Things Not Considered: chapter 2
A/N: So I was told by a couple friends that Tom and Alex displayed a hilarious homosexual undertone in chapter 1, and while I don't have anything against gays (don't worry you keyboard warrior tumblr sjw's) Tom and Alex aren't gay so let's just keep it at that (after all, this is a canon story and not some forced teen girl projection slash fic). I had no idea it could've implied that though.
Also, the flat bond girl Sabina characterization fuckin' blows. I'm going to try to keep the confident female base but jfc I can't write a story with Horowitz's limited Sabina characterization.
Also, I just want to say that the amount of missions that Anthony Horowitz made Alex do is insane if only a year went by. According to the books, Alex was 14, and he just turned 15 for the last mission or two, which could be possible but it doesn't match up with his skills and strength. Obviously Alex starts at 14 but having him age to 17 (summer before senior year) seems reasonable for all the fucking shit Alex has gone through, and the numerous missions he has done. Sometimes Horowitz did well but sometimes he just did not give a fuck.
Just to make this shit longer, here's a song that tonally matches the chapter for the most part. /DBJfHuyGpsI?t=20m42s the song is Pallbearer – The Legend. Good song. This isn't a Taylor Swift inspired story (how Swift inspires anyone's fanfic is beyond me).
Alex and Tom caught up. There was a lot that Alex had missed. Tom decided he would go to University and Alex sighed a breath of relief that he wasn't going to follow his brother's footsteps.
"I don't know what schools would want me, but the Headmaster said that if I applied myself and still took to being captain of the football team, I could—"
Alex really was interested in what Tom had to say, but he didn't know how to bring it up less painfully.
"Tom, I'm moving to America" blurted out Alex. Tom, midsentence and mid-gesture, froze and turned his head away from the street the café was facing.
"What did you say?"
"I'm moving to America, Tom. To California. With Sabina and her family. I leave in a couple days. I know," said Alex, putting a soft hand up as Tom looked ready to retort, "MI6 just arranged this, and it just so happens Mr. Pleasure is in London now," he finished. Alex dropped his eyes to his hands and hung his head. "I like America, and it was okay for the small time I wasn't being used by the CIA, but…"
Alex sighed in resignation. "I just…I don't know. Usually I can pull myself out of situations and I was kept busy after Uncle Ian died, but now…now I just don't even care. America could be great, but without Jack, it's not the same. It'll never be the same."
"You still fancy Sabina a bit, don't ya?" said Tom offhandedly. Alex looked up and stared at Tom, and Tom's eyes went wide and he stammered. "I, you, I'm sorry, I wasn't even thinking…shite."
Alex swore softly. "I didn't even think about that. I don't know though, Tom. We'll see. I don't think I'm ready for much of anything, much less /that/ at any rate."
Tom looked at Alex with sad eyes. "I guess this is it then. The last time we'll be together. Well, at least we know I'm a much better striker," he said with a cheeky grin on his face. He hoped Alex would crack a smile.
After a long pause, Alex drew in a deep breath and smiled.
"Oy, don't you remember the shootout when I saved your arse and won us the match? I think I'm better than you, Tom."
They reminisced over their time at Brookland and Alex laughed for the first time since he could recently remember. He felt good; Tom was his best mate, and it hurt to realize he wouldn't see him for a long time, but this felt normal, and that's all what Alex ever wanted, he finally realized.
After a long pause, Alex heard a sniffle. Tom had his head down but Alex had his suspicions.
"Tom, are you okay?"
Tom was slightly hunched over, leaning on the table with his elbows; he looked up at Alex, and leaned back in his chair, rubbed his nose, and sighed.
"It's just that…we were great friends and even with you away for weeks at a time, we stayed best mates. I know you need to go to America, and it's probably for the best, but there's only one Alex Rider, ya know?" Tom said. Alex opened his mouth but Tom put his hand up and stopped him. "I know, internet and phone is what you're about to say, but we both really know what happens when friends move."
Alex closed his mouth and slowly nodded, casting his gaze at the table. "Yeah, I know."
Alex stared at the Virgin Atlantic desk and smirked. Plane rides haven't mixed all that well with him, of course.
Scanning the area like he always did, he picked Edward Pleasure out of the crowd before Mr. Pleasure could spot him. Alex held up a hand and Mr. Pleasure located him and smiled, making his way toward Alex.
"Hello Mr. Pleasure."
"Alex, it's been too long" Mr. Pleasure said, walking up to Alex (who got up to greet him) and pulling him into a gentle hug. To be honest, Alex didn't know what to expect when he would meet Mr. Pleasure, but this was definitely out of the ordinary for him; the last time he was hugged was by Jack, and that memory drove another dagger into Alex, but he just hugged Mr. Pleasure back, finding it oddly comforting. They both withdrew and sat down. Alex released a big sigh, and Mr. Pleasure glanced to his left and observed him.
A huge swath of silence created a void between the two, and Alex just looked at the ground the whole time, looking lost and devoid of emotion.
Mr. Pleasure decided to break the ice. "I can't imagine the things you're feeling, but we both know time is the only way to heal this wound. I can't pretend that even my own mum dying would compare to this, but if there's anything I learned to do over the years, it's that talking about it helps," Mr. Pleasure said, looking at Alex with the corner of his mouth raised wryly.
Alex looked at him, then looked on. They sat in silence for a bit.
"I just don't know what to do," he admitted. Alex was not one for tears, and he wouldn't succumb now. With a harsh breath, he continued. "I know things won't be the same, but I don't know a life outside of London, or MI6 really. It just seems like life was always on hold, and now I don't know what that life is anymore."
Mr. Pleasure turned toward Alex and put his hand on his shoulder, giving him a fatherly look. Alex felt uncomfortable under it, as though he couldn't escape. "You're in control of your life. Never forget that. You showed me that when you went after Damian Cray, and when you saved Sabina and me from drowning in Scotland. I know it's hard, but you can start over; more importantly, you can trust Elizabeth and me. And I daresay Sabina will be happy to see you," he finished with a brief knowing smile.
After a moment, Alex let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. "Thanks Mr. Pleasure. I–," Alex hesitated. He didn't want to say he didn't trust anyone, but wasn't that the case? He only trusted Jack and Tom. Right? Even Sabina didn't trust him for a while, and look what happened to her…oh. She ended up trusting him with her life. Which gave him pause. What is Alex but someone who trusts very few people? 'Fuck', he thought. This is going to be more difficult than he thought.
"I trust you. I'm sorry if I'm being difficult," Alex says, showing his reserved attitude towards the whole situation with his small hand gestures. He's been shot and tortured for god sakes, why couldn't he get a grip on himself? "It's just that this is all very new to me."
"Don't worry, it's new to all of us. But we'll make the best of it," Mr. Pleasure said easily. He looked at the window by the gate and suddenly stood up. Alex immediately scanned the area for any suspicious characters, but the gate doors swung open and he realized the plane had come, hastily standing up and grabbing the backpack he brought with him.
When I sat down next to Alex, I felt rather than saw Alex. Who wouldn't? We didn't talk for I'm not sure how long, but I gleaned enough from the ensuing silence that this was going to more difficult for him than I expected. He didn't say too much about his guardian (Jack was her name I think) and I honestly thought he was moving around so much that he did not have a bond with anybody. On one hand, I am glad he had that motherly figure in his life, but it just made life that much crueler when a second person dies and they're once again a parental figure. No parent, no purpose, and no home. Life certainly was cruel to Alex. I wonder what happened when his uncle died.
I tried so hard not to look at Alex. I knew I had to be this inevitable father figure (which I was up to the task of), but what do I do now? What do I say? Should I just let it be silent? Does he resent me? I certainly hope not, and he didn't seem that way on the phone.
How could anyone be a father figure to him? I don't know what he went through over the past couple of years, but I doubt he trusts anyone from the snippets I've overheard Alex and Sabina talk about. Damian bloody Cray showed me that. Which reminded me of how Sabina subtly changed as the whole Cray incident and moving to America happened. She changed towards the more serious and focused. But how would Alex act now…this is getting too complicated. I thought of something to say to get the ball rolling, and decided whatever happens, happens.
Alex and Edward landed in New York for their connection to San Francisco. They came through customs and Edward confirmed to the customs agent that they would be taking a United Airlines connection to San Francisco. "That's it," Alex thought. The British to American airline company switch made him realize that he always had London to call home whenever he was sent overseas. But now, he sadly noted, he had no idea when he'd be back in London again, and he was afraid to admit it would probably be many years before he did.
They had an hour in between flights. La Guardia was huge and daunting to Alex, even though Heathrow was large as well. Just being in America permanently made everything a bit more overwhelming. Alex was walking but too engrossed in his thoughts to keep up; just as he came to, Edward matched his pace on Alex's left side, put his hand on his right shoulder, and steered him through the crowd to the gate. Alex started a bit and looked up, but Edward was looking forward and focusing getting them across the airport to their connection.
It felt comforting.
"Alex? Hey, Alex?" asked an inquisitive soft female voice. Alex failed at grasping who was speaking because he was clearly in the middle of biking home, desperate to get to Jack lest she leave the flat. The voice was familiar, yet it was a bit out of place given that he's blazing down the road and bracing for a hard right turn. "What the hell does she want, I am clearly busy at the moment" he thought. He was being shaken, and he hesitantly opened his eyes, blinked a couple times, only to settle on a pair of concerned blue eyes.
"You're home, Alex!" she said, excitedly but with an edge of apprehensiveness. After all, Alex looked confused. "Oh shite, its Sabina," Alex thought. "What a fuckin' dream, that was." Gently tugging on his elbow, Sabina looked eager to get him moving, to which Alex felt he was not exactly keen on sharing that feeling. Alex leaned forward and tried to set himself up to leave the car. Sabina leaned in to help him out, placing a hand on his elbow to help him.
"Dad said you were knocked out the minute you sat in the car." Alex looked at her, try to grin through his drowsiness (which came out more like a grimace to Sabina) and gingerly scooted and stepped out of the passenger's seat of Mr. Pleasure's BMW X5. It was a 4x4 3.0 Liter diesel Turbo M series, which Alex felt none of because he was of course cycling the streets of London.
Sabina let her hand slide off his elbow, gave Alex a look over to make sure we wasn't about to keel over as Alex yawned and stretched. He took a look around: it was sunny, looked as though it was 4 PM but the jet lag made him unsure what time it really was. The house looked large, and so did the yard. It was a wealthy neighborhood, which made sense because Edward was an in demand writer and journalist here and abroad. He couldn't think much though as his exhaustion had only been delayed until he could find a real bed.
He finished yawning and gave a quick up down of Sabina as well. She dressed less loudly than she did back home, even though she was wearing comfortable home clothes. Her hair was in a simple ponytail, and she seemed a bit less overt in presentation than he remembered her to be back home. Her eyes were just as bright though. Something had changed, but he hoped it was for the better. He was a teenage boy, so of course he saw her supple amounts of flesh in the chest area. "Oh alright, her boobs looked nice" Alex mentally huffed (his imagination was asked for feedback but said no comment, which only means one thing).
His eyes settled on her nose, which made Sabina blush and sent her eyes down with a small smile playing on her lips. Alex was giving a small smile too, and they silently ended the moment mutually, with Sabina and Alex starting towards the back hatch of the car.
"I'm sure you're worn out, but if there's one thing I know, I know you're hungry, so we made something for you Dad." Sabina said as they lugged the few bags Alex brought home to the house.
"Thanks, although I'm not too hungry so I'll at a little bit." Alex softly replied, looking forward as they approached the front door. Sabina gave a quick unnoticed sideways glance of concern.
Unbeknownst to Alex, it was actually 9 AM as the Pleasures sat at the kitchen table in the absence of him. He ate the toast that Mrs. Pleasure put in front of him ("you must eat Alex, you'll be asleep for hours and you need the food") but quickly traipsed to bed ("upstairs, second door to your left, Edward already put your bags in your room").
Edward had given few details to Elizabeth and Sabina, but he managed to draw the story out of Alex, relaying it to them as delicately as possible. Sabina had put on a horrified expression for most of his story, and Elizabeth was looking down at the table, shaking her head as Edward spoke softly of how Alex was in Cairo and forced to kill in cold blood and watch Jack die in the same day. He left out the more than mildly disturbing revelation that Alex's demi-clone had existed, let alone the rest of the fuckery that ensued.
"Dad…I don't know what to say. How horrible," lamented Sabina, with Elizabeth silently expressing the same.
"He hasn't been eating well either. Barely wanted more than a few bites to eat in New York, and I managed to get him to eat a medium fries from McDonald's, fortunately." Edward rubbed his forehead and sighed. "I think we should just have him sleep as much as he can for the time being. I can't imagine he slept much in England."
Elizabeth put her hand on Edward's hand that was on the table, and looked at Sabina. "Your father has taken off work for a couple of days. Can you make sure you stay home for the next few days? I know you already want to keep Alex company, but I just want to make sure you do. Alex needs to feel at home now more than ever."
A/N: Sorry for the 4 month delay. I have the normal excuses of school and stuff but I just couldn't think of anything. I have all of chapter 3 planned out so I should finish writing that a lot faster than this one. People say that many chapters should be written in advance, but this isn't Harry Potter where there are a ton of stories. I wanted to share my stuff quickly because Alex Rider doesn't have the relevancy post-series that other books do.
BIG shout out to the followers and reviewers. I didn't expect the feedback but thanks for leaving feedback and believing in what I'm trying to do with the story. It really helped.