QuickSave

Just a quick drabble. Alex and the guys out for a spot of lunch...

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"Here we go.. One flat white, one black, one iced tea - here's the syrup - annnnd.." She placed Alex's order in front of him and gave him a cheery smile.

"One hot choclate for you, ducky."

Alex fought the blush trying to take him. "Ah... thank you, ma'am." He mumbled, eyes fixed on the glass so that he didn't have to see his team's faces.

The woman cooed. "Oh, such a sweetie. Would you like a biscuit? We've got chocolate chip..."

The worst part, Alex refelected, as his face heated and he saw Snake shaking with silent laughter next to him from the corner of his eye, was that the woman was so sincere.

She was just a nice lady, who liked him (and who was treating him a little younger than he was anyway, regardless of his whole status-amongst-his-comrades thing) and yet all he wanted to do was tell her to shove off.

He cleared his throat instead.

"Er.. no thank you ma'am. I'm fine."

He tilted his head up a little to offer her a strained - yet still polite - smile. The woman seemed to notice his blush for the first time - it'd be hard not to, his face was almost tomato red - and finally got a clue.

"Oh, righty ho, luv. You just enjoy your hot chocolate, then." And with that, she bustled off.

Alex took a deep, pained breath and lowered his face even further.

He could feel the hysterical tension in the air. Its a good thing they had all that SAS training, or else they'd be rolling on the floor by now. Especially Eagle.

Oh God....

He saw movement, as Eagle raised his cup of coffee to his lips.

Feeling a surge of pre-umptous vengence - for the ribbing he knew was to come and would most likely be spear-headded by Eagle - he waited until the man started sipping the scalding liquid.

"Hope you choke, you bastard." He muttered.

He gained some small satisfaction when Eagle promptly inhaled the mouthful he'd taken and started choking.

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About 20 minutes later

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"Alex! Hey!"

Alex glanced up from his hands. He and Fox had been engaged in a soccer match, using their complimentary tiny-teddies as balls and their fingers against the table as goal posts.

By now, of course, it had degenerated into a contest of cheating. So far, Alex was winning - despite a few new dirty tricks Fox had laid on him.

"Tom, hey." Alex greeted, the grin on his face fading to a welcoming smile. Tom smiled back, his natural expression melting slightly into one of shoddily-covered awe as he took in Alex's older companions.

Most of which, Alex was both amused and annoyed to note, had put on intimidating expressions as soon as Tom had run up to them.

"What's up?" Alex asked, when it appeared that Tom was content to just goggle at his team for awhile longer.

"Huh? Oh!" Tom snapped out of it. "I just saw you and came to sya 'hi' and did you want to join the rest of us?" He gestured over his shoulder. Standing ina group accross the road were a few friends from school - mostly the same ones Alex had gone to the movies with recently. They were eyeing Alex with speculative glee on their faces. No doubt convincing themselves that these were some drug dealers he was meeting with, or some other inane idea.

And as much as - he was surprised to realise - he didn't want to leave his current group of friends for his old ones.. damage control was nevertheless nessecary.

So he nodded, quirked a half-smile and pushed his cuppa away.

"Sounds great." He agreed.

Wolf - who was sitting next to him now - spoke up.

"No drinking, no women, no smoking, no drugs and be home by curfew." He barked, although Alex's recent familiarity with the man allowed him to see the teasing amusement behind the hard-ass front.

Alex stood up, 'accidentally' knocking against Wolf's side as he stood. "Sorry." He said contritely, as Wolf glared at him.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty pound note.

"This is all I have on me." He said, tossing it onto the table and pushing his chair back in. "If you could leave the change on the table at home?" He finished questiongly. Wolf nodded agreeably.

"Thanks. Bye!" Alex directed the farewell to the rest of the guys, paired with a wave as he turned to cross the street with Tom. When he met up with those waiting, he unobtrusively hurried them along.

Five minutes later, he was well away when the waiter came to collect the group's payment. Wolf dutifully paid Alex's cuppa and scone from the 20-pound left on the table, then reached into his back pocket for the note he'd shoved there before leaving that morning.

It was gone.

A quick check of his other pockets showed them to also be empty.

He scowled at the change left on the table from 'Alex's money.

"Damned kid." he growled. His friends grinned as they caught on. Eagle laughed. "And he had the balls to ask for the change later!" He chuckled.

Snake also laughed, but choked it back as Wolf's black look settled on him.

"Hey, look on the bright side James." he suggested. "I'd say this is a good indication that he trusts you now.. right?"