Chapter Text
Alex stepped out of the shower and immediately felt the cold air brush against his exposed skin. Hot showers were a gift from God himself. He felt way more human than he had 30 minutes before. He grabbed one of the towels the hotel hat stored for them and rubbed his hair and body dry before he put on some boxers and a pair of jeans. His naked feet made quiet wet sounds when he walked back to the main room of the hotel suite he stayed in. He yawned and stroked his hands over his still tense shoulders before sitting down on the couch and turning the TV on. Yassen should be back in fifteen minutes, he realized after he put his watch back on. He let his gaze wander over the hotel room.
It was... messy.
The clothes he had been wearing still laid on one of the beds, unclean dishes still on the table and two half drank bottles of water staying on the floor next to one of the beds.
The room was in a condition Yassen would not approve of. Alex wasn't really in the mood to clean, but he had silent hopes for a pizza evening if Yassen was in a good mood.
Alex spent the next ten minutes with basic cleaning and even changed the dirty sheets and brought new ones from the lobby. He was barely finished with the second bed when he heard the door click open.
“Hey Yassen, How was your flight?“
Alex turned around with a smile on his lips as he saw the Russian entering the suite. Yassen nodded as a greeting and put the bags he was carrying down next to the couch.
“It was alright, like always. Now let’s get down to business. I talked to the good Doctor and it looks like you got some work to do.“
Yassen hated Smalltalk Alex noticed with a smile. Not an unknown fact but still. Even Yassen approved of a polite greeting after nearly four months without any contact except ´from the weekly emails Alex sent him to update the status of his mission. Alex reached for the file Yassen had taken from one of the bags. Good old paperwork. Scorpia was still very old fashioned in these aspects.
The file was an old, grey folder with maybe a hundred pages in it. Not just the folder, but the paper looked old as well. Yassen could probably read the questions on his face but decided not to answer any of them. Instead, he took out his laptop, a different stack of files and sat down on the couch. “This looks like a night full of work and it needs to be done by tomorrow. Do you want to order some food to our room?“
Alex laid the folder back on the table and looked at the clock on the wall again. Yassen was punctual as always. It was shortly after six and the first hints of dawn started to touch the skyscrapers outside the window.
“It's still early and If are going to work all night long I need some caffeine right now. There's a nice Chinese restaurant down the street as well. I could grab some takeaway and coffee If you want to?“
Alex wasn't really in the mood for something fancy. And he was pretty sure that this kind of hotel would only provide fancy dishes.
Yassen stayed silent for a minute and Alex wasn't pushing him. Instead, he started to read the file he was given and took mental notes. He definitely needed to contact Sagitta on this. Maybe even another combat team? Senka had done a good job in Macedonia last year. He wasn't in charge of the operation back then but he met the men on their way back to report to Yassen. Not save around civilians. Exactly what he would need for an operation like this. Alex scribbled down the name of the combat team on a sheet of paper and lined it twice. He heard his stomach grumble and decided to worry about the rest later. He watched Yassen carefully but the blond Russian was focused on his work. He looked unusually tired Alex realized. His hair got longer over his last operation and some streaks of it fell in his face and he looked even paler than normal. Alex half-smiled. Yassen's' mission had been a huge clusterfuck after the assassination of one of his most important operatives.
He would simply take matters in his own hands now. Yassen had cared for him since he was fourteen years old and he deserved to be taken care of as well. Alex walked to the minibar and poured Yassen a glass full of cold water, grabbed the bag of chocolate raisins he had bought earlier, and walked into the bathroom to put the raisins in one of the plastic bowls standing around. On his way back to Yassen he grabbed a thin blanket from one of the closets and then entered the sitting area again. He put the bowl down on the glass table and then handed the glass of water to Yassen who took it semi willingly.
“Drink“
Alex's voice was soft but demanding. He didn't need to repeat himself. It was an order. He then put the blanket over Yassen's shoulders till it laid like a cape. Everyone else would probably be dead by now. Even the order he gave him before was suicide to everyone who wasn't Alex. Yassen didn't look happy at all and reached for the blanket to get it off his shoulders but Alex shot him a „not that friendly“ glare. The message was clear. No room for arguments. And Yassen obeyed. Alex wasn't sure if his mentor was just too tired to argue or if he accepted the small gesture of comfort but it didn't matter.
Alex's eyes sparkled with mischief.
“You really should get a haircut. Or do you think of wearing it in a man-bun now? Not that I would mind. Jack says its a fashion trend now.“
Yassen looked at him and arched his eyebrow in the „If you don't leave the room immediately I am going to kill you“ way.
It was the kind of look a lot of people feared, especially when it comes to Yassen. People who are a lot more dangerous and powerful than Alex ever wished to be.
But he could read the faint hint of amusement in the icy blue.
Alex chose life, grabbed his jacket and wallet and made his way to the door. With his hand on the door knock, he turned around the last time.
“How do you take your coffee, Yassen?“
Yassen looked up again, this time with one of his rare smiles around his lips.
“Black, please. With one teaspoon of sugar.“