TPATSD 11
Between Alex and Henry, the two of them are going to be the death of me." Pez whined on the phone to June.
After he had tried to talk to Henry and convince him he should pursue things with Alex, he'd managed to convince Henry to go home and get some rest. It was the weekend, and he knew that Henry had no major plans. Just some afternoon tea with his mother and his sister tomorrow.
He had dialed June's number. They had exchanged numbers when they'd said good night at the pub, the night before. June had offered Nora's computer skills to upgrade the foundation's cyber security system on all of its computers and on its network.
"Someone needs to give Alex the 'come to Jesus' speech too. Otherwise, I'm going to be forced to take drastic action." Pez continued his ranting.
"It can't be that bad." June tried to reason with him.
"You don't work with them." Pez whined once more. "The tension is unbearable. Either you can smell the aroma of horn-town betwixt them, pass out from the sweetness of their friendship, cut the tension with a knife or vomit with the sheer amount of flirtation."
"I've tried talking to Alex." June sighed, feeling defeated. "Maybe Dad might be able to. Hang on, I'll text you his details. Maybe call around two; Alex and I are taking Gabriella to a playgroup for premature babies then and he will be alone."
"So, talking alone with your father? Perhaps it's just more ominous than you would think." Pez comments lowly, and June isn't quite sure how to interpret it.
She knows she is married to Nora. Pez knows she's married to Nora, yet the thought sends a zip through her body. Pez is like Alex, naturally a flirt. So, she couldn't understand why her body was reacting the way it was.
"Oh, you'll be fine." June huffed in laughter. Her laughter echoing through the phone line. "Me on the other hand, I get to listen to Alex tell me how great Henry is and how wonderful he is with Gabriella."
"I shall send you wine and chocolates for your suffering." Pez promised in an entirely false tone, that June had a gut feeling was very real.
Quickly Pez apologised and disconnected the call. Apologizing by more text message after he hung up and she noticed he didn't call her father right away and set out to find him.
She found him in the living room, Alex was fixing his hair in the hall mirror. He had been busy while June had been on the phone with Pez. He and Gabriella were very happy. They were clean and tidy, their appearances clearly had effort out into them. "You look nice." June commented, feeling Alex out. Not that Alex didn't take pride in his appearance, June just realised he had put in an extra effort. Like he would when he was going somewhere nice.
"Thanks." He blushed. She couldn't remember the last time that Alex had blushed like that. Period. She was sure it was a long time ago. Before Erica. Maybe when he was a teen.
"What are you looking that nice for?" June asked, naturally inquisitive. That's what had always made her a good journalist. "I thought this was a just a Preemie Playgroup. Wait, ... is there a mom or dad there ... that you like 'like'?"
"What? No!" Alex quickly defended himself. "It's just ..." Alex sighed, feeling defeated. He wasn't sure if he could explain it to June. The thought that maybe it was him. That he was the reason that Erica had strayed. Like if he had of been better. A better partner, or a better fiancé. A better man. Someone not so obsessed with his career. Not diving headfirst into every case, he got assigned to.
"You know it's not your fault she was unfaithful, right?" June asked her little brother. She had been something that she and her wife had discussed thew other night. Nora had been worrying that Alex would be feeling like it was his fault for Erica's betrayal.
June had naively pushed that thought aside when Nora had theorized it with her. But Nora and Alex always were two sides of the same coin. Nora had ADHD, just like Alex. Both were extrovert over-analyzers and naturally high achievers. Sometimes it hurt her head to try and navigate the two of them when they were together. But she loved both of them with equally ferocious, albeit, in very different ways.
"You're allowed to find someone else to love, Alex." June said softly. "Even if Erica hadn't been unfaithful. Even if she had lived and your relationship had just fizzled out, she'd want you to be happy."
"I know." Alex muttered, not really looking at June. From Alex's words to her ears, she was not convinced.
"It's Pez, right?" Oscar asked, greeting Pez at the door. Alex and June have been gone for about thirty minutes or so and Oscar had just began crawling through some work his friend and fellow Senator had sent him on a bill they were planning to introduce on to the Senate floor next week. "Alex isn't here. He and June have gone to the Preemie play time with Gabriella."
"I came to see you, Senator." Pez said seriously. He had dropped his flirtatious act from the other day where he had blatantly come onto Oscar as a joke. "I know Alex isn't here. I was wondering if we could talk." Oscar held open his arm to welcome Pez into Alex's home. Closing the door behind Percy, he led him into the kitchen, offering him a drink. "Coffee, please." was Pez's answer and Oscar looked undisturbed by that.
"I certainly hope you aren't Alex's caffeine enabler." Oscar joked, placing a mug in front of the eccentric looking man that was his son's boss. "It is something you will live to regret."
"No, that's Hen." He joked, as he took a sip of the coffee. Percy noticed that the cup had a tinge of a cinnamon flavour to it and wondered if that was how Alex had become obsessed with cinnamon in his own coffee. If it was just how his father had always prepared the coffee and something Alex had liked about it.
"What can I do you for, Mr. Okonjo?" Oscar asked, putting his best Senator's voice on. He was being vigilant. Although it had seemed to him that Alex was on good terms with his boss, he was going to be careful.
"First off, call me Pez." Percy smiled one of his most charming smiles. "I am here to talk about Alex."
"I have nothing to say about my son." Oscar immediately stood in defence of Alex.
"Oh, you've got me all wrong, Mr. Diaz." Pez chuckled. "I am referring to Alex and my mate Hazza, the prince. All of this sexual tension between the two of them is killing me. I have to put up with it in the office too."
"It might be best, if you call me, Oscar." Oscar laughed, holding up his hand to tell Percy it was his mistake. "Especially since you and I are about to become very, very good friends."
"So, you've noticed it too, huh?" Pez laughed at the parental figure in his newest friend's life. "It's kind of hard not to notice. The way they were when you came into the office, yeah, they're always that way."
"How do you feel to a little match making?" Pez clapped his hands in delight.
"Favourable... Just don't tell my ex-wife." Oscar grinned at the entrepreneur. "As a rule, we try not to intervene in the kids love lives. But something's got to give. Those two are head over heels."
"Maaaaate, you're gonna be my new best bud." Pez said enthusiastically, holding his arms out to hug Oscar Diaz.
Oscar didn't hug him, but he did laugh at Pez's antics.
June and Alex arrived home; a sleeping Gabriella nestled in the carrier on Alex's chest. Alex was trying to laugh out loud at his sister without waking his daughter. "It's not funny, Alex. They thought I was your partner, not your sister." June huffed out in frustration. The more that Alex laughed, the more that June got frustrated with him. "You could have corrected them, ya know?" She hissed out.
"I could have." Alex admitted, before he stopped laughing and turned serious. "Then I have to tell perfect strangers how my fiancée, the woman who was the mother of my child and the one I was going to marry, turned out to be having an affair. An affair I didn't find out about until after her death when the widow of the man she was cheating on me with tried to sue me for custody of our premature daughter. It's no one's fucking business."
"Mijo!" Oscar chided him on his language. He had a point, but he still should be watching his own language around his daughter. "CJ, drop it."
Oscar warned his daughter. If this week had taught him anything firsthand, Alex's grief was not lineal, it came in waves, ebbing and flowing like the tide of the ocean. Whilst he had seemed to accept what had happened to Erica, he even had begun to look as if he's been noticing other people. But he's still touchy talking about it at great lengths. Especially to strangers.
June took Gabriella from her brother and gently cradled the sleeping baby close to her chest as she took her upstairs to lay her down.
"Mijo, can I ask you something without having you get upset?" Oscar asked lightly. Alongside the ebb and flow of his grief, his temper was a hair trigger, and the smallest thing could set him off.
"Sure, Pa." Alex agreed, softly.
"Do you think you're ready to get back on the dating horse?" Oscar said delicately, easing his son into the idea. "Because you and the prince... "
"Dad, were just friends." He argued. There was no way Alex was going to out Henry, even if it was to his father who was a US Senator.
"There's something there, Mijo. I felt it in your office the other day." He tried once more.
"Drop it."
Oscar sent Pez a text that night. He had failed.
The thing was his father wasn't wrong. As much as Alex was loathed admit it. There was something between them and as soon as he had kissed Henry's lips, he knew he had screwed up. Not because he didn't want to, but because he wanted more. He wanted to snag that blonde beautiful man by the tie he always wore and pull him into his space. Kiss that delectable smile off his princely face. Get his hands into those perfectly golden coifs and run his fingers through them. He needed to know if his hair was as soft as it looked on a visceral level. Alex just needed ... him.
Henry and Pez were in an upscale Ethiopian restaurant for dinner, mostly discussing business while they waited for their food to arrive. When Pezza's phone vibrated, and he turned it over to check it. Seeing the message from Oscar, he made a mental note to reply later and steered the conversation away from work. Oscar and June had headed back to the States that morning and Oscar had been texting with him with his American cell phone number. Reminding Pez to bring up Alex with Henry. After all they were on a mission. To get Henry and Alex together.
"I didn't tell you about my date with Alexandria the other day, did I?" They asked, excitedly. "She smiled nice and said all the right things, but when it came time to make a clean getaway, she all but waved the press over. She was more bloody concerned being seen with the billionaire philanthropist than being with me. How about you? Any romantic endeavors?"
Henry very purposely did not lie to Pez. He omitted the truth about what had transpired between he and Alex yesterday entirely. Choosing to ignore it entirely. Even if he was desperate for it to happen again. "Nah mate, nothing on that front."
"But he kissed you, mate." Pez objected. Pez had seen Alex step up and press his lips lightly to Henry's lips. He had used every available bit of staying power and had planted his feet firmly to the floor. "I saw it with my own two eyes. If he didn't have his angel doll of a daughter strapped to his chest, the man would have climbed you like a tree."
"Pez," Henry's tone was pleading and borderline whiney. "He works with us. He has a dead fiancée. He needs to grieve her loss and move on in a healthy way if he is ever to have another meaningful relationship, ever again. I am not going to run headfirst into a relationship with a man who is still grieving for a dead partner. I can't do that, and I appreciate my friendship with Alex all that much more because of it."
Pez recognised Henry's tone. It was one that he had used on the previous occasions. It was the royal authoritarian voice of his. He had seen it warn off men, just as much as he had seen it reel them in. Pez used to play a mental game with himself trying to guess which men would have what reaction to it. So far, he had Alex clocked at 50-50. He couldn't seem to make the pendulum swing either way. No other man had managed to stump Pez like this before. He had always prided himself on being able to read a room, and more importantly, being able to read men. He just prayed that Henry would start listening to him soon.
"Alright, mate. I'll drop it." Pez conceded, metaphorically throwing in the towel. "Let's head on over to our favourite bar and get drunk on vodka and send you home with a man and a signed NDA."
The drive from the upscale Ethiopian restaurant they'd had dinner at early in the evening was a fifteen-minute drive from their favourite bar, not nearly enough time for Henry to get in his own head about their newfound plans. As much as his PPOs hated a sudden change in plans, they had long learnt to accept it as part of an evening out with Percy Okonjo. At least the boys favourite bar was well known to Henry's PPOs, and they had been there so many times before, the boys were almost classed as regulars there. More importantly, to the PPOs at least, people tended not to care if Henry was there. Either by himself or with Pez.
Henry lamented under Pez's peer pressure; he usually did. But the lure of having an NDA hookup with a man that he would never see again, just to take his sexual frustration with Alex out on, did sound promising. Pez had always been a great wingman for Henry in his time of need. He is great at weeding out the ones who just want to go home with him because of his royal status and not for who he is. But Pez does like to tease him mercifully that Henry had the worst track record of choosing men without Pez's help. The only man that Pez hadn't helped him choose was Alex. Not that he had Alex.
At the bar, two rounds after dinner turned into three, then into four. Pez switched to water and Henry had yet to notice because he had switched to straight soda with lime and Henry had drunkenly assumed it was laced with vodka. By the fifth round, he was six sheets into the wind had surged ahead and asked the bartender for the remainder of the bottle. Henry calling for the sixth round was more like his twelfth round after he had finished the previous bottle by himself. When the bartender told Pez that would his last, he mentally prepared himself for vodka drunk Henry to appear. "Alright mate, I think your officially too drunk to consent." Pez told him, risking a glance to the prince's PPOs. "Let's get you home."
"Take me to Alex. I need to see him." Henry demanded in a drunken haze. He had got in his head so much about finding a man to bed that no one had caught his eye all evening. It was all Alex's fault too. Every man who had sent him a lustful, greedy, wanton glance his way had done nothing wrong except for having the audacity not to be Alex. They didn't have his long legs, or his well-sculpted behind. They didn't have his smile or his curls and none of them came close to having Alex's fucking eyelashes. "I need to see him."
"Babe, you're not thinking straight." Pez tried with a soft chuckle. He had been ready for Henry to argue with him. He had been in this position with Henry the same amount of times Henry had done it for him. "Alex is at home, in bed."
" 'm not very straight, anyway." Henry replied and Percy Okonjo had never tried to restrain himself in laughter as much as he had in that very moment. This was the most drunk he had seen Henry since their Oxford days, and he was going to enjoy lording this over his friend's sober head in the coming days. "But that's where I need to be, at home, in bed with Alex. I need to climb into his bed and do unspeakable things to him. He's a delicious man, perfect for my midnight snack."
"Trust me, babe. Some falafel and your own bed are a much better idea." Pez tried to reason without laughing at Henry. Unfortunately, he had been in this situation with a vodka drunk Henry before. Vodka drunk Henry thought with only one thing, his cock. Nothing else ever made it through his vodka ladened fog. "You can't have Alex. You make a move on Alex tomorrow, when you're sober."
"If you give me Alex, right now I'll give you ..." Henry tried harder. Pez swore under his breath, the promise of falafel usually did the trick. When he was wasted on vodka, Henry was usually horny as shit, but the promise of some falafel and sleep was all he ever needed to sway his horniness away from inadvisable choices. Not that Alex was inadvisable, but he was when Henry was drunk.
"There's nothing you can give me that I want. Come on ..." Pez argued. He felt like he was mostly sober, in comparison to Henry right now. "What if we call Alex and you can talk to him while we get falafel, will that work?"
"Can't have sex over the phone." Henry mumbled and Percy pursed his lips together tighter in an effort not to show him how much he was enjoying how wasted his friend was. "You promised me a hook up and you did not deliver. I could sue. Alex can be my lawyer."
"Well, I'm not bloody hooking up with you." Pez said, indignantly before he mumbled something else inaudible, mostly to himself. He decided that hearing Alex's voice was going to have to do. Pez wasn't sure what else mattered right now. Turning his back to Henry, he pulled out his phone to call Alex. He just hoped when he called, he didn't wake the baby. When Alex answered on the second ring, Percy let out a sigh of relief. "Is everything ok, Pez? It's really late." Were the first words out of Alex's mouth. Alex's words were laced with concern and worry. Pez had to muffle the response that Alex's worry was such a 'dad' response.
"Ah, yeah mate." Pez tried to explain., now unsure how much of a welcome intrusion this call was. "It's just that I have Henry here and he's fairly drunk. Says he needs to talk to you." Turning around, Pez can't see Henry anywhere. But his PPOs were still in their vehicle, so Henry couldn't have gone far. "Ah, or rather I had Henry here. He seems to have disappeared. Can't have gone too far, his PPOs are still here."
"He's prob-" The sound of wailing cries infiltrated Pez's ears. A sobering reminder that Alex was a single father and his call had probably woken Gabriella, Alex's little princess. "I've got to go. But if you can't find him, give me a call."
Alex had changed her diaper and fed her a bottle, managed to successfully rid her of any wind before attempting to lay her back down in her crib. But every time her tint body met with the firm surface of the crib mattress, she let out god-awful wails. Alex would scoop her back up and start the process of resettling her all over again. He tried to keep himself cool, calm and collected. He was almost certain that she was picking up over his anxiety of Pez not telling him he had found Henry yet.
The shrill sound of his doorbell permeated the air of the nursery and Alex bit back a curse, before looking at the clock on the far wall. Seeing it was almost two in the morning, Alex cursed as he tucked Gabriella close to his chest to see who was at the door. Checking the peephole and seeing it was Henry, confirming he was alone through the windowpane of the door, Alex swung the door open. "What the hell, Hen?" he asked in a huff.
Alex could tell Henry was really drunk. He was holding onto the doorframe in an effort to stand up tall. "Hullo, Alex." Henry said, his accent seemed to thicken when he was drunk, but that was nothing new to Alex. He had heard the thicker accent on another occasion or two before. "I missed you. Can I come in?" Henry was slurring his words, especially his s sounds. Alex groaned to himself and opened the door wider to allow Henry into his home. This was the last thing that Alex needed right now.
"Hen, Sweetheart?" Alex tried, as soon as Henry was inside his house on ushered into the armchair in his living room. "Where's your PPOs?"
Henry giggled. It wasn't a chuckle, and it wasn't a chortle. It was an honest to God, giggle. Very teenage girlish giggle. "We're playing hide and seek." He laughed, then shushed himself, as he let himself in Alex's home and flopped on the sofa. "I'm hiding and you can't tell them where we are."
"Ok, Hen." Alex acquiesced him. "But it's really late and Gabriella here, she needs to go back to bed. Do you want to come upstairs and help me with that?"
"How about I take you both upstairs? We can pop her down and you can take me into bed." Henry asked, and Alex wanted swallow his own tongue. Henry was drunkenly offering to take him to bed. This had to be a fever dream, or a delusion. That's right, a delusion brought on by lack of sleep. If Henry was sober, he would have snapped up the chance in a heartbeat. But he would not take advantage of Henry while he was drunk.
"How about you just come upstairs with us?" Alex tried again, finally remembering how to use his tongue to speak. "You can sit in the living room upstairs, have a cup of tea. As soon as I get Gabriella down, then I'm all yours."
Poor choice of words on Alex's part, but it did the trick and Henry was dutifully following him up the stairs. Henry was moaning, following Alex up the stairs. Alex's backside was right at his eye level, and he grinned salaciously at the thoughts of what he would like to do to it, when given the chance.
Gabriella was still grizzly and wouldn't settle. She just wanted to be held. He popped on the baby carrier and ushered Henry into the kitchenette upstairs for some tea. Alex was making Henry's tea and trying to work out how to get to his phone in his bedroom to call Pez.
Once their tea was finished, the idea hit Alex like a speeding Mack truck. "Hey Hen?" He began softly, he didn't want to startle Henry, or leave him unattended. He was liable to run again. At least with Alex, Henry was safe. Henry's PPOs had already vetted him and his home was vetted too. "Wanna come lie down with us?"
"Can I cuddle her?" He drunkenly asked, and Alex had been secretly holding out hope that the tea would have sobered Henry up, but no such luck. Alex knew how much Henry adored Gabriella and she adored him.
"If you lay down on the bed." He'd never deny Henry a chance to hold Gabriella, but he was seriously worried about Henry dropping her. Alex was happy to let the two of them lie there for a moment, it gave Alex a chance to tap out, mentally for a moment. Gabriella had been fussy and sulky for a few hours and Alex needed two minutes to himself to re-centre himself so he didn't lose it.
He managed to get Henry to slip his shoes off, remove his jacket and lie down on top of the duvet on his bed. If it wasn't so late and Alex wasn't so tired, he'd have made up the spare room for Henry. Once he was laying down, Alex slipped a quiet, yet very alert Gabriella between him and Henry on the bed.
Henry was hesitant when he reached for her, his fingers grazing Alex's before intertwining them. Alex tried to not to let his eyes bug out of his head when he reacted. "I love your hands, Alex." Henry cooed, lifting the fingers slightly and slipping his palm into the mit of Alex's larger hand. "These long, slender fingers, this bony wrist, the soft skin on the back of your hand. Do you love my hands?"
"Yes, Henry." Alex murmured, mostly placating him. Even though Alex loved everything there was about Henry, he had to admit that as pliant as Henry was while he was drunk, still wouldn't make him make a love on him. To Alex, consent was sexy and in his honest opinion, Henry was too far gone to consent.
Henry broke his hand free and began murmuring a soft, sweet melody of words to Gabriella. One hundred percent of drunk Henry's focus was on Gabriella, that Alex was able to sneak away from Henry, phone in hand, undetected.
In the hallway, where he could still see Henry and Gabriella, he furiously texted Pez. Less than a minute later, Pez replied that if Henry could stay there the night, they'd be grateful, and the PPOs would be out the front shortly. Waiting for the prince in the morning, as if they hadn't ever lost him.
Looking up from his phone, he noticed both Henry and Gabriella were now asleep. Smiling to himself and the feelings he felt in his heart when he saw the scene before him, made his heart want to explode. The tenderness he felt was overwhelming in the best possible way. Snapping a photo, so he could remember this moment, Alex saved it to his camera roll. With a bit too easy of a maneuver, Alex managed to extricate his daughter from the prince's arms and successfully resettle her in her room, in her crib, sleeping soundly.
Returning to Henry with the spare duvet from the linen closet, Alex draped it over his sleeping body before climbing under his own covers on the other side of the bed and turning out the light.