Characters: Alex Rider, Jack Starbright, and Harry Potter

Warnings (Chapter): Swearing

Warnings (Story): Possible slash

Word Count: 2,217

"Eight A, Eight B. Eight A, Eight B…" Jack Starbright muttered repeatedly to herself as she scanned for their designated seats, moving hurriedly down the narrow aisle of the mid-sized plane that she and her fourteen year old ward had just boarded.

Said ward followed behind her at a more sedate pace, one hand stuck casually in his pocket. He wore a slight grin as he watched his guardian glare viciously at a tall man in a suit and tie who was trying to steal her space in the overhead luggage compartment.

Who knew that Jack was such a harried flyer?

"Let me get that." Alex offered as he approached, grabbing the surprisingly bulky tote bag she had been lugging behind her. This was his first encounter handling the carry-on, Jack earlier having protested adamantly about anyone, but her taking charge of the bag. His many attempts to help her with it had been gunned down faster than a plane in enemy territory. Alex was now honestly worried as to what she had contained within it…

"Thank you Alex," Jack growled. "At least you'repolite!" At this she shot an evil glare in the direction of Mr. Suit and Tie, making the man scowl back and retreat further down the aisle in search of more people to cheat out of their rightful repositories. Though it really wasn't needed considering the fact that they were among the first to board the plane, leaving quite a bit of room for them all. Alex supposed that he just had a lot of luggage. Or, you know, something…

"The nerve of that man!" The red-head fumed, immediately reaching to take back her luggage. "He could clearlysee that it was myspace, and that I was trying to put my stuff up there! Hmph!"

In a surprising display of strength, she heaved the bag up off the floor and into the overhead compartment. Alex blinked.

"So I'm guessing that you won'tneed help with that?"

"Oh, sit down!" Jack grumbled, lightly shoving the teen into their row.

"Ooh, window seat."

"On second thought, no!" She pulled him back out again and hurried in first, plunking herself down in the far seat, which had just been claimed previously by her young ward. "I want the window seat." She smirked triumphantly at the fair-haired teen.

"Okay, that is no fair!" Alex objected, though he sat down next to her anyway, swinging his small rucksack off his back and carefully stowing it underneath the seat in front of him.

"Life's not fair." She commented blithely, pulling out the in-flight magazine that was stored in the pouch attached to the back of the seat in front of her. She started to flip through it as Alex settled himself down, finding the most comfortable position that he could on the hard cushions. Might as well get themselves set before the barrage of people swarmed onto the plane with them, and stole their peace.

Both of their activities were suddenly interrupted by the presence of another passenger as he stopped at the end of their aisle, and his jaunty greeting, "Pardon me, but I think that I have the pleasure of sitting with you two."

Alex, paranoid, suspicious, spy Alex, automatically gave the man an initial once-over, taking in his stance, expression, and the (thankful) lack of weapon-like bulges under his clothes. Then, relaxing slightly, he gave him a more thorough inspection. Jack just turned red.

Casual, white-washed jeans, well fitted. A comfortable yet stylish cotton button up, along with a seemingly expensive brown cloth jacket framing his shoulders. A watch, digital, set to military time, coupled with well worn, yet somehow fashionable construction boots, probably once belonging to his father. Overall his appearance subtly indicated the presence of money though the apparent favoring of comfort and function over flash.

"It's our pleasure, I'm sure." Alex replied, managing a smile as best he could. Social interactions definitely weren't his best area, but he honestly did try.

The man grinned and flopped down into the end seat, dropping his bag down under his feet with a thump. He offered his hand to the teen while flicking his dark brown hair out of his eyes in a practiced yet unconscious movement.

"Derek Chaplin."

Alex cautiously shook his hand, and offered back.

"Alex Rider. This is my housekeeper, Jack Starbright."

Jack flushed, but spoke up. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Chaplin."

The man chuckled. "Please, call me Derek. Mr. Chaplin is my father." He smiled at her. "And anyway, I don't think that I'm that much older than you. But of course, I could be wrong; you have a very youthful appearance."

Oh God. Alex thought to himself as Jack's face reddened, on par with her fiery hair. This is going to be a loooong trip.

Seven minutes.

Seven. Minutes.

Oh my God, had it really only been seven minutes? Alex tried to ward the glum expression off his face by taking a sip of water from his water bottle. This was worse torture than dangling above those bloody crocodiles he'd faced not weeks before. God.

"Oh, so you like photography?"

Jack beamed. "Well, I've just started taking pictures, but I really do love to capture pictures in nature, especially, like, macro style, as well as panoramic photos."

Alex leaned back as far as he could, so that it was easier for the two of them to talk to each other. They had to talk around him, because he was right in between the two, but really, he could do nothing about it! They had just taken off from the ground, and they were not allowed to 'move around the cabin' just yet. Sigh.

"Carving? No way!"

"Haha, yes way! My dad was the one who got me into it. He's an architect, and he's really into woodwork…"

Alex did his best to tune them out. He felt a little awkward, intruding in on his guardian's flirting session… He closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself in a different setting. Maybe on a nice, deserted island. But actually, that would be pretty bad… Boredom is a severe ailment that he struggles with on a near daily basis. Alex frowned. He supposed that he could draw in the sand or something, but he knows that that isn't as easy as it sounds. And if it was deserted, there was no guarantee that there would be anything edible for him! Hmm…

Maybe a cruise ship or something.

As soon as the no seatbelt light dinged on overhead, Alex was up.

"Hey guys, I think I'm just going to go to the loo and just, you know, go talk to that lady over there," He rambled as he hurriedly unclicked his seatbelt and grabbed his rucksack. "Maybe do some super flexible yoga with her or something, I don't know. Bake an imaginary cake. Who doesn't like cake?"

Jack tore herself away from her conversation with Derek for a moment, turning to look at the teen, a poorly concealed frown tugging down her brows with worry.

"I'll be fine, Jack." Alex told her before she could say anything. "I'll just be near the back of the plane in an empty seat or something if you need me. Yoga needs space."

Jack bit her lip. "As long as you're careful." She conceded reluctantly.

"I'll be not thirty feet away." Alex promised. "And I'm always careful."

Jack snorted, though it was a sound tinged with bitterness. "I know."

Derek was watching them both with curious confusion in his blue eyes, though he restrained himself from saying anything.

Alex shrugged. "Well, anyhow." He leaned down and gave her a quick hug before taking his leave.

"Good luck with Derek," he said quietly into her ear. "I dare you to ask him for his phone number."

He then promptly scooted himself out of their aisle, leaving a brightly flushed Jack behind him, her eyes wide and studiously avoiding the gaze of a curious Derek Chaplin.

Man, was he glad to have his space from those two! Alex thought to himself as he strolled down the plane's corridor, scanning for an open seat that he could move to. There was hardly any space near the front of the plane, but nearer to the back it was a bit less crowded with only a few passengers scattered about. Sadly, there was no completely empty row…

After considering and discarding many available seats, he decided that his best bet was next to the strangely unaccompanied teenaged boy who was furiously mashing the buttons of his DS game console and seemingly swearing furiously at the screen. Even if he did seem to have some unresolved anger management issues…

Alex approached the dark haired boy silently and gracefully sat down a seat away from him.

"Son of a mother fucking, two faced, two bit, bitch!" The boy cursed, frantically pressing buttons. "Don't crash, you stupid dinosaur, don't you dare fucking crash!"

Alex watched him, a brow raised.

"Aw, come on! Seriously?" The teenager hissed, throwing his hands up in the air in disgusted dismay and letting the game console fall into his lap. It beeped mocking defeat up at him.

The boy suddenly spotted Alex, and flushed in embarrassment. "H-how long were you sitting there?" He cried, seeming nowhere near as irate as he was moments before.

"Less than a minute," Alex reassured him.

"Well shoot, at least you didn't catch too much of my humiliation." The boy mumbled, his face pink.

"Only a minor amount." Alex offered him an encouraging smile.

He just groaned and slumped further down in his seat. "It's not even my fault!" He said defensively. "It's not like I know how to play the bloody game!"

"And what game would that be?"

"Mario Kart. You, like, drive around in golf carts and, well, yeah…"

"I've heard of it." Alex told him, amused. "You've never played before?"

The boy sighed. "No. And I've never actually played on a DS before, either…"

But looking at the badly scratched and cracked casing of the console, this certainly did not seem to be the case.

"It's my cousin's." The dark haired boy supplied, noticing Alex looking. "So's the actual game…"

"And he or she did not explain it all to you?" The fair haired of the two asked curiously.

"Dudley and I don't exactly get along." The boy sighed, before coloring. "And, well, I kind of, you know," he coughed awkwardly. "Stole it from him without asking."

"You delinquent." Alex grinned teasingly, not missing a beat.

"Oh shut up." The boy grumbled back good-naturedly. "It's not like he was ever going to use it anyway…"

"There's no need to justify yourself to me, kid." Alex smirked. "Only the guilty ever try to do that, anyway."

"My name is Harry and I'm not justifying myself!" He protested. "I'm just explaining so you don't think that I'm a thief or anything!"

"Technically you are." Alex began, but shut up with an audible click of his jaw at the death glare that Harry sent his way. "Umm… I'm Alex?"

"It's a pleasure."

"It doesn't sound as if you think so."

"Really? Whatever gave you that impression?"

"Probably the malevolent tone of voice, but that's just my guess."

"It was a good one. How old are you anyway?" Harry abruptly asked him, disrupting their flow of banter.

Alex shrugged. "Fourteen. You?"

"Same!"

"Are you sure? You're a bit short for fourteen."

"You're a bit stupid for fourteen."

"Now now, Harry." Alex tutted. "That was uncalled for."

"What was uncalled for was your slam about my height!"

"Hey! It wasn't a slam, it was an observation!"

"It suuuure didn't sound like it!"

"For real? And here I thought that it was said in a nice, loving tone of voice."

"Alex, your use of sarcasm was completely and totally unneeded."

"Harry, your words of wisdom were anything but."

"My God, would both of you shut the hell up?!" The man seated directly in front of them snarled as he whipped around to face them, a furious glare on his face. "You two idiots are giving me a fucking headache!"

"If you find some manners, we'll think about it." Alex commented with a twinkle in his eyes. "And sir, I must ask, but did you bathe today? Because your personality stinks."

"And maybe try some plastic surgery while you're looking, you oversized, arsefucked pillock..." Harry added under his breath. "God damn!"

"Harry, that was uncalled for," Alex reproached, ignoring the bright red, gaping face of the furious man in front of them. "Perhaps the poor man can't help being fat. What if he has some sort of disease!"

Harry swallowed a smirk. "Then bully for him, eh? His nasty personality is poisonous enough to the surroundings that I truly don't care." He glanced at the man in distaste. "My God, I can literally feel my intelligence sapping away with every moment I keep looking at you." He shuddered. "I think that if I were like you, I would kill myself."

Alex couldn't bite back the slip of laughter that escaped from his mouth. He got the feeling that he and Harry were going to be getting along very well!

I've been wanting to write this story for a long time! :D Also, in the future, there shall possibly be SLASH. I view Harry as gay for sure and Alex sort of asexual, so if there are any pairings, they'll be boyxboy. But nothing serious, I don't think, don't worry. :)