Chapter Text
Henry sat next to Alex on the couch. Alex looked up from the binder of hole-punched contract pages with a smile as Henry asked, “Are you coming to bed?”
“Not yet. I’m in a groove and I want to actually enjoy December instead of picking this thing up every day.”
“How is it, compared to other documents you’ve read?”
“Honestly?” Henry nodded as he lifted his foot to tuck beneath his other leg. “I hate to say it, but it’s an impressively written thing. A lot of contracts are strategically vague or empty so that one side can use the ambiguity to their advantage in court, or they’re insanely specific. This one’s specific in a concise way, so it’s dense but the page count is in league with The Motorcycle Diaries.”
“Does the fact that you’ve been sitting here for forty-five minutes and you’re six pages in mean anything?”
“I said it’s well written, not that it’s an easy read.”
Henry took a deep, grounding breath. “I will very much appreciate your annotations when I start my read-through.”
“The other copies are in the office downstairs,” Alex said before he smirked at Henry. “How often do you read lawyer literature?”
“I read it from a business perspective for Wales and Percy’s foundations—but this involves an eclectic necessity for consultation lawyers: everything from blood bank medical things to queer youth psychology.”
Alex’s fingers relaxed on the pages and around his pencil, impressed and admittedly mortified. “What’s that like?”
Henry’s brows lifted with the magnitude of, “You learn a lot of things very quickly. There’s been plenty of legal jargon over the years, but how much of it I’ve retained will be put to the test. Do you need anything?”
Alex shook his head and leveled his jaw for a kiss. Henry met him for two soft pecks. Henry would have liked to have some more, but Alex’s head turned to face the pages again, so Henry stood. “Don’t drown in this thing. Remember I love you.”
Alex smiled up at him. “I know. I can’t let David and Ziggy get used to having my place on the bed.”
Henry scoffed benignly like it might have been too late, and went to their bedroom. He shut the door against the light and Alex took a break to retrieve some supplies from the office as well as a glass of water before spreading out across the coffee table. At one point he sat up straight to stretch and his ribs told him exactly what they felt about that, so he sat on the floor.
What started as a list of things that Alex disagreed with, quickly evolved into dissecting the contract into branches: clauses that suited Buckingham, versus the ones that catered to Alex and Henry, and then the items that worked for both the institution and the individuals. The final list, like a narrow venn diagram, was small but it provided the jumping off point that Alex needed to. Well.
He wasn’t drowning. Quite the opposite, he started to swim as old study habits emerged. He dipped downstairs for a cup of coffee. He blinked through the hourly waves of fatigue and squinted at his papers, adjusting how far from his face they need to be to make the letters clear up.
It was almost laughable, the way Alex went about rewriting the chunks of text with better wording and more compliant terms. The Constitution had its Bill of Rights. Alex’s contract could have it’s own list of amendments. Alex prepared for this upcoming meeting like any other White House briefing or debate match. He made the list of amendments to the current contract, but he also went about rewriting the original in such a way to include all of it regardless. In whatever format the institution would accept, Alex wanted to have it ready.
This did mean that he had to rub his eyes and negotiate with himself over a new list: things he would make his peace with if the all votes were against him. A last-ditch offer for the bare minimum.
In many ways, the new contract simply converted the institution from being their overlords, to being a registration source and an optional resource. Alex provided a list of circ*mstances that would allow them to interfere, such as losing contact with the vampire and consort, or any members of their team for twenty-four hours. Alex also inserted the requirement for witness signatures: two from the human’s side, two from the vampire’s, and just one from the institution. All of the parts and pieces that discussed Alex like an employee were done away with. Financial matters were between the vampire and consort unless one or both reached out for financial aid, which would result in separate conversations and negotiations. The institution could not coerce the vampire or consort through financial, physical, or legal constriction. The institution could not negate Alex or Henry’s rights as regular citizens.
In short: protection—hell, even privilege—was welcomed, but being held by a leash that required constant permission to live their lives was not. And while the contract would be registered with Buckingham, the right to annul it remained with Henry and Alex.
“Mijo? ”
Alex looked up from where he was rereading things he wasn’t super confident on yet. He found his father frowning groggily at him. “Yeah?”
Oscar’s eyes flicked to the windows, which were providing just as much light as the electric bulbs. In Spanish he scolded, “It’s a new day. Go to sleep.”
He picked up Alex’s mug with an inch of cold coffee to take downstairs and Alex closed the binder on all of his colorful blocks of highlighting. Leaving everything as it was, he stood up stiffly and trudged to the bedroom. He shut the door behind him as Henry lifted his head from his pillow. He mumbled through slit eyelids, “ ‘lex?”
“I rewrote it,” he sighed, all but crash landing onto the bed. Ziggy startled but let herself get pulled against Alex’s chest like a pillow.
“You—what?” Henry frowned beneath hair sticking up on one side.
“Read it later,” Alex breathed, already yielding to sleep. Ziggy rotated in his arms to sniff his face. She eventually settled with her body stretched out so her neck and head draped over the side of his throat. The soft fur, jowls, the comfortable weight, and her breathing put Alex into an almost impenetrable sleep.
Henry, bleary eyed but wanting to return to bed as quickly as possible, extracted the dogs from the bed for their early morning walk. Even though they woke up easily enough and trotted through the dewy garden, both dogs took to the soft, warm bed like they had never left. Henry only paused by the coffee table when he recognized the binder—now riddled with sticky tabs and post-its like party streamers, folded page marks, and loose leaf pages full of Alex’s handwriting. Henry picked it up and set it on his nightstand for later.
Alex’s eyes opened, confused by the slight movement and sound around him. He found himself lying on Henry’s chest—a natural place for him to go, but he had no recollection, awake or dreaming, of getting there.
Henry swallowed, and Alex craned his head up to see him reaching for a bowl of grapes on his side table. In his other hand, of the arm resting around Alex, he held the contract binder for some heavy morning reading. Henry chewed his grapes, jaw moving against Alex’s hair while his hand stroked Alex’s arm across his abdomen. He could feel Alex’s consciousness waking up but did not force it with verbal greetings yet. When Alex twisted his arm to turn his palm up, Henry froze to interpret his silent request and then placed two grapes in his hand.
They finished the bowl together and Alex listened to Henry’s breathing with the occasional page rasps until fragrance from the kitchen started to wake the dogs. It did not smell like breakfast, though. “What time is it?”
Henry hummed an unsure sound. “I’ve walked the dogs twice, so noon perhaps?”
“Smells like lunch,” Alex croaked.
Henry petted his shoulder and asked, “Are you unwell?”
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and shared, “My eyes hurt. I feel sick like I stayed up too late.”
“You did stay up too late,” Henry said with a smile in his voice. “Can I bring you something to eat?”
Alex’s cheek lay crushed on Henry’s chest, cramping his voice as he accepted, “I’d like that. But it looks like the dogs are ready to go out again.”
“I don’t mind. Stay here. I’ll be a few minutes.”
Henry slipped out from under him and Alex hugged Henry’s pillow to his chest. “Thank you.”
He shut his eyes, so he didn’t see Henry incoming until a shadow cast over him, followed by Henry kissing his forehead. Alex’s ears followed David’s jingling collar downstairs. Faint murmurs greeted Henry and after a while, Alex heard David’s barks behind the house.
A knock on the door. June’s voice called, “Alex?”
“Yeah? Come in.”
He lifted his head as she shouldered open the door. “Henry said you weren’t feeling well? You get the last bowl of pozole and a grilled cheese.”
He sat up and piled the pillows behind him. “Thanks, Bug,” he said as he accepted the tray she held against her hip.
“Do you think you’re getting sick?”
“No, I stayed up all night working on my contract and it’s biting me now.”
“Oh, how the mighty and incorrigible fall,” she teased. “Do you want an aspirin?”
“I’d love an aspirin—did you say this is the last bowl?”
She paused by the door. “Yeah, why?”
He shook his head as he stirred the soup with a corner of his grilled cheese. “Nothing, I was just leaving the soup for Henry so he could have easy meals.”
“I think dad’s saving his ingredients for another batch in Kensington. He really wants to fill up those hallways with charred pepper air.”
Alex covered his mouth to laugh but he recovered quickly to ask, “Are we leaving soon?”
“No, I think we have at least another week here. Hi, marshmallow.”
She stepped aside for Ziggy, who stopped and followed her nose to June’s legs. She stood up on her hind legs for pets as June directed to Henry, “Do you guys want to start Baldur’s Gate today?”
Henry arrived in the bedroom doorway and looked to Alex. He nodded around a mouthful and Henry agreed, “I’ll get the fireplace going.”
Alex chewed and walked his meal to the coffee table. He’d left a mess of wadded up post-its and other office supplies on the table, but he brushed everything into a pile for later. When June returned from her room and placed an aspirin on his grilled cheese plate, he asked, “Where’s Pez?”
“He’s neck-deep in emails but he said to go ahead and start.”
Alex drained a bottle of water and said, “Let me take a shower really fast.”
Taking his dishes down and retrieving a change of clothes took longer than the shower. He simply drenched himself, washed his hot spots, and then brushed his teeth at the sink before he opened the door to Ziggy waiting for him. Her tail started wagging when the bathroom’s humidity washed over her. She raised a paw to scratch on the door, but Alex caught her paw. “Hi, Zizi.” He petted her chest before lifting her front half up like pointing a bicycle in a different direction. “I know you like my stink. Come on.”
He dropped his laundry onto her bed, where she padded in circles before settling for a nap. Alex joined David and Henry on the couch, where he draped a hand on Alex’s thigh and asked, “Are you feeling better?”
Alex sighed a grateful, “Yeah. Are we ready?”
June handed him the controller. “If you’re okay with the character you made last time, you can start.”
“Oh, right. Our blue guy,” Alex said, earning a chuckle from Henry. “Did you want to play first?”
“No, go ahead.”
The game started by introducing eldritch creatures, which made Alex ask, “Have you read Lovecraft?”
“I tried once, but he didn’t hold my attention.”
The game started with a fight between dragon riders and a flying ship shaped like a nautilus. Both parties traveled between dimensions until the ship crashed and the playable protagonist could work on escaping the wreckage. They both recoiled at a Cthulhu character inserting a tadpole worm into captives’ brains via their eye sockets, and then listened to June explain turn-based mechanics. “It’s easier to move around with a keyboard and mouse, but combat will be fine on the controller. Look around. Sniff every corner.”
Henry shared, “I enjoyed the dragons’ bit.”
“I did too,” Alex laughed. “Can I roll a dice for a dragon instead of a brain parasite?”
June’s phone rang with a facetime call from Nora. She informed, “I told her we’re playing. Hey!”
Nora wasted no time in asking, “Have you found my lady love yet?”
June smiled, “No, we’re not there yet. We just finished the opening scene.”
“I’m gonna be so mad if you don’t rescue my favorite.”
Alex chided, “Don’t backseat me. Is your crush a mean lady with a small nose?”
“No, she’s a babe in a capsule.”
Alex’s head fell back in annoyance, but he quickly found the prisoner capsule in question. “Shadow Heart? Got her.”
“We could play online co-op together until I’m there for Christmas.”
“Let them have their own play-through for a while,” June mediated as Percy strolled into the room. He maneuvered behind June to see the phone screen. “Are you gonna be in London for the holidays?”
Alex handed the controller to Henry so he could have time learning the mechanics while the game was still in its exposition. June, Nora, and Percy chitchatted for a while and Alex and Henry said hello when June pointed the phone at them. June gave Alex the phone to visit with Ziggy and show her to Nora. “Ziggy Stardust! She’s so cute! Are you going to post stuff about her on David’s instagram or make a separate one for her?”
“I think Henry and I are avoiding social media like a plague for the rest of the year,” Alex answered while spooning the side of the laundry bed.
“Understandable. What’s happening?”
Alex had looked up at the screen. He narrated, “Henry’s working through a fight on the wrecked nautilus ship.” To Henry he added, “Are you good at this?”
Henry burst with an incredulous laugh. “Don’t jinx me. I have beginner’s luck. It feels a bit like chess.”
Nora asked, “June told you about scrub-saving, right?”
“What’s that?” Alex said before his attention jerked up again. “A cut scene’s happening…the ship’s exploding. Is that supposed to happen?”
Nora sighed, “Luckily for you, that’s scripted no matter what. Scrub-saving is when you save the game before every choice, every new area, just really really often in case you f*ck up so you can go back and undo the mistake.”
“What if we don’t do that?”
“Your choices in the game determine your relationships with the cast of characters, so if you want to go to pound town with anybody, you won’t want to f*ck up—what? Why are you making that face?”
Alex’s nose wrinkled over his smile as he read a notification on the screen, “Shadow Heart disapproves! Oh, sh*t.”
Nora theatrically wailed, “What have you done to my wife?”
It was a night where the security team delivered an impressive order of take-away food. An incredible Vietnamese restaurant in the middle of Cornwall was the last thing anyone expected, but they feasted and Henry collapsed on the couch with his head on Alex’s lap. They resumed the video game, during which Ziggy surprised them by jumping onto the couch.
“Oh!” Henry exclaimed as she paused in confusion because of Henry’s legs being in the way. She didn’t understand where to go, so Henry bent down to lift her over his legs into the area behind his legs. David was already there, groaning at being disturbed and having to share his spot. Henry pet him and thanked, “Good boy, Davey,” before reclining once more against Alex.
In the video game, Alex approached a character wearing a rather flamboyant purple, blue, and gold ensemble that looked straight out of the Italian Renaissance. Or a Renaissance fair. “What is this guy wearing?”
A cut scene initiated, and as soon as they saw telltale bite scars on his neck, Henry pointed at the screen with a chimed, “Hey!”
Alex offered him the controller so Henry could play through the vampire interaction. His initial excitement simmered down as he commented, “He’s written like a typical scoundrel vampire.”
Percy and June exchanged looks, which did not go unnoticed by Alex. “What?”
Pez revealed, “This bloke is the fan favourite of the entire game.”
Henry asked skeptically, “Because he’s a vampire?”
“Because he’s attractive, melodramatic, and has more nuance than first impressions allow.”
Alex said dryly, “Can he join our party so we can change his clothes?”
Henry navigated the dialogue options and then went to the camp area where he could interact with all the characters thus far. Everyone voiced a mistrust of the vampire, Astarion. It did not help that the guy tried to bite Henry and Alex’s character the same day they found him, revealing to everyone his vampire condition.
“Was it supposed to be a secret?” Henry laughed. “His fangs are half out and he has a scar.”
But Henry soon went from cringing over the vampire getting caught going for a snack, to watching intently as the camp practically had a meeting over whether or not to let him stay. Alex watched silently as Henry navigated the characters into letting Astarion stay.
After a fight with a goblin raid, June congratulated, “First try! You guys are getting far in your first day.”
Alex agreed, “I think we found Henry’s niche.”
Henry surrendered the controller. “You deal with the druids.”
Alex accepted and observed Henry reaching down to pet Ziggy. She rested her head on the side of his butt as if to see the television, but her pink tongue stuck out of her mouth. With Henry petting her, she roused enough to lick her lips and close her mouth properly.
Since Henry walked the dogs for most of the day, Alex took them for their final two walks. He came back to Henry reading something on his phone in their bed. He smiled at the dogs, scooping David against his side while Ziggy planted herself on Alex’s pillow. “Goodness, you and Mr. Wobbles will be a pair.”
Alex laid his head right on her, which worked for a moment but she decided to move down the bed. “What’re you reading?”
“About vampires in Dungeons and Dragons. They use the old mythos about sunlight and spawns, but it’s gratifying how powerful they let vampires be.”
Alex alternated petting their dogs as he asked, “So you like Astarion?”
“I don’t know if I like him or if I like his rogue qualities more.”
Alex chuckled. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised my nerd boyfriend likes a D&D game.”
Henry looked at him. “Are you not enjoying it?”
“No, no, I am. The fights take way longer than I’d like, so I might give those to you to get us through them faster, but I’m invested for more of the story. I’m glad there’s a vampire in the cast. I should’ve noticed this sooner, but it seems like there’s a shortage of vampires in video games.”
Henry smiled at him. “We take up a lot of literature, video games can have a reprieve.”
“Not if it makes you happy to see one—ow. Ow, hey.” Alex wiggled his hand, currently trapped in Ziggy’s mouth and her puppy, needle-like teeth. “Are you in a mood?”
Henry confirmed, “Her adult teeth might be on their way.”
“Teething?” Alex exclaimed and pushed her into the bed so she bounced into the mattress. He stopped and she retaliated by gnawing on his forearm. “Which of the bones should she have? The dental chews?”
“It’s up to you. Either the bones or the dental chews, but if you give David a pig’s ear, he needs to be separated from her. Pig’s ears turn him back into a hunting dog.”
“Really?” Alex humored as he left the bed. “Hound candy.”
He made a quick dash downstairs for the dog treats and settled on two standard bones. “I don’t want any fights breaking out. Leave him alone, butthead.”
Ziggy stopped taunting David with punches once she smelled what was in Alex’s hands. David took his without a second’s hesitation and laid himself over Henry’s legs as he started gnawing it into soggy oblivion. Ziggy needed more time figuring out what the hell a bone treat was and why it smelled so enticing. With no one stopping her from chewing on it, though, she hunkered down with her teething treat.
Henry leaned down to slide a hand underneath one of her paws, earning a harmless graze of her teeth before she licked his fingertips as he thumbed at her claws. He dragged that hand over her body in a silent well done at not being territorial over her bone. “We’ll need to introduce nail clippers soon.”
“Does David go to a groomer?”
Henry looked at him with a wondrous gasp as he turned onto his side. “I love how he smells after the groomer.”
“Is there a limit to how many people a puppy should meet? Between our families, and then the Kensington staff, I worry we might overwhelm her with one more person.”
“I’m not a canine behaviourist,” Henry admitted, “but I believe socializing them is in everyone’s best interest. You may be right about her having a different pace, with limited senses available to her. She’s done really well so far.”
“Definitely,” Alex said and then switched, “Have I told you how cool it is to sleep in the same bed with you?”
Henry grinned so his eyes crinkled. “Not in words but I agree wholeheartedly. Have I told you how impressed I am at your generosity, patience, and kindness with the dogs, despite these two being your first?”
“You make it easy for me. David’s already trained and he helps me the same way he helps you.”
“Still, I’m trying to make him live a long life by keeping his health sound. I’m grateful you exercise him despite the English climate.”
Alex squinted like he found himself within an enigma. “For some reason, England is really pretty even with all that.”
“We have our charm, even if it is cold and damp.”
Alex turned onto his side and closed the distance to meet Henry’s lips for soft kisses. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Will you sleep tonight?”
Alex bumped their noses together. “Yeah. Can I have some help?”
“Of course.”
Alex’s head lowered to his pillow the same time Henry’s nest made his eyelids heavy. The welcome darkness made sleep come easy, and the day’s aches and nausea seeped away.
The piano returned and Beatrice and Percy were on their way out. Bea had matters of Scotland to attend to and Percy needed to be with his LGBT foundation in Brooklyn with the difficult holidays coming up.
“I’m taking a long holiday between December and January, so enjoy the respite while it lasts,” he said as he kissed June. To Henry he warned, “Good luck with your inbox, mate. I’ve given you no quarter.”
“I would be concerned if you did,” Henry retaliated, and hugged him.
Beatrice hugged him next and said over his shoulder, “I’ll see you soon. Call me if you need anything.”
“Give Pip and grandpa my regards.”
Beatrice lingered a few minutes just to try out the repaired piano. Oscar and Ellen were in and out of the office with meetings, so they rolled the instrument next to the dining table. The repairman and tuner had done a wonderful job; the notes flowed through the air as if they were oiled. They sounded rich and luxurious, even while Beatrice played softly to accommodate Ellen and Oscar's work.
Alex sat at the upstairs coffee table with his journal when Oscar announced in passing that he was taking a nap. With the house mostly quiet for rest and work, the piano trickling music into the air made Alex perk up. Even with Beatrice having left, Alex could know it was Henry playing by the difference between his more traditional, sonorous melodies compared to her faster rock and pop covers.
Descending the stairs, Alex found him playing softly at the bench. David lay nearby, but Ziggy rested over his feet, perhaps feeling the piano’s vibrations while he played. As Alex drew near, though, he realized the music book Henry used was not music, but Alex’s contract, neon sticky tabs and all.
“Are you playing and reading at the same time?”
Henry looked up at him as Alex sat beside him, mindful of Ziggy below them. “With mandated practice hours, I gained the skill to read what I wanted whilst my fingers did the labour.”
“You outsmarting your teachers or governesses or whatever sounds like you took after your mom in the most hilarious and inconvenient ways.”
One of Alex’s loose pages slipped out but he caught it and set it aside for now. “How’s my jungle of notes going?”
“I’m two thirds of the way through,” Henry said distractedly, eyes glancing over the keys as he mixed improvised melodies with memorized concertos. “Could you turn the page?”
Alex couldn’t help the smirk on his face at the situational irony of Henry playing to Alex’s lawyer sheet music. He turned the page and asked, “Is Ziggy okay where she is?”
“Mmhm. She’s perfect.”
Alex picked up the page that had fallen out and read his handwritten clauses until he realized it could use some revisions. Henry said nothing as he left the bench, but glanced at him when he returned with his journal and a pencil. “We have a team of lawyers. I’m sure you don’t have to be the only one working on this.”
“I just want it to be clear what ‘property and finances’ are so that nobody can take David or Ziggy from you.”
Henry huffed a jaded laugh but turned the page of the contract. Alex asked, “Have you found anything missing or that you want changed?”
“I have one idea but I’m waiting to read it all.”
“Can I write it down?”
Henry’s eyes strayed to where Alex’s journal opened naturally—the last page with a list that seemed too random to relate to their contract. Henry’s thoughts left the contract in favor of reading the first entry, “Camel coat?”
Alex looked at him and followed where his eyes were. He quickly turned the page. Between Alex’s reaction and his own confusion, Henry asked, “What’s a camel coat?”
“Nothing. A coat for camels.”
Henry’s voice brightened with, “Is it the warm-toned beige sort of coat? Are you wanting one?”
Alex sighed in defeat but stubbornly countered, “Who wears beige the most out of the two of us?”
“I do,” Henry said like it was obvious, but the answer made his brows furrow in perplexity.
“What month are we walking into?” Alex informed, deadpan.
Ding, the light bulb went on behind Henry’s eyes and he grinned in his boyish way. “Oh, I see. But that’s a whole list!”
“You saw nothing.”
Excited laughter gushed out of him as he was certainly not letting this go. “Hold on, you’ve just given me a mixer. What sort of things are we exchanging?”
“Whatever we want,” Alex said with a bit if incredulity. “Do you not do presents each year? Or are you more the family who does banquets?”
Henry’s eyes tilted upward as he thought about it. “I haven’t had a traditional gift exchange since university. Every year is a little different. Sometimes we make time for a banquet. Sometimes it’s just me and my sister with Christmas crackers.”
Alex put his arm around Henry’s lumbar, a loose hold with his hand on the bench as he said pitifully, “That’s really f*cking sad, baby.”
Henry swayed with his head tilt, bumping him as he revealed, “It was a relief. Not being beholden to a family ordeal when we didn’t feel like a family had its pros and cons.”
Alex made a light, “Oh,” sound as he reconsidered. “White House holidays are similar, I guess. There are traditions to uphold for the public, and we’re living in an historic building so we can’t just string up lights anywhere we want. Christmas day has a schedule.”
Henry nodded. “Pez and I typically get something for each other. Gifts are sent between me, my siblings, and grandpa, but it’s a little…impersonal. I suppose this year will be different.”
“Well, you’re getting a Claremont-Diaz Christmas, which might be a culture shock.”
“What would you call Thanksgiving?”
“A tutorial.”
Henry grasped Alex’s leg like an anchor during the mirth that blindsided him. The marble fireplace beside them hummed quietly.
