Archive of Our Own

“We are doing James Bond.” Tom said, sitting down at the table abruptly.

“What?” Alex asked, looking up from texting with Yassen with a frown.

“Our pub crawl! We’re doing James Bond.” Tom insisted.

“Isn’t that a bit on the nose?” Alex asked with a chuckle, switching his phone screen off.

“What’s a bit on the nose?” Steph asked, kissing Tom on the cheek and sitting beside him.

“Tom wants to do James Bond for the pub crawl.” Alex replied.

“Omg yes! Who’s gonna be who?” Ayisha asked, dropping her bag on the table and sitting down next to Alex.

“Well, Alex will be Bond for obvious reasons, I’m Q because I’m like his best friend, I’m thinking Steph you can be Vespa Lynd and Ayisha as Elektra King.” Tom listed off.

“Why are we giving the role of Bond to Alex though, Bond could totally be any of us!” Steph protested, only half serious.

“Because he’s like, the fittest person here, he knows karate, and parkour?” Tom said incredulously.

“Ok, ok point taken, Alex is almost the real life 007.” Steph said, cutting her boyfriend off.

“Yeah all he needs is to work as a spy for the English Government with lots of cool gadgets!” Ayisha chimed in.

Alex choked suddenly on air and Tom tried valiantly to contain his laughter to both girl’s confusion.

“Yeah, yup all I’m missing is that.” Alex wheezed when he finally stopped coughing.

“You even have that totally illegal gun you carry everywhere.” Ayisha pointed out.

Alex pulled a face, “It’s not illegal… well I don’t think it is anyway.”

“You can’t carry firearms without training and a licence and even then the general public are only allowed air rifles.” Steph said, leaning on her hand as she looked at Alex accusingly.

Tom quickly butted in to save his best friend.

“Forget about Alex’s gun, he’s even got a hot Russian boyfriend, very fitting for a spy.”

“Hot Russian boyfriend?”

“I told you that guy we see everywhere is his boyfriend.”

“how do you know that he’s Russian?!”

“Shut up!”

“I’m not sure James Bond would approve of my choice of life partners.” Alex muttered with a grin.

The other three laughed, Ayisha glancing at the time and standing up hurriedly.

“I’ve gotta go, my mum’s picking me up for a doctor’s appointment in a few minutes!”

The others waved her off before falling back into their conversation about Alex.

“So where is that older boyfriend of yours? You haven’t disappeared off to find him for at least a week.” Steph asked slyly.

Alex blushed lightly, “I don’t disappear that often! Anyway, he’s out of the country at the moment on a job.”

“He really does.”

“Honestly, does he think no-one notices that he’s never here.”

“I thought he was retired?” Tom asked suspiciously.

“Eh, sort of retired still takes jobs that kind of thing.” Alex replied with a wave of his hand, “He takes them on when he gets bored or when I have things going on. Plus, the k-unit are back in the country at the moment and he’s sick of Wolf.”

“You have such a busy life.” Steph said with a shake of her head.

“Don’t I know it.” Alex muttered as the bell rang for the end of break.

“Come on sadly we don’t have a free period next.” Tom said, standing and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

Alex groaned but stood too and both boys left, waving goodbye to Steph who lounged out across the bench in the sun.

~Day of the Pub Crawl~

Tom fiddled with his tie as Alex stared into his wardrobe despairingly.

“Just choose one already mate! You literally have a wardrobe full of suits specially designed so you can fight in them, you can’t get any more James Bond than that.”

Alex pouted, “But Toooooom, the one I wanted to wear today is at the dry cleaners still! I wore it on my last mission because it was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission, but someone had other ideas and it got ripped.”

Tom shook his head as Alex flopped backwards onto the bed in despair.

“Did you want that one because it was the most Bond outfit you have or because it’s Yassen’s favourite?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Alex shifted guiltily, not even attempting to defend himself.

“He’s supposed to be back tonight, it would have been a nice surprise for him. Ben’s with the K-Unit tonight and Jack already said she was going out later.”

Toms scrunched his nose, “Ew I really don’t want to hear about your love life mate. Just go for the black suit and that black bowtie and I guarantee you he will appreciate the outfit. Just don’t spill anything on it, and if you do MI6 can foot the bill.”

Alex sat up and abruptly hugged Tom, “Thanks mate you’re absolutely right! Give me a sec to change and then we can go.”

Tom laughed and nodded, readjusting the sleeves of his blazer as Alex ducked out of the room to change into the suit.

He came back, bowtie in hand, and tied it effortlessly in front of the mirror.

Tom shook his head, “I will never know how you do that so easily.”

Alex shrugged, “I’ve had lots of practice. Now I’m eighteen I go to a lot of rich parties under the Friend name for information gathering and general brown nosing. You’d be surprised how many of the uber-wealthy demand a bowtie in the dress code.”

Tom chuckled in disbelief and watched as Alex dusted himself in a fine sprinkling of gold glitter and slipped a pair of sunglasses into one of the pockets.

“Gotta look the part, all casinos have glitter.” Alex defended.

“Sure mate.” Tom replied with a chuckle.

“Ok, I’m ready to go.” Alex said as he deftly slipped his gun into the holster he was wearing under the blazer.

“Is that gun loaded?” Tom asked pensively.

“Obviously. I never know when I’m gonna need it. Anyway, the school don’t need to know that do they?” Alex replied, attaching his k-unit knife to the strap he had on under his trouser leg.

Tom shook his head but sure enough, Alex was finally ready to go.

“Ok, ok let’s go. Oh, and Jack will take photos of us because despite MI6 objecting heavily to these suits being associated to Alex Rider, she doesn’t care.” Alex said as they walked out of his bedroom, and he shut the door behind him.

Tom laughed as they descended the stairs but he was quickly shut up by Jack motioning for them to get into Bond-esque positions so she could take photos.

“Come on! You boy are going to be late if you don’t move quicker!” She said.

“And who’s fault is that?” Tom asked, looking at Alex specifically.

“Oh shush.” Alex replied, obligingly holding out his hands as if he were shooting something for Jack’s photo.

Finally, they managed to escape Jack and her camera and started the long walk to school, deciding that they would regret taking bikes later on.

“So can you play poker?” Tom asked suddenly, mind on the Casino Royale film.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I had to infiltrate a gambling ring once, so Smithers taught me. I still half think him, and Jones are involved in some sort of poker ring. I barely know anything about their lives outside of MI6.” Alex replied, straightening his bowtie absentmindedly.

“Crazy.” Tom muttered.

It wasn’t often that Alex was willing to talk about work and Tom respected that, well aware his best friend had been through some awfully traumatising things whilst in the service of MI6. However, on the rare occasions Alex was more open about his job, Tom would do his best to find out some of the things he had been up to in the past.

“Have you ever blown up an embassy?” Tom asked, earning him a weird look from Alex.

He hurried to defend his question, “Bond blows up an embassy in the film Casino Royale.”

Alex paused to think for a few minutes, “I don’t think so? I have blown up a lot of things over the years though so it’s entirely possible. Blunt would be very cross if I did though, they can cover up most things but that would be very hard to miss.”

Tom shook his head, “What about double agents?”

“Don’t even get me started.” Alex muttered.

“I was just thinking about Vesper Lynd. She’s Bond’s lover but she betrays MI6 to save his life.” Tom explained.

Alex glanced at his friend with a raised eyebrow, “Are you referring to Yassen with that?”

“No, no that’s not what I meant!” Tom hurriedly tried to explain himself.

Alex laughed, “Don’t worry I know what you meant. Yassen has never betrayed me since he doesn’t work for MI6. To be honest, he’s betrayed a lot of other people to save me over the years.”

“A real meet cute.” Tom said dryly.

Alex nodded, “Yup. What more could you want than meeting your future boyfriend on a rooftop where he romantically disobeys direct orders and shoots a man for you.”

“He’s such a romantic.” Tom said with a dreamy sigh.

Alex rolled his eyes and elbowed Tom in the side, his best friend dissolving into a fit of giggles.

“Who’s a romantic?” Steph asked from behind them.

Both boys turned around, Tom’s mouth dropping open as he took in his girlfriend’s appearance.

Steph was dressed in a low-cut purple dress, very similar to the one Vesper had worn in the Casino Royale with a purple shawl draped across her arms.

“Steph you look gorgeous.” Tom said wondrously.

Steph blushed, “Thank you. I wasn’t sure about the dress.”

Tom nodded furiously, “It was definitely the right approach you look amazing.”

Alex chuckled, “Yeah Steph you look great.”

Steph beamed, “Thanks Alex! You two aren’t looking so bad yourselves.”

“I should hope not, it took Alex half an hour to decide on which suit to wear this morning.” Tom replied with a sigh.

“How many suits do you own?” Steph asked incredulously.

“Quite a few.” Alex replied with a shrug.

“Who needs to own more than one suit?”

“Honestly, everything he does is so dramatic.”

“Yassen’s favourite is at the dry cleaners.” Tom said dryly.

“Ah, that makes a lot of sense.” Steph replied in the same tone.

Alex pouted again, “Well pardon me for wanting an outfit that brings out my eyes.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that; you look positively dashing Alex.” Another voice chimed in from behind them.

“Ayisha you look beautiful!” Steph exclaimed.

“You too Steph, I love the dress.” Ayisha replied, looking Steph up and down appreciatively.

Alex and Tom both turned around and took in the floor-length red dress Ayisha was wearing, a red sash draped suggestively across her arms and tall red heels completing the look.

“You do look amazing!” Alex readily agreed, Tom nodding hurriedly.

“Thanks.” Ayisha said with a grin.

“Shall we head in then?” Alex asked, gesturing to the school doors.

“Yeah let’s get this part of the day out the way.” Tom said with a groan much to the others’ amusement, and they all headed inside.

Once pictures had been taken and outfits admired, with more than a few people asking Alex if his gun was a prop and if they could pose with it, they all sat down for the awards.

Alex zoned out for the first few awards, clapping at the appropriate awards as they cycled through the generic ‘most likely to’ awards.

“The Romeo and Juliet award goes to… Tom and Steph!”

Alex sat up straighter and cheered loudly for his friends, making sure to whistle as they accepted the certificates.

Once the couple had sat back down and the whistles died down, they moved on to the last award.

“Most likely to have a sugar daddy goes to…”

Alex suddenly shrunk down lower in his seat, remembering the rumours which had flown around following Yassen’s occasional visits to his school.

“… Alex Rider!”

The room cheered loudly as Alex slunk up to the front to accept his award, fervently ignoring the whistles from Tom and Steph.

“It had to be him honestly!”

“Look, he’s not even denying it.”

“Well obviously! That’s because it’s true.”

“Hey we don’t know that for sure.”

“I love that that award got through our head of year.” Tom said with a laugh as Alex sat back down beside him.

“I don’t!” Alex protested good-naturedly.

Everyone’s attention was drawn back to the front by Mr Grey, who surveyed the excited buzz coming from the room.

“We’re about to let you lot go for the day, but I want everyone to be as safe as they can and to drink plenty of water!”

A resounding cheer echoed through the room as Mr Grey did his best to quieten them.

“You have all worked hard this year and we couldn’t be prouder, so please go enjoy yourselves.” He said, the other staff in the room nodding their agreement.

“Thanks Sir!” One of the rowdier kids called from the tables at the back.

Mr Grey chuckled and nodded, “No problem Mia. Now please, follow Mr Donovan outside and have a safe but great day!”

A rowdy sound of cheers and applause started as people began to walk down the stairs, all talking animatedly as they walked outside for a group photo.

Once they had all escaped the school grounds and were headed towards the nearest pub, Tom dropped back to talk to his girlfriend, unable to help but continue to admire her outfit.

Alex and Ayisha both shook their heads at the couple but linked arms, Alex taking a little of her weight so she could walk more easily in the heels.

“Chivalry isn’t dead.” Ayisha giggled as they walked past several staring classmates.

“Are we one hundred percent sure they aren’t together?”

“Yeah they’re always so damn couply.”

“They make me feel single and they aren’t even together.”

“They definitely should be.”

“I am always the perfect gentleman.” Alex replied with a grin.

“Get a room!” Steph yelled at them from behind, both turning to look at her and Tom incredulously.

“Like you can talk. At least we aren’t actually dating.” Ayisha retorted, glaring playfully at her best friend.

“See I’ve been telling you for ages.”

“Shut up.”

“That’s such a shame they’d make a great couple.”

“I know some people will be glad to know that!”

“Yassen wouldn’t be very impressed if they got a room.” Tom said with a raised eyebrow.

“He knows he has nothing to worry about.” Alex said happily, slowing down so the four were walking together once more.

“Yeah, yeah, we all know how infatuated you are with him.” Ayisha said with a giggle.

“Who’s Yassen?”

“Could be that Russian guy everyone talks about.”

“Sounds like a jealous boyfriend to me!”

Alex stuck his tongue out at her but still paused to open the door for her, as they had reached the first pub.

“Thank you.” Ayisha said, sailing through with a put-on regal air.

Alex grinned at her and waited for both Tom and Steph to head through before following into the pub.

“Pints?” Tom asked glancing around their friends.

Steph raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

“Vodka.” She said flatly.

“Ah right. Silly me, are we already getting wasted?” Tom asked teasingly, nudging his girlfriend with his shoulder.

“Obviously.” Ayisha chimed in with a giggle.

Alex shrugged when Tom turned to look at him, gesturing at the girls.

“I vote we follow their lead.”

Tom laughed and shook his head, ordering four vodka lemonades when he reached the bar.

“First rounds on me!”

“Oi, this pubs the cheapest of the lot!” Alex said with a laugh.

“Yeah and you have your boyfriend’s credit card and a paying job.” Tom shot back pointing an accusing finger at his best friend as he handed one of the drinks to his girlfriend.

“Boyfriend!”

“See I told you, Alex isn’t single.”

“I bet several people still try to ask him out. Apparently there’s a bet going.”

“There are several bets going about him idiot.”

“Hey! I can’t access my money yet. Jones decided it was best kept in a trust until I turned 21.” Alex said with a pout, reaching past Tom to grab the other two drinks off of the bar.

“I still kinda think this shadowy job of yours is fiction.” Ayisha said, gladly taking one of the drinks off of Alex.

The spy shrugged, taking a sip of his drink through the straw.

“I maintain that champagne is better.”

“Who on earth drinks champagne regularly at our age?”

“He is rich, it’s probably a rich people thing.”

“Shut up Alex.” Tom shot back, “This is why I bought the cheapest round!”

Alex giggled and looked around spotting an empty table in the far corner.

“Come on, I see a table over there.”

He started off, Tom quickly catching up with his best friend.

The girls looked at each other, shrugging and following them over, glad to not be part of the second round of bickering that had started up concerning the rounds.

Several drinks later both Steph and Tom were half lying on the table, bemoaning their low alcohol tolerance.

“I can’t believe I’m already somewhat drunk and you’re sat there stone-cold sober!” Tom whined, gesturing between Alex and Ayisha.

“Not my fault someone can’t handle their alcohol.” Ayisha said, smirking at the pout on Steph’s face.

“Brown-nosing involves drinking.” Alex helpfully provided, offering no further explanation when the two girls looked at him incredulously.

“We should move onto the next pub now, I don’t see many people left from school in here.” Ayisha said, glancing around as she put her glass down.

Alex nodded and stood up, gracefully helping Ayisha up and then standing to laugh at the other two stumbling upright.

“Come on, you can make it.” Alex teased, only smirking more when Tom glared at him.

“Wait and see you’ll be drunk before the night is out.” Tom grumbled under his breath, but he grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and followed the others out.

“How many pubs are we going to?” Steph moaned, “My feet already hurt.”

“Heels do not look fun to walk in.” Alex remarked, glancing down at her feet.

“They are not.” Steph said, eyebrows furrowed.

Ayisha shook her head when the other two looked at her.

“They really aren’t, even with practice they suck.”

“Glad I’m not a girl!” Tom declared.

Both girls shook their heads, sticking their tongues out at him as they walked to the next pub.

----

“Is it my round next?” Alex asked looking between the three.

“Yup!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yessir!”

The three all responded at once, pushing Alex towards the bar before disappearing to claim a table for the small group.

Alex shook his head, but he obediently ordered several more drinks, as well as a tequila shot for himself.

“Let me pay for those.”

“And the bet beings!”

“Hah she thinks she has a chance? He has a boyfriend.”

“Only allegedly.”

Alex frowned and turned to look at a girl who went to his school. Despite not being particularly drunk he couldn’t place her face as someone he knew well.

“My treat! I’ll pay for them and hopefully get your number.” She said with a grin.

“uh no that’s ok. I have a boyfriend so…” Alex trailed off, shrugging at her and smiling nicely.

“Told you!”

“We should keep this quiet I want to see more people embarrass themselves.”

“Oh sorry! I didn’t realise.” The girl said embarrassed.

“Don’t worry most people don’t.” Alex said kindly, before turning away to pay for the drinks.

He picked up the shot of tequila downing it in one smoothly and biting down on the lime before picking up the drinks and wandering away to find his friends.

“Damn.”

“…Wow.”

“Yeah I see why people are into him.”

“Man I don’t even swing that way and I was considering it for a second.”

“If only he was single.”

The girl simply stared after him.

“Guys that was weird.” Alex said as he deposited the drinks on the table.

“The girl or the shot you didn’t get for the rest of us?” Ayisha asked teasingly.

“Well do any of you want to shot tequila? And yeah the girl.”

The other three shook their heads rapidly.

“She was into you dummy.” Steph said with a roll of her eyes.

“Well yeah I got that. But like… why?”

“You are conventionally attractive idiot.” Ayisha teased, reminding him of her own crush on him several years back.

“But I have a boyfriend?”

Steph shook her head with a laugh and grabbed her drink.

“Yeah I’m not drunk enough for this conversation.”

“Mate people have been eyeing you for years. They just thought you would date Ayisha.” Tom said, shaking his head at his best friend’s obliviousness.

“Plus, they’ve been drinking.” Ayisha pointed out, the others nodding along.

“Oh. I’m gonna have to deal with this all night aren’t I?” Alex said resignedly.

“Yup!” Steph said delightedly, popping the ‘p’ obnoxiously.

“Urgh.” Alex said.

As if sensing their conversation someone else walked up to the table, their friends urging them on.

“Go on! Go and ask!”

“Worst he can say is no.”

“Last chance to shoot your shot.”

“Can I get your number Alex?” The guy asked shyly.

Alex vaguely recognised him from a few of his classes, but he was starting to think he should have learnt more people’s names.

“No, sorry. I have a boyfriend.” Alex replied, followed by a long-suffering sigh.

“Oh.”

“Hah no one is going to win the bet.”

“Do we… give the money to Alex then?”

“More like his boyfriend.”

“Oh right! Sorry. Have a good night.” The guy replied, all but running back to his friends waiting across the pub.

“That’s gonna get… annoying.” Alex said.

“You don’t say mate.” Tom replied with a smirk.

“Well you could get some free drinks out of it?” Ayisha said with a shrug.

“My boyfriend has so much money that would feel rude.” Alex said, downing the rest of his drink in one go.

The other three shook their heads but hurried to finish their drinks to catch up.

----

Several pubs and many rounds and shots later, all four of them were extremely drunk.

Even Alex was tripping over himself, having accepted far too many drinks sent over by other people despite his earlier disdain.

“Wish people were buying me this many free drinks.”

“Honestly, how is he not unconscious right now.”

“That many drinks would have me on the floor.”

“Alex don’t reject them all I want more free drinks.” Tom whined as Alex sent yet another extremely drunk girl from their class away without his number.

“Go buy some yourself them!” Alex said with a pout.

“It’s not my round! Who’s next?” Tom replied pointing round the table drunkenly.

Ayisha looked up from her empty purse with a drunken frown, “I’m all out.”

“It was your turn!” Tom whined; well aware the last round had emptied his pocket.

Steph shook her head when the other two spun to look at her, not even giving them the chance to ask if she had any money left.

Alex sighed sadly, not paying attention to the current crisis his friends were having.

Tom frowned and leaned over to wrap his arm around his best friend’s shoulder, almost falling out of his seat as he did so.

“What’s the matter?”

“I miss Yassen.” Alex said moodily.

“Who needs him!” Tom said, haphazardly waving his hands around, “You can have plenty of fun without him.”

“Yeah screw your missing boyfriend.” Ayisha chimed in, nodding assuredly.

Alex perked up a little, “Yeah who needs him! I have you guys.” He grinned, swaying a little on the stool.

“Now, who’s buying the next round?”

Before anyone could bemoan the lack of money, another vice chimed in from behind them.

“It’s on me.”

Alex’s eyes widened in disbelief and he shook Tom’s arm off. Twisting clumsily in his seat he spotted his boyfriend immediately.

Yassen was watching his progress with an eyebrow raised, only the slight shine in his eyes giving away how happy he was to see his boyfriend.

Alex grinned, “Yassen!” as he stumbled off his chair, somehow managing to spectacularly trip over his own feet and land directly in his boyfriend’s arms.

“He’s so clumsy I can’t believe you guys thought he was a spy.”

“Hey don’t pretend you didn’t for at least a while.”

“Forget that, isn’t that the guy who came into the school months ago?”

“OMG yeah it is.”

“Guess we may finally find out who he is.”

“You ought to be careful little Alex, we wouldn’t want you to hit your head on the floor.” Yassen chuckled.

“You will always catch me.” Alex said, only slurring his words a little.

Yassen flushed a little and kissed Alex gently to keep his boyfriend from commenting.

Alex giggled a little when Yassen pulled away and tugged the assassin back down for another kiss, deepening it much to Yassen’s surprise.

“ohHhH well I guess that answers that question.”

“So he does have a boyfriend?”

“No one kisses a random stranger like that clearly they’re dating.”

“Nice to know he most definitely does have a sugar daddy.”

“OI!” Tom cleared his throat loudly and Alex pulled away, turning towards Tom as he lolled his head back against Yassen’s shoulder.

“What?”

“Your boyfriend owes us a round!”

Alex pouted but stepped out of Yassen’s embrace and tugged him over to the bar.

As they waited for the bartender to head over to them, Alex leant on the bar and simply stared up at Yassen.

“Alex is whipped.”

“No way is that Bethany hoping to win the bet! Does she not have eyes?”

“Alex!”

Alex frowned and turned around, brow furrowing further when he didn’t recognise the person who had tried to steal his attention away from his boyfriend.

“Can I buy you a drink?” The girl in front of him asked.

“No.” Alex said blankly turning away from her and back to Yassen.

“I think you do want me to.” She replied, winking in a way that even through the drunken haze that had settled nicely over him could not be misinterpreted.

Alex narrowed his eyes, wondering if she was blind since his boyfriend was very clearly standing next to him. Before he could open his mouth to express his disbelief, a solid body was pressed against his back and Yassen’s chin was on his shoulder.

“Are you deaf? He said no.” The assassin drawled, a piercing stare fixed on the girl.

“He’s terrifying.”

“And hot, I see why Alex is with him.”

“ew!”

“Leave me alone, all I’m asking for is a protective boyfriend.”

Alex was only vaguely aware of her spluttering as he melted against the hard line of his boyfriend’s body against his back.

“I missed you Yassen.” He muttered into his boyfriend’s ear.

“I missed you too Sasha.” Yassen replied, kissing Alex gently on the cheek.

Alex pouted and turned his head to kiss the assassin properly, completely ignoring the awkward angle.

The girl immediately flushed bright red and stammered out an apology before dashing back to her friends, unaware of just how oblivious Alex was to her.

“Haha what a crash and burn!”

“Don’t be mean! There is a lot of money involved in that bet.”

“Well yeah but like did she not expect that?”

“I don’t care that was hilarious.”

Yassen chuckled and spun the spy around so his back was pressed against the bar.

Alex tilted his head slightly and wound his arms around Yassen’s neck, pulling the assassin as close as he could in the crowded space.

“Reminds me of Paris.” Yassen murmured against Alex’s lips.

Alex blushed slightly and swatted his boyfriend’s arm.

“Pity that suit is dirty.”

Yassen leaned back and ran an approving eye up and down Alex’s form, eyes lingering appreciatively on the curve of his hips.

“Well, I for one can’t wait to take you out of this one later on.” The assassin whispered into Alex’s ear.

Alex shivered and resorted to pulling his boyfriend down into another demanding kiss, drinks long forgotten.

“Oh god.”

“Yeah… maybe we should walk away. This got… intense.”

“Well nice to know he does in fact have a boyfriend.”

Yassen pulled away slightly and chuckled, “I thought you didn’t need me?”

If Alex had been anywhere near sober in that moment he would have walked away from his boyfriend.

After all, two could play that game.

As things stood, however, Alex was drunk and all he could think about was Yassen walking away from him.

“Nu-uh, always need you.” Alex said defiantly, pulling Yassen back against him.

Yassen grinned and kissed him gently, “Good to know.”

Someone cleared their throat from behind Yassen and Alex and the spy peered around his boyfriend.

“Noah?”

“Um, Tom said to come and see where the drinks were?”

“Well thank god for that.”

“Yeah I didn’t need to witness any of that.”

“Omg! The drinks!” Alex shook his head and looked back at Yassen seriously, “We need to order drinks.”

Yassen chuckled and quickly attracted the attention of the bartender.

Alex grinned and kissed his boyfriend’s cheek, quickly ordering shots for everyone before Yassen could scold him.

Noah, to his surprise, found himself dragged to the bar to do the first two shots with Alex who immediately ordered two more with a wink at his friend.

“Alex I’m not made of money.” Yassen said with a sigh.

Alex pretended to think for a moment, “Hmmmm, I’m pretty sure you are actually. Noah this is my definitely not sugar daddy boyfriend Yassen. Honestly I don’t know why I won that award, I am most definitely not with him for his money…” he trailed off, too busy dreamily staring at his boyfriend.

“Sugar daddy!”

“Yeah he is definitely a sugar daddy.”

“Hi…” Noah said cautiously.

Alex shook his head and turned to his boyfriend, “Yassen this is Noah. Anyway take those over to Tom we are busy.”

“Haha busy!”

“Yeah soooo busy.”

Yassen tutted as Noah hastened to do what he said. Even when drunk Alex still commanded a certain level of authority.

“Now, now, we had better go back to your friends don’t you think?”

Alex pouted, “But I wanna keep you all to myself.”

Yassen chuckled and shook his head, “I’m all yours.”

“That’s actually quite cute.”

“Are we sure this is the same terrifying guy?”

Alex continued to pout but he let Yassen lead him back over to the table where his friends were watching them from.

“Well, well, well, that got spicy!” Steph said with a waggle of her eyebrows before downing her shot like it was water.

Alex stuck his tongue out at her but slid down into Yassen’s lap as soon as the assassin sat down, despite the several empty seats dotted around.

“Ew so sappy!”

“Leave him alone everyone is drunk.”

“I guess we should have to give the money to his boyfriend.”

“Nah he’s definitely too scary for that.”

“Don’t you think it’s time for us to go home Sasha?” Yassen asked softly, brushing the hair out of his boyfriend’s eyes.

“But I’m having fun!” Alex retorted with a pout.

“You are nearly asleep on him.” Tom said drunkenly, gesturing at Yassn.

“Don’t gang up on me!” Alex said, flinging his arm out and catching Ayisha on the arm.

“Oi.” Ayisha said, hitting him back.

“Sorry!” Alex giggled, nestling closer to his boyfriend.

Yassen shook his head but let him, curling an arm protectively around his waist to stop him falling off.

Alex twisted to kiss the assassin’s cheek, drawing wolf whistles and groans from the others at the table.

“The others seem to know him very well.”

“Well they are Alex’s friends. I hope they know his boyfriend.”

“I’m friends with him too!”

“Really? Does he know your name?”

“OK maybe not.”

“Ok, maybe I do want to go home!” Alex declared, arm thrown around Yassen’s neck as he precariously balanced on his lap.

Tom groaned and covered his ears, sinking down onto the table with his eyes screwed shut.

“Why is Tom…. Oh wait ew no. I don’t want to think about that.”

“Ok maybe it’s time to stop eavesdropping.”

“Hey!” Alex said with a frown, “I’m just tired!”

“Sure you are.” Steph said cheekily.

Yassen sighed and tipped Alex’s head up by the chin.

“Let’s go home Sasha.”

Alex pouted but got up immediately, somehow managing not to trip over his feet as he grabbed at Yassen’s hand.

Yassen shook his head and slid an arm around his boyfriend’s waist keeping him upright.

“Sasha is that a gun or are you just excited to see me?” Yassen said, eyes bright with amusement.

“GuN!?”

“Are you even surprised?”

“Maybe it’s a prop?”

“We’ve seen him use it!?”

“Yasha.” Alex groaned, hitting his chest with one hand, “I was being safe.”

“I know you were.” Yassen replied with a chuckle carefully guiding Alex in the direction of the door.

“Bye guys! Get home safe!” Alex yelled, twisting in Yassen’s arm to wave goodbye to his friends.

“Bye Alex!” The others chorused knowingly.

“There’s a car round the corner.” Yassen said quietly, drawing the sleepy spy closer to him.

“You always know what I need.” Alex sighed dreamily, leaning into his embrace.