Chapter Text
By some miracle, Henry gets to stay in America until New Year’s. In previous years Alex spent the days between holidays getting drunk off his ass to forget about whatever fight happened between his parents. This year he spends his evenings getting laid. He also spends his mornings getting laid. If he's lucky he can get in a quick handjob during the day as well.
Henry spends most of his days on calls to his family. His mother is kind enough to offer him a room, as well as parental comfort when he needs it. Alex would love to offer more support as well, but Henry has asked to be alone during these meetings. Alex agrees reluctantly. He understands that Henry is fighting for control of his own life and that matters. He waits outside the door the entire time, though. He makes sure Henry knows that he's right outside the door when he needs him. On the third day Henry pulls Alex inside the office for a big hug. He doesn't say much, other than blame his grandmother for his mood. The woman is not happy that Henry is looking to abdicate and she's demanding his immediate return. Thankfully Alex is enough to keep Henry motivated to fight for himself.
On December 30th, Henry leaves his office around noon and for the first time he has a smile on his face.
“Did your grandmother die?” Alex asks immediately.
Henry laughs. “I’m not that happy, but I do have some good news to share with you. Would you care to join me for lunch?”
“Are we going out for lunch?” They’ve stayed inside for Henry’s entire visit, to keep their relationship a secret.
“We are going outside, but I have arranged somewhere more private for our lunch.” Henry, being the true gentleman that he is, offers Alex his arm. “Shall we?”
“You have arranged somewhere more private for our lunch? How fancy, I really am dating a prince.”
“Not for much longer,” Henry says with a smile.
Whenever the subject of Henry's abdication comes up, Alex can see Henry light up. Even though things with his grandmother are hard and will continue to be hard for a long time, freedom is within reach. Now that they've taken the first steps towards coming out, Alex can't believe he ever thought he'd be able to last a year in the closet. He just wants to openly and proudly love his soulmate, even when Henry does something infuriating like not telling Alex where they're going for lunch.
Alex keeps asking Henry where they're going, and he keeps getting told to be patient. He's got this very satisfied smile on his face and Alex isn't sure if he wants to punch it or kiss it. When the car finally stops, they're in front of an apartment building with no food establishment in sight, which only frustrates Alex more.
“Okay, you have to tell me where we're going now,” he says.
“Patience,” Henry says one again.
Alex lets out a frustrated groan, but he follows Henry out of the car and into the building. He does not complain as Henry takes him into the elevator and up to the top floor of the building. Maybe there's some exclusive cafe on the roof?
There is not. It's just a hallway with a couple of doors. Henry leads him to one and unlocks it. Alex follows him inside. They're in a furnished penthouse apartment with big windows that let in a lot of natural light and show a beautiful view of the city.
“Hen, where are we?” Alex asks.
“My home. Our home, I hope,” he answers.
Alex is at a loss for words. Did Henry get a place in Washington? Is he going to stay?
“I will have to go back to London to deal with my grandmother and all the paperwork surrounding my abdication, but I will come back and this is where I'll come back to. I had Shaan help me get a place while I was dealing with my grandmother. It kept me sane through it all.” Henry takes Alex's hand and pulls him further into the apartment. “If you want to stay at the White House and just visit me when I'm in town, that's fine, but you can move in here if you want. There's a gym and a pool in the building. Come, you have to see the view from the bedroom. I've only seen pictures but they looked great.”
Henry is so excited while showing Alex around. Alex is happy to just let Henry lead him around the place. At some point it hits Alex that this is one of the first big decisions Henry has made in his life. This will be the first space that Henry gets to live in that isn't filled with the memories of his ancestors.
“I would love to live here with you,” Alex says when they've finished the full tour of the space.
Henry is beaming. “We can move when you graduate. I don't know where you want to go after that and I don't want you to feel trapped here. But I wanted a place where we could be us.”
“I like that. A place where we can be us.” Alex can picture them together in this space, even though the furnishing is incredibly bland. They can work with that. “So… you're definitely coming back here?”
Henry nods. “I'll have to make multiple trips back to London to get everything in order, but this is my home from now on.”
“Our home,” Alex corrects him.
If Henry’s smile was bright before, it’s nothing to what it looks like now. “Our home,” he repeats.
They eat the lunch Henry arranged in their new kitching. It’s very domestic and Alex can’t wait to have many more meals with Henry here. When he’s inside this place, their home, it’s easy to forget that there’s security right outside the door. He can just be a normal guy eating lunch with his boyfriend.
“I want to ask my mom if it’s okay if I kiss you at midnight. In front of people, I mean,” Alex says.
He catches Henry completely off guard, because he nearly chokes on his sandwich. “Excuse me?”
“If it’s too soon for you, I won’t ask, but… I want to.” He’s been so spoiled these last few days of having Henry around that he’s getting greedy. He’s ready to tell the world that he’s in love.
“It’s not too soon,” Henry says. “I’d like it if people know I’m yours when I go back home to deal with my grandmother.”
“Cool! So, I’ll ask. If she says no we’ll sneak off to kiss,” Alex tries to sound casual, which is hard because he is so incredibly excited about Henry saying he’s Alex’s. Based on Henry’s reaction he apparently fails entirely at appearing casual.
Henry raises an eyebrow. “Cool?” he asks.
“Yes, cool,” Alex says stubbornly.
“You just think it’s cool to come out? You don’t feel anything else?” Henry’s grinning now and Alex knows he’s fighting a losing battle.
“Yep.”
“You don’t get excited thinking about holding my hand in public? You don’t get excited thinking about being my date to royal events and kissing me in front of my grandmother?”
Okay, that really gets to Alex. He wasn’t a fan of the queen before he really got to know Henry, but now he absolutely hates her for all the hurt she’s caused. There’s no use in even pretending he’s anything less than overjoyed at the thought of going public with their relationship. “What do you think the odds are of her bursting into flames if she sees us kiss?”
Henry laughs and leans over to kiss his cheek. “You are such a menace.”
“I can be more of a menace.”
“Oh?”
“I do believe you showed me a bedroom…”
Henry laughs and pulls Alex to his feet. “I do believe I did.”
“Maybe you should show it to me again,” Alex suggests.
Henry doesn’t need to be told twice. As soon as they're in the bedroom, their bedroom, they waste no time in getting undressed. They tumble onto the bed in a mess of limbs and giggles. They've had the luxury of spending the past several days together already, but it feels somehow even more intimate knowing that they're in their own home.
“I want to feel you inside of me,” Henry says. He hooks a leg around Alex's hip and pulls him as close as he can. “Please. I need you.”
“I didn't bring anything. I thought we were just having lunch.” He may still have a condom in his wallet, but he isn't in the habit of carrying lube with him wherever he goes. He makes a mental note to change that.
“Bedside table,” Henry says, gesturing in that direction. “Should be in the top drawer.”
“How did you get this?” Alex isn't going to complain, but he is curious. Henry has not left the white house before today, as far as he's aware.
“Shaan,” Henry says. “He was in charge of getting my uni hookups to sign NDAs, so I felt comfortable getting him to buy us some supplies.”
“God bless Shaan,” Alex says. All thoughts of Shaan are quickly forgotten as he slides lube slicked fingers into Henry.
He's heard Henry finger himself plenty of times over the phone, but nothing could prepare him for doing it in person. His loud moans fill the air like he's used to, but now Alex can also hear his softest whimpers. He can feel Henry’s warm breath on his neck as Henry clings to his back. He gets to hear Henry beg for more and feel him move against Alex's fingers, desperate to take them as deeply as possible.
When he sinks into Henry, he gets to watch his face in film detail and not compressed on a screen. Alex would happily take hours to memorize every expression Henry makes. From the pinch of his lips when Alex first enters him, to the wide blown eyes when Alex bottoms out. Henry nods and as much as Alex wants to enjoy this moment, he can't deny Henry like this.
For as hurried as Henry was earlier, he is content to let Alex fuck him deep and slow. Henry meets him on every thrust. Alex keeps a hand on Henry’s hip, his thumb brushing over one of the roses of his soulmark. Being this close to Henry is a whole new experience and Alex is even more determined to never let this man go.
Henry comes with a choked off moan when Alex presses his fingers hard into his hip, his thumb pushed into the rose.
“Come in me, please,” Henry whispers. He hooks his legs around Alex's hips, holding him in place.
“Baby,” Alex moans. How can he not when Henry asks so nicely? Even after he comes down, Henry's legs are still locked around him.
“Don't leave,” Henry says.
“I won't,” Alex promises. He collapses on top of Henry, not caring even a little bit about the come drying between them.
They stay like that for what feels like hours. Henry's legs wrapped around him, Alex's dick still inside him. They kiss lazily in their new bedroom. Alex feels so at peace just being here with Henry. It's a wonderful snapshot at what their life going forward will be like.
“Now I understand why I barely saw Nora and June when they found out they're soulmates,” Alex says.
Henry's laugh vibrates through Alex. “If I could lock us in here for a month or two I would.”
“That sounds great. Let's do that.”
“You have to graduate and I have to go back home to abdicate!” Henry says.
Alex groans. “Why would I need to graduate? I found a rich guy. I can be your sugar baby.”
“I give it a month before you go crazy. You have too many ambitions for the sugar baby life.”
Alex huffs. He knows Henry is right, but right now all he wants is to never leave this bedroom again. Eventually they have to get up and get cleaned up again. Thankfully exploring their new bathroom is as entertaining as exploring their new bedroom was.
How they spend the rest of the afternoon is, impossibly, even more exciting. He gets to spend several hours on the couch, with Henry curled up against him, as they watch Bake Off together. He is so ready for his life with Henry to begin.