Chapter Text
i. Melbourne Climate Conference, First Night Party
To say that Henry hates being here is one of the biggest understatements ever. It’s for his mother’s non-profit, and even though she’s here, he knows it’s all for the cameras and publicity. She’s been isolating herself ever since his father died, and he knows that as soon as tonight is over, she’ll go back to doing the exact same thing.
Since it is her non-profit, though, Phillip, Bea, and himself are all there playing the dutiful children like they didn’t just have their father ripped from them by cancer a few months ago. Henry has forced so many smiles tonight, and he’s not sure how many he has left in him before he’s either going to explode or hastily excuse himself, all so he doesn’t have to be around people anymore.
And then, it happens…Henry sees him…
He freezes the moment he lays eyes on him. He knows who Alex Claremont-Diaz is, and he also knows this is one of his first events like this. He briefly wonders if Alex is nervous, but the smile on his face suggests he’s anything but. He’s shaking hands and smiling and politely and gregariously engaging in conversation with the people he’s meeting and being introduced to.
And then he turns those gorgeous golden-brown eyes and blinding smile towards Henry, and Henry panics. He feels something akin to a lightning bolt shoot through his body. His hands get clammy, his heart races, and his tongue feels like it’s tied in knots. Alex hasn’t quite made his way over to where Henry is standing, but Henry can tell he’s Alex’s next destination, and he just can’t. Every nerve ending in his body feels electrified, and this is the moment, he realizes, that he has to hastily excuse himself because he’s not quite sure what will happen if he doesn’t.
Before Alex gets to him, Henry turns to Shaan, who looks at him sympathetically. Henry knows his eyes are wide with panic, and he looks pleadingly at Shaan and says, “I need to get out of here. Please, Shaan…”
Shaan nods and moves to usher Henry away from the crowd and the event altogether.
Once Henry is back in his hotel room, alone, he tries to separate his feelings about the event from his feelings the moment he laid eyes on Alex.
He recalls having feelings for the boy he’d lost his virginity to at boarding school. They’d spent almost an entire year together being affectionate and engaging in sexual exploration in private, but when it was time to return home for the summer, Henry had discovered that the boy had no intention of continuing anything with him past that year of school. At the time, he’d been heartbroken that he’d given a part of his heart to someone who never had any intention of protecting it or keeping it.
But even what he remembers of that pales in comparison to what he’s feeling now. He briefly wonders if this is what the storybooks mean by “love at first sight,” but he quickly dismisses the idea. That only exists in fairy tales. Henry might be a prince, but when it comes to love, his life is nothing like those stories.
ii. After his first time almost meeting Alex, Henry hopes against hope that the next time he sees him, he can prove the old saying wrong and that he will have a second chance at making a first impression. He quickly discovers, though, that it’s a popular saying for a reason. Aside from looks and intelligence, fate hasn’t been especially kind to Henry, and that doesn’t appear to change now with Alex’s seeming insistence on doing and saying whatever he can to irritate Henry the most. He pretends like his heart doesn’t crack a little every time he sees the First Son and is treated to yet another subtle sneer or snide comment.
Maybe this is who Alex has been all along. Maybe Henry dodged a bullet by insisting that Shaan find a way to help him leave the first night party instead of sticking around to…inevitably get lost in everything that makes Alex Claremont-Diaz who he is.
Henry tries to convince himself that what he felt that first night was nothing but a jolt of lust in response to an admittedly gorgeous man. It was nothing more, nothing less.
(He might also have a string of one-night stands, specifically with boys who match his height, have caramel-colored skin, and have short, dark, curly hair. He’ll deny it has anything to do with Alex, though. He’ll also deny that they all leave him wanting because they’re not who he truly wants.)
Fate finally does decide to smile at Henry in the way of finding out why Alex has held such animosity toward him for the past several years. He’s unsure of how to feel about it. On the one hand, it happened many years ago. On the other hand, it happened many years ago and has still been affecting Alex up until this very moment. Henry can’t help but feel a smidge of satisfaction that even though he made a bad first showing, it’s been important enough to affect Alex since then.
The two of them start texting, and Henry feels butterflies in his stomach whenever there’s a text notification. They’re friends now, and Henry tells himself all the time to stay cool and not let his crush get out of control. After their first disastrous almost meeting, Henry’s more than happy for all of that to finally be behind him and for them to have a friendship. He harbors no delusions that Alex thinks or feels about him the same way he thinks and feels about Alex.
New Year’s comes, and god, all the butterflies that flutter when he gets a text from Alex all take flight and light up his body at the sight of him. All the thoughts he has about being satisfied with Alex’s friendship go out the window, and he actively fights the urge to throw caution to the wind and just go for it and kiss him at midnight.
That opportunity is taken from him as two women get to Alex first. Henry feels his heart and hopes shatter again, and he turns to leave and get as far away from the party as he can. He finds himself under a tree on the White House lawn, and he mentally berates himself for getting so upset. It’s just a crush, he tells himself. It’s nothing you can’t get over. It’s nothing you haven’t dealt with before.
But then Alex is standing there clueless about why Henry seems so upset and what he’s trying to tell him until Henry realizes there’s only one way to get what he’s trying to say through to Alex. Their lips meet, and Henry sees fireworks (and not the kind that are currently happening in the background, either).
This is what he’s wanted. This makes his heart want to sing. This is lo…
This is the Prince kissing the (presumably straight) President’s son.
It doesn’t matter that he felt Alex lean into the kiss or initiate another one. Henry feels certain that he’ll write it off as a drunken lark, and he can’t stand there when he’s almost positive that’ll be the outcome.
So, he offers a weak apology and walks numbly in the direction of the car that’s going to take him and Percy to whatever hotel they’re staying at tonight.
iii. Henry doesn’t respond to Alex’s texts for 2 months. He doesn’t want to risk Alex saying that kissing him was a mistake, that he only did it because of how much he’d had to drink, or that he knows Henry was drunk, and he knows that’s the only reason he did it. Henry knows he’ll have to confront what happened at some point, but he’s definitely not prepared to do so via text.
The Prime Minister’s dinner comes about, and when Henry finally arrives, he’s already mapping out the best way to avoid all contact with Alex while he’s there. His detail comes to tell him that he’s needed in the Red Room to meet with the First Son, and Henry closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and decides it’s time to face the music.
He’s not sure what he’s expecting when he closes the door behind him, but it certainly isn’t Alex pressing his mouth and body against Henry’s against the wall of the room. They’re discovered by Amy, who seems to take things in stride after getting past the shock of finding the Prince and the First Son making out against a wall, and they realize they do actually need to put in an appearance at the dinner and can’t just scurry off to a private area for an extended period of time.
Alex tells Henry to come to his room at midnight so he can do some very bad things to him, and Henry’s ashamed to admit he has to actively focus on calming himself down so he doesn’t cum on the spot at Alex’s words.
He follows Alex’s directive and tries to keep his distance from him all night, but the brief looks Alex shoots him when no one is watching add to that challenge. Later that night, Henry feels like his heart is beating loudly enough to be heard by everyone in the residence when he arrives at Alex’s bedroom door.
When the door opens, all Henry sees is Alex. He pushes forward into his room and immediately connects their mouths together. He pushes Alex back against the couch in his room and wastes no time covering Alex’s body with his own.
Being with Alex like this is what he’s dreamed about for 3 ½ years, and he’s happy to say that his fantasies do not disappoint in the slightest. He hears himself tell Alex they have to keep things casual. He also hears himself tell Alex that he can’t afford for Alex to fall in love with him.
Both of those statements are laughable, seeing as how what Henry feels for Alex could never be considered casual, and what he actually means is that he can’t afford to fall in love with Alex.
iv. Paris…ohh, Paris…
He and Alex sit together and drink coffee, and it might be the first actual date Henry's ever wanted to go on. Alex asks questions that would be easy for him to look up online, but it's obvious that he wants to hear all these things from Henry's mouth. He wants to get to know Henry beyond the superficial facts of who he is.
As they walk in the garden afterward, Henry hears the underlying question in Alex's words. He's not just asking if Henry can ever belong to someone else. He's asking if Henry will ever be able to belong to him.
Despite Henry’s initial insistence that they keep things casual, he feels himself falling deeper and deeper for Alex. That night, he tells Alex he thinks they should make love, not because he’s old-fashioned (okay, maybe he’s a little old-fashioned), but because that feels like the right moniker for what he wants with Alex.
(Believe him, he’s tried the other ways of communicating wanting to have sex to Alex in his head, and none of them sounded quite right.)
When he feels Alex’s hands on his skin as he undresses him, he thinks to himself that he was right, and that making love was exactly the right terminology to use.
As Alex enters him and their eyes lock together, Henry knows he’s never felt anything like this before. For an amateur to the world of gay sex, Alex is surprisingly adept at it (Henry really shouldn’t be surprised as Alex is good at everything he does). He takes such care with Henry, and the build-up from beginning to end is so exquisite, that Henry has to stop himself from blurting out those three words as he has one of the most intense orgasms he’s ever experienced.
In the afterglow, Henry discovers that Alex is a cuddler, and the warmth of those feelings spreads through his chest. He sighs happily as he briefly closes his eyes and exchanges affectionate touches and sips of kisses with Alex before they go for round 2.
And, well...Henry only thought that round 1 was amazing. After Alex finds his footing and feels more confident in what he's doing, it's easily the best sex (and Alex is easily the best partner) Henry's ever had. He takes Henry apart effortlessly with his hands, his mouth, and his body. Their eyes stay locked on each other the entire time, and Henry feels himself mentally shoot into the stratosphere when he cums a second time. As he comes back to himself, he feels a gentle hand cupping his face and the gentle pressure of lips on his.
He lays there next to Alex as they bask in the afterglow, and he realizes he doesn't ever want to leave this place, this feeling...or this person.
v. Henry receives an email from Alex after he goes to Texas to work directly on his mother’s campaign. It’s a throwback to when they first became friends and started corresponding via texts and emails, only this time, it’s better. Henry’s always been a fan of the written word, and now that he and Alex are…whatever they are to each other…there’s an added air of intimacy in their correspondence that wasn’t there before. Now, Henry can tease Alex with memories of their stolen night together in Paris. He can tease Alex about Texas not having any napkins when Alex says he wants to lick barbecue sauce from Henry’s face.
There’s more than just sexual intimacy in what they share, though. They’re also more vulnerable in their messages to each other. Alex is open about the fears he has in working on his mother’s campaign, that he isn’t doing a good enough job. Henry finds it easy to encourage and support him, and he feels almost…tender…when he sends these types of messages to Alex.
They haven’t been able to talk all that much with how many hours a day Alex is working and the time difference between Texas and London, but Henry’s heart gets a little thrill whenever he sees a notification of a message from Alex. One night, though, Henry has a palpable need to hear Alex’s voice instead of just the memory of it in his mind. He mentally does the math and figures out it should be around 10 PM in Texas, which, he reasons, is a perfectly respectable hour of the night to call someone.
His heart speeds up a little as he calls to video chat with Alex. He’s half expecting Alex not to answer, so when he does, Henry can’t help the smile that comes unbidden to his face.
“Hey, you,” Alex greets him, “this is a nice surprise.”
“Hi,” Henry replies, his smile filling in the rest of the greeting. After smiling like a dope at Alex for a few moments, he says, “I’m not calling too late or keeping you from anything, am I?”
Alex shakes his head, “Not at all. Tonight was…not an early night because those don’t really exist on the campaign trail, but it was an earlier night than the ones I’ve had recently. And speaking of it being ‘too late,’” he teases, “isn’t it around 4 AM over there, your Majesty?”
Henry sighs teasingly as he corrects him, “Royal Highness, and yes, insomnia rears its ugly head yet again, it would seem.”
Henry watches as Alex moves around his hotel room before settling into bed. Once he’s there, he leans back against the headboard, smiles at Henry, and says, “So…tell me how things are going over there. How’ve you been?”
They talk about the latest ribbon cuttings Henry’s been attending, and Alex fills him in on the most recent goings on of the campaign. Henry tells Alex about the book he’s currently reading, and then the conversation takes a turn.
Alex looks at him fondly while he’s describing one of his favorite passages he’s read thus far, and it’s endearing enough that Henry pauses to ask, “What? What is it?”
Alex shakes his head and gives a little shrug, “I just really love watching and listening to you when you talk about books you’ve read,” he smiles, “you get so,” he pauses, then breathes out, “passionate about it.”
Henry feels himself blush, “You, uh, you like that?”
Alex’s voice drops as he grins and says, “Uh-huh…I really like that.”
“Alex Claremont-Diaz,” Henry teases, “are you trying to seduce me with that bedroom voice of yours?”
Alex bites his lip and shrugs as he smirks over the line, “Maybe…is it working?”
Henry discovers that Alex’s sexual talents aren’t isolated to them being together in person. He does an excellent job at working Henry up and bringing him over even when he’s not in Henry’s immediate vicinity.
It’s afterward, however, that makes Henry feel like his heart could explode with…some unnamed emotion…when Alex looks deep into his eyes through a screen (after they’ve both taken a moment to clean up) and sighs as he says, “I miss you, Henry.”
The longing Henry feels for him is palpable, and he feels himself swallow a lump in his throat before he says, “I miss you, too…Alex.”
He can already tell Alex is drifting, and his orgasm has left him sated enough that he might be able to get some sleep as well, so he starts winding down their call.
Alex asks softly, “Any idea when I can see you again?”
Henry gives him a look of wistfulness as he sighs and says, “We’ll work out something.”
After they hang up the phone, he immediately starts envisioning a plan to get to the US to see Alex. The next morning when he wakes up, he starts putting the pieces of said plan into action.
(The resulting look on Alex’s face when Henry surprises him at the hotel the night of the DNC and the night they spend together after he surprises him almost make the weeks without seeing him worth it.)
+i. Henry is excited about bringing Percy with him to join Alex and Nora in Austin for a long weekend. It’s unlike any holiday he’s ever experienced. He can’t remember the last time he’s had this much fun, or if he’sever had this much fun. He and Percy beat Alex and Nora at volleyball. He shows Alex’s father his hacky-sack skills with a ball. He sips high-quality whiskey while being with his favorite people (save for his mum and Bea, of course). He and Alex swim in the lake, and when they tire of that, they share a hammock as they read together. Needless to say, this is the happiest and most relaxed he’s ever been.
Then they go out to a genuine Texas bar, and Henry would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous at first. But he discovers that tequila is an excellent cure for that, and the next thing he knows, he’s on the stage belting out a Queen song as he dances around and plays air guitar. He’s sure he probably looks ridiculous, but he could not care less.
When he returns to the table, Alex is giving him an intense look he can’t decipher, and he looks at him quizzically. He clocks it when Alex licks his lips, and he feels his lower body start to respond. It responds even further when Alex leans in and whispers, “I really need to kiss you right now. Meet me in the bathroom in 2 minutes.”
Without another word, Alex gets up from the table, and Henry barely waits one minute before he gets up and deliberately avoids the knowing looks coming from both Nora and Percy. He tries to show some self-restraint as he walks toward the bathroom, and the minute he’s inside the door, Alex has him pressed against it with his tongue insistently tangling with Henry’s.
They moan against each other and exchange hand jobs while they’re in there. When they come back out, they grin at each other like lovesick idiots for the rest of the night.
Once they get back to the lake house, Henry knows that they’re both too drunk for anything sexual to happen, so they drunkenly (and sloppily) make out instead. Alex pulls back at one point and looks at him with so much…something…in his eyes. Henry feels pinned by the weight of his stare, but instead of those 3 little words, Alex smiles gently at him and says, “You make me so happy, baby.”
Henry feels those words cover him from head to toe, and instead of responding verbally, he leans forward and covers Alex’s mouth with his own while his smile stretches from one cheek to the other.
He realizes the next day that he loves Alex (he can say it in his head but saying it out loud is another thing entirely). Instead of being happy about it, though, it’s his greatest fear being brought to reality. So, he runs. He leaves under the cover of night so he doesn’t have to face it and all his fears that come with it.
His heart expands and all but bursts when one of the house staff informs him that Alex is at the gate to Kensington in the middle of the night. He tries to be angry when he walks out to greet him, but the sight of Alex soaking wet after having flown 7 hours just to tell Henry he loves him and to ask for him not to give up on them obliterates Henry’s already weak defenses.
For every attempted argument Henry puts forth, Alex finds a way to negate it until Henry knows there’s only one thing left that he can do. He takes Alex to his special place, a place he feels at home where he can just be and doesn’t have to deal with the watchful eyes of other observers or paparazzi. He tells Alex of his childhood fantasy of bringing someone he loves to this space and dancing with them.
He hears the music start and thinks to himself that this is really the stuff of his fantasies. Having a man who loves him unconditionally, who’s willing to fly overnight to fight for their love, and who makes one of Henry’s childhood wishes come true by dancing with him in the middle of his favorite place feels unreal.
His acknowledgment and understanding that what he feels is not only love but real, true, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love is terrifying but freeing at the same time. That fact is what carries him, Alex, and their relationship through the email leak, through confronting His Majesty, and through coming out publicly.
It also ends up being what carries them through future disagreements, the inevitable distance they still occasionally have to endure, and obstacles they encounter as they continue walking down this path together.
This path that ultimately brings them to for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.