Chapter Text
~ Six Months Later ~
“It smells so good, love,” Henry moans from the kitchen table. “Please tell me it’ll be ready soon.”
“Patience is a virtue,” Alex says, grinning at Henry through a mouthful of freshly fried tortillas.
“You’re eating already,” Henry grumbles.
“Just to make sure it’s fit for a prince.” They both laugh, at that; Henry hasn’t been a prince for months now.
Henry watches as Alex turns back to the stovetop, humming to himself. The warm breeze floats through the window and sinks into Henry’s skin, a humid, heavy weight. It’s nothing like the hot, stifling rooms of the palace; this is the kind of heat that begs you to strip your clothes off and dive into a cool lake, to spend the day relaxing on the dock with a cold beer, condensation dripping between your fingers.
When Alex had suggested hiding out at his family’s lakehouse in Texas after Henry made his announcement, he had balked at first. They needed to work and earn money, Henry argued. How else were they going to survive? Alex wore him down with detailed spreadsheets demonstrating that life didn’t have to be as expensive as Henry was used to, with promises that no one would find them. Promises that they could spend some time together, just the two of them, figuring out what they really wanted from life and what they could do with it. That they had plenty of money for now, and their worth did not lie in their productivity.
It took three months for Henry to stop looking over his shoulder constantly, waiting for the flash of the camera or his family’s disapproving glares. It took another three months for him to stop questioning whether he had any value as a person without his royal pedigree. Just now is Henry starting to truly feel a lifetime’s worth of tension draining out of his limbs, a lifetime’s worth of expectations falling off his shoulders, a lifetime’s worth of shame about who he is dissipating from his core.
Alex says it’s going to take a lot more therapy for him to deal with that, but that’s okay. He’s got time.
Alex and Henry are spending their days swimming and reading, cooking and eating. Arguing over the best installment of Harry Potter and whether sweet potato fries count as a vegetable serving. Dreaming up what they want from life and how they can make a difference. They don’t entirely know, yet, but trying to figure it out is making Henry feel hopeful and excited for the first time in his life.
“What time is everyone getting here?” Henry says, sneaking up beside Alex and grabbing a crispy tortilla strip from the plate next to the stove. Alex slaps his wrist.
“Around one, I think. And be patient.”
“I’m the one who gives orders around here,” Henry growls, wrapping an arm around Alex’s waist and pulling him in flush. Alex’s mouth drops open, the wooden spoon in his hand falling from his fingers into the frying pan. “Don’t make me redden that sweet little arse of yours before our guests arrive.”
“Don’t make me...make you,” Alex says weakly as Henry slips his thigh between Alex’s legs and presses up into him. Alex grinds down, and Henry laughs.
“You’re cute when you want a spanking.”
“You’re cute all the fucking time,” Alex says before pushing his hands into Henry’s hair and tugging him down for a heated kiss.
“The food’s going to burn,” Henry murmurs against his lips after a minute.
“I’m pretty full from all the taste testing anyway,” Alex says with a smirk. Henry’s mouth drops open in mock outrage, and he gives Alex a firm swat on the arse. “Okay, okay. Sit your ass down, sweetheart.”
Henry’s rewarded for his good behavior with a plate full of migas and spicy black beans. His mouth is watering.
“Buen provecho,” Alex says with a grin as he sits across from him. “And you’re welcome.”
“Yes, yes, thank you for introducing me to the joys of what breakfast can be.” Henry grins back and clasps Alex’s hand across the table, unbearably content.
June, Nora, Pez, and Bea arrive in a whirlwind of thumping bass and high-pitched squeals—most of which originate from Pez. Alex and Henry welcome them with hugs and Shiners, and everyone races down to the dock, dropping their clothes and jumping into the lake with David hot on their heels. Henry loves every day, hour, minute he gets to spend alone with Alex, but he’s unbelievably excited for a whole week with their favorite people.
June and Alex kick everyone out of the kitchen to make dinner; the rest of them lounge on the porch, tipsy and sunburnt and giggly. At some point, Pez shoots Henry a grin and says, “You look good out here, mate.”
Henry lets that sink in. “I feel good,” he says slowly. “I haven’t been able to say that for a long time. Since before Dad got sick, certainly. But I do.”
“Any big plans on the horizon?”
“Not really. We’ve discussed going back to school...I could pursue a graduate degree in writing, or something of the sort. Shaan has let me know I’ve had multiple offers from publishers to write a memoir, but I’m not quite up for anything like that at the moment.” Henry swallows. Bea reaches her hand out for his, and he takes it gratefully. “Alex has some interest in law school, to be able to represent sex workers in legal trouble, and try to create legal precedent to ensure better conditions for sex work in general. But for now, we’re quite content to continue living off our savings and just...be together.” Henry smiles to himself. “Alex always says rest is a form of resistance, anyway.”
“You know the two of you always have work at the Okonjo Foundation, if you want it. Until you figure out what’s next.” Pez’s expression is utterly sincere, and Henry is suddenly overcome with gratitude for him.
“Thank you, Pez. You’re...an incredible friend. I don’t know how I’d have gotten through all this without you.”
“It’s my pleasure, and you know it.”
Bea looks between Henry and Nora, half-dreamy, half-serious, and says, “Any regrets?”
Henry and Nora’s eyes meet; their silent communication is just as good as it always was. Nora’s lips curve into a grin.
“My biggest concern was my grandfather dying of a heart attack when he heard the news, and that didn’t happen, so I’m good,” she says.
“I almost had one myself when I found out your secret lover was Alex’s bloody sister,” Henry interjects to a chorus of laughter.
“Life works in mysterious ways,” Nora says serenely. “What about you, H? Regrets?”
Henry takes a pause, considering. He looks back at Bea. “I worry about you, and mum. Sometimes I think I’ve been terribly selfish. Like I’ve let down not just my family, but my entire country. But even with all that...there is no part of me that could ever regret this. Alex is everything I’ve ever wanted. It’s still hard to believe I get to have him.”
Alex’s head pops out the door at just that moment, and he calls, “Dinner in five, bitches!”
Everyone bursts into laughter again.
Much later, when everyone’s gone to sleep, Henry climbs into bed next to Alex, his heart crumpling in his chest at the sight of his curls spread out over the pillow, his sleepy, blinking eyes looking up at Henry in the dim light. Alex pulls him down at once, burrowing into his chest and wrapping a strong arm around his waist. He kisses Henry’s bare chest, soft and open-mouthed.
“Alex,” Henry murmurs against his cheek. Alex pulls back to look at him. “Do you have any regrets? About leaving your work permanently and doing this with me?”
“Who said I’m leaving my work permanently?” Alex grins cheekily at him, and Henry pinches his hip in response. “Babe, where’s this coming from?”
“Can you just answer the question, please?” Henry pleads.
Alex’s face goes pensive, searching Henry’s. After a moment, he says, “I never thought I’d be in sex work forever. I might have retired a little sooner than I expected, but I know what you gave up to be with me, and I know how unfair it would be to want you all to myself and not expect you to want the same. I feel like I’m still...learning, every day, exactly what it means for you to have done what you did. For us to have done what we did.”
Alex pauses; Henry can tell he’s figuring out how to say exactly what he wants to say. It’s something he's picked up from Henry.
He continues, “It’s hard to know where to go from here. I know you feel that, too. But I have zero regrets about everything happening exactly the way it did. Because if I hadn’t retired, I wouldn’t be thinking of ways I can make an even bigger difference, now. And most of all, I know that having you by my side, slowing me down, pushing me to be thoughtful, and loving me unconditionally for exactly who I am is the most important thing I’ll ever have.”
Henry stares at him, speechless. Even after all this time—after everything—he still can’t believe the way Alex talks about him. The way Alex loves him.
“Also, you’re really fucking hot. I had to lock that shit down before you came out publicly and all the thirsty gays went after you,” Alex adds, then ducks his face back into Henry’s chest to escape any blows.
“You absolute git,” Henry says, smiling from ear to ear. “You complete, utter wanker.”
“You love me,” Alex says, muffled, against his skin.
“I do,” Henry tells him, and he tightens his grip around Alex’s shoulders, reveling in the pure pleasure of it. “I do.”