TPSAD 22
A shuffling noise at the door, made Alex look in that direction. Alex smiled wide when he saw who was at the bedroom door. "Hey," He grinned and moved over onto the far bed, patting the space beside him, making some space for the visitor.
"Hello, Alex."
Henry smiled widely at Alex, the stress that Henry had been feeling hunched in his shoulders and weighing down seemed to magically lift off at the sight of Alex, all tousled, soft, in bed. The sight of him making room for Henry warmed his heart. Patting the bed next to him, inviting him into Alex's bed was euphoric and Henry couldn't help himself.
Instead of sitting beside Alex, he toed his shoes off at the foot of the bed, ripping his tee over his head, leaving his joggers and socks on, bare chested. He climbed onto the bed, hovering over Alex's body in a similar state. "I really need to kiss you now." He whispered into the small space between their lips. His voice was husky and laced with lust.
"Well, kiss me then." Alex grinned up at Henry. He immediately complied, locking his lips over Alex's. To Henry, it felt like coming home and he smiled into the kiss. The smallest brush of Henry's tongue against Alex's lips had him parting them slightly for Henry's tongue to enter and rendezvous with Alex's in a heated battle for dominance.
Alex was moaning into the kiss, the sounds muffled by Henry's mouth. Henry rutted his body into Alex's as the kiss heated further. Hands hastily were exploring, eager to conquer new territory. The kisses becoming increasingly messy and open. Breaths panted between their open mouths; their breaths mingled. "Fuck, Alex. I want you." Henry hissed between kisses, feeling Alex harden against his thigh with only their respective sweats as a barrier.
"Hen!" Alex moaned loudly, as Henry nipped at a particularly sensitive part of Alex's neck. Henry's lips, tongue and teeth working Alex's neck over. Henry determined to mark his territory on Alex's skin with his mouth.
"- ex?" Why was he hearing a woman's voice? It sounded distant and foggy. Why did Henry suddenly sound feminine? "Alex, are you awake?" Suddenly, Alex was shaking. Why was he shaking? Especially while he and Henry were kissing. It was heating up and he could feel himself hardening under Henry's touch.
"ALEX!" A shout accompanied some violent shaking, and he woke, startled and scared!
Alex bolted upright in bed. "Huh!" He muttered, wiping at his eyes and looking around the room. Henry was gone. There was no evidence that Henry had even been there. His clothes and shoes were gone. Yet, Alex was hard. Hard as stone.
He must have nodded off at some point and fallen into a very surreal dream. Only that dream had felt as real as the light of day and Alex could have sworn it was Henry with him in that bed. But it wasn't. June and Nora would have mentioned if Henry had stopped by.
"Nora!" June hissed at her wife. Looking up, June and Nora were at his bedroom door. "Sorry to wake you, Ale. Can we talk?"
Alex patted the empty side of the bed and the two girls climbed in beside him. June first, then Nora. Alex moved closer to the edge on his side of the king bed. Thankful that his painful erection was rapidly subsiding. He would have been mortified if June and Nora had of realised he had been having a sexy dream when they had come in.
"You OK, Bug?" Alex asked his sister. Despite fighting and both being upset and exchanging harsh words, June was his sister and he never stayed angry at her too long. Just like she never stayed angry at him for too long.
"I am sorry Alex," June whispered, resting her head on Alex's shoulder with Nora pressed against her. "That was very 'mom' of me, wasn't it?" Her watery voice seemed to make Alex smile.
"Yeah, and I am sorry too." Alex said, taking her hand. "I didn't mean to hurt you with my words. I was angry because you weren't listening to me. You usually do listen me. Most of the time."
"And I am sorry for that too." She laughed, nervously. "I guess I just hoped that if something like this ever happened again, if I was close by, that somehow I might be able to prevent it."
"Are you a doctor, Bug? Do you have a medical degree I don't know about?" Alex asked her. "June, listen to me. You're not responsible for me anymore. I am all grown up. You're still my sister and Gabriella's Tia, but you're not a miracle worker, a god nor a guardian angel. I know it's a default setting for you to feel like you have to fix all of the problems in my life, but you don't. You just have to be my big sister and Gabriella's Tia. You just have to support us and the choices I make for us. You might not like them. But all I want is your support."
"I lied, London's been good for you." June told him with a wide smile. She was proud of him. "I am proud of you too. I am proud of you that you want to be better than mom and dad. That you don't want to lead a life in politics now. Nora helped me understand that London is your home and you're happy here. I respect that Ale, and I am happy that you're happy."
"Thanks." Alex hugged his sister side on, and June hugged him back.
"Now I have got to go pee." June let out, laughing at her own words as she climbed out of bed and left the room for a bathroom, avoiding the ensuite. Not even a jiffy later, she doubled back and lingered in the doorway a second. "For the record, you always have all of my support."
Nora was looking at him with a critical eye. Alex could see her almost literally biting her tongue, words just bursting to come out of her. "What?!" Alex asked, feeling defensive at her intensive scrutiny.
"You were having a sex dream when we came in, weren't you?" Nora asked him, slyly. Alex went to protest, but Nora knows better. They were together for a hot minute a hundred years ago. "Who was the lucky person?"
"No one." Alex automatically denied and Nora just shot him a serious glare. "Drop it, Nora."
"So, you weren't dreaming of being mounted by your prince charming then?" Nora asked, winking at him. "Admit it, Alex. You've been wanting him to dick you down forever."
"Excuse me!" He protested loudly.
"You're excused." Nora retorted, giving Alex a playful shove back into the pillows behind him. "You could do worse, Alejandro. You should go for it."
Queen Mary's body had been lying in state, to give the public a chance to grieve. Earlier that day, Philip, Martha, Henry and Bea had put on a united front and attended the viewing before it opened to the public. Martha and Bea had both gripped Henry's hand so tight in comfort.
The four of them were impeccably dressed, head to toe in black, as per palace protocol. There was not a strand of hair out of place. The men in woolen black suits, despite the warm day and the women with their thick black pantyhose and the harsh and distasteful headpiece they were required to wear.
The media had been told in advance of their attendance and Henry knew by tonight, the whole world would have seen the photos of them 'grieving' for Mary. The four of them all putting on a united front. The future of the monarchy.
Henry hadn't yet told anyone, not even Shaan. But he wasn't so sure he wanted to be part of the monarchy anymore. The new monarchy. The one under his mother. It was still early days; he had acknowledged that fact. But still, he was feeling trapped and isolated. He still felt as if he was caged. Desperately wanting to break free.
Returning to Kensington, Bea and Henry flopped helplessly onto the sofas in their music room, utterly exhausted. Tomorrow was the funeral.
"You did good today, Hen." Bea told him, proud of him. He had put on the image of the perfect heir; the grieving prince and the media had eaten it all up.
"You too." Henry sighed.
Bea sat up straight and eyed him over in a way that only an older sibling or parent could. The kind of look that pierces the psyche and goes straight into one's soul. "It's Alex, right?" She asked him slowly. "And Gabriella? They mean a lot to you. Enough to leave the security and comfort of everything you've ever known."
"They mean a lot to me, Bea." Henry sat up straighter too, looking his older sister in the eye. "I've tried to leave so many times before them. Before I ever met Alex and Gabriella. But something had always stopped me. Mostly I have stayed for Arthur and James. And for you. But mum is on the throne now and she's not going to treat our nephews the way Mary would have."
"You've finally realised that leaving the monarchy does not mean leaving the family." Bea guessed and Henry nodded.
"I gave Martha a reality check the other night." Henry mentioned, changing the subject. He had known Bea was about to go off on a semi-related tangent about Henry being sure of his choices. Which would make him second guess them, get him in his head and make him spiral. He knew he was the worst version of himself when he spiraled so he would probably sabotage any potential relationship with Alex too and end up alone forever.
"I imagine that would have gone down like a led balloon with Philip." Bea mused out loud. "He does like to get up in anyo0ne's face who dares speak to Martha out of turn."
"Let's just say, she knows a few more things than she knew before." Henry muttered through his yawn.
"Off to bed, H." Bea told him, pulling him by the arm. "Tomorrow, when everything is said and done, we can come back here and sing 'ding, dong the witch is dead.'"
That made Henry laugh. That was the song that Arthur used to sing to them after Mary had forced their hands into doing something they really hadn't wanted to do.
Henry looked himself over in the mirror a final time, before leaving his bedroom at Buckingham Palace. Dressed in a new black suit, black pants with black tie. The royal family medals he had, as well as he royal decrees that had been bestowed upon him hung over his sash and around his neck. He hadn't served in the military, so no military dress uniform for him.
He turned and looked to Shaan for approval. Shaan too, was dressed in his finest black suit. He too, would be at the church and assisting Henry in getting through the day the best he could. Shaan fiddled with two of them, replacing them into the correct order and smiled at Henry. "You can do this." Shaan told him, encouragingly, holding out his hand for the prince's cell phone.
"If Alex calls …" Henry trailed off.
"I will let you know, Sir." Shaan finished for him.
"Let's get this over and done with already." Henry huffed and Bea laughed from the bedroom door. She too was dressed all in black. Long sleeved dress, black tights, and a black wide brimmed hat in her hand. Her auburn hair tousled in her natural locks and a smile on Bea's face.
"Ditto."
It was a lot of nonsense and ceremonial pomp. One thing that Alex thought that he hated more than absolutely anything was that Henry was on display, his grief for the world to see. June and Nora were in the kitchen, Alex on the sofa in the living room. Gabriella asleep in the crib, with the video monitor on.
It was a day of mourning in London, and everything was closed. So, they couldn't even go out and do something. With the increased security threats in the wake of Queen Mary's passing, there was an increased police presence. As well as an increase in people. In the last ten days it seemed that thousands of people from all four corners of the world had travelled to London. They had plans to line the streets to pay their respects. Respect to a woman that had been on the throne for a long time. She had been the only monarch most of the people had ever seen in their lifetime.
Alex had no intention of leaving the temporary flat he called home. He had asked Pez if he was needed to come into the shelter for work, but Pez had flat out told him no. To stay home and to keep Gabriella at home.
"I'd say it's a load of garbage, but it's just as bad back home when a politician dies back home." June muttered to Alex, sitting beside him on the sofa. "Have we seen Henry and Bea yet?"
"Not yet." Alex replied, glancing at the video receiver in his hand making sure his daughter was still asleep. "According to the commentator, they will in the last group to arrive."
"So, are we ever going to talk about what's going on between you and Henry?" June asked, as Nora came as joined them.
"Alex wants Henry to dick him down." Nora stated. "Alex is so bad for it, it makes him look stupid."
"Nora!" June huffed. "I was asking Alex, not you."
"I like him, Bug." Alex said softly, coming out in a whisper. "I really do, but …"
"For what it's worth Alex, I think he likes you too." June told Alex. "He couldn't keep his eyes off you during lunch yesterday."
"Alex, he had hungry eyes, and the man wasn't hungry for food." Nora added. "What more do you want in a partner?"
"Nora's right." June pulled Alex's head down to rest on her shoulder. "He loves Gabriella, adores her, really. He understands you. He treats you well. He is kind, caring. He is smart. He respects you. And he likes you back."
No one said anything else for almost an hour. They were all laser focused on the TV, hoping to catch a glimpse of Henry or Bea.
Fifty-three minutes later, Alex broke the silence. "He kissed me."
"WHAT!"
"WHAT!" Came simultaneously from June and Nora.
"Earlier on in the night that Gabriella had to go to hospital." Alex confessed.
"How was it? You have to tell us everything." Nora begged.
"You really don't," June pleaded in laughter.
"Tell me, I am reading this wrong." Alex murmured, looking into Henry's cerulean, blue eyes. His fingers were itching out to touch the golden coifs of Henry's hair, to feel if it was as soft as he imagined it to be. He was wearing that soft, blue cashmere sweater that matched his eyes, those taupe coloured Tom Ford chinos, with the buckles that fastened on the side and his pinstripe shirt that always made Alex's heart skip a beat.
"You're not reading this wrong." Henry replied, barely louder than Alex's murmur. His thumb gently strumming Alex's lips in a feather-light caress that made Alex metaphorically need to bolt his feet to the floor. "I need ..." He paused. Lust, desire and want was written on Alex's face. Letting out a sigh, Henry lowered his head to Alex's shoulder. "That list," He replied, sullenly.
"Right." Alex pulled up, straightening his body up and angling it backwards, away from Henry as if he had been slapped. "Here." Alex handed the list off to Henry and Henry walked it over to the study door, handing it to Shaan, alongside Alex's spare key.
Alex moved off Henry's desk chair, towards the door. Partially wanting to escape, to mentally regroup and berate himself for reading the signals wrong, but more importantly, to return to his daughter.
"I'm not done with you yet." Henry murmured, as Alex walked past him. Turning Alex towards him by his forearm and marching him the short distance backwards to the closed office doors. Henry kept closing the distance until his lips were pressed against Alex's in a fiery hit of passion and lust. Hips to hips, chest to chest. Lips on lips.
It only took a nanosecond for Alex's brain to catch up and he was immediately kissing Henry back. Alex's mouth over Henry's top lip and Henry over Alex's bottom lips, fireworks exploding behind them. Alex's hand found its way into Henry's hair, as Henry's hand toyed with the hair on the nape of Alex's neck.
Opening his mouth a little wider, was all it took for Henry to introduce his tongue to Alex's in a dance that was older than time. Henry's tongue, danced and mingled with Alex's and the moan that escaped Henry's mouth when Alex sucked Henry's touch was guttural and wanton. The noise Alex made in response to Henry's was steamy and pitiful, almost begging.
They could feel each other pressed firmly into one another's hips. Henry wanted to reach down and stroke Alex through his dress pants, but that would require putting some distance between them. Something he was loathed to do.
Pulling back slightly and reluctantly, resting their foreheads against each other; they breathed each other in. "Do you still think you read the bloody signals wrong, Alex?" Henry asked, his voice slightly broken and laced with carnal desire. Now he'd had a taste, Henry wanted more. "Now's not the time, but mark my words, I bloody want you. All of you."
"He grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football." Alex confessed and Nora muffled an actual squeal into the palm of her hand.
"For the love of God, and everything holy, please don't elaborate further." June begged Alex and Nora let out a sigh. June faked gagged at Alex and her wife, while Alex lovingly rolled his eyes at her.
"Fine, Alejandro, you and I will discuss this later." Nora told Alex in no uncertain terms.
On the television screen, Henry and Bea stepped out of the vehicle and followed Martha, Philip and their boys into Westminster Abbey. Alex studied Henry through the television screen, taking in every calculated move he makes. The way he tried to stand taller and strong, putting on a brave face. The way he jutted his jaw out that little bit further, as if to prove to the world that he is as cold as Mary is now, in defiance of what he is really feeling. Bea's hand is in the crook of his elbow, and he puts his hand on the small of her back before they take their seats.
Alex can see the stress and the emotional turmoil rolling of Henry in waves. He can see that Henry is uncomfortable. Not just emotionally, but physically. Henry is stressed in a way that makes Alex want to reach through the TV and sooth him. Rub the pads of his fingers over the worry lines on Henry's forehead. He can see Henry's watery eyes and he alone knows he is mourning for the woman who was his grandmother before he turned seven. He isn't mourning for the queen, he isn't mourning for a monarch, or a world leader. He isn't mourning for the head of the Commonwealth or for the matriarch of his family.
The service was slow, it was dull, and it dragged on. The archbishop speaks of her reign, her commitments and sacrifices. He speaks to the love she had for her family, naming each family member like she adored them. Alex knows it's all a lie. A lie to save face.
The march out of the Abbey, following the coffin is weird and that's a point that both June and Nora agree with. What kind of woman would want to put their grandchildren's grief on display like this. The fact that she had the power to make them do it from beyond the grave was mind boggling to the three Americans.
When the broadcast was done, and the BBC news was playing the highlights of the day because they believed the viewers needed to see the service over and over again, Nora was cooking dinner with June in the kitchen and Alex was with Gabriella in the bedroom, putting her down for the night when the doorbell went off. The two women exchanged a look. No one was expecting anyone, and it was late.
"I'll get it." Alex said, coming out from the bedroom with a wide awake nine-month-old on his hip. He glanced at the clock with a questioning look. Checking the peephole first, Alex grinned wide. Opening the door, he quipped. "Hey you."
Stepping forward and into the foyer of the flat, Henry took a tentative step towards him. "Hello, Alex." He kissed the top of Gabriella's forehead, giving her a big smile and he kissed Alex's cheek. He was dressed down in blue jeans and Alex's hoodie Bea had stolen from his work locker, and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
"Don't you have to be with your family? Or some shit?" Alex asked, amused. He could barely fathom Henry's presence in his temporary flat, let alone the duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
"I'm here, Alex." Henry told him in earnest, shortening the distance between them. The thing was last time Alex and Henry had spoken on the phone, Henry had promised him he would stop by after the funeral, and they could talk. Alex had told him it could wait, but Henry had promised Alex he was done waiting. "Now little miss Gabriella, I know for a fact, it is past your bedtime."
"Have you eaten, Henry?" Nora asked, as they headed back into the kitchen. "It's just pasta, but I can set a bowl out for you."
"Henry?" June prompted, but his eyes were firmly locked on Alex's. June shot a look to Nora. She was grinning widely at her wife.
"Ah, Henry will eat me, as soon as we get Gabriella into bed." Alex answered for him, not taking his eyes off Henry. Nora stepped away and opened the fridge cackling loudly, while June bit her lip wanting to say something.
"Ah, yes. After Gabriella's asleep. Thank you, June." Nora grinned at June every time she caught June's eye. The whole time he had speaking to June, his eyes hadn't left Alex's. Alex hadn't even realised what he said.
"He meant eat with me, right?" June asked, hoping she was right. "Please, Nor! Tell me that was what he meant."
"Oh, Honey." Nora placated her wife in a fond tone. "That's exactly what he meant."
Henry wanted desperately to reach out and take Alex's hand in his. But the hallway was too narrow, and Alex's hands were holding Gabriella. Alex took a seat on the spare bed in the room that Alex had set her crib up in and Henry sat beside him Alex gave her a bottle and burped her, as Henry softly gazed at the two of them. When she was finally drowsy, not sleeping, Alex kissed her hairline, as did Henry and she was placed in the crib to sleep.
Henry took a moment to watch Gabriella sleep soundly, committing it to memory. He loved the sight of Gabriella in Alex's arms. Seeing Gabriella all warm and snug; safe in her dad's arms. "She's perfect, Alex." Henry whispered into the room filled with the muted light of the nightlight and the light from the hallway.
"Hen?" Alex asked, taking his hand in his. "Are you ok? Because the whole world watched you bury a woman with whom you had a complicated relationship. You're allowed not to be ok."
"Can we talk?" Henry asked, letting a small piece of the vulnerability he had kept locked up tight all day out for Alex to see. "In your bedroom?"
"Sure." Alex led them out of Gabriella's room, down the hall and into the next bedroom. The one he had been using for himself.
Stepping inside the room, the walls were a hard red. Not a bright and cheery red, not red like a cherry and not a burgundy or maroon. But a hard, earth red. It was a strange colour, but somehow the colour suited him. It was nothing like his bedroom back home.
The door closing and the snick of the lock, Henry looked up at Alex and Alex was leaning like a god, against the back of the door and Henry's mind automatically flashed to the time they kissed in his study. Suddenly Alex wanted nothing else but to push Alex against that door and kiss the stuffing out of him.
"Alex?" Henry started. Alex was almost coy. Something that Henry had not expected. Had not known he was capable of.
"Is this the part where you tell me it's been fun, but you're no longer interested in me?" Alex asked Henry. His eyes couldn't meet Henry's for fear of the sting of rejection. "Mary is buried now, your mom will let you come out now. You can have a chance to have anyone you want. As soon as you come out, your dating pool is going to open right up."
"Alex, what if I don't want anyone else?" Henry asked, his chin jutted out slightly. A move Alex recognised from the funeral. A show of defiance. "What if I don't come out and you're the one I want?"
"Hen?"
"No, I have been thinking." Henry cut him off in a very unprincelike manner. "I don't owe any one my sexuality, least of all, the world's media. They have already taken so much from me in life. From the age of four, I have been photographed and papped against my will and it sucks. I want to be with you. Only you. I am not talking about tucking you and Gabriella away like a dirty little secret. I am talking about openly loving you. Loud and proud. I don't have to come out. We both know I owe the people nothing.
As much as I want to protect Gabriella from it, being with me will bring the spotlight on her. On both of you. I promise I will do my best to protect you both, but we know how restless and persistent the tabs can be. I know it's not a lot to offer either of you, but I want to be honest and let you make an informed decision. It's ok to say no. We can go back to being friends and I will never bring it up again."
"I don't want you to date other people that aren't me." Alex whispered into the room. "I couldn't stand it. Henry, you're the one I want. I have to do right by my daughter, but we have options. We can get a legal injunction to stop publications from publishing her photo. We can become hermits and never leave the house."
Alex's silliness did exactly what he had hoped. It had made Henry laugh. That had been exactly what he had been going for. "I prefer that personally." Henry chuckled alongside Alex. "What if I abdicated?"
"What? Henry? NO!" Alex protested. "If you're going to abdicate, it has to be for you. Not for us."
"It would be for me. For me to have you two, that's the best thing I could hope to get out of it."
"And to be the sole blame for being the reason the prince of England's hearts abdicated?" Alex asked, rhetorically. "The press would have a field day. I would never be able to show my face in public."
"Alex, either way tomorrow morning, a royal notice will be sent out. I am stepping back from public duties and from the shelter." Henry told him. "Effective immediately."