Cyan (he/him or they/them). Always here for family stories. Actually a penguin blog in disguise. Sidebar gif by the amazing @bikatniss.
One Piece sideblog: @oceanofstardust.
It’s already 2026, so I thought I might look back and create a wrap-up post for the writing I did last year!
In total, I published 27.9k words last year, spread over 8 fics, all for the Alex Rider fandom. It wasn't the best year for writing, unfortunately, but I still managed to post some fics I'm proud of, and I did actually write a fair bit that didn't get posted (but hopefully will in the future).
As always, thanks so much to everyone who took the time to read and leave kudos and comment on my fics, it always makes my day <3
Yassen & Alex
Drinking Lessons (T, 4.8k) - Devil!verse fic where Yassen teaches 16-year-old Alex a lesson about alcohol.
After Alex drinks a bit too much at a New Year's Eve party, Yassen decides to get Alex drunk to teach him about his limits.
Domesticated (T, 8.1k) - Hurt/comfort fic where Yassen takes care of a concussed Alex and his cats.
Alex wakes up with a pounding headache to find that not only is Yassen Gregorovich apparently alive, but he is sitting in Alex’s armchair with a purring cat in his lap, quietly reading a book. It's a lot to take in.
Written for the Spyfest 2025 Gift Exchange.
Yassen/Alex
The Benefits of Friendship (E, 1.2k) - 3x06 AU where Yassen gives Alex a handjob, with implied past John/Yassen.
Set during episode 3x06. Alex and Yassen have to share the only bed in the safe house. When Alex struggles to sleep, Yassen decides to lend a hand.
The Rooftop Revisited (E, 1.1k) - Movieverse yalex PWP.
Another rooftop, another conversation.
"This doesn't change anything," Alex insisted as he let Yassen push him against the wall, already fumbling with Yassen's belt.
Yassen sounded almost amused. "As you say."
The Affair at the Wedding (E, 3.9k) - Post-S3 Yalex where Alex tries to hide he's been drugged with an aphrodisiac.
It’s just Alex’s luck that the next time he sees Yassen after Invisible Sword, he ends up hurt, stuck in a storage cupboard with Yassen, and fighting the effects of a rather potent aphrodisiac.
Exchange treat for @proodence for Spyfest After Dark 2025.
Miscellaneous
Death in Paradise (John & Alex, T, 2.2k) - Ark Angel AU where Alex is saved his father.
A slight change in timing means there is no Tamara Knight to rescue Alex from the Mary Belle. Trapped twenty-two metres below the surface and with his air supply running out, Alex finds himself saved instead by a man who's supposed to be long dead: John Rider.
like ashes in your mouth (Ash & Alex, T, 2.7k) - Snakehead told through Ash's POV.
There are times, during that final mission, when he considers killing the boy in his sleep. It would be a kinder thing to do than this, the way Ash lies to his face while leading Alex to his grave.
Ash's POV on his deception of Alex during the Snakehead mission.
Game Over (Alex, T, 3.9k) - Whump mission fic where Alex gets used as a dartboard before he manages to escape.
When Alex is caught on a mission, the guards come up with a cruel game to torment him. Not for the first time, Alex finds himself hurt and tied up, and with no one to rely on but himself.
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When is Alex's birthday in the books, and what do the early books (1-7, early UK editions) have to say about it?
Stormbreaker: Alex is fourteen and since the story takes place in March it follows that his birthday is before then. Someone, likely Ian, gave him a custom-built bike for his 12th birthday.
Point Blanc: Alex is still fourteen.
Skeleton Key: Alex says he is "fourteen and three months", a fascinating statement considering he supposedly says it in July. Implies he may have been thirteen in Stormbreaker or, my personal pet theory, that Ahorz originally intended for Skeleton Key to take place in May. Alex also claims in this book he was two when the Berlin wall fell, which points to a birth year of 1987.
Eagle Strike: Alex is still fourteen. Also Ian took him to Prague shortly after or even specifically for Alex’s tenth birthday.
Scorpia: Finally some real dates in this one. Albert Bridge takes place on 13 March. Alex is two months/eight weeks old, implying a birthday of around 13 January.
Ark Angel: It is October and Alex is eight months older than Paul Drevin, who is 'only just fourteen'. Puts Alex's birthday somewhere between early January and mid-February. Also happy to report Ian took Alex to the circus in Vienna for his eighth birthday.
Snakehead: ASIS's file on Alex says he was recruited in March aged 'fourteen and two months', pointing to a January birthday again. This matches with Ash's story about Alex having been born already by the time John is 'captured' in Malta on 11 February. To confuse things, some US editions have changed the Malta events to 11 November and Alex's age in his file to 'fourteen and one month'. So I guess that's a February birthdate?
Conclusions:
1. Most of the early books (the UK editions at least) point to a January birthdate for Alex. I haven't read Crocodile Tears or the later books yet but I'm going to hazard a guess Ahorz may have changed his mind about when Alex's birthday is once the timeline reached December/January and he still wanted Alex to be fourteen.
2. Skeleton Key is a bit of an outlier because technically Alex's comment makes no sense with the timeline but then the Skeleton Key timeline is a mess, so I suppose maybe Alex just lied about his age.
3. Ian took Alex on city trips for his birthday! Possibly this implies his birthday is between school terms, but it may have just been a weekend or Ian pulled him out of school.
Evidence/quotes under the cut.
Alex was fourteen, already well built, with the body of an athlete. (SB, p. 7)
The bike was a Condor Junior Roadracer, custom-built for him on his twelfth birthday. It was a teenager’s bike, with a cut down Reynolds 531 frame, but the wheels were full-sized so he could ride at speed with hardly any rolling resistance. He spun past a Mini and cut through the school gates. He would be sorry when he grew out of the bike. For two years now it had almost been part of him. (SB, p. 18)
Alex was fourteen years old, an ordinary schoolboy in an ordinary west London comprehensive. (PB, p. 21)
“Sarov belongs to a different age,” Mrs Jones said, taking over. “He was a commander in the Russian army at a time when the Russians were our enemies and still part of the Soviet Union. This wasn’t very long ago, Alex. The collapse of communism. It was only in 1989 that the Berlin Wall came down.” She stopped. “I suppose none of this means very much to you.”
“Well, it wouldn’t,” Alex said. “I was only two years old.” (SK, p. 92)
“Fourteen and three months,” Alex said. (SK, p. 109)
It had been Ian Rider, of course, who had taught him the basics of pickpocketing. At the time it had just been a game, shortly after Alex’s tenth birthday, when the two of them were together in Prague. (ES, p. 110)
“March? What year was this?”
“It was fourteen years ago, Alex: 13th March. You were two months old.” (S, p. 144)
She pressed a button and the screen flickered into life, showing images that had been taken in another time, when Alex was just eight weeks old. (S, p. 145)
She had sat next to him and smiled at him, knowing that she had taken his father from him just weeks after he was born. (S, p. 150)
“It was faked.” Mrs Jones took up the narrative again. “Your father had told us as much as we needed to know about Scorpia and we had to get him out. There were two reasons for this. The first was that your mother had just given birth to a baby boy. That was you, Alex. Your father wanted to come home; he wanted to be with you and your mother. But also it was becoming too dangerous. You see, Mrs Rothman had fallen in love with him.” (S, p. 348)
It was October and the summer was definitely over, leaves falling and cold breezes coming in with the night. (AA, p. 28)
And yet he had to do something. He thought about the strange, lonely boy in the room next to his. Paul Drevin was only just fourteen - eight months younger than Alex. These men had come for him. Alex couldn't let them take him. (AA, p. 39)
A visit to a circus in Vienna six years ago when Alex was only eight. It had been his birthday. (AA, p. 82)
AR was recruited by the Special Operations Division of MI6 in March of this year, age fourteen years and two months. (SH, p. 36)
“Your dad was coming in. He’d had enough of Scorpia and MI6. You had just been born. John wanted a normal life; and anyway, he’d achieved what he’d set out to do. Thanks to him, we knew a great deal about the structure of command within Scorpia. We had the names of most of their agents. We knew who was paying them and how much.” (SH, p. 194)
John let me know when the hit was arranged. It was going to be at eleven o’clock at night on 11 February. We’d be there waiting. (SH, p. 197)
“Your dad was coming in. He’d had enough of Scorpia and MI6. You had just been born. John wanted a normal life; and anyway, he’d achieved what he’d set out to do. Thanks to him, we knew a great deal about the structure of command within Scorpia. We had the names of most of their agents. We knew who was paying them and how much.”
John let me know when the hit was arranged. It was going to be at eleven o’clock at night on 11 February. We’d be there waiting.
US edition:
“Your dad was coming in. He’d had enough of Scorpia and MI6. You were on your way into the world. John just wanted a normal life—and anyway, he’d achieved what he’d set out to do. Thanks to him, we knew the entire structure of command within Scorpia. We had the names of most of their agents. We knew who was paying them and how much.”
John let me know when the hit was arranged. It was going to be at eleven o’clock at night on November 11. All the elevens. We’d be there waiting.
US edition says John gets to be home by Christmas/in time for his son's birth, UK edition says he's out of luck lol
I know it's mostly just Ahorz's approach to continuity being him going 'well that sounds about right', but I still twitch every time there's a reference to Alex's birthday in the books. Is he born in January or in February? Who knows, certainly not Ahorz because the references don't line up even within a single book lmao
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At least on 'the price is right' you know (because someone *actually told you*) that you are playing a guessing game and that there is an over/under mechanic and that the conquence of guessing wrong isn't a punishment or damaged relationship or getting fired
This post is about the neurodivergent frustration of having to deal with neurotypical authority figures who don't say what they mean but I love the pro-union labor-rights energy I'm seeing in the notes
This might be an odd thing to say as someone who has literally written a Sarov whipping fic but honestly rereading the book I do get the sense that Sarov, despite threatening to have Alex whipped or shot, wouldn't actually have physically hurt Alex.
Like he's clearly not above scaring Alex with the fake-out execution and he does seem to have genuinely considered killing Alex after the escape attempt in the car, but he... doesn't. He doesn't even have Alex punished in any other way, just has him taken to his room to be locked up until dinner. He's got Conrad whispering in his ear to let him kill Alex, but he apparently talks himself into thinking actually it's admirable of Alex to try to escape and fight for his country etc etc:
“You may be wondering why I decided not to kill you,” he began. “This afternoon, when I found you in the car… I came so close. Conrad is still annoyed with me. He believes I am making a mistake. He does not understand me. But I will tell you why you are still alive, Alex. You are working for British intelligence. You are a spy. And you were only doing your job. I admire that, and this is the reason why I have forgiven you. You are loyal to your country even as I am loyal to mine. My son Vladimir died for his country. I am proud that you were prepared to do the same for yours.” (Skeleton Key, p. 267)
And then after the escape and recapture at the Edinburgh airport, Alex expects to be killed the moment Sarov and Conrad find him but again he's restrained but not hurt.
Alex was sitting in the same seat as before but now he was handcuffed to it. Sarov hadn't hurt him and no longer seemed even aware that he was on the plane. In a way, that was the most frightening thing about him. Alex had expected anger, violence, perhaps even a sudden death at the hands of Conrad. But Sarov had done nothing. From the moment that Alex had been escorted back onto the plane, the Russian hadn't so much as looked at him. (Skeleton Key, p. 292)
Alex ends up just sort of tagging along during this phase of the plan, as the handcuffed prisoner who already tried to escape twice and is clearly no longer trusted but also left unharmed (unlike the navy men in Murmansk who are killed without mercy!)
And even when Sarov finally leaves Alex to die, he can't quite bring himself to do it in a way that would hurt Alex, and he doesn't let Conrad or anyone else kill Alex even though he very well could have and Conrad certainly wants him to.
Then Sarov came over to Alex.
He stood there, examining him as if for the first and last time. As ever, his face gave nothing away, but Alex detected something in the man's eyes. Sarov would have denied it. He would have been angered if anyone had suggested it. But the sadness was there. It was plain to see.
“And so we come to the end,” he said. “You are standing in the Nuclear Submarine Repair Shipyard of Murmansk. You may be interested to know that the soldiers we met at the airport have all served with me in the past and are loyal to me still. The entire compound is now under my control and as you have seen, the nuclear bomb is primed. I'm afraid I cannot stay with you any longer. I have to return to the airport to ensure that everything is ready for our flight to Moscow. I will leave Conrad to place the bomb in position on the submarine, directly over the nuclear reactor that is still there inside. It is possible that the detonator in the bomb will also trigger the reactor, doubling or trebling the force of the explosion. This will mean very little to you, as you will be vaporized instantly—before your brain has time even to work out what has happened. Conrad is very disappointed. He had hoped I would allow him to kill you himself.” (Skeleton Key, p. 304)
There was another, long silence. Sarov reached out and gently stroked Alex's cheek. He looked into the boy's eyes one last time. Then he turned on his heel and walked away. Alex watched him get into his car and drive off. (Skeleton Key, p. 305)
It's not directly relevant to my argument, but I also wanted to include this quote because Sarov's twisted affection for Alex is so compelling. Stroking Alex's cheek as he leaves him to die in a nuclear explosion!
We also get confirmation from Conrad afterwards that Sarov specifically said to leave Alex alone and that he cares about Alex:
Conrad stepped forward and stopped very close to Alex. “I have a job to do,” he rasped. “But then we will have a little time together. Strange though it is, Sarov still cares about you. He told me to leave you alone. But I think, this time, I must disobey the general. You are mine! And I intend to make you suffer…” (Skeleton Key, p. 305)
Of course, things go wrong for Sarov and Conrad after this and Alex manages to disarm the bomb before Sarov shows up again wounded and demands the key card back. Interestingly, his last desperate plan seems to be a suicide one which would see both him and Alex die:
Sarov shook his head. “I can still detonate the bomb. There is an override. You and I will die. But the end result will be the same.” (Skeleton Key, p. 316)
Sarov then threatens Alex to give him the card and Alex essentially calls his bluff. In fairness, Alex does expect to be killed for his defiance, but that's not what happens.
Sarov raised the gun. The blood was spreading more rapidly now. He swayed on his feet. “Give me the card or I will shoot you,” he said.
Alex lifted the card then suddenly flicked it. It spun twice in the air, then disappeared into the water. “Go ahead then, if that's what you want,” he said. “Shoot me!”
Sarov's eyes flickered over to the lost card, then back to Alex. “Why…?” he whispered.
“I'd rather be dead than have a father like you,” Alex said.
There were voices shouting. Footsteps coming nearer.
“Goodbye, Alex,” Sarov said.
He raised the gun and fired a single shot. (Skeleton Key, p. 316)
Sarov at this point has lost everything. His plan (years in the making) failed and he's injured and about to be either arrested or killed, and Alex is in a large part to blame and defies him right to the end, even rejecting him as a father. Honestly, there's no shortage of AR villains who would have shot Alex in this moment. And yet even now Sarov doesn't hurt Alex. Well, aside from the obvious trauma of watching someone shoot himself in front of you.
Afterwards, Blunt and Mrs Jones talk a bit about Sarov's motivations as well and Mrs Jones again brings up Sarov's 'attachment' to Alex:
“I suppose Sarov didn't want to be taken alive,” Blunt muttered.
“I wish it was as simple as that. It seems that Sarov had some sort of… attachment to Alex. He saw him as the son he had lost. Alex rejected him and it pushed him over the edge. That's why he did it. He couldn't live with himself any more.” (Skeleton Key, p. 321)
Twisted though his affection for Alex was, Sarov did seem to have genuine feelings for Alex. And this situation so easily could have been a murder/suicide, but instead Sarov shoots himself and Alex makes it out alive.
Throughout the story we see Sarov being dangerous and making threats to Alex but he never actually follows through on them. He doesn't have Alex shot or whipped after the first escape attempt, he doesn't hurt Alex after the escape at the airport, and even when he plans to leave Alex to die, he doesn't let Conrad have his sadistic revenge. And at the end, he kills himself rather than actually firing his weapon at Alex.
It really is fascinating how a man who is so ruthless in many ways, brushing off all the deaths his plan entails, is so reluctant to harm Alex himself right to the end.
person in fandom: eeeyikes!!! i hope im writing this character in this short little fanfic right >_< eeekkk what if my takes on my meta are all wrong and everyone will Kill me!!
guy in professional comic industry: okay lets mischaracterize every single character that appears in this comic for 50 or so issues
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Tangential to this post about Ian's time with MI6 being different from Alex's, but I also like the idea that perhaps Blunt wasn't lying when he told Alex that Ian had appointed the bank as his legal guardian. Like sure, maybe on paper it's not quite that simple, but I don't find it all that hard to image that a high-risk type of employment like that may offer benefits like MI6 helping to make sure your family is looked after if you die in the line of duty. We already see in canon that Crawley shows up the first day to tell Alex not to worry about the funeral because he'll take care of everything, and of course they would have good reason to be involved to avoid the truth getting out. Why not also make sure Alex is looked after and gets a good education etc until he's old enough to inherit?
And Ian having good reason to believe that MI6 would be willing to help with this, perhaps because they were already willing to help with some things after John and Helen were killed. Which makes it all the more of a betrayal when instead Blunt decides to recruit Alex and all but send him off to get killed on the same mission that killed Ian. He had no reason to suspect Blunt would want to use Alex, and trusted the bank to look after his nephew and instead they violated that trust in the worst way. :(
I sort of love the idea of John and Ian being in many ways the classic James Bond type MI6 spy. Like obviously there is some influence given Ahorz loves James Bond/in many ways modelled Alex as a teenage James Bond, but Ian was literally living in Chelsea with a housekeeper (and his young nephew) and John has the whole 'licence to kill' thing going with his Scorpia mission. And they're closer probably closer to the stereotype than Alex is.
One thing that always fascinates me is the ways in which their time at MI6 probably differed a lot from Alex's. Thinking specifically about this quote from Stormbreaker:
Blunt had forced him into this. In the end, the big difference between him and James Bond wasn't a question of age. It was a question of loyalty. In the old days, spies had done what they'd done because they loved their country, because they believed in what they were doing. But he'd never been given a choice. Nowadays, spies weren't employed. They were used. (Stormbreaker, p. 230)
Alex thinks he's not like James Bond because he was forced into it and wasn't actually employed. Meanwhile Ian is described at his funeral as a patriot, as was John by Ash. I've seen people suggesting Ian was also manipulated by Blunt/MI6, but I've always found it more compelling that John and Ian genuinely joined MI6 out of their free will, because they enjoyed the job and perhaps because even because they wanted to serve their country. Alex thinks Ian wasn't much one for waving the union jack, so maybe the whole 'patriot' and 'good man' thing is just propaganda/the story told after they died, and I suppose that might go for this quote too:
"It was your father's idea," Mrs Jones went on. "He also knew Sir Graham. He wanted to help. You have to understand, Alex, that's the sort of man he was. One day I want to tell you all about him—not just this. He believed passionately in what he was doing. Serving his country. I know that sounds naive and old-fashioned. But he was a soldier through and through. And he believed in good and evil. I don't know how else to put it. He wanted to make the world a better place." (Scorpia, p. 350)
But I do enjoy the idea of John and Ian's motivations being in a sense incomprehensible to Alex at this stage. Why on earth would anyone voluntarily work for MI6? But John and Ian would have joined as adults, in another time, and their experience with MI6 is completely different because of it. They were trained, likely respected for their skills, paid — and I don't think Alex quite experiences how it could have been until he's sent back in in Scorpia and he's promised actual back-up and a way to signal an extraction and that's the closest they come to treating him like a proper agent, like his father and uncle would have been.
Also I have to say it's just really funny to picture Ian looking like Daniel Craig and going on a typical James Bond mission with car chases and explosions and suit-and-bowtie parties, and then he goes home and tells Alex the insurance conference was really quite boring.
sometimes i have strong opinions but they're also so inane that halfway through writing a post i'll be like "yeah, this is Absolutely not worth the energy it's taking" and delete everything. but then the opinion is still in my head. and i still want to share it. so within five minutes i go "you know, i bet i can phrase it more succinctly this time" and anyway. you all see where this is going. sometimes i do this four times in a row before i give up on the specific inane opinion and instead write a vague post about the concept of opinions as if that'll satisfy the urge to post the entirety of my inner monologue online. may or may not be relevant to what you're reading right now. and now all our lives have been enriched. you're welcome
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Rereading Skeleton Key this past week and this really is one of my favourite AR books. It'd got all the good stuff, Alex tricked into a mission that turns out to be more dangerous than he was told, the CIA agent resenting Alex and Alex getting fed up with it and confronting them several times (when he tells them he's going home if they're going to keep being like this, A+) and then all the whump, the shark in the water and the interrogation at the crusher and his captivity with Sarov and the failed attempt to escape and the heartbeat scene where he thinks he's going to die, soooo good. Also love Sarov being so pleasant to Alex and wanting to adopt him despite it also being a prisoner situation, and Alex just sort of being there at Sarov's side as the plan gets set in motion and he still has no idea what it is. The escape at the airport and Sarov forcing Alex to call him dad in front of the guard. Sarov stroking his cheek before leaving him to die and Conrad telling him the general still cares for him and doesn't want Alex to suffer but he's gonna disobey and then all the whump of him strangling Alex (the bruises later!!) and Sarov straight up shooting himself in front of Alex and Alex angsting about never how he'll never have a father. What a book! Having a great time with this reread A++
Ngl I do love the vibes in Snakehead of Yassen being a young assassin prodigy, one of the best to have come out of Malagosto, and John (who went in undercover and is working against Scorpia in secret) genuinely liking him and speaking fondly enough of him to Ash that Ash knows he's got a soft spot for Yassen. John's talented little killer student 🥰
