Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me and I make no money with it.

Summary: Teenaged boys, TMI and denial. Fun times.

Author's Notes: People keep saying that they get confused by the time jumps. I've given you a timeline, I give you the date and I often even give you the exact hour. What more do you want me to do?

Date: Jan. 5th - afternoon, between Happiness and Precious Treasure (Timeline: http :/ shiruy. livejournal. com/ 3602. html)

Edited: 21.12.10

27. Foreign

"Man, you just vanished after the last time we went to the movies! Weren't you invited to that place in Scotland with Sabina's family? Guess that didn't happen, huh?"

Alex grinned wryly and let Tom's babble wash over him. He had called his friend to let him know that he was still alive and the other boy had insisted on seeing Alex in person right away.

"And man, do you remember Kathy Malbridge? She got majorly hot over the hols! You think I have a chance with her?"

The blond shrugged, his smile turning into a smirk. "I guess? As long as you don't introduce her to me, 'cause then she'd forget all about you." He had no idea who Kathy was.

Tom snorted. "Ha. Ha. Very funny, Mister Super-Spy. Just because you got the whole secret agent thing going for you doesn't mean that there aren't still a few girls who like their boyfriends unbruised."

Alex grinned. "If you think so."

They looked at each other before starting to laugh.

"But seriously, I think I'm going to ask her out. She's cool," Tom continued, flushing a little. "Oh, hey! You can help me with that! How did you ask out Sabina?"

Alex blinked in surprise. "Uh, what?"

His friend gave him an impatient look and waved his hand around. "You know, Sabina? Long, dark hair, hot bod', the girl you've been talking about for weeks?"

The blond blinked again. "She's not my girlfriend."

Tom gaped. "What? Seriously? But she was all over you that day we all went to the mall!"

Alex shrugged. "I'm not interested in her like that. We're just friends. Besides, she already went back to the States."

His friend stared at him with big eyes, mouth half-open.

The spy fidgeted uncomfortably, the situation becoming increasingly awkward. "What?"

"Alex, what's wrong with you?" Tom finally exploded. "She's, like, the most awesomest girl EVER! She's hot and sporty and makes dirty jokes! She doesn't care that you're younger than her! And that day at the mall she was totally throwing herself at you! I mean, you told me that she even stayed over here for a couple of days. Don't tell me that nothing happened!"

The blond shrugged helplessly, lost for words. "I just... She..."

Tom kept staring at him. "Mate, seriously. She's got it so bad, she'd probably let you get to third base without even batting an eye. Just- I mean, what's your problem?"

Get to third base with Sabina? Like... oral sex? He barely stopped himself from making a face. As great as he had heard it was, when he tried to imagine doing that with Sabina, her between his legs, or him putting his mouth anywhere on her... he came to the instant and very clear conclusion that he'd really rather just not. So what was wrong with him? He thought Sabina was pretty and he liked her a lot, but the idea of touching her in that way made his stomach clench, and not in the good way. He hadn't thought about it much before, but considering what Tom was saying that definitely was not a normal reaction for someone his age, right? Or maybe he was just confused about his feelings, misinterpreting them?

He frowned and crossed his arms, settling back in his armchair. "Nothing's wrong with me. I dunno. I mean... how can you tell if you like someone?"

Tom grinned. "Ohh, are we gonna talk about our feelings now? Wait, maybe we should first put on our pink fluffy pyjamas and make popcorn or something."

"Oh, stuff it," the blond snorted, a smile tugging at his lips. "Seriously. How do you know if you like someone? Who knows, maybe I've just been a stupid blockhead these last few weeks and if so, isn't it your duty as a good friend to talk some sense into me before I blow all my chances with her?"

The other teen huffed and sprawled out over the couch, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning at the ceiling. "Look, I can't say for sure either, I mean, it's not like there's a manual or something. I guess... you just want to spend time with that person, make them smile, stupid stuff like that."

Alex gave his friend a dubious look. "That's it? I mean, I want to spend time with Jack and make her smile, but I'm sure as hell not crushing on her."

"That'd be freaky. And illegal, I think," Tom snickered. Then his grin turned into a leer. "Kinda hot though."

"Oh, ugh!" The blond reached over and smacked the other's leg. "Please keep your fantasies to yourself, yeah? We're talking about my guardian here."

Tom kept snickering. "She could serve you 'breakfast' in bed..."

Alex grimaced, this time kicking his friend. "God, shut up!"

The other teen laughed, only calming down when the blond kept scowling. "Okay, okay, sorry. But you have to admit, Jack is hot."

Alex glared. Tom laughed again and shook his head. "Sorry, I'll stop, I promise." He sat up and turned to face Alex, crossing his legs on the couch. "Okay. So. Signs that you like someone. Uhm. Well, I kinda tend to make a real idiot of myself when I try to talk to a hot chick. I just open my mouth and stupidity pours out, it really sucks. And, I dunno, I never blush of course, that's a girl thing, but some guys do too, I guess. And, uh... you just think a lot about the person you like, during class or whatever..." The teen trailed off, a thoughtful look on his face, before he grinned. "And of course they give you tingles when they touch you, flip-flopping stomach, occasionally tight pants..."

The blond snorted and rolled his eyes. "Please keep the details to yourself."

"Hey, you asked," Tom snickered.

Alex bit his lip, an unhappy frown on his face. None of these things applied to Sabina. He had always been comfortable and relaxed with her, because why should he be nervous? And, well, he'd thought about her when she'd left, but that had more to do with the fact that she knew about him being a spy and that he felt guilty she had to go through that whole mess with Cray because of him. And tingles...? Uh, no. He remembered that kiss in the kitchen a few weeks ago, the total lack of anything special about it.

Unbidden, he recalled the feeling of Yassen's hands on his chest, his throat, stroking over his skin, warm, firm touches, the ice blue eyes paying attention only to him... He shivered, goosebumps breaking out over his arms.

"Alex?"

He jumped and jerked around from where he had been staring at thin air. Tom was giving him a puzzled look, but it was quickly turning into a teasing grin. "Now who were you thinking about?"

He opened and closed his mouth, his face heating up. Oh hell no. "I wasn't... No one. I wasn't thinking about anyone."

His friend snorted disbelievingly. "Yeaaah, right. Might be more convincing if your face wasn't beet red."

Alex scowled and pressed his hand against his cheek, hoping the colour would go down quickly. There was no reason to blush, it wasn't like he had thought about anything dirty. It was Yassen, for heaven's sake, the man was twenty years older than him. And he hadn't been thinking about him like that. It was just his head playing tricks on him.

"So? Who was it? Anyone I know? Come on, you can tell me," Tom cajoled, obviously finding this whole thing hilarious.

"I told you, I wasn't thinking about anyone," he repeated stubbornly.

"Sure, that's why you completely spaced out on me," the other teen snickered, still looking at him expectantly.

Alex fidgeted in his armchair. "Look, it was nothing. Just something stupid I remembered."

"If it's just something stupid you can tell me," Tom pointed out.

The blond groaned. "Can't you just let it drop? You don't know them and won't ever meet them, so what's the point?"

"Aha!" The other teen grinned triumphantly. "So there is someone! Did you meet them, you know... on one of your jobs? Ohhh, is it an older woman?"

Alex blew out a breath and sunk lower in his chair, wishing they'd never started talking about this. "Yeah, I met them on the job and no, it wasn't like that. H-She was just checking an injury and absolutely nothing happened. I probably won't ever run into them again anyways." He scowled at his friend, though it came out as more of a pout. "There, happy now?"

"Very much so." Tom had a massive grin on his face. "This totally explains your lack of interest in Sabina too. I mean, she's hot, but she can't compete with an older woman yet. So did she save your ass? Or did you save hers? Is she a foreigner? And why the hell haven't you told me about this?" Suddenly, the boy looked appalled. "Wait! She's French and that's why you haven't told me about her, right? Alex, how could you? She's French! Don't you know what these people do to frogs?"

Alex stared, unable to decide whether he should laugh or slowly back away. He coughed, biting back a grin. "She-" And why the hell hadn't he said 'he'? Yassen was going to kill him if he ever found out. "-is not French. She saved my life, I guess. And we're going to stop talking about this now."

Tom pouted exaggeratedly. "Aww, but Alex! At least tell me what she looks like!"

"Nope. Not talking about this." In big part because Alex really didn't want to try to come up with a description for what a female Yassen could look like. The thought alone... He shuddered.

"Killjoy," the other teen grouched.

The spy shrugged, smiling a little. "You'll get over it. So, Kathy? You want to ask her out?"

Tom lit up right away. "Ohh, yeah! You got any ideas?"

"Uhh..."