Chapter Text
Alex had a bad feeling about this.
The evening was going too smoothly. He and his partner, Agent Barner, had arrived on time and with minimal arguing to watch all the speeches and be served hors d'oeuvre at the gala they were attending. After the speeches were over they had split up, and this was were Alex's job for the evening really began: mingle, be visible, and cover for his "father's" absence.
Their target was a German pharmaceutical company ran by a man named Karsten Weller. Apparently there had been a suspicious bump in investors at the same time a new drug started flooding the streets of almost every major European city. The dealers that had been arrested in England had suppliers abroad, and the trail had soon lead from simple drug pushing to illicit arms deals. At that point MI6 had gotten involved, and now they wanted any- and everything they could dig up on Weller.
That part wasn't Alex's problem though. No, he had to deal with this instead.
"I'm hoping to get into Goethe University in Frankfurt to study medicine, they do amazing research there. Though my father would prefer I study economics and join the company, of course," Simon Weller, the CEO's seventeen year old son, complained to Alex with an eye-roll.
They had met by actual accident and completely due to the fact that not many young people in their age group attended this gala. So it had been a much welcomed break from chatting with men in their fifties about "business" for Alex when Simon had walked up to him and just started talking about first football, then his mates from school, and finally what he planned to do with his future.
"I can relate," Alex sympathized with a small smile. "My dad keeps hoping I'll wake up one day and spontaneously profess a burning passion for developing or at least selling CT scanners."
Simon laughed, scrunching up his nose as he did so. "What, you don't dream about becoming a high-class salesman? Shame on you."
Alex laughed as well, though his own was much quieter and quickly hidden behind a hand. Lloyd Williams was sheltered, not very outgoing, and easily overwhelmed.
"So what do you want to do?" Simon continued, leaning in closer with a grin. He was one of those people it would have been easy to dislike if he weren't so honestly nice; good-looking, rich, and talented, the epitome of someone born to privilege.
Alex shrugged and looked at the ground, his fingers fiddling with his sleeves. "I, uhm." He glanced up and stopped, caught off-guard by the other boy's interested stare, close enough to make out that his eyes were a greenish blue. "Uhm."
"Not sure yet?" Simon questioned affably, like he understood the problem.
Alex nodded quickly, annoyed by how warm his face felt. He cleared his throat. "I like art, I guess, though chemistry isn't so bad either." At least as long as it wasn't exploding in his face.
"Ohh, chemistry! You think you'd want to go into medicine with that, researching new cures and so on?"
The spy shrugged again and demurred, "I don't really know what would go into that..."
Simon hummed thoughtfully and leaned back, finger tapping at his chin. "You know, if you're interested I bet I could get my father to have someone give us a tour of one of the company's research labs. Researching new medicines and producing them is exactly what his company does, after all, and he'd be thrilled if I showed more interest in his business."
Alex blinked, unable to believe his luck. This was a perfect opportunity to gather intelligence on site. Although… his job was supposed to be supplying the cover, not doing any of the actual sleuthing.
"I don't know if my dad would be alright with that," he prevaricated, erring on the side of caution.
The other boy waved him off. "Asking can't hurt. And you said you're staying in Germany for another couple of days, right? It'd be cool to hang out again." And he hit Alex with another bright grin.
Before he quite knew what was happening he had mumbled his assent and Simon had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off through the crowd, looking for his father: the very man Alex's partner was sent here to investigate. There was no way this could end well.
"Hey Papa, hast du 'nen Moment Zeit?" Simon addressed the back of a man standing together with four other people. The German was too rapid for Alex to understand everything, but the meaning was quite obvious when Karsten Weller turned around and smiled at his son.
"Natürlich, Simon. Please excuse me," he directed the last part at his companions, who accepted the interruption with nods and quiet murmurs of assent.
Mr Weller stepped away from the group and gave his full attention to his son and Alex, greeting the latter with a friendly smile and a slightly questioning, "Hallo."
Simon jumped in right away, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder to pull him close up against his side and beaming at his father. "I wanted to introduce someone to you, Papa. This is Lloyd Williams, his dad's on the board for the Greyson Group."
"Ah, nice to meet you," the man smiled and held out his hand for Alex to shake. The spy quickly took it, hoping his tension would be seen as insecurity. This was so far off script, at this point he might as well throw it out the window completely and just do his best to find out as much as he could. Staying unremarkable was quickly becoming impossible, after all.
"Hi, nice to meet you, too," he mumbled back, smile shy.
"Lloyd is interested in chemistry and medicine, but he's never been in a research lab, can you imagine?" Simon told his father, lightly shaking Alex by the shoulder, as if to emphasise how incredible that was. "He and his father are staying in Germany for a couple of days, so do you think it'd be possible for us to get a tour of one of the labs?"
The man's eyebrows went up. "A tour? For you both?"
"Yeah," Simon confirmed. "I've got to decide on my university courses soon, you know, and I'm actually pretty curious too. Maybe this is something I could do at the company, if I do get a medical degree."
Mr Weller seemed to be considering it, slightly bemused but generally not put off by the request. "Well, I'd have to check with-"
"Sir?"
A jolt went through Alex, his heartbeat jumping into double-time.
That voice.
Mr. Weller turned to the man who had suddenly appeared at his shoulder and made a questioning noise.
"There's a..." The voice trailed off.
Alex stared, transfixed, the strangest sensation of unreality settling over him. Seconds were ticking by, people around him were talking, but he could hear nothing but his own blood rushing in his ears.
The eyes were a murky brown instead of ice blue. The face was thinner, the skin paler. His hair was darker and longer.
[They had told him he was dead.]
A throat was cleared. "I'm sorry, there's a call for you on line 2. Something came up."
Mr Weller nodded and made his excuses – Alex knew that he answered something, but later he couldn't have said what. His eyes stayed fixed to the apparition in front of him, taking in the details, trying to convince himself that he was seeing what he was seeing.
The man before him had lost weight and muscle mass, though he still looked fit. He was marked by dark circles under his eyes and a slightly pinched look. But there were the same sharp cheekbones. The same even, handsome face. The same curved lips, now pressed into a thin line of disapproval.
Somewhere next to Alex, Simon was speaking. "Sorry Lloyd, I'll try asking again later. Ah, this is Kirill Mihailov, one of my father's assistants. Uh, do you guys know each other…?"
The older boy trailed off questioningly and Alex tore his gaze from the ghost in front of him. He forced himself to get his shit together through sheer desperate bloody-mindedness and smiled placatingly at Simon's confusion.
"No, I think we've just seen each other at one of these events before. Sorry," he explained with a miraculously steady voice. He turned to… Kirill, hoping it wasn't obvious that his heart was making a good effort to crawl right out of his chest. "We haven't been introduced, I think. Lloyd Williams."
He held out his hand and met the considering stare aimed at him. His fingers were trembling.
Another beat of silence, then a warm hand enveloped his palm.
The second time they had ever touched.
"Hello, Lloyd. It's nice to meet you," Yassen Gregorovich said.