Seeing the Sites

James Sprintz was bored. London was awful. His mother's friends were even worse. They were just so boring. James wasn't sure they even had hobbies. If they did, it was probably shopping or something. Technically, his father had full custody of him. He had never asked why but assumed it was severe because the courts would rarely grant the father sole custody. Then again, James had never seen his mom remotely sober. That was probably it.

Thankfully, he remembered that he had exactly one friend in London. James raised his hand and banged on the door. He beamed as Alex opened the door looking somewhat annoyed. The annoyance vanished from his face.

"James."

James grinned and pulled Alex into a hug. Perfect. Somebody sane and his age. Alex gently patted him on the back. "Alex. Good to see you."

Alex released him and invited him in. James padded along behind him. The house was pretty cozy. It felt a lot homier than his father's or mother's house. Then again, his father had one of those disgusting houses full of white everything. "What brought you to London?"

James shrugged. Alex leaned back against the wall. Spies. James put on a slightly pouty face as he answered Alex. "Well, my mom lives here, but she's doing one of those boring adult business parties right now."

This seemed to satisfy the other boy. Alex opened the fridge and handed him a Coca-Cola. James grinned. Sugar. Delicious sugar. "Thanks."

Alex ran a hand through his hair. James watched as it fluffed right back up as he grabbed the water pitcher. Alex poured them both glasses of cold water. "Have you seen the sights around here?"

James paused mid-drink. He put the soda down. Time to poke the British person. It was his favorite sport besides skiing. "What sights?"

Alex made a scoffing noise. James took a drink to hide his smirk. That had been far too easy. His friend looked almost offended. "There's the British Museum."

James rolled his eyes. "That doesn't sound fun."

Alex glared at him. James was honestly enjoying getting glared at. He could live with looking like a cultureless heathen. "They have golden statues and dinosaur bones."

James shrugged. He couldn't back down now. "Okay, that doesn't sound too bad."

Alex folded his arms and rolled his eyes. The look he was getting was deliciously scathing. James lived for disappointed looks. "Don't fall over yourself in excitement. How about Buckingham Palace?"

James froze slightly. Weren't the royal family billionaires? He wasn't sure he wanted to visit a nutty house after Point Blank. Besides, he'd already seen way too many castles in Germany. His father had droned on about him needing to be cultured or something. James had mostly gone along with it for one-on-one time with his dad. Alex waved a hand in front of his face.

"We'll go with no for that, then."

James smiled at him. Alex gently tapped him on the shoulder. James jumped. "There's the Tower of London. You can see a bunch of torture equipment and the Crown Jewels. There are also special ravens."

James perked up. That sounded much better than the other two options. "Treasure and torture. Say no more!"

Alex rolled his eyes. James grinned. He was very cute. Plus, he didn't put up with James' shit just because he had money. Alex made sure that, on no uncertain terms, James knew when he disapproved of his actions.

James watched him pick up the phone to buy tickets. He could pay for those. Especially since he just turned up on Alex's doorstep with no warning. Plus, Alex was middle class and not disgustingly rich.

"I'll be right back."

Luck was on his side since Alex left his phone unlocked. Alex went for what looked like the hall bathroom. James eyed the ticket prices. Those weren't hideous, but they weren't that cheap either. He glanced around before picking up Alex's phone and entering his credit card information. James just finished paying for the ticket and sending them to his and Alex's email by the time the bathroom door opened. "Don't worry, I bought the tickets."

Alex gave him an insulted look. James felt another thrill go down his spine. This was far too much fun. "Thank you, James."

The British boy made it sound simultaneously sincere and sarcastic. James wasn't sure how Alex pulled it off. He grinned as Alex walked towards the door. "Do you have a spare raincoat?"

Alex slowly turned towards him. James continued sunnily beaming as Alex picked up a bright pink umbrella and handed it to him. "It's my loaner umbrella. I want it back after."

James took it without batting an eye. It was still better than his dad forcing him to wear suits at school sporting events. Besides, it was Alex. James noticed that he was occasionally just mean on purpose. "Sure thing."

Alex gave him an incredibly skeptical look. Honestly, James didn't blame him. He smiled at Alex. He got a very stern look. "I mean it."

James followed him out the door after he pulled on a surprisingly stylish-looking raincoat. James wanted one of those, thank you. It was a nice navy blue and it didn't destroy his figure with bulk. Plus, it looked suitably dramatic when you put it on. Maybe he could convince his dad to get it for him? It was a "classy" enough look. "Where'd you get that?"

Alex shrugged. "Just something Jack picked out with Ian for me."

James barely resisted a pout. He just needed one look at the tag. They continued towards the train station. "Are you going to let me pay for train tickets?"

Alex stopped in his tracks. Looked at him. And smacked his hand down. "No."

James pouted. Oh, come on. He had one friend here and he didn't even want James' money. Awful. What was the point of being rich if nobody let you throw money at them?

Alex offered him a hand as they arrived at the entrance of the London underground. James took it. The skies might be gray, but James' day was already looking much better than it had started.

Fin

Based on a prompt by mediaboy (see story summary). This is the 298th 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!