Chapter Text
Alex was sat by himself at the back of the classroom, cliché right? It had been like that since Tom left. His parents had got divorced and his father moved away- taking Tom with him.
The teacher was talking about the upcoming parents evening. The mandatory parents evening mind you- one that Alex couldn’t talk himself out of. Alex didn’t know what to do, he had to attend, not only him but an adult- parents or guardians.
He decided that it was a good time to call the bank, because despite how much he wanted Tulip Jones dead he really needed help.
He shoved his hand up, and the teacher looked at him clearly displeased.
“Bathroom?” He asked hopefully.
The teacher grumbled and nodded.
He walked calmly toward the door, but once he was on the other side, he sprinted to the boy’s bathroom.
The dreaded boy’s bathroom- smelly urinals and graffitied walls. Alex fought back the urge to gag and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he found the bank.
“This is the royal and general bank, London. How can I help you today?” A chirpy voice said on the other end.
“Could you put me through to Tulip Jones please?” Alex sighed.
A brief sound of typing was all Alex could hear.
“There’s nobody here under that name.” The woman replied.
“Oh right, this is Alexander Rider- code: Charlie, Sierra, Zero, Zero, One.” Alex methodically stated.
“I’ll put you through to Mrs. Jones.” The phone line cut off momentarily.
“Alex, what can I do for you.” Tulip said- no emotion, not a single inflection in her voice.
“There’s a mandatory parents evening on Thursday.” Alex sighed.
“And this concerns me why?” Mrs Jones said robotically.
“You do know what mandatory means right?” Alex complained.
“I do.” She replied.
“In case you forgot, the bank is my legal fucking guardian, and I can’t take a bank for a discussion with my teacher.” Alex griped.
“Then who do you suggest you take.” She sighed.
“I don’t know, that’s why I called you.” Alex hissed.
“Fine, but don’t complain that I didn’t give you a choice. Because I did. I’ll send them after school, I expect you to fill them in, and let them stay in your house until Thursday.” Mrs Jones explained.
“They don’t have to stay at my house for-” Alex began.
The dial tone rung in his ear.
“-three days.” Alex finished, to nobody except the bathroom wall.
The rest of school went by, and he rode home on his bike. Thinking about who the person was going to be.
He unlocked the door to his house once he got there, ignoring the prying eyes from neighbours, trying to catch a glimpse of the enigmatic resident.
He changed into normal clothing; an oversized, almost pastel-grey hoodie and black jeans, and dropped on to his couch. Anxiously awaiting his guest.
The doorbell rung at four pm sharp.
Mrs Jones had just hung up; the parents evening was an annoyance and she was going to have to pull some strings.
An hour later, at one pm- four men were gathered in Mrs Jones’ office.
“A very valuable- asset of ours needs a favour.” She explained. Choosing her words carefully.
“He needs a group of people to act as a family and take him to parents evening.” She explained.
“Parents evening?” Wolf echoed.
“Ma’am isn’t that something for secondary school students?” Eagle asked.
Mrs Jones nodded.
“The bank is his legal guardian. And the meeting I’m told is mandatory. This is his address; you will stay there for a few days before the actual parents evening.” Mrs Jones explained. Handing Wolf a piece of paper.
“Be there at four.” She said, before shooing the men from her room
Alex opened the door cautiously- his converse clad feet shuffling backwards so the door could open fully. He didn’t even bother looking up as he sighed.
“I’m guessing Tulip sent you, I’m Alexander Rider. Tulip informed me you’re staying in my house for a few days. I have four spare rooms so take your pick. My room is directly opposite the top of the stairs and my office is directly to the right. The other two doors on that floor are a bathroom and one spare bedroom, and up the next flight of stairs there’s another three bedrooms.” He explained gesturing for them to come into the house only looking up to do so.
The four SAS men at the door looked to be in varying degrees of shock.
“Of course, Tulip picked you four, she wouldn’t have told me not to complain otherwise.” He said, rolling his eyes.
“Cub?” Eagle asked slowly.
“Didn’t your mothers ever tell you it was rude to stare? Now get in before my neighbours get nosey.” Alex stated. All four men snapped out of their stupor and entered the house. Alex shut the door carefully.
“So, you’re the asset the director told us about?” Snake asked.
“Oh, she called me an asset, did she? That’s new.” Alex replied, slumping down onto the couch.
“Cub, what series of events lead us to this exact moment?” Eagle asked.
“Well that depends how much Tulip told you.” Alex replied flippantly.
“Uhm, she told us that the bank was your guardian. And something about parents evening.” Wolf said. Still completely confused.
“Okay right, so then it’s time for me to fill in the gaps, that’s always fun. My name is Alex Rider, or agent Rider, or Cub-” Alex began.
Fox opened his mouth to ask a question.
“Wait until the end of my spiel to ask questions, Daniels. You met me at BB when I was fourteen years old. You all treated me like dirt because you thought my parental figure paid for me to be there. When in reality, six forced me to be there because I was training for my first mission. That never would’ve happened if my uncle, Ian Rider hadn’t died on duty.” Alex paused for breath.
“And as for this specific moment in time, I can’t exactly take a bank to parents evening and so I complained in Tulip’s general direction- I just didn’t expect all of you.” Alex said.
“Who’s been looking after you?” Fox asked slowly.
“Until recently, my uncle’s house keeper. But she was-” Alex paused- he didn’t really want to tell anyone about Jack’s death.
“-Bored of me and moved back to America.” He finished, a complete lie but it was better than the truth.
“That’s real shitty.” Eagle sighed.
Alex didn’t like him saying that Jack was shitty. But this was made up Jack, so he guessed it was fine.
“Parents evening is on Thursday, feel free to make yourself at home.” Alex said, kicking off his shoes and leaving them on the bottom step.
Ben looked down at his now only socked feet, one sock boldly declared it was Friday, which it clearly wasn’t. And the other was an emerald green with a few silver stripes, if Ben had to guess he’d assume it was a Slytherin sock.
Alex lightly padded up the stairs, leaving the others standing in the foyer- watching him push open what he had proclaimed earlier as the office door and disappear inside, without so much of a clunk of a door handle.
The four SAS men looked at each other, not really knowing how to react- until Fox suggested that they remove their boots and go sit in the living room. They left their pristine army boots in the hallway and stepped into the living room, which had an attached kitchenette with a large island counter acting as a divider.