An Apprehension of Abandonment
Walker was reclining on Alex's couch. There was a small blanket on him. Alex felt a stab of pity as his gaze fell upon the man. He was ninety percent sure that Walker had been abandoned by whoever was in charge of him. Who let someone stay in what was technically an enemy's household? It had been ages. Well, more like a few months. Now, he wasn't the most sensitive guy in the universe, so there was the issue of how to bring it up. "Walker?"
Walker sat up. The man looked a little bit rumpled. Alex was pretty sure that he'd fallen asleep on the couch again. "Yes, Alex?"
Alex let out a sigh. This was awkward. He was starting to understand why his teachers had always been a touch hesitant to address the whole Ian thing. "Has, uh, anyone contacted you?"
Walker folded his arms. That didn't bode well. There was the faintest hint of a scowl on his face. "Yes."
Right. Well, he wasn't going to question that too hard. "Have they given you a new place to meet up?"
Walker gave him a mild stink eye. Okay, he was failing at the whole not putting people on the defensive part of this equation. "No."
Alex was unsure of what to tell Walker. Being abandoned was hard to show people and hard to talk about. Plus, it took a bit to realize that nobody was coming for you the first few times. "Okay. Well, I guess you can keep on staying, given that you're paying rent and all."
Walker shrugged. Alex inhaled. "Don't worry about it, kid. I'll get picked up eventually."
Alex sincerely doubted that. It was probably going to take Walker some more time to realize. He turned away before his expression of pity showed. Poor man. Right. What had Jack done to cheer him up while Ian was away or after MI6 missions? Alex doubted that cake would have the same effect on Walker as eight-year-old Alex. Time to do homework and brainstorm.
Alex had not come up with any ideas by the time he finished his ridiculous amount of homework. He was almost caught up and that said a lot, given the fact that he'd attended about two weeks of school so far that year and they were well into the academic year. Walker was good about looking after him.
"Alex?"
Alex turned to see Walker. The man was leaning in his doorway. "Mhm?"
The man slinked towards him. Alex felt him loom over his shoulders. "How's the homework?"
Alex wrinkled his nose. Walker could check his normal-person homework and probably his assassin homework now that they had actual internet access. "I finally got caught up on everything but history."
Walker began rubbing his shoulders. Alex leaned into the touch and looked up. "I think it's break time."
Alex was moderately amused at that. Walker was normally the one hustling him towards his homework. "You know, if you want movie time every night, you could just say so."
Walker's hand ran through his hair. Alex blew the mussed strands out of his eyes. "Where would the fun in that be?"
Alex rolled his eyes. Walker was exasperating sometimes. "I dunno, Walker. Has your ass ever heard of including other people in your social plans? I don't read minds."
Walker lightly shoved him. Alex pushed back. "Well, it's not like the other two are around right now, so your schedule looks wide open to me."
Alex flipped Walker off. Why was he even concerned about that asshole? He got up from his desk and stretched. Walker steered him towards the living room.
Alex was scooped up and placed on the couch. A blanket was placed on him. "What's that for?"
Walker grinned. "The trauma."
Alex fixed him with a flat look. "I don't think it's working."
Walker put another blanket on him. Alex felt his lips twitching. "That just means you need more blankets."
Alex was soon covered in about nine blankets. Walker was looking super smug. "See, the blankets help."
Alex rolled his eyes. Walker huffed and sat down next to him. It was movie time. "Popcorn."
Alex looked at Walker. He was a bit trapped at the moment. "I would get it, but I seem to be buried in nine blankets being weighed down by about three hundred pounds of man."
Walker squawked indignantly. This was going to be fun. "Excuse you, I don't even weigh two hundred!"
Alex snorted loudly. He knew that, but winding Walker up was far too much fun. "Mhm. Keep telling yourself that, Walker. I guess being mutantly tall does have benefits, like a wider weight range to pass Yermalov's-"
Alex yelped as Walker started tickling him. Walker was grinning. "You're a little shit."
Alex gave Walker his most innocent look. The man started laughing. "But you like me anyway!"
Walker kept laughing for a few minutes. Alex was being held in place. Walker bopped his nose. "Now, you're gonna stay here and I'm going to get the popcorn."
Alex grinned as Walker headed towards the kitchen to make the popcorn. It was the kind you made in a pan on the stove. It would be a few minutes. He was enjoying his makeshift cocoon. Walker had picked the fluffiest blankets in the house. "Popcorn."
Alex was gently handed a bowl with delicious popcorn in it. He gave Walker a pleading look. "Can we have coke?"
Walker looked amused. Alex pouted at him. "No, you already had your soda for the week."
The treachery. Ah, well. He could always give Walker sorrowful looks during the movie. Walker sat down next to him and hit play.
Alex leaned against Walker as the closing credits rolled in. He still had no idea what to do about the whole Walker being abandoned thing. Walker was next to him, the heat seeping through the blankets. He ran a hand down the man's bicep. "Are you sure you're good?"
Walker ruffled his hair. He gave Alex a half-grin. "Don't worry, kid. I'm always good."
Alex closed his eyes and exhaled. Ah, well. He'd be here for the inevitable revelation.
Fin
Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 207th work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection. We have an index of all the prompts used in this event so far and going forwards - join the discord to get access to the online index (and to take part in our events, chat about everything and anything, and meet a load of awesome people!