2. Confrontations By The Light Of Day


When Alex woke to use the bathroom, it was still dark out. He downed the acetaminophen Henry had so kindly left out for him and half of the water, before heaving himself out of bed and onto his feet. Alex didn't even notice the human shaped lump underneath the duvet on the sofa, as he padded across the living room and down making his way down the hall to the bathroom.

Once he was finished, he was much more alert, and he noticed that the lamp beside Henry's bed was on. A gentle rap of knuckles against his door, before gently opening it.

"Alex? Is everything ok?" Henry asked, concerned to see Alex standing in his doorway at 4.26am in the morning. "Are you ok?"

"Nah," Alex murmured, stepping into the room and closing the door over behind him. Henry pulled back the covers and patted the vacant spot beside him on his queen sized bed. "Just … Was it a dream that you said you were coming to join me in bed?"

Henry let out one of his wry chuckles. "Yes, well that was before your stepfather decided that he was spending the night here to make sure your chastity remained intact."

"Please baby, you took that from me on your third week living here." Alex grinned, and Henry shot him a megawatt smile of his own. All gums and teeth. "Leo's here?"

"Raf, I think you said it was. You called him, pap." Henry whispered, he lowered the book he was reading on the nightstand, before letting Alex cuddle up close to him. "Just how many stepfathers do you have?"

"Two. There's Raf, my dad, Oscar's husband. Leo is mostly Leo, although sometimes he gets Pop. Raf is Pap. Alex whispered. "They don't know about me. I'm not ready to share this part of myself with them. This is something I … I'm …I-"

"I get it, Alex. I truly do." Henry gave him a soft squeeze of reassurance. "It's ok, it really is. I knew I was gay for as long as I could remember, and I didn't come out until I was sixteen. You don't owe anyone your sexuality, not even me."

"It's ok to take your time with this. There is no timeline and there is no pressure to come out." Henry reminded him.


The fact of it all was that he and Alex had met when Henry was tipsy, and that in itself was all thanks to Pez. Alex and his parents had found the apartment, and he had been sharing it with Hunter, the son of his mother's colleague. Their other roommate was a somewhat shady grad student named Tim, who was so introverted, he would make disparaging remarks to Alex or Hunter if they so much as ran the dishwasher in his presence. Each of them had agreed to a roommate agreement, but when only four months in, Hunter broke down after flunking his first set of exams, Alex came home from the library with a note and a cheque to cover his expenses for the remainder of the semester. At the end of the semester, Tim moved out too, back home to Iowa.

At an end of semester mixer, Alex met Pez who had been griping about living in the freshman dorms because there had been a mix up at the housing office. The housing office had been under the assumption that Pez and Henry were freshmen and not transfer students. Pez admitted that while he loved a good party, he also knew the value of hard work and studying; something they struggled to do in the freshmen dorms.

Alex had admitted that he had two rooms for rent, and he was about to list them on the NYU student portal's bulletin board. Pez jumped at the opportunity and convinced Alex to let him and Henry move in. Pez promised Alex just about anything, and quite frankly, he wasn't above begging.

Henry had been five shots in and grinding against a dark haired, fair skinned man named Derek when Pez had all but dragged him away from the man who had more notches in bed posts than in his belt. He had been a sure thing for Henry. But as soon as Henry caught sight of Alex, all memories of Derek flew out of the window.

"Darling, this is Alex." Pez cooed, keeping Henry close to him. "He is going to be our Lord, Christ and Saviour and get us the hell outta the dorms."

"Jesus Christ, Pez!" Henry exclaimed. The man Pez had his other arm around looked like he had walked off the runway for Men's Health magazine. Perhaps he had been plucked from the heavens above. Hand picked by Pez to torture his sad, gay soul. That had to be it. It was the only solution for why this … Adonis was standing before him. "I can't live with him."

Alex tried not to take offence to that, the tall, alluring blonde was clearly intoxicated. But that shit hurt. What was worse, it scratched at the old itch of not being good enough, or smart enough, or brave enough.

"Look man, no dramas, you either want the room or not?" Alex glibbed. He had always been argumentative, but something inside of him told his inner self not to take the man's words at face value because of how intoxicated he was. "But I'll need to know by midday tomorrow, because that is when I'm going to be posting the ad."

With his piece spoken, he calmly walked away.

"Hazza!" Despite his friendly words, Pez's single word was spoken as a warning to the man.

"No, I can't live with him." Henry quickly rushed out. "He's a fucking Adonis and you want us to live with him so you can torture my poor, little gay heart. I literally can't take it, Pez."

"Well darling, that is a shame." Henry huffed before giving his friend a gummy smile. It was a rare victory over Pez.

"We'll find somewhere, mate." Henry tried to console Pez congenitally.

With that a roar of laughter erupted from Pez. "Oh, mon chéri, I'm still moving in with him. I cannot live with the freshmen for a second longer." Pez dropped his voice low for dramatic effect." My roommate puts ketchup on his pasta. That's an abomination! A crime against humanity, I tell you."

"Dammit, Pez!" Henry was infuriated with Pez. "You won't be happy until my heart is in a million smithereens, will you?"

"Who knows Haz, the charming and effervescent Alex Claremont-Diaz might just turn out to be the love of your life?"


"It's not like I haven't been thinking about it, H." Alex whispered into the darkness. With Alex beside him and wrapped around him, Henry finally felt like his mind could settle enough to at least search for sleep, even if he was a world class insomniac. "I know I am attracted to females. I'm attracted to you. Hans Solo, Harrison Ford and Jude Law too."

Alex felt Henry nod against him in the dark. "OK."

"I guess dad is part of the problem." Alex admitted to himself. Feeling a small puff of air against his neck from measured breaths and a soft snore, Alex didn't bother to continue. Soon the sun would be up, and he would have to face his own reality.


The next time Henry woke, he was alone in bed. Reaching out, the other side of the bed was still warm. He could hear soft voices out in the living room. That was most likely Alex's location.

Throwing on a pair of track pants that definitely didn't belong to him was a stupid idea, but he had no other option. His own pants were in Alex's room. Deciding to ditch the pants, Henry wandered out into the living room in his shorts and a tee.

"It's my life, Pap." Alex hissed out, as Henry entered the living room. He stopped and flashed Henry a small smile, before telling Henry and Raf he would make some coffee.

"You really do live here?" Raf murmured, seeing the blonde man emerge from the opposite end of the apartment to Alex's bedroom.

"What?" Alex snapped, before Henry could even muster a reply. "You didn't believe it when Henry told you he lived here. You thought Henry was lying?"

"Not exactly, Alex." Raf huffed. He needed to cool his ire and calm his jets because Alex was definitely on a trigger's edge and ready to tip over at any moment. "You have to see it from my perspective, Alex. I didn't know that you were …" Raf waves his hand around trying not to deliberately point it at Henry. "Let's just say - exploring your sexuality. You never mentioned it. What? Didn't you think that maybe your dad and I might have some insight or some wisdom on that particular topic. Jesus Christ, Alex! I've been with your dad for ten years already."

"Yes, and because you were both upfront and honest with us about it before you dove right in or tested the fucking waters." Alex retorted angrily, as he poured the hot water from the kettle into the mug from Henry's earl grey tea. "Because I may have been a kid, but I remember it was more than a year after you and dad started fucking, that he introduced you to us. That only happened because June caught the two of you on the front fucking porch. So, you don't get to preach to me about honesty, ok?"

"I get it!" Raf replied, hotly. Alex had made a good point. He may have been a kid when he and Oscar started seeing each other and it was over a year before Oscar introduced him to the kids. Actually, it was more like eighteen months, but Alex didn't need to know that. Alex didn't owe him his sexuality, he knew. Even with the parental role he had played in raising him, Alex didn't owe them anything. "It wasn't that you owe anyone, not even your mom and dad. Honestly, it was the level of intoxication you were at. I don't know Henry. You do, but I don't. I hope to change that."

Henry had been sitting there, trying to make himself small while the two raging dominant men tried not to spill blood all over the kitchen floor. It was all too reminiscent of his father and grandmother going at it over everything while his grandfather and his mum tried to control their respective partners. Only this was father and son. Well, stepfather and son.

"Ale-, all I care about is your safety. I don't care what your label is, or your gender for that matter. I will accept whatever you want to tell me and all that really matters is, that you're still my kid? That I am still your Pap?"

Even Henry recognised the hope in Raf's voice. Like there was a secret fear that maybe Alex had decided he wanted nothing to do with him any longer.

"Of course you're still Pap, even if you were an ass to me and my friend." Alex muttered, handing Raf a mug of coffee now that the cups had finished brewing. "Now, breakfast?"

Offering to do a pastry run was Henry's best way to get out of the damn apartment and away from the tension so he could think. Perhaps maybe even call his own father and remind the man of how damn lucky he was to have someone like him in his life.

On his way back from the bakery, Henry did jump at the opportunity to call. His father was on set and his mother was in class. Philip had his hands full with the boys while Martha was at work. He spoke with his sister Bea briefly, but she was on her way to rehearsals. He could have called his grandfather, but he didn't want to risk Mary - his vile, evilly wicked grandmother picking up. He could have even called his Nanna and Poppy Fox, but they both would have panicked that something was wrong and dragged his dad off his movie set.

Even though he didn't actually speak to any of them, it made the distance feel less. It made him miss his family less.

Letting himself back into the apartment, he could see that Alex was nowhere to be seen and Pez was sitting in the living room with Nora and Alex's stepfather, Raf. Nora and Raf seemed like they were on good terms and to Henry, that made his gut feel uneasy.

Both Alex and Nora had been explicit in the details of how their families were constantly pushing them to be together. They were constantly disappointed that Alex refused to ask Nora out, or that Nora refused to make a move on Alex. No matter how many times their respective families pushed, both of them were stubborn and refused to do so.

Nora, a statistician by profession once mentioned to the four of them that she had calculated the odds of her and Alex being together and having a successful relationship at six percent. Her family had accused her of being self-sabotaging.

While Alex's family had insisted that he was simply refusing out of spite and Henry knowing Alex, he probably was. However, obtuse as Alex could be sometimes, even he knew they were a terrible idea. Alex had confided in him that once he had contemplated kissing Nora. Back when they were thirteen and he was instantly repulsed. He said it had felt wrong and he had compared it to kissing June.

"Have you been in New York long, Nora?" Raf was asking and it took everything inside him to force himself not to roll his eyes at the man he had just met last night. "I'm sure that Alex could have let you stay with him. You're practically family at this point."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Nora declined politely. She sent Henry and Pez a sideways look of apology. "As much as I love the Claremont-Diaz-Luna-Castalazzi family, Alex and I will never be. It's not like that between us. Raf, Percy is my partner, not Alex. Please do not disrespect Percy in their own home."

"Oh, I do apologise to you both." Raf rushed out, as Henry wordlessly excused himself. "I meant no disrespect."

"You really ought to apologise to Henry too, mate." Pez added, sending the man a firm glare.

"Pez is right, Raf." Nora chastised him. "Just because Henry and Alex are whatever they are, doesn't mean you have the right to come into their home and disrespect them. Henry and Alex are grown men and old enough to make their own choices about what they want."


Henry discovered, through excusing himself, that Alex was in the shower and instead of retreating to his bedroom, he slipped across the hall and let himself into the bathroom.

"Hey baby, are you OK?" He asked, pulling back the shower curtain and looking Henry over. He looked worn out and miserable. "What the fuck did he say to you now?"

Henry deflated at Alex's ire towards his stepfather. Alex had said that they were usually on good terms, so he was feeling like he must be the reason for their angst.

"Nothing." Henry sighed and Alex could feel the waves of stress and tension radiating off his body. "Can I join you?"

Henry's question was shy and timid, and it was asked like he had never joined Alex in the shower before. When in fact, he and Alex showered together many times. If someone were to consult Pez, they would happily tell anyone that would listen to them, that Henry and Alex shower together more frequently than they do apart.

"Why the hell are you asking me a stupid question like that?" Alex rolled his eyes at Henry. "Get in here."

Henry stripped in a record speed that barely left Alex any time to ogle. But that didn't stop him. Once he had pulled Henry into the oversized shower, he took his fill. Henry's skin felt hot under Alex's gaze. It could have made him feel self-conscious, if not for the look of pure lust and something else that Henry was refusing to name, for fear of having his heart broken.

"I love it when we do this." Henry whispered, as Alex captured his lips. Henry's now wet body hard and moving effortlessly against Alex's as he licked into Henry's mouth.

Feeling their firm bodies meeting once more, Alex outstretched his ridiculously long arm out of the shower curtain and onto the Vanity, hitting the play button on the Bluetooth. Bad bunny came pumping out of the small device rather loudly and in one swift move, Alex pushed Henry against the tiled wall under the spray. Drops of water made Alex's body glisten in the bathroom's lowlight and shine off his biceps and shoulders as he pinned Henry hostage by his hips.

"How the fuck do you always feel so fucking good?" Alex muttered, with his head thrown back moaning as Henry's hand wrapped itself around the girth of his cock. "Fuck me, Hen."

Henry didn't falter, despite the fact that his brain had just rewired itself at Alex's sinful plea. The thing was since they started their friends with benefits arrangement, Alex had always topped. It wasn't that Henry preferred to bottom; he was versatile. But Alex had such limited experience with men and hadn't shown any interest in wanting to bottom before.

"You're so good, Alex. My perfect boy." Henry praised him low in his ear. His words hit Alex straight in the cock as he jerked and activated the praise kink within him. Henry wanted to get Alex off. He wanted Alex to come undone beneath him. Under him. Before him. Beside him. Henry didn't care, as long as Alex climaxed. He was taut as an over-wound wristwatch with his stepfather under foot and needed the release.

The fact he knew he too could do with the release and would come with Alex was irrelevant.

"H, baby." Alex keened and writhed against his body. Henry knew Alex was close by the litany of words escaping his mouth, much like the excess saliva on his neck where Alex was attempting to suck a bruise into. "Fuck me, Hen, baby. You're incredible. I'm gonna.."

"Come for me, love." Henry begged softly. If not for the soft shower spray, his hand would be covered in pre-come. Alex leaked lots and Henry loved that about him. He could read Alex easily, they were approaching the precipice. "Be my good boy and come on me."

Alex turned them, shifting them out of the spray completely, his own back against the tiled wall and Henry and his hand flush against Alex and his hard torso. Alex pulled Henry's hand out from between their bodies and rutted his hard leaking cock over Henry's.

"Want me to come on you? " Alex breathed out in a sound that almost resembled a purr. "Want me to mark you as mine? Make you mine?"

Henry was as eager for that to happen as Alex seemed to be. He had been crushing on Alex since the moment he had first laid eyes on him and his feelings hadn't faltered, just intensified.

Hoisting one of Alex's legs by the back of his and pulling Alex closer, their hard dicks rutting together as Alex spilled over them both in a litany of praise and promise. Alex cried out in pleasure, sounds he hoped that Bad Bunny's music covered. Alex's cries matched his own, as they both fell over the edge into bliss.

Henry held Alex close to him and let him ride out one of the most intense orgasms he had ever given Alex. He tried not to feel too smug about the fact that Alex was incapable of anything. He couldn't hold himself upright or form words in his mouth, let alone a coherent thought. When it seemed Alex was coming back to him, he gave Alex a small wink. "Hi there, love. Welcome back."

"That was …" Alex's mind was a blank canvas, clear and unmuddled. But it was still trying to remember how to function. That had been intense. His legs felt like jelly and he felt guilty for leaving Henry to hold Alex's weight, as well as his own.

"Yes, it was." Henry gently lowered Alex's leg back to the ground. The rotator cuff muscle twinging slightly from an old rugby injury under the extra weight at the odd angle he was holding Alex. .

"H?" Alex questioned softly. His face was a gooey look of contentment that made Henry weak at the knees. Henry would have likened it to when his sister Bea's cat, Mr. Wobbles, the fat bastard gets into his mother's catnip plants, except he feared he may sound too smug for his own good.

The sticky mess of white come between them was vast and widespread. It had fused together and was beginning to dry. Their abs and the hair on their happy trails was spattered, while Henry's semi hard cock was covered in it and was dripping onto his balls, down his thigh and the floor. Alex's cock had spits and spots, but most of it was in Alex's neatly trimmed pubes on the inside of his thigh. Henry couldn't help but silently chuckle at the irony of him coming all over the hickey he had left on Alex's groin yesterday morning. He reached out, fascinated by the sight and smeared it further into Alex's skin and leg hair.

"Proud of yourself there, baby?" Alex asked, watching Henry play with his own come on Alex's body. Alex wondered if Henry had been aiming to come on that hickey, or the general vicinity of it all along. Perhaps it was a calculated move on his part to claim Alex for his own.

Alex wished it to be true. If any other six foot two Greek Adonis had insulted him right to his face like Henry did when they first met, Alex would have punched first and asked questions later. He certainly wouldn't have hunted the man down on campus three days later to introduce himself sober and reiterate the offer to Henry in person.

He certainly would not have ended up discussing queer gender and identity with the man for five hours. They would not have decided to grab dinner together, after. Alex certainly would have kissed the man in the kitchen, in the muted light, at 2am after only living with Henry for five days. Alex certainly wouldn't have dropped to his knees and tried to suck Henry's brain out of his body through his dick, right there against the kitchen counters. He certainly wouldn't have let Henry grind up against him the following night at the club. He certainly wouldn't have let an equally drunk Henry shove him against their front door and dry hump him until both of them came in their pants.

"Proud of myself that I can take you apart, yes I am." Henry punctuated his statement with a kiss and Alex purposely did not swoon, but it was a near thing. "Absolutely, I am, dear."

Henry was smug and Alex felt like Henry's smugness was justified.

"I guess I am yours as much as you are mine." Alex murmured, gently testing the waters.

Their arrangement was a friends with benefits - with a side of laziness. A benefit to both parties for lack of social effort. But Alex wasn't sure he could do it casually. He'd never really had much luck with casual. He was always the one that fell too hard, too fast. He could feel himself falling, hard and fast. He tried to break his fall. But he'd jumped off the cliff and he had hit the water below. It was sink or swim time.

Looking up, he realised Henry had managed to get him out of the shower, across the hall and partially dry.

Suddenly, he was letting out a muffled yelp as he went flying in the air and landed, flat on his back, on top of Henry's bed. Before he could catch his breath, the six foot two blonde was climbing over him and had taken hold of him. He was pinned (and side note, that was why he had never taken up wrestling in high school). He knew if he truly wanted to break free, Henry would let him. He and Henry trusted one another.

"You didn't really think just because you got to come, that I was finished with you?" Henry's voice was low and dripping in saccharine.

Henry was astride his hips, one hand on his cock, and the other behind him. He couldn't see what Henry was doing, but he'd bet his last dollar that Henry was opening himself up. The thought of Henry mounting him and using his body to pleasure himself left Alex feeling dizzy and wanting.

Feeling his length thicken against Henry's own length as he removed his hand to support his own weight, Alex felt needy, as if he hadn't come at all in the shower.

"Can I help you, baby?" Alex muttered, as he reached his hand around and tried to assist Henry in opening himself up. His voice in a thick timbre that did things to the insides of Henry's body.

Henry smacked his hand away, playfully with a swat that made Alex harden more than it should have and a look that had Alex more turned on than it should have. "Patience, darling." Henry murmured coyly, as he removed his fingers from his body and fumbled for the condom and lube off the nightstand. Henry, impressed with himself that he managed to open and roll the condom over Alex's length with lubed fingers, liberally coated Alex's length. He lined himself up with Alex's length. "One of these days," Henry murmured as he allowed the head of Alex's latex-covered cock to tease his hole. "I'm going to drag you off and we're both gonna get tested. Then when we're both clear, I'm going to sink down on this cock of yours and let you fill me up."

The promise of Henry's dirty words and inspired, thought provoking fantasy had Alex gripping Henry's hips tightly to still his efforts, praying to God he didn't embarrass himself and spontaneously come. "Fuck, baby." Alex panted, his grip on Henry's hips bruising and biting into the skin. "You can't say shit like that if you want me to fuck you."

Leaning down to kiss Alex, he was met halfway by an enthusiastic Alex. "I want you to fuck me now." Henry begged Alex when he broke the kiss.

"Well, let's get a move on then, princess." Alex teased, as he let Henry begin in slow movements. Alex enjoyed the way his cheeks pinkened and then his ears and face flushed before travelling south.

There were wordless sounds of pleasure between them as Alex met Henry thrust for thrust and they began picking up the momentum. Henry was clearly riding for his own pleasure, desperately seeking the release he needed. Neither one of them were bothering to be quiet or actively muffle their sounds, both obviously in the moment and focused on each other.

"Clo..close." Henry muttered out. His head was thrown back, eyes towards the ceiling as waves of pleasure rolled through his body. Sweat beading on his body and dripping. His hard cock leaking a trail of pre-come across Alex's abs.

Alex tensed up beneath him and rolled them over, thrusting harder and harder into Henry, chasing his sweet release. "Fuck, H." Alex panted between thrusts.

His mouth found Henry's and proceeded to give Henry some of the dirtiest kisses he had ever had in his life. Alex liked to kiss. Fact. Alex liked to use his tongue when kissing. Fact. Henry's knees always went weak when he did so. Fact.

Henry's hands tangled in his curls as Alex thrust in and out of him in reckless abandon, his cock flush between their torsos. Giving his curls an experimental tug, Henry wanted them to come together. Alex keened above Henry, the mewl that left his mouth was out of this world. The jolt that went through his body was electrifying. He definitely enjoyed it. No one had ever tugged on his curls like that before. Henry was the only one who had ever touched his hair like that and Alex couldn't get enough of it.

Henry wrapped his long legs around Alex's body, as his own shook and shuddered. His come was smeared between them, painting their skin. Before Henry could become oversensitive, Alex was coming into the latex sheath of his condom. Alex was kissing him through the explosive climax.

Pulling back and separating, Alex removed the condom and tied it off, and reached for the baby wipes that Henry kept in the top drawer of the nightstand on his side of the bed to clean them up with.

"Are you ok, Hen?" Alex asked softly, as Henry and Alex snuggled. Both of them enjoyed cuddling after sex.

"Yeah," Henry sighed, before pulling out of the embrace and tossing Alex his clean clothes that Henry had brought with him from the bathroom. He slipped his jeans on from last night and a clean button up over his body. "I'd love to stay here all day, but you need to get dressed and so do I. Your stepfather is still in the living room and a bottomless brunch with Pez awaits me."

Henry seemed to be avoiding looking at Alex and that hurt him. He couldn't read Henry and see how he was really doing or feeling if Henry would not look at him.

"Are we ok?" Alex asked him. He had a bad feeling about Henry in the pit of his stomach he couldn't identify and it was bothering him.

Henry just gave him a small smile before leaving Alex alone, naked in his bed.