Chapter Text
SHORT STORY COLLECTION I
——01——
27th March 5:14 a.m.
I feel so full.
I haven’t woken up yet, but I know what day it is.
My nose brushes against his and I slowly open my eyes to see his sleeping ones. His dark eyelashes brushed against my flushed cheeks. Ink-stained fingers resting at the small of my back.
The corners of my eyes crinkle, as my lips curve up in a beam of light.
It’s his birthday
Tilting my chin up, I brush his bed head curls aside, to place a chaste kiss on his temple. He hums drowsy approval, cuddling into the crook of my neck, before drifting back to sleep.
“Happy Birthday, baby.” I said, my voice raspy in a way I knew drove him mad.
“Since when do you call me baby?” He snorted.
“I wasn’t talking to you, love.”
Henry mumbled, aiming a lazy morning smile at an old picture of Alex. A little chubby toddler, with little stubby legs, more curls than his teeny body could carry, birthday cake smeared across his cheeks…and that same smile that Henry’s sure got the little brat whatever toy he wanted…just one photograph from many of their family pictures, decorating the walls in their own little home in Brooklyn.
——02——
During hell week, while Alex buried his head in a pile of law textbooks, he had picked up the dreadful habit of not taking a proper shower for days on end.
It was as disgusting as it sounds. Surprisingly he didn’t smell, but he looked like death, apparently felt like it too.
For the first few days, the best Henry could think of doing was refilling his boyfriend’s cup of coffee and spraying dry shampoo in his messy hair.
Alex groaned loudly and deeply whenever Henry flashed him an encouraging smile, but he appreciated it more than anyone could know.
He wore backward caps and bandanas to keep the hair out of his face, flipping Henry off when he laughed, claiming, “You look outrageously American.”
As all bad things do, this first ever exam season met its match with this charismatic first son, coming to a tiring and climactic end.
The two don’t know this yet, but by the finish line of his next finals, Alex would be surrounded by Law School friends in a college bar, toasting to a test well written.
Henry would join the fun after a fulfilling day at the shelter, seated modestly on a bar stool, grinning at Alex as he argued and laughed in the company of his peers.
Basking in how surreal it was to live outside the halo of a crown.
But for now, it was just the two of them—and a dog sleeping soundly somewhere in the den—drinking to the good, the bad and the chaotically normal life they were attempting to live.
Raise a glass to the first of many.
——03——
For a person who famously detested the bitter drink with every fibre of his being, seemingly since the beginning of time, Henry sure did drink coffee a lot now.
He was in England, queuing at a quaint little café that reminded him a little too much of Paris.
When he and Pez reached the counter, his best friend’s eyes just about bugged out of their sockets when Henry ordered a flat white.
“Since when do you—who’s tea am I going to dip my biscuits in now? What has America done to ya, Hazza? This is treason I say! TREASON!”
Henry was momentarily confused by his order as well, but then he remembered home.
All the mornings where he sipped and made sure Alex’s coffee wasn’t too hot before handing it over.
Like always, every little thing made sense when he thought of him.
So Henry shrugged knowingly with a fond smile.
“I miss Alex.”
——04——
“Did you add another key to the chain?” Henry asked, finally spotting the new addition for the first time.
In response Alex scratched his head sheepishly, while Henry toyed with the ring around Alex’s neck, “Yeah, an extra copy of the one to the Brownstone. The symmetry pleases me I suppose. A key, the signet ring and then another key.”
He stuffed his hands into his jean pockets, not knowing what to do with them, as Henry stared at him with stars in his eyes.
“Um a bit unfair, don’t you think? Me selfishly dominating two-thirds?” Henry asked, blushing to himself.
Alex grinned at this, “Nah…that part actually sounds pretty reasonable to me.”
Henry laughed, “I feel silly now. I’m not wearing anything of yours.”
“Such lies, you’re wearing my jammies.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Ah don’t stress. If it means that much to you, I’ll get a ring on that finger with my name on it, in no time.”
Alex winked.
Henry wasn’t laughing anymore.