Chapter Text
“Did you get the message from Moira about-” Your mum’s voice sounds uneven and a little distorted through the speaker as you sandwich it between your shoulder and your ear while rifling quickly through your bag and half walking half jogging to the train station down the street
“Yes mum, I heard about the ‘threatening messages’ or whatever it was Moira called them in the email. And yes, I’m being careful mum, I’m not an idiot.” You speed up as you hurry towards the station, and you sling your bag back over your shoulder and transfer your phone to your hand.
“I just worry, sweetheart. No one at work predicted this kind of intensely personal backlash on us from the trial, which, by the way, I think is going to be running a lot longer than we originally thought.” Your mum sounds distracted and more than a little cryptic, as if there’s something important that she wants to bring up with you, but you’re about to miss your train and you don’t have the time right now to worry about your mother’s law firm or whatever it is she has on her mind. “Have you found a new roommate yet?”
“No, not yet. I’ve got a few more people interested so I’m gonna get in touch and line up interviews or whatever later today. I’ve gotta go, I’m running late,” You start to excuse yourself, but your mum interrupts you.
“You don’t need to worry too much about that, I’ve found someone who should work for it, and-”
“Mum,” you cut her off impatiently. “I’m about to miss my train. I’ll call you later, okay? Love you, bye.” You hang up and shove your phone in your pocket as you dash down the steps and onto the platform just as the train is pulling up to the station, barely managing to board before it pulls away again, because you have many positive qualities, but punctuality has never been one of them.
Your ride home is spent considering your roommate situation. Angel, your last roommate had been wonderful, but she had moved out a few months ago leaving you alone in an apartment you couldn’t afford by yourself. And then your mum had picked up the defence on the staggeringly enormous Lehnsherr case, and your roommate situation had gotten a whole lot more complicated, because it turns out that defending someone whom most of the country hated with a vengeance wasn’t exactly good for your mum’s popularity, though this in its self wasn’t exactly a surprise. What had been a surprise, however, was the inaptly termed ‘threatening messages’ that had started pouring in, and as a result, you had to be more discriminative in your roommate selection than you could really afford to be. But if your mum had found someone, then maybe you could stop working yourself to the bone in order to pay for your aggressively mediocre apartment.
When you get home, you drop your bags beside the door and scoop up your laptop, flicking it open and scrolling absent mindedly through the emails you have about people interested in seeing your apartment, trying to decide if there’s anyone you actually want to interview as a back-up option in case whatever your mum had in mind doesn’t pan out. You’re just about to send off emails to a couple of them when there’s a knock at your door, so you save the draft and walk over to answer it.
“Hi, how can I-holy shit, Alex?” You blurt incredulously on seeing the figure on the other side of the door. You haven’t seen Alex since you were both kids, and he is quite possibly the last person you would have expected to see standing outside your apartment. “What’re you doing here? How are you? I’m so-this is-god, sorry, I’m being rude. Come in, please.” The words all come out in a rush as you stand aside to let him through the door, resolutely shoving down the nagging regret that your apartment wasn’t currently tidier. “I haven’t seen you in ages. How are you? What brings you my way?” The question brings a slightly surprised look to his face, though you don’t pay much attention to it as you close the door and direct him to your couch.
“Good-erm. I’m doing well. Life’s been kind of-hectic, I guess. Your mom actually pointed me your way. I just moved to the area, and I guess she found my information on a security website or something? I’m not sure, but anyway she got in touch, and when she heard I hadn’t locked down somewhere to live, she said that this situation would work perfectly.” He explains, sitting down and looking around somewhat uncomfortably as you go to one of your cabinets and pull a couple of glasses out.
“Why was mum looking on a security website? Feels like a weird place to look for potential roommates for me,” you remark curiously and you glance over in time to see Alex freezes up, eyes wide and startled. “What?” You demand, turning to face him, immediately suspicious. He cringes slightly, tensing slightly as he decides what to tell you first.
“She didn’t-didn’t tell you about that? Right. Okay.” He pauses and you glare at him.
“Didn’t tell me what, Alex?” you grate out, voice slow and dangerously calm.
“I’m your security. She was worried about the backlash from the trial and because you’re living away from home, she wanted to get you personal security, and she found me. Probably figured you’d be more, I dunno, receptive to the idea if you actually knew the person.” You’re staring incredulously at him, gaping slightly and he winces apologetically. “I’m still gonna be paying rent and shit like that, but I’m also going to be responsible for your safety for as long as your mum thinks I’ll be needed,” Alex trails off apologetically as you put the cups down on the counter and stalk over to where he’s sitting.
“Okay, Alex.” You get out through gritted teeth. “Let me just get this straight. Mum was worried about what her sudden ‘rise to fame’ would entail, so she decided that a good way to deal with any fallout for me was to pay you actual money to be some kind of bullshit bodyguard?”
“That’s-” Alex rubs awkwardly at the back of his head “That’s about right, yeah.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill her. Why does she think I need protecting at all? She’s the one who’s in court every day, it’s not like I’m putting my face on camera. And why’d she hire you?” You fume, pacing around the room and Alex clears his throat uncomfortably.
“I’m not a bad choice-I did the requisite courses and I mean, I’m kind of, uh-what’s the best way to put this-uniquely qualified for this sort of thing,” He says reluctantly and you stop pacing, whirling around to stare incredulously at him.
“What the fuck does that mean, ‘uniquely qualified’?”
“It’s-well, um-I mean-It’s kind of complicated. But I’ve actually done a lot of protection training and whatever, so security was a pretty good way to pick up some cash,” He explains carefully, and you raise your eyebrows in surprise, but decide to ignore it for the time being in favour of other questions.
“Why didn’t you let me know you were gonna be in the area, though?”
“We haven’t exactly been in touch since you moved, (Y/N)” He reminds you, and you roll your eyes at him before returning to your irate pacing.
“Whatever. Just let me be wrathful, okay? This is ridiculous. I don’t need protecting, so can you just, tell mum I declined, or something?” You snap, and Alex winces apologetically.
“Yeah, I can’t do that. I believe your mum’s exact words were ‘she’s going to throw a tantrum, but I’m the one paying you, so just ignore her,’” He says, the beginnings of a smile twitching at the corners of his lips, and you scowl in frustration.
“I hate her. And you’re gonna be my new roommate? Is there schedule or whatever on this, or is this a ‘foreseeable future’ type of deal?”
“Foreseeable future, I’m pretty sure. And if the roommate deal is working well for us, then I might stay on even after I’m not needed as security, as long as you’re cool with that?” Alex replies, drumming his fingers restlessly against the arm of the couch, and you wave a hand dismissively in his direction.
“Yeah, that’s whatever. As long as you pay your rent on time and I don’t actively dislike you then you’ve got a room here as long as you want it. That’s not the biggest problem here,” you inform him, finally stopping your pacing to lean against the kitchen counter.
“What’s the biggest problem?” Alex asks, patiently. “And if you say it’s having security at all, then I’m really sorry, but that’s something you have to take up with your mom, not me.” He reiterates defensively, and you rub absentmindedly at your temples as you think.
“Believe me, I’m gonna be talking to her about this later today. No the biggest problem is explaining why you’re always around me. I’m so not telling my friends Mum got me security,” You complain and Alex shoots you a quizzical look.
“Just tell them I’m your new roommate,” He reminds you matter of factly, and you fix him with a reproving glance.
“Being roommates,” you start, voice heavy with condescension and feigned patience. “Is not going to explain why you follow me everywhere, especially if we weren’t already friends. So what do I tell them to explain it.” Alex just shrugs infuriatingly.
“That’s not my problem.”
“You-” You jab an accusatory finger at him. “Are not being at all helpful. You’re the cause of the problem in the first place, so try and come up with some kind of excuse for your presence.” You retort, and he just shrugs again.
“Tell them we’re cousins and I moved to town,” He suggests, and you roll your eyes for what feels like the umpteenth time this afternoon.
“I wouldn’t drag a family member literally everywhere I went. It’s weird.” You rebuff his idea, and Alex gestures in mild frustration.
“Well, what do you have in mind?” he retorts and you glare in mock offense.
“Not that half assed explanation, that’s for damn sure.”
“Well if that doesn’t cut it for you, then tell them we’re dating,” He snaps back, tone mocking and very clearly not serious, but you pause and cock your head to the side, sizing him up thoughtfully. Something in your eyes makes him tense up, shaking his head warily. “No. No, no, no, think of something else. Please.”
“But I like your idea.” You say teasingly, still scrutinizing him. You certainly wouldn’t be opposed to pretending to dating Alex. You hadn’t seen him since he was thirteen and you were eleven, but twelve years had done a lot of good things for him, and now he was tall and broad shouldered with staggeringly blue eyes, and you’d be lying if you said his smile didn’t make your throat tighten a little. “C’mon. You’re being paid to keep an eye on me no matter what I say, and this’ll be more interesting than just hovering at my shoulder all the time.” You grin conspiratorially at him, raising an eyebrow at him in a silent challenge.
“What does that even mean, though?” He asks, somewhat helplessly, and you shrug dismissively.
“It’ll be easy. Just put your arm around me when we’re with my friends and call me ‘babe’ or whatever sometimes. You’ve dated people before. You know what it entails. Just pretend we’re doing that.” Alex still doesn’t look convinced.
“That sounds like a terrible plan that is probably going to go very, very wrong, and we’re both going to look and feel like complete fuckwits,” he warns, and you scoff.
“Please. We’re both adults. It’s gonna be fine. Just say you agree.”
“Okay, fine.” He groans, after a long silence, and you chuckle.
“Thought so. This is gonna be fun.”