It was a hot, sunny Tuesday, the kind of heat that made you sweat in an air conditioned room and ensured that everyone, even the teachers, were breaking the dress code and wearing tank tops and sandals, the girls in short shorts to boot.
A lunch break in which only few braved the heat and played in the sun while the rest hid in shade and tried to gather their strength for the subsequent classes passed slowly and torturously. When the bell rang it was with sighs and exhalations of relief that many went inside to air conditioned classrooms.
Mr. Tom Harris, Tom to his friends and Mr. Harris to his students, looked fresh and cool in his argyle turtleneck sweater and heavy cotton slacks. He had the thermostat set to 50 degrees, determined not to have to take off the sweater or show off his legs.
"Mr. Harris, why isn't there anything written on the board for today's lesson?" Sadie asked as she entered the classroom, eyes having gone straight to the board as per usual. Tom sat down on the tall stool before the desks in his classroom.
"Because, Sadie, I have a surprise for everyone today. So if you would kindly sit at your desk and just wait, that would be perfect." Tom replied with a polite smile. The girl shrugged and did as bade, thumping to her desk and collapsing at her desk with absolutely no grace, bag falling into place beside her on the ground.
Other students trickled in slowly after that, complaining about the heat outside and sighing with relief as they passed the threshold into Tom's classroom. More students noticed the blank board and asked questions to be told the same thing that Sadie was.
The final bell rang for all students to be in class and Tom looked over the students before him, there were a couple missing but they'd be in soon, stumbling through the doorway with excuses and impish smiles.
"Good afternoon, class." Tom jumped off the stool and clasped his hands behind his back, smiling as the class echoed the sentiment back. "Some of you noticed that the board is blank today and I would like to say first that yes you will have homework." There were a multitude groans and a single, whispered 'yay!'.
"But, Mr. Harris," Sadie's brows were furrowed in consternation as she piped up and Tom held up a hand.
"Quiet, please, it will all make sense." He said an unspoken maybe running through his thoughts. It was a bit of a risky thing he was about to do. Sure, he had the approval of the principal and, somehow, MI6 (someone somewhere in the ranks owed Alex a favor) to do this, but there were so many things that could go wrong.
But he'd decided to do it and he'd been preparing himself mentally for it all day. "For the lesson today, we will be having a guest speaker." Tom finally gathered up his courage and said it. There. He couldn't go back now. The classroom buzzed with sudden life.
"Who?" "Why?" "Mr. Harris I need to go pee!" "I bet it's Mr. Harris' gay lover." "Mr. Harris is gay?" "Bathroom!"
"Quiet please!" Tom didn't yell, but his voice certainly rose and the students fell silent but for a few whispers. "Jim, you can go to the bathroom, but next time I'd like it if you would consider going at lunch break." Jim thanked him and ran out. Tom turned to the rest of the class, "Do none of you have self-control? Sadie, I would appreciated it if you wouldn't spread rumors about my sexual orientation, Kip stop believing everything she says and in answer to Kate's question of why: we're finishing up our section on war, crimes and intelligence agencies so I'm having someone come in to speak with everyone about spies, criminal organizations and everything that goes with."
Sadie just couldn't keep her mouth shut. "Is it a spy, Mr. Harris?" she asked excitedly, without raising her hand. "Is the spy your gay lover?" Tom stared at her for a blank few second before sighed and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Sadie, if you keep spreading rumors like that I swear I will…" he trailed off, narrowing his eyes at the grinning student.
"Will what? Mr. Harris, you'll do what?" her eyes sparked with challenge and Tom just ignored the question, eye twitching, and turned his attention back to the rest of the class as a whole again.
"Why don't we let our guest speaker tell you who he is and what he does?" he smiled and moved to sit at his desk. There was an apprehensive silence, breaths caught and jaws tightened in anticipation.
Then the door opened. "Um, excuse me is this Mr. Harris' classroom?" Alex poked his blond head round the door and caught sight of Tom at the desk. "Ah, it is. Good, good." The door opened wider and he stepped in, smiling at the class, all of whom were staring with slack jaws.
"Hello, then," Alex gave a little wave and the class just blinked at him. Tom stifled a snicker and Alex's eye darted over to him before focusing back in on the students mass. "My name is Alex Rider. I was actually a student here, myself. Great to see that everyone is as well-behaved as I remember." Something about his casual attitude and dazzling smile cut through whatever spell the students were in and there were a couple giggles.
A hand shot into the air. "Mr. Rider, my name is Sadie and I have a really important question for you, well, two really but the other isn't so important." No surprise there, Tom sighed. He was going to get one of the little pipes that native people in the Amazon had that shot little poison darts one of these days. Just for her.
Alex's smile didn't twitch and he nodded. "Please, ask away." Tom stared at him then at Sadie, who was grinning like the cat that got the cream. No, don't ask away. Please, God, don't ask away.
"Why are you the guest speaker? Like, who are you, not in name but what have you done to warrant yourself a place at the front of the classroom to talk about war and intelligence agencies and criminal acts? You know?" Tom stared at Sadie in shock. A good question? The hell?
Alex laughed a little. "Oh me? No reason really," he said. "Me and Mr. Harris, we went to school together and when he heard what I've been up to in the past 6 or so years he asked me if I could do this sometime. That's the 'why' answer, and the 'who'? Well, that's a mighty long story so I'll just give a little summary: I worked for MI6, one of the British intelligence agencies, for a while in my past and while I worked for them I got pretty well acquainted with a few of the more notable terrorist organizations."
The class 'ooh'd and Sadie's eyes sparkled. Tom felt a drop of sweat completely unrelated to the heat form at his hairline and dribble down his face, getting to the tip of his nose before he wiped it away.
"So…you've known Mr. Harris for a while, then?" she asked, a big, suspicious smile spreading over her face.
"Yeah, I would certainly say so, was that your second question?" Was Alex always so damn oblivious to the danger of certain allowances? Like allowing the chatterbox extraordinaire to ask questions that seemed innocent, but could damage all the pride a person had. Tom resisted a head to desk maneuver that would get him out of the classroom with a concussion.
Sadie shook her head, "No, no. My second question is: Are you Mr. Harris' gay lover?" laughter erupted from the students around Sadie and Tom's head inched down.
Alex's smile grew and the corners of his eyes crinkled with mirth. "Well, Sadie, I was told not to say anything about anything that could endanger Mr. Harris' private life." A collective groan of disappointment echoed. Alex held up a finger, he wasn't finished yet. "But, I think it would be safe to say that Mr. Harris is, indeed, porking me."
Tom shot up in his chair and stared at Alex with wide, shocked eyes. "No that isn't tru-"
"Tom! Tom wake up!" a voice boomed through the classroom and Tom woke up with a shriek. "Tom, were you having a nightmare? You were whimpering pathetically." Tom rubbed at his eyes and looked at his rescuer. Brown eyes met his blue ones worriedly.
"Alex, don't ever, ever come to speak at my school as a guest speaker. Please." He pleaded. Eyebrows rose in intrigue and a worried frown became a smile.
"Ah, that one again? Tom, why don't you just tell your class that you're gay, and dating a spy? I think they'd be impressed. Mr. Harris? Dating a spy?" A laugh followed and Tom grinned, sitting up and moving to straddle the spy he leaned in close so his whisper could be heard.
"Your jokes suck." A chuckle rumbled and hands linked together behind Tom's back, pulling him closer.
"They only suck as mu-" his words were cut off by Tom pressing their mouths together, effectively swallowing all words that would have followed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider. If wishes were horses, beggars would have a lot to eat and all that jazz.
Hey look! I'm back!
This was going to be the ending of a long oneshot Alex/Tom that I'm currently working strenuously on, but I didn't want it in the end. I also didn't want to just delete it, it's half-decent, so I thought: Hey, why not make up for the non-updating status of 'Great Companion'?
And so thusly: this.
In the oneshot Tom teaches High School English where he and Alex went. I shan't say more...but I want to...I won't. Take that urges.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the admittedly short length of this!
-Fridgeworks