Alex Rider - three months to the end

Chapter 6

Alex locked himself in the room until it was lunch time before he paddled down the stairs silently but the thing giving him away was the fact that his earphones were literally blasting music. K-unit all looked around for the source until they saw Alex appear from behind the wall. They were all truly puzzled about whether his ear drums have exploded or not, the music was booming loudly. "Hey Al." Ben called out to test if Alex can hear alright. Alex turned to look at him and gave him a 'sup' head nodded. Ben smirked and shook his head. The spy can hear him just fine even if the music is blasting. How?!
"What song are you listening to?" Eagle's curiosity got the better of him, all they can hear is loud booming music but not the lyrics. Alex looked at him with a unreadable calculating expression. Is Eagle trying to be nice to him to find more out more about him? Or is he just genuinely curious? Alex was trying to figure him out as quickly as possible when he caught Ben's eyes. Ben's eyes darted to the unit before it darted back to him. Alex sighed and pulled out his iPod. He held it out for the unit to see after clicking the home button for the screen to come alive.
"Panic! At the disco." Eagle read out, squinting at small words on the screen. Alex turned around to glide into the kitchen to get a drink as he kept the iPod. He has been coughing every two minutes during the course of the day. It was taking a toll on him just from mere coughing. His throat was scratchy and dry but no matter how much water he drank, it still wouldn't soothe his throat. His doctor had told him it was lung cancer and he was only at stage one but with the amount of coughing he has done, he doesn't believe that it's only at stage one.
They all sat silently at the table, somewhat awkward because Alex was there. Alex also knew it was because of him that the lunch time was awkward, so he ate quickly and made sure he wouldn't choke or anything with the quick eating. He was about to finish when Ben spoke up. "Are you okay?"
"Why do you ask?" Alex asked after glancing at him, confused by his question. They both studied each other with an intense look before Ben broke it by looking away with a flinch. Alex's eyes were so cold and dark, it scared him. "You... Don't look okay." Ben said slowly, as if testing his words and Alex's reaction. Alex finished the rest of his food before answering with a 'I'm fine' and then standing up to wash his own dishes.
Alex surprised them when he went back up stairs but came right back down with a laptop. They thought he was gonna confine himself in the room again until dinner. Alex was typing away on the laptop at the couch and Eagle was trying to sneak up on him to peek at what the teen was doing. Eagle thinks he has managed to get close enough to look at the screen but when he looked up, it was a dark screen. He knows there's something on the screen as he can see that bit he can't make out the words or content whatsoever on the screen. Shit. Damn Cub. It's those type of screen protectors where people can't see what you're doing unless you're directly facing the laptop screen. It's the privacy thingy.
"Do you think I can scare him?" Eagle asked in a hushed voice once he crept back to the kitchen.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, scaring a kid? Really?" Snake asked, his mother hen mode switched on.
"Come on! It will be fun! It'll be good revenge and to tell the kid who's boss."
"But he has done nothing to you guys!" Ben exclaimed, loud enough to get his point across but soft enough that it wouldn't travel to Alex who was now watching a movie on the TV which was muted. Why watch it muted you ask? It's for Alex to brush up on his lip reading. He may be excellent at lip reading, but that doesn't mean he can slack off and not practice. "He- true... He has done nothing to us." Wolf grumbled.
"But it will still be fun! I mean, hello? It will let him know that we're friendly and wouldn't bite his head off."
"So does that mean you've formed another prank?" Snake asked which Eagle turned to grin and nodded. "But the kid is injured." Ben insisted, to prove his point Alex suddenly ran up stairs and into the bathroom. Snake's inner medic mode immediately took over as he ran up the stairs after the kid. Snake banged on the door. "Hey Cub! Are you okay?!"
"What? Yeah! Of course I'm okay. I just needed to use the toilet."
"... Okay... Then why did you have to run?"
"... Well, it was urgent? Don't tell me you've never experienced that urgency before." Alex teased before flushing the toilet and washing his hands. In truth he actually felt a tug at his stitches so he thought he ripped it but there wasn't any ripped stitches nor was any wounds reopened. Alex flung open the door and Eagle almost fell on him because he was leaning on the door to listen to see if Alex was hiding anything. "What are you doing?" Alex asked, he knows but he wants to give Eagle a chance to fess up.
"Uh... Nothing!" He had replied quickly. Alex raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as he silently exited the bathroom and entered his room.
"Dammit. He locked himself inside his room again." Eagle cursed. 

"Don't worry Eagle. He'll come out soon." Ben reassured. Alex sighed in exhaustion as he dry swallowed another pill. I hope Ben doesn't get too upset when I'm dead. I doubt K-unit would even care.