Silence is how the next few days go. Well, here and there, there is talking, but it's mostly when one of them is on the phone with someone else. Never with eachother.
Alex doesn't know how Henry hasn't been chased down by a mob of old white dudes yet and dragged out of his daughter's room kicking and screaming, but somehow, he's still here after 2 days, attempting to pull something (Alex knows that for sure), but he can't figure out what.
He already had said he didn't want his charity and while Henry isn't exactly pushing (or doing much of anything really), Alex still knows his ex well enough to be constantly on edge. It's second nature to him thanks to it being heavily present during and after he had June and while it's gone up and down in intensity over the last few years thanks to the alcohol addiction, it's the highest it's ever been now.
They've passed time avoiding eachother, despite the room's size, mostly looking at phones and answering messages and e-mails and whatever else that can keep them occupied, but Alex is sure that Henry will be the one to break first. To finally leave, like always and get the fuck out of Alex and June's bubble that Alex ahs crafted so carefully for them for years.
Of course, it has to be when the withdrawal symptoms kick in thanks to Henry keeping an eye on him as well as his refusal to leave him and June alone in the same room that opens a wound that he's been trying to close for years. He doesn't remember when the trembling started, too busy with loathing Henry similarly to when he was younger to catch it beginning and preventing any more information about June coming out other than what he's told Henry, but he knows when it's reached it's peak as he's stumbling out of his chair at record time and flying past June and Henry into the bathroom, retching into the toilet.
He doesn't know just how long he's there, pathetically throwing up his breakfast of coffee and a small pastry, but he knows someone's standing over the top of him when he's certain he might be bringing up blood now. "Fuck off."
Of course, he hears nothing, just a sharp inhale forms oemwhere in the heavens he's hiding from and that's almost more horrible than just hearing Henry walk out and leave him. No, the bastard just /has/ to sit beside him and wait out Alex's current moment of sobriety hurling into him like a 2x4 before he's finally able to pull back, the toilet separating them.
Alex groans, sweaty head against the wall and he can feel Henry's eyes on him, burning almost into his soul. He doesn't want to talk to him, he doesn't want to- "Why are you still here?" His throat is raw, but he knows Henry can hear him, even behind porcelain.
"Because I want to be." Henry's voice quivers and for a second, Alex believes it to be the strongest evidence of the lie he's been trying to prove Henry's been acting with yet, but he's let down by his next words. "I don't want to be Prince Henry right now, not when you need Henry Fox, Alex. Even if you don't want me."
"Even if you don't want me-" Alex mocks singsongingly, letting out a cruel laugh that sounds more broken than his mental state is. "-yeah, well, when I wanted you, you fucking told me to get lost, so that's rich coming from you."
There's silence on his end and Alex just wants to shake him, wants to reach over the bathroom throne and throw himself at the man, prince or no prince and just…do what?
Strangle him? Scream into his ears till they bleed? Sob into his chest? That last one was severely out of left field as he didn't want, no, wouldn't want to seek comfort from Henry, not when he's done so much to hurt him. He literally protected June from him, from the entire Royal family and it had cost him so much at this point, he was surprised that during the last few years of his mother's tenure, he hadn't drained the treasury for all it was worth.
Alex doesn't know he's openly weeping until he can feel Henry moving around on the tilted floor carefully and into the space he's left next to the toilet where he's holed up against the borderline of the shower tub combo without much of an escape.
While he would normally have resisted, hell he's still pretty sure he would like to attack him and there's always still time for that, it's the whispered words of 'Please, Alex.' along with touching the hand that isn't attempting to take a chunk of his his thigh that break him down and he slumps, head hitting Henry's chin as he sags against him.
Henry wraps an arm around his back, giving Alex the option of escaping if he wants to once he finds his senses again (which is most likely not going to happen for a long while), but other than that, he's not speaking anymore until Alex suddenly says. "Ventricular Septal Defect."
"Hmm?" Henry's answerting confused hum makes Alex's shoulders stiffen as he rises up again to sit, making, in his mind, dreaded eye contact at Henry. "June has a Ventricular Septal Defect. The doctors in the US said it was the size of a penny, which I guess here makes that a…um…" Alex scratched though his brain as best he could in his state. "...I think a 50 pence coin? Something like that. I'm not exactly up to date with British money."
"She has a hole in her heart." Henry's face is ashen and his voice hushed, looking more downtrodden than Alex has ever seen him. "Is that why she isn't…?"
"Awake? Yeah." Alex nodded, pawing at his chest in anxiety as his trembling hands tried their best to work. "They thought it was best to put her in a coma. So they can figure out what to do next. They want to operate on her, but they aren't sure if her heart is able to cope with all of that. They're worried that because it's been so long that she might…she might…"
Alex can't say the word and Henry seemingly can't either, for he skips over that topic and goes onto a different part of the conversation. "Have they considered a transplant?"
"Yes and no." Alex breathes as he brings his knees up to his chest, ahdn still clinging to Henry's despite the constant fidgeting. "She's on the list, both here and in the US as they said I should put her on them just as a precaution, but…it's unlikely she'll get one."
"Right." Henry nods and Alex can feel himself tense as he speaks. "I know this is…more than likely wrong of me to ask, but…what is June like? What was she like? Awake?"
"Like you." Alex closes his eyes, unable to look at Henry anymore as the ache in his body continued to make itself known. "A lot like you. Mom says she's stubborn as all hell like I was, but she's…kind and polite, super polite. She loves flowers, gardenias especially. Wants a puppy real bad, I was going to get her one for Christmas if she got better, her favorite colours are mint green and pink, she wants to be a ballet dancer-" Alex's voice cracks at the last sentence, unable to continue and his face dips into his knees as he starts crying again.
He doesn't feel Henry at first, holding him, but the familar tug of arms ecircling him hurts as much as it helps and he lets it happen, too tired to fight Henry anymore. "I miss her so much, Hen." There's that dreaded nickname again. "I fucking miss her."
"She'll be awake again soon, Alex. If she's truly inherited your stubbornness like I still know it to be, she will fight her way back to you." Henry's voice is cool and somehow balms the heat Alex can feel coming off himself as he keeps speaking. "Right now, while everyone around you is fighting for her, you need to fight for yourself. I want to help you and June, as whatever you'll take me as in this time. No kingdom or titles - whatever you want me to be for you."
It takes a long while for Alex to eventually resurface, but when he does, it's with a hard glance that Henry tries not to find too much hope in. "Right now, I need a friend, Hen. Not my ex-boyfriend, not the Prince of England's Hearts, not Henry Fox, just Henry."
"I can be Henry." He doesn't know if he's saying that to himself or to the heart beating away in his chest as he stares at the man before him, broken and beaten down. "For you, I can be."
"Good." That's seemingly all Alex has to say on the matter before he's back to being curled up in a ball, eyes closed. "Can you grab me a bottle of water? Think I'm going to be here a while, if my stomach says anything."
"I shall see if the hospital supplies Dasani, yes." Henry doesn't know how that joke is going to go down exactly in the throes of their much heavier conversation, but hearing Alex's answering call of "You bring that shit in this room, you'll be finding a priest next." makes him smile to himself for the first time in forever. Genuinely.
He can just hope for his sake that this will be the start of something better than hate.