Disclaimer: I don't own any characters blah blah blah owned by Anthony Horowitz blah blah blah don't sue me.
Summary: Some rules are meant to be followed. Others were made to be broken. John decided the rule of not writing about his ordeals was one of the latter. Years later, Alex finds a notebook in the attic and decides he needs to know what it means. His decision changes a lot.
Slight AU (Alternative Universe), characters acting slightly OOC (Out Of Character).
'Cause you're a Natural
Chapter 4
Events started to speed up once Alex raced home. He had a language and a word. It would be easy but time-consuming and tedious to buy an English-Russian dictionary and translate every word individually. Instead, he waited, and his patience was rewarded almost three weeks later after dinner when Ian decided it was time for his subsequent language.
A new language meant a new country to visit during school holidays for an immersive learning experience. Before, he picked the language based on how much he wanted to see the country - it was a happy coincidence the language was easy to pick up (1). Now, he had a better reason.
"I'd like to learn Russian," Alex stated.
He'd been anticipating Jack's reaction - he usually came to her before making his final decision, and he hadn't mentioned an interest in Russian to her - but he wasn't expecting Ian to start choking on his tea. Jack gave Ian a few hard slaps on the back, which seemed to help. After Ian recovered, he stared at Alex like he'd never seen him before - a highly unusual occurrence, as he thought Ian was better most of the time at hiding his emotions.
Then again, Alex didn't know what was racing through his Uncle's head.
(Russian? RUSSIAN? Why? Does he know something? He can't… he doesn't. That's not his fishing-for-information face. Which means he's serious. He wants to learn Russian. How will I swing this by Blunt? How will we be able to get into the country? How will we be able to get out of the country? What if the FSB finds out? What if they kidnap Alex? No! I can't let that happen! I'll need to change his mind.)
"Why Russian?" Jack inquired, "You never mentioned it to me".
(so it's a recent development… or he didn't want to tell Jack. I don't know which option I'd prefer.)
"I thought it would be nice to explore a new culture. We've never been anywhere outside of Europe-" (for a good reason. I'm wanted somewhere in the other continents) - "and I heard the Moscow Metro system is lovely-" (True) (2) - "and very efficient," Alex stated, smiling. Seeing Ian didn't look convinced, he decided to fight dirty - he had to know what was in that diary.
(Why has he started crying? It's only a language - there are over 100 others he could choose from.)
"I j-j-just wanted to pick -sniff- a language I thought would be a challenge. I didn't mean to -sniff- offend you. G-give me a few days to choose another one," Alex sniffed. He could almost see the Oscar heading his way as he watched Ian's resolve crumble.
(Why am I the bad person for being concerned about our potential safety?)
"Fine. You can learn Russian," Ian capitulated with a sigh. (Moscow is as good a place as any to teach Alex how to pickpocket). (3) He beamed at his Uncle, slightly guilty about his methods but pleased with the results. (Why do I feel like I've been had?)
(A.N:
(1) I made this part up - I don't think the books explicitly state who chose what languages Alex learned, though it was probably Ian. Correct me if I'm wrong. In this fic, it's a democracy, not an autocracy.
(2) I've never been to Russia. This opinion is based on an article I read from Google.
(3) I don't think the books stated when Alex learned to pickpocket, so why not now? Correct me if I'm wrong.