6. I Will Survive
Wishing everyone a good night, Arthur turned in. He wanted to call home and chat with his wife, Catherine. He hadn't seen Catherine in almost two weeks, and he did miss her. Contrary to popular belief, they were still very much in love, just as much in love as the day they got married and they still missed one another like crazy when he was on the road for his job. Arthur had promised Henry he wouldn't out Alex to anyone, not even to Cat; and he had meant it. That didn't mean that he couldn't casually let it slip that their son Henry now had a boyfriend. If Catherine happened to guess it was the mysterious roommate Alex that Henry often spoke about, then that wasn't on him.
Even if Arthur was going to end it soon.
He needed to protect Henry from heartbreak.
First a shower. He had grabbed his kit and some fresh pyjamas from his bag and made the trek across the hall. He raised his hand and prepared to knock on the door, but Percy stopped him before he could make contact with the bathroom door.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Pez warned him with a grin. "Haz beat you in there and he gets pretty pissed if his shower is interrupted. Alex is with him, in there. We've got a system, if you hear the music, you just wait unless it's life or death."
"Can I please ask you something Percy?" Arthur asked, even though he was already steering Pez into the living room. Pez had tried to resist, he really had. Nora was waiting for him in his room. "What do you honestly think about Alex? There's just something … "
"Alex is great." Pez beamed at him. "Henry really likes him and Henry lights up around him. I am so glad the two of them have finally got their shit together and made their relationship official. You should have seen the tension between them when both of them were still pretending they were into other people. Henry's really good for Alex too. He tends to absorb the excess attention, and he encourages Henry to flourish, while still being comfortable in his own space."
"I don't know, I'm sure he's a great guy. But there's just something about him." Arthur disagreed. "Henry seems like he is under an immense amount of pressure, and I haven't really been seeing any positive changes in Henry. I mean besides the hickey; I saw one on his collarbone."
"I promise you, if I thought Alex was bad news for Henry, I would have personally intervened. I have before and I would again, you know that." Pez reiterated to him. "But Alex is good. I gotta go, Nora's waiting for me."
Seeing his son emerge from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, draped over an equally wet and robed Alex had done nothing to appease Arthur's displeasure. In that moment he looked as happy as Henry claimed he was. Arthur wasn't a homophobe; he just didn't want to think about Henry that way. Arthur slipped into the now vacant bathroom and locked the door behind him.
Arthur set his bathroom kit down and hung his robe on the hook on the back of the door. He retrieved a towel from the cabinet beneath the sink and couldn't help but glance at the half empty bottle of personal silicone-based lubricant. He made a face when he spotted them. Not because he knew people in this apartment were having sex, but because there weren't any condoms or dental dams in sight.
He hoped they were using them, that Alex hadn't somehow managed to talk Henry into unsafe sex practices.
Turning the water on and taking advantage of the fact he had to wait for the water to warm up, Arthur began his usual snooping. He couldn't help himself. He was an innately curious person and sometimes his curiosity got the better of him.
Like right now.
He was going through the laundry hamper with some dirty clothes in it and he came across a pair of black brazilian cut lace panties. They felt crusty in the front, and he instantly dropped them back in the hamper, regretting his choice to snoop. Looking at them in the hamper, Arthur smirked to himself. He recognised that stain from his younger days. That was one of the boys' dried come on those panties.
He really needed to stop looking at them, but there was something about them bugging him. They looked to belong to one of the boys, rather than Percy's girlfriend. The girlfriend nor Percy had not used the bathroom yet.
No. Something else.
Tossing them back into the hamper he decided he was done snooping. He didn't want to know. He knew sexuality was a spectrum and never set in stone. He might be happy for his son that he had found someone, but he wasn't ready to know if his son was wearing lingerie or worse, if it was Alex's and his son was into it. Then again, he had known Percy Okonjo since he was knee high to a grasshopper and it would not surprise him if the lace panties belonged to him.
Nope.
Arthur Fox had learnt his lesson about snooping. At least in a bathroom that was used by a minimum of four young adults.
As he stepped under the spray, Arthur mentally chastised himself. He knew better. His wife had lectured him time and time again about snooping in their children's lives. She had always told him it was a gross invasion of privacy and would remind him that he had never liked it when the paparazzi would invade his privacy. That it was the same on principle. He couldn't even really claim it was out of love, care and concern when he would later use what he found to interrogate truths out of his kids.
As he stepped out of the shower to dry off, he had to admit two things to himself. One, the bathroom hadn't smelt like sex or body odour when he had come in immediately after them. That scent was a specific smell and one all consenting adults who had partaken in the act of bathroom sex before were intimately familiar with. The bathroom had smelt of jasmine, mint and honeysuckle. Two, the bathroom was really clean and tidy; everything had its own place. It was highly organised and he had to admit, even the grout was scrubbed clean. In fact, the whole apartment was beyond a cursory clean. Especially for three guys living under one roof, and a girl who only visits part time and definitely does not seem to be the 'I'll clean the apartment for you' type of girl. It was pristine and clean!
Slipping his robe on, he tossed his towel in the hamper and padded across the hall to Henry's room. A lowlight from the living room was coming from the tv and caught his eye. He stopped in curiosity. The volume was muted and the two figures on the sofa were entwined into one another. He recognised his son as the body on top and he assumed Alex was the person beneath him. Henry was smiling widely as he leaned down and spoke in a low voice. From Arthur's stopped spot in the hall, he couldn't hear Henry's words and after his own mental lecture, he wasn't sure he needed to.
Smiling widely to himself, Arthur headed into Henry's room to call Cat.
Henry was laying on top of Alex. They had put bake off on in an attempt to calm both of their minds. But when he had seen Alex all but spiralling, Henry had manoeuvred himself on top of Alex, using his body weight to attempt to soothe him. Sometimes this method works and other times it hasn't.
Henry had been murmuring into Alex's ear everything he had done tonight that had impressed him, like cooking that delicious meal and how hot he had looked with his curls tied up loosely on top of his head. Henry had sent him a dangerous smirk, seeing the flush down Alex's face and Alex had retaliated with tickling his sides. Henry's face had crinkled in laughter and Alex was beaming from beneath him.
Pressing a kiss to Alex's lips, Henry let out a small, satisfied sigh and snuggled into Alex.
In a cruel twist of fate, Henry had woken up alone in Alex's bed, the following morning. Alex's side of the bed was cold. The covers were pulled over and his pillow was pushed up beside Henry. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that Alex had only stayed in bed until he had fallen asleep. Henry couldn't help but think of how he had cruelly done the same thing to Alex when his stepfather had been visiting and how it wasn't a nice feeling.
Only he had left Alex alone in bed immediately after sex, and Alex had not.
They didn't have sex last night.
A first for them.
Venturing out into the kitchen he found his father at the breakfast bar beside Alex, in the business side of the kitchen working together in what appeared to be a comfortable silence. He recognised the ingredients for Alex's breakfast burritos, and he recognised the ingredients for his father's slow seared pork roast.
"Morning, son." Arthur greeted him, looking up and catching Henry standing in the doorway of Alex's bedroom door. "How'd you sleep?"
Henry had slept fine, slept like a baby in fact, even if waking up without Alex wrapped around him, in Alex's bed was jarring to his brain. "Fine, thanks." He muttered, sleepily.
"Hey Baby." Alex said as Alex looked up at him with that megawatt smile of his that lights up a room. "The kettle is on for your tea. Your laptop should be fully charged and ready to go for your meeting. Your breakfast is less than a minute away and …" Alex stepped up to him and pressed his lips to Henry's in a quick chaste kiss. "Good morning."
Henry felt like he had entered some weird parallel universe. He'd had the impression last night from several looks that his father was not Alex's biggest fan, or a fan at all.
"Thank you, love." Henry brightly smiled at him. Alex, as promised less than a minute later, was handing him a plate with one of Alex's breakfast burritos that Henry loved so much. As Alex went to move back into the kitchen to finish dishing up the rest of the burritos, Henry snagged him by the wrist and pulled him back into his embrace. "I mean it, Love. Thank you, I appreciate this so much. You take such good care of me." Henry pressed a kiss to Alex's lips, and he could tell Alex was dying to deepen it but was physically restraining himself.
Alex kissed Henry goodbye, and he headed to the law library. Mostly because he had to legitimately work on a paper that was due next week and not because he was avoiding Arthur. Once Alex had left, Arthur had asked if Alex had left for his benefit, but Henry had reassured him he hadn't, before Henry mentioned to his father that he had to take this zoom meeting. Arthur told him to go ahead with his meeting, he had paperwork to go through and a meeting of his own to prepare for. Henry took his laptop into Alex's bedroom and closed the door behind him.
When Alex returned to the apartment, late in the afternoon, the dinner that Arthur had been preparing in the slow cooker and sear, smelt delicious to his empty stomach. His empty stomach which was running on nothing but coffee and mints. The apartment was empty, and Alex was somewhat relieved. When Arthur had joined him in the kitchen this morning, Alex had felt like he had been walking on eggshells around him. Alex hated feeling like that. It was too reminiscent of spending time with his own parents.
Suffocation.
Alex debated lying on the sofa for a rest or on the bed and he decided the bed would be better. At least if Arthur returned first, the older man wouldn't disturb him.
Out of habit, Alex headed to the kitchen first to check the message board. There were two. Alex noted that one was Pez telling them that he and Nora were planning on catching a movie and a late dinner after classes. The other one was Henry, telling him he had accompanied his father down to the studios and they would be back at six. Alex already knew that because the kind and considerate man that Henry was had also texted him throughout the day.
Alex rubbed his temples; he could feel a headache brewing and knew the source of the headache was none other than WASPy Hunter Cook from his ethics class. They had engaged in a mock debate today for class. Alex had long held this firm theory that Hunter had no ethics and even less morals and today, he had proved it to no less than the seventy other students in the lecture hall.
Alex's team consisted of a beautiful transgendered woman named Kelsey who was one of the sharpest people Alex had ever met in his life. There was Eric, an African American mathematical genius from Alabama. Louisa, a mature aged student who had returned to school after the death of her wife from cancer. She had zest and charisma about her, New York born and bred. She was quick witted and one of the only people whose mind was just as chaotic as Alex's. She ran circles around the entire class in the area of life experiences. Finally rounding out their team was Alex, a mouthy Texan, son of a Mexican immigrant, ADHD riddled, bisexual man who was obsessed with politics and his boyfriend.
Hunter Cook had stood there point blank, looking at each individual team member of Alex's team and told them they should have less rights than him. He then proceeded to be a transphobic, derogatory, racist, sexist, biphobic, elitist asshole to Alex's team. His own team had gaped in shock, the auditorium had let out a shocked gasp and Alex felt like a fool. He and Eric were the only ones who did not react to the blatant disregard for basic human respect.
What was worse than all of this, Professor Ashcroft just looked at Eric and Alex, before turning around to the class and saying that whilst Hunter's words were wrong from an ethical standpoint, depending how he was raised, he was right on a moral standpoint.
There was no comment that Hunter's father was Senator John Cook, the Republican Senator of some bumfuck county, somewhere deep in here in the heart of the US.
There was no actual condemnation from the professor or from the other class members about Hunter's actual words. After class, their group chat for the assignment had exploded and Alex swore with every angry comment it was making his head hurt more. Between Arthur's obvious dislike for him and today, Alex had had enough.
He closed his eyes and laid his head back on his pillow with a sigh. He had decided to take one of his textbooks with him to lay down. At least it would look like he was trying to study, should it be Arthur who stumbled upon him.
It was Arthur who found Alex. He had seen the younger man's bag haphazardly thrown on the sofa. It had looked out of place in the pristine apartment that the men kept. Henry had been called into his office for an emergency briefing with his colleagues over a serious, safety issue that had arisen. He had given Arthur his key and told him to go on ahead.
When he had knocked on Alex's bedroom door and the door had pushed open against the weight of the knock. It hadn't been snipped all the way and Alex was lightly dozing. Arthur stood there for a moment and looked Alex over with a critical eye. He took advantage of the fact that Alex was asleep, and his son was not around to chastise him.
He supposed he could see why Henry was attracted to the man. He was rather an exotic beauty for a man, Arthur supposed.
He worked in Hollywood; he knew when a man was good-looking or not and Alex could definitely be described as a heartthrob.
But no matter how pretty Henry's boyfriend was or how attracted Henry was to the man, Alex had to go.
Arthur had tried to talk to Henry about Alex today. But his son had his head in the clouds or had his eyes constantly glued to the screen of his cell phone. It had really irked Arthur. But what had been more disturbing was the look of giddiness on his son's face, every single time that his phone dinged, beeped or vibrated.
"Stop starin' at me, man." Alex mumbled, sleepily. His usual Texan drawl was deeper and heavier than his usual. "It's creepy as fuck, dude."
Arthur panicked. He was worried he had been caught. Alex didn't appear to be awake, or even alert and a small soft snuffling noise confirmed that Alex was still in a slumber.
Arthur gave him a moment longer, before closing the door back over, making sure to snip it closed this time.
When Henry returned, he saw Alex's bag and its place on the armchair, raising a questioning glance at his father. "Was there when I got back." Arthur commented slowly, not looking up from his book he was reading. Which admittedly, was just a random book he picked up off the shelf in the living room. It was a riveting, thought provoking collection of queer poetry. It was romantic and had left Arthur questioning which one of them it belonged to.
"Alex must be unwell." Henry remarked, in a low voice. The look on his face matched his low tone and Arthur frowned, his son really did take too much on himself. "He doesn't usually sleep in the daytime."
Arthur was sure Alex could take care of himself.
Henry checked on Alex again later, but he was sleeping, so he left him be. He didn't feel feverish, and Alex would venture out when he was hungry or wanted company. He never did well when he was truly alone. But when he didn't venture out for dinner, Henry began to take a worried tone. Even if he didn't voice it with his father, he simply cleared up Alex's bag and returned it to its rightful spot.
He bid his father good night, after a thorough shower. He knew if Alex woke up, he might be wanting sex. They hadn't had sex the day before due to Arthur and his impending arrival. Henry had been too keyed up to think about sex and thankfully Alex understood. But after listening to his father all day, Henry refused to let Arthur cockblock him any further.
Only if Alex wasn't genuinely unwell. Henry wasn't that kind of boyfriend.
"Darling?" Henry asked in a whisper as he let himself into the bedroom and climbed into bed beside his slumbering boyfriend. "Are you awake?"
Alex lifted his head from the pillow and mumbled incoherently, without opening his eyes. Henry had to admit, it was an impressive feat on Alex's part to answer him and not wake up. Henry smothered his own laugh at Alex's sleepy antics and Henry snuggled down into Alex's bed. As soon as Henry was settled, Alex had slung his own arm over Henry's waist and Henry allowed the weight of Alex's arm to act like a weighted blanket and soothe his anxiety.
"Oh love, you must have had one hell of a monumental day," Henry told Alex, his voice dripping with every iota of sympathy he felt for the poor law student Henry had fallen in love with. "Go back to sleep."
There wasn't even a response from Alex.
Alex woke up and he had been stripped down to nothing, save for a pair of baby blue boy short panties that he had definitely not been wearing yesterday morning. He had specifically remembered slipping his boxer briefs on remembering how uncomfortable it had been in the kitchen with Arthur. Arthur had kind of made him feel not brave enough to wear something that made him comfortable enough in his own skin while they were in the kitchen.
Henry must have changed him before falling asleep.
He had also noted the fact that he was painfully erect. Erect to the point that he was poking out of the top of the waistband of his panties. Hard enough and wet enough that he was leaking pre-come onto Henry's naked back and black cotton briefs with the elastane waist band.
Alex wasn't into somnophilia or anything like that, although he could possibly be one day. Alex was into anything with explicit conversation and consent, and it was not something he and Henry had discussed. Consent is sexy and all that …. But still…. He was horny and hard as fuck.
Henry rolled over and faced him. Henry was a world class insomniac after all. Alex shouldn't have been surprised that Henry was awake.
"Hello, love." Henry smiled at Alex. Those beautiful curls of Alex's that Henry adored were a messy riot. "How are you feeling now?"
"Bad day." Alex whispered, licking his dry lips.
"Sorry I wasn't here for you." Henry apologised, kissing Alex's forehead. "Want to talk about it?
"I just want to forget it." Alex sighed. "I'm here with you now."
Henry grinned widely at Alex's words. He was trying to hide the fact that Alex's words have made his insides like molten lava. All warm, soft and gooey.
"Now, I can live with that." Henry winked.
Alex leaned up and kissed Henry, taking the blonde's lips and giving the bottom one a playful nip before soothing it with his tongue. He worked over that bottom lip of Henry's that was all fuller and kiss-bitten, the one that drove Alex wild every single time he got his mouth on it. As their tongues brushed together, Henry opened his mouth wider. He was eager to have Alex.
When he had stripped his boyfriend down and into his blue panties, Henry had felt a fleeting moment of regret that Alex had not woken. He had been feeling a slight disconnect since they were usually so sexually active, but had not had sex in over twenty-four hours, which was out of the norm for them. Henry had been ashamed and irritated by his own thoughts and Alex was clearly exhausted, possibly unwell. Yet, Henry had still wanted Alex on a physical, visceral level.
Alex loved to kiss. He loved making out. He loved kissing Henry. No two kisses were ever the same. Alex rolled Henry onto his back, following him over and pressing Henry into the sheets beneath him. Straddling Henry, Alex broke off the kiss from Henry's lips to pepper his face with kisses. Moving across Henry's face, over the apple of his cheek. Alex let his breath ghost over the shell of Henry's ear before taking the lobe between his teeth playfully.
"Alex," Henry panted in a harsh breath. Henry canted his hips towards Alex, eager to increase the friction between them. "Please"
Henry tried to take control, tilting his hips in an attempt to get the upper hand from Alex. Henry might be taller. Henry might be in good shape, but Alex is a runner and insanely fit, which was something that Henry loved and adored about Alex.
"Hen?" Alex panted between kisses. Alex wanted Henry. He needed Henry. He needed to be inside Henry. He needed to make them both feel so fucking good, because Henry was fucking good. Henry was goodness personified. "May I?"
"Fuck me, Alex." Henry begged, keening beneath him. "I've missed you."
Alex smirked, adjusting his position on top of Henry. He hiked Henry's leg up higher for better access, bringing Henry's cock directly against Alex's panty trapped cock.
The friction felt hot and wanton between them and the dampness of Alex's panties between them was a good reminder it was time to strip them off. If they didn't it would be all over before it really began. Much quicker than either of them expected.
"Clothes." Alex demanded, less than a breaths space between them. "Off." Alex annunciated with a hard, wanton press of his lips to Henry's. "Now."
Scrambling off Henry, Alex peeled his pre-come stained panties from his body in a somewhat seductive manner. Henry was not so graceful. He had all but ripped his shorts off his body.
Alex looked at Henry with hooded eyes as he kicked the panties off the end of his foot. Henry had been laying back on Alex's bed, relaxed, hand propping his head up with his hand. Henry's eyes danced with glee at the sight of Alex removing his clothes.
When Alex looked up at Henry, he sent Alex a shy smile. His eyes were downcast to Alex's hard and leaky cock and grinned. "You have ten seconds to get over here and open me up." Henry's voice was husky, and it was something Alex recognised as the tone Henry used when he was really desperate for Alex. "I need you in me."
"Bossy, much?" Alex asked in an amused tone, Alex's eyes dancing with laughter at Henry. Alex coated his finger with lube and allowed it to trace Henry's rim.
"Come on, Alex. Do it." Henry instructed him with mirth, before moving against Alex's finger trying to impale himself on it.
Alex took Henry by surprise and pushed his finger in wholly. The sound that escaped from Henry's pouty lips was feral. Alex had never heard him make that noise before.
"Shh, baby." Alex hushed him, kissing him quiet as Alex brushed Henry's prostate with his finger, swallowing down the noise. "Normally, I love how noisy you are. But we don't want to wake anyone up tonight."
Normally Alex would relish the noises Henry was making, especially when he was making noises like that one. It was high pitched, keen and needy. It shot through Alex like a lightning bolt and Alex felt Henry's sexy noises down to his toes.
Alex slipped a second finger into Alex before scissoring him open. Henry was moaning Alex's name into his neck and panting a healthy mix of prayers and a litany of profane words that were really doing it for Alex.
"Get in me." Henry begged, holding Alex by the nape of his neck to look into his boyfriend's eyes.
"You're not ready yet..." Alex trailed off.
"It's enough, I love the stretch." Henry explained while Alex was lubing up his latex covered cock.
When Alex entered Henry, Henry's whole body shook in anticipation. Once Henry was filled to the hilt with Alex's hard cock, their balls pressed up against each other, Henry's face contorted out in bliss. Once Henry had managed to find his self-control again, he looked up to Alex, his eyes begging to continue.
Alex looked down into those crystal blue eyes of Henry's that he adored so much. Such a particular shade of blue, it was almost impossible for Alex to describe with absolute clarity. Henry's begging eyes and the little nod was the signal he had been waiting for as he slowly began thrusting in and out of Henry. With each drag of his cock in and out of Henry's body, Henry was begging for more.
What had started out as a slow and sensual love making session, had turned into a game of one upmanship between the men. Soon enough, the angles of thrusts changed, and friction came and went. Whispered pleas and panted moans of begging were exchanged. Bated breaths and heated kisses to muffle their sounds of begging and pleasure, as they chased their orgasms.
As they climaxed, Henry wrapped his long legs with his polo thighs around Alex's lithe body, holding him in place. Now that Henry had Alex, he was never letting him go.