A Suspicion of Shadiness


John Crawley was starting to receive concerning reports. Alex Rider suddenly had a lot of new and expensive items. His teachers had filed several safeguarding reports about it. Not to mention, John was unaware of a single second cousin that Ian had ever maintained contact with. John wasn't even sure Ian and John hadsecond cousins. Nonetheless, it fell on him to investigate. Which was why he was at Alex's house at four in the afternoon.

"Crawley. You're lucky I don't gut you after the stunt you pulled with Wimbledon."

Crawley rolled his eyes. Alex let him in with a scowl. "Relax, we just want to ask you a few questions about your life."

Alex looked at him with an arched brow and an expression he normally wore before snarking Blunt. This was going to be so much fun. Not. "Oh, now you care about my quality of life."

John sat down in the living room. It looked almost the same as it had when Ian had been alive. Then again, you couldn't expect a teen to remodel on his own. "Look, Alex. Certain things about your life are looking a little bit fishy. We're concerned about you."

John was going to ignore the mocking hand motions Alex was making. At least they were skipping the pleasantries. Crawley wasn't one for drinking tea while discussing potential grooming behaviors.

"Riiight. Okay, spit it out."

Crawley cleared his throat. Alex looked fairly annoyed. "Your teachers have filed several safeguarding reports-"

"For me missing school? About bloody time."

Crawley fixed him with a look. Alex flushed slightly. "As I was saying, safeguarding reports about your new electronics and lifestyle. It's a little concerning when a mysterious second cousin of dubious relations shows up and begins massive amounts of gift-giving."

Alex folded his arms. He didn't look particularly happy about this. "My cousin is a perfectly good relative."

Crawley rolled his eyes. Look, he knew teens were gullible to this kind of shit. That was why they were having this lovely little chat. "A perfectly good relative who takes you to the most expensive theaters in the country once a week, buys you expensive electronics, and takes you out to dinner frequently?"

Alex let out a huffing noise. This was going so well. Not. "He's got the money and he wants to get to know me."

Crawley would admit that the family tended to be pretty successful. John and Ian both had earned exceedingly well. Helen had worked at a private hospital and her salary wasn't exactly to be scoffed at either. "Okay, well. We're going to move on."

Alex rolled his eyes at him. Crawley felt like this was a valuable use of both of their time. Not. "Has your cousin, erm, Wellrick? Really?! Anyway, has Wellrick done anything that makes you uncomfortable? Anything that might be suspicious that he asked you to keep a secret?"

Alex was opening a pack of chewing gum. He popped a piece into his mouth. "Uh, no."

Crawley let out a sigh. He clasped his hands. "Do you think he might be a plant? Either Scorpia or foreign intelligence, mind you. This is a fairly typical strategy."

Alex gave him an exasperated look. "I don't think he's a plant, no."

Crawley was ready to close this lovely little meeting up. It was going to be fun to write this report. "Alright. I'm telling you right now that Wellrick is dodgy. Now, if he does do something unfortunate, here's my number. We'll take care of it."

Alex eyed him suspiciously but took the card. Crawley let out a sigh and got up. Well, the ball was in his court now, Crawley had tried.

Walker stepped out of the shadows when he was certain that Crawley was gone. Alex was still looking extremely offended. "You should keep his number. He's great in the field. And he did just offer to help you."

Alex wondered how Walker managed to say things so silkily. Probably one of those things they taught you in social science degrees or something. Politicians had to get it from somewhere. "Fiiiine."

Walker sat down next to him. Alex put a pillow over his face and groaned. "Are you going to make it over there?"

Alex leaned back on the couch. Walker poked him. "Adults are annoying. I'm out 'sick' for like eight thousand school days and it's the new computer that gets everyone alarmed."

Walker grinned at him. Alex huffed a little bit. "People tend to focus on the flashier stuff. The crap Blunt came out with about your nonexistent autoimmune disorder is just on the side of plausible. Nobody wants to ask for an investigation and then it turns out that's exactly what's going on. All new electronics from an all-new supposed relative is something they can report. Your teachers may very well have been looking for an excuse to send in very well-documented issues that they can safely complain about in terms of office politics."

Alex made a noise in the back of his throat. Walker ruffled his hair. "Try to relax. They mean well."

Alex gave Walker a look of utter exasperation. Walker looked far too amused for Alex's tastes. "Adults are the worst."

Walker poked him. Alex swatted him on the hand. "You like me."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because you're not a prehistoric killjoy."

Walker raised an eyebrow. "I thought I was ancient?"

Alex stuck his tongue out at him. "Yeah, ancient, not prehistoric. There are a couple of thousand years of difference there, Walker."

Walker stared down at the teen leaning against him. "You're a hopeless nerd, you realize. I don't know how you've managed to score even one date."

Alex shoved him playfully. Walker shoved him right back. "That's because I'm a fun-loving theater kid and not a hopeless history dork!"

Walker threw a couch pillow and hit Alex in the head. The couch pillow sailed past him as he ducked the responding throw. Alex grinned and ran for the other set of cushions as Walker threw another couch cushion at him. The next one was a direct hit to the center of Walker's back.


Fin


Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 211th 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!