true blonde-colored hair hinted through the purple-tinted black.

"Oh, you know. Didn't make the team."

"Wait, what?"

"Yo! You got booted off the team, fam?," a familiar voice called through the phone but the owner could not be seen.

Spencer sighed, "Yes, Nicholas, I got 'booted off' the team."

"Sorry, bro."

"Hold on," Corrine put her hand up for emphasis, "What exactly did Coach Mike say?"

"Well, he said 'Thanks so much for trying out, great to have had you here' and then obviously he had to have mentioned me being a senior and this being the only year I tried out, and then he said 'I don't have a spot for you this year' and that was that."

"Fuck, Spence, that's rough."

"Wait, not even a space on JV?," it was kind of muffled, as if Nick was laying down.

"Not a space anywhere apparently," Spencer muttered, holding his chin in his hand.

"Aw, Spence. They'd be lucky to have you-"

"Hell, they're lucky you even tried," Nick interjected.

"And you got a lot more free time now so you can watch as much as you want of that creepy show of the FBI." Spencer smiled warmly at that.

"Oh, yeah! What was it called again? Criminal Case?"

"It's called Criminal Minds 'cause they put themselves in the mindsets of serial killers so they can catch them," Spencer geeked before catching himself.

"Oh. Cool."

"Very intelligent response from Nick as always," Corrine said as she focused the camera on Nick sprawled across his floor.

"Hi," he smiled wide. The blond tips to his mostly black hair blended in with the carpet. His camo-cargo pants made him pop out more than anything and his old Nirvana shirt was pushed up to reveal Nicholas was, again, playing with his belly-button hairs.

"Thanks for that guys. The image of Nick molesting his belly-button is now burned into my eyelids."

"It's not that weird! And stop saying molesting!"

"He is rather disturbing sometimes, huh?" Corrine remarked to Spencer. Nick threw a mock-glare her way, to which she responded with a simple tongue-out expression. "But hey, where's that nose piercing, huh?"

It took Spencer a moment to register to what she was referring to, but gave a very soft, "It's uh, in my room."

"Well, put it on, I wanna see."

He sighed but got up. He went into his room and attached the painted-gold ring to the side of his nose.

"Aw, look at that. You're such a stud."

"Ahhhh," Nick started, finger guns at the ready.

"Wasn't a pun, Nicholas."

"Awwww," he lowered his arms and settled for a slight pout at being shot down.

"Anyway," she turned back to Spencer, well, the phone, "Put on some eyeliner, we're picking you up."

"We are?," Nick asked softly, but was nudged with a bright red converse to be quiet.

"Yes, we are. We can't leave a friend to mope around all day. That's just not healthy. Be there in a few."

"Corrine, hold on-"

"See ya, byeee!" She hung up before Spencer got her attention. It was a shame really. He enjoyed moping around all day.

It was kind of refreshing to spend time with his friends after a depressing morning. They didn't actually leave his house, but Spencer got to stay in his pajamas the rest of the day so he didn't mention it. It was bliss.

Spencer boiled an egg for the first time by himself. Well, he did all the work while Corrine was questioning him about it and Nick was grabbing fist-fulls from the bag of Goldfish. He didn't bother draining the water and just left it all on the stove to cool down.

They migrated to the living room eventually and he let his guests pick out a show while he played minesweeper on his laptop. His mother got it for him for Christmas. Well, Chuck bought it from Best Buy, but Mom gave it to him. It was the thought that counted anyway.

Corrine surprisingly put on Criminal Minds, to which Spencer closed the laptop and gave the TV his undivided attention. It was one of the more disturbing episodes unfortunately. This one had to deal with satanism, with the markings and candles and all that other crap. These made him uneasy, especially with his beloved BAU handling the case.

What?

He can fangirl over them as much as he wants.

It's not like he'll ever get the chance to embarrass himself in front of them anyway.

AN: If you couldn't tell by how strangely specific some of this is, this actually happened to me. Not the whole friends-coming-over bit but everything else happened. Even the boiled egg. It wasn't that good. At least volleyball season finally ended and "Luther" and I are on good terms now because I gave her some stickers.

But anyway, I was thinking about having a murder in here and the BAU coming and Spencer freaking out because "Oh my god, they're all right there, holy shit holy shit." Wouldn't it be adorable?, but I suck at details. Also suck at titles. I guess I could just use an already used murder from an episode. Eh we'll see how the prologue does lol.