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“I feel like I’m setting up arts and crafts for children,” Nora laughs, helping Alex spread the puffy paint and felt stickers across the table. “When is Henry gonna be home?”
“Pez is keeping him busy until we let him know that we’re ready,” Alex shrugs. “The pizza should be here in like twenty minutes. June, you brought the wine, right?”
“Of course I did,” she nods, setting it out on the counter. “Nora also picked out a bottle of tequila.”
“These are not going to look cute if we’re all drunk on tequila and wine,” Alex snorts quietly. “But it’ll be fun. And that’s the most important part.”
“So you’ve just been doing all of these Christmas activities for Henry?” Nora asks.
Alex nods a little. “He’s not really had fun Christmases in the past, not since his dad died. He’s never even been able to choose his own decorations. So I made a list- fun Christmas activities for our first Christmas together in our new home.”
“What all have you done so far?”
“First thing we did was go to a tree farm and pick out our own tree.” Alex smiles softly as he glances over at the tree. “It was called ‘the Arthur.’ Perfect pick for our home.”
“Oh, I bet Henry loved that,” June smiles.
“He loved it. Then, we went to that Christmas store over in Queens and spent a fuck ton of money on decorations. I let Henry have full control of it. Spent the entire weekend decorating. Went ice skating, which ended in some gnarly bruises from me falling, then it finally snowed, so we built a big snowman in the backyard.”
“Saw those photos,” Nora smirks. “Not making snow angels, huh?”
“You know me,” Alex grins, “We were just doing some kissing. Hen said it was too cold to get his dick out-”
“Stop!” June covers her ears. “I wanted to hear about cute Christmas activities, not sex.”
Alex laughs brightly as he finishes setting up the table. He sends Pez a quick text. “The other day, we did family pictures with David. Henry had a blast.”
“Saw those photos, too,” Nora says. “It looked like the three of you had a lot of fun. And Henry’s post? The Fox-Claremont-Diaz family?”
“That was all him- I didn’t even know he was posting that until I saw it,” Alex chuckles quietly. “He said he did it just to be petty. It worked, too, Philip called him and demanded he change the caption. He said people might get the ‘wrong idea’ or something.”
June rolls her eyes. “The world literally read about your entire relationship. You two are very clearly in love, and living together. There are people who think you’re already secretly married.”
“Believe me, I’d love that, but it’s a whole fucking process with him being a Prince. We’re not there just yet.”
“So what’s today’s activity? Decorating stockings?”
“Yep,” Alex nods, leading the girls to the living room. “Henry’s never had a fun stocking. I thought it would be really cute if he got to decorate his own. I also don’t think he’s had one for a while now, and it just makes me feel bad for him. Ma has always gotten us stockings. We’re also making one for David.”
“Well you better, David is my favorite and I need him to be spoiled this Christmas,” Nora laughs. “Not to sound mean, but does Henry even know how to fill a stocking with stocking stuffers? Like, has he ever shopped for that kind of thing?”
“I don’t know, honestly. I didn’t think that far ahead.”
“I’ll make sure he gets help,” June promises. “I’ll take him shopping and help him pick out things you like.”
Henry walks in the door then, Pez trailing behind him. He furrows his eyebrows as he takes in the scene around him. “What’s going on here?”
“The next activity on our list, baby,” Alex grins, greeting Henry with a kiss. “Pizza is on the way. The girls brought wine and tequila. We’re having a craft night!” He takes Henry to the dining room to show him the table. “We’re gonna decorate our own stockings.”
“Oh,” Henry breathes. “Alex, love, this is perfect. I love this.”
Once the pizza arrives, the party gets started. Henry opts for only wine, but Alex immediately takes a shot of tequila. Things get loud and messy within half an hour. Henry burns himself with the hot glue gun trying to attach pom poms around the bottom of the stocking. Alex manages to get the bottle of puff paint to explode on his shirt. Nora laughs so hard she almost falls out of her chair. Alex watches Henry closely. He loves when he can see Henry fully let go- to watch all the tension bleed from his body, his smile bright and real. It makes his heart swell. They’re all laughing, snapping photos of the process, and Alex is just… happy.
“We should get a group photo with all our stockings!” Henry gasps. He’s tipsy, lips stained with the dark red wine. He digs a tripod out of the hall closet to set it up.
“Haz, why on earth do you have a tripod so accessible?” Pez grins. “Do we wanna know what the two of you get up to?”
Henry narrows his eyes. “You really think we’d be dumb enough to make a sex tape after the leak?”
“He won’t let us, I’ve asked,” Alex pouts. “He says it’s too risky.”
“He’s right.” June flicks Alex’s forehead.
They each grab their own stocking, Henry holding the one for David up with his free hand. Pez uses his phone to take the photo, setting the timer before rushing to squeeze in between June and Nora. They move to the living room to watch movies until late into the night. The stockings stay on the table overnight to dry. Alex and Henry finally make their way to their bedroom after midnight. The others choose a spare room to sleep in for the night.
Alex wakes to the smell of coffee and pancakes. Henry is still in bed next to him, curled into his chest.
“Good morning,” Henry whispers, kissing across Alex’s collarbones. “I don’t wanna get out of bed.”
“Me either, but the others are cooking for us,” Alex chuckles softly. “And I want to see what our stockings look like.”
Henry finally opens his eyes and looks up at Alex. “Thank you, Alex. I felt like a kid again last night. I’ve done arts and crafts with kids before at the shelter, but to do them for myself… It was healing, in a way.”
“I’m glad I could help, baby, I love making you smile. You looked so happy last night.”
When they finally make their way downstairs, their stockings are already hanging above the fireplace. They definitely look like they were made by toddlers, but Alex can’t bring himself to care when Henry's smile is so bright.