Exams are now over therefore updates should be a bit more often than they have been. I apologise for posting this early and making you wait but exams came first as they basically influence my future which is freaking scary.

To say they were pleased to see Alex back was an understatement. Alex had been bombarded with a grappling hug courtesy of Eagle the moment he got through the door while Ben and Snake beamed at him.

"Wait, aren't you guys mad at me for running away?" Alex asked when they still seemed suspiciously cheerful.

Ben's smile dimmed at his words and he replied, "Honestly Alex, we understand. Yeah so you gave us a few grey hairs, we'll get over it. We're just happy to see you're safe. Let's hope you don't feel the need to run away again yeah?"

"Uh, yeah…I'm just going to make a phone call." He left quickly, feeling their eyes on his back as he went. He didn't feel like having any heart felt conversations and he still had a phone call to make.

"Alex, mate, how are you!"

Alex felt an unexpected weight lift off his chest at the sound of Tom's voice. He hadn't realised how long it'd been since they'd last spoken and how much he missed his friend.

"I'm alright Tom," Alex said, not wanting to delve into stuff he'd rather avoid thinking about. "Just had a rough time lately, you know, spy stuff."

"Isn't it always," Tom said with a sigh. "Anyway, I heard you're living with Wolf. The Wolf, the one who you were at Brecon Beacons with."

"I only know one Wolf Tom," Alex said with a smile.

"Uh, yeah, so I was wondering why? If I'm allowed an answer that is," Tom hastily added.

Alex bit his lip at the thought of telling Tom about Jack. Whilst he didn't really want to get into it, Tom deserved to know. He'd known Jack almost as long as he had. However, it was something he didn't want to discuss over the phone.

"Listen, how about you come over and we can talk about stuff then?" He offered.

"Oh yeah, Wolf said I could come over. When can I come?"

Alex looked at the time. It was only 12:00pm. "Whenever you want. Today's fine. I think. I can check but it should be alright. If not I'll text you."

"Sounds good? Text me the address?"

"Sure. See you later."

"Bye Alex."

Alex hung up the call and quickly texted Tom the address before standing up. He needed to ask the others whether it was ok to have Tom over. He left his still packed back-pack on the bed and went out of his room. The four men had remained in the living room and they looked surprised to see Alex back so early.

"Is it ok if Tom comes over today?" He asked them, not really directing it to anyone in particular.

"Yeah sure it is," Ben answered immediately. "What time?"

"Uh whenever really. We didn't specify."

"Will he be staying for dinner?" Snake asked and Alex started to feel quite uncomfortable. The questions they were asking reminded him of Jack and the whole situation was starting to feel a bit too….normal for him.

"Maybe. I'll ask when he gets here. Anyway, I've got to go unpack so…"

Again, Alex quickly left, still feeling their eyes upon him. He wasted time in his room, unpacking his things once and then rearranging them after that. Still wanting something to do, he plugged in his headphones and began some school work. He had no idea when he'd be going back now, but he really couldn't afford to fall further behind. So caught up in his work, he failed to hear the knock at the door and only realised Tom had arrived when the boy plucked out one of his ear buds, causing him to jerk in surprise.

"You've been getting sloppy mate. Usually you would've broken my arm for that!" Tom merrily said as Alex got his bearings back and gave Tom a friendly shove. Alex didn't fail to notice the way Tom scanned him for injuries as he usually did after missions but he was glad that his friend didn't mention them.

"I'm sorry, did you want a broken arm because if you do I can happily oblige," Alex responded, giving his most dangerous smile possible. It worked as Tom visibly swallowed. He got over his fear quickly though as he leapt on Alex's bed, making himself right at home.

"This is a pretty nice room," Tom said looking around. "Hey, you were going to tell me why you're staying here."

His expression must have betrayed him for Tom immediately frowned and the mood changed instantly. "What happened Al?" He asked softly.

Alex bit his lip before responding, knowing he had to tell Tom but not wanting to relive it all the same. "Jack she…there were some men, they were after me. Remember SCORPIA?" Tom gave a grim nod. "It was them; they got into my house and had got Jack. She was tied up; she had a gun put to her head…I…" His voice started not to work. Somehow, telling Tom this was harder than telling anyone else. It was probably because out of everyone, he was the only one who had actually known her.

"Hey, it's ok. You don't have to say anymore. I get what happened, I had heard stuff in the news that made me suspect anyway." Tom said, sitting up and giving Alex a sympathetic expression. His eyes were glistening slightly. "Listen, why don't we talk about something else? Like how much hell you've been giving those guys."

Alex raised an eyebrow, grateful for the distraction. If there was one thing Tom was just as good at Alex was, it was distancing himself from unwanted emotions. "What makes you think I would do that?"

Dramatically rolling his eyes, Tom huffed. "Come on Al, you can't tell me you haven't tried to get a little revenge for what arseholes they were to you."

Laughing, Alex told him of the paper prank but Tom was unimpressed. "That's it? Mate, you're lucky I'm here. Good job I brought all of this stuff isn't it?"

Tom emptied the contents of his back pack onto the bed and Alex stared wide-eyed at the assortment of things he'd brought. All perfect for pranking.

"You know, I'd rather not make the people I live with hate me."

Tom scoffed. "They won't hate you. When I came they looked at me like I was some sort of hero because I was your friend. They're happy your back, riding on a high. This is the perfect time to do this. And if anything goes bad, just blame me. I'll survive…I think."

In order to make their, or rather Tom's, plan work they needed to get K-Unit and Ben out of the lounge. Tom was right in that it was the perfect time to carry out the prank as Alex had barely even given a reason why they wanted to be in the lounge alone (some guy time watching TV) before they had all left. Everyone but Snake, who had decided to stay for security purposes, had decided to go to the pub a couple of roads away.

It took a while to set up the individual triggers, especially when trying to make sure Snake didn't hear anything, but it was fortunately done. In order to make sure Snake didn't come in the lounge to check whether they were still then they had occasionally made a false cheer at the football game they had on in the background.

With nothing else left to do but wait they ended up actually finishing the rest of the game until the others returned home.

"Hey Cub, Tom. Things alright?" Ben asked on his way in.

"Yeah," Alex responded casually. "We won."

"That's good. So, what do you guys fancy for dinner?"

Alex barely supressed a grin. "What's in the fridge?"

"I'll go have a look."

Playing right into their hands, Ben strode over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Or, at least he tried to. Ben frowned when no matter how hard he pulled the fridge wouldn't open.

"What the hell…"

"Hey, you guys are back-"

Snake had barely finished his sentence when the moment he opened the door leading in from the corridor he tripped over a wire they'd set up and a bucket full of multi-coloured paint fell on him. He stood in stunned silence for a few seconds before slowly turning to Alex and Tom, the latter of which who was attempting to hide his snickers behind his hand.

"Please tell me this washes out," he said in a scarily calm voice.

Tom nodded earnestly, but the pranking wasn't over yet for Ben finally figured out what was wrong with the fridge (the handle had been flipped) and had fixed it, only to open it and get a face full of flour. He gave a spluttering cough which sent Tom howling and Alex's own poker face was struggling to hold.

"What else have you set up?" Eagle asked suspiciously, his eyes darting around.

Tom gave an innocent shrug. "I guess you'll have to find out, won't you?"

Through all of this Wolf had remained silent with an impassive face. Out of all of them, he had been the one Alex had been most worried about angering. They had only just reconciled and he didn't really want to upset the fragile truce they had so soon. Tom had convinced him that he would find the funny side, ignoring the fact that Alex knew Wolf better than his friend.

Eagle had begun to test out the cupboards (he had yet to get to the one with the same trap as the fridge) and then unexpectedly, Wolf began to laugh. It started out as quiet chuckles that soon developed into a proper laugh which then grew into a howling laugh. Everyone turned to him as if he had gone mad, which frankly Alex thought was a real possibility. He had never heard Wolf laugh so much and it was quite a worrying site really.

"Wolf, are you ok?" Alex asked and Wolf, still laughing, faced him.

"Cub, I am more than fine. I haven't seen a better sight since the first time we were all on leave."

"What happened then?" Alex asked, genuinely curious.

"You don't want to know," Eagle hurriedly responded before opening the last cupboard which was the one that gave him a face full of flour. This sent Wolf off again and Eagle pouted through the white powder.

Tom nudged Alex with his elbow. "See, I told you," he muttered, a wide grin on his face.

"Why is my hand stuck?" Ben, no longer distracted by Wolf or Eagle, had decided to get a drink- a cool beer – however he found that he could not put it down.

"That's some of my special glue," Tom said proudly.

"You do know how to get it off right?" Ben asked; a sliver of worry in his voice.

"Surely a spy such as yourself can find a way to do it yourself?" Tom questioned back with a grin. He was having the time of his life.

Ben shot a glare at him which did nothing to deter Tom's grin, before sulking off to his bedroom. However, there was still one last prank to be had as just like what Snake tripped over, there was a wire and this time instead of paint it was honey and feathers. Initially they had hoped Eagle would get it, but it was still perfectly hilarious regardless. Ben just gave a large groan of frustration and shut the door with a slam.

"Are you sure you're not the spy?" Snake asked Tom. He had cautiously made his way over to the sink and was proceeding to wash some of the paint off his hands and arms.

Tom sniffed. "MI6 wished they had someone like me."

Wolf gave a quiet chuckle and looked around the room which now had random spots of flour, paint and honey with feathers. He was the only one who hadn't been pranked and so was in a better mood than the other men.

"So, get to it then," he said to Alex and Tom. They both looked at him with confusion.

"Get to what?" Alex asked warily. Wolf had a gleam in his eye that was unfamiliar and he did not like.

"The cleaning of course. This is your mess. You have to clean it up."

"But I'm a guest!" Tom cried out at the same time Alex argued, "It was Tom's idea!"

"I don't care. You made this mess. You clean it up." Wolf said firmly.

"But-"

"Any more arguing and I will make you do it with toothbrushes."

"They should do it with toothbrushes anyway," Eagle grumbled sourly. "This flour tastes disgusting. You must have poisoned it."

"I didn't poison it," Tom disputed. "I just…made it more interesting. And I still stand by my point that I'm a guest and can just leave."

"I'm sure your mother would love to find out that you intentionally made a mess in our house and you pranked your hosts, wouldn't she?" Snake said conversationally and Tom paled.

"You wouldn't use the mum card, would you?" He asked and Alex snickered.

"Mate, I would if I had to. You are not leaving me to clean this up on my own when it was your idea."

Tom huffed. "Fine, but see if I ever help you get revenge ever again."

Despite all the grumbling, the two did manage to clean everything before dinner under the watchful eye of Wolf and by the time they were eating everyone was clean again and in much better spirits. As he watched his friend regale stories of them at school Alex was incredibly glad Wolf had suggested he call Tom.

Thank you for your patience, all reviews, favourites and follows!