Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Daddy, can I have some ice cream?”

“Not right now, honey,” Henry answers, hands tightly on the steering wheel and glassy eyes on the road ahead.

You can’t run. You can’t hide. Wherever you go, I will find you.  

The haunting words echo inside his head. Henry vividly remembers the words from the first time he attempted to run away. Henry somehow convinced him that he’d stay, and for a while he did. Henry thought things might be different. Maybe he didn’t see the red flags or the signs like he should have, maybe he was too deep in the idea of what love was supposed to be like.

Henry thought he could change him. He thought that he loved him. He was an idiot for believing. He’s not sure how he gathered the courage, maybe from his sister or Percy because they finally saw how bad it was – but one glance at Jane from the rear-view mirror, with her green headphones and holding a fairytale book in her lap, looking back at Henry with her innocent blue eyes, and he knows why. Henry knows she’s the reason he wanted to get out. She’s the reason he did get out.

“But I want ice cream,” Jane whines grumpily, throwing the book away, waving her hands. She grips the seatbelt stubbornly, adjusting herself in the backseat.

“Not right now, love. And please stay in your seat. We still have quite a drive until we’re there.”

“But daddy, you promised,” she whines louder, impatiently tapping on the car’s window. Henry knew the only way to get her to the cab in the middle of a school day was a promise of ice cream. He promised she would get ice cream after the security check, after they would land in the airport.

It’s more than ten hours ago.

He’s not entirely sure what she understands about this whole situation, other than that they’re moving away to a whole another country. She’s only six, and she’s the smartest six year old Henry knows, but he hasn’t seen any signs that she knows the truth about them running away. She’s going to miss her friends at pre-school and Henry hates that his mom or family can’t see her, but they all know why he’s doing this. He’s doing this for his daughter.

Henry planned everything in perfect detail so he could get away from him. So he couldn’t trace back to them, when he’d figure out they were gone. That’s why he is here. Driving in a rented car. In a long and abandoned road, in the Southern States of America. Because he deserves better.

Because his daughter deserves better.

Both of them deserve better: a new, fresh start at life.

And if everything goes according to Henry’s plan, Jane won’t be remembering much of what happened in the past year.

Henry tries to calm her down with the empty promises of ice cream, not knowing how long he can assure her she’s getting it. She was too anxious during the flight, the hectic and crowded airport wasn’t exactly her favorite place, but she had managed to take a nap when they left the airport. 

It’s two hours later, they’re still driving, and she’s getting antsy.

As soon as Jane starts groaning and complaining more, there’s an unknown noise coming from the car’s engine. Henry doesn’t think of it as anything, until the car starts slowing down, and sees smoke coming out of the car.

Bloody hell.

“No, no, no...” Henry says in panic, when the car stops in the middle of the empty road. He knows there’s still at least another two hours until they reach Austin.

“Why are we stopping, daddy?”

“It’s alright, Jane,” he convinces, when thicker smoke comes out of the car. “Daddy will check something. Stay inside the car, okay, honey?”

Henry opens his seatbelt and hops out the car. It doesn’t look good: the engine keeps coughing badly, smoke coming out. As Henry opens the hood of the car, a puff of thick black smoke blinds him and makes Henry cough, nearly choking on the smoke.

This doesn’t make any sense. It’s a new rented car and should work perfectly, at least that’s what the car shop worker assured when Henry rented it from the airport.

He quickly investigates around, seeing just a long road ahead, surrounded by tall, dry grass. He pulls out his phone from his pocket to check his location, or possibly call a tow truck, but there aren't any bars showing on his screen.

Not to mention this is a new prepaid phone, and he didn’t even bother to unlock it when he bought it at the airport. 

This is exactly what Henry doesn’t need right now. He peeks at Jane, still sitting inside the car, back to reading her book, looking like she has no worry in the world. At least he’s relieved that she isn't a panicked mess like Henry.

The fear swims into Henry, because this is a new city, a new country: he has no idea where he is or how to call help. Henry does his best to collect himself, and considers his options. There could be a town or city nearby. He would have to take Jane with him, but he’s not sure how far the next town is. He doesn’t want to take her and end up walking the wrong way, getting lost or worse.

Henry takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, leaning against the car. He’s not praying, at least that’s what he tells himself. Henry isn’t the prayer type, even if he’s prayed during these couple of months more than in his entire life. It’s just that this isn't an ideal situation, especially when he’s on a run with his daughter all alone in an unknown country.

Henry doesn’t admit that praying works, even if he managed to run away from his ex, even if he hears a slow noise of a car.

It has to be pure coincidence that far down in the distance, a truck of a car appears. He widely waves at the car, although Henry’s sure the driver saw the black smoke coming out. He keeps gesturing at it until the red pickup truck drives closer.

The pickup truck slows down, stopping next to Henry’s rented car. The windows are rolled down, and a long, brown arm waves at him, belonging to a man with black curly hair and deep brown eyes. 

It looks like a scene from a romantic novel. Henry’s handsome saviour couldn’t have been more like a character from all the romance books he reads about. He swallows nervously while staring at the sight, and no, handsome doesn’t begin to cover it.

“You all right there, buddy?”

“I need, uh, help,” Henry stutters, pointing at his car.

“Obviously,” he rolls his eyes with unexpectedly long lashes. He turns the truck’s engine off, leaping out of the truck. “I saw your smoke signal miles away.”

“Um. Right. I’m not sure what happened. It just suddenly started smoking.”

“Let’s take a look,” he says, stepping confidently in front of the car. Henry’s eyes glide at the man, taking in the image in front of him. Dark wavy curls, dimples to die for, exposed arms and chest. He understands it's the end of summer, but there is no reason for him to wear such a skin-tight white tank top, showing off his flexed muscles and biceps, with obscenely short shorts. Henry totally does not stare when he leans in to take a look inside the car.

“This is your problem,” he states assuredly, sounding like he knows what he’s talking about. “Your engine overheated. Quite common in this model, actually.”

“Can you fix it?”

His head peeks out, a spot of grease smeared on his forehead, causing Henry to have an urge to swipe with his finger. “No, this engine is pretty much done for. Besides, it’s not like I carry the extra parts with me.”

“Oh. I see,” Henry replies, staring at his lips: pinkish, a little chapped, without any idea what he just said. They stare at each other for a few seconds, it's enough time for Henry to identify at least one shade of brown in his eyes: warm honey. A galaxy of what-if’s exists in those eyes. The man measures Henry up with a curious glare that makes his cheeks gain a little color. 

“Where are you headed?”

“Austin, Texas. Chestnut Creek,” Henry answers, remembering the name, because it was the first thing that caught his attention.

A wide grin appears on the man’s face, showing his irresistible dimples, that does not do good for Henry’s already pounding heart. “What a coincidence. I’m going there too.”

“You are?”

“I live in Chestnut Creek, actually. I was just doing some errands for the school,” he explains with one of those genuine, well-meaning smiles that’s so charming that Henry can’t feel but a little starstruck. His hand gestures to his truck, pointing to the back, with at least three tall cardboard boxes.

“Oh,” Henry nods. The man tips his head, a stray of black curl falling to his forehead, long lashes casting a look to Henry from head to toe. It’s the heat of the smoke coming from the car that makes Henry’s cheek warm up, not his gaze.

“Hold on,” he says as he closes the hood, his eyes catching Henry’s. Beyond his long dark lashes, is a dim spark. “You wouldn’t happen to be that new teacher? Harry something?”

“It’s Henry, actually,” Henry corrects, reflexively. He leans his head to the window of the car, and in that moment Henry sees Jane stare at them through the car window.

“And who’s this, then?”

“My daughter, Jane,” Henry explains. He looks back at Henry, checking the resemblance. Henry knows it was by pure coincidence that she also has blonde hair and bright blue eyes. 

“Right. Well, since your car’s pretty much busted, I can offer to give you and your daughter a ride to town,” he smiles brightly, crossing his hands and Henry stares at his veiny arms until Jane taps on the window.

“Thank you. Much appreciated.”

“No problem-o. Need a hand with the bags?”

“Uh, sure,” Henry says, scratching his neck. A stranger helping him, though handsome, but he’s seen the signs before. 

Henry watches him open the car’s trunk, carrying two bags to the truck. He moves the boxes to make space for them, and Henry goes to open the door for Jane. She takes the book, placing it against her chest, looking confused.

“Daddy, what’s going on?”

“Our car isn’t working, and this kind stranger is offering us a ride to Chestnut Creek. Our new home, remember?”

Henry helps her from her seat, Jane’s squinting eyes going to the man loading the truck with their bags. “Alex,” he says with a smile, leaning to offer his hand to Jane. She’s too shy to say anything, and backs up to Henry’s legs. “Not a stranger. I’m Alex.”

“She’s a bit shy around new people,” Henry explains, when Jane wraps an arm around his leg, hiding further away. “But it’s nice to meet you, Alex.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” he winks and Henry gulps. This man will be a lot of trouble for him, he knows it already.

“Let's get going, honey.”

Alex opens the truck’s door, Henry helping Jane to her seat. He clicks her seatbelt, quickly grabs his own shoulder bag from the rental car’s front seat, takes the keys and unlocks the car. He decides to go sit next to Jane, because this man was still a stranger to him. He can see Jane is nervous about this whole deal, so the best bet is to sit next to her in the backseat.

“You guys travel a long way?” Alex asks, glancing over them, once they start driving down the road.

“Yeah.”

“I remember Amy telling me about a new teacher moving in with his daughter. It’s all she talked about, since nothing ever happens at Chestnut Creek. Nobody ever moves here.” Alex taps on the car’s wheel, his other hand turning the buttons for the radio. “Never thought I’d end up finding you guys in the middle of the road. Good thing I was getting those school supplies from Sunset Valley today of all days, huh?”

“You mean Mrs. Gupta?” Henry recalls, remembering someone with her name who video called showing the house.

“Yeah, that’s Amy. She’ll be pleased to know she didn’t lose her first deal in months because your car broke down,” Alex goes on, neck turning to give him a brief look, before he looks back at the road. “She got back to being a retail agent after the birth of her and her wife’s daughter, and it’s difficult to get back to work after having a child.” Another curious glance. “I guess you know a thing or two about that, huh?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“What’s got a British guy doing this far in the South anyway?” Alex asks, frankly. This guy doesn’t stop talking, or he doesn’t have anything stopping before he opens his mouth. Henry looks over Jane, headphones in and back to reading again.

“I got offered a good job opportunity, and needed a change of scenery,” Henry answers, Alex nodding.

“You mind if we put the radio on?”

“Um, why not.”

”You into country music?” Alex asks. Henry shakes his head.

“No, but I think I better get used to it,” he replies. Alex’s restless fingers go to the radio, finding a station. He hopes that putting on the radio stops him asking all these questions, the questions he doesn’t want to answer to a stranger.

Although, there’s a warm and cosy feeling in his pickup truck. You would think Henry was scared, because after all – getting a ride from a complete stranger is how all horror stories start. 

For all he knows, Alex could be a guy hired by his ex to kidnap him and Jane, bringing them back to London. Henry hates that his mind overthinks this situation, but it’s better for him to think of all possible scenarios. He checks the car doors: they’re not locked. He could open them, take Jane and run as fast as he could. He has an escape plan, which makes him less stressed.

But when Alex turns the volume and starts quietly singing along to a country song, he knows this guy isn’t any harm for him or his daughter.

Austin isn’t that far away, nor is Chestnut Creek. It ends up being only an hour drive away, and Henry starts recognizing the scenery from the googled photos.

“Welcome to Chestnut Creek,” Alex announces as he drives past the town sign. The streets aren’t crowded which Henry loves from his hectic London city days. There’s old-looking stores and shops around, but with bright colors and autumn has painted the trees with shades of beautiful brown. The people walking the tidy streets actually look kind, happy children playing and running in the park next to the main street. Henry could see himself and his daughter living here.

“I need to do some errands, you wouldn’t mind if I dropped you at Amy’s office?” Alex says, curving around the street.

“No, that’s more than fine. I’m already thankful that you drove us here.”

“’Kay. She’s probably already expecting you,” Alex says, as he stops in the street corner, pointing out the car window to a bright yellow office building. “That’s her office, on the first floor. Just ring the doorbell. I’m sure she knows you’re coming.”

Henry opens Jane’s seatbelt, and she opens the door. “Thank you for the ride,” Henry thanks, as he walks out the car, and the trunk opens. Alex hops off, lifting up their bags.

“I can have your car towed back to town, no problem,” Alex says, leaning against the back of the truck.

“Oh, that’s very kind of you, thank you.”

Alex stares at him, and Henry is sure if he stayed there any minute longer, he would get lost in those brown, soulful eyes of his. Jane restlessly pulls his sleeve.

“Right, um,” Henry clears his dry throat.

There’s a troublesome grin on Alex’s face, when he shuts the tailgate. “So I guess I’ll see you around?”

“I suppose we will.”

“It’s a small town, Henry. Of course we’re bound to meet each other again,” he says, Henry detecting a hint of flirt in his voice. Or is he the type of person who always flirts with everyone? 

He ignores the slight warmth on his cheeks. “Thank you for the ride, again.”

“No problem. Gotta run now. See ya!” Alex waves widely like a child, the dimples creasing on his cheeks before hops back to his truck and drives away.

“Come on, Jane,” Henry says, pulling the bags with him and taking her hand. He rings on the door that has ‘Realtor Gupta’ name written on it, so he assumes they’re in the right place. After a couple of minutes, the tall woman he recognizes from their video calls as Amy, opens the door.

“Oh hello! You must be Henry, and you must be.. Jane,” Amy kindly smiles, leaning down towards her. Jane nods and Amy straightens her back.

“So sorry we’re late, Mrs. Gupta. We had a little car trouble.”

“That’s alright. You okay?”

“Yes, thank you, we’re fine.”

“And do call me Amy,” she chuckles warmly, the generosity radiating from her smile. “So. Are we ready to see your new home?”

“Are you ready, Jane?” Henry taps her shoulder, and she smiles cheerfully, head bouncing so her headphones fall over her head.

“Okay, then. Let me just grab the papers and your keys and we’re all ready to go.”

They travel with Amy’s car along the suburban streets, Jane curiously looking out the car window. Amy talks nonstop about the long and colorful history of Chestnut Creek and then how the house is newly renovated, but Henry can’t concentrate on any of her words. 

All Henry can think about is if it's far enough. He knows he loves this town already, it feels so peaceful and people are very welcoming, but there’s a tiny fear in the back of his head that it isn’t far enough. It isn’t safe enough.

He isn’t sure if that feeling will ever fully fade away. 

Jane claps her hands excitedly, and momentarily, the worries disappear. Amy parks the car in their grey driveway. He knows a thing or two about America's row of houses, and this is the perfect image of it. The white picket fences, unusually bright green grass, driveways, the porch with a welcome mat. The house has it all. 

It’s a two floored house, walls painted with warm orange and white, a perfect copy of all the other houses in the suburb street. Amy helps them carry their luggage as she opens the front door.

Jane eagerly runs past them to the living room when Amy puts the pin-code to a small box next to the front door.

“Jane! No running with your shoes on!” Henry calls after her, but the words go in one ear and out the other. He hears her faint giggles from the other room.

“She seems like a wonderful kid,” Amy chuckles as she spreads the paperwork on the kitchen island.

“Yeah, she is,” Henry agrees, taking out his ballpoint pen. As soon as she places the papers in front of him, he signs the papers.

Amy gives him a thoughtful look, behind a friendly smile. “You need a copy of these?”

“Thank you.”

“When’s the rest of your moving boxes coming? I could ask around for helping hands.”

“That’s okay, Mrs. Gupta, but we don’t have a lot of stuff coming,” Henry answers, with a friendly smile. “So I think we’ll handle it just fine.”

“Okay, great.”

“Oh, and the security system?”

“Had ‘em already set it up, so it’s all ready to go,” Amy points at the small black box near the front door with a blinking red light. She takes a pile of papers from her bag. “Here’s the instructions and guide, but basically if the code isn’t put in the first thirty seconds, it sends an alert to the connected security company. If you don’t answer within minutes to their call, they send out a security guard to check up on the situation. There’s already a password set up, but if you want to change it, here’s the instructions for that. I don’t get offended if you want to change it, considering I know the code.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Gupta.” Amy has an understanding look on her face, smiling warmly at him. She probably suspects or has her own ideas why Henry moved here with his daughter, all alone, and asked for a security system set up for the house.

“If you need help with anything, I mean anything at all, don’t hesitate to contact me. My house is just at the end of this street. OK?”

“Thank you, Mrs. –”

“Amy. Just call me Amy.”

“Thank you... Amy. I really appreciate that. Oh, one thing,” he says, digging up crumbled paper from his front pocket. It’s the email that he got from accepting the job as a first grade teacher for the school. “I’m having my first day at Chestnut Creek Elementary school tomorrow. You mind telling me the best directions from here to the school?”

“It's no more than a ten minute drive from here, just straight ahead,” she says, pointing out the kitchen window with sun-flower curtains. “But if you don’t have your car back here yet, I can give you a drive there tomorrow.”

“No, that’s all right, I don’t want to trouble you –”

“It’s no trouble at all, Henry. Here’s my number,” Amy picks up a business card out of her handbag. “Message me or give me a call. Okay? Or if there’s anything wrong with the house.”

“Thank you, Mrs. – I mean, Amy.”

“Now, I should let you two settle in. As mentioned, I live only at the end of this street, if you need anything. The house with the pink flowers on the door.”

“I think we’ll be alright, won’t we, Jane?” Henry asks when Jane runs back from the living room with red cheeks, headphones hanging around her neck. She slightly nods. “Yes, we’ll be just alright. Thank you, Amy, for everything.”

“Okay then, I guess I’ll see you around. And welcome to Chestnut Creek, Henry,” Amy gives him a sweet smile. “I think you’ll be very happy here.”

Henry spends the rest of the evening unpacking their bags, but rather quickly he realizes that they are in great need of a lot of things. Luckily the house was furnished, that’s one of the reasons Henry bought it, but Jane isn’t all too pleased having to leave nearly all her toys behind.

An hour later Henry orders them dinner, and as a long awaited reward, Jane gets her ice cream. Jane seems happy, and that’s all that matters.

It doesn’t stop Henry from taking a few rounds around the house, just to check there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Part of Henry tells he could have security cameras set up, but since he basically spent all his money on this house, so that he’s knee deep with debt and hell of a mortgage – he moves that idea for the future.

Elementary school’s salary in such a small town isn’t anything shiny, either. Just enough that he can keep a roof over his and Jane’s head, just that he can have her safe and sound.

That’s all that matters, after all.

Surprisingly, Jane is exhausted. Under any other circumstance, she wouldn’t be able to sleep in a strange bed. She only has her cherished teddy bear with her, Henry knowing she wouldn’t leave without it. She squeezes it tightly, when Henry reads her Alice in Wonderland, one of her favorite stories. She falls asleep within ten minutes into the story, and Henry tucks her in.

Henry knows he can’t possibly fall asleep, not tonight. He’s still on the edge, finding himself scared by the tiniest sounds of the house. The freezer whirs, and he flinches. A branch scratches the window, and he flinches again.

Couple hours later he climbs to the king size bed, feeling out of place. The sheets feel too new and rustle when he moves. The clock on the wall ticks in an uneasy rhythm. There’s a mosquito buzzing near his ear, and he spends the next hour trying to catch it. When he catches it and releases it out the window, his eyes try to settle into the dark landscape of the street. 

He stares at the calm suburb street until he feels safe enough to climb back to the bed. No matter how he tries, he tosses and turns, not sleeping an eyeful during the night. His body is tired from the chase, travelling, moving across continents – but his brain doesn't let him relax. 

Henry only hopes this uneasy feeling will eventually fade away. He hopes that one day he can feel at ease here, even if it will take years.

The following morning, Amy gives him a ride to Chestnut Creek’s Elementary school, riding in the front seat with a thermostat of tea in his hands.

He takes a look at Jane who’s at the backseat, coloring a book. She’s wearing a T-shirt with a horse, since she refuses to wear anything else but horse printed clothes, and flower embroidered leggings, her blonde hair in two ponytails. 

The drive takes no longer than ten minutes, and the entire way Amy keeps talking about her newborn baby, how she didn’t get much sleep either. Amy catches the darkened circles around Henry’s eyes, but doesn’t say anything.

Henry takes Jane’s hand once at the school entrance, seeing a woman waving at him. Just like Amy, Principal Holleran is more than welcome and kind, happily showing him and Jane a tour of the elementary school building: the old and worn-out hallways, the small teacher’s lounge, the gymnasium and playground.

“And here’s your classroom,” she says when they walk back to the building, opening the last door on the hallway. It’s just like he imagined a first grade classroom to look like: dozen wooden desks, walls filled with children’s drawings and paintings, student’s artwork and books overflowing the cupboards, and to top it all: a class hamster in a cage at the back of the room.

“Jane, why don’t you go see the hamster?” Henry suggests, Jane letting out a happy squeal as she tiptoes to the end of the classroom. Henry turns to the principal with a concerned look. “Can I ask you something, Principal Holleran?”

“I said it’s Nora. And of course.”

“I told Mrs. Gupta about Jane, and her condition –”

“Don’t worry, Henry. She’ll be fine here. There are many special kids with different conditions here. I’m sure she’ll fit in just fine.”

“Good. Thank you,” Henry smiles. It was one of the reasons he asked that she’d be in his class, so he could look after her, and her special needs. But since the school only had one opening for the first grade teacher, he knew Jane would be in his class. 

“Here are the lesson plans and schedules,” Nora says, placing a file of papers on top of the teacher’s desk. It’s completely bare except for a laptop, pencil case and plaque that says ‘Mr. Fox’ in golden letters. “You’re very lucky to get the job just before the start of the school year,” she adds, straightening the school desks. “Though you probably wished you had more time to plan your classes.”

“I’m sure I’ll manage,” Henry answers. They arrived three days before the start of the school year, so it gave him only two days to prepare his class. 

It was a short time, and he had tons of material to read about, not sure if he could memorize the study material and students in a matter of days, but Henry had been a teacher for over eight years now. It’s nothing that he can’t handle.

After getting the tour in the school, he walks back home with Jane. They still have a lot of things to do around the house, but Jane was more than happy since they stopped at a coffee shop for some snacks. Henry knows he’s spoiling her, and this situation needs some serious spoiling, but he swears he’ll stop it one day.

Henry watches her read her book as he tries to gather as much information about his new students. Over the next two days, while unpacking and settling into his new house, he reads all the teacher material cover to cover. He barely leaves the house, telling himself it’s because he can focus on the material. He keeps telling himself that the more time he spends in the house, the more relaxed he will be. 

Be that as it may, over the course of the next days, it doesn’t make him easier to fall asleep.

The first day of school, and Henry’s already a nervous wreck. His stomach swoops, knot of anxiousness tugging in, and a blob of sweat dribbles from his hairline to his cheek.

He’s not usually this nervous, maybe because of his sleepless nights, maybe because last night Jane had a nightmare, and it meant Henry sleeping in the same bed with her until she calmed down.

Henry knows it’s normal, she has suffered from nightmares before, but he’s worried. He wanted this to be a fresh start for the both of them. Over breakfast, Jane said that she was nervous about starting a new school and Henry thinks, maybe her nightmares are about the first day in the new school.

Not about running away from an abusive partner.

Henry is self-aware that he’s always been dressing like a teacher, and he’s always found comfort in his teaching clothes. His wardrobe mostly consists of different pale shades of cardigans, polo shirts and blouses. So it’s no surprise when he puts on his light blue cardigan, and light Chino trousers. He replaces the neck keychain he got from the principal Holleran with his old one, that has the colors of rainbow. 

Henry walks together with Jane to the school, Jane dressed in bright yellow dress and a light beige coat, her hair braided – he found it somehow therapeutic to learn and watch different Youtube tutorials on how to braid her hair. 

The school building looks different than it was two days ago: the yard is filled with laughing children and one worn-out yellow school bus, unloading the last group of children.

“Why don’t you go meet your new classmates?” Henry suggests, pushing reluctant Jane towards them. Henry knows she’s always been a shy girl, but she looks absolutely terrified.

She shakes her head, hands crossed on her chest.

“Honey, I have to go inside with the teachers. I’ll see you at the gymnasium in five minutes. You can survive five minutes without your father, can't you?”

She shakes her head more, lips pursed in disagreement, tucking Henry’s hand. “No, daddy.”

“It’s going to be okay, it’s just five minutes. You’re a brave girl, aren’t you?” Henry says softly, kneeling in front of her. He adjusts her dress, and the yellow bow on her head. “You look so pretty in this dress, love.” A shy smile appears on her face. “Can you be brave for me, honey?”

She casts a look behind him. Henry hugs her while kissing on the top of her head, watching as she jogs towards the school children. Henry observes as she shyly walks to them, the children starting to talk with her. 

After a couple minutes of observing his daughter, he walks from the teacher’s backdoor to the building. He somehow remembers the building, it’s not really a big school: it only has ten classes, a small gymnasium, cafeteria and half dozen teachers. He expects to meet the rest of the teachers today, since he only met Principal Holleran the other day.

Henry glimpses at his wrist watch to realise he’s running late, so he quickly throws his bag in his locker before the ceremony starts at the gymnasium. 

He manages to finds another teacher, who guides him to the gymnasium. She guides him to sit on the row of seats in front of the students, Henry trying to get a glimpse of Jane.

But his eyes catch on something else than his daughter. His eyes catch a teacher sitting at the far end, next to an empty seat.

He raises his head, thick eyebrows up, and a warm grin spreads on his face. Henry takes wobbly steps towards him, since it’s the only free seat. It’s the same curly haired man with deep, brown eyes. 

Alex.

Except this time he’s wearing a slim navy colored tracksuit and a whistle around his neck. Alex slowly blinks his lashes, like he’s trying to hide his surprise.

“We meet again,” he whispers, with a coy smile. The attention Alex gives him makes Henry shrink in his chair a bit, causing his heart to palpitate. Henry opens his mouth to reply, but it’s when Principal Holleran taps the microphone in the stand, static coming from the speakers.

“Welcome back, dear students of Chestnut Elementary School,” Principal Holleran starts. She starts talking about the beginning of the school year, their goals for the year but all Henry can focus on is the knee that’s nearly touching his.

There’s an odd tension in the air, a queasy feeling in his stomach, his heart racing. He keeps telling himself it’s being in front of the entire school, because this is his and Jane’s first day in the school.

It’s definitely not about the man sitting next to him, who’s shoulder seems to lean into him, who keeps eyeing Henry for the entire speech. Alex gives Henry a flashing smile when he’s introduced as the new first grade teacher, and the queasiness in his stomach disappears upon seeing his reassuring smile. 

He looks back at Alex, a happy smile still beaming on his face. There's a new, fuzzy warm feeling entering into Henry from his smile.

Maybe his first day at the school isn't so bad, after all.

Chapter Text

Henry focuses on the children in the audience, eventually glimpsing a sight of Jane. She’s sitting in the back rows, looking shyly around, body hunched on the seat.  Principal Holleran ends her speech, there’s a couple of song performances by fourth grades, before the school year officially starts.

Everyone else but the first grades leave, so Principal Holleran can explain the school rules and schedule for their first days. It doesn’t stop Alex unintentionally bumping Henry’s shoulder, giving him a kind smile when he and the other teachers leave the stage. 

Henry tries to keep his focus on the children instead of watching Alex leave the gymnasium, but there’s something about him he can’t quite understand, something irresistible yet inviting. His entire essence beams of unexplainable warmth, and when Alex casts a look behind his shoulder, noticing Henry’s stare, it causes Henry to blush rosy red. He tries to control his ridiculous grin before he disappears out the door. 

Henry focuses on his daughter. Her head spins around, probably not used to being in a total new environment. Henry knew Jane would be in his class, which was a lucky chance, since this school only has one of each grade. 

Principal Holleran calls each student by alphabetic order to come collect their papers and name tags, Henry observing as two children come before Jane steps out when she’s called by her name. Henry gives her a reassuring smile and a tiny wave, seeing her shoulders relax upon seeing her father. 

Henry knew his class beforehand, he studied the name list last night, memorising it by heart. His class consisted of fourteen students: eight girls and six boys. It’s nice to have a small class for a change, since in the private London school his class consisted of twenty-five children. 

After all the students are given their files, and put in a neat line, he walks them back to his classroom. He tries to memorize himself with the school hallways, trying to put spots he passes into his memory so it’s easier to remember: the rusty water dispenser, the nearly empty trophy shelf, the painted picture of the school’s football team that’s apparently a blue bull. 

Henry guides the children into their seats, letting them find their own places. He’s never been a fan of seating plan, and lets them choose their own seats. He draws the seating map later, so it’s easier for him to learn all their names. He already practiced a speech in front of the mirror last night, also in the shower this morning, and while brushing his teeth.

So when he starts introducing himself in front of the class, it feels natural. All the school children’s eyes are at him, but he doesn’t stutter. He’s never stuttered or found it uncomfortable when teaching, it’s actually one of the rare things he loves more than anything. 

He gives the children their first task to draw their favorite animal next to name tags on their desks. He paces between the seats to see all the variety of animals his students draw: cat and dog seem the most popular draw, and it makes him smile that Jane draws a small horse next to her name tag. 

He’s surprised how well the day goes, how he keeps himself distracted with his classes. Henry doesn’t let himself be distracted by Alex – who’s apparently a teacher here as well, gym teacher by the looks of it – or that curious glance he shot on Henry, or the tracksuit that seemed to be just a tiny bit too tight for him. 

He absolutely does not think about it at all.

His first day isn’t that bad. It mostly consists of countless introductions, getting to know his students with different, easy games. Henry always wants to make his students feel comfortable, so that they can trust him. He wants to build that bond with them from day one, since he’ll be with them for the years to come.

Henry loves to watch his young students grow up from first grade, be the inspiration for them and give them the courage to be who they want to be. That’s why he plans to decorate his class room with their artworks, creations and drawings. He already filled up his teachers desk with the essentials, trying to make it his space too, with a small pride flag on the corner.

During the recess, Henry’s assigned to be one of the recess teachers. It’s a task he’s already well aware of, and he’s actually glad about it, so he can watch over the school children, especially his own daughter.

She’s done very well so far, even though she never raised her hand in class or actively participated in the group games. So Henry pays close attention to her in recess, and she’s down by the swings with another, older student. They seem to get along fine, and then someone else comes to ask her to play with them. And for a while, it all seems to go fine.

Until one of the other teachers, named Shaan, comes to talk about Henry the upcoming math quiz he’ll surprise his fourth graders next week. Henry’s eyes browse around the school yard, suddenly noticing that Jane’s not in the swings or with the group of children she was moments ago.

Usually, in a normal situation, this would have been totally fine since it’s a small school – but fear strikes Henry. 

What if he –

No, something says to him. It’s just because he doesn’t like the idea of not knowing where she is. He sees a glimpse of the yellow dress running behind the school building, and another girl following him. Henry excuses himself, pacing towards them. 

It’s probably fine, until he hears a thud, Jane letting out a grunt.

He’s running now, seeing Jane getting up from the ground, aggressively trying to push the other girl. He runs between them, pulling them apart.

“Hey, hey, stop! Calm down,” he raises his voice, pushing Jane away from the other girl.

“What’s going on?” a voice shouts close behind, and of course it’s Alex: he’s taken the other girl away from Jane.

“What happened? Did that girl just push you?” Henry asks, voice thick with worry. Jane’s bow is twisted and pulled, her dress helm dirty and elbow scratched. Henry kneels in front of her, but she’s not bleeding, it’s only a scratch.

“We don’t push others, Elena,” Alex scolds, and Henry takes a look at the other girl. She’s also wearing a dress, but pastel pink, and her dark curls are in a tilted, clearly pulled down ponytail. She looks upset, crossing her arms.

“What’s going on here?” Principal Holleran calls, looking at all of them with confusion.

“I think they had a fight, and Elena pushed Jane,” Alex explains, sharing a glance with Henry. She studies both of the girls.

“Miss Claremont-Diaz, Miss Fox. My office, now,” she says harshly, pointing to the building’s doors. The girls reluctantly walk to the school doors.

“Wait,” Alex says, grabbing Henry’s sleeve when they walk back inside. “They’ll be fine.”

Henry struggles out of his grip. “My Jane doesn’t push people.”

“I’m sure, but we didn’t see what happened,” he defends. “And my niece doesn’t just push people either.”

“Your niece?” Henry arches his eyebrows. Of course. The name rings a bell. Claremont-Diaz. He remembers seeing it in the papers he signed the other day. ‘You’ll be given a mentor teacher, Mr. Claremont Diaz, to help and guide you throughout the first semester.‘

Yeah, Henry is totally screwed.

“The recess is ending any minute now,” Alex continues when Henry doesn’t respond. He nods and a second later the bell rings at the end of recess. He takes a quick look at Alex who stares at him, somehow having a baffled look on his face, before he walks his students back inside the classroom.

Henry gives them a drawing exercise when he returns to the classroom door, seeing the principal bringing Jane and the other girl, Elena, back from the principal’s office.

She simply gives him a gesturing nod, letting Henry continue his class. Jane walks to the back row, and he’s relieved to notice Elena is sitting further away from her. He knows Jane is not a violent person, she’s never acted out. Elena doesn’t look like that either, but Henry doesn’t want to believe his daughter would do anything like that.

After the last class of the day is done, once all the other children have run excitedly out of the classroom except the two girls, Principal Holleran knocks on the door.

“Got a minute, Henry?”

“Of course.”

“Jane. Elena. Go wait outside,” she commands, and both of them walk outside with their backpacks. Henry tries to smile at Jane, who looks ashamed.

“I called Elena’s mom, I thought a discussion with a parent would be appropriate,” she says, closing the door once they’re out.

“All right. Yeah, that’s good.”

“After having a talk with the girls, I think it was purely because they had a disagreement. Nothing too serious, I would say. I also pulled out the CVV footage from the moment, and I think you’d like to see it,” she tells, pulling out a pad from her bag. It’s paused on camera footage at the back yard, and as she presses play, he witnesses his daughter talking with Elena. He sees how they’re talking, and then she’s pushed to the ground. She clicks on the screen, pausing the video.

“I’m sorry, Henry. Not the most perfect good first day for your daughter, huh?”

“What did Elena have to say as an excuse?”

“She didn’t say much. She’s quite headstrong, just like the rest of her family,” she sighs. Henry hears hurried steps on the hallway, seeing a shadow on the class room door. Henry opens the door, seeing someone kneeling down to hug Elena on the bench. He recognizes those brown curls and strong arms.

The man turns around, standing up. Henry feels his pulse getting faster. This time his hair is messier, swept up with wind. Like he ran up here.

“Oh,” Alex grins, crooked, his eyebrows scooting up on his forehead. “Hi again.”

“You met Alex already?” 

“Er, yes,” Henry mutters. Alex checks Henry out obscenely without hiding it, Henry nervously grabbing his neck keychain with his ID badge.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it,” she smiles, walking away.

“Wait. I thought you said you called her parents.”

“My sister is out of town, so I’m afraid you’re stuck with me,” Alex smirks arrogantly, Elena clinging onto his leg like a koala.

Henry blinks at the man in front of him. Not only did he have to suffer the school year with him, he was now going to have a parent teacher discussion with him. In that very same tight tracksuit.

He’s doomed.

“Mr. Claremont-Diaz,” Henry coughs, with an official tone. He’s pretending like this is an official teacher parent meeting. Alex tilts his head, making him look like a lost golden retriever puppy. “Since you’re here for Elena, please come on in.”

“I’ve told you, it’s Alex,” he corrects, offering his hand to shake. Henry takes it, and his grip is warm and surprisingly soft, but he doesn’t let go. Instead, he squeezes their hands. “Call me Alex. We’re on a first name basis, wouldn’t you say so, Henry?”

“It’s Mr. Fox, actually,” Henry says, sounding strict and official. He tries to sound strong, but Alex’s deep eyes are melting him.

“Right. Sorry. Mr. Fox.” Again, Alex’s eyes not that subtly check him out, measuring him up from head to toe, and Henry feels his cheeks getting warmer.

“About Elena,” Henry clears his throat, gesturing at the teacher's desk. Alex follows to sit on the seat in front of his desk. “She’s a very talented young lady, but according to her record history, this is the first fight she caused.”

“She didn’t start the fight,” Alex argues, tapping his restless fingers on the desk, moving Henry’s name plaque as if it was in the wrong position. He sees Alex’s eyes glance at the pride flag on his desk, before meeting his eyes.

“According to Jane, she did. I also ha–”

“My niece doesn’t start fights,” Alex disagrees stubbornly.

“As I was going to say before you interrupted me, Mr. Claremont-Diaz, I was able to pull video footage from the recess. And your niece did in fact start it,” Henry says in a calm, cool teacher-like voice. Alex’s eyes twitch.

“Can I see it?” he hisses.

“Certainly,” Henry says. Part of him wants to show it to stubborn Alex, to see his face when he realises he was wrong, since he so strongly seems to disagree.

Henry pulls out his tablet from the drawer, opening the camera app, and rewinding it to the right moment. He turns the tablet towards Alex, who leans down to see the clip better. His dark curls nearly touch Henry’s face, a breeze skims to Henry’s nose, Alex smelling like jasmine fabric softener.

Henry presses play of the video footage, taken from the school front yard. There’s students around, but you can clearly see Elena standing alone next to the school building, when Jane walks to her. There’s no sound footage, but she says something that makes Elena’s eyebrows furrow and put hands on her hips. Jane says something else, and then Elena raises her hands and pushes Jane. 

Jane grabs Elena’s shoulders, trying to nudge her in return, but Elena’s stronger and pushes Jane to the ground. Next thing you see is Henry hurriedly running to them, pulling them apart.

Henry pulls the tablet back to his hands, straightening his back on the chair. “As you saw, Mr. Claremont-Diaz, your niece pushed Jane and started the fight, unprovoked.”

“She didn’t,” Alex argues, his knee drumming against the desk. Henry sighs deeply.

“Mr. Clare–”

“I meant, yeah she might have pushed her, but didn’t you see the way she looked at her? Or the other kids nearby? She probably said something to her, or the other kids. Elena told me she’s been bullied. That she’s been bullied since –” Alex looks seriously angry and heated, but something stops him, clearing his throat. “My sister has raised her well, and Elena knows you don’t need to take shit from anybody, and you should defend yourself. And that’s what she did.”

Henry feels a lump in his throat, but forces himself to swallow it. “As it may be, we have zero tolerance for violence in this school,” Henry says in an official tone.

“You’ve been here what, a day, and you’re already acting like you own the place?” Alex spits the words, eyes irritated. So long for the nice and friendly mentor Henry thought he’d have.

“Two days, actually,” Henry corrects, as a-matter-of-fact, not making any change in Alex’s annoyed eyes. Henry doesn’t mention that this is technically his first day of school. “I do have plenty of previous experience –”

“Right, whatever,” Alex interjects, looking away. It’s not hard to realize that he's really frustrated, and that Henry needs to find a way to cope with him for the rest of the school year.

“If you wouldn’t mind, we should have a chat with Elena,” Henry suggests. “It would be good to hear her side of the story.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay,” he nods. Henry stands up from his chair, but Alex is quicker. His fast legs are already at the door, opening the class door. Elena hops off the bench she’s sitting in. Jane sits on the bench on the other side, looking innocently at Henry. Alex offers his hand, Elena taking it and walks inside.

“Can you wait a moment, Jane? It won’t take much longer anymore,” Henry says, and she politely nods. Henry walks back to the classroom, Alex helping Elena to sit in the seat next to him.

“Elena,” Henry says in a calm tone, as he sits down. “Would you like to tell us what happened today, with Jane?”

Elena might be his sister’s daughter, but the family resemble is unbelievably similar. Her deep brown eyes with long eyelashes turn over to Alex, looking unsure and scared. Alex nods encouragingly, squeezing his hand with hers.

“Jane pushed me.”

“But did you push her first?”

“Hey,” Alex snaps, but Henry ignores him. Elena looks guilty, her other hand doing a twirl with one of her long, curly hairs.

“Elena, did Jane say something to you in recess?” Henry asks. Elena nods shyly. “Have the other students been saying things to you?” Again, another shy nod, more curls falling over her face. “Have you told anyone about this?”

Elena’s big brown eyes turn to her uncle, who looks so protectively over her that Henry could fall into his knees right there.

“As I said, she’s told me that the other kids pick up on her, usually on recess or breaks when teachers can’t see it,” Alex steps in when she looks too scared to say anything. Alex places his hand over Elena’s head, caressing her hair. “I don’t exactly have the evidence for it, and it never happens in my classes, but some of these parents are so up to their –” Alex looks at Elena, changing his words. “Um, anyway, they don’t believe that their precious, innocent kid could do something like that.”

“I’ll be sure to bring this up when I’ll have the parent meetings with my students,” Henry says, yet Alex doesn’t look that pleased.

“You’re gonna punish Jane too, right?”

“There’s no evidence she did anything, so according the rules –”

“The hell with rules!” Alex shouts, Elena’s eyes flashing to him disapprovingly.

“Uncle Alex,” Elena mutters in her innocent voice, tugging Alex’s coat sleeve. “You said a bad word.”

“I’ll put a dollar for the swear jar once we’re home, sweetie,” Alex answers, tone completely calmed down and sweet within seconds. Henry can tell how much Alex loves his niece, and would do anything to protect her. So he gets Alex, he really does. Alex’s disapproving frown looks back up at Henry. “Isn’t this wrong because you’re biased? You’re not exactly partial, because this is your daughter we’re talking about.”

“As I’m sure you’re aware, this school has only a few classes, and I do happen to be both of their teachers.”

“What about Nora?”

“Principal Holleran?” Henry gives it a thought. “I suppose I could notify her –”

“Oh, yeah. I’m not letting this go unnoticed.”

Henry looks at his face, then at his clenching teeth. “Noted.”

“That’s it? You’re doing nothing to punish Jane, or the others who have been bullying Elena?” Alex crosses his arms, impatiently and mad.

“Mr. Claremont-Diaz,” Henry scolds, giving a gesturing look over Alex’s niece. She doesn’t seem to pay any attention, maybe she’s so used to this unfiltered and colorful vocabulary. “I don’t take this subject lightly, and I have zero tolerance for bullying in my class, and I do intend to investigate this matter.”

“See that you do, Mr. Fox,” Alex says mockingly, rolling his eyes. “Come on, Elena, let’s go.” Alex helps her from the chair, taking Elena into his arms and storms out of the classroom. Henry takes a deep breath, sighing, wishing he would never have to his face again. He knows that’s not possible, but maybe he can find a way to work with him once he’s calmed down.

All Henry knows that this semester will be a very interesting one.

“Jane, do you want to tell me what happened at recess?” Henry asks once they’re walking back to their house. She looks thoughtfully to the streets, her hand playing with the wind.

“Nothing,” she replies quietly.

“Did you try to push Elena? I’m not going to be mad, honey. You can tell me the truth.”

“She said a mean word,” she whispers, cheerless and low-spirited. She stares at the square bushes next to the pavement, looking sad it makes Henry’s heart ache.

“I’m sorry, love,” Henry tries to cheer her up. “What did she call you?”

“She said I was a loser.”

“You’re not a loser, honey,” Henry comforts, his other hand trying to find her small hand to hold. “You are anything but that. You’re amazing, talented, and such a beautiful girl. Would a loser win first place in a mathematical competition in kindergarten? Or be so brave to move across the world to a new city?“

Jane still looks elsewhere but him, even when Henry’s hand tries to hold her hand. She avoids eye contact with him, not speaking anything else on their walk back.

Henry paces back to their house thinking that even if his niece didn’t start the fight, Jane could have reacted to being called names. Maybe part of Henry liked knowing that his daughter could fight back if necessary, even violence was never okay. He plans on having the conversation with Jane later today, maybe having to do the dishes for a week as a punishment.

As he steps to the street with the row of houses, he can’t help but to notice a familiar red pickup truck driving down the driveway. Henry’s eyes follow the car, turning right before his house, parking next to the driveway of Henry’s newly bought house.

It can’t be.

Jane lets out a small shaky breath and he realizes why: they both stare as Alex walks out his truck with a grocery bag in one hand, and Elena’s hand in the other. Elena playfully hops to the porch when Alex swings back to the car, forgetting something. Elena goes to the door handle, pulling it.

“Just a sec, mija, I think I forgot my pho–” Alex stops his sentence when his eyes lock to Henry’s. Alex looks at Henry for a second, blinks, then eyes go behind him, to Henry's house.

“No,” Alex slowly breathes when the realization hits. “You’re my neighbour? But Amy said –”

“Only good things, I hope,” Henry gives a fake, forced smile to him.

“Apparently, Amy can be wrong,” Alex mutters, his teeth clenched together again. He opens the car door, takes something from the seat before slamming it close.

He gives Henry a hard stare before going inside the house with Elena. So not only they worked together as teachers, Jane shared classes with his niece, and now they’re also next door neighbours. 

Henry thinks about Alex, and his change of wardrobe: his skin-tight cardigan, muscular arms around his niece, the nearly indecent skinny jeans.

Henry is so fucked.

The following day, after managing to leave Jane waiting outside the schoolyard for the bell to ring, Henry sees Principal Holleran in the hallway. She’s wearing a yellow pantsuit with her laptop, phone, and files of papers in her hands.

“Henry.”

“Yes, Principal Holleran?”

“Please, it’s Nora,” she corrects with a kind look.

“Right, sorry. Nora.”

“About the incident with your daughter and Elena,” she says. Henry nods. “Alex called me about it last night.”

“Of course he did.” He could just imagine Alex, after putting Elena to bed, maybe a bit tipsy with a glass of wine, calling Nora and ranting about Henry.

Typical small town behaviour, gossiping around.

“So, anyway, I was thinking. I want both of you to feel welcome here. I know it’s hard to move to a new city. It could be good if she got new friends, and if she and Elena could bury the hatchet, so to say. Maybe the two of them could spend time together. A play date or something.”

“A play date?”

“Yes, have them spend time together. I’m pretty sure they could become good friends despite the unfortunate incident. Elena.. ” Nora’s voice trails away, looking somewhere distant. “Well, let’s just say she has had a hard couple of months. I’m sure both of them could use a friend. I’m pretty sure they could become friends.”

Henry does agree Nora has a point. He wonders what happened with Elena, if it's linked to her bullying. If this town enjoys gossiping, he’ll be sure to find that out sooner than later.

“Right,” he says. The thought of having to spend more time with Alex doesn’t exactly tempt him, but he wants this place to feel more like home to Jane.

He would hate if she felt unwelcomed here, knowing everything she went through these last months. It’s stressful enough for Henry to think there is a chance they’ll be found, so he wants to give her a better chance of enjoying new home.

They deserve a fresh start. This could be the place they spend the rest of their lives, hopefully not having to move ever again. 

All he wants for his daughter is to have a normal life.

“Since his sister is out of town, Alex comes to pick her up after school,” Nora says, sounding like she wants to continue, but ends her sentence sort of in the air.

“All right, thanks. I’ll ask him.”

Henry spends the rest of the day teaching the class. He really loves teaching, the way the children’s faces lit up when he teaches something new, the way they enthusiastically raise their hands up, the way they are eager and curious for knowledge. It’s what makes it all worthwhile, being able to bold their tiny minds, affecting their futures.

He likes teaching first graders, and how he’ll spend the next years watching them grow and experiencing their development. This teacher spot was a permanent job – he was thankful for getting it, because his last job wasn’t easy to secure. He hated to leave his class, he’d been with his students for four years and grew attached to them. He left them a goodbye note, but hated how he couldn’t tell them beforehand leaving.

He does wonder at night what his students think about their teacher suddenly disappearing. He wonders what their excuse will be. But then again, he thinks it’s much better than them having to wonder why their teacher has bruises.  

The school bell rings as a sign for the school day ending. The children shout excitedly, packing up their bags with the study books and homework papers.

“All right, class. Remember your homework and read chapter two for tomorrow,” Henry raises his voice as they’re already focused on going home. He sees Jane at the back of the class talking with a boy – that he remembers being Amy’s niece. As the room clears of the screaming children, Jane lazily drags herself towards him with her school bag open, idly pushing her books inside.

“You need a new bag, love?” Henry asks as Jane seems to have difficulty with the zipper.

“Yes, dad,” she sighs dramatically, swinging the bag on the teacher’s desk, flipping over Henry’s name plaque.

“All right. We’ll go shopping this weekend, how’s that? You also need new clothes,” Henry points out, putting his own leather bag over his shoulder. He takes Jane’s open school bag, zipping it close, and her small hand.

“I want a dress,” Jane says decisively, as they step out of the classroom.

“Of course, love. I promise to buy you the most beautiful dress there is.” She stops her steps to stare at Henry.

“You promise?”

“I promise, honey. Can you promise me something in return?” he asks softly, kneeling in front of her. “I really think you and Elena could be good friends. What do you say about that?” he stares as she looks uncomfortable with the thought, her eyebrows furrowing. Henry pulls her into a protective hug. “I really think this will be good for us, love. I want you to make friends here. Elena could be your friend. Right?”

Jane doesn’t look pleased with the idea. She takes a deep exhale. “If I play with Elena, can I get a new dress?”

“Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, love,” Henry chuckles, standing up. He knows his daughter too well. Jane raises up her hand, Henry shaking hands with her for the deal.

Henry walks with her outside where school children are running around, some have their parents meeting them, some catching the school bus.

He quickly catches Elena, being wrapped in a tight hug by none other than Alex. He takes her into his loving arms, they’re laughing warmly until she whispers something to his ear. It makes Alex turn his glance directly at Henry.

Henry takes a breath and walks towards them.

“Elena tells me that you wanted to talk to me about something,” Alex grumbles.

“Ah, yes. I had a discussion with Principal Holleran and she suggested we should spend more time together.”

Alex places Elena down, resting hands down his side. His thick eyebrows arching, dimples showing, and a cocky smirk appears on his face.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

Henry blushes into a deep shade of pink, since Alex’s seductive grin doesn’t help at all, Alex’s hand land on his hips as if to pose. Not to mention he only seemed to wear small shorts today, even in the beginning of September. “What? No. That’s not what I meant –” Henry scratches his neck nervously, his fingers fumbling with his ID badge. ”I meant for Jane and Elena. It would be good if they spend more time together. So they could possibly become friends.”

Alex stares at him with subtle eyes, deliberate silence that seems to be too long. In any other circumstance it could feel awkward, but it doesn’t. There’s something about those deep, warm brown eyes that he can’t help but to drown into. It’s like Henry wants to discover every layer, every shade of brown, count every fraction of a star in his eyes.

“Daddy,” Jane’s graceful, innocent voice whispers while tucking at his coat sleeve. She tips her head with an angelic smile on her face. “Are you going to marry Alex?”

“What?” Henry croaks, bawled by her bold question. He locks eyes with Alex, who has an amused look on his face. “No, honey. I’m not going to marry him.”

“Why not?”

“W… we barely know each other,” Henry forces out a weak whimper, but Alex looks more amused than before. He crosses his arms, tilting back, frowning: Henry can’t tell if he’s offended or amused by her statement. But when a crooked smile appears on his face, it tells the answer. “You can’t marry someone you have only met twice, love,” he adds, feeling a warm blush spreading on his cheeks.

“Four times, actually,” Alex corrects, with an arrogant smug, the tip of his tongue peeking out. “We’ve met four times already. And I do believe people have married for much less.”

Henry totally ignores him and that stupid smile on his face. “Anyhow,” he clears his unusually dry throat. “About Elena and Jane?”

“A date sounds great,” Alex smacks his lips, with that stupid, arrogant smug on his face. Another clearly intended silence, obvious eyes on Henry. “For our girls,” he adds, teasingly, looking Henry up and down, his smile returning to its usual easiness. God, Henry’s in trouble.

“Wonderful. How about this weekend?” Henry suggests, trying to sound calm and cool, and not like he’s having a gay panic about how obscenely Alex checks him out.

“Sounds awesome. At your place?”

“Yeah, okay.” A pause, as Henry looks down at Elena who doesn’t even seem to pay any attention to their conversation, and tries to pick up rocks from the ground. “I can cook dinner. Does she have any special diets or allergies?”

Alex shakes his head. “Nope. You good. You want my number?”

“What?” Henry chuckles nervously, with warmed-up rosy cheeks.

“So I can call you if anything comes up? Also we’re next door neighbours. I feel like it’s a necessity.”

“Oh, I suppose you’re right,” Henry agrees. He flings his phone from his bag. It’s a new phone he barely had time to use yet and hopes Alex doesn’t notice that. He unlocks it, adding a new contact and offering it to him, letting Alex write his number.

“All right. Gotta run. Elena’s piano lessons are starting. See ya!” Alex waves in a haste, gives Henry’s phone back and jogs to his pickup truck with Elena.

Henry stares at his phone, and the new contact under the name of ‘Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑’.

Oh, Henry knows he’s in so much trouble.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week goes as Henry planned, he follows the school’s study plan, starting to teach the alphabet and easy first grade level mathematics. Jane has always been smart for her age, it’s proven once again when she has no trouble doing her math homework. She and Elena have a rocky start, because he can see she doesn’t like the idea that Elena is sitting so close to her. Jane is the shy introverted type, so it’s no surprise she avoids her, like the rest of her classmates. 

But Henry has a plan to get them to become friends. 

Because one of the good things about being a teacher is that you can pair up your students. The second day, he ‘randomly’ pairs all his students to paint the first letters of the alphabet together. 

Jane crosses her arms in disagreement, frustrated with the choice, but eventually goes along with it. He keeps doing it for the entire day, different assignments and pairing them up, until he starts to see the change. They bicker and fight over the pencils, which paint to choose, but very slowly, it starts to form a friendship between the girls. By the time of recess on second day, Henry sees them giggling together, playing hide and seek around the school playground.

“Nice job.” The voice startles him, catching Alex standing right next to him. He’s wearing a red running jacket with grey shorts, his curls tousled. He notices Alex’s fingers twiddle around a necklace with a key hanging out. “And just like that, they became friends.”

“Hardly.”

“You should give yourself some credit. They disliked each other the other day.”

“I suppose it’s hard to forgive when someone pushes you.”

Alex clenches his teeth, crossing his arms. “She’s really not a violent kid, you do know that right? It was all a misunderstanding.”

“Perhaps not, perhaps she’s just as stubborn as her –”  Henry cuts off, seeing Alex’s heightened stare on him. Henry clears his throat. “Anyhow, I hope that the more they spend time together, the better friends they will be.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Alex agrees, his shoulders lift in a careless bounce. “Spending more time together sounds like a great plan.”

An unrestrainable grin tugs at the corner of his mouth, Henry feeling a quick blush spreading his cheeks so he has to look away. He stares down at Alex’s chalk blue Adidas sneakers instead. Scuff marks have ruined the white soles of the shoes, and the leather has lost some of its brightness. He sees how worn out yet loved those shoes are by the looks of them. 

There’s a peaceful smile on Alex’s face when he meets his eyes, and he opens his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to say, gets interrupted by the school bell ringing.

“Okay, I better get my class starting. See you around, Henry,” Alex waves at him, before jogging back inside. 

He can’t help but to stare when he runs inside, the way his curls bounce and those grey shorts seem to compliment his.. figure.

Henry doesn’t spend the rest of the day contemplating if Alex wearing tight shorts is purely coincidental or not.

It doesn’t get any better on the other days either, because being co-workers, he can’t avoid Alex. He sees him in the hallways, in the teacher’s lounge, at every recess. If that wasn’t enough, he sees him living next door.

Under any normal situation, it would be fine. But because there's casual flirting and alluring looks Alex gives to Henry, it's anything but fine.

Henry is pretty sure Alex is doing it on purpose. Because one of the days, he catches Alex picking up the newspaper shirtless from his porch steps. The other morning he catches a glimpse of Alex in his house – not that he’s looking in the neighbour house, there just happens to be a big window displaying Alex's kitchen – where he seems to do all his morning yoga, shirtless once again, only in his tiny gym shorts. Alex stretches his hand, his tank top rides up enough to expose a view of his toned abdomen and a strip of dark hair from his belly button to the waistband of his shorts.

Henry admits to having a medium gay panic attack about that day. 

It doesn’t stop there, though. It’s also where he does all of his stretching before going for a jog, or any kind of work-out, which Alex seems to do a lot these days.

Just like everything else, he does his work-outs and chores shirtless, and part of Henry thinks Alex’s shorts are getting shorter every time.

And it’s absolutely, utterly tormenting Henry apart.

He does his best to avoid Alex at school, because he knows he can’t be shirtless there. It doesn’t mean he’s not trying to torture him other ways, because being a gym teacher as he is, Alex is entitled to wear a skintight t-shirt and somewhat indecent shorts.

And when Henry denies needing any help or mentoring from him – he catches Alex staring at him during recess, standing across the playground with the most curious look on his face. Henry has grown a habit of reading people, but when it comes to Alex, he has no idea what might be going through that curly head of his. 

It seems no matter where he is, if it’s during their lunch break, after school when he comes to pick up Elena, Alex is somewhere close by watching him. Henry keeps telling himself it’s a small town type of thing. He’s the brand new resident, after all, so it makes sense that all the teachers and the children want to have a chat with him.

But the thing is, they don’t really talk. Henry kind of assumes Alex would come talk to him, being his mentor teacher and all that, but over the course of the week, they don’t share more than a few obligatory greetings in the hallways. 

But the way he keeps looking at Henry whenever they pass by the hallways, or at the teachers lounge, smiling all contended, it’s almost as if –

No. It must be a figment of Henry’s imagination. There’s no possible way that he of all people would be interested in a guy like Henry – Alex could be straight for all he knows. Though the length of his shorts tells otherwise, or the way he glimpses at his rainbow ID badge.

It all leads up to Saturday morning: Henry puts on the kettle with eyes half-way open, when he just so happens to accidentally look out his kitchen window. He hears a noise, similar to a lawn mower engine coughing up. Instantly, his eyes glue to Alex on his front yard, mowing the grass shirtless.

Henry knows Texas is a hot state, and it’s not the same weather as in England at this time of year, but it’s getting utterly ridiculous. If Henry had a body like that, sure, he’d also be shirtless all the time. He notices the same necklace around his neck with a key that he’s seen Alex wearing – Henry already having wild theories about the meaning behind it. It clearly means a lot to him since he always keeps it around his neck.

But who on Earth mows their grass at 9:00am on a Saturday morning? It doesn’t help that this morning is awfully hot, and as Henry makes his tea and keeps glancing out the window, Alex gets dirtier, his skin slick with sweat.

There’s pieces of freshly cut grass on his chest, dirt around his calves and ankles, droplets of sweat dripping down his abs to his abdomen. For one short moment Alex stops and kneels to take a look at the lawn mower, so his perfectly thick ass is pointed directly at Henry. Right in front of Henry’s kitchen window.

He has to do it on purpose.

Alex seems to be fixing something in the lawn mower for a hot minute, and when Alex slowly, tormentingly stands up – his arm catches on the shorts. It twists his shorts so when he turns around, there's a clear imprint on his shorts, a certain... bump. It’s obvious how big Alex is, since shorts seemed to be his entire wardrobe, but the way the fabric dints, revealing his darkening happy trail on his lower stomach, nearly exposing –

Henry spills his barely touched tea, finding himself pacing towards the shower next to his bedroom. He knows Jane is still asleep, she never wakes up before 10 o’clock on the weekends. Still, he tiptoes to his bedroom and the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

He knows a shower is the best way, removing his pyjamas in a quick movement, feeling he’s already hard from the sweaty image of Alex. As he enters the shower, turning the water on, the image of shirtless Alex returns in a flash, and how good his dick looked in those red shorts. It’s what he keeps thinking about, even though he totally shouldn’t, this isn’t good for him – but it is good for him.

Henry places his hand around himself, starting a stimulating motion. He imagines Alex’s hand being there instead of his own, what his face would look like, what sounds Alex would let out. As the water pours down to his back, he fastens the jerking speed rhythm, finding himself panting and getting closer undeniably fast. He imagines how it would feel not only to have Alex’s hands, but his mouth, his hot tongue – causing Henry to let out a muffled whimper. He needs to be quiet, so he bites his own lip, when his imagination of Alex’s mouth gets him off rather quickly, making him come all over the shower floor.

Henry leans his head against the cold shower wall, catching his uneven breath. Satisfied and pleased, even without Alex, he takes deep breaths as he cleans himself. Henry turns the water to the coldest possible setting, the water being absolutely freezing, so he can collect himself and clear his head from all the dirty thoughts.

Henry knows Alex is ridiculously hot, and maybe there was some flirting and chemistry between them, but it doesn't mean anything. Even there is a chance Alex is interested in him, because Henry’s gaydar pretty much tells how obviously not straight he is, nothing could ever happen between them.

That’s what Henry keeps telling himself throughout the day when he makes breakfast for Jane and finds himself thinking about Alex and why he isn’t near his window, when they are at a grocery store buying the groceries for the play date, when he’s cleaning the apartment while Jane does her homework.

Alex probably even cleans his apartment shirtless. It makes Henry glance out the kitchen window again, but his house is surprisingly dimly lit. He takes a look out the driveway, car gone. A couple minutes later, his phone buzzes.

Elena’s pretty excited for tonight, a number under the name of ‘Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑’ writes.

Henry (1:02 pm)

She should be. I’m putting all my effort into this date.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (1:02 pm)

putting everything on this date, huh?

you mean you’ll want something out of it?

Henry stares at the text, with a mop in his hand. Then, Alex continues to write, the grey bubbles appearing under their chat.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (1:03 pm)

besides elena and jane becoming friends,

what are your other intentions out of this date?

Henry (1:04pm)

I’ll do anything to make them become friends.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (1:04 pm)

anything...? 😏😏 

Alex arrives right on time. They texted to meet at 5:00, and the doorbell rings exactly on the dot. Henry secretly wished Alex would cancel at the last minute, because after that mysterious flirting texts, he was an anxious mess. Why was Alex text-flirting with him all of sudden, when they barely talked at school? 

When he started prepping for the dinner, and made sure he had the ingredients for the cookies he planned baking together with the girls, part of him wished he could cancel this.

There’s no way out of it anymore.

Henry sprints to the door, past Jane who’s drawing in the living room. He opens the door and Alex immediately flashes an irresistible smile at him, tilting his head as he takes a look at his kitchen apron. Henry knows he looks messy since he did the cookie dough in a rush, not expecting them to be right on time.

“Hey,” Alex greets, waving his hand, the other in Elena’s hand. “Forgot we were coming?”

“No, no. It’s just – I started preparing the dinner,” he says, swiping his greasy forehead. “Please. Come in.”

“Thanks.” Alex walks in with Elena, who’s wearing a t-shirt with a smiling sun and bright yellow leggings. Alex, on the contrary, is wearing a white dress shirt (with too many open buttons) and dark green khaki pants.

Very much like a.. date outfit.

“Here,” Alex reaches a hand towards him, holding a wine bottle. “Thought we should have something nice to drink over dinner.”

“Oh.” Henry blinks, trying to put on a smile, awkwardly taking the wine bottle. “Thank you.”

“Nice place you got here.”

“Thank you. This way,” Henry guides them towards the living room. “Look who’s here, honey.” Jane raises her head from the coloring book. “Say hello to our guests, Jane.”

“Hello,” she says, barely a whisper, eyes instantly moving to Elena. Elena runs towards the coffee table, taking out paper and pens. 

Henry looks over Alex, who’s curiously studying the living room. Henry thinks about saying something, before he remembers that he was literally in the middle of cooking meat on the pan.

Henry dashes back to the kitchen, checking that the meat is fine, before turning the stove off. He casts a look over his shoulder, seeing Alex standing near Elena, who starts drawing next to Jane. Alex turns his head to Henry, meeting his eyes, and walks towards the kitchen.

Shit.

Alex eyes at the kitchen table that has been prepared for making the lasagna, the ingredients all over the table.

“You need a hand?” Alex asks, offering his help.

“Um, it’s fine. I just need to put the spaghetti layers and then it’s ready for the oven,” Henry explains. He was almost finished with everything in the recipe, except putting it all together.

“It’s really no trouble.” Alex walks closer, rolling up his sleeves. Alex’s shirt is dangerously white for such a task, but he stands next to Henry, taking the baking dish. Alex seems to know what he’s doing because they assemble the lasagna layers without much words, and luckily, Alex doesn’t get a splash of meat sauce on any of his clothes.

“They seem to be doing just fine,” Alex mutters when Henry puts the lasagna dish into the oven, closing the oven door. Henry looks back to the living room, seeing that they’re relaxedly talking while drawing together.

“That’s wonderful,” Henry says. Alex helps to clean out the kitchen and the counters, and Henry tells himself it is just him being a nice neighbour. 

While they wait for the lasagna to cook in the oven, Jane and Elena go to her room and she shows Elena all the toys. Henry knows Jane doesn’t currently have a lot of toys or books, but wants to start buying her more things once his salary starts to get going. Jane seems happy, she’s never been a child who complains about the lack of toys.

“How are the two of you settling in?” Alex asks, sounding actually curious, when they let the girls delve into their world of imagination, and Henry goes to settle the dinner table.

“Just fine. Probably need to buy a few things, and need to remember to unbox the last of my boxes,” Henry says, placing the dinner cloth across the table.

“That’s to be expected. There’s actually a nice furniture store not far away from here.”

“That’s good to know. Jane seems happy, too, which makes me relieved. I was so worried she wouldn’t like moving here.”

“Kids adapt to changes so fast. She’s gonna be fine,” Alex says warmly, when Henry walks to get plates from the kitchen. “And you’re settling in fine, too, I hope?”

Henry walks back with plates and cutlery, Alex leaning against the living room wall.

“Yeah,” he nods, starting to set the table with plates.

“I can’t imagine what it must be like to move to a whole other country,” Alex says quietly, as Henry tries to focus on the plates. “Can’t have been easy to do alone.”

“Thank you,” he answers, walking around the dinner table. “I didn’t do it all alone, though. My friends and family helped too.”

“They’re coming here too?”

Henry stops with his hands, and looks up at Alex. He looks so innocent and interested to know more. If only it was that easy.

“No, it’s just the two of us.”

“Oh. All right,” he nods. Alex looks thoughtful, but a hopeful expression appears on his face that makes Henry feel warm. “Well, I know a thing or two about living with a child. June sometimes jokes how I’m practically her second parent,” Alex laughs, but something makes him stop abruptly, and scratch his neck. ”Anyway, what I’m saying, I know how hard it can be.”

Henry wouldn’t have thought it that way, but it makes sense. He never saw anybody else in their house, not that he stalked Alex during these past days. Alex was always driving her to school and always picking up after. Henry wants to know why it’s not his sister, and where she might be, but he doesn’t want to be too nosy.

Henry if anyone knows a thing about not needing to know each detail of your neighbour.

Not soon after his alarm rings for the lasagna to be ready, the girls come running down.

“How does it taste?” Henry asks when there’s too long a silence of everyone eating. He’s overthinking that Alex might hate how it tastes. Elena raises her face to him.

“Better than mom’s,” she smiles happily, taking a messily forkful to her mouth. “And much better than uncle Alex’s.”

“Ow!” Alex snaps, pretending to be hurt, dramatically placing his hand over his chest. “That really hurts my feelings, Elena.”

Elena smirks as she keeps eating, her smile is so similar to Alex’s. She also has dimples, but smaller. Alex asks Elena about her piano lessons, which leads to a discussion about Jane’s hobbies. She used to play the violin, until she got bored of it. Henry tried to make her into sports, but since those didn’t seem to do much of anything either, he stopped trying to force her to have a hobby.

“There’s tons of after school activities,” Alex says when he slurps a piece of meat to his mouth. “I’m not sure if you’ve had the time to check them yet.”

“No, I really haven’t.”

“I’m sure Jane could find something to her liking,” Alex smiles at Jane. She stares down at her plate before at Henry.

“Only if you want to, Jane.”

Jane nods and continues to eat.

“You know, I was thinking,” Henry says, after they’ve almost all finished eating. “If the two of you would be interested in baking some cookies for dessert.”

Elena’s eyes bright up with excitement, and she drops the fork to the almost empty plate. “Cookies?” she asks, halfway standing up from the chair.

“You like cookies, Elena?”

“Yes!” she claps her hands together, giggling. “I loooove cookies.”

“What a surprise. Jane likes them too.”

“What a surprise indeed,” Alex rolls his eyes.

“Do you like chocolate cookies, Elena?”

“Yes!” Elena claps her hands more excitedly, the fork dropping to the ground.

“Elena,” Alex lets out a disapproving scowl. Elena turns to Alex with apologetic eyes, and manages to pick up the fork from the floor.

“Okay, let me clear the table and we can start making the cookies,” Henry says, standing up. Alex instantly stands up too, helping to collect their plates and glasses together. He brings them to the sink where Henry collapses into him.

“Sorry,” Henry mutters, cheeks flustered, as he walks back to the table, taking the lasagna dish. Alex helping to clear out the table is him simply being a good neighbour. Henry doesn’t care about it, not how he helps Elena when they start making the cookie dough. Not how he helps Jane to make heart shaped cookies saying they’re for the sake of Jane and Elena’s friendship.

Not when there's a piece of raw cookie dough on Alex’s cheeks that Elena wipes away with her cute little hands.

The sight isn’t at all adorable.

Jane and Elena happily eat their freshly baked cookies in the living room, and Henry puts on a Disney movie for them to watch.

“Where’d you put that wine bottle? How about we pop it open?” Alex asks when Henry takes the last of cookies out the oven with his mittens.

“Oh. I, um –” Henry stutters, not knowing why it’s such a difficult thing to say. “I don’t really drink.”

“Shit, Henry. I’m sorry.”

“It’s really okay.”

“It’s not, is it, though?” Alex rushes, with an apologetic smile. “God, I’m such an idiot. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s really nothing. You didn’t know.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have offered it to you. I – I feel really bad.”

“Please, stop. It’s fine. I can open it if you’d like to have a drink.”

“No,” he shakes his head, firmly. “I wouldn’t feel okay drinking in front of you.”

“I’m really fine with it, you know,” Henry assures, pouring the cookies on a plate.

“How long –” Alex stops himself, looking regretful. “I didn’t mean.. you don’t have to answer –”

“Nearly a year,” Henry replies with a faint smile.

“Wow. That’s great.”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugs his shoulders, staring at the cookies, noticing one of them in the shape of a heart. One of the ones Alex made.  

“I’m more than fine with tea,” Alex suggests, which causes Henry’s heart to skip a beat. The gorgeous stud in front of him, in a white dress shirt, wanting to have tea.

Henry might as well fall into his knees right in front of him.

“S-sure,” Henry stutters, cheeks pinkish. He takes tea bags from his cupboards, putting the kettle on. He avoids Alex’s eyes until they gather around the dining table. Jane and Elena are still watching the movie on the couch, giggling.

“Jane isn’t afraid of me, is she?” Alex asks, after taking a sip from his tea. Henry knows what he means, when she barely looked at him or said a word to Alex. “I mean, I know I’m a stranger.”

“Don’t take it personally. It’s...” Henry looks at his own hands on the dinner table. Talking about this doesn’t seem difficult at all. “She was diagnosed with autism when she was four. I thought she was just shy, and never really talked, but then she started having constant hand movements. Her pediatrician said she might have Rett syndrome, which will affect the way her brain develops. All the symptoms are there.”

“Oh,” Alex says. He stays quiet for a second. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay. She’s just a bit different than others. She might need more attention than others, and you need to be more patient with her. So it’ll take some time until she trusts someone new.”

“Right. I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

“It doesn’t change anything. I love her the same.”

Alex’s soft eyes meet his, and for a moment, Henry sinks in the warm feeling. It might be the hot tea in his throat, or how Alex seems to be so understanding and caring.

He imagines Alex’s hand reaching towards him across the table, but all he can focus on is his full lips that have just the slightest part between them, like words are constantly waiting to escape. His stare is interrupted when Jane runs to him, and hugs Henry’s knees.

“You alright there, love?”

She takes a look at Alex, and Henry leans into her level. “Can we have a sleepover?” Jane whispers to his ear.

“Oh, um, I’m – I would need to ask Elena’s mother.. or uncle about that,” he stutters. Alex looks interested, placing his teacup down. 

“Ask about what?”

“They want to have a sleepover.”

“That’s fine by me,” Alex smiles cheerfully. Of course it would be.

“Well.” Henry considers it a moment, but he can’t resist saying no to Jane or Alex. “I suppose a sleepover is okay. Elena can sleep in your room.” His eyes move back to Alex, as Jane runs back to the couch, joyfully announcing it to Elena. “I should have an extra mattress for her.”

“That’s fine. I think Elena’s gonna love it. It’s – it’s gonna be good for her.” He watches over his shoulder, as Elena’s happily laughing on the couch. “She doesn’t really have many friends.”

“I talked with Nora,” Henry says, and Alex’s head bounces back to him. “We plan to investigate the bullying matter closely. It’s never okay if someone’s being bullied.”

“Thank you, Henry. That means a lot.”

The girls finish watching the Disney movie, and while they watch a couple more cartoons, Henry with the help of Alex, carries the extra mattress to her room. 

Henry watches as the girls play with the little toys she has in her room, decorate and brush each other’s hair, and after a tiring game of hide and seek, they finally settle for bed.

“Thought they’d never fall asleep,” Alex sighs, as both of them watch the girls calmly sleep in their beds. Henry carefully closes the door.

“Elena’s one energetic child,” he says, walking down the stairs. “I think it’ll do good for Jane.”

“Yeah. I think it’ll work the other way around too.”

They walk downstairs, side by side, back to the dinner table. Henry serves another round of green tea, catching Alex eyeing the wine bottle he brought, but when Alex’s eyes meet his, they turn guilty. Henry never thought someone would respect his choice of not to drink this way.

Henry pours hot water into teacups, settles them down to the table and not too soon after, he learns how animated Alex is when he talks about things he likes, especially about Elena.

“Her dad left before she was born,” Alex explains, and there’s a spark in his eyes like he needs to talk about this with someone. “June had talked about divorce for a while, and that’s why I got back. I couldn’t live so far away from her, knowing what she went through. I came back for my sister and family, helped with her divorce and not soon after, Elena was born.” Alex’s hand fiddles around the teacup. “Besides, a bachelor's degree in law doesn’t do much around here.”

“You have a degree in law?” Henry raises his eyebrows.

“Yeah. Studied in NYU for four years, after high school. I thought.. I thought that was a life for me, but it was always here. In Chestnut Creek, with my family. Couple weeks after Elena was born, Nora asked me to be a substitute teacher. One class, and I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

“That’s wonderful,” Henry says with a fond smile. Alex’s eyes meet with him. “To find your passion in life.”

“I guess you’ve found yours, too.”

“Yes, pretty much so.”

“Yeah, there’s something I can’t quite explain about it. The way you can shape their small minds, affect them. It makes all worthwhile, doesn’t it?”

“It really does.” Henry pauses for a moment, taking a sip from his tea. “You mind telling what happened to the teacher I replaced?”

“Well, she also found her passion in life, which apparently was running away with a traveling salesman. Don’t say this to others, but I’m pretty sure she got pregnant and that’s the reason she took off with him.”

Henry takes another sip from his tea, that’s becoming cold. “Oh. Right. I won’t.”

“Small towns like to gossip,” Alex smiles.

“Undoubtedly.”

For a moment they stay quiet, and there’s a warm and cosy atmosphere in the air. He wonders if Alex stays over, or if he goes home. He’s not sure if he trusts Henry enough to let his niece stay over.

“Is Jane’s mom back in the UK?” Alex asks, but doesn’t sound nosy. His eyes look understanding, if Henry isn’t comfortable talking about the subject, he doesn’t need to answer. 

But Alex is one of the first people who he really feels comfortable enough to talk about this.

“I adopted her when she was six months old,” Henry reveals, and Alex looks surprised. He’s not sure why Alex is so surprised. Maybe he really thought Jane was his biological daughter, and it makes Henry wonder if there was a moment Alex thought Henry was straight. “I’ve always known I wanted children, and I’ve been working with kids almost all my teen and adult life. I volunteered in an orphanage after school hours, and one day a baby was brought there. Her parents had died in an accident, and she had nowhere to go. The moment I saw her, I felt so much love for her. I took care of her for a couple of months in the orphanage, until I signed the adoption papers. I knew it was going to be hard being a single father, that’s what everyone said, but I haven’t regretted it at all. I love her so much and can’t imagine my life without her.”

“I’m glad she has you as her father,” Alex says warmly, a smile on his lips. “Is that why you became a teacher?”

“Yeah. I like to have a positive influence on children and their future,” Henry answers, Alex’s eyes brightening as in awe. Like he didn’t except such an inspirational answer.

“Totally agree,” Alex nods, placing his hand around the teacup. “So we both have pretty important jobs as teachers, don’t we?”

“I suppose so.” 

“I hope we can be friends,” Alex says quietly, but there’s a twist in his eyes Henry can’t read. “I would hate to see you become lonely without your family and friends here.”

“It’s better this way,” Henry says without thinking. “I mean, being here with Jane. I – it’s what’s best for us.”

“I didn’t mean to.. I didn’t mean to sound nosy or anything. I don’t need to know what happened,” Alex says, genuinely meaning his words. Henry sees it in his kind eyes, that he has no need to know, even Alex probably has a theory or two of his own.

Henry knows what this looks like. Single father leaving everything and everyone behind to move across the world with his daughter. Nobody does that lightly, or without a good reason.

Henry stares at the round table, the wooden carvings on it, his finger tracing one of the lines. “I thought I loved him,” he whispers. The words flood out of him so naturally, he never imagined the words coming out of him, saying them to Alex of all people. He stares at the wooden circle, not regretting he said it. Part of him needs to say this, needs these words to be said out loud. “I really thought he loved me.”

“Henry,” Alex whispers back. He can’t look at his face. He sounds apologetic, though he doesn’t have anything to apologize for.

“I should have noticed the signs, I should have ended it sooner, so he  –” he stops, to glance at Alex. If he’s repulsed, if he’s uncomfortable, if he’s about to run out the door.

But no. Alex ... just smiles at him. Not reacting to the fact Henry is sharing one of his biggest secret with him.

“Sometimes we love people who are wrong for us,” he says quietly, experience behind his compassionate eyes. “Sometimes we think we can change someone who can’t be changed.”

“Still, I can’t forgive myself that I stayed with him for so long. I can’t believe I thought he would be different. I.. can’t believe I believed when he said he wouldn’t do it again.”

Alex’s hand reaches out to him, and instinctively, Henry pulls it back.

“Sorry.”

“I should have known better,” Henry mutters, staring at the hand that says out of reach. So different from the other hand. “I should have left him before things got too far.”

“Henry, I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”

“What if.. what if he’d done something to Jane?” His voice breaks, heart not handling the thought. “He could have, he nearly did –”

“Henry, nothing bad will happen to you or Jane,” Alex promises, with a pure heart. “As long as I’m around, I’m not letting anyone hurt you.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt.

“Alex...”

“You can move on,” he says. “You’re allowed to move on. That’s the best thing you can do, forget him and what happened.”

“I.. I don’t know how.”

”I know it’s not going to be easy, but.. if you allow me, if you let me – I can help you with that.”

Henry looks up. Everything is pulling towards him, towards Alex – there’s nothing indicating anything but kindness in his eyes. So much comfort and safety just radiating out of him, all Henry wants to do is absorb himself in it. He wants to move on, more than anything.

He’s sure he could do that with Alex.

He never thought he could meet anyone like him.

“You’re safe here, Henry, I promise you that. Both of you.” Alex reaches his hand out, slowly, cautiously. His fingertip stops just before Henry’s, looking for confirmation. Henry slightly smiles, and Alex’s finger brushes him. Henry lets his fingers find their way around him, around his hand, letting them intertwine together.

Holding hands with him, just for a moment, feels like he can move on.

He never thought holding someone’s hands could feel like this, a little sense of peace washes over him. Henry stares at him, feeling like he could fall for those warmhearted eyes. Henry bites his lip, trying to look away.

“I’m really glad Elena and Jane became friends,” Alex says after a while, eyes still on him.

“Me too.” 

A soft smile appears on his face. “I’m sure you and Jane will have a great life in Austin.”

“Thank you, Alex,” Henry answers, Alex tenderly squeezing their hands.

Henry isn’t sure how much time passes, how much time goes by and they just stay there like that. Hands together, eyes staring into each other, no discomfort of any sort. He doesn’t have a need to move his hand away, or look anywhere else than his deep brown eyes. Alex’s thumb caresses on his, and there’s a rush of warmth that he just wants to soak himself in.

It’s not until he hears a branch scratch against the kitchen window, waking him up from the daydream.

“I should probably check on the girls,” Henry coughs up. He looks at their hands, still intertwined.

“Right, yeah.”

Henry gives him a half of a smile when he leaps from the chair. Alex follows him quickly behind, up the stairs to Jane’s bedroom. He stops by the door, slowly creaking the door open. 

It’s dark, but he sees the shadow of Jane’s bed, squeezing a teddy bear in her arms. He looks at the mattress on the ground, Elena sleeping with her hands over her head, legs in X position.

Both of them asleep, safe and sound.

Henry carefully closes the door behind him, but he bumps into Alex’s back, since he was leaning in to have a peek. He collapses into Alex’s chest right behind him.

“Oh, sorry,” Alex apologies, moving away, Henry feeling his cheeks gaining a rosy color.

“It’s okay. I should.. um –” he tries to think of what to say. He points to the stairs, both of them descending the stairs. Now, back at the hallway, there seems to be some strange heaviness in the air.

“Do you want to –?” Henry asks, hand gesturing to the living room. The words linger in the air, Alex staring at him. He can’t read his face, or his expression. 

He lives just next door, so if something happened, if Elena had a nightmare, Henry could go get him.

“Henry,” Alex murmurs, voice strained, but yet so fragile. He’s trying to say something, but his mouth doesn’t seem to work. It’s like he’s struggling with something. It’s not until Alex reaches out for his hand once more, that Henry understands what’s happening.

Why Alex stands the way he does, why his eyes soften, why Henry’s heart begins to race faster when their hands find each other. Like a magnet, Henry finds himself pulled by his side.

Henry denied having any feelings for him whatsoever, but when he is this close to him, all of the rational thoughts seem to be flown out the window.

Maybe he knew it from the start, the first moment Henry saw him stepping out his pickup truck. Maybe now in this soft moment he finally realizes how drawn to Alex he is, and everything about him: his deep brown eyes, his wild curls, his dimples, his mouth.

The last part seems to stick with him, as Henry’s eyes lock on his lucious and full lips. Alex is radiantly and utterly beautiful, the most beautiful man he’s ever witnessed – the way his cheeks have a delicate bloom in them, his red appealing lips, the way they’re slightly parted.

His warm breath on Henry’s face, just inches away from him.

Everything has led up to this moment. Maybe this could be a reward from the struggles, it certainly feels so. Maybe Henry could find some strength to move on, to find someone who could treat him better.

Maybe he could fall in love with someone like Alex Claremont-Diaz.

Alex casts a look under his lashes, when a hand lands on Henry’s waist. Maybe because it’s the same spot where he used to grab him, maybe it’s because Alex’s hand slides on his sensitive shoulder where a bruise is still healing – causing the reality to come back in an unpleasant flash.

Something tedious twists in the pit of his stomach. Henry hears a distant slap, and suddenly he’s back in his old flat in London, without escape, without a way out.

Henry sees the ghost of the wicked smile that was on his face, how his breath smelled of old beer, the way he became familiar with the back of his hand more times than anyone ever should. 

Panic and fear crawl into Henry when Alex leans in. He grants that fear and panic to swim, letting it consume every part of him.

Just like that, and all he can think about is how he can’t do this.

“Um,” Henry slips out when his lips nearly touch his, pulling further away. Alex’s eyes widen with realization, hands up in the air. “I should – I mean.. it’s getting late.”

Alex awkwardly nods, regret filling his eyes. “Right, yeah. Totally. Sorry, I –” he stammers, taking a couple cautious steps back. Henry can’t stare at the guilty look on his face, so he swirls to the living room’s way.

“You can sleep on the couch, if you want. There’s blankets and extra pillows on the drawers under the TV stand,” Henry mutters, looking everywhere else but him, but manages to glimpse the visible disappointment in Alex’s eyes.

“So, er, good night.”

“Good night.”

Henry avoids his eyes when he sprints up to his bedroom, but he can’t seem to shake the look on Alex’s face when Henry pulled away.

Maybe this is better. Maybe this was what always meant to happen.

Maybe Henry was never meant to find anyone else, maybe he was never meant to achieve happiness – never deserving to be with someone Alex. 

Chapter Text

Henry wakes up the next morning in his own bed. He turns to take a look at the alarm clock, and it’s not even 6:30 am yet. He still doesn’t sleep very well in this house, so waking up this hour isn’t exactly unexpected. There is still a part in him that would presumably never go away, knowing that there’s always a chance, no matter how slight, that he'll find them.

Henry tosses and turns in his bed, feels a headache kicking in, and for some reason there’s an uncomfortable twist in his stomach. Henry eventually jumps off his bed, tiptoeing to the bathroom, past the couple of empty boxes in the corner he meant to throw in the trash.

In a quick flash, Henry is reminded of Jane and Elena, their sleepover, so he cautiously steps out of the bedroom. Jane’s door is on the other side of the corridor, Henry slowly creeping it open. He sees Jane in deep sleep in her bed, Elena calmly sleeping on the air-mattress next to her.

After closing the door, he sneaks downstairs. He walks through the living room, noticing his couch – when all of it comes back.

A peek of dark curls appear between the couch pillows, he’s sleeping in what looks like an uncomfortable position with his hands thrown over the pillows, one of his knees up. He wonders how anyone could sleep like that.

Henry gulps nervously at the sight. So Alex stayed over. He understands why he would stay, for Elena. If something happened, he was close by. After all, Henry was a guy he barely knew.

He sprints past the couch to the kitchen. He did most of the cleaning last night and the dishes, so the kitchen looks clean and tidy. He decides to brew himself tea first, hoping that Alex doesn’t wake up. He sips his morning tea, wild thoughts consuming him, staring at the curls peeking over the couch, and the soft snore that fills the room.

Henry needs to figure out this thing – whatever it might be – with the man who’s currently sleeping on his couch. He thinks about last night, remembering feeling good and safe with Alex, which he hasn’t felt in a very long time. 

But like always, Henry sabotaged the tiniest bit of happiness he could have. His brains stopped what they thought could be something dangerous, something that might get his heart broken, being the reason he pulled back from the kiss. 

It doesn’t make him stop thinking about Alex, rather the opposite. The way Alex looked at him last night, the way his lips were so close to his own.

How badly he wanted to kiss him. 

Henry shakes his head with the thought, trying to do everything to stop thinking about it. It wasn’t a big deal, he’s had crushes before, so he can get over it. That is what Henry keeps telling himself when he starts preparing breakfast, slowly, knowing his daughter isn’t an early bird on the weekends. 

Henry turns on the stove, taking a pan, spraying it with food oil. He decides to make scrambled eggs, but the image of Alex comes back in a matter of seconds. He cracks the eggs on the sizzling pan, not being able to stop thinking about Alex.

He tries to focus on making the most perfect scrambled eggs, with a teacup in his hand, when he hears a pillow rustling and a blanket falling over to the floor.

Fuck.

Henry keeps his focus on the pan, stirring the eggs with his spatula. He hears someone yawning, standing up from the couch. He fixes his eyes on the yellow mixture, folding and stirring the eggs, not the man who walks to the kitchen.

But Henry is only a man. When he hears someone’s bare feet tapping to the kitchen, he has to turn around.

Alex is wearing last night’s clothes, just a little bit loose and rugged. He has wild bed hair, all tousled and messy, a shadow of pearl stubble on his jaw. Even when he just woke up, he looks too damn cute.

Alex’s drowsy eyes meet him within seconds, and Henry instantly looks away.

“Good morning,” Alex yawns again, stretching his arms.

“Good morning,” Henry says back, but something sizzles so he spins back to the pan. He flips the scrambled eggs, switching the stove to lower heat.

There’s an awkward silence in the air, odd tension hanging between them. He listens as Alex pulls a chair, sitting on the kitchen side table. Henry pours the cooked scrambled eggs to a plate, cracking another set of eggs to the pan, sizzling again.

Henry casts a look over his shoulder, seeing Alex staring down the table with a blank expression. “I don’t have coffee,” Henry says, Alex briefly giving him a look, before his gaze shifts back to the kitchen table. “I don’t really drink it, so –”

“It’s okay,” Alex interrupts. “Tea is also fine by me. Anything with caffeine, really.”

Henry stirs the eggs a couple times, before he goes to his kettle.

“Any favorite? Black, green, herbal?” Henry asks out of a habit, as he browses through his tea cabinet. ”I also have some bits left of chai tea that my sister got me as a gift.” Henry looks back at Alex, his hand inside the tea cabinet. There’s an amused look on Alex’s face.

“You really like tea, don’t you?” He says, mouth spreading into a smile that makes Henry’s knees tremble. “But no, I don’t have a favorite. You can choose.”

Henry takes a Yorkshire black tea bag, pours the water into a cup. He feels Alex’s eyes watching him when he makes him the tea. He opens the fridge and takes the milk, before he realizes that Alex probably doesn’t like milk in his tea.

“Do you take milk with it?”

“Sure.”

“It’s much better with milk,” Henry explains, pouring a splash of milk to the tea. “Especially if you haven’t drank much of black tea, it helps with the bitterness and softens the flavor.”

Alex’s eyes stare at him when he places the teacup in front of him.

“Thank you,” Alex says, eyes locked with him. Henry has to turn around to the pan because his legs are getting weak by the second the way Alex looks at him. He finishes doing the last patch of scrambled eggs, taking a look at the clock in the microwave. It’s 7:07.

Henry settles the table with the plates ready for the girls, takes a mug of orange juice from the fridge, and a bowl of blueberries and strawberries. He avoids Alex’s gaze as best as he can, even he can feel Alex watching his every step when he settles the table for breakfast.

Alex takes a sip from his tea, nods, and then clears his throat. “About last night,” he starts.

Oh-uh.

Henry knows where this is going. He awkwardly stops by the side of the table.

“You don’t have to, it’s fine,” Henry starts, voice weak.

“I need you to know that I didn’t mean to do that. You know that right?” Alex says, earnestly. The guilt is so clear in his face it’s almost unbearable to look at. “I never wanted to make you feel like –”

Someone runs down the flight of stairs that makes Alex stop his sentence and swirl his head to Jane and Elena, giggling as they run to the kitchen side by side.

“No running, girls,” Alex rushes before Henry, and the girls stop by the round table with big grins on their faces.

“Good morning, love,” Henry greets Jane with a smile. “Good morning, Elena. I hope you slept well?”

“Yes,” she nods, her ponytail on the loose.

“I made some breakfast. You wouldn’t happen to like scrambled eggs?”

“Yes!” Jane shouts excitedly.

“Scrambled eggs?” Elena asks curiously, finger in her mouth, with an excited smile. “Uncle Alex likes them too.”

She smiles at Alex, Henry trying to avoid looking at him.

“Allright, have a seat, love.” Henry helps Jane on the seat, Elena sitting next to Alex. 

He takes out orange juice and fills their glasses, as they both start eating with their bare hands.

“Mija,” Alex mutters, giving Elena a look. She takes the fork next to the plate, starting to eat with the fork. Jane follows her example, taking her fork.

Henry can’t seem to have any appetite to eat, just leaning against the cupboards while sipping his tea, watching Jane and Elena eat their breakfast, fighting over who gets the last strawberry. He finds comfort that they seem to be on better terms now, looking like they’re close friends.

He clutches the teacup in his hands when Alex gives him a soft look, tousling Elena’s hair.

“So, Elena, did you have fun?” 

She nods cheerfully. “Yes.”

“That’s great. Maybe later you could show your dollhouse to Jane.”

Elena claps her hands excitedly, Henry raising his eyebrows, Alex’s eyes try to meet him, but Henry keeps avoiding his gaze, looking at Jane.

“Yes, yes,” Elena giggles. Again, Alex tries to find his eyes that don’t seem to move from Jane. “You want to see my dollhouse?”

“Daddy, can I?”

“Jane, you should get dressed up,” Henry says instead, placing his hand on the back of her chair.

“But dad, a dollhouse –”

“We have plans today, don’t we, Jane?” Henry tries. Jane tilts her head in confusion. “We’ll go call grandma, remember?”

“Granny!” Jane shouts, jumping down the chair, running to the stairs.

“No running on the stairs!” Henry calls after her. He shares a look with Alex, looking simultaneously confused and absentminded.

“I have to, um –” Henry stutters, but never finishes his sentence because he can’t come up with any better excuse, just running after Jane. 

He helps her choose the clothes for the day, reminds her to brush her teeth and braids her hair. He hopes it takes long enough time for Alex to get the hint to leave, but when they walk back downstairs, he hears Elena running around the living room.

Henry being too scared and a coward, he somehow manages to slip out the front door with Jane, not having to encounter Alex.

Henry noticed two bikes in the empty garage the other day, knowing they’re the best way without his rented car. He helps Jane to a smaller bike and while he puts on her helmet, she looks at him with her big bright eyes. 

“Daddy, why are we running away?”

“We’re not, honey. We’re going to have a nice bike ride and call granny like we planned.”

“Elena wants to show her dolls,” Jane says, adjusting herself on the bike. This was the situation Henry didn’t imagine happening, them actually becoming friends. In any normal situation it would be fine, but now it means he has to face Alex again.

And he just can’t bear to see that guilty puppy eyed face of his.

“Can I go see them after talking with granny?”

“Sure, love,” Henry agrees forcefully, trying to smile at her. She doesn’t seem to notice it, and Henry quickly hops on the other bike when Jane paddles fast with her bike. He rides his bike without knowledge where exactly they are going, but it doesn’t matter.

As long as they’re far enough to not to connect where they are currently living. After an hour riding with the bikes, Jane starts to get antsy, he pulls over to the next phone booth he sees down the road.

“Are you sure you’re okay, love?” His mom asks after he let Jane talk with her. He can hear the concern in her voice, but he focuses his gaze on Jane who’s currently trying to tear one of the ads from the phone booth’s wall.

“Yes, mum. I’m fine. We’re fine.”

“That’s good.“ There’s a calculated pause. “I haven’t heard anything from –”

Henry looks at his watch. Nearly a minute. “I have to end the call, mum.”

“Right, yes, of course. I’ll tell Bea you called. She misses you.”

“I miss her too, but this is what’s best.”

“I know that, Henry. I just wish it wouldn’t have to be this way.“

“You knew this was the only option.” Henry cautiously checks his watch. “I really need to end this call. I’ll call you again next week, okay?”

“Okay, darling. Stay safe. I miss you. I love you so much.“

“I love you too, mum,” Henry says, patting Jane’s head. “Wanna say bye to granny, Jane?”

She shakes her head, opening the phone booth door. “Jane says bye. I have to go now. Love you, mum.”

He hears his mom starting to say something, breaking his heart that he has to end the call and doesn’t have a chance to say proper bye to his mom. Henry follows Jane out the phone booth, skipping towards their bikes.

“Why do we have to go so far to talk to granny?” Jane mutters with confusion.

“The phone lines don’t work where we live now,” Henry lies, and hates lying to her. Jane seems to believe it, and he helps her with her bike helmet.

“Can I go see Elena now?”

“I was thinking we could go eat somewhere first. How does that sound?”

Jane tilts her head. Henry fixes the piece of hair falling over her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. 

“Fine,” she sighs dramatically.

They find a restaurant near a gas station. Henry missed his mom, his family and friends – and he wishes he could have more time to talk with them. But it’s too risky. He’s not sure if the fear ever fully goes away, without a doubt it’s going to stay forever at the back of his head. That one slip, one mistake, and they’ll be found.

And he doesn’t want Jane to experience that ever again. She doesn’t see the nightmares anymore, and she’s coming back to her usual, funny, bright self. She doesn’t look scared or nervous, and this move has already done good things for her.

She can move on, so can Henry.

The next morning, there’s a soft, careful knock at Henry’s classroom door, interrupting his train of thoughts. Henry looks past his desk, seeing Alex’s curly head peeking out. He’s wearing a red Adidas tracksuit, surprisingly long and loose.

“Hey,” he waves faintly, exchanging a weighty glance. “You got a minute?”

“Sure. Come on in.”

Alex breezes inside, taking an awfully long look at his classroom like it’s his first time here. It has brand new drawings and paintings drawn by the children, and he has made the teacher’s desk more into his own, but it’s not like Henry has made any drastic changes.

“I, uh, wanted to apologize,” Alex starts, searching for Henry’s face with an apologetic smile. His brows frown, as he slides his hands into his pockets. “About the other night. I should have apologized sooner, and I’ve been feeling bad about it ever since. I... I didn’t mean to do that or make you feel uncomfortable. I’m sorry.”

The apology knocks him off balance a little. Henry’s baffled, his heart lurching. He’s not used to getting apologies – sincere apologies – from people, so it gets him tongue-tied instead. 

Henry never imagined being so raw and vulnerable with someone like Alex the other night, not in a way he’s used to. But there was something about him that made Henry want to open up, something so soothing and warm that he had no regrets whatsoever. The only thing he couldn’t stop thinking about was the almost kiss. It totally did not keep him awake at night, and what would have happened if Henry wasn’t a coward.

Henry sees the hurt and concern that’s written all over Alex’s face. He looks guilty as hell, like he burned Henry’s house down. Alex clears his throat, chewing his lip. “So, yeah. I totally don’t expect you to forgive me, but I was hoping we could at least be friends.”

Oh.

Oh.

That deep guilt spreading in his brown eyes tells everything Henry needs to know, hating how that look engraves to his memory. He can see the train of thoughts going through Alex’s mind: Maybe he thinks Henry doesn’t like him that way, maybe Alex thinks he doesn’t like men at all.

The thought steals a breath from his lungs.

“Alex –” Henry’s starts, but his sentence is cut off by the ringing of the school bell. Energic Jane runs back inside the classroom, followed by the rest of his students.

“Hia there, Jane,” Alex smiles, but it looks forced, Jane barely notices him as she bolts to her desk seat. Alex’s eyes quickly glance at Henry, a little crease appearing between his eyebrows. “I’m not gonna keep the kids waiting. See you around, yeah?”

There’s a lump in Henry’s throat. He watches Alex leave, having a massive urge to run after him, but the students in front of him are waiting for the next class to start.

Somehow, he’s able to collect himself and start the second class of the day like Alex never visited him.

“What’s his deal?” Henry asks, taking his steaming teacup and placing his lunch box on the round table. Nora bites down her chicken sandwich, nibbling it while standing up.

“Who?”

Henry points at the teacher’s lounge door that just closed. Alex seemed to avoid him ever since their conversation this morning, and as soon as he saw Henry at the teacher’s lounge, he sprinted out the door.

“Alex.”

“Oh.” Nora reaches out for napkins, blowing her nose. ”He’s always been like that, as long as I’ve known him. Always running around, doing everything for everyone but never taking the time for himself,” she says, half of a chicken piece falling over her yellow blouse. “But he loves the kids, oh boy does he love them, and the kids love Alex. Did you know that he single-handedly started a nonprofit organization to collect money for the underprivileged families?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, around five years ago. Because of Alex we have an annual Fall Festival. All the proceeds from the ticket and food sales go to low income families.”

“That’s amazing,” Henry replies with a smile. He’s seen the way Alex is, and it doesn’t surprise Henry that he has a heart full of gold. He already knows this very well.

“Speaking of which, we’ll have each class do something for the festival that’s in two weeks. Like some students do decorations, some have a performance, you know the drill.”

“That’s fine by me. Is it a big festival?”

“Not really, it’s just a dance party for the school, but Alex always takes it way too seriously,” Nora explains, sitting down with her sandwich. “Okay. Let’s see. You could do decorations for the stage and dancing floor, if that’s okay?”

“That’s more than okay. I’ll add it to my teaching plan.”

“Thanks, Henry.”

“No problem,” he says, taking out his calendar and adding it to his notes.

“Henry,” Nora says, sauce falling over her red lips. He raises his head from his calendar. “Something tells me that wasn’t what you meant to ask, about Alex.”

“Um.” He watches Nora wipe her mouth with a napkin, smudging her red lipstick. In his previous private school, he never could have pictured the sight: the principal messily eating a sandwich in front of him, talking about boys of all things. “Well, no, I suppose I was just wondering –” Henry stops himself, Nora throwing the squeezed napkin to the bin.

“Yeah?” She arches her eyebrows curiously.

“Is he.. like.. dating anyone?”

Nora turns to him slowly, with a biggest grin on her face. “Henry, did you just ask –”

“Never mind that,” he grumbles, embarrassed, cheeks red. He takes a forkful of his poorly prepared Caesar salad to hide his blush.

Nora adjusts her sitting position on the chair in front of him, resting her face on her elbows. “He’s not dating anyone,” she whispers, eyes sweeping the teacher’s lounge, even though they both know they’re the only ones there. “He hasn’t really dated anyone since he moved back. June and I tried to set him up, but nothing ever lasted more than one date. Alex started to focus on the kids, and I’ve been wanting to.. well, do something about it. He’s really a great and such loving guy, and I hate to see him all alone.“ Her nail traces a crooked line on the table. ”I think you two could be good together.”

“That’s not what I –” Henry struggles out, his face red all over to the point of his ears. “I just meant...”

“I know what you just meant, Henry,” she cackles cheerfully. “But I really mean it. He’s a great guy, and I think he likes you.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Do you know that he called me the very first night you got here, telling me all about you?”

“He did?”

“Yeah, and every time we talk, no matter what we’re talking about, the conversation always seems to lead to you. He’s never talked about anyone this much. So trust me when I say, he likes you.”

“I just...” Henry lets out a weak huff. Nora has been more than welcoming to him, like everyone in Chestnut Creek, and he feels like he could totally open up to her about everything. Just like he feels comfortable telling Alex absolutely everything, which for a second, is a scary thought. “I’ve had my heart broken too many times to know better than to throw myself into a new relationship this quickly.. especially after my last break-up, that didn’t go so well.”

“I know it can feel scary,” Nora smiles encouragingly. “But sometimes we have to jump and hope you’re not standing on a cliff. Sometimes.. taking the leap really is worth it.” Nora reaches her hand to him, her index finger tapping on his palm. “I really mean it, Henry. You two could be very happy together.”

That’s not it, Henry wants to say back. He’s not afraid about dating Alex, or even relationship with Alex. He’s afraid that if he gets a chance, even the smallest chance for happiness – something will come to ruin it. It’s always been like that, he has never been able to fully enjoy his happiness, before it’s taken from him.

In the end, he always gets his heart broken.

But when he thinks about Alex, his kind eyes and that unselfish heart of his, it makes his heart race faster. The simple thought of Alex makes him feel warm, wants to discover that fuzzy feeling further, wants to know how soft his lips would taste like.

The door suddenly creaks open, making Henry’s poor heart race, but it’s Mr. Shrivistava. He’s halfway relieved it wasn’t Alex.

“Just promise you’ll at least consider my advice, won’t you?” Nora winks before she leaps up, adjusts her blouse and walks out the teacher’s lounge.

Henry does consider her advice. It’s the only thing he can do, because he can’t stop thinking about Alex. He thinks about the look of pure concern on his when he thought he made a step too far. He thinks about the guilty look on his face this morning when he came to apologize. 

He thinks about Alex when he’s teaching his students, when he sees Elena raising her hand to answer a question.

“Mr. Fox?”

“Yes?” Henry blinks his eyes back, the pencil in his hand.

“Was my answer correct?”

Henry stares at the brown eyes and the curls on her ponytail. “Yes, Elena, it was correct.”

She claps her hands excitedly, Jane giving her a warm smile. Watching Elena being happy, he cannot stop thinking about Alex having the same infectious grin when he was smiling at him, and everything it made Henry feel. 

“Alex, wait.”

Henry shouldn’t be running after him, but the way Alex avoided him all day and wouldn’t look at him while picking up Elena, was becoming too much to bear. Henry stops his steps halfway, looking unsure.

“What is it? You need something?” He asks, voice worried. Of course Alex would assume the only reason Henry comes to talk to him is because he needs something. Henry casts a look behind him, seeing Jane politely waiting by the schoolsteps with her headphones on.

“About earlier today, when you came to the classroom,” Henry starts, hesitating.

“Look, it’s fine. I thought there was... anyway, it’s really not a big deal if you don’t –” Alex glances at the rainbow ID badge around Henry’s neck, his brows frowning with confusion. “I didn’t mean to ruin this.”

“Alex, you haven’t ruined anything.”

“I did, and I see the way you look at me. I hate that I tried to.. just because I misread the signals. God, I wish I could take it back.”

Henry doesn’t know what else to say, how else to convince him. It wasn’t Alex who made him uncomfortable that night, and he hates that Alex blames himself. It was Henry who panicked, it was Henry who was so fucked up that he got scared when a guy was possibly interested in him.

“I don’t,” Henry says.

Alex coughs up. “What?”

“I do like you, Alex,” Henry says, admitting it for the first time for himself. Saying it out loud, Henry realizes he actually likes likes Alex. “But.. after everything I went through with my ex, I’m not sure if I’m ready. That’s why I pulled away that night. I guess.. I panicked. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry, Henry,” Alex sighs warmly, eases the tension of his shoulders, a shy smile gaining on his face. “I’m the one who needs to apologize. It wasn’t okay for me to do that. I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you, not after what you told me. I guess, I don’t know, I wanted to make you feel better. I never wanted to make you feel uncomfortable. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay, Alex. I wasn’t uncomfortable, for a moment I really wanted to – but then I just got scared. I don’t know why.”

“You got hurt in the past, so you’re afraid it’ll happen again,” Alex states, simply. Henry tries to smile at that.

“I suppose so.”

“But I swear, Henry, I would never do anything to hurt you.” He’s heard that sentence before.

I never meant it to happen. I never wanted to hurt you.

I’ll never hit you again.

Henry knows Alex isn’t the same, not the slightest, but there is a small, itsy bitsy tiny part of him that’s being cautious. That’s pulling back. Wanting to protect his heart.

“I also totally understand if you don’t want this,” Alex continues, narrowing his eyes. “I get it if you don’t feel like dating after a bad relationship and even worse break-up. I really do understand that, Henry, and I’ll respect your choice. But I do mean what I said the other night. I’m more than fine helping you, however you’ll want it, if you just need a friend who listens, who’s there for you when you need. I can be that friend for you.”

Henry knows this. He also knows if he agrees to this now, being just friends, that’s all what they’ll ever be. Alex will accept it, he’ll respect that choice and everything will be platonic from this second on.

Except.

Henry knows he doesn’t want that. Everything in him wants to say otherwise, wants to say that he doesn’t just want to stay just friends with Alex, not when there’s a chance for something more. Not when he wants more.

He doesn’t know what that would be, what even could be between them, but there’s an unbearable itch in Henry to know what it would be like to date someone like Alex Claremont-Diaz. His only concern is that he doesn’t want Alex to think this would just be a rebound from his ex.

Henry wishes he would’ve met Alex years ago, when things used to be easy, and life wasn’t this complicated.

“Can I..” Henry’s voice trails away. He notices how Alex’s restless fingers fidget around his pockets. “Can I have some time to think about this?”

The corner of Alex’s face wrinkles up with an understanding grin. “Absolutely, Henry. I would hate to think I forced you into anything. So please, take all the time in the world you need.”

“Okay. Thank you,” Henry faintly smiles. He never imagined Alex to be this understanding, this patient. He never would have done this. “You do know it’s not about you, right? I just have to think things over. That’s all.”

Alex nods, slowly, with a fond smile. “I know that, Henry. Really.”

“Okay. Good.”

“And remember that I live next door. If you need anything. Anything at all, I’m there. Okay?”

“Okay.”

The following school day, after successfully avoiding Alex at the hallway and teacher’s lounge – they went clothing shopping with Jane, and when she asked about London, he distracted her by buying her a couple new toys from a toy store.

Jane never asked about London until now, so it surprised him, even if it was a simple question if they would go back. Henry was just glad she seemed distracted with her new horse toy, not needing an answer. 

It’s past five, Jane is focusing on drawing again. She’s only drawn horses lately, trying to learn how to draw them from books and pictures. She’s completely obsessed with any type of horses, all the toys she wanted were horses (as are her bedsheets, clocks, clothes) and when she’s bored with drawing, she looks happy playing with her horses on the living room floor.

“I wanna show these to Elena,” she whispers after a while, Henry raising her eyes from the paper he was grading. Henry has to think of new ways to distract her.

“Janey, how about we bake a cake? A strawberry one, your favorite,” Henry suggests, glancing at Jane, who holds one of the new horse toys against her chest. He sees Jane stare at him for a second, before going back to play with the horse doll. He leaps off the couch to the kitchen, takes out a baking dish, and opens his fridge.

“Honey, come help dad. We can make the cake however you want to,” Henry adds, taking strawberries and other ingredients from the fridge. He knows she likes to bake cakes with him, so this could be a good distraction.

Henry glances over his shoulder, but now doesn’t see Jane on the floor anymore. “Jane, come help daddy, won’t you?”

He finds more plates and ingredients, but Jane doesn’t answer. It’s nothing unusual, because usually she isn’t that talkative. When Henry walks to the living room finding it empty, he doesn’t worry. He walks to the start of the stairs, calling for Jane. She doesn’t reply, and still, Henry isn’t worried.

Jane could be giving him the silent treatment, because she’s very stubborn if she doesn’t get what she wants. Henry paces the stairs up, trying not to be worried because of the quietness. He knocks on her door, no answer, so he creaks the door open. Her bedroom is empty.

A sharp splinter of anxiety stabs at his gut. Now Henry allows the worry to sink in.

“Jane?” Henry calls, voice shaky. He walks out of her bedroom, calling after her. He checks all the rooms in the house, but finds no trace of her. Henry’s scared, the only and worst case scenario hitting him instantly.

He could have found her.

Henry isn’t sure what he should do. He thinks about calling 911, until he looks out his kitchen window to Alex’s house. If there is a chance, he’ll take it. Jane did say about wanting to show her new toys to Elena.

Henry runs out his house, putting all his faith that she’s there. He jumps the porch steps up, knocking hastily on the door. The seconds feel like minutes, and the front door isn’t opened as fast as he’d like.

None other than Alex opens the door with an easy-going smile, that drops the second he sees Henry’s panicked face.

“Henry? Are you okay?”

“Have you seen Jane? She just suddenly disappeared, I looked all over and I couldn’t find her so I thought –”

“Calm down, Henry. She’s here.”

Henry’s breath calms down a tiny bit. “Wait, what? She is?”

“Jane’s here. With Elena. She had this new horse toy she wanted to show her,” Alex explains, hands gesturing inside his home. Henry doesn’t hesitate, stepping in. Alex shows the way to Elena’s room, where Jane is: calmly playing on the floor with Elena, placing her horse toy in a pastel pink dollhouse.

“Jane,” he calls, worried. She doesn’t react, nor when Henry comes to hug her. She keeps playing in the dollhouse, Elena giving weird eyes to him. “Jane, honey, you can’t do that to me.” Still, no response from her. “You can’t leave the house without permission. Something could have happened. You could have –”

“Daddy,” Jane struggles out of his hug. “I wanna play.” Henry kisses the top of her head, giving her one quick side-hug before pulling away. He stares as Jane continues to play like nothing’s wrong.

Part of Henry is relieved there’s not a single worry in her head.

“Sorry, I assumed you let her come here,” Alex says when they pace down the corridor. Alex leans against the wall next to a bookshelf filled with old CDs, vinyls and a couple old gym trophies. Henry tries to focus his glare on the books and CD’s titles, to the dusty filled silver lacrosse trophies from past years, not into Alex’s eyes.

“It’s okay. I’m relieved she’s okay. I.. suddenly she was gone, and I guess I assumed the worst,” Henry admits quietly. He would only blame himself, if something happened. If something happened to Jane, he would never forgive himself.

“I get that, I’m way too protective over Elena too,” Alex agrees with sympathetic eyes, but Henry knows it’s not the same. He doesn’t need to have this constant fear that his ex will find where they are and take his daughter.

Alex doesn’t need to have that small voice in the back of his head, that any possible moment, any second – could be the moment when he needs to run away again. Alex doesn’t have a packed bag in the top drawer of his closet ready with money, pepper spray and the essentials if they need to run away.

Alex coughs strangely, disturbing Henry’s dark thoughts, crossing his arms. “So, how are you?”

“Fine,” Henry says, trying to come off as casual, avoiding his eyes.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Alex states, eyeing him. “Not that I blame you.”

Henry glances over Elena’s bedroom, where they are still playing over the dollhouse. He carefully closes the door. Henry turns back to Alex, who’s waiting for his answer with a shy smile on his face. “So I heard Nora put you fully in charge of the decorations for the Fall Festival.”

“Yeah. I hope I won't screw up your annual festival.” He tries to avoid Alex’s eyes, but it seems impossible.

“You’re not gonna screw it up. Besides, a fresh pair of eyes will do us good.”

“But what if everyone hates the way I’ve decorated it?”

“Henry, that’s not gonna happen. If you want, I can help you.”

“I thought you’re doing a dance performance with the children.”

Alex’s interested eyes are locked on him. “I am, but the kids are learning it very fast. I can help you with the decorations, no problem. Wait a sec,” he says, flipping his phone from his pocket. He steps closer to Henry, showing his phone screen. “Here. I have some pictures from last year’s festival. We held it just before Halloween, that’s why we had decorations with all different kinds of pumpkins. Cool, right?”

Henry raises his gaze up, realizing that once again, their faces are only inches away from each other. He smells like fresh citrus soap with notes of vanilla. Alex figures it out too, quickly pulling back, clearing his throat. “Sorry,” he says under his breath. “I was just… I mean, I just wanted to show you an example of what the decorations could be like.”

“Thank you.”

“You, uh, want coffee or something?” Alex asks casually, yet his hand scratches the back of his head. “I might also have tea here somewhere.”

“Tempting,” Henry resists a smile.

“Come on. Let’s give Jane and Elena have their fun.” Henry follows Alex to his kitchen, and he realizes this house is the exact picture like his own house. Except Alex has done something to the walls because they’re golden brown, making the home feel very cosy and warm.

There’s a wide variety of houseplants, filled to the brim with tropical plants, a couple of crystals hanging out and more bookshelves. There’s a few books about health and body, but it surprises Henry how many books there are, since he knows Alex is a gym teacher. There’s pictures of paintings hanging on the walls, small portraits that are clearly drawn by kids, and framed pictures of what Henry assumes is his family.

Maybe there’s a whole other side to Alex he has no knowledge of, and suddenly there’s a urge to discover everything there is to know about Alex.

Henry sits on the stool chairs around the kitchen island, when Alex rummages through his kitchen cupboards, trying to find something. “I’m glad you’re here, actually,” Alex says, once finding what looks like Lipton tea, and Henry can hear the smile in his voice. “I was going to come ask about your car.”

“My car?”

“Yeah,” he says, once putting on the electric kettle, leaning his back against the kitchen counter. “I had it rowed to the garage. It’s fixed now, so I could have it brought to you.”

“Oh. That’s very kind of you, thank you.”

“It’s no trouble. Friend of mine owns the garage.” Alex pours the hot water into two cups, dipping green Lipton tea bags into them. “But you gotta bring the car back, since it's a rental, right?”

“Yes, by next week.”

“Milk?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Sugar?”

“Sure.”

Henry takes the first sip from the tea, trying to gulp it down. There was a reason he didn’t drink Lipton, but he understands that’s the only tea Alex has. He somehow manages to swallow it, even with the milk and sugar.

And Henry never drinks tea with sugar.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Did I mess up the tea?” His brows furrow with concern.

“No, that’s not it –”

“Henry, please. Tell me the truth. I messed up the tea, didn’t I?”

Henry shakes his head. “No, you didn’t. I just.. well, it’s not exactly my favorite type of tea, that’s all.”

“Shit, Henry, why didn’t you say so? I wouldn’t have forced you to drink that.”

“I didn’t want to sound rude.”

“Please. You don’t need to drink that if you hate it. Here, let me have it.” Alex tries to reach for the cup but Henry pulls it closer to himself, so Alex’s hands brush on his fingers.

“No, no, it’s okay,” Henry stutters, feeling a powerful electric shock from Alex’s touch that trails across him. Alex instinctively pulls back.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“You really don’t need to drink that, though.”

“I’ve drank worse. Trust me.” Henry looks over his warm eyes. “At the previous school, they didn’t even have money for Twinings, which is rather pompous since it was a private school. On a good day, if I was lucky, I could get my hands on a bag of Tetley.”

Alex lets out an amused chuckle. “You do know that I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about?”

“Right,” Henry laughs.

“I gather from the context that they’re different types of tea?”

“Yeah.”

“I promise that I’ll buy better tea for you, Henry. Anything but Lipton, I assume?”

Henry resists a smile, which seems rather impossible when he’s around Alex. “Anything but Lipton,” Henry agrees, finding himself to be relaxed in his company. Here he assumed them hanging out, alone, would be awkward.

Yet, spending time with Alex is the easiest thing in the world. He can’t understand why he kept avoiding him these past days, when he learns that this is the exact reason why they almost kissed last weekend. Being near Alex was so natural, he made everything feel safe and so warm, and there was that magnet pulling him towards Alex again.

“Do you think –” the words blurt out of Henry’s mouth, meeting Alex’s inquisitive eyes, but he blacks out in the middle of his sentence by his intense stare.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing,” Henry says, regretting his words. He takes a sip from the tea, his face twisting, struggling to get it down.

“Jesus, Henry, you look like you ate something rotten,” Alex cracks up, half-way leaning up from his chair to take teacup from Henry’s hands. Again, there’s sparks flying when their hands touch. “I’m not letting you take another sip from this.”

“Fair enough.” He observes as Alex throws the tea to the sink, and if it was any other tea, the sight alone would break Henry’s poor heart. In this case, he doesn’t mind that Alex throws both of their teas to the sink.

“Should get you drinking coffee,” Alex mutters, when he cleans the teacups in the sink. “Much better than this.”

“I thought you said you didn’t mind tea.”

“I don’t, but coffee is much better. And they’re pretty much the same, aren’t they?”

“Not at all,” Henry corrects. “Tea has much less caffeine, the taste ranges more, and tea has a relaxing effect. Caffeine provides high energy, the flavor is much stronger and bitter, not to mention caffeine has chlorogenic acid in it.”

Alex twirls to him with an irresistible smile. “I love it when you talk teacher to me.”

Henry blushes at this, trying to look away. “I should..” he awkwardly leaps up the chair, taking a look at his watch. “We should go. Jane needs to practice for her math quiz tomorrow and finish homework.”

“There’s a math quiz tomorrow?”

“Feel free to warn Elena too,” Henry chuckles.

“That I’ll do,” he smiles relaxedly, but there’s something behind it. “Oh, Henry?”

“Yes?” he turns to Alex. There’s something on his mind that Alex is struggling to phrase. His eyebrows come together, nearly touching each other, his forehead frowning.

“I’ll bring the car tomorrow morning, so you can drive Jane to school.”

“Thank you.” There’s hesitation in him. Alex definitely wants to say more, but Henry knows he doesn’t want to push him. He knows Alex wants it to be Henry’s first move, because Henry was the one saying he needed to think things over. And Alex isn’t anything but a gentleman.

Alex’s eyes are tinkling as they hold eye contact with him, and he’s sure if he asked, he would 100% say yes in this very instant. Henry wants to say something, anything, but no words come out of his mouth.

He’s never been good at asking people out. Not that he’s doing it here. He’s not sure why it feels so hard, when all he wants to do is ask him. There shouldn’t be a fear of rejection, but he gathers it’s something else entirely.

Fear that there could be something here.

Fear that this is actually something real.

Fear that Alex is going to get fed up with Henry and leave him like everyone else.

“I’ll see you at school,” Henry’s mouth slips out. Surprisingly, the calm look on Alex’s face doesn’t change. As a matter of fact, the smile broadens on his face, causing Henry’s heart to race a million per hour.

Even without vocalizing it, Alex has the complete understanding of Henry. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Henry.”

Henry thinks about Alex constantly, without a pause, he even thinks about him later that night in the shower, which is the last place he should be thinking about him. Henry thinks about Alex after he tucked Jane to sleep, when he climbs into his bed, letting the thought of Alex consume him whole.

He can see what they could have. He sees Alex’s kindness, his unselfishness, his pure intentions. He’s certain Alex could never do anything to hurt him. But there’s a part of him that has been here before, the part of him that’s still hurt and heartbroken from his last relationship.

At some level Henry knows he’s intentionally self-sabotaging this, his chance at happiness, to prevent being hurt again. But just maybe, if he gave him the chance, Henry would be privileged to have his heart broken by Alex.

Chapter Text

Regret fills Henry as soon as he wakes up, much before his alarm. He doesn’t know why he was being such a coward last night, when every part of him – every particle, every atom of him wanted to take that next step with Alex.

One date wouldn’t hurt either one of them, so he doesn’t understand why he froze in the spur of the moment like that. Besides, he’s very much aware that Alex is willing to wait for him until Henry is ready. The biggest question is, if Henry was ever going to be ready? 

He wants to be ready. 

So he rolls around in bed, swallowing in his own self-pity.

Eventually his alarm clock rings, and Henry tiptoes to the kitchen to make himself his morning tea. As he opens his cupboard, he finds himself chuckling at the thought of Alex’s attempt to make him tea last night.

He shakes his head, trying to think of anything else. He’ll do the math quiz for his students today. He’ll have to get the quiz papers ready, he should also –

Did Alex warn Elena about the quiz?

This whole ‘do not think about Alex’ is already failing miserably. 

All of this, this endless contemplating and pondering, wouldn’t be this hard if he wasn’t such a mess like Henry is. Everything would be much easier if he had met Alex sooner in life.  

Henry peeks out the kitchen window with a teacup in his hands, disappointed when he doesn’t catch a glimpse of Alex within the first minutes. His kitchen is surprisingly dark, he could still be asleep. There’s still a lot of time before school starts.

As he’s staring out the window, he overhears a car engine growling. He takes a look out from the other kitchen window, seeing the familiar rented car being driven in front of the driveway. 

Somehow Henry’s memory of the car was completely different, but it actually looks brand new. Like nothing was wrong with it. It’ll work in Henry’s favor when he has to return the car to the rental company, so he doesn’t lose the deposit. At least he hopes he won’t, because he really can’t afford losing more money.

Alex hops out the car, in a white tank top and yellow shorts and flip-flops. Henry has no idea how he can still be wearing that at this time of the year, or maybe Alex is really warm-blooded. He slams the door close, hand waving at Henry.

Henry blushes when Alex gives him a massive smile, hand still waving. He stands in his driveway, changing his pose, one hand landing on his hip, another doing the peace sign. Henry contains his chuckle, rolling his eyes. Alex looks confused, mouthing a ‘what’ to him. Henry does his best to resist his smile, lifting up his teacup. Alex shrugs towards his house, energetically waving before running back home.

Henry finishes his tea with a vague smile on his lips, managing to see a glimpse of Alex doing breakfast in his kitchen, before Jane wakes up to her alarm clock. He helps her dress up for the day, brushes her hair into a neat ponytail and packs her backpack.

Jane isn’t surprised about the car, happily climbs in the car without a word. Henry’s eyes trail to the house next door, still seeing his pickup truck in his driveway.

Maybe his first class starts later than Henry’s. He hasn’t memorized his schedule and classes, not that he would stalk him – yet he drives lazily, in the hopes that Alex would have walked out his house.

In his classroom, the children groan in unison when he announces the math quiz, all except Jane who looks rather excited. Henry made her study their current math chapter last night before bed, so he knew she was more than familiar with the math equations he put on the quiz.

He hands out the quiz papers, smiling at Elena when she takes the quiz without much complaining. Later during the first recess when he grades them, he’s surprised how well all his students did on the quiz. Jane’s score tied with Elena, both of them getting nearly 95% correct. It always made him proud how well she did on exams and quizzes, especially in math. 

He takes both of their graded papers when he goes to have lunch, one corner of his mouth lifting up into a bright smile upon seeing Alex at the teacher’s lounge.

He’s energetically explaining something to Nora, who yawns while staring at her phone. She pretends not to hear him, typing on her phone, Henry catching a few words about a dance. He quickly gathers Alex is talking about a dance practice for the festival, since he’s choreographing a dance with the kids.

Alex stops his sentence midway when his eyes land on Henry. “Oh, hey. How was the quiz?”

“Quite surprising, actually,” Henry replies, giving Elena’s quiz to him.

“Wow.”

“They both got the same grade.”

“You think they cheated?” Alex casually suggests. The thought never occurred to Henry, his eyebrows coming together. “Oh my God, Henry, stop frowning. I was just joking.”

“They do sit quite close together.”

“As much as I enjoy the cute frown on your face,” Alex continues, Henry feeling his cheeks getting warmer. “Elena is a top student. She doesn’t cheat, she knows better than that.”

“Next time I’m not telling you when I’ll have a surprise quiz.”

“Just means I’ll have to get that information out of you,” Alex teases, Henry detecting a trace of flirt in his voice. He crosses his arms, the track suit sleeves tightening. He holds his stare on Henry, when leaning towards him. “The easy way or the hard way.”

Henry visibly gulps, feeling the pull towards Alex stronger than before. He could drown in his deep hazel eyes, and for a moment, he does.

“Henry, a word?”

“What?” He spins his head to Nora, suddenly very invested in their conversation. “Oh, sure.”

“Be right back,” he jumps, Henry’s eyes following Alex skipping to the old looking vending machine, trying to insert a wrinkled five dollar bill.

“Henry. I was wondering if you could do me a favor.”

“Sure, Nora. What did you need?”

“I need to go through some of the arrangements for the festival. Would you be free to talk about them after school?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Since June is back, she’s once again starting an after school activity for the children. You know, mostly drawing, crafting things. I’m sure Jane would like it, and June could look after her.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll text you later where to meet, okay?”

“Okay.”

Nora gives him a smile, Henry tries to put on tea, seeing how Alex manages to get a bunch of protein bars and a can of diet Coke from the vending machine. Alex sits on the round table, launching a goofy story about his gym class this morning, animatedly telling the story while Henry tries to focus on using the school’s kettle. He should just bring his own here, or buy a new one. His head seems to bounce to Alex at the table, no matter what he does. Nora, again uninterested in his story, just scrolling through her phone beside Alex. His eyes meet with Nora at one point, and she gestures to Alex.

Henry knows what she’s doing, and when he awkwardly stays in the kitchen corner, Nora suddenly takes her phone to her ear as if she got a call, ushering out the teacher’s lounge. 

Alex gives Henry a questioning look, continuing his dramatic storytelling how one of the students refuses to do one of the dance choreographies. Henry spends his lunch break eating his sandwich and tea, Alex yapping about his day. He doesn’t seem to mind the lack of words from Henry. He’s always been a better listener anyway, and he doesn’t want to interrupt Alex’s passionate monologue about why lacrosse is one of the best sports there is.

As he listens to Alex’s vivid and theatrical yapping, he wonders to himself why he ever thought he could spend a day doing anything else.

Henry walks down the small pavement that’s dangerously thinning by each step, but luckily at the end of the street he sees the restaurant with a worn-out sign saying ‘Ellen’s Hut’. He wonders why Nora wants to meet here, but it’s about organizing the upcoming party for the school, and maybe this is her favorite place to go. Besides, Henry is more than fine with anything to get this mind off.. other things.

“Henry.”

He’s startled by a voice, being able to recognize that smooth and raspy voice from anywhere. It does not belong to Nora.

Henry slowly turns around to see who else than perfectly looking Alex in front of him. He’s wearing a long, dark brown jacket and dress shirt underneath. He looks very classy with his styled look, but dead-gorgeous, when his eyes curiously measure up Henry.

“Alex, what are you doing here?”

“I’m… meeting you,” Alex explains, puzzled.

“What?”

“You sent me that text to meet here.”

“I... didn’t.”

“Yeah, you did. Earlier today, after lunch.” Alex digs up his phone, and as he does, something clicks. Henry remembers when Nora asked to borrow his phone during recess, because she said she lost her phone, and needed to make an important call. He’s not sure why he didn’t figure it out sooner, that this was a set-up by her. Parent-trapped by Nora.

“I think Nora set us up,” Henry says lightly, Alex lifting his head up from his phone screen.

“Oh,” he nods, brows pulled together at the lackluster answer. “Oh.”

He’s vividly disappointed, realizing the situation. Henry’s heart almost breaks at the sight.

“Is.. this a date?” Henry sees the strain of emotions going through his face, but Alex simply puts on a dashing smile. 

“It doesn’t have to be, if you don’t want to.”

“But you came here, expecting a date.”

“Look, Henry, I meant what I said earlier,” he says. “I don’t want to force you to go on a date if you’re not ready. If you don’t like me that way, we can totally forget this thing ever happened and move on. I promise I’m not gonna bother you about it.”

The thing is, Henry does want it. He realizes it upon Alex's words, when his brain catches up with the situation, that there’s a possibility of Alex pulling back. He can imagine it, how he slowly starts avoiding and ignoring Henry, imagining the hurt in Alex’s face whenever they do have to work together. The idea of not being able to see or meet with Alex feels unbearable.

Henry wants this.

Maybe he wasn’t ready before, maybe he still isn’t fully ready for it, but what has he got to lose anyway?

He knows the feeling is mutual. Alex has shown more than interest in this. Everything about Alex pulls Henry more and more.

“We should,” Henry dryly coughs, the words coming out as a weak whisper. Alex’s eyebrows arch with curiosity. “Do this, I mean.” His brows move together, confused. God, Henry is rusted. “Have dinner,” Henry adds awkwardly.  

“Just dinner,” Alex repeats, nonchalantly.

“Yeah.” There's a sheepish smile lingering on his lips, Henry finding the courage within him to say the next words out loud. “And if it’s a date, then it’s a date.”

Alex looks puzzled at the thought, but his smile stays on. “Sounds good enough for me.”

“Should we –” Henry starts, but the restaurant’s door flings open, a woman’s head peeking out.

“What are you boys still doing outside? Come in, come in,” she waves in haste, but has a warm welcoming smile on her face, which seems awfully familiar.

“Geez, relax,” Alex rolls his eyes, gesturing to Henry to go inside. The woman opens the door, wearing a pink apron, with a linen dress embroidered with flowers. 

The restaurant is very cosy-like on the inside, the rosy wallpapers and the endless paintings of cats reminds Henry of when he visited his grandparents. The woman shoos them into a corner table, though there’s only two other people dining in the other tables.

“Busy Friday night, huh?” Henry jokes, when he sits on the seat in front of Alex.

“Oh, yeah. You should see our Saturday nights,” Alex cracks a joke back, but concern passes between his eyes. “Anyway, this is the best restaurant in Chestnut Creek.”

“So, boys, what’ll it be?” the woman continues, clicking a pen, and flipping pages through a notebook. “You want any drinks?”

“Sure,” Henry says, getting his hand on the menu.

“But don’t expect me to get you drunk, buddy. Maybe I should confiscate your car keys just in case.”

“Jesus, ma,” Alex heavily rolls his eyes, frustrated. Henry lifts his eyes behind the menu, opening his mouth to say something, but Alex waves the drink menu in her face. “We’ll go with the mocktails, thank you.”

“Oh, wow,” she says, eyebrows up as she writes it down. “Well, that’s great. We do have a delicious lime rickey mocktail, got the recipe from your sister. Assuming that’s fine with you too, Henry?”

Henry doesn’t know how she knows his name, but then again, everyone in this town seemed to know him by now. Her warm heart-shaped face smiles at him, and he sees the family resemblance in her smile.

It makes so much sense why Nora chose this restaurant of all places.

“Um, yes, that’s fine by me.“

“Allrighty, then. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

Henry waits when his mom disappears to the small kitchen, until he turns back to Alex. He’s curiously looking around the restaurant.

“So. Your mom happens to own the place?”

“Half owns it. With my dad,” he explains, takes a napkin and spreads it on his lap. “But since they’re divorced, it’s mostly mom who does the work.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Henry says routinely.

“Don’t be. It’s fine, it happened almost a decade ago.”

“So your dad is living in Chestnut Creek too?”

“Yeah. On the other side of the town,” Alex explains while rubbing his jaw for a moment, but there’s nothing indicating he’s uncomfortable with this topic. “I think it was best for us. He thought about leaving, but he would have missed us too much. June had just turned eighteen, and I think part of him hated that it happened so soon after her birthday.” Alex stares down at the empty plate in front of him. “Even we weren’t that young when it happened, it totally affected us both, and I think that’s one of the reasons June had a hard time having to experience divorce herself.”

Henry doesn’t know what to say, because for starters, he had no idea Alex would just throw such a serious topic on their ‘date’, when they just sat down.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay. It was for the best.” Alex’s eyes sort of trail around for a second, like he’s not telling the whole story. Henry isn’t any way needing to know, nor does he want to: he knows something about not being able to tell everything about his past relationships. Then again, Henry never guessed he would reveal nearly all of his past to Alex that night.

He wonders if Alex thinks about that night constantly, the way Henry does. Or if he’s already forgotten everything Henry revealed.

He has to, because Alex looks at him like there’s nothing wrong with him.

“How about your family?” Alex shoots a look at him, that’s purely curious, with an earnest smile. He’s not demanding to know, or trying to pry. It’s genuine interest. After all, these were the things you asked on your first date, right?

“My mum is a professor at the University of London. I suppose teacher runs in our blood, because my dad was also a professor. We’ve always been pretty close, especially with my sister Bea,” Henry explains, catching Alex giving him a gentle smile. “I’m close with Philip, my older brother, but it wasn’t until my... my dad passed away, which really brought us closer together.” 

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Alex eyes sadden, reaching his hand across the table.

“That’s fine. It was ten years ago. Now Pip is married, and Martha actually gave birth a couple weeks ago. I.. missed the birth, but I heard he’s a healthy baby boy.” 

“So you’re an uncle now,” Alex smirks. 

“Guess so.”

“Your family must be so proud of you,” he continues, a spark of pure admiration in his eyes. “For leaving all that, leaving everything behind to come here.”

“I.. hope so.”

Alex’s hand is nearly touching him, but he leaves an instinct space, in case Henry isn’t okay with it. Letting Henry be the one to make the move towards him. It’s one of the many things he likes about Alex, taking everything into consideration.

Henry’s index finger brushes against his, their fingers curling and entwining around each finger, before fully interlacing. There’s a shock of electricity striking him when their hands intertwine, a shock that’s traveling through Henry’s entire body, past his stomach that’s filling up with butterflies.

Henry thought there would be tension or awkwardness in the air, but there’s none to be found. Instead, there’s a calm wave of safety. 

Maybe it’s because of his hand, because just like that, everything seems to fit into place.

“Allrighty, here are your drinks,” a voice booms, startling Henry so he yanks his hand back under the table.

“Ma.”

“What?” she says innocently, placing the drinks on the table.

“Thank you, Mrs. Claremont-Diaz.”

“It’s Ellen,” she corrects with a friendly smile. “So. Have you boys decided what you’re gonna eat?”

Henry didn’t have the chance to properly read the menu yet, so he looks at Ellen. “I’m open to any recommendations, really,” he says. Ellen’s smile widens, and it’s the perfect mirrored one from Alex.

“The enchiladas are an old Diaz recipe going back for many decades,” Ellen explains proudly. “Passed on only from mother to daughter. Took me years to convince Oscar’s abuela to give it to me, and after some serious blood, sweat and tears, I finally got my hands on it.”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll go with that.”

Ellen writes it to her notebook, and without looking from it, she asks: “And the usual for you, Alex?”

“No. Actually, I could also go with the enchiladas tonight,” he says without looking at the menu. Ellen raises her head from the notebook.

“Oh. Okay. That’s good.” Henry can’t seem to read the look on her face, or why she’s so surprised by it. “Better leave some space for the dessert too, no? We have delicious chu–”

“Ma, that’s enough for now,” Alex interrupts her, gesturing to her to go away. Ellen chuckles to herself, before strolling back to the kitchen.

Alex’s fingers tap on the drink in front of him, until his fingers go all the way around it,  pressing his lips around the glass straw.

“You don’t have to,” Henry forces out. Alex raises his curious eyes at him. “I mean, if you want to have a drink, it’s okay.”

“I am having a drink,” Alex mutters while drinking from the straw.

“No, I mean,” Henry’s restless fingers fidget around his own drink. “If you want to drink alcohol, it’s more than fine with me.”

Alex takes a rather long sip from his mocktail, swallows, before his eyes land on Henry again. They’re softer than before, with a loving glint in his eyes.

“I don’t really drink that much to be honest, you know, being a teacher and all. I used to, back in my college years, but not anymore. So it’s really fine.”

Part of Henry was testing the waters. Part of him wanted to see Alex’s reaction. Henry knows that look. He knows the reason why Alex ordered the mocktails. He’s taking Henry and his choices into consideration more than anyone else.

Unexpectedly, it’s making Henry fall in love with this curly haired man in front of him.

And he can’t.

Not like this.

Not this soon.

So like any reasonable man, he completely panics, and when Henry panics in this kind of situation, he babbles absolutely nonsense.

“So, your sister got back?” he starts a conversation.

“Oh yeah, this morning, actually. She was.. uh, visiting a friend.” Again, a look of nervousness hits Alex, but it’s quickly swept away behind a smile. “Elena’s happy, but I kinda miss having her around the house.”

“Surely she visits you? Elena, I mean?”

“Yeah, but it’s just different when she’s not around. She’s so loud and energetic, and I know I complain about it, but when she’s not there.. I miss her. June works from home, so she doesn’t really need me to look after Elena. We do usually have dinner together after school, but lately...” Alex trails off, hands tugging at the table cloth.

“I feel the same way about Jane,” Henry says.

“Yeah.”

“And you see her at school, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t know what it is, why I have this weird protection over her,” he explains, eyes meeting Henry. “I’m really sorry, you know, the way I acted in the parental meeting that day. I never meant to act rude towards you. I had a talk with Elena that day, too. I.. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did.”

“Water under the bridge,” Henry chuckles.

“Water under the bridge,” Alex hums in agreement. A smile spreads across his face, and Henry can’t ever imagine how he could want to be anywhere else. Alex is like the sun, this pure warmth radiating out of him that’s impossible not to feel happy and safe.

Heart in ease, the natural flow with their conversation, the easy silence. Everything about him feels so instantaneous and natural, something that hasn’t happened before. Something finally settles in his chest, all those restless and uneasy feelings disappear when they eat their enchiladas, when his mom brings them a plate of sliced mango.

“Mango con tajín,” Alex chuckles fondly, when he pops a mango slice into his mouth. “They’ve always been my favorite.”

Henry takes one slice with a fork, having a nice taste of sweet with spicy. “Mm, they’re good.”

“She used to make these for us when we got back from school,” Alex explains, taking another mango slice. “Makes me feel kinda nostalgic whenever I eat them.”

“I want to start traditions with Jane too,” Henry says and Alex raises his eyes to him. “I mean, we do have some, but something like this… simple and tasty, that she can later on look back with fond memories.”

“I’m sure she’s having an amazing childhood thanks to you,” Alex says while chewing on a mango slice.

“I hope so.”

“But come on, Henry. Let’s finish these up. There’s something I want to show you.”

Alex guides him through a path, towards a small park. Henry has seen it whenever they walk to school with Jane. They haven’t got the time to go there yet, but he knows he wants to take her there one of these days.

There’s a small playground with a set of swings and monkey bars, but Alex strolls past them. Beyond them and the unending grass, and the darkened pavilion, is a vague shape of a lake, reflecting light from the scattered stars in the sky.

Knuckles brush against Henry’s, thinking it must be an accident. They’re walking side by side after all, it’s bound to happen. But he does it again, sending a pleasant shock up his arm. The third time it happens, he’s positive Alex is doing it on purpose, and the butterflies in his stomach are going insane.

Since Henry doesn’t pull away, Alex slips a hand in his. Henry lets their hands slowly lace together. Holding hands with him seems to calm Henry down, bringing peace to his mind.

A comfortable silence falls between them when they keep walking. The sun set during dinner, so now the temperature has dipped a bit in the sun’s absence.

Alex circles around the lake, towards a bench. There's a soft glow, the surface of the lake illuminating with the shimmering town lights, a few fireflies hovering, casting a greenish crown around the surface of the lake. The moon is out, the night air floats through as it paints the park with a pale silver color, and well, the sight is utterly beautiful.

He knows this is the reason Alex brought him here. He lets Henry stare at the lake for a second, before he points at the carved bench.

“I used to come here a lot,” Alex starts with a faint voice, gesturing to sit down on the bench. Henry leaves a significant space between them, as much as he can with their hands still laced together. “I used to come here when I was considering whether I should leave for New York or not.”

Henry stares at the reflection of the water’s surface, hearing Alex take a deep breath into his lungs while sliding his thumb against his. “At the time it felt the right choice to make. I really thought I would stay in New York, be a successful lawyer and have a life there. Without my family, without friends. But when June called me, I knew I had to come back. This was my home, after all.” He takes another long inhale, Henry sensing Alex turns his head towards him. “I used to come back here, after I came back, thinking if it was worth it.”

“Was it?” Henry asks quietly, still keeping his gaze on the water. A pigeon lands on the water, starting to bathe in it.

“I do miss it, on some level. The busy streets, the culture, the people..” his voice trails off, fading with the slow wind. “I do miss being there, but it wasn’t home. I helped June with her divorce, and helped with Elena. It wasn't an easy time for any one of us, but even after that, I never quite understood this... feeling in me, like I was lost. It helped when I focused on my job, focused on the kids, but every now and then, it kept coming back. I thought it wouldn’t go away, until suddenly.. it changed.”

“What changed that?”

“You,” his voice whispers, causing Henry’s heart to plummet. There’s a pale strip of moonlight resting across his face, with earnest eyes and a fond smile. “I really like you, Henry,” the words come out as a desperate rush.

The intensity of Alex’s eyes catches him off guard, Henry’s breath catching in his throat. His heart swells as the words hang in the air between them, and Henry feels like he’s frozen in place. Something familiar shifts in his chest. It unfurls, then stretches until the pressure weighs on his lungs. “And I know that’s probably the last thing you want to hear, but these past few days, I’ve realized how much I like you. I can’t explain it… it’s just so easy to be around you.”

Alex’s fingers carefully tighten around his, but there’s vigilance in the touch. He’s testing if he feels okay by it, and when there’s no response from Henry, Alex’s fingers slip away.

Henry momentarily mourns the loss of the warmth before he reaches his hand back into his. Alex’s expression softens when their warm fingers lace once more, flashing Henry a reassuring smile.

Slowly, another hand finds its way around Henry’s neck, fingertips gently trailing on his jawline, but Henry has to pull away. He hates having a knee-jerk reflex to pull away from his soft touch.

“What if.. I’m never ready? What if.. I’m gonna stay like this for the rest of my life?” Henry croaks quietly, shyly. He expects Alex to turn away, but instead, he leans a little closer and adorably tips his head to the side.

“I’m a pretty patient man, Henry.”

“I can’t have you do that, Alex. You deserve to be with someone... someone who wants to be with you.”

“You don’t want to be with me?”

“No, I do. That’s not it. I meant.. you deserve someone who isn’t like me. My life’s messy and screwed up. I’m screwed up, and you don’t want to be with someone like me. I don’t have everything sorted out. I don’t want you to be dragged into this mess and get hurt. It’s better this way, trust me.”

“Your life isn’t a mess, Henry, it just feels like that right now.”

“Right,” he breathes out, head spinning, pulse racing up when Alex tightens their hands.

“Let’s just… take one step at a time, all right? We can go as slow as you want.”

He finds comfort in his words, knowing that Alex is more than willing Henry to set the pace. Nevertheless, Henry restlessly bites his bottom lip. “Why are you doing this?” It’s not accusatory, it’s simple curiosity. “I mean, I don’t understand why you’re doing this.” He’s scared to take a look at Alex. “I’m... I don’t.. you don’t need to do this for me.”

I don’t deserve any of this.

Henry sort of expects Alex to stand up from the bench, and walk away without looking back. Run away, even.

Yet, Alex stays there, across from him, with curious eyes.

“I told you that I like you, Henry,” Alex whispers, licking his lips. There’s a lump in Henry’s throat, and he’s twisting the brim of his jacket between his other hand. “Everyone has their baggage,” Alex continues when Henry stays quiet. “We have things in our past that we are trying to recover from. We carry that throughout our life, but you know what? You have me.” Henry lifts his eyes to Alex. “I’m more than happy to help you carry that, and eventually, opening that bag and dealing with whatever’s inside. Because you shouldn’t need to go through it alone, Henry.”

“You don’t have to do that for me,” Henry whispers, but it’s barely even a whisper. 

“You’re stronger than you realize, more capable than you give yourself credit for,” Alex assures, softly squeezing their hands together. “Every effort counts, every bit of progress matters. We have to keep going, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment. But one day in the future, you’re gonna look back and realize how far you’ve come.”

Henry stares back at him. Really stares. He’s been denying the feelings he had for weeks now, trying to reframe everything that Alex has done for him. Henry wanted to feel uncomfortable with him, he wanted there to be any sign that he wasn’t what he thought he’d be.

But Alex has proven Henry wrong too many times, exceeding all of his expectations. He’s nothing like him, there isn’t even the tiniest ounce of that he has maleficent intentions.

Alex keeps patiently looking at Henry, eyes trailing down to his lips once or twice, before landing back to his eyes. Alex isn’t demanding anything. He isn’t forcing Henry into anything. If Henry pulled away this very instant, Alex would smile. If Henry leaped out of this bench and ran away, he’s sure Alex would still be smiling.

Alex is nothing but understanding and supportive, giving Henry his space and time to think about this. But when Henry pulls himself close, leaning his forehead against Alex’s, inhaling his sweet scent, the only regret in his head is that he didn’t do this sooner.

Suddenly, all this contemplating about Alex seems ridiculous.

Henry doesn’t care if it’s going too fast since his ex, if he’ll eventually break up with Alex, just as long as he can get this moment right here. Inhaling his nostrils full with Alex’s scent, letting his warmth pour into him at rapid speed.

He notices how Alex doesn’t move an inch, or try to touch him. He’s purposely vigilant, letting Henry be the one in control. Henry hasn’t been in this kind of situation before. He was the one who always needed to be in control, have power over Henry.

“Alex,” he whispers after minutes of silence, a hand curling on Alex’s neck, trying to formulate a cohesive answer to say to him. Henry pulls back a little, just to stare into his soulful brown eyes. They’re ever so soft, nothing but earnest love in them.

Henry wants to say all the things that are crowding his mind: how this could be a mistake, how he shouldn’t do it, how they are bound to break up anyway. Yet none of it seems to matter when Henry clutches into Alex’s warm body.

“Alex,” he repeats again, stronger, with a vibrant smile playing on his lips. “Can you kiss me?”

A beam of light gleams from the lake, hitting Alex’s face, making him sparkle in the moonlight. Henry takes in the shape of his jaw, his cupid's bow, the way his bottom eyelashes are nearly as long as the ones on top.

There’s something magnetic in the air, and the butterflies are going absolutely insane in the pit of his stomach. Alex’s hand in his hair, another one in his neck, he leans himself into Henry, colliding their mouths together.

Alex responds slowly, carefully kissing him, not expecting Henry to kiss him back so fiercely: lips crashing onto him, hands finding their place around Alex, clinging onto him like on dear life. Alex parts his lips only for a second, causing a moan to slip out from Henry from the lack of his mouth, only to Alex kiss him back to find a better position.

Henry discovers everything there is to know about Alex’s mouth, but it’s not intrusive: it’s soft, it’s slow, it’s lazy. Alex carefully digs his fingers into Henry’s sculp, playing with the curls around the back of his neck.

Henry never wants to do anything else except kiss him. Right here, with him, it’s what he is supposed to do, what he sets for his life goal. If he gets to kiss Alex even for a short moment, even this once – even if the world ends tomorrow and this is the only time he gets to be kissed by Alex, it’s worth it.

Alex kisses him like he never wants to stop, and Henry forgets all his troubles, all the pain, all the stress of moving across countries. His kisses drown all the noises in his head, nothing else matters except Alex’s hot mouth on him, eager tongue sliding in, and it’s... simply everything. It means everything to Henry, wanting nothing else but to immerse in this moment.

There were numerous things that factored into his decision, for a variety of reasons, but now in his safe arms, it becomes crystal clear. Henry doesn’t want a relationship, he only wants Alex. He wants to savor this very moment, having Alex’s lips on him, arms around him.

Because there is nothing else in the world he would rather be doing than kissing Alex Claremont-Diaz.

Chapter Text

“Daddy, you’re burning the eggs.”

“Oh,” Henry mumbles absently, snapping back to the present from his daydream. There’s a smell of burnt in the air, and when he pokes the egg with his spatula, it’s stuck to the pan.

“Smells bad,” Jane hurls, waving her hand. Henry turns off the stove, moving the pan.

“Daddy can eat these. How about we have some cereal for you?” He suggests, knowing the eggs are a lost cause. Jane claps her hands excitedly. “Here, let dad find the cereals.”

Henry takes Jane into his arms, letting her open the cupboard, grabbing the box of cereals. He quickly sets the table, Jane sitting in her usual spot. He turns around to put the kettle on, which he somehow forgot to do this morning, when he hears something spilling.

Jane tried to pour milk over her bowl, which ended up overflowing over the table.

“Oh, honey,” Henry coos softly, seeing the pure embarrassment in Jane’s widened eyes. “It’s okay. Let dad wipe that clean for you.”

“I didn’t mean to..”

“It’s okay, love. Daddy burned the eggs and it wasn’t a big deal,” he says cheerfully, taking a paper towel to wipe the table clean in a matter of seconds. “See? All clean now. Let me do that now, okay?”

He pours the milk over her cereals, giving her a spoon. He kisses the top of Jane’s head when she starts devouring the cereals. He pours the tea for his cup, placing it beside Jane. Just as he's about to sit down, the phone rings.

It startles Henry. It’s the landline phone of all things. He saw the phone on the wall between the kitchen and the living room, never considering it might actually work. He kind of assumed it was forgotten there.

“Who’s that?” Jane grumbles, mouth full of cereal. Henry pats her head, when he takes wary steps towards the phone. “Is it granny?”

“No, I don’t think it’s granny. Just eat your cereals, love,” Henry says, trying to sound strong, not like he’s shitting his pants right now, a knot of anxiety tugging at his heart.

He takes the phone with a shaky hand. “H–hello?”

“Henry?” a quiet female voice says, the line cracking before he hears her voice again. “Is that you, Henry?”

“Who’s this?”

“Oh, sorry. It’s June, house across from you. Alex’s sister. The one who looked after Jane yesterday,” the clearer voice says, relief flooding into Henry, relaxing his shoulders. The anxiety unravels. “I wasn’t sure this line worked. Amy said that the phones only work for in-house calls from house to house, so decided to give it a shot.”

“I didn’t know they worked either.”

“Hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“No, not at all. Jane and I are just having breakfast.”

“That’s the reason I called. Elena is begging to see Jane again, so I was wondering if you had any plans for today? There’s a nice little park behind my house.”

“Uh –” Henry ponders. His thoughts go directly to Alex, like for the entire morning. It wasn’t like they planned doing something today, not that he expected Alex to drop everything to make plans for them just because they kissed last night. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

“Awesome. Let’s meet in an hour in front of our houses?”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye! See you soon!” June answers excitedly, before ending the call. Henry looks over Jane, peacefully eating the cereals.

“Honey,” he calls. “What would you say if we went to a park with Elena after breakfast?”

“Yesss,” she giggles, head perking up, clinking the spoon to the bowls’s side.

“All right. Finish up your cereal first, won’t you, love?”

She nods, taking a big spoonful of the cereals. Henry settles beside her, enjoying his first morning cup of the tea. He knows he deliberately avoided walking by that one specific kitchen window. He knows why there’s butterflies flying around in his stomach whenever he allows his thoughts to wander, and he knows why he burned the eggs just now.

All of which seem to lead to the moment of ten minutes later, when there’s a sharp knock at his front door. Jane already bolted out to her room to pick her outfit of the day.  

Maybe it’s June who’s early, maybe it’s Elena already wanting to spend time with Jane before they go to the park.

Henry walks to the door, not bothering to look who it is.

To his surprise, it’s Alex. Alex in an oversized grey NYE hoodie and red shorts. Alex with a bouquet of picked wildflowers in his hands.

“Good morning,” Henry says, hiding his surprise.

“Good morning, Henry,” he says back, grinning from ear to ear. “Picked up some flowers for you.”

Henry can’t help but to smile when Alex reaches the bouquet to him. They look very similar to the ones he’s seen growing on Alex’s porch.

“Thank you, Alex, but what are you doing here?” he asks, hard to believe that he just so happened to walk by his porch spontaneously, and decided to stop by on a whim.

“Well, I was thinking.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Henry says, surprised how easily the sarcastic sentence rolls off his tongue.

“I seriously doubt that,” Alex repeats, butchering his attempt at a British accent. “Anyway, I was thinking about you.”

Henry’s heart jumps out of a beat. “You were?”

“Yeah, and about last night,” his grin gets wider, closing the gap between them to press his soft lips on him. Henry is startled by it, pulling back much quicker than he would have wanted to. Alex raises his brows. “What? Is Jane there?”

“No, I..” he stutters, cheeks scarlet red. He sees the panic in Alex’s face, that he took a step too far. Henry reaches a hand to brush a stray curl out of Alex’s eyes, making his worried expression soften. “I’m sorry. It’s okay. Do come in, Alex.”

“Didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast,” Alex announces loudly, clearly saying it for Jane to hear. He notices the empty table. “Oh. Is Jane still sleeping?”

“No. She’s getting ready upstairs. We’re going to the park behind your sister’s house.”

“Oh yeah, June told me.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Words truly travel fast in a small town.”

Alex flashes him a sweet smile. “I was over at June’s and I overheard her talking on the phone, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Henry nods, going to clear the table from the bowl of cereal. “Right.” Henry images Alex rushing to June this morning, or possibly even last night, telling her everything that happened during their date.

“I didn’t tell her,” Alex says, as if he could read Henry’s thoughts. Henry places the box of cereals back inside the cupboard, starting to clean the dishes in the sink. “About last night. Or about anything else, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I understand if you want to tell her. She’s your sister,” Henry says over his shoulder, drying the bowl, and starting to scrub the pan.

“Yeah we’re close, and this is a small town, but I want you to know that everything that happens between us, stays between us.” Henry tries to concentrate on the pan and how it’s getting difficult to scrape the burnt eggs from it. “Just because I’m close with my family doesn’t mean I’m gonna go tell them everything.”

“I know that,” he says, scrubbing the bottom of the pan.

“I did tell her about our dinner last night because my mom had called her and said I was with you at her restaurant. I swear June’s a psychic sometimes because the moment I stepped in her house this morning, she knew we kissed –”

“It’s really okay, Alex,” Henry reassures him. It wasn’t long ago when Henry did the exact same with Bea, and if she was here right now, he’d be sure to tell her all about Alex.

“I don’t think the pan's gonna get cleaner than that,” Alex quips, his voice closer than before.

“I’m just saying that if you want to tell your sister, it’s fine,” Henry assures, taking a tea towel to dry the pan. He takes a look at Alex who’s leaning against the island counter with an easy smile on him. He looks so cosy with his oversized hoodie and tousled, uncombed morning hair.

“Tell her what, exactly?”

“Um,” Henry clears his throat, face heating up under Alex’s captivating gaze when he hangs the pan and bowl to the cabinet. “I’m not entirely sure, to be honest.”

“I really enjoyed last night,” Alex whispers, hesitant in his voice. He clearly wants to say something more, but waits for Henry’s response. 

Henry, on the other hand, doesn’t have the slightest clue what this means. He doesn’t know what it means when you’re on a date that wasn’t really a date, or about the fact that they kissed, and kept kissing on that bench until their lips were raw and dry. All he knows is that he really wants to do it again.

“Me too.”

Alex’s face perks up, with a raised eyebrow and deep dimples. “So, it was a date then?”

“That’s what people do on dates, don’t they?”

“I guess so. It’s been far too long since I’ve been on a date to know for sure,” Alex reveals, a fraction of nervousness behind his eyes.

“You have any plans for today?” Henry asks, trying to be casual to change the topic.

“Well, yes, actually. Nora’s folks asked me to paint their garage. Her dad has a bad back, and her mom is busy at the hospital,” Alex explains, hand going through his curls. “Why? I’m pretty sure I could ask if –”

“No,” Henry cuts off, giving him a shy smile. “It’s okay. I was just.. I don’t know. Asking.”

The grin spreads on Alex’s face, Henry’s heart clenching when he moves closer. He loops an arm behind Henry’s back, bracing him against the kitchen counter, feeling his warm breath on his face.

All of a sudden he’s reminded of last night, the awestruck feeling when they kissed, how good it felt just for a moment to make Henry forget all his troubles. It was like a soft cloud of comfort hugging him, that told him everything was going to be okay.

Henry leans in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing Alex to let out a soft giggle. His arms embrace Henry tighter, wild curls tickling the side of his jaw. Henry’s arms find their way around his waist, pulling him in for a hug. He presses his head in the crook of his neck, feeling Alex’s hand stroke his hair.

Henry never thought he would be this intimate with anyone soon, or feel this good. He doesn’t need the grand gestures or big things, just having Alex here in his arms is enough. It tells everything he needs to know.

His embrace drowns all the worries in his head, and tells him that everything will be okay.

When Alex gradually moves back, the smile that stretches across his face is dazzlingly devious that Henry can’t resist the urge to kiss him. He feels Alex smile his way to the kiss, hand twirling in his curls, a hot moan slipping between the kisses when a hand lands on Henry’s waist.

Henry hears someone skipping the stairs down with a happy hum, causing him to break the heated kiss.

He has to look away to regain his composure from a kiss like that.

“Daddy?” Jane runs to the kitchen. Henry clears his throat, Alex leaping up away from him.

Her curious eyes trail Alex up and down. She’s wearing a yellow sundress, with dotted leggins, carrying sneakers in her hands.

“Alex came to say hi,” Henry says, voice strained. She narrows her eyes at Alex, before lifting up her horse sneakers to Henry. “You need a hand with your shoes, love?”

Jane nods, Henry helping her with her shoes. She sits on the chest next to the front door, Henry kneeling as he ties her sneakers. She hasn’t learned how to tie her shoes correctly, but her hands follow Henry’s around the laces.

“There,” Henry says, patting her legs. “Why don’t you go get your coat and scarf?”

“Is Alex coming to the park, too?” Jane asks curiously, hearing Alex step behind him.

“I would love to, but maybe another time,” Alex’s reply tumbles out of his mouth before Henry can stop it.

Jane nods, sprinting to the hallway.

“Should get going,” Alex says, stretching his arm wide, eyes connecting to Henry’s. ”Besides, the sooner I start the garage, the sooner I’ll finish.”

“Right.”

“I could give you a call when I’m done with it?”

There's a hint of color in Henry’s face, Alex seeming to catch it because a smug smile appears on his face. “Sure, yeah, sounds good.”

“Have a good day, Henry,” Alex smirks when his hand lands on his waist, his lips brushing on Henry’s jaw to give him a kiss on his cheek. “See you later.”

June’s hair is pulled into a messy ponytail, loose springy curls resting against her cheeks when she jogs to Henry’s door. Jane goes to hug Elena: they’ve grown to be nearly inseparable best of friends.

There’s a dirt path behind her house, June telling Henry a story about how she and Alex used to go to the park almost every day when they were kids. It's a much bigger park than Henry expected, the girls gleefully running towards it.

They settle on an old looking bench that’s been carved with peoples, most likely teenagers, initials. Henry keeps his steady eye on Jane: she climbs ladders up a slide, coming down a spiral slide with a carefree giggle. Elena follows soon after, and they start running towards the gymnastic rings.

“She’s a wonderful girl,” June says, crossing her leg after another.

“Yes, she is.”

“She and Elena are becoming inseparable,” she continues, staring at the girls. “Elena keeps talking about her all the time.” Henry briefly glances at June, who looks rather serious. “I think deep down it's her way of trying to make up for what she did.”

“Most likely,” Henry agrees.

“Elena isn’t violent. She has had a rough couple of months. I never.. I never imagined she would do something like that. I talked with her, and she feels absolutely terrible about that day.”

“It’s okay. Nobody was hurt, and they’re both fine. Maybe she just had a bad day.”

Henry feels her gaze stay on him for a long time, so he spends a minute watching Jane.

“Alex was right about you,” June says after a while. Henry has to look at her, and there’s a familiar dimpled smile on her face.

“What?”

“He said you have a good heart,” she says with a kindhearted smile. “And that you always see the best in people.”

Henry feels heat coming to his face, so he has to look away. Jane is now in the jungle gym with Elena, racing to the top. She looks determined to be the first, her ponytail swaying wildly.

“I’m glad he has you,” June continues when Henry doesn’t respond. He does his best to keep his eyes on Jane climbing the jungle gym. “Alex is the type of person who doesn’t want to admit he’s lonely, if you asked him he’d shrug it off and say an excuse about the kids.” Henry knows his sister is right. He’s known Alex only weeks, but you don’t need to be a genius to realize there’s truth to her words. “But there’s a reason why he works so hard, beyond his love for the kids. There’s a reason why he’s more than willing to drop everything to help others. There’s a reason why he comes to have dinner with us every night.”

Again, Henry doesn’t know how to respond. He turns to look at June, who’s already staring at him.

“You have to promise me something, Henry,” she asks, concern between her pinched brows.

“Anything,” he says out of a habit. June chuckles, taking a brief look at Elena, until her eyes land on Henry again.

“Don’t break his heart,” she whispers.

“I’m not planning to.”

“Good. I can see how much he already likes you, and I just need to know he’s in good hands.”

“I would never do anything to hurt him, June.”

“I know. I’m just looking after my brother.”

“I should have assumed you would be giving me a big sister protection speech.”

June cackles up. “I was sugar-coating it for you.”

He hears a distant call for his name, seeing Jane and Elena wildly waving at them from the top of the jungle gym. Henry waves at them with a proud smile. He watches how they carefully climb down, never imagining that Jane could settle for this new life, this fast.

“I never thought she would be this well adapted moving here,” Henry finds himself saying, eyes focused on Jane and Elena until they are safely on the ground.

“Kids are tough. They adapt to new things fast,” June says. “Much faster than adults.”

“I’m glad. I was so worried about her.”

“Jane is a strong girl, Henry. She’s very happy, and I’m sure she’s gonna have a great childhood here. She’s gonna make a lot of happy memories.”

“I hope so.”

Henry and June continue watching the girls playing on the playground, cheerfully giggling when they start chasing each other in the game of tag.

“Alex loves nature,” June says after a long while of not speaking. Henry’s head swirls to her, but she’s looking at the girls, thoughtfully. “That’s one of the things he missed the most when he was in New York. He’s always loved being in nature since he was a boy, the freedom, the calmness. It brings him peace.” June slowly turns her eyes to Henry, with a warm expression on her face. “I think he would really appreciate it if this year's fall festival was something similar to that.”

Henry nods at her, and she smiles happily. They don’t say much anything after that, Jane asking them to join their play of hide and seek. They spend most of the day at the park until they’re absolutely starving, June showing a nearby coffee shop where they have late lunch. There’s a warm expression on June’s face when they part, the girls already wanting to see each other the next day.

Henry is just happy that Jane has found a good friend despite their rocky start, and that she has totally accepted her life in Chestnut Creek. When Henry thinks about his current life here, about Alex – it doesn’t seem too bad.

Alex finished painting Nora’s parents garage quicker than expected, and as a reward from a job well done, he got piles of ground meat from Nora’s father. After coming back home, Alex sent him a message asking about having dinner together.

Henry could never say no to that, when he was already missing Alex, not seeing him for half of the day.

Jane spends most of her time with her homework and drawing, seeming more than happy to have dinner at Alex’s. Henry knows how much she likes him, also because Alex is her best friend’s uncle.

Still, a small bit of anxiety knots in Henry when he knocks at Alex’s door. There’s a chance he asked only Henry to dinner, that this was meant to be a date without kids.

“Oh, hey guys,” Alex smiles widely, eagerly gesturing to them to come inside. He’s wearing a white tank top which makes Henry’s pause on his biceps for a split second, covered with an red apron that’s tightly wrapped around his slim waist. “I just started to prepare dinner.”

“I know we’re a bit early,” Henry apologises.

“Hey, no problem. You can help me with the dinner. Right, Jane?”

Something else catches Jane’s keen attention, and she sprints towards the living room. “Is that a dollhouse?” she gasps, mouth dropping open.

“Jane, no running,” Henry calls back, but she’s already in the living room and out of sight. Alex lets out a relaxed laughter when they follow her.

There is indeed a dollhouse in his living room table for some reason, resting on old newspapers. It’s pastel yellow, a sturdy wooden house that’s decorated on the inside, but it doesn’t have any furniture or dolls inside. Henry smells a distinct smell of fresh paint, and the white paint on the dollhouse’s roof looks freshly painted.

“Careful now, Jane,” Alex says when she leans closer. “The paint hasn’t completely dried yet.” She takes a cautious step back, her big, bright eyes looking up with Alex. “You like it, don’t you?”

Jane excitedly nods her head. “I knew you would. I guess you recognize it’s Elena’s, but since there was a small accident, I’m fixing it. Painted it and repaired the roof, so it's brand new. Pretty cool, right?”

She nods again, elbows leaning on the coffee table. “I promise once the paint is fully dried, I can let you know so Elena can give a tour of her newly decorated dollhouse. How does that sound?”

Jane waves her hands happily, pointing at one of the bedrooms inside the dollhouse.

“Oh, you noticed that?” Alex coos, kneeling down so he’s in her level. His arm points to the upstairs bedroom, which has a children’s bedroom. It’s very similar to Jane’s, and there’s a picture of a horse on the wall. “You like that painting? There’s a funny story for that, actually. This dollhouse belongs to my grandmother, who drew that small painting when she was just a girl, so it’s pretty old. She passed it on to my mom, who passed it to my sister and to Elena. Can you count how many years that is, Jane?”

Alex stares at her, Jane scrunching her nose and brows furrow in concentration. Henry can literally see her try to do the math calculation in her head.

“A hundred years?” Jane asks, squinting her eyes.

“Very good guess. It’s nearly seventy-five years old.”

She claps her hands together, Alex stroking her hair. Under any other circumstances, Henry would have been uncomfortable with someone touching her. He knows Jane isn’t fond of physical contact, and it usually takes her months before she trusts someone. But Jane never showed any signs of discomfort with Alex around, she actually giggles quietly, even leans her body closer to Alex’s chest.

Henry’s heart swells a tiny bit upon the sight.

“Alright. You guys are probably getting hungry, so we should start on dinner,” Alex explains. Once again Jane claps her hands together cheerfully. “So, I already made the sauce, which means we just have to chop the veggies and cook the meat. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

“No,” Jane giggles joyfully. She seems more than excited when Alex gives her a task to wash the green bell peppers in the sink.

“If you cut these, I can chop the onions,” Alex instructs Henry, who nods in agreement. Alex places a cutting board in front of him, Jane placing the washed peppers with a proud face.

“So what are we making, exactly?” Henry asks, taking a knife and starts to chop the peppers into smaller pieces.

“Sloppy joes,” Alex jeers happily, hard eyes moving to the cutting board. “You’re chopping them wrong.”

“Sorry?”

“Not like that,” Alex stubbornly shakes his head, smacking his tongue. Henry slips his head towards him, when he nudges at his side. Hip to hip, Alex places his hand around Henry’s over the knife. “I need ‘em diced,” Alex adds, tongue peeking out of his mouth. He teaches Henry to slice the pepper like he’s a child, but it doesn’t explain the sudden racing of his heartbeat.

“I know how to slice them diced, Alex,” Henry rolls his eyes. Alex’s eyes connect with his, and suddenly he feels his cheeks getting hot.

“Of course. I’ll get started with the onions. Jane, you want to help find me a pan? I swear I saw one in those drawers next to the fridge,” Alex says to Jane, who bounces up happily to the drawer.

“Jane, no jumping in the kitchen when knives are involved,” Henry scolds, Jane scrunching her nose in dispute.

“Your father is right,” Alex agrees in a serious tone, chopping an onion in half. “You gotta be careful in the kitchen.”

“Fine,” she sighs dramatically, kneeling over to open a drawer. Alex is a masterchef, that’s what Henry gathers when he briefly looks over his skilful onion cutting. He doesn’t even notice his eyes tearing up more than a couple of droplets. 

After Jane finds a pan, he picks up a stool so she can reach up to help him with the stove. In the corner of his eye, Henry watches as Alex lets her carefully drop pieces of ground meat on it. When the pan sizzles, she giggles excitedly, leaning against Alex’s chest.

“Quick, the peppers,” Alex says when he pours the onions in.

“Quick, the peppers,” Jane repeats with a huff of laughter, her hands flapping excitedly. Henry rolls his eyes as he pours the diced peppers into the pan.

“Can you get the bowl of sauce, please? It’s on that table,” Alex asks, Henry nodding his head. He finds a bowl on the kitchen table, taking it back near the stove.

“Thanks, babe,” Alex replies with a casual smile, but something makes Henry freeze in the spot. “But just give me a second before pouring the sauce in, OK? I’ll tell you when.”

“Oh, sure,” Henry says, a lump caught in his throat. He looks at Alex, arms carefully around Jane, not noticing how the word babe slipped out like that. Henry is surprised that instead of disliking being called any pet names, he enjoyed it, finding his lips turning to a smile at how adorable Alex is around Jane.

“Allright, stir them up a bit,” Alex guides Jane, who willingly takes the spatula from his hand, stirring the vegetables in the pan. “Should be fine now. We can put the sauce in, and then we’ll have it simmer a moment before we make the buns. The fries should be ready in the oven in just a minute.”

“Okay,” Jane giggles.

“Henry? The sauce.”

“Oh, right. Here,” he says, lost in his deep thought, and Alex takes the bowl out of his hands. He puts the stove on less high heat, pulling back from the stove.

“Jane sweetheart, take a step back. The sauce might splash over,” Alex says with worry in his voice, lifting Jane off the stool, before pouring the sauce into the pan.

“We could set up the table,” Henry suggests, watching Alex focus on stirring the sauce in the pan.

“Oh, right, okay. It’s nearly done. Just need to slap ‘em on the buns after this.”

Alex looks too fixed on the sauce, adding a bit of salt and pepper into it when Henry picks up the plates and glasses from the cupboards.

“Mm, smells good,” Jane takes in a deep inhale, eyes closing for a second. Alex opens a bag of buns, serving the saucy beef into the buns.

“Let’s go wash up for dinner, love,” Henry says to Jane after they set up the table. He takes her by the hand, walking her to the guest bathroom behind the kitchen. After washing up for dinner, they return to the kitchen, and the smell of sharp and savory food drifts up to his nose.

Alex places the plate full of what seems small hamburgers, drooling with the saucy beef mixture, the plates next to the hamburgers filled with consistently golden curly fries.  

“All done. Looks amazing, even if I say so myself.”

Henry rubs the back of his neck. “Yes, totally.”

“Sounded very convincing,” Alex lets out a huff of a laugh. He slips an arm around Henry’s waist, plants a small kiss into his neck, and for a second, Henry’s brain malfunctions. It’s good he wasn’t cutting the peppers anymore, because he would have lost a finger. Henry’s eyes lock to Jane, who seemed to miss their sweet moment while climbing on the chair.

“I’m gonna be seriously offended if you don’t like them. They’re my abuelo’s old recipe,” Alex says in a dead serious tone.

“I highly doubt that.”

“You’re not gonna believe my abuelo made sloppy joes?” He raises an offended brow, hand squeezing at Henry’s shoulder.

“No, I don’t think he did,” Henry laughs.

“Daddy likes hamburgers and fries,” Jane giggles happily, kicking her feet under the table. “But when we have them, we drink Coke.”

“Oh yeah, totally,” Alex perks up, hand sliding down to the back of Henry’s waist. “I’ve got plenty.” Alex bounces to the fridge, opening it before he shoots a questioning glance to his way. Henry nods and Alex takes out three cans of diet Coke from the fridge, while Henry finds the seat next to Jane.

“Allrighty, let’s dig in,” Alex grins proudly, and they settle for the dinner. Out of a parental habit, Henry helps Jane with the first sloppy joe before even taking one for himself. Because he’s focused on helping to cut it easier for Jane, he doesn’t notice Alex putting one for his plate.

“Pretty good, huh?” Alex asks, the sauce spilling over Jane’s mouth when she takes a bite.

“Mmm,” she hums, taking another bite while she grabs two fries with her fingers, half of the meat falling over her plate. Alex glances patiently at Henry, waiting for his response. Henry gives him a smile before slicing a piece of the meat and bun, not sure if that’s the proper way to eat it. Probably not, since he sees Alex’s hands stained with the sauce.

“Well? How is it?”

“It’s..” Henry thinks of the right words when the flavors mix up in his mouth. “Interesting.”

“Interesting?” Alex’s brows shoot up.

“Tastes just like a hamburger with a BBQ sauce.”

“Wow,” he says, flatly, disappointed.

“I’m sorry,” a sincere apology slips out from Henry’s lips, unintentionally.

“Hey, I was just joking,” Alex reassures breezily, taking a sloppy joe into his hands. “Besides, I can’t expect you to like everything I cook, now can I?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” Henry finds himself explaining. “I do like it, it’s very tasty and the sauce –”

“Hey. It’s fine, Henry. Don’t worry about it,” Alex assures with an easy smile on his face. He takes a big bite from the sloppy joe, BBQ sauce dripping over his lips that for a split second Henry seriously considers to lean over and lick his mouth clean. Alex’s eyes shoot up to him, catching him staring. “Just means I need to cook for you guys more often,” Alex adds, licking his upper lip clean from the dark sauce while holding his gaze on Henry. “So I’ll know what you like.”

“Daddy,” Jane snickers a laugh, already finished with her sloppy joe and fries. “Can we have dinner at Alex’s every night?”

Alex bites his lips, an arrogant smug on his face when he slurps his coke. “At least she likes my sloppy joes,” he murmurs sarcastically.

“I’m sure Alex has other plans than to cook us dinner every night,” Henry answers, a casual excuse just for Jane’s sake.

“I would be more than happy to cook for you,” Alex answers, dead-serious, eyes sincerely at Henry. This must be still part of his messing around, because Alex couldn’t possibly be serious. Even for a tiny fraction of a second, Henry gets a nervous kick in his stomach that Alex isn’t messing around about this topic.

“Jane, love, if you’re finished eating, you should go wash your face,” Henry clears his throat, giving her a look.

“Okay, dad,” she nods, hopping off the chair. “Thank you for the meal, Alex.”

“De nada,” Alex smiles, ear to ear. Jane waves at him, before she sprints to the guest bathroom.

“She’s an amazing girl, isn’t she?”

“I know,” Henry agrees with a proud smile on his face.

“I wish Elena was that well-behaved.”

“Well, I suppose she takes after her –” Henry cuts off upon seeing Alex brows furrowing. “Ahem, anyway. Do you need help cleaning the dishes?”

“No need for that, Henry. You’re a guest here, after all.” Alex sprints up the table, but Henry takes his and Jane’s plates anyway, carrying them to the counter. “Seriously, Henry, I said you don’t have to –” he stops himself, staring blankly at Henry’s face.

“What?”

“Hold on. Stay still,” he says, leaning closer. Henry’s heartbeat spikes up with his closeness, how he raises his thumb, placing it on his upper lip. He swipes his thumb over it, Henry holding his gaze, feeling like his legs are about to give in any second. Alex’s thumb lingers there, longer than it needs to. Henry’s mouth parts open out of a habit, swearing that he feels a finger coming between his lips.

“Got lil’ something there,” Alex whispers, taking his thumb away and licking it clean. Henry can’t tear his eyes off Alex, who carelessly shrugs his shoulders like he didn’t just cause Henry to completely malfunction.

“Daaad,” Jane sings cheerfully behind them, which causes Henry to flinch away. “There’s a spaceship in Alex’s living room!”

“Huh?” Henry tries to collect his thoughts from what just happened. Alex rests his hands on his hips.

“Oh, that? It’s a miniature replica of a space shuttle. Pretty cool, right?”

“So cool,” Jane answers, flapping her hands in awe. “Can I play with it?”

“Well, I can show it to you if you like. You just have to be very careful with it.”

“I will,” Jane promises, blinking her bright blue eyes. Henry follows them to the living room, where Alex reaches to a shelf above his fireplace. He takes out a spaceship from it, showing it to Jane. She carefully pokes the side of the ship with her finger.

“She’s gonna be the first horse astronaut when she grows up,” Henry says, Alex giving him a curious glance.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes. I’m gonna be an astronaut,” Jane answers confidently.

“A horse astronaut too?”

“Yes. My dad will buy me a horse, and I’ll ride with him to the moon,” Jane explains passionately.

“Oh, he will?” Alex gives Henry a smirk that causes his heart to skip a beat. Alex then kneels down to Jane’s level, finger pointing at the side of the ship.

“There’s a door here, can you see that?” Alex points at the spaceship, Jane’s eager eyes glued to it. “But they call it a hatch in a spaceship.”

“A hatch?”

“Yep. They can also call it an airlock.”

“Wow,” Jane gasps, totally impressed.

“Here. Have a look at it, but be careful, okay, sweetheart?”

“I will,” she promises, sitting on the living room floor with her legs crossed. Jane takes a careful hold of the spaceship, studying it with an intense set of eyes.

“That was sweet of you,” Henry smiles when Alex steps beside him.

“It’s nothing, really. Didn’t know she was so interested about space.”

“Her obsession seems to change every week,” Henry answers with a smile as he watches his daughter interestingly study every part of the spaceship with pure curiosity. “Last year it used to be about dolphins. Past months it’s been all about horses. This week when I taught about space in school, she suddenly wants to be an astronaut.”

“Yeah, that’s normal. Elena is currently totally obsessed with collecting stickers.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve seen her sticker book during recess.”

“I see the same look on Jane’s eyes,” Alex stares at her waving the spaceship in the air and making engine noises, landing the plane on the floor. “She seems to be really into it.”

“Yeah. She’s been drawing pictures of spaceships and her as an astronaut for days now.”

Alex nods his head, but spins his face to Henry. “You still need to return your car, right?”

“What?” Henry tilts his head to Alex, confused by the sudden change of topic.

“You’re so cute when you’re confused,” Alex grins with a charming smile, biting his lip. “Your rented car. You need to return it to a store, right?”

“Um, yes. There’s a rental store near the center of Austin, so I need to figure out when we’ll go there.”

“I was doing some thinkin’, and if you’re free tomorrow, I could give you guys a lift back home.”

“It’s really no trouble, it’s like an hour drive from here.”

“Yeah, but how are you planning to get back, unless you’re planning to buy a car while you’re there?”

Henry scratches his neck. He’s too broke to buy a car, he needs to save up a couple months for it if he even considers buying an used car. “Well, I read there’s a bus. We could come back with that.”

“It doesn’t run on Sundays. On weekdays, it goes like once a day.”

“Well –”

“Henry, it’s no trouble. I need to go there anyway, for an errand. I can fetch you guys on my way back.”

Henry doesn’t know if he’s just making an excuse, or if Alex really conveniently has some errands nearby the center of Austin. It would be a lot easier that way, and since Henry doesn’t know Austin at all, the last thing he wants is to get lost.

“You really don’t mind it?” he assures, but the genuine smile on Alex’s face tells otherwise.

“Not at all, Henry.”

“Okay. We’ll probably be there around noon, let’s say around one o’clock?”

“Great. Just call me when you’re there and I’ll pick you guys up.”

“Jane, honey,” Henry traces his eyes back to his daughter, who’s back wobbles and leans against the carpet. She rubs her drowsy eyes. “You ready to go to bed?”

“No,” she says in a long, sleepy yawn. “I’m not tired.”

“I bet you’re not. Come on, love,” he chuckles, walking to her. “Let’s give Alex his spaceship back and get you into bed.”

“I said I’m not tired,” Jane repeats in a cranky voice.

“We’ll have a fun car trip tomorrow, so you’ll be needing your strength. If you behave nicely, we can stop for ice cream,” Henry suggests. Jane’s head perks up, but she’s blinking her eyes faster to keep them open.

“Okay. You promise,” she murmurs quietly. She raises the spaceship up for Alex, who kneels down to take it from her hands, placing it back to the shelf.

“Let me walk you guys home,” Alex chimes in, when Henry takes her into his arms. She leans her head against his shoulder, her body relaxing around him.

“We literally live next door.”

“Let me be a gentleman, won’t you?”

“Fine,” Henry scoffs with a roll of eyes, stifling a laugh from him. Alex follows closely as they step out of his house, only to walk to the next door. Henry sort of expects him to turn away at his porch, but he follows them inside.

“I’ll.. I’ll put Jane to bed,” Henry says, getting an understanding smile from Alex. He carries Jane upstairs, who’s fallen asleep on Henry’s shoulder. 

He carefully places her on her bed, changing her into PJ’s before he tucks her into her horse bed sheets. He plants a kiss on her forehead, looking at her for a good couple of minutes when she takes her horse plushie and tightly squeezes it in her sleep.

Henry descends the flight of stairs, only to find Alex still standing in the hallway. He’s scrolling on his phone, but as soon as he notices Henry, he flips the phone into his pocket.

“Jane asleep?”

“Safe and sound.” Henry takes a pause, and doesn’t know why the moment suddenly feels awkward between them. “You want a cup of tea?”

“Sure, sounds good.”

They settle on the living room couch, the tea cup barely brushing on Alex’s lips when his eyes lock to Henry.

“Today was fun,” Alex says, the tea cup hovering around his mouth. Henry stares at him while taking a quick sip from the tea.

“Yes, it was. Jane really enjoyed it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’re really good with her,” Henry says, taking another sip from his tea. “She really likes you.”

“Jane is a great girl,” he says, lips on the curve of the tea cup when he takes a sip. “I guess I’m a natural in that sense. Always been good with kids.”

“The kids at the school are blessed to have you.”

Alex raises a brow at him. “Hopefully not only the kids.”

“Who else?” Henry jokes, resisting to roll eyes at him.  

“Well,” he smacks his lips, placing the tea cup down on the coffee table. “There’s this stunning blonde British guy teaching the first grade that I really want to impress.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep,” he says, popping the p, in the typical Alex way: infectious joy bubbling out of him. He never truly understands where this radiating happiness comes from, or if Alex has always been like that. 

All Henry knows is that he has been deprived far too long, and can’t seem to have any willpower to say no to that adorable face of his. So he places his tea cup down, reaches a hand up to Alex’s jaw. Alex’s eyes look down to his lips before bouncing back to his eyes with a warm look.

Henry’s hands settle on the sides of his head, presses his mouth on him, pinning his body against Alex on the couch. They land on top of each other, Henry’s fingers in his curls, feeling the heel of Alex’s leg brush his lower waist. He kisses his neck, his jaw, his lips while combing his fingers through his hair. 

“Henry,” Alex draws back, sounding breathless, brows drawn together. “We don’t have to –”

“I feel bad,” Henry whispers, voice firm, hands stroking up Alex’s waist. “You’ve been so patient with me lately.”

“Henry, I meant what I said. I’m really fine with taking it slow –”

Henry interrupts him with a heated kiss, kissing him fiercely, embracing his arms securely around him. He moves down to his neck, licks and sucks over the skin until there's a faintly glistening mark. His fingers fumble the button and zipper of his trousers, scooting himself back a bit to pull Alex into a sitting position on the couch.

“Oh,” a muffled voice slips out from Alex as his brain finally gathers what’s happening. “Oh, I mean, okay. If you really –”

“Yes,” Henry says, stopping his sentence with another kiss. “I really want to. Do you?”

Alex’s breath is hot against his collarbone, tone careful. “Yes. Yes, of course I want to.”

Henry smirks, finding his mouth again. The kiss slows at first, but when Alex’s body realizes he doesn’t need to hold back anymore, it’s more insistent than before. Henry feels dizzy from the sudden shift. 

Alex claims his mouth, the way Henry absolutely loves: his tongue sliding against his lip, begging for entrance while he roughly pulls at Henry’s shirt. Alex’s teeth catch on his bottom lip, and he opens up as a reflex, pressing deeper into him. His thighs are slotting between Alex’s legs, and it’s all so good, so electric, gathering up that familiar heat in Henry’s stomach.

Henry stops Alex from taking his shirt off, chasing for Henry’s lips when he pulls back. He withdraws from his lap to the floor, hastily shoving his trousers to his knees. Alex is already hard in his grey boxers, Henry’s hand going around him. He lets out a growl, when Henry feels him, testing him, and pulls the boxers completely off.

He registers Alex licking his mouth open, eyes fluttering and staring deeply into him. Henry reassigns his kneeling position, sliding down a hand to wrap around his cock. He hesitates, glancing up, Alex watching him with an almost calm expression and gives a reassuring nod. Henry then fists his cock at the base, gently. Sudden excitement prickles under his skin as he takes Alex, starting to stroke up and down slowly. He starts out slow, fingers tight around him, Alex’s breath coming faster as his arousal grows. He moves in long, firm strokes, tight around his cock. Henry feels it’s not going to take much, but he wants to savor this moment. 

Slowly, he dips his hand away, lowering himself over and opens his mouth.

It draws a moan deep from Alex’s throat, throwing his head back against the couch cushions. His hand clutches into a pillow and squeezes his eyes shut, moaning. It causes a fire shooting up Henry’s spine, Alex’s cock twitching in his mouth, blood heating up Henry’s face. Instinctively, he knows what to do. He places his lips around the head of his cock, drags across the red tip, before sucking.

He drives Henry’s mind, body – every part, crazy. Alex doesn’t hide the shudder, hips bucking as he grins his thighs. Alex pulls at the roots of his hair, arching his body while his nails gently dig into the back of his neck.

Henry feels himself on the brink, building deep in his balls, achingly hard. He doesn’t feel any shame of wanting to release it, but the anticipation is becoming unbearable. He’s almost there, ready to finally burst, Alex’s hips rolling with his sucking, body so strung out he can barely take it.

Henry manages to pull his mouth of his throbbing dick just seconds before he comes, spraying a large amount of white liquid all over Alex’s stomach. Henry’s body almost folds itself in half as his own release cuts through him, pleasure shooting up his spine and tingling under his skin.

His breath leaves him in a stuttered moan, Alex’s body slumping against the couch cushions. Henry sucks in a breath of air, realizing how easily he came with Alex. His bright blue eyes look directly at him, the way Alex’s breath calms, the way his chest slows down.

“I’ll get you a towel,” Henry rushes out, midway up from the floor, but Alex grabs his wrist.

“Wait.” He croaks, planting a tender kiss on his wrist, on his pulse point. “Thank you.”

It was just a blow-job, Henry wants to say, but he sees it’s the opposite in Alex’s eyes. He pauses to smile sweetly at Henry, who returns it, a new sparkle in his eyes. It meant much more to him, but after everything he did for Henry, he couldn’t let him go unrewarded.

Henry lets Alex have a moment of privacy, pacing towards the bathroom to clean himself and get a new pair of boxers. After a quick change, he tiptoes to the kitchen, cleaning the tea cups they barely touched. He usually doesn’t like the concept of throwing good tea away, but when he clenches his jaw and feels a bit of ache in his throat, he finds himself smiling.

“I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t help you with that,” Alex’s voice creeps behind him. He’s clothed again, though his t-shirt hangs loose and his trouser button is undone.

“I already did the dishes.”

“Hm.” Alex comes to cradle him, burrowing his head in his neck. “Can I thank you in some other way, then? I felt bad to let you go like that, without returning the favor.”

Alex’s hand rubs his shoulder, Henry slowly turns to face him. His eyes genuinely look like he has a bad conscience, and he’s certain he wouldn’t be against returning the favor. “It’s fine. I sort of –” he stops himself, face red.

“Oh,” Alex gasps, when the realization hits. “Oh, that’s – that’s great, but I still could..” His hand glides down to his waist, finger fumbling on his zipper.

“It’s okay, really.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do for you?”

Henry stares at the man in front of him in awe. A slow smile creeps on his lips, wrapping his arms around Alex’s neck. “Can.. can you stay the night?”

A wide grin spreads on his face. “Absolutely.”

Henry takes his hand, walking Alex upstairs to his bedroom. He quickly does his nightly routines, letting Alex borrow his pajamas that surprisingly fit him. He puts an alarm for the morning, when he feels Alex’s arms slide their way under the covers. He places his phone on the nightstand when the warmth spreads through him like an electric shock.

Henry allows to lose himself to Alex. In his smell, his warmth, his embrace. All of him is so incredibly overwhelming, that he doesn’t want to let go of the feeling. He savors the moment, having Alex here, in his hold.

Alex rubs the back of his neck, relaxing him. Being in his hold relaxes Henry in ways he never imagined, how their bodies instinctively, like by nature, slot into place. He slips his hand into his, and gives it a reassuring squeeze, sparks of hope flooding into Henry. Maybe he doesn’t need to be alone anymore, maybe there’s a chance of happiness for him.

Maybe Alex was the missing puzzle piece all along, maybe Henry needed to survive the pain and chaos just to find his way to him, because when in his arms, all those months of hardships and suffering, finally disappear.

Chapter Text

In the following morning, Henry stares at his tired face in the bathroom mirror, noticing small purple spots trailing down on his neck. He touches his neck, flinching at the sore spots, going down his collarbone.

Shit.

He’s partly relieved he doesn’t need to go to school today, only in the hopes that they’ll fade away by tomorrow morning. He can’t possibly be a teacher to six to seven year old kids with the biggest, darkening hickeys across his neck.

“Henry?” a faint voice calls from the bedroom, startling Henry. He quickly grabs his bathrobe from the hanger, hastily tying it around his waist when there’s a pat of bare feet approaching him, before a door opens. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to burst in –”

Alex places a panicked hand to cover his eyes, making Henry smile. “It’s okay, Alex,” he chuckles softly at the sight. Alex slowly lifts his hand, one finger at a time, squinting eyes at him.

“You weren’t in bed so I got worried.”

Henry does his best to contain his smile. “Just wanted to have a shower, that’s all.”

“Wait. Are those what I think they are?” Alex steps further in with inquisitive eyes, his hand reaching out for his neck, but then he pulls his hand back against his chest.

“Lovely, aren’t they?”

“I swear I didn’t mean to do those on purpose,” Alex murmurs, voice thick with regret, apologetic eyes down at his neck.

“Well, what’s done is done.” Henry turns around to the mirror, expanding his neck from the bathrobe to the mirror. “Besides, I can pull a turtleneck.”

“Really?” Alex’s brows rise up, Henry seeing his figure appearing in the mirror reflection, hands on his hips. “From my experience not many people can pull a turtleneck.”

“Just wait and see, love.” The word slips out by pure accident, but Alex simply grins brightly at him, hand coming to cup his face. Alex leans their foreheads together, lips grazing against his nose. Henry stays there for a minute or two, inhaling the warm smell of Alex, another hand coming to grab his waist. Alex lowers his head, lips hovering just above his, Henry tilting to him, his lip touching his jaw, opening his mouth to –

“Can I use your shower, Henry?”

“You’re insufferable,” comes a laugh, deep from his throat, when Alex pulls back with a pleasant smug on his face.

“I take that as a yes?”

Henry shakes his head in amusement when he steps out of the bathroom. He takes a one look over his shoulder, and since Alex left the bathroom door wide open, Henry sees him taking off his shirt. It’s like he’s doing it in slow motion: how the shirt slowly rolls up on him, revealing more and more his brown, glimmering skin.

Alex turns his head, catching him staring. Henry awkwardly looks away, only hearing his sweet laughter filling the air before the bathroom door shuts close.

Henry finds his beige turtleneck in his wardrobe, matching it with his grey khaki pants. He hears a faint sound of water turning on, seconds later Alex is singing in the shower, making Henry smile from ear to ear while he dresses up. His songs range from country songs to Hamilton show tunes during his fifteen minute shower. When he hears the water turning off, he dashes out of his bedroom. Henry pauses to check up on Jane, finding her still sleeping when he peeks to her bedroom. He carefully shuts the door behind him, going to the kitchen.

Henry starts preparing breakfast, putting the kettle on. He’s lost in his thoughts that keep circulating back to Alex, the way he tightly held him the entire night, the way last night was probably the best night sleep he’s got in this house. There was something so entrusting and confiding about Alex, his earnest and kindhearted aura, that was able to relax Henry. He was less on edge, less stressed whenever Alex was around, knowing that nothing bad could happen when he was near him.

Henry knew nothing bad could happen to him or his daughter when Alex was around. It’s a strangely comforting thought, which Henry didn’t believe would happen this soon after moving to Austin.

As he cracks an egg to the pan, his thoughts keep rotating elsewhere, especially to the way Alex’s bare back looked when he undressed his shirt, to his back muscles, to his angel wings on his back.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Alex’s chirpy voice quips when he steps to the kitchen. He’s wearing yesterday’s clothes but fresh out of the shower with droplets of water on his neck, his skin looking soft and scrubbed. His eyes measure Henry from head to toe, making him flustered. “You really can pull off a turtleneck.”

Henry gives him a shy smile. “You want a cup of coffee?”

“I thought you didn’t have coffee,” he replies with a thoughtful look, leaning heavily on the kitchen island.

“I might have found a package of instant coffee from the cabinets,” Henry says, seeing Alex’s warm stare at him.

“Really?”

“Yes. Left by the previous residents, most likely.”

“Probably,” he replies sarcastically, then shrugging his shoulders. “Well, I can’t say no to coffee. I guess that package pickup just has to wait.”

“Package?” Henry asks curiously when he pours hot water into cups.

“Told you I had errands,” Alex chews his cheeks smugly, tongue between his teeth. “Did you really think I would drive back and forth to Austin just for you?”

Henry rolls his eyes, pouring coffee grounds into one of the mugs. “I know it’s probably not the best coffee since I don’t have a machine –”

Alex takes the cup from his hands, and a loud slurp from the coffee. “Mm,” he purrs with a big, fat smile. “Could use a little bit of oat milk, but still good.”

“You’re just saying that,” Henry murmurs under his breath, opening the fridge to take a cart of milk. “Unfortunately I don’t have oat milk since Jane only drinks regular milk.”

“That’s fine too,” Alex says, nodding his head. “June is a freshly converted vegetarian, and over these past couple of months she’s kind of gotten me into it. I think her master plan is to fully convert me into a vegetarian one of these days.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Henry says, pouring milk into his mug. “My mate is all about being healthy to the point he also tried to convince me to become a full vegan.”

“It’s not that easy, is it?”

“No, and at that point Jane was a baby, so I felt like I needed to concentrate on her gaining weight and had her eat a variety of foods,” Henry explains while he pours a dash of milk to his tea. He spins it with his spoon, before licking it, finding Alex staring at him. “She wasn’t exactly the easiest baby when it came to food, so at the time, all I could focus on was getting her eat the best kind of food.”

“Totally get that,” Alex answers, taking a sip from his coffee, savoring the taste for a second before locking eyes back at him. “I mean, I’m not a father, but sometimes like I feel I am, because I’ve been raising Elena since she was a baby, alongside my sister.”

“You’re a great uncle. I can see the way Elena looks up to you,” Henry answers fondly, tasting his tea. It’s the same brand of tea he drinks every morning, but he can’t shake the feeling that for some reason, it tastes much better this morning.

“Henry?”

“Yes?”

“You should probably check on the eggs.”

“Goodness,” Henry scurries to the stove, hearing Alex lovingly laugh behind him. He takes a spatula, scraping the eggs on the pan. He manages to save them just in time, turning the heat to a low temperature. “You like them sunny side up or not?”

“What?”

“Your eggs.”

“Oh. I mean, I don’t really mind. They taste the same either way.”

“Jane doesn’t like the runny yolk, so I’m used to doing them for her the same way.”

“That’s really fine.”

Henry hears rustling upstairs, meeting with Alex’s eyes and raised eyebrows.

“She can’t see you,” Henry forces out, unintentionally. “I mean, I don’t want my daughter to get the idea that we are..”

“Bouncing booties?” Alex deadpans, and it startles a laugh from Henry.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it that.”

“Right, right.” He scratches his neck, a stray curl falling on his forehead. “What are we then, exactly?” It’s the question Henry tried to avoid like a bullet. Alex must see the dread in his face, because he quickly clears his throat. “I didn’t mean that we have to be something, I was just.. I don’t know what I was thinking. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“We don’t need to put labels on this,” Alex says with an understanding smile. Henry glances at the end of the staircase, but doesn’t hear her steps yet. “But what we did last night on your couch.. I really liked it.”

“Likewise. I also know that I like you,” Henry says, earning an endearingly wide smile from Alex. “And I really like spending time with you.”

“Me too.” He leans a hand over, fingers brushing against his. The small touch alone sends a vibration of sparks all over in Henry’s body. “Look, I don’t want to pressure you. We’re just.. enjoying each other’s company like good neighbours do, except it involves kissing. I mean I hope it’ll involve a lot of kissing and other things –” he tilts his head, brows drawn together. “But it doesn’t mean we have to label this thing between us.”

“Just good neighbours?”

“More than fine with me,” Alex smirks, the tip of his tongue peeking out. Henry wants to take that stupid face of his and kiss him senseless to prove that this is more than being good neighbours as he called it, that even there’s a fear of commitment in Henry – he wants to make this work. He wants to be with Alex, he wants to assure him that they’re more than just really good neighbours.

But he hears someone stomping the stairs down, one step at a time, and Alex bolts up from the island stool.

“Thanks for the coffee, babe,” he says gratefully, Henry feeling a faint press of his lips on his cheek. “Text me when you’re ready to be picked up.”

And like that, he dashes out the back door.

“Daddy, were you talking with someone?” Jane walks in, literally a split-second later, rubbing her eyes open. Her hair is a tousled mess that makes him smile.

“No, not at all. Did you sleep well, love?”

“Mm,” she yawns, stretching her arms up. Henry continues preparing them breakfast, enjoying when Jane starts talking about her new obsession about becoming a horse astronaut.

She doesn’t seem to get over it anytime soon, or about Alex’s space toy. If Henry had more money he would spoil her with all the toys she wanted, but right now, his financial situation isn’t the greatest. He focuses on saving every bit of his salary he can get, so that maybe he can get them a car one day, and eventually, buy more things for Jane.

It takes him less than an hour to drive and leave the car at the rental company. Luckily they don’t notice anything wrong with it, so he gets the full deposit back. They walk out the building, Henry flipping out his phone, opening his chat with Alex.

Henry (11:50am)

Ready for our ride.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (11:55am)

i bet 😏

i know a nice place we could eat

i mean if you guys are hungry

Henry (11:58am)

We’re not really hungry.

Maybe later?

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (11:59am)

okey dokey

should be there in fifteen minutes

They wait outside the rental company’s driveway, Jane picking a sunflower from the nearby patch of grass. It takes approximately twenty minutes when Henry notices a familiar red pickup truck, curling around the parking lot. Jane waves her hands excitedly when the car stops in front of them.

Alex’s head pops out the window. “A ride for Mr. and Miss Fox?”

“Yes,” Jane bounces up cheerily.

Henry rolls his eyes. “You’re late,” he replies blankly.

“Sorry. The store opened later than I remembered, so I needed to wait until it opened,” Alex explains. Henry looks at the back of the car, filled with at least three tall packages. “Come on, guys. Let’s get going.”

Jane climbs up to the back, Henry helping her to her seat, clicking her seatbelt close. He decides not to sit next to her, and goes to the front seat next to Alex.

“Are you guys hungry yet?”

“I don’t think so. Jane ate a big breakfast, and it’s not even one o’clock yet,” Henry says, giving a look at Jane who shakes her head in agreement.

“Allright, that’s fine. I just need to do one quick thing before we can head out, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

“’K. It’s not a long way here. Let’s get going.”

“Look at that!” Jane suddenly points out the window, head glued to a big plastic planet. “Is that a planet?”

“I think that's the moon, actually,” Alex explains. “So not technically a planet.” Henry looks out the window, how they drive near to a museum that has a big white moon out of the roof. Alex just so happens to slow down when the car drives nearby.

“Jane, you want to have a picture with it?”

“Yes, yes!”

Henry gives him a raise of brows.

“I mean, if that’s okay with your father, that is.”

“Please, daddy?”

“Just a picture,” he agrees quietly. Jane claps her hands together, the car curling to the museum’s parking lot. There’s a dozen other cars parked, and he notices a family of five walking past the ‘Beyond Planet’ plaquet, underneath reading ‘The History of Science And Space, Austin Texas’.

Jane sprints near the entrance, hopping and pointing at the planet. “Let’s take a picture, come on, dad!”

He runs to Jane, and Alex is more than willing to take pictures of them. Henry takes Jane to his arms, hugging her while he snaps photos of them in different angles.

“Can we go inside, too?” Jane asks, struggling out of his lap. Henry gives a hard glare to Alex.

“I had no idea, I swear,” Alex answers innocently, batting his lashes at him with a faux innocence. He knew exactly what he was doing by bringing them here, but Henry can’t seem to be mad when he’s looking at him like that.

So, without much of choice, they spend the afternoon exploring the space and science museum, immersing themselves in the exhibition. Jane looks over the moon with happiness, giggling and bouncing excitedly. 

It’s not a big museum, but it’s big enough to entertain Jane. Henry has taken her to a couple museums in London when she was younger, but it was around the age she didn’t really care for them. This is exactly the opposite, maybe because she has her hyperfixation on everything about space, so she wants to try everything. The museum is very kid-friendly and interactive, giving her a chance to really learn and do things.

Henry notices the way Alex’s attention seems to focus on Jane and gives her the best experience out of this. The way he teaches her about the star constellations in the room about stars, how he points and reaches out each exhibition feature. No one has shown this much interest in her, far much from what he got from his ex.

Henry knows Jane is fond of Alex, but the way he’s so attentive of her absolutely melts his heart. He never expected Alex to be like this, helping her try out the space outfits, helping her study the space rocks, guiding how to walk properly on the “moon’s surface”.

Alex gives a considerate look to Henry every now and then, asking for approval from him. He always gives back a smile to Alex before they go on the next exhibition, never finding any discomfort with how close he is with her. It’s quite the opposite. The moment Henry knows Jane really trusts Alex, is when she takes his hand to drag him to the space car simulator.

Once again, Alex casts a warmhearted look to Henry, eyes asking for affirmation. Is this okay?  

Henry chuckles and nods, but when they’re the next ones in line for the simulator, Alex lets her hand go.

“Let your father try it with you,” Alex suggests with an easy smile. “I already know how to drive a car.”

“In space, too?” Jane raises her brows.

“Oh, yeah, totally.”

“All right, then,” Henry laughs, helping Jane up to the seat. She takes the steering wheel with both of her hands. “Wait for the instructions, love,” he adds, and her eyes get fixed on the screen.

It’s pretty much like any other driving simulator, except it’s made a lot easier for the children. She steers the wheel on an animated road, except it’s in space, and you need to dodge the funny looking aliens that come in your way. Alex’s head peeks behind them, and he starts giving her advice every time an alien appears, which way to turn to, and when she needs to put her feet on the pedal.

She easily succeeds with the space mission, a bright voice announcing her victory of winning over the aliens and she flaps her hands happily.

“Congratulations,” Alex cheers on, when Jane hops out. “You’re way much better driver than I am. You should totally convince your father to get you a driver’s licence.”

“I’m only six,” Jane rolls her eyes while giggling.

“Oh, right. Well, only a couple more years to wait,” he jokes, giving a look to Henry.

“Look!” she pulls Henry’s shirt, pointing at the hallway ahead of them. “A real spaceship!”

“Jane, no running,” he calls to her, when she energetically runs towards the spaceship.

“Astronauts don’t run in space either,” Alex calls back to her, already jogging after her. It makes Jane stop, turn to him. “Unless they’re being chased by big, ugly aliens with only one, lazy eye.”

“You’re so silly,” she giggles, raising her hand for him. Alex takes her hand, walking with her to the queue to go inside the spaceship. It’s clearly a fake spaceship, more close to those coin rides you can find in the malls. It doesn’t lessen Jane or the other kid’s in the excitement. Henry flips out his phone, taking a picture of Alex with Jane, when Jane gets to sit on the spaceship, his phone fills up with photos. Actually, his phone has been filling up with pictures the moment they stepped in. After a couple of hours of nonstop touring around the museum, they find a place to sit down to eat.

The cafeteria has a similar outer space theme like the museum. Plastic 3D planets hang from the ceiling, posters of spaceships and astronauts on the walls. Every server, like the museum workers, are wearing uniforms similar to Star Trek. The speakers are loaded with sci-fi themes, along with the usual classic rock. All the lunch foods and beverages are named either after famous astronauts or fictional space characters. It's a seamless harmony of nerdy and strange, and Alex doesn’t seem to have any issue with it.

While queueing for the counter, Henry finds out that Alex has been taking pictures and videos of them all day long. Maybe even more than Henry. He sends him over forty pictures and ten videos, most of them of Jane and Henry. Alex leans closer to show him a slideshow of pictures, Henry smelling his aftershave and meeting his gentle eyes. He’s certain Alex would have kissed him right there if they weren’t interrupted by the cashier. 

They order no other than space meals, Jane more than excited to try out the alien shaped nuggets. In the middle of a galaxy-printed carpet, are two small square tables pushed together. Jane dashes to it with her space meal.

“Look at this,” Alex flips his phone screen to Jane who’s taking a curly french fry with her fork.

“Look at daddy’s face,” Jane bursts into loud laughter, dropping her fork so a splash of ketchup spatters on the table.

“Manners, Jane,” Henry scoffs, taking a napkin and quickly wiping the spilled ketchup.

“But look at your face,” she snorts in a giggle. Henry takes a look at the photo Alex is currently showing, a picture of Henry holding Jane in his arms. Except it was the time when she really didn’t want to be held, her hand slapped Henry’s face, so he has a disoriented look on his face, and the picture was snapped on the split second his eyes are halfway open.

“I think you look very handsome in it, baby,” Alex joins her soft laughter, before placing the phone on the table. There it is again, Alex casually slipping in the word baby like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Henry takes a biteful out of his mozzarella sandwich, looking around. Most of the tables surrounding them are occupied by other families with kids enjoying their lunches, no one paying any attention to them.

“You looked like you had a pretty good time,” Alex says, popping a baby carrot from his salad into his mouth. Jane is concentrating on putting four curly shaped fries into her fork to respond to what Alex said.

“Mm-mm,” she hums absentmindedly, when she fails to get any of the fries into her mouth.

“Darling, what have I said about playing with your food?”

She gives him the biggest, brightest puppy eyes. “Sorry, dad,” she whispers, taking a halfly-cut chicken nugget to her fork.

“So if you had to choose,” Alex continues, throwing a cherry tomato into his mouth. “What was your favorite thing today, Janey?” Her eyes meet Alex, who looks genuinely interested to know her answer. “Cos I’m pretty sure you liked to drive in that space car, didn’t you?”

She shakes her head while she stirs a chicken nugget in the lake of ketchup on her plate before popping it into her mouth. “No? It wasn’t your favorite? Okay. Let’s see.” Alex dramatically rubs his chin, leaning down. “I think you enjoyed that spot where you could walk on the moon.” Again, Jane stubbornly shakes her head. “No? Not that one either?”

“I think there was one with a costume,” Henry coughs up, Alex’s eyes brightening up when he catches the drift.

“Wait. Let me think. How about the room where you could dress up as a real astronaut?” Jane nods her head excitedly. “You liked that?”

“The helmet was really heavy,” she explains eagerly, her hand drawing a shape of helmet in the air.

“I bet it was,” Alex smiles fondly at her, giving Henry a look. “And I think your dad took a pretty picture with you in the astronaut outfit.”

She slaps her hands together, bouncing on the chair. “You.. you think I could really become an astronaut?”

“If you can dream it, Jane, then you can achieve it,” Alex answers wisely, and her eyes widen like he just said the most amazing, life-changing sentence.

“Really?”

“Oh, totally. You can become anything you want as long as you work hard and never give up,” he says, voice inspirational, but his eyes glide back to Henry.

“Dad, dad, I’m gonna be an astronaut when I grow up!” she says cheerily, trying to stand up in the chair.

“That’s a marvellous dream to have, love, but please don’t jump up on the chair.”

“Your father is right. Don’t want future Miss Astronaut to be hurt, now do we?”

“No,” Jane grumpily shakes her head, sitting back down. She takes the juice box with both of her hands, slouching in her chair as she slurps it empty. “Dad, can I get another juice box?”

Alex leaps from his seat before Henry can even form a thought. “I was just about to get a cup of coffee for myself, so I can grab a juice box for you.”

“That’s fine, I can –”

“Not necessary,” Alex waves his palm at him, hand tugging his wallet from his jeans pocket. “You fancy a cup of tea?”

Henry smiles at his attempt at a British accent. “Why not. That would be lovely, thank you.”

“Okay. Be right back!” Alex waves comically at Jane which makes her laugh. Henry’s eyes follow him to the cashier counter, where he notices the same cashier girl who sold them the entrance tickets.

Her eyes widen upon seeing Alex, the same way when they bought the tickets. Henry thought that maybe she had seen him before, Alex apparently did a lot of deliveries and pickups here – but now seeing how her eyes trail his every move, it has to be something else. The generic smile on her red lips changes into exaggerated one, and the heart eyes she’s giving means that it’s more than being a nice customer server to him.

Henry looks back at Jane who finished with her meal, so he focuses on helping wipe her face from the dry ketchup. He tightens her ponytails, which somehow leads his eyes to trail back to the cashier.

Alex is still there, talking with the girl. The girl says something that drops his smile, making him look almost uncomfortable. He flicks out his credit card towards the payment machine, but can’t seem to make the payment go through. The girl leans boldly forward and perkily explains something that apparently needs closer attention from Alex.

Henry has to look away. Upon seeing Alex talking with the flirty girl, it occurs that they hadn’t talked about this. He recalls their earlier discussion this morning when Alex asked what they were, and Henry couldn’t really give a proper answer. They never agreed to rules of them being exclusive.

Not that Alex would really do anything. But when he sees the way the girl seductively leans towards him and blinks her heavily mascara filled lashes at him, it flames jealousy in him. Even if they never exclusively agreed if they are dating or not – Henry hates the feeling that someone else might be interested in him too.

“Now before you say anything,” Alex comes back with a full tray, Henry clearing space on the table. Alex has a look of pleading determination on his face. “The cookies were half-price, and looked too damn cute to just sit there all day.”

He places the tray down, a plate that’s full with three large cookies, one apple juice box, cup of what looks like a latte and tea. Henry looks at him, somehow not believing his story about the cookies, wondering if the girl gave the cookies free to Alex. ”If your father wants to save these for later, it’s totally fine too. As long as somebody eats them.”

Jane’s hand grabs his sleeve. “Can I eat one now, please, daddy?”

“I guess one cookie won’t hurt,” he says with a sigh, Jane’s eager hand grabbing a chocolate cookie from the plate. “But it’s going to be your dessert for today, okay?”

“Mmm, okay,” Jane agrees, munching a bite from the cookie. Alex places the tea cup in front of him, with a couple of small milk boxes.

“You take it with milk, right?” he says, giving him a considerate look.

“Yes, thank you.”

“It’s French. The tea, I mean. I asked anything but Lipton, so...”

“Thank you, love,” Henry smiles with a soft chuckle, pouring milk into the tea while stirring it. Alex takes the coffee mug into his hands, tasting it with a twist of a smile.

“Hm. Could use a bit of cinnamon.”

“You like cinnamon in your coffee?”

“Well, yeah,” he licks his lips, staring at the coffee surface before his gaze drifts to Henry. “My mom always used to put cinnamon in my coffee when I was younger. Said it made it taste less bitter. Now it’s hard to drink coffee without it.“

“My dad used to bake blueberry pancakes,” Henry reminisces a memory that suddenly appeared in his mind. Alex maintains eye contact with him when he speaks. “He used to wake up very early on every Sunday morning, just so we would wake up to the smell of fresh pancakes.”

Alex's expression softens, placing the coffee mug down so he can reach out a hand for him. As their hands slowly intertwine, the memory doesn’t feel that painful. “I can’t stop thinking about blueberries without thinking about my dad, or how mom never did any kind of pancakes after he –” Henry watches over Jane, already halfway eating the cookie. “I think my mom wanted to cherish that memory of us.”

Alex softly squeezes their hands. There’s words he wants to say, words that he thinks about, but he just keeps holding his hand. For Henry, he doesn’t need those encouraging words, trying to cheer him up. Alex’s eyes glint with fondness, his warm hands give all the comfort Henry could possibly ever need.

Alex keeps holding his hand, thumb gently stroking him, when Henry turns back to Jane. “Is there still something you want to see, love?”

“The shop,” she mutters, wiping the cookie crumbs to her shirt.

“The souvenir shop?”

Jane nods up. “Yessss!”

“Allright, love. Do you need to go to the loo?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. Let’s clean the table and we can go.”

“Okay, daddy.” Jane collects the plates and mugs in the tray that she tries to carry with two hands, but Alex sweeps it from her with a smile on his face. Henry notices a receipt in the corner of the tray, and the hand-written phone number in it. Alex takes the receipt, scrunching it into a small ball and throws it into the trash.

Henry tries to contain his glee about it. “Alex,” Henry says when they return the trays. His head perks up to him.

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind watching Jane when I quickly go to the loo?”

“Not at all,” he answers with a warm smile.

“Stay with Alex, Jane. I’ll be right back, okay?”

She nods, Alex helping Jane on a bench near the bathrooms, giving them a look before he sprints to the bathroom.

After washing his hands, he takes a look at himself in the mirror. He pulls the turtleneck down, seeing the purple marks still lingering on his skin. They look brighter than before, or maybe it’s the lighting in the bathroom. He has no idea how he’ll get away with this tomorrow.

Once walking out the bathroom, Henry catches Jane pointing to a statue of an astronaut and Alex starts passionately explaining how astronauts eat liquid food in space.

“Ben wouldn’t like that,” Jane’s quiet yet innocent voice says, nearly making Henry miss a step. Hearing his name out of her mouth feels wrong. It’s like a whiplash, his name stinging on his skin. Henry tries to keep his face cool on the surface, even when there’s a volcano ready to explode inside of him. Henry doesn't let it affect him, knowing that he would love nothing more than to see Henry break down in the mention of his name.

“Oh?”

“He never came anywhere with us,” she continues, playing with the hem of her sweater. “He was always at work.”

“I see,” Alex answers flatly, but Henry knows he must connect the dots. He calmly pets her hair. “You must miss home.” Jane doesn’t say anything for a second, but he keeps petting her hair. “Do you like it here, Jane?”

“He isn’t sad anymore,” her voice says faintly, tying the sweater lace around her finger. His hand stops petting her hair, hesitating.

“Your dad?”

She turns her head to Alex. “I like to see daddy smiling and laughing.”

“Me too,” Alex agrees with a warm smile. He tucks a hair behind her ear, eyes drifting behind them when he notices Henry awkwardly standing behind them.

“Hey,” he leaps up, face filled with worry.

“You wanted to check that souvenir shop, didn’t you, Jane?” Henry says instead, swallowing the feelings inside and blocks the thoughts away.

“Yes,” Jane says excitedly, jumping off the bench. Alex’s eyes follow his every step until they are inside the souvenir store, but he keeps his distance. Jane looks at everything with big eyes like she’s in a candy store.

“Henry.” A hand hovers above his shoulder, it’s vigilant, hesitating. It never lands on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he assures, giving him a nod. The crease of concern on Alex’s forehead doesn’t go away.

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he repeats, maybe he’ll believe it himself too.

“Dad, can I have this?” Jane runs to him, with a small miniature space shuttle in her hands.

“You can get one item, honey. Make sure it’s something you really want,” Henry answers, Jane narrowing her eyes and wrinkling up her nose. She sprints back to the shelf with a line of plush toys.

Jane ends up picking an astronaut doll, in full astronaut gear outfit, with a small helmet in her hands. It kind of looks like Jane in some way, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and Henry knows it’s the reason she picked it up.

Outside, the golden hour is in the sky when they step out to the parking lot, the sun beginning to hide behind the buildings in the distance. Alex chases Jane to his truck, Jane victoriously bouncing when Alex lets her win the race.

She plays with the doll the entire way back, Henry casting a look or two behind his seat. She’s wearing her headphones, playing with the astronaut doll, and seeing her so happy and carefree fills Henry’s heart. He turns back on his seat, slowly reaching for Alex’s hand. Alex takes his hand without hesitating, planting a kiss on their laced hands while keeping his gaze on the road.

Henry isn’t sure the last time he’s ever felt this happy.

A couple hours later, after tucking Jane for a well deserved nap, there’s a knock at his door. Henry paces from the living room with a book in his hand, a smile appearing on his lips when he sees it’s Alex, back with a tote bag around his shoulder.

“Hi. Weird question,” Alex rolls his tongue when Henry opens the door. “What can you make out of carrots?”

“What?”

“I fixed the store’s lamp the other day, and they thanked me with a bag full of carrots. So what’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear carrots?”

“Carrot bread?” Henry suggests, from the top of his head.

“Carrot bread it is,” Alex agrees. He peeks behind Henry. “You don’t mind if I bake here, do you? Unless you have other plans for the evening –”

“No, no. I don’t. I just put Jane for a nap.”

“Shouldn’t make too much of a sound. Unless you don’t want me here.”

“No, I want you,” Henry babbles, trading an interested stare with Alex. Heat prickles his ears pink. “I mean, I want .. um, you can bake here.”

“Smooth save,” Alex winks, strolling past him in confident steps. He reaches his hand and squeezes Henry’s shoulder before he breezes into the kitchen.

“Need a hand?”

“Thanks, but shouldn’t be too difficult,” Alex says, his eyes noticing the pile of papers spread on the kitchen table. “Besides, you look pretty busy with those papers.”

“I only have a handful left to grade. I wouldn’t mind helping you.”

“Yeah, but we could wake up Jane,” Alex says, opening his tote bag and dropping a bag of carrots on the kitchen counter. He casts a look over his shoulder, cracking his knuckles. “From the baking, I mean.”

“R-right,” Henry stutters, Alex giving one of his best charming smiles in return. Henry helps him find the flour and a few essential ingredients before Alex literally pushes him out the kitchen. Henry ends up grading the rest of the student’s essays in record time, finding himself entertained watching the way Alex works his way around the kitchen.

The way his hips dance even without music, the way he starts humming a country song Henry doesn’t recognize, the way his red tongue peeks out when he concentrates on mixing the bread dough. He could watch Alex bake in his kitchen every night, and surprisingly, the thought doesn’t scare Henry.

“You know, if you want to talk about it, we can,” Alex says quietly, the corner of his face turning around.

“Talk about what?”

He clears his throat, stops rolling the dough on the chopping board. “I know you heard what Jane was talking about when you went to the bathroom.”

“Oh,” Henry mutters, breath catching up in his throat. There isn’t an ounce of pry in his face, rather pure concern and worry. Henry is suddenly fascinated with Alex’s stained sleeves, and the small grease spots on his sleeve. “I would rather not talk about it.”

“Okay,” Alex says and gives an encouraging smile. “I’m here if you ever want to. Please know that.”

“Thank you, Alex.” Alex’s eyes stay on him for a moment, before he turns back to making the bread rolls. Henry knows Alex is more than okay to talk about it, he’s said that many times, and maybe eventually Henry will talk about it. He knows he will need to talk to somebody at some point, when he’s ready. 

Henry tries to focus on reading a book, but his thoughts keep distracting him. He looks over Alex, preparing the oven tray.

“About the cashier girl,” Henry says over his shoulder, Alex still focused on making the bread dough on the counter. 

They had been silent for nearly fifteen minutes, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. Henry doesn’t feel forced to say something just for the sake of being silent, he’s actually comfortable that neither of them need to fill the silence with empty words. “Did you know her?”

“Who?”

“The girl at the museum’s cafeteria. She was the same one who sold us the entrance tickets.”

“Oh.” Alex rolls a bread roll on the chopping board, brows frowning when he briefly looks over at Henry. “I guess I might have seen her somewhere. Looked kinda familiar.”

“She must’ve known you, the way she kept flirting with you.”

Alex spins his head to him, sprinkles of flour in his curls. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.”

“I wasn't jealous.”

“Well, I can promise there’s nothing to worry about, Henry. I only have my eyes set on you,” he winks, rolling a piece of bread dough into the shape of a bun.

“Earlier today,” Henry coughs up, hands fiddling on the book, when Alex resumes on making the round buns. “You asked what we are.”

Alex stops with the raw bread bun in his hand. “I meant what I said, Henry. I’m fine with having you like this. We don’t need to put a label for us.”

“I know that, but.. we didn’t talk about other people.”

“Other people?”

“Yeah, like, if we’re seeing other people too. I’m fine if you want to –” he starts when Alex leaps towards him, grabs his face with sticky hands from the bread dough, and kisses him. The dough spreads on his cheeks, but he doesn’t care. Alex slowly pulls away, Henry having to chase his lips.

“Why would I ever want to see anyone else other than you?”

“I’m just saying if that’s something you –” Alex takes his head into his hands again, pressing his mouth on him. He parts his mouth open, kissing harder, tossing him against the kitchen island corner.

Henry lets out a huff of breath when he pulls back. He feels dizzy, the world spinning in front of him.

“How many times do I have to kiss you to convince you that I am not interested seeing other people?”

“Maybe just one more time.”

“Unbelievable,” Alex grumbles under his breath with an amused smile, but kisses Henry again. Alex tastes like a mix of carrots and cinnamon – he must have tasted the dough, the flavors linger in his mouth after Alex backs up. “Can’t even make my carrot bread in peace.” Henry smiles to himself as Alex walks back to the chopping board, rolling the dough into buns and placing them on the oven tray.

“Do you want to tell people we’re dating?” Henry asks, out of the blue, that causes Alex nearly drop the bowl of dough. He has quick reflexes, skillfully catching the bowl before it even leaves the counter.

“What?”

“I mean, we’ve already gone on plenty of dates,” Henry goes on, taking the essays from the table, adjusting them nicely together. “It’s what this is, isn’t it?”

A warm grin appears, lighting up Alex’s entire face. “Like I could say no to that accent of yours.”

“My accent?”

“Don’t give me that innocent puppy eyed look, Henry. You know what I mean.”

“So what I’m gathering, you’re agreeing to this because I’m… British?”

“You make it very hard to disagree,” Alex says, turning to lean against the counter, crossing his hands on his chest. “When you’re speaking and looking like a five course meal.”

“Um –”

“And the way that cute little blush spreads across your cheeks, just like now.”

“I don’t blush that easily.”

That earns a belly laugh from Alex. “Sure you don’t, baby.”

“Whatever,” Henry rolls his eyes, trying to think of anything else to calm his cheeks down.

“I could use your hands now.” He meets Alex’s alluring eyes. “And before you get any dirty thoughts in that pretty head of yours, I meant for the bread.”

“Bloody menace,” Henry says under his breath, and Alex’s smile widens on his face.

“Come on. Let me show you. Just take the dough, and roll it into buns like this..” Alex starts to teach him, taking a piece of raw dough from the bowl. Henry stares as he explains, in great detail, how you make the perfect bun roll.

“What?”

“Nothing. Do continue, love,” Henry encourages. He watches and listens carefully to what Alex explains, without deflating his enthusiasm for bread rolls. Alex helps Henry take dough, so that their hands intertwine in the sticky bowl. Their eyes meet, and there’s a flock of butterflies flying in his stomach. There’s a fuzzy feeling overflowing in Henry when Alex warmly laughs, when he bumps his shoulder against Henry’s, when Alex puts his dough stained hands on his cheeks to kiss him, when they end up making out against the floury counter.

Ideally, all Henry needed to do was move to Austin and have a fresh start with Jane, in which he succeeded. However this, Alex, wasn’t supposed to happen. He never expected to meet anyone this fast, he never expected to feel so comfortable and drawn to someone, enjoy being around someone this much, expected to meet someone like Alex.

Now, utterly smudged with flour and greasy bread dough, halfway through laughing realizing that Henry finds himself wanting to cling onto the happiness of the moment, even to a tiny fraction of it, and enjoy how he’s unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Alex Claremont-Diaz.

Chapter Text

“Hey,” a faint voice echoes down the school hallway. It’s none other than Alex, wearing a sports t-shirt and gym shorts, with a whistle around his neck. Henry raises his hand to waive at him, trying to signal to the other direction, because there’s still plenty of errands that he needs to take care of.

They’ve mostly decorated and put everything ready for the past days, but there’s his class decorations to put around the gymnasium, the fairy lights and the trees. Nora sent him a message that the trees were delivered this morning, just in time for the dance.

Alex jogs to him anyway, with a troublesome smile spreading on his face.

“Hi, I was just going to –”

“You got a minute?”

“Not really.”

“Busy boy, huh?” Alex says with his tongue hanging from his mouth. Body bent closer, Henry’s back is pressed against a locker. He clutches the folders and files of children’s decorations against his chest. “You’ve been quite busy for the entire week, Henry. I’ve barely seen you.”

Henry snorts. “We quite literally had dinner yesterday.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Well, I know how much this school dance means to you,” Henry gushes, trying to avoid his intense glare. “I mean, for the entire school. I.. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“You’re not gonna screw it up, Henry. It’s gonna be amazing.”

“Thanks, but I still need to grade my students essays and finish decorate the gymnasium, and Nora asked my help moving the chairs –”

“The chairs are already moved to the storage room.”

“Oh. Good. I still have a lot to do, so..”

Alex stretches his arm above him, resting against the locker, his face coming inches away from Henry. His heart jumps in his chest, face heating up to a deep shade of pink.

“I’m really looking forward to the dance,” Alex whispers, a warm breath on his face. His finger glides from his shoulder to the curve of his neck, which he has hidden in another pair of a turtleneck since over the course of past days, Alex grew a habit of kissing his neck. 

“You have it every year,” Henry squawks, feeling most of the words stuck in his dry throat. “What’s so different about this year?”

“We didn’t have you any of the previous years,” he replies in a smooth, velvety voice. Henry feels bolder by the second, so he takes the whistle around Alex’s neck, twiddling it around his finger.

“I’m sure it’s going to be like all the other times.”

“It’s gonna be the best one because we have you.” Alex’s warm and expressive eyes meet his, absolutely melting Henry at his flirtatious line. Why is he so effortless at flirting, when Henry’s sweating like crazy with bad, wobbly knees? Well, it doesn’t seem to matter, because Alex’s hand moves just so his fingers stroke his hairline, his face so close, leaning into his lips to taste –

“Ahem.”

Alex spins his head, but doesn’t move an inch. It’s Nora, in a beige jacket suit and a laptop in one hand. She has a neutral look on her face, slowly blinking at them.

“Principal Holleran,” Henry squeals and struggles under Alex’s arm. “I was just coming to see you.”

“What a funny coincidence, so was I.”

“Wonderful.”

“Can we talk?” She points to the direction of the teacher’s lounge. “Alone?”

“Absolutely. I’ll see you later, Alex,” he gives a brief look to Alex. He can’t quite parse the expression on his face, if he's disappointed they were interrupted or something else entirely. All he knows is that Henry’s heart is still racing out of his chest when they walk inside the empty teacher’s lounge.

Nora’s sharp eyes follow Henry as she places her laptop down, leaning against one of the storage closets.

“So how long have you been sleeping together?” Nora asks casually, Henry nearly collapsing to his own steps.

“We’re most definitely not –” Henry denies strongly, glimpsing around the teacher lounge, finding no one to hear their conversation. “Sleeping together.” Henry tries to let out a convincing laughter. “I don’t even like Alex.”

She has an entertained look on her face. “This is a small town, Henry. Word travels fast.”

“I – “ he scratches his neck nervously, but it only makes his sensitive skin itch more. “We’re really not –”

“Look, I don’t care what you do. If you like to tie each other in bed, good for you, that’s your business. As long as you leave that stuff outside the workplace, we’re good. This is a school, after all, full of kids. I don’t wanna catch you two doing each other in the janitor’s closet.”

“We would never –” Henry starts, cheeks deep scarlet red. “I mean, we haven’t even –” Nora gives him a curious look. “That’s not going to happen, I can guarantee you that.”

“I sure hope so,” she says, going to grab a cup of coffee from the coffee machine.

“Nora, really, you have nothing to worry about.”

“I know that,” she smiles pleasedly, stirring the coffee. “I really don’t mind it, but if something happens and the parents find out, shit falls on me.”

“I know. I’m sure Alex knows that too.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I mean, you’ve given heart eyes to each other all week, and I’ve seen how you two act around each other… but the way you were by the lockers..” She has a thoughtful look on her face. “Don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t interrupted the two of you.”

“Nothing would have happened. Really.”

“Good. Don’t get this the wrong way, Henry. I’m happy for you. I really am. And I’m glad that you took my advice.”

He looks down at his shoes. “Yeah, well, it just happened, I guess.” He slowly looks up to Nora who has an arrogant smirk on her face. “He’s really a good person.”

“Told ya.”

He clears his throat, spreading the file of papers on the table. “So,” he coughs. “You said the trees were delivered this morning?”

“Yeah. I wanted to talk about those, actually.”

“Was there something wrong?”

“No, well, kind of. I know you’re probably used to a school having a big budget and all that, but we here can’t afford to spend over 600$ for fake trees.”

“I.. I don’t understand. I ordered them with my own card.”

“Are you sure? Cos I got the bill when they were delivered.”

“I swear I –”

“Maybe the school card was saved on the computer when you did the order?”

“Um. There’s a high chance for that, since I ordered them from the school computer. I’m sorry.”

“I already reduced it from your next month’s salary,” Nora says, but her eyes look apologetic. “I really wish I didn’t need to, but we have a very tight budget.”

“No, that’s totally understandable. I meant to pay them for myself anyway.”

“Do you need an extra hand for tonight? I can stay over until the dance starts.”

“No, no. It’s okay. I just need to do a couple more things.”

“The trees looked good. We have a lot of trust in your shoulders,” she says.

“Thank you,” he says anxiously.

“Look, don’t worry about it. It’s gonna go fine. Besides, even if it completely crashes and burns, look at the bright side: no one’s gonna remember it next year.”

“Don’t small towns have a distinctly good memory of remembering the worst events?”

“Now you’re just making stereotypical assumptions about us,” Nora laughs. Henry walks to put the kettle on, taking his tea mug from the cabinet.

“I’m rather fond of small towns,” he says, opening his small tea box he brought from home. “I’ve grown to like them, I suppose. They have quite a nice charm to them.”

“By a nice charm you mean Alex?”

Henry gives her a squint of eyes. “Jane really loves it here too.”

“Oh, for sure.”

Henry pours the hot water to his mug, walking around the round table, taking an essay to his other hand. Nora walks closer, leaning against the back of the chair.

“Did you still need something?”

“I feel like I should tell you something.” Nora has a sudden serious look on her face.

“Okay…”

She leans closer to the chair’s back, giving him a long look. “That’s a rather interesting fashion choice.”

“Um –”

“See you at the dance, Henry!”

Henry stays after school hours with Jane, since Nora gave him the keys so he could go to the gymnasium after hours. He graded the last of his papers, helped Jane with her homework before they headed out to the hall. 

The hallways were already covered in a variety of decorations the children had drawn in classes, but it was nothing compared to the gymnasium. Henry had already done most of the decorations with his class, two days in a row now, so there were only the last bits of adjustments of the trees.

Jane is beyond excited to help him, and Henry loses track of time until he hears his phone buzzing in his back pocket.

He takes his phone out, seeing Alex’s name flash on the message notifications.

“Love, let’s take a five, allright?” he says to Jane, who’s turning the tree next to the stage. “Will you grab a bottle of water for your dad?”

“Mm-mmh,” she nods, bolting to his shoulder bag to dig his water bottle.

Elena is soo hyped for tonight, Alex writes, and there is a picture where June is doing Elena’s hair, in a purple, fluffy princess dress.

Henry (4:31 pm)

I bet she isn’t the only one.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (4:31pm)

it’s gonna be the best party ever!! 🥳🕺

Henry (4:32pm)

I never thought you’d be this excited to attend an elementary school dance.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (4:32pm)

that’s because i haven’t seen what you look like in a suit yet 😉😉

A crowd starts to gather when the clock gets closer to seven, conversations and excitement buzzing around Henry, everyone in awe of how the old school gymnasium has changed into a magical fairytale forest.  

The lights cast a warm glow onto the white brick walls, the main stage open with a mic stand for the performances, a clearing in the middle for dancing, and a long snack table at the corner. There’s an old time photo booth tucked away on the side of the gymnasium, that Amy somehow managed to get for the dance. There’s soft jazz music playing in the background when the children start to gather inside with their finest dresses and suits.

“Henry,” comes a gasp behind him. It’s Nora: her hair open from her usual braids, all curly and free. She’s wearing a long, flowery embroidered red dress. “Did you do all of this?”

“Well, my students helped a bit,” he answers humbly, but Nora gives him an earnest look.

“You’re too good for us, Henry,” she sighs, look of disbelief as she takes in the sight of the school hall, how it looks nothing like the usual gym classes they have.

“I’m less mad about you spending the entire school’s budget on this,” she breathes, eyes upward, looking at the vine decorations Henry’s class put up earlier.

“I thought you said you weren’t mad about it since you took it from my salary.”

“I felt really bad about that, knowing that it probably wasn’t the cheapest to move here,” she says with a pure ashamed look. “And now seeing how much you worked to make this school dance.. It's decided. I’m gonna cancel that reduction.”

“Nora, you don’t need to do that,” Henry resists.

“Stop. No but’s. Now, we should get this school dance starting, shouldn’t we?” She links her arm with Henry’s, walking together through the flower arch. The photographer, none other than Amy, snaps a picture of them. Nora poses with her other hand with a peace sign, Henry just awkwardly stands still when the flash goes by.

“Henry, we need to get a smile out of you,” Amy chuckles behind the camera. “This is a party, after all.”

“Yeah, I totally agree,” Nora agrees, but one of the teachers runs to her. Henry recognizes her as the third year teacher.

“Hey Nora. Love the dress.”

“What is it, Em?”

“Can you come here for a sec?”

“Duty calls,” Nora winks before she follows Em past the fairytale trees. Henry takes a look around, seeing Jane standing and talking to Elena. There’s a rush of nervousness flooding in, but he doesn’t see Alex near her. He flips out his phone to see he has two unread messages from Alex.

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (6:20pm)

ready to party? 🎉🎉

Your Hot Friendly Neighbour Alex 🍑 (6:47pm)

leaving with elena now

see you at the dance 😘

Henry hides his phone back in his pocket. He scans his eyes through the crowd of children, past a couple of teachers. He has been here long enough to recognize everyone, he’s pretty good with faces. He’s used to having to memorize hundreds of children back in his old school. This elementary school doesn’t have more than fifty students, so it's a piece of cake for him.

It doesn’t take more than a couple of seconds when Alex steps into his view, Henry’s brain completely short-circuits, shutting down. His curls are arranged in carefully gelled finger waves. He’s wearing a sharply tailored maroon suit that brings out the warmth of his eyes. The white shirt underneath is unbuttoned a bit, and black bowtie is loose around his neck. He flashes Henry an irresistible dimpled grin, and the way his heart rate spikes, reminds that he’s only a man after all.  

“Looking good, Henry.” Alex steps in front of him, hands in his pockets with a cheesy smile on. It takes everything in Henry not to melt at the very spot the way he’s looking Henry up and down.

“You don’t look bad yourself,” Henry replies back, and his ears go a little pink. The sentence doesn’t do Alex’s look justice. “I wish I could say the same about your bowtie.”

“Oh. We left in such a hurry. June totally forgot the hairspray, so I needed to –”

“Here, let me,” Henry rolls his eyes, hands stretched out for him. Henry walks closer, coming to fix his hanging bowtie. The air seems suddenly warmer and charged than seconds ago. Henry tries his best to focus on tying the bowtie, not the way Alex stares at him the entire time.

“There. All done.”

There’s a mirror near the forest entrance, Alex inspecting himself in it. Henry takes a second to appreciate their reflections as a pair, and he realizes that side by side, it almost seems like they matched their suits on purpose.

“We look good together, no?” Alex grins, smiling wider at the reflection. He’s right, but it’s not only that they look good – they look good together.

They match.

“I still can’t believe you did all of this by yourself,” Alex says softly, as he slowly turns around to face the fairytale decorated gymnasium. His eyes wander from the climbing walls that are changed into flower vines, to the fake pond near the biggest fake tree, to the tall flower arch. “You’re gonna make such unforgettable memories for so many kids. For all of us.”

“I did the best I could,” Henry answers, but the look Alex gives him makes his cheek rosy red.

“You did much more than that, Henry. You gave us the best school dance yet.”

“It hasn’t even started,” he protests.

“You’re being way too modest, Hen,” Alex replies with a spark in his eyes. He takes a step closer to him, hand reaching out. He could have stopped Alex, but right now there’s nobody near them, or he’s too fixated on Alex to give it much deeper thought. His thoughts never seem to work properly when Alex is around anyway.

All Henry knows that when he places his hand into his, a rush of peace bloomises in his chest. The stress of organizing and getting everything ready in time, all of it, seems to wash away when Alex’s hand is in his. Henry feels like he’s floating, and there’s already a familiar feeling of butterflies in his stomach.

“Henry,” a voice calls in the distance, but he doesn’t pay attention to it until it’s repeated at least three times. “Henry.”

It’s Nora, who has a panicked look on her face. Her eyes flick down to their hand placement, then back to Henry’s face.

“You gotta a sec?”

Alex nudges him, separating their hands so he’s faced back to reality. “Nora? What is it?”

“Come with me,” she gestures her head to the changing rooms.

“Be right back,” he says to Alex, who simply gives him a slow wink and a smile. Nora leads him to the girl’s changing rooms in a hurry.

“Emily broke one of her shoes, and she refuses to sing without shoes,” Nora ushers. Henry sees a girl on one of the changing room benches, in a pink dress. He recognizes her as one of his own students, who had been picked to sing the first song to welcome the children to the dance. Nora takes a pair of shoes from the bench, the bottom of them falling off.

“What size is it?”

“Um. 11, maybe?”

“I think I have an extra pair of Jane’s shoes in my classroom.”

“Oh, that would be perfect!”

“I think I still have the school key you gave me.”

“Hurry. The performance should start in ten minutes.”

“Okay. I’ll be as quick as I can.” Henry bolts out the changing rooms, out of the hall to the school hallway. It’s ghostly empty without any students when he runs through the hallways to his own classroom. He always had extra clothing and shoes for Jane, everything that she might need. He finds her small ballerina shoes in the second drawer in his desk, before he heads out.

Rushing down the hallway with shoes in his hand, a creep of a shadow makes him stop. There’s shadows coming out from the school cafeteria, and low muttering.

His heart rate races up, cold sweat dripping down his spine, thoughts going to the worst possible scenario.

Two young boys walk out the cafeteria with mischievous smiles and small laughter. Their laughter stops when they notice Henry, eyes widening.

“And what might the two of you be doing here this hour?”

“We were just.. we just wanted to –”

Henry raises his hands on his hips, with a frown. “I know what you just wanted to. You know you aren’t allowed here after school hours.”

“Yes, sir,” they both say in unison.

“Back to the dance, boys. You wouldn’t want to spend the next Monday in detention, now do you?”

“No, sir,” the boys repeat once again. Henry points to the end of the hallway, and they all pace back, until they reach the gymnasium and the boys start jogging to the crowd. Henry dashes back to the changing rooms, and the shoes fit Emily perfectly.

“You’re a lifesaver!” Nora squeals, squeezing Henry’s arm.

“No problem at all.”

“Okay. We better get prepared for the song.”

Henry walks out, seeing that the lights are dimmed. He manages to see a glimpse of Alex, in the hopes that he’s near Elena, and if she’s there, so is Jane. He’s not wrong, Alex gives him one of those genuine happy smiles as he stops next to him. He pats Jane’s head, and adjusts the braid he did for her hours ago.

Not too soon after Nora steps out, speaking to the audience, explaining the long history of their annual school dances. Wave of laughter ripples through the audience when she makes an inside joke that passes by Henry’s understanding. 

Alex catches it, because he leans over, whispers into his ear how they joke about the school janitor never retiring, but all Henry can focus on is the way his breath makes his ears ticklish. It doesn’t just stop there, when Emily starts singing he whispers how well she’s developed with her singing, and Alex continues to whisper stupid little observations to his ear throughout the different performances.

Halfway through the last song performance Alex disappears from his side, only to see that one of his classes is performing a dance next. Henry tries to focus on the group of children dancing to the beat of a country song, but all he can focus on is Alex in the corner of the stage, mirroring the choreography the children dance. Alex looks absolutely adorable as he follows the dance choreography, and at the end he comes to hug the kids.

The performances end after an hour, when Nora announces the school dance officially starting. Most of the children run to the snack and drinks table. Henry slowly follows behind Jane and Elena, how they fill the animal shaped plates full of candy. He decides not to say anything, knowing it’s Friday after all, and this is a special night for her. He’s just glad to see she’s having fun, and doesn’t seem to have any problems fitting into this school.

It doesn’t take long for Alex to find Henry in the crowd again, catching his stare, and it’s like he can hear his thoughts, smiling those private little smiles that burn him up inside. He tips his head towards Henry, walking through the crowd of children.

“This is really nice, isn’t it?” Henry whispers, quieter than he needs to, stopping beside Alex. Henry pulls back, as by reflex, but holds his gaze for a second with a smile spreading across him, but all Henry can do is nod at him, because he doesn’t trust himself to speak without blurting out exactly how he’s feeling.

He focuses his gaze back to Jane, sitting on the far away tables with Elena, giggling about something while stuffing a handful of gummy bears into her mouth.

“I like to see you smile,” Alex whispers softly, with a sincere fondness in his voice, but quieter than he’s ever heard him. Henry chews his lips and resist the urge to turn and look at him. “When you got here, you looked so serious all the time, the way your eyebrows frowned together with worry. I don’t know why, but I hated to see you like that.” Henry really tries to concentrate on Jane, dumping the plate full of candy to take Elena by the hand and drag her to the dance floor.

“I remember the first time I saw you smile, I was walking down the hallway when I noticed you. You were teaching your class. You looked so happy and relaxed. I remember the way you laughed when we had the playdate for the girls. That’s when I knew how much I liked to see you smile and laugh.”

“You do know there’s a reason for that,” Henry says breathlessly, the words effortlessly coming out of his mouth, eyes gliding into his. Alex's smile deepens, leaning in with a loving glint in his eyes.

An abrupt giggle of a child running by interrupts them, Henry finding the strength to pull back. He’s reminded that they’re in school, in a school dance, with young children around them. Alex realizes it too, by the looks of his face, but just shakes his head with a relaxed smile on his lips.

Henry turns his head, to notice a small girl who’s standing in front of Alex.

“Oh, hi, Emily.”

“Can you dance with me, Alex?”

“For sure, Emily,” Alex chuckles, the girl smiling. He gives Henry a wink. “I’ll be right back.” Henry watches him take Emily’s hand, taking her in the middle of the dance floor. He lets her dance on his feet, and they slowly move with the music. It’s an absolutely adorable sight.

After the song ends, another girl taps his arm. Alex gives a look to Henry, who just shrugs his shoulders with an amused chuckle. Alex ends up dancing with a bunch of girls who keep queueing to have the chance to dance with him. He’s gentle with each girl, carefully dancing on the floor and twirling them around at the end.

It’s not until he notices Jane taking his sleeve. Alex looks up to Henry for permission, brightly smiling at Alex. Alex lets her dance on his feet, hand around her. They slowly move with the music, Jane giggling when they dance. If Henry thought the sight of Alex dancing with the other girls melted his heart, this is something completely else.

His heart dwells up at least three sizes upon the sight. He’s always admired the way Alex is interested and so involved with Jane, and everything she likes.

Alex takes a brief look up to Henry, but once he notices his stare, he takes a second look. His eyes linger on Henry for seconds longer than they have to, but then they go back to the Jane he’s dancing with. Henry doesn’t have the same self-control, because he can’t seem to tear his eyes off him.

After the dance ends, Alex does a courtesy bow to her and she giggles, before tiptoeing to drag Elena to the dance floor. Alex jogs back to Henry’s side, and before anyone takes him again, Henry pulls him along the side of the hall, scooting to the photo booth together. 

He doesn’t even have time to think of what to say in the booth because when the drapes are closed, he pulls Alex in for a kiss. His hands are warm on both sides of his face, and he can feel Alex smile against his lips.

A little voice comes over the speaker in the photo booth, it must have started automatically. Three, two, one, snap. Alex kisses him again. His fingers trace along the edge of his jaw, staring into his eyes when he hears the countdown and photo snap.

Their noses bump against each other as he pulls Henry for another kiss.

Three, two, one, snap.

As much as Henry wants to hide in the photo booth to kiss Alex, he acknowledges it’s bad form to hide there, knowing that any second a child could pull the drapes.

So Henry gives him a kiss, or two, before stepping out of the photo booth. There’s children happily running around, but nobody seems to have the slightest clue what they were doing. Alex quickly takes the photos the booth printed, looking at it for a second before hiding it under his suit pocket. Henry tries to ask him for the photos, but he feels a hand tugging at his sleeve.

“Dad,” Jane whines grumpily. “Elena is being stupid.”

“That’s not a nice way to call your friend,” Henry scoffs.

“She ate all the gummy bears, knowing they’re my favorite,” she whines, pulling Henry’s hand.

“Let me go have a look,” Alex says with a confident smile. “They might have more of them in the back.”

Alex marches across the dance floor before Henry has the chance to stop him. Henry takes a seat in the corner with Jane in his lap, listening as she starts talking about how the spots in the ceiling look like stars.

Henry’s gaze browses through the gymnasium, when his eyes catch Elena down by the snacks table. She has a plate in her hands, arm reaching for a muffin. Behind her comes two boys, the same boys he recognizes walking around the hallway earlier. They tap on her shoulder with mischievous smiles on.

Elena looks panicked the second she turns around.

Henry recognizes that look. “Wait here, Jane, okay?” Henry whispers to her, lifting her up to sit on the bench. She’s too focused on the hem of her dress to notice Henry rushing away. He sees the two taller boys clearly picking up on Elena, her panicky eyes searching around.

Henry loudly clears his throat when he’s behind them, the boys jumping in surprise.

“Mr. Fox,” the blonde boy says with too-innocent voice.

“What might you be doing?”

“Nothing, sir,” the other boy chimes in, the same overly innocent voice. “Just taking some muffins, sir.”

“So it seems,” Henry replies, trying to give them a hard look. He remembers the boy who got bullied in his previous school, and the look on Elena’s face is the exact same. Scared, panicked, shaken up. The boys give him a look, before laughing and running off.

Henry instantly kneels down to Elena. “Are you allright, love?” Elena’s eyes trail everywhere except his. “Were those two boys bothering you?” She avoids his eye contact, but looks a bit relieved they’re gone. “Are they the same ones who have been bullying you, Elena?”

Her eyes find Henry’s. Big, frightened, distressed. It’s the answer she doesn’t have the power to say out loud.

“Hey,” Henry places a hand to her shoulder. “It’s okay, Elena. I promise that I’m not letting those boys bully you anymore, okay?”

She looks relaxed, but her mouth tugs into a reserved smile. “Let’s see if we can find your uncle, shall we?” 

Henry leaps up, browsing through the crowd of children. It’s not hard to find Alex, he’s near the end of the stage, holding a bag of gummy bears.

Except there’s a woman standing too close to him that a flame of jealousy strikes Henry instantly. Her hair is loose around her shoulders, wearing too tight of a dress for an elementary school dance, and her hand reaches out for Alex’s arm.

He’s visibly uncomfortable by her touch, trying to move away. She laughs at something, but Alex’s face stays serious.  

Jealousy rears its ugly head again, lodging itself in his throat as Henry tries to formulate a response, any kind of response to go to him.

Alex’s eyes seem to find him across the dance floor, while the woman tries to place her long nails on his shoulder. Henry gestures to Elena, who takes his hand. He must be having some physical connection because Alex seems to understand him, or he just wants to get away from the flirty woman.

Elena crushes into him as soon as Alex steps in their way, Alex kneeling down to give her a hug.

“Hey, you allright?” he asks, and she whispers something to his neck Henry can’t hear. “I got Jane some gummy bears. You wouldn’t mind giving them to her, would you?”

Elena nods shyly, and they follow them to the seats where Jane is still sitting. She claps her hands together excitedly when she sees Elena and the gummy bears, Alex opening the bag for them.

“Alex,” Henry says, pulling by his sleeve further away from the girls. “Can I talk with you for a moment?”

“If it’s about Tammy, she came onto me and I totally ran away before anything happened.”

“No, that’s okay.”

“She’s been trying to get a date with me since she moved here five years ago,” Alex rushes on.

“That’s really okay. I wanted to talk about Elena.”

“Oh. She seemed to be upset.” His head spins to her direction, eyes worried. “Everything OK?”

“What do you know about Michael?”

“You mean Johnson's kid?”

“Yes.”

“Well, they’ve had a pretty hard time since –” Alex looks back to him, tucks his bottom lip under his teeth. “Well, since his dad got diagnosed with cancer.”

Henry sighs. “Of course.”

“I’m.. confused.”

“I think he’s the one who’s been bullying Elena,” he says and Alex’s body stiffens from his words. “Him and his classmates. I don’t remember all the names, but they’re in the third grade.”

“That.. kinda makes sense. When they were in pre-school, I remember June telling me about this incident on a field trip. Elena got tripped by a student, but since no teacher saw it, they couldn’t punish anyone. Elena refused to talk about it.”

“Do you have any idea why he would choose to bully her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s just lashing out because of his dad.” Alex keeps his tensed eyes on Elena, who throws a handful of gummy bears to Jane. “June also heard that they might get a divorce.”

“Oh.”

“It was before he got diagnosed. I don’t know if it’s true.”

“If his family was going through all that, no wonder he might have negative feelings in him, and a younger first grader might be an easy target to lash those feelings onto.”

“Sounds like you speak from experience.”

“There was a boy in my previous school who got bullied. I recognized the same look on Elena.”

“Did it get better?”

“Eventually.”

Alex sighs deeply. “I just want her to be happy.”

Henry gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I promise I’ll talk with Michael’s parents, so that she’s not gonna get bullied any longer.”

“Thank you,” he says, voice deep with gratitude. Alex locks fond eyes with him. “It really means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome,” Henry croaks, voice suddenly dry. He can’t seem to look anywhere else but into his brown eyes. The expression on his face softens, but both of them turn to look at the girls. 

They giggle at something Jane said, and Henry is glad to see Elena smiling. There’s no worry in her face, or trace of being harassed by the boys. Henry feels a sleeve brush against him, then a fingertip touching his pinkie. The finger plays with his pinkie, not truly intertwining, but keeps flickering around him. It sends a warm shock of electricity, spiking from his head to his toes.

A cheesy 90’s love song starts playing through the speakers, and they exchange a weighty glance. Eyes roaming to Alex, his expression softens a fraction more, causing his heart to jump in his chest. Then, the fingers disappear from Henry’s, because Alex stretches out a hand towards the dance floor.

“Would you like to dance?”

His heart jumps again, but this time it lodges itself in his throat. Nervousness bubbles again, the next denial comes out of his mouth with a stutter. “I don’t think that would be a great idea.”

The smile doesn’t disappear, but Alex’s brows are drawn together. “Why not?”

“Well, you know..”

“You honestly think the kids care if they see two people who like each other dancing together?”

Henry manages to find Nora in the midst of children, with a piece of cake on her plate. He distinctly remembers her words previously today. He doesn’t have anything against dancing with Alex, in fact every bit of him wants to dance with him, but there’s a handful of parents here and he isn’t sure what they would think about them dancing.

Not all of the parents might be as open minded as Nora.

“It’s not about that,” Henry insists, seeing the way Alex’s nose wrinkles with disapproval. “I mean, this is a children’s school dance, and if we dance together...”

“If we dance together..?” he repeats, exchanging a puzzled look with him.

“I can’t just dance with you,” Henry explains, holding back a smile. “If we dance, and we’re that close, I know I’ll want to touch you. If I touch you, I know I’ll want to kiss you.”

Alex draws back with a pleased smile. “Oh.” He gulps slowly, trying to avoid his eyes. “Right. Makes sense.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good example for the children.”

“I’m sure all of them have seen two people kissing.”

“It wouldn’t just be kissing, now would it?”

“Oh,” he gasps, mouth tugging. “Oh.”

“Don’t,” Henry laughs.

“Don’t what?” he asks, acting innocently. “You were the one who kept looking at me like you wanted to –”

“What?”

Alex looks over Elena, choosing his next words carefully. “I don’t know, drag me into the nearest janitor closet and show me what dancing really is.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Henry rolls his eyes, Alex cackles with warm eyes. He does have a point, but he’s not going to admit to Alex that there was a moment Henry actually considered that option.

After hours of dancing, endless plates of gummy bears and punch, Jane is knackered. He sees the same drowsy look in Elena, how her eyes slowly start to close. Most of the parents come to pick up their children, Nora reminding them that they’ll come to clean the gymnasium later tomorrow afternoon.

They both carry the girls to the backseat of Alex’s car, helping them on their seats. Both of them rest their heads against the car seats, eyelids closing the second Alex starts the car’s engine. They drive back in silence, but he reaches his hand to intertwine with Henry’s. Henry stares at their laced hands most of the drive, how perfectly well they fit together.

Alex drives them in front of June’s house, who's standing in her driveway when Alex parks the car so she can pick up Elena from the backseat. He reverses the car back to the road, curving to Henry’s driveway. Alex helps to open the door, carrying Jane inside up to her room.

Henry walks the stairs down with a joy in his step, only being stopped when he hears soft music playing from the stereos. He carefully steps to the living room, where Alex is hunched over the stereos, tapping his phone.

He spins around when he hears Henry’s steps.

“Jane asleep?”

“Yeah.”

Something shifts in the air. Alex smiles vibrantly at him, eyes gentle. His finger taps his phone screen, and Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t help falling in love’ starts quietly playing from the speakers. Henry’s heart skips a beat or two.

“You still owe me a dance.” A line like that could send Henry off into oblivion if he didn’t have the willpower. Alex reaches a hand for him, Henry feeling tears prickling in his eyes when he takes a step, and hooks an arm around his waist.

Alex’s hand pulls him close, cheek to cheek, hip to hip, arms looped over and around each other. Henry doesn’t remember the last time he danced with someone, if ever, not definitely not like this. They start to dance slowly, feet following each other, Henry’s heart filling up with content. His heart races against Alex’s chest, when they keep dancing in the living room. He never pictured something like this happening to him. Nothing like this has happened to him, he couldn’t have possibly imagined something like Alex happening to him.

Alex, in his arms, twirling him once and then twice, to make him laugh cheerfully. Alex dips him, staring down at Henry, catching him with blown wide pupils and a happy grin. He smiles and kisses Henry right there, in his living room, next to a pile of Jane’s toys and his ungraded class papers. It’s different, it’s new, but most of all so amazing to feel Alex’s warm mouth, hand cupping Alex’s cheeks.  

Alex breaks them apart and pulls him up, burying his face in the crook of Henry’s neck. Henry caresses Alex’s gelled curls, not in their usual velvety and soft texture, instead his hair feels hard and slick.

Alex flicks his eyes into him, hands cupping Henry’s face. His expressive eyes are beaming at him. Henry takes Alex’s face again, slowly, lazily kissing him. He knocks his hip into Henry’s, their dance steps changing to walking, steering their way to the direction of his bedroom.

Their mouths meet each other perfectly, as if they’d been doing this for years. Henry collides onto the mattress with Alex, clutching into him, needing to be as close to him as humanly possible. He cradles Alex’s jaw in one hand and pushes the other through his hair, smiling against his lips at the soft moan that’s coming from Alex. It feels so natural to slip his tongue into his mouth, so good and so right. Henry listens to his sharp inhales when they both add more pressure, hips dry-humping against each other, both moaning at the contact.

“We don’t have to,” Alex hesitates, but Henry stops him with a kiss.

“I want to, really.”

“Are you sure? We can go slow.”

“I’m sure. I want this. I want you, Alex.”

Alex takes a long considerate look at him, before he kisses down his chest, opening his shirt. Henry lets Alex undress him, a few nervous chuckles slipping out of him, when the clothes are tossed to the floor. Henry used to feel insecure being naked, but the way Alex’s hungry yet delicate eyes stay on him, all that nervousness and insecurity fade away.

Alex leans in, twirls the tip of his tongue around his nipples, putting a thrill of shivers through Henry’s entire body from his soft lips. But when Alex uses his strength to push himself over, so he’s on top of Henry, legs wounded around his waist, pressing him right up against him, suddenly everything stops being gentle and soft.

Alex pulls his hot skin against him, scratching his fingers over his shoulder blades, pulling Henry closer and closer. His body moves against Alex, hip bones touching, his teeth digging into Henry’s shoulder to muffle a moan. Alex sneaks his hand between the nonexistent space between them, starting to palm him and any control Henry had in that moment is completely gone.

Henry lets out a small whimper when Alex’s hand starts a series of stimulating strokes around his cock, but quickly enough he pulls back, hand creeping up on his inner thigh. 

“How do you want to do this, Henry?”

“I want to see you,” he whispers, pressing his back into the pillow behind him, urging Alex onto him. Henry moves on pure instinct, stretching out over his body, straddling one of his thighs and holding it snug between his own legs, already able to appreciate the strain and pressure against his groin.

“Okay,” Alex agrees with a contended grin, but his eyes are half-lidded and darker than usual. “Just tell me how you’re feeling. I’ll start slow, okay?”

He simply nods, because Henry’s too eager about the whole thrill of it. So when Alex’s first finger comes to circle his hole, he flinches.

“You okay?”

“Y–yeah. Do it again, please.” He feels the tension in his stiff hips when Alex starts circling around him again, delicately stretching him up, without ever breaking eye contact from him.

“Relax,” Alex whispers, in a gentle and patient voice. Henry maps the progress through a haze of thrilled denial, their mouths inches apart, feeling Alex’s warm breath against his skin. With his heart pounding in his ears, Alex speaks softly but very clearly: “Relax, baby. I got you.”

Henry nods with flustered cheeks, giving his hand a grateful squeeze. He slouches against the bed, head against the pillow, closing his eyes.

Alex’s hand caresses his thighs and cheeks, Henry taking long inhales after another. He shouldn’t be this nervous about this. For weeks, or possibly the entire time they’ve been together, he’s been imagining this moment, dreaming to share this very private moment between Alex, so he doesn’t want to ruin it.

Henry blinks his eyes open, relocating them to his face. Alex’s face is down, a hand stroking his cock gently while another finger is still circling him. Henry takes his chin with two fingers, trading eyes back to him. He has a happy smile on, but a tick of nervousness in the corner of his eye.

The sinful sounds Henry continues to plead, makes Alex look less nervous, especially when he asks for more. He notices Alex reach for something, taking his wallet from the tossed suit jacket. There, carefully folded, is a piece of condom.

It causes Henry to laugh. “You always carry those with you?”

“Not really,” Alex smiles back, fingers fidgeting around the condom. “Unless you prefer to use one of yours?”

“I don’t have any,” Henry answers, red cheeks filled with embarrassment. “I don’t really have lube either. I didn’t think – I mean, I guess I didn’t think we would –”

“It’s okay. We don’t have to,” he says, eyes gentle and caring.

“I want to. Only if you want it too.”

“Of course I want this, baby,” he says with a flirty smile, tearing the package and rolling the condom open.

“Okay.” Henry leans a bit to help him with putting it on, causing him to moan with the contact, but soon enough Alex delicately pushes Henry back against the pillows.

“Relax, Henry,” Alex smiles, and he relaxes himself on the mattress. Alex gently rubs his thighs as he widens them open. Henry closes his eyes, inhaling deeply, his legs quivering from the first contact.

“Alex.”

“Are you okay? I can –”

“No,” he gasps, sharply. He keeps his eyes shut, feeling Alex’s hand take a grip of his waist. “It’s fine. Just.. go slow, okay?”

“Of course.” The first roll is slow and guarded. At first Henry doesn’t think he moves at all, until he starts to feel the tiny shift in Alex’s rhythmic movements.

”Alex,” Henry pants his name like it’s the only word that exists in his vocabulary. His own erection pressed up against him, heavy breathing in his ear, Henry’s hands lightly pressing into his lower back, trying to move Alex’s hips. 

He intends to move his hands to Alex’s waist, to top up the speed, because after each slow thrust, he’s craving more and more. He wants Alex to know he’s fine with hurrying up the pace, but from the angle, he only succeeds in brushing his hand on his hip, when a strangled, ”Alex, please” escapes his lips, and Henry’s not sure what he’s begging for.

Alex thrusts upwards with each motion and thrust, deep and delicate yet gentle, releasing something deep within Henry. It doesn’t help that Alex is looking at him like he hung the moon and stars in the sky himself, and it’s hard to imagine a world where Alex is not the person by his side, with him here.

So Henry lets it all out, no restraints, without holding back – Alex unlocking something he didn’t know having inside of him. Alex’s mouth forms words that are mixed with a moan, but his ears only hear his deep, ragged breaths: all of it building up when he reaches the ground-breaking orgasm together with Alex: he’s floating in the weightless clouds, a shock of electric static traveling across his entire body, Henry’s toes curling up.

Alex lazily slides away, but he feels the warmth spreading across his body when his mouth forms the words ‘Henry’ over and over again between his hungry kisses. Henry isn’t sure how long they make-out in the afterglow bubble, until he feels something sticky and slimy rubbing against his stomach.

Henry breaks the kiss apart to take a breath, being totally out of breath. Alex softly giggles, collapsing on the bed beside him, throwing his arms above his head. Henry examines him, and the red color on his cheeks, reminding him of his favorite strawberry jam. His sweaty chest falls down and rises along with his breaths, spit on his bottom lip.

Eventually they hop off the bed, ending up showering together, and Henry can’t shake off the small tiny feeling in him – that this warm fuzzy feeling in his heart is only momentary. That he cannot, by any means, fully attach to the newly profound feeling that Alex brought.

Not even when Alex manages to take his mind off by doing a very thorough scrub of his body and kneeling on the shower floor with his wet, open mouth.

Henry borrows Alex his spare pyjama bottoms when they climb back on the bed. The thought of asking him to leave never crosses his mind, so he embraces Alex, letting his body absorb into his body and warming himself up from the cold shower. He instantly relaxes within his arms, Alex playing with his hair, hand caressing his back, soothing him.

He feels a faint kiss on the top of his head. “Good night, Henry,” his distant, sleepy voice says.

“Good night, Alex,” Henry whispers back, planting a kiss on his chest. Alex pulls the blanket over them, tucking Henry under. His hand rubs the back of his neck, when Henry rests his head against his chest. He hears how his heart races, calmly slowing down.

It feels so obvious that the silver lining he was looking for, was Alex all along. Alex is the reason he’s been able to find happiness in Austin, why he and Jane feel so safe here.

Henry really wants to believe he can have this, that he can have Alex like this: still in the euphoria of ecstasy running in his veins, heart filled with love, but he can’t turn off that small voice in him that keeps telling Henry that can’t cling to the happiness he’s found in Alex.

That Henry doesn’t deserve this happiness that spreads whenever he’s with him, that he doesn’t deserve to have Alex this close, this intimately.

After all, every time Henry is on the brink of happiness, it’s pulled away from him.

Chapter Text

There’s a distinctly content feeling in Henry when he opens his eyes. Last night was the first night he truly slept well in this house, but it doesn’t diminish the small yet overpowering feeling in Henry that something isn’t right.

He started to get this small feeling about six months ago – after the first signal that something wasn’t right with his ex, the first time he pushed him. It was a small push by definition, but it launched the chain reaction that led up to Henry literally moving to another continent to get away from him.

Henry knows that he can’t escape this feeling as long as he’s out there, no matter how Alex keeps distracting him, no matter how happy he is with Alex.

“You have a serious look on your face,” a distant voice says, catching him off guard. It’s Alex, who’s tangled up around him on the bed. His head is tilted upwards to him, and when Henry meets his eyes, Alex presses his chin on Henry’s chest. His fingers dance on his skin, from his wrist to his elbow.

“Oh. Sorry,” the words come out from his mouth by instinct.

“No need to apologize, Henry,” a grin spreads on his face, face tipping so his wild curls fall over his forehead. It’s an adorable sight, a sight Henry wants to keep seeing for the rest of his life. “Good morning, baby,” Alex adds with an endearing smile, his tongue sticking out.

“Good morning, love.” Eyes meeting his, as soft and filled with love can be, he scoots closer to Alex. Their noses gently touching, Alex raises his head, struggling to chase his lips. It isn't much of a struggle for long, before Henry’s impatient lips find his. He kisses him, open mouthed.

Fingers are in his hair, gently pulling. Alex’s hot and fierce lips are all over him, his hand slowly sliding down under the sheets, sending cold shivers all down his spine. Henry lowers his back against the sheet, pressing their chests together.

Alex parts from his lips to put them back to the curve of his neck, a moan escaping Henry’s lips. He leans over and presses a kiss to the side of Alex’s mouth, only for Alex to part to stare at the beauty that’s laying underneath him.

“What?” Henry asks softly, catching his stare. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Alex whispers, devotedly. Before Henry gets to answer, a rosy blush spreads over his face and Alex starts planting kisses on every inch of exposed skin he can find, studying how his body is curved and searching a new spot to find.

Instead of his lips finding his mouth again, he plants kisses all over Henry’s face: his jaw, cheeks, forehead, cheekbones, nose. Henry giggles by the ticklish sensation of his gentle pecks on his skin.

Henry shuts his eyes, enjoying the feel of his soft kisses, a trail from his jawline to his collarbone.

“What are you doing?” he lets out a soft giggle, Alex’s hands on his waist, lips brushing on his stomach. 

“Making up for the lost time.”

“I thought we did that last night.”

“Mm,” Alex hums, tongue licking on his skin, to his abdomen.

“That’s not –”

“Thought you liked it,” he replies with a suggestive grin. He opens his mouth to plant a kiss on his hip bone, and Henry can’t contain the giggle that inches up in his throat.

“No, please. It’s –” Another set of uncontrollable giggles. “–making me really ticklish.”

“Oh, you mean this?” Alex says, voice serious when his hand pushes his hips down to kiss a spot on the dip.

“Get off,” Henry laughs, struggling in his hold, when Alex finds a spot that’s overly sensitive, a spot he didn’t know could be this sensitive. Henry tries to yank him away, but Alex gets more persistent to make Henry giggle, until Henry manages to take his face into his hands and break his tickling by crashing their mouths together.

“A bloody cretin,” Henry mutters, when he takes a breath between the kisses. “Absolutely insufferable.” Alex smiles victoriously, hand scooting on his neck. Henry stares at the sight: Alex with a big endearing smirk, the infectious warmth and energy buzzing off him. He never thought that he could find someone like Alex, that he could bring him this much happiness just being here.

“What?” Alex laughs breathlessly, an unrestrainable grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“I love you,” Henry confesses, eyes full of devotion, his lips wet and moist from his kisses. The words that he didn’t admit himself, or say to each other before, but in the moment feels right.

Alex looks starstruck and overwhelmed by the sentence, his bottom lip quivers before a genuine, visually blinding smile spreads on his face. His jaw parts, the words ready in his mouth, but his sentence is cut off by the doorbell.

“Fucking June,” Alex hisses under his breath, letting out a deep sigh. “It’s probably about the flowers.”

Henry arches his eyebrow. “Flowers?”

“Yeah, she saw pics of the flowers at the school dance, and she was all like ‘I’ll reuse these for my book club so we can make potpourri’. I bet she’s here for them.”

“We’re not supposed to go clean the dance until later in the afternoon,” Henry recalls the discussion he had with Nora.

“Yeah, but you know June. Of all the possible days, today is the day she’s an early bird.”

The doorbell rings again, twice in a row. “Jesus, fine,” he hisses in a grumpy voice, rolling off Henry. “Disturbing a nice morning such as this should be a crime.”

“Well, let’s go. The sooner she gets her flowers, the sooner she’s gone,” Henry chimes in with a playful smile. Alex straightens his back up, head tipping to the side.

“Why, Mr. Fox,” Alex says, a hint of flirt in his voice and a finger pokes at Henry’s hips. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re flirting with me.”

“Oi,” Henry lets out, playfully nudging him away and reaching for his tossed pajamas on the floor. “I am most definitely not.”

Alex gives him a curious smile, before he leaps out the bed. Henry observes how he takes his pants, trousers and tucks the T-shirt over all in a suave movement. He tiptoes out the door, while Henry is still stuck with his pajamas because he put the wrong foot in the trousers.

Henry can’t ignore the churning feeling in his stomach when he steps to the hallway. He tries to listen, but he can’t hear Alex or June’s voices by the door. Instead, there’s faint chirping of a bird.

“I’m sorry, who did you say you were?” He hears Alex say, confused.

“I don’t think we’re properly introduced. My name is Ben. And you are?”

Everything stops in the very instant, Henry’s legs are stopped by the start of the stairs. All of a sudden, it feels like the floor drops under his feet. There’s a split second that he’s debating if he should make a run for it.

The unwanted memories flood back in seconds. His brain flashes back to the time he was in his London flat, on the ground, seeing the shadow of him creeping above Henry. All those feelings, all the pain, hits him like a tidal wave.

The memory of being in bed with Alex just minutes ago, seems like a distant memory – no, not even a memory, a blurry dream that he can barely remember anymore. Just like months ago, he witnesses his reality collapse into a black hole.

Maybe Henry immersed himself for this fantasy that he never thought his past would catch up to him. Maybe he thought he could be happy for once. Henry should have known better, because he knew it would all come down to this, eventually it would all crash and burn.

He never imagined it to be this morning of all days.

Henry only sees half of his body standing by the front door. Alex doesn’t respond, so he probably connects the dots. Something makes Henry’s legs move, walking the stairs down, hating the very sight of seeing him at his front step.

The image of him is forever engraved to his memory: The length of his nose and shadow of unshaven stubble, the way his hair stands up, needing a trim. Alex turns to the stairs when Henry’s mind comes back to reality, blinking himself alert. It gives him a chance to step inside.

“Hello, Henry,” Ben says with a smug, pleased smile. Henry remembers the first time he saw that evil smile on his face: face slightly crooked, maleficent eyes prying on him. His eyes measure Henry far too long that it makes him want to crawl out of his skin. “Been a while, hasn’t it?”

“I’m Alex,” Alex ends up saying, but sounds tense and vigilant.

“What a pleasure to meet you,“ he says, without sparing Alex a second glance. He gives Henry a smile that’s way more patronizing than it is genuine. Henry can’t get rid of the awful hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. The too-familiar feeling of uncertainty twists in his gut.

He’s unmoved by Alex’s words, eyes only glued to Henry.

Alex must see the terror splashed across Henry’s face, because he protectively steps in front of him. Henry, who’s on the edge of a nuclear-level freak out. The hallway, in fact his entire house – feels like tilting on its axis.

“What are you doing here?” Henry manages to sputter out, voice weak and fragile. The evil smile on his face widens more.

“I’m very disappointed in you, Henry,” he says, instantly throwing blame at him. He glimpses at Alex, who steps even closer in front of Henry. There’s a curious look, like he’s recalculating the situation and his next words. “You know we’re supposed to be together, and that we shouldn’t have broken up in the first place.” He sounds very sure of himself, blankly staring at Henry so it starts to mess with his head. “We belong together, don’t you know?”

Henry is still in mid-spiral, when Alex boldly steps in front of him, arms crossed.

“You need to leave. Now,” he hisses, dead-serious, with an intense pair of eyes on Ben. “I’m not gonna ask again.”

“What’s this, then? You got yourself a bodyguard?” he huffs with mockery. Alex straightens his posture, his arms stretched in a position that’s ready to attack.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Alex growls, darker, that Ben actually looks concerned.

He takes a step back with a forced laughter. “I see how it is. Well, I’ll be seeing you around, Henry.”

As soon as the door closes, Henry starts hyperventilating. Alex grabs his shoulders, walking him to the living room. He’s clearly trying to plant him on the couch, or just anywhere to sit down.

His ears are burning, his vision starting to cloud. Henry's chest rises and falls in quick beats, his shoulders drawn close. He pulls his legs close to his chest, forearms resting on his knees, caving in. Every breath is rapid and uneasy.

“Hey,” a distant voice says. A distant voice has been repeating words at him non-stop. Henry’s pupils are two dark moons, expanding. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

Henry tries to focus on anything, but his vision is too blurry in front of him, completely clouding.

A hand touches his knee that makes him flinch. “Sorry,” the distant voice says, apologizing, voice fading away.

Henry stares at the living room carpet, unable to make eye contact. Slowly, his vision starts to clear, he sees worried Alex kneeling in front of him, but there’s only one thing crowding Henry’s mind:

You need to leave right now.

He ignores the fear, the panic. He doesn’t allow the fear to sink in, because this time, he’s prepared. He’s been prepared for this very moment the very second he stepped to Austin.

Henry knows what to do. He knows what he has to do next. Part of him always knew this was how it was going to end. 

Part of him wants to crawl into Alex’s arms and forget everything, but the logical brain part of him says, that’s only temporary.

Henry leaps off the couch, surprising Alex.

“Henry?” His voice has an unmistakable sharpness to it, but he doesn’t care. He walks to the kitchen, knowing the exact drawer where’s a packed bag ready. “What are you doing? What’s happening –”

Henry tosses the back to the kitchen table, seeing the medicine. “Jane,” he breathes, bolting out the living room.

“Henry,” Alex calls and follows him. He doesn’t know why the thought only occurred to him now, the worst fear hitting him that something might have happened to Jane. The security system would have been notified if a door was opened, but he could have hacked it.

Henry opens the door for her bedroom, and she’s sleeping in her bed. She has her headphones on – she used to go to sleep with them on. It’s why she didn’t hear the doorbell, and gives Henry a chance to close the door behind him.

He dashes back to the living room, but Alex grabs his arm. It’s soft, it’s careful.

“Henry, you have to calm down. Explain what’s going on in your head, please.” Alex’s fingers curl around his wrist, and he wonders if Alex can feel the lighting under his skin.

“I have to go,” he says, without looking at him. Alex lets him walk to the kitchen island, opening the bag’s zipper. “We have to go.”

“Look, I have no idea how he’s here, but that doesn’t mean –”

“You don’t understand, Alex. He’s not here to catch up with me. He’s here to get me and Jane back.”

“Can’t you – I don’t know, ask him to leave?”

“I can’t do that. He’s not just gonna go. He found me, no idea how.. but I knew it would happen eventually. So I need to go,” Henry’s breath unevens.

“So running is the solution? What about the police? Didn’t you put a restraining order against him?”

Henry shakes his head. “No. I had to get out so fast. It wouldn’t have helped, anyway.”

“It’s different here. He doesn’t know anybody. My dad has a friend in the police force, I could call and ask –”

“No, don’t. We have to get away. We have to make sure he can’t follow us.”

“When you’re talking about leaving, you mean..?”

“I mean Jane and me.”

“No. I’m coming with you.”

“Alex, no. I can’t let you do that.”

“I can’t let you go alone. If you’re running away, I’m coming with you. I’m not –” he gulps down. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he whispers, his lip wobbling dangerously. Alex comes closer, giving his shoulder a soft squeeze.

“Henry, look we can... we can figure this out. I don’t think running away is the best solution.”

“Alex, I appreciate your effort, but it’s not going to make any difference.”

“Just listen to me, OK? I said my dad has a police friend. I’ll call him, and we’ll ask them to come here and ask him to –”

“I never reported any of them,” Henry reveals. Alex takes a step back.

“What?”

“I never filed any report about what he did. When I had to go to hospital, I told them I got mugged. They don’t have any evidence that he’s done anything to me, and if you call the police, he’ll get away with it. Why would they arrest him for just coming here to visit me?”

Henry sees Alex calculating the plans in his head. “We could say he came to threaten you, which is true, and I could back you up with it. If we got your family on the phone, they could prove it too.”

“It’s not going to work, Alex.”

“Let’s just think this over, okay?“

He considers his options. Henry doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t want to put Jane through that. “Maybe.. maybe if I talked to him. I could try to ask him to leave.”

“You sure he’s gonna listen to you?”

“No, but maybe just in case, you could take Jane to your sister’s? And keep an eye on me?”

“Okay. I can do that.”

Alex takes the landline phone, dialling a number. June answers right away. Henry doesn’t listen to a word he says to his sister, he probably should – all he can focus on is Jane. He doesn’t care what happens to himself, if Ben manages to snatch him away it’s fine, as long as Jane is safe. He was never abusive towards her, not in the same way. But he was the exact opposite of Alex, he never cared or paid any attention to her. To Jane, he was always busy and at work.

He was glad she didn’t see the bad side of him, that she wasn’t able to realize how bad things were until that one fateful night. 

Ben used to drink a lot. He had drank too much that night, but Henry had been planning to break up with him for weeks. When he said those words, Jane was too close. He remembers the darkening eyes, the utter shock of breaking up, his hand swinging nearby her.

Henry doesn’t know what he would have done if that hand had hit her, or the beer bottle he smashed to the ground and if the glass shards had hit her. All he really remembers is that something clicked in his head that night, and that thought was to get away from him.

Henry convinced Ben that nothing was wrong, he had gotten pretty good at it for the past weeks. He was convinced that they were fine, they wouldn’t break up. The very same night he didn’t sleep, but planned his escape. That night, he randomly googled different places, and by pure coincidence, he found a small town in Austin, Texas. Within the next four days, he planned everything in great detail. Jane spent most of her days over his sister or his parents, until everything was planned and ready to go.

Now as he creaks her door open, seeing that she’s awake and tossing around in her bed, he knows that choice was right. Even if he barely got over a month away from him, it was enough. Any time away from him was better than spending a second with him.

“Good morning, love,” Henry puts a kind smile for her. She stretches her hands over her head, the blonde hair a frizzy mess. She yawns widely, tossing the headphones away. “Jane, I have a suggestion for you. How would you feel if you had breakfast with Elena this lovely morning?”

It catches her interest. She lifts to sit on her bed. “I hear she’s making pancakes. How would those sound?”

“Pancakes?” her eyebrows scoot up.

“Let’s get you dressed, honey. Alex can walk you over. How does that sound?”

“Pancakes,” she giggles while nodding her head. Henry helps her up from her bed, quickly choosing a yellow dress with small prints of horses on it. Jane seems too eager about getting pancakes for breakfast; she doesn’t catch the worry in Henry’s eyes, how he brushes her hair in a hurry.

“You’re gonna be okay?” Alex asks, in a whisper, when he takes Jane by her hand.

“Yeah. All good,” he forces out a chuckle. He kneels down to Jane, pulling her for a hug. “Be a good girl, won’t you, Jane?”

“Dad,” she struggles out. “I want pancakes.”

Henry chuckles, but his voice is thick with emotion. “Allright, honey. Dad loves you very much, you know that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she rolls her eyes. He’s glad she has no idea what happened ten minutes ago, or what might happen.

“How much?”

“To the moon and back,” she says, out of memory, giving him a sweet smile. Henry kisses her forehead.

“To the moon and back,” he whispers, leaping up to give Alex a look. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“I’ll keep my eye on you. I’ll be right back, too. Okay?”

He nods, rapidly. “Okay.”

Henry keeps his smile on, waving at Jane. She doesn’t seem to mind that they use the backdoor, he knows that he somehow finds a reason for her to avoid the main road to go across to June. Before the door closes, he hears Alex say something about a running game.

He’s known it for a while now, but he completely trusts Alex with her life.

Henry turns around. He peeks from the window next to his front door. He sees Ben, leaning against a car with a cigarette in his hands. He sees June’s house, the lights are on. He doesn’t see a glimpse of Alex.

He takes a deep breath before he steps out.

Ben’s eyes flick to him the very second. He gawks at him on every step, making Henry feel uncomfortable. He always used to do that. He stares at him while he puts the cigarette to his mouth. His predatory eyes trail on him when he stops in front of him. Henry gives him a clear space, enough to run back if necessary.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Henry starts. Ben looks upwards, letting out a huff of smoke.

“You shouldn’t have left,” he answers, inhaling the cigarette. Henry knows he only smokes when he’s stressed, he had started smoking more the last weeks when they were together. When he’s done with the cigarette, he drops it and flicks up another from the pack. “You really thought you could just leave like that?”

“We broke up.”

“We had a fight,” he corrects, lighting up the new cigarette. “That’s different.”

“It’s not.”

“People fight, Henry. Couples fight, couples argue, that’s completely normal.”

His words are like a whiplash to the first time he started to gaslight him. “You remember the first time we fought, and blamed me for everything? I used to think it was my fault whenever you got angry, whenever you pushed me around. Couples don’t do that. Couples don’t make each other feel like that.”

He sucks a long inhale from the cigarette, before exhaling out the smoke. “You’re over exaggerating, Henry,” Ben answers, casually shrugging his shoulders. He ignores everything Henry just said. He doesn’t even bother to apologize, he never apologized how he treated Henry. He just blamed how Henry reacted, like he’s doing now. “That’s really hurting me.”

“Hurting you?” Henry lets out a stifled, offended laugh. “You seem to forget all the times you hu–”

“You’re doing it again,” Ben snaps, straightening his posture. It causes Henry to flinch, take a step back. “I’ve told you many times how I don’t like it when you’re lying to me.”

“Leave,” he croaks, his throat dry and useless. He’s not sure if the word even left his mouth, or stayed in his throat.

“What was that?” Ben asks, eyes turning to him. There’s a wicked smile on his lips, enjoying making Henry feel this way. He always enjoyed putting him down. Henry’s eyes flick behind him, seeing a glimpse of Alex as he runs behind June’s house. There’s part of him that’s relieved they’re safe. He ignores the worried look on Alex’s face before they disappear to her house.

“Leave,” Henry repeats, trying to sound stronger, but his voice shakes too much. Ben looks at him with a confused face, the cigarette between his two fingers.

“You think he loves you?” Ben snorts, voice dry and unimpressed. “You know you’re nothing but a charity case to his weird savior complex.”

“No,” he chokes out. Something twists uncomfortably in his chest. He’s restraining to burst and dissolve into a flood of tears in front of him. He swore not to do that ever again.

“It’s true. I saw the way he looked at you.”

“You’re wrong. Alex isn’t like that.”

“You honestly think he loves you?” He snickers, the cigarette swirling between his fingers. “Henry, come on. You’re really not that stupid, are you?”

“You’re wrong,” he repeats, but his voice isn’t convincing.

“He can’t love you, not the same way I do.”

“We broke up,” he says, getting his courage, voice firm. “I’m not gonna be your little punching bag anymore.”

“Where’s all this coming from?”

“I told you to leave. We’re done.” Henry backs up, but doesn’t turn his back. He’s not going to make that mistake again.

“You think you can just leave and replace me with another man?” he spits out, throwing the cigarette to the ground, shoe aggressively stepping over it. “He’s nothing.”

“Alex is twice the man you’ll ever be,” Henry growls, no idea how he found the courage to say it. Ben’s face flickers with anger, the rage sparkling on his face the way Henry’s used to seeing it. It used to make him scared, but not anymore.

“Take that back,” he threatens, taking a step toward him.

“No. I’m not letting you manipulate me anymore. I’m asking you to leave me alone, for good, or I’ll –”

“Or you’ll what?” He snarls, another step towards Henry. He backs up closer to the house. Ben laughs mischievously. “You don’t have the guts to do anything, Henry. I know that, you know that. You’re always going to be that scared little mouse you always were.”

Ben snatches his wrist, twisting hard. “Let me go,” Henry struggles out, but he’s just smiling.

“Let’s hope you’re packed and ready to go,” he grins. Henry doesn’t know where he gets the strength, but he whips his hand free. He sees the surprise on Ben’s face, when he runs back to his house.

Henry’s legs are faster. They always were. He manages to run back inside, shutting the door in front of him. Ben slams his hand on the door.

“Henry!”

“Leave!”

“Henry, please, let me in.”

“No. Just leave and never come back.”

“Henry, please,” his voice pleads. He knocks at the door, quieter. “Just open the door, won’t you?”

“Get out.”

There’s a moment of silence. “Can’t we talk?” he says, voice calmed down. Henry’s heart is racing up in his throat. “I really want to talk. Can’t we do that?” Another pause. “Please. I want to talk before I leave.”

It makes Henry turn around. He peeks from the peephole to see Ben in front of the door, face worried. “I’ll go, okay? If that’s what you want,” he begs, sounding sad and desperate. “I really will. I just want to say goodbye, okay?”

He sees the look on Ben’s face. Defeated. Shamed.

Henry makes the next mistake of creaking the door open. Maybe he thought that Ben really wanted to apologize, wanted to really say goodbye before leaving. Just like all the other times, he was too gullible to believe his words.

The next thing he knows the door emerges, a pang in his chest draws him up short, the impact of the door hitting his face hard, smacking him down. He crashes to the ground, head scraping the floor.

He lies dazed for a second, the air knocked out of him, body aching. Pain in the back of his head, ringing between his ears, but true terror clenches in him when he sees the shadow of Ben above him.

“You’re so predictable,” he laughs, cracking his knuckles. “You really thought I would just leave like that? Oh no. We’re not leaving without my precious Jane.”

Him saying her name slaps Henry awake from the pain. “Let’s go get her, shall we?”

“No –” Henry tries to get up, but Ben takes him from his collars.

“Her room has to be upstairs.”

“No,” Henry shouts, forcing himself on his knees. Ben runs the stairs up, dragging Henry by his collar. He smashes doors open until he finds the bedroom he’s looking for, eyes widen at the sight: her bed is empty.

“What?” Ben knocks Henry to the ground. His eyes scan the room, then at Henry. “Where is she?”

“Somewhere you’ll never find her.”

“You think you can hide her from me?” he laughs, looming over him. “Come on.” Ben takes him by his throat, kicking him out the bedroom. “We’re gonna go get her and continue being the happy little family we were.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“What was that?”

“I’m not letting you get her. You can do what you want with me, but you’ll never get her," Henry protests. He sees the train of emotions going through his face: this wasn’t part of his plan.

“We’re just gonna have to spend more time together,” Ben licks his lips, circling around him, each pace arrogant and taunting. “So you remember how much Jane deserves to go back home with us. After all, she’s our daughter.”

There’s anger that shatters through Henry’s skin in a bloom of blinding light, the disbelief rooting deep in Ben’s face that he would ever try something. Without further hesitation, Henry stands up. The pain spikes and spreads everywhere, but he doesn’t care. Ben’s eyes glimmer with interest.

Everything ignites in him, blood, cells, the fine tissue in his heart. Intense heat consumes his face, blinking away the tears fogging his vision.

He’s had enough.

“No,” Henry fires back, there's a bead of sweat trickling down his back, hands shaking. The way Ben looks at him makes his blood boil. The way he smiles. The way he laughs. Something simmers deep inside of Henry, anger flaring. All that anger, all that pain, all that abuse, finally boils over. All of it pouring out of Henry at once.

The moment doesn’t really register into his brain, because it happens so fast. There’s no slow-motion, the time doesn’t stop.

Just the terrible sight of Ben falling down the stairs, his body flying. Henry’s hand reaches for him out of habit, but it’s too late. The sight isn’t blurry, it’s not shaky, he sees the picture-perfect split of a second, of the genuine shock when Ben realizes that he’s falling down and there isn’t anything to do to stop it. Henry’s eyes are trained on him, ears detecting the sound of the crack when he plunges onto the floor.

The adrenaline of the fight dissipates quickly when Henry realizes what happened. Ben, on the floor, a splash and splatter of blood next to him. Lifeless and still, not sprinting back up like he expected him to do.

He’s seriously hurt.

Henry dashes down the stairs, seeing the amount of blood under his head. He kneels in front of him, in a panic.

“Alex!” he shouts, desperately. Maybe he heard him, maybe he was coming to him, because right the very next second, the door bursts open.

“What happened?”

“I.. he chased me up the stairs. I fought back. I must have knocked him over, and the next thing I knew... Alex, there’s so much blood.”

“But you’re okay?” Alex asks first, eyes focused on Henry. He nods, hands hovering on Ben’s body. “Okay. Keep pressuring on his chest,” he guides, but Alex’s troubled expression doesn’t soften. “I’ll call 911.”

Henry’s trembling hands press on his chest, another hand to the wet part of his head. He feels a distinct heartbeat when he places his ear to his chest, and he does seem to be breathing. The ambulance arrives within the next ten minutes, Henry watching how the paramedics carry his body to the ambulance. 

“Is he going to be okay?”

“We’ll do the best we can, sir.”

He turns to Alex, who has a blank expression on his face. “Can.. can you drive me to the hospital?”

“Sure,” he says without hesitating.

“Wait. What about Jane?”

“June has her. She’s fine.” Alex looks at him. “I can drive you to the hospital. They should check your wound too.”

Henry contemplates to say he’s fine, but there’s ringing in his ears and ache at the back of his head. He simply nods, watching how the paramedics carry Ben out to the ambulance bed.

“We’ll be right behind you,” Alex waves, the paramedics nodding before slamming the ambulance doors close.

What happens next is foggy to Henry. He completely dissociates from everything that passes by him, he remembers being in a car, he remembers being walked into bright blue hallways, he remembers someone flashing a light to his eyes while asking if he feels dizzy.

It’s all a blur. Someone puts him into a bed, someone takes his shirt and examines him. When he finally opens his eyes, he sees a woman in a doctor's jacket standing above him.

Henry leaps up to sit on the hospital bed, but it’s a mistake: his head whirls, feeling dizzy and stomach queasing.

“Take it easy, Mr. Fox,” the woman’s calm voice says. “You might not have a concussion, but you did take a rather hard fall.”

“I did?” 

“Yes. I’m Dr. Burke,” the doctor introduces, clicking her ballpoint pen open and she has a notepad in her hands. “Mind if I ask you a few questions? Routine check.”

“Um, sure.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

He gets flashes of Ben and blood. Unlike he would want to, he remembers everything in great detail. “Not much.”

Dr. Burke gives him an interesting stare. “Does it hurt anywhere?”

“It.. feels a bit dizzy. My head’s aching.”

“That should stop soon, but if it doesn’t, let me know. We’ve given you pain medicine, so it should fade away.” She places the notepad under her armpit, taking a mug of water from the nightstand, pouring him a water glass. “Here. You should drink.”

“Thank you,” he says, not realizing how thirsty he was until the water gulps down his dry throat. “What happened? Where’s –”

“I was kind of hoping you could answer that.”

“Is my daughter here?”

Dr. Burke tilts her head. “There’s a woman in the waiting room, Miss Claremont-Diaz, with two girls. They seem to be doing just fine.”

There’s deep relief in him. “Thank you. And Alex?”

“The mister who brought you? He’s just having a talk with the police.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll just ask you a few routine questions before they’ll want to have a chat with you. That okay with you, Mr. Fox?”

“Okay.”

He answers all of Dr. Burke’s questions without much of a problem, and the dizziness starts to disappear. She says he dislocated his arm when he kept pressing hard on Ben’s wound, so he has to keep a cast on for a couple of weeks. Other than a few scratches, he’s fine. Physically, that is.

After the check, Henry explains everything to the police officer. He’s not sure what Alex told him, but he keeps writing the notes down with an impartial face.

“Lastly, I would like to ask about Mr. Wilson,” the officer says calmly, looking up to Henry. “Is this the first time he’s done something like this?”

“What?”

“Are you aware that a person can report a crime on behalf of someone else?” the officer asks. Henry shakes his head in confusion. “It’s possible, depending on the crime and amount of evidence. There’s a…” he stops to look at his notes. “Miss Beatrice Fox and Mr. Percy Okonjo who have filed a report on behalf of you, Mr. Fox. Family members, I assume.”

He had no idea they would report it on his behalf. “I don’t..”

“I know you didn’t report the other times, but Mr. Okonjo has brought pictures to our attention, that would indicate this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this. Am I correct, Mr. Fox?”

Henry does remember a time he took a picture of himself in the hospital, sending it to Percy. More than once. He never thought he could use them as evidence. It never even crossed his mind.

“Yes.”

“I assume he didn’t react to the break-up very well?”

“No.”

The officer gives him a reassuring smile. “You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Fox. There are charges against him from previous incidents, similar to your case. So if he ever wakes up, he’s going to be arrested. I’m certain that Mr. Wilson will spend the rest of his life locked up.”

If he ever wakes up.

The officer keeps staring at Henry. “Since he was your emergency contact, is there anyone else you would like us to call, Mr. Fox?”

“My mom,” Henry stammers the words out.

“Okay. Is there anything else you’d like to know? I know all of this might be confusing and scary, but everything’s going to be okay. You’re safe now.”

“Thank you. Can I go see my daughter and Alex?”

“I’ll ask Dr. Burke if you’re permitted to get out of bed.”

Dr. Burke comes back after a quick chat with the police officer. She gives him a few pieces of advice for his broken arm, a prescription for painkillers but mentions nothing of Ben. Maybe she isn’t allowed to, even if they're each other's emergency contacts. Maybe she thinks it would be overbearing for Henry to tell what happened. Maybe the police officer thought Dr. Burke told him what happened.

All he cares about is that he’s safe, and he gets to see Alex and Jane.

Henry paces out of the hospital room and a nurse helps him walk to the second floor. She’s also checking that Henry can actually walk, and isn’t going to pass out. His wobbly steps seem to get their strength when he sees the visitor lounge, June sitting on a couch with Jane and Elena. They’re playing with their dolls on the couch, Henry’s steps quickening upon seeing them.

“Henry,” June’s face brightens up when she sees him. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” he replies, Jane’s eyes taking a curious look at him.

“Auntie June said that you fell over,” Jane’s graceful, innocent voice says. Henry takes her into his arms, hugging her with his one good arm.

“Yes, daddy was being silly,” he whispers to her ear. He pulls back from the hug to look at her face: her bright blue eyes don't have the slightest worry or confusion, that this could be something else. “You always have to walk the stairs carefully or you might have an accident.”

Jane carefully places her hand on the cast. “Does it hurt?”

“Not much, no. It’s just a small scratch. Remember the time you learned to ride your bike?”

She nods, hand brushing around his cast. “You fell down with your bike, but it didn’t hurt much, did it?”

“No,” she shakes her head.

“So you know your dad’s gonna be just fine.”

“You should wear a helmet,” Jane giggles to her own joke.

“I guess I should,” Henry laughs.

“Jane, honey, why don’t you and Elena go get some snacks from the vending machine?” June suggests, picking up a couple dollar bills from her purse. “I’m sure your dad could use a drink.”

“Okay,” Jane says, June giving her the money.

“Stay close,” Henry says, even though he sees the vending machine is just at the end of the lounge.

“How are you?” June asks as soon as the girls are out of hearing distance. 

“I’m fine. Where’s Alex?”

“He was talking with the police.”

“Oh.”

“I’m really sorry for what you’ve been through,” June apologizes, and there’s something in her eyes that Henry recognizes. Understanding. Experience.

“Did Alex –”

“He didn’t have to. I saw the look in your eyes. I’ve –” her breath trembles, but she gives the girls a soft look, trying to put a five dollar bill into the vending machine. “I’ve been in this kind of situation myself. I know how it feels.”

“You.. do?”

“Only my family knows the reason why I divorced Elena’s father,” she starts with a quiet voice. “Everyone thinks we got divorced because I caught him cheating on me, which is true, but it wasn’t the whole story. The first time we fought, it wasn’t bad, but after a couple of times, I ended up in the ER. I had two broken bones. It was the same day the doctor told me I was pregnant, and luckily the baby wasn’t hurt. The moment I found out, I knew I had to get away from all that.“ June keeps staring how the girls fight over a bar of chocolate. “I called Alex, and he flew back with the next available flight. He left everything to come back for me, and I’m so grateful for that. I wouldn’t have survived the pregnancy without him. Alex helped me to put a restraining order against him, getting full custody of her, and when Elena was born, it was like a new start for all of us.”

All of it makes sense. Why Alex didn’t tell about any of this, why he was so understanding when Henry told about his past – because he had experienced seeing his sister with an abusive partner. 

“So,” June coughs up, looking back at Henry. “I got a call three months ago, from my old friend, that he wanted to meet me. It had been nearly seven years since the divorce. Alex said I could go see him, if there was a lawyer present. Alex called one of his old law school friends, who represented me when I went to see him in New York a month ago. He said all these things about how he was a new man, how he regretted everything that happened between us, how he wanted to meet his daughter.”

“What did you say?”

June looks somewhere far away. “I told him that he gave up his right to see Elena the moment we got divorced and I got full custody of her. I'll never forgive the way he treated me.”

“You’re brave,” Henry says. June’s brown eyes meet him, and she smiles.

“So are you, Henry.”

“Do you ever think that – you’ll allow him to meet her? I mean, does Elena ask about her father?”

“She does, but I’ve told her that her father is dead. I want to keep it that way.” Her eyes come to meet him. “You of all people understand how we have to make tough choices for the sake of our daughters.”

“Absolutely,” he agrees. If the police officer was telling the truth, that Ben had other charges put against him, there’s no way he can ever come between him and Jane. He can’t hurt them.

If he ever wakes up.

“Henry.” Henry would recognize that voice from anywhere, he would know him blind. He bounces up from the couch, seeing Alex by the corridor. He has a somber look on his face, opening his arms for Henry.

All the pain fades away when Alex has his arms around him. “Alex,” Henry breathes him, but he squeezes him tighter than he expected. “Ow.”

“Sorry,” Alex pulls back, worried eyes at his cast. “I didn’t mean to –”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just a strain,” Henry assures.

“I was so worried about you,” he says, eyes distressed. Henry raises his hand, stroking Alex’s cheek.

“I’m fine. Really.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Alex promises, pressing a hand over Henry’s hand. “I promise. Everything will be okay.”

“I know.”

Alex takes his hand, plants a kiss on his knuckles, eyes burning into him.

“I love you,” Alex confesses, voice thick with emotion, accompanied by a gentle brush of his fingertips against Henry’s cheek, his thumb pressing lightly to his lower lip.  

“I know,” he shushes, and pulls him into a hug.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier. I should have said it when you did, but I thought the moment should be perfect to say it back. Then the whole Ben thing happened, and when I left with Jane, all I could think about was how I never said it back to you.”

“It’s really okay, Alex.”

“I don’t care if this isn’t the right time or place, but I need you to know that I love you,” he says, voice persistent. “I fucking love you, okay?”

“I love you too,” Henry says back, his eyes suddenly damp. With barely a thought, Henry leans forward to kiss him: letting his lips linger, feeling Alex tighten his hold and then relax under his own. The shine of kissing Alex hasn’t dulled a bit, probably wouldn't for anytime, and his heart immediately begins to pound.

“Dad,” comes a sharp, groaning voice. “That’s gross.”

Henry laughs when he pulls from the kiss, catching Jane looking at them with a scrunched nose and a disapproving frown.

“Ready to go home, love?” Henry asks, Alex’s arm sliding protectively around him.

“Yes, daddy. I’m hungry.”

“You are?”

“Yes. Elena said Auntie June is making pizza for dinner,” she explains, slurping from the straw juice box. “I want pizza too.”

Henry puts on a bright smile. “Pizza sounds good, love.”

They walk out the hospital's automatic glass doors into the blazing sunlight. It feels strange that the sun is shining this bright on a day like this.

When he woke up this morning, with Alex in his arms, he never expected it to end like this. His ex coming to Austin. Fighting with him. Ben ending up in the hospital, in a coma. There was a high chance that he would never wake up ever again.

There’s a feeling of freedom hitting him, sense of relief, that this might be over. It wasn’t how he wanted, or even planned, but the fact that he doesn’t need to have that fear in the back of his mind, is more than relieving.

Alex drives them back to their house, talking how they don’t need to go over June’s tonight if they don’t want to, and he could cook tacos for them instead. Henry has lost track of time and it doesn’t hit him that it’s already six o’clock, losing the entire day to this whole mess.

It doesn’t feel the same coming back. He still sees the ghost of Ben, standing by the doorway, the image of him falling down the stairs.

“The corridor,” Henry whispers, briefly looking at Jane on the backseat. “It’s not cleaned, there’s still –”

“Give me a moment, okay?” Alex says. Henry gives him his keys and the passcode for the security system, watching him running inside.

Henry manages to keep Jane distracted by the porch for the ten minutes it takes Alex to clean the corridor from the blood. When they walk in, the floor looks clean, like nobody fell to the end of the stairs. Jane sprints up to her room like nothing is wrong, giving Henry a  chance to breathe. He’s not sure if the unfortunate events of today will ever truly hit his brain.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You know I’m here for you. If you want to talk about it.”

“I think.. I need to take a shower,” Henry says.

“You want company?” Alex offers, instinctively.

“No, it’s okay. I need a moment alone.”

There's an understanding smile on his face. “Of course. I’m just gonna be right here, behind the bathroom door if you need me, okay?”

“Okay.”

As soon as Henry hears the door close, his breath quickens. He collapses to the soft bathroom floor, taking in long, uneven breaths. He sits there for a couple of minutes before he forces himself to get up to the shower.

The shower feels refreshing and cools his already hot and warm body, trying to avoid getting the cast wet. He turns the heat to the hottest possible setting. He just lets the scorching water pour over him, wet his hair without washing his hair.

He doesn’t let himself cry. He doesn’t allow himself, even if he's on the brink of tears, tears prickling in his eyes, and it would be so easy for the water to hide his tears. Henry doesn’t allow himself to shed any tears for a man who doesn’t deserve them.

Henry hates the coldness creeping in the second he leaps out of the shower. He grabs his bathrobe, tying it as tightly around him as he can. He takes a brief look at himself in the mirror. He sees the starting trail of light bruises around his neck. He pulls the bathrobe down, seeing how it trails to his chest.

The bruises will heal.

Just like the bruises, in due time, he will heal.

There’s a soft knock at the door. “Henry? Everything OK?” There’s worry in his voice. Henry turns away from the mirror, pulls the bathrobe collars around him when he opens the bathroom door.

Alex takes a look at him with a reassuring smile. Henry stretches his arm for him, finding Alex’s kind embrace within seconds. “It’s okay,” Alex whispers to his neck while petting his hair. “It’s gonna be okay, Henry.”

For the rest of the night Alex reassures everything will be okay. It might take some time, but he knows as long as he has Alex, he’ll believe it. One day. 

Jane comes down and gives a considerate look to her father when Henry kneels down to hug her.

“Dad,” Jane squeals out of the hug, but looks back at Henry. She has a suspecting look on her face, her eyebrows frowning.

“Jane honey,” Alex says gently, and she sways her head to him. “I know you said you had your mind set for pizza, but how does tacos á la Diaz sound?”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, you know, a special old recipe by my abuela.” Jane thinks for a second, before dashing into Alex’s legs, but he catches her and takes her into his arms. “I take that as a yes?”

Jane excitedly nods her head. Hair falls over her face, so he blows a chunk of hair away from her face, making her giggle.

Henry has no idea how Alex achieves to change her mind to eat tacos over pizza. The sweet sight of Alex letting Jane help with the preparation makes his heart warm.

Alex has always been so considerate of Jane, patiently letting her stir the sauce, carefully chopping the veggies together, pouring the different dips into different bowls. Every time they move on to the next task, Alex gives him a warm smile. One handed limits Henry from doing most of the things, but he’s glad to help to set the table. He looks over his shoulder, Alex trying to throw a paprika slice into Jane’s mouth. It falls on the counter, but she just laughs, throwing it back. Alex leans down and he catches the slice with his mouth, smiling victoriously.

Henry doesn’t know what he ever did to deserve someone like him. All he knows, watching Alex with his daughter, is that he isn’t planning on taking any of him for granted.

After messily eating the tacos, and Alex chasing Jane in a game of tag, Henry tucks Jane into bed. It seems crazy to put her to sleep, without any true knowledge of what happened today. Maybe one day, when she’s much older, Henry will tell her everything. He’s already planned to tell her the truth about her being adopted one day, when the time is right. So she’ll know the story of today one day as well.

He finds Alex changing the bed sheets when he enters his bedroom.

“Oh. Hey. Jane asleep?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“No problem,” Alex says with an easy smile, spreading the new bed blanket over the bed. “Thought you might want to sleep in a pair of fresh sheets.”

“I don’t mean just with Jane. I mean for everything. I don’t know how I would have survived today if it weren’t for you.”

Alex gives a warm look to him. “I’m always going to be there for you, Henry. Both of you. No matter what.”

Today if anything has proved he’s true to his words. That Henry was right about Alex all along. He can’t picture anyone else doing the things Alex did for him, proving that he truly is one of a kind, with the biggest, purest heart.

And Henry has him all for himself.

Henry paces towards him, cupping Alexs's face between his palms. He kisses him long and hard, Alex moaning softly at the long kiss, and for a fraction of a second Henry debates if to pull back, unsure of how to interpret the sound. His hands raise to circle both sides of his neck while moving to the bed, Henry straddling on Alex’s lap, and he couldn’t move a muscle away even if he wanted to. 

“You’re too good for me,” Henry breathes between the kisses, resting his forehead against Alex. He takes a deep inhale from his lungs, Alex’s hand rubbing his back. “I don’t deserve any of this.”

Henry sees his mouth filling up the words to disagree. “You deserve everything,” Alex praises with a soft smile. “Don’t you dare to disagree.”

Henry scoots closer, until their noses are touching. Alex slowly moves his head, and Henry can't help but to hide a smile at the eskimo kiss. Hand resting over Alex’s shoulder, gently gripping his wrist. He’s sure he can feel his own pulse quickening against his fingers.

Henry closes his eyes and covers the last few inches between them, pressing their lips together. He can feel his smile against him as he sucks lightly his tongue, drawing it into his mouth. Still holding his wrist, Alex guides his hand to the back of his neck, in a movement that’s so natural for him to do.

Alex lifts him for a better position on his lap, Henry raising his head, struggling to find his lips. Without a word, Henry straddles across his abdomen. He looms above him for a moment, drinking in the sight of Alex.

Henry pauses for too long, so Alex reaches up to lace a hand through his hair, gently pulling him back down. He kisses him, opening his mouth with passion. Henry revels in it, humming contentedly and kissing him back. Alex’s hand slips under the hem of his shirt, fingertip running across Henry’s lower back, sending shivers down his spine.

Without a warning, Alex lowers his body, pressing their chests together.

“Alex,” Henry stammers, the words running together. One of his hands slips out from underneath his shirt, sliding under the elastic waistband of his boxers.

”Alex,” he whimpers, as his hand is still sliding under his boxer briefs. Alex takes it as a sign of pleasure, partly it is, but there’s a much bigger part in Henry needing to stop. No matter how he makes him feel, how hot he feels in his groin, he can’t do this. ”Alex, please, wait.”

Alex’s head perks up as soon as he says it, his face expression guilty upon seeing Henry. “Sorry,” Alex apologizes with the most humble eyes he’s ever witnessed, hands carefully adjusting Henry’s shirt. Henry presses his head against his chest, feeling the unaligned beat of his heart. It takes a moment for Henry’s head to stop spinning. ”I didn’t mean.. I never wanted to make you feel like that. You just drive me so crazy, baby. I’m sorry.”

”No, it's okay. I just –” Henry stutters the insecure words out. Alex nods, smiling understandingly. “I don’t think I can, not tonight.”

“We don’t have to. I shouldn’t have assumed, I’m sorry,” he says, eyes still deeply apologetic, hands carefully and going around his waist, uncertainly. 

“I just.. I need to –”

“It’s okay. Really, Henry. All I want for you to be comfortable, okay? I know you’ve gone through a lot not only today, but these past weeks.”

“Thank you,” he smiles faintly. “I just need –” 

I just need you.

Alex seems to be able to read his thoughts, because he slides two arms from behind, around his waist, smiling into his neck so his smile presses against the back of Henry’s neck. Alex breathes out warm and slow, soothing Henry in a manner of seconds.

Henry can feel my own face melt into a matching, warm grin, but he just sits in his lap without a word, letting the intimacy bleed through his skin like ink to a paper. It feels so remarkably good not only to be held but also to be comfortable within that embrace, to know there is enough trust between them to fill a dozen lifetime's worth of embraces.

Henry stares deeply into his brown eyes, wrapping a hand around his neck. He burrows himself in Alex's chest, easing into the warmth of Alex, letting it consume him. Slowly, he lifts his nose up, so it touches his long and soft neck. 

”I love you,” Henry breathes. 

“I love you,” Alex declares and tips his head, admiring him with his eyes like he’s looking at a masterpiece painting that’s worth millions. Like Henry is the only bright star in the middle of a dark sky, the only one who he can stare into. And even though there would be thousands of stars beside it, he'd still recognize Henry among them without a second of a doubt.

“Let your worries sink into me,” Alex whispers, voice faint, thumb caressing Henry’s cheek. Henry revels in the softness of his touch, his comforting words. “Let me take all your fears and stress.”

Henry closes his eyes. It’s like Alex is a sponge that can absorb all those feelings he felt these past months, all his worries and struggles, taking them off him, sharing that load and carrying them for him. In a million years and more, he never expected to feel this lucky.

Henry flicks his eyes open, catching Alex already staring at him. “Alex,” he whispers, voice low. “Can I keep you forever?” 

Alex looks at him – with immeasurable love – that feels near impossible. He’s beaming, bright and warm. His smile is so bright Henry forgets the sun exists.

Chapter Text

“Close your eyes, Henry.”

“I’m not going to fall for that again.”

“Baby,” Alex giggles, trying to hide the excitement in his voice, hands gliding from his neck to his eyes. “It’s not going to be like the last time. I swear,” he assures, even though Alex is grinning like an idiot.

There’s something different about his smile. As a matter of fact, there has been something different about Alex the entire day. All of this excitement is trying to bubble out of him. Henry assumed it was for Jane’s birthday party, because Alex had talked about it constantly for weeks.

Alex was the one who suggested doing a horse and space theme party, searching for different party decorations online for days. He paid Amy’s wife to bake Jane a cake with an astronaut girl riding a horse. Henry even knew Alex’s birthday present for her, because just last week he asked if it was okay to buy them tickets to visit the Space Center in Houston.

All leading up to today, Jane’s birthday. They planned that for Jane’s sake, Henry would keep her away from the house so June, Nora and Alex could decorate it. Alex would pick them up in the afternoon when the party was ready and surprise her. But just at the last minute, June asked Henry to pick up more confetti from the store, so Alex took Jane until they were all ready.

“You’re gonna like this surprise, I promise,” Alex continues. He suspects his surprise is affiliated with Jane’s birthday party. Maybe Henry should have checked the decorations before he left, but now it’s too late.

“Fair enough,” Henry sighs. He might as well accept his fate. Alex gives him a reassuring look as he stretches his hands over his face.

“Keep your eyes closed. I’ll just open the front door.” One pair of hands disappear, and he hears keys jingling, the door unlocking.

There’s odd charged tension when Alex guides him inside.

“That’s it. Take one more step forward.”

“Love, you’re very sweet but I’ve been to my own house –” Henry starts, but his sentence is cut off by a soft giggle nearby. It’s too low of a giggle to belong to Jane, and the vocalisation of it seems awfully familiar.

“Just turn around and you’re in the living room.”

“Alex, I do know where my living room is.” As soon as he says it, his knee bumps into a lamp, being moved there for some reason, because normally it shouldn’t be so close to the wall. “Son of a –”

In that very second, Alex’s hands slip away, and a bright light fills up the room.

“Surprise!”

Henry flinches upon the sight, not believing it at first. His entire family is standing by the living room with the biggest smiles on their faces: his mom, Bea, Percy and in the corner: Philip and Martha with their tiny new-born baby in her arms.

“Wait, what?”

Jane rushes to wrap her arms around Henry’s legs, wearing a brand new purple dress he hasn’t seen before, pigtails with rainbow hair ties and a headband that says ‘Birthday Girl’ in glittery letters.

“We surprised you, daddy,” she giggles.

“You sure did, love.” Henry lifts her up from the ground, giving her half of a hug before he’s being squashed by his entire family. There’s laughter and tears overlapping, while he’s pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

“We missed you, Henry.”

“I missed the most,” Catherine sobs into Henry’s neck.

“Mum, no more crying. You already cried putting up the cake,” Bea jokes, hand stroking Henry’s shoulders.

“I can’t believe you’re all here.”

“Alex’s idea,” Bea answers, with a chippery tone. “He helped a bit with the planning.”

Henry turns his neck to see Alex, beside Elena, watching them with a massive proud grin on his face. Henry’s heart is overflowing with happiness, so much happiness he couldn’t ever know having inside of him.

“A bit?” His brows scoot up, offended. “If it weren’t for me, all of you would have arrived with different flights in different days, not to mention –”

“Allright, allright,” Bea laughs, stopping him. “Alex helped a lot. Better?”

“Mmh,” he hums in agreement.

Henry can’t contain the warm chuckle in him, when his family pulls away from the tight hug. He looks at each of his family member with fondness, and can't stop the tears wetting his eyes.

“Crying is strictly forbidden,” Bea deadpans determinedly, pointing at Henry.

“Thought it only applied to mum.”

“Applies to all of us,” Bea argues.

“Not to mention crying is very unattractive,” Percy quips. Henry takes a closer look at Percy, who’s wearing an all white hoodie and sweats, very unlike him. “I know what you’re thinking, Hazza. I look utterly horrific. I can’t be blamed, having less than 24 hours to plan the outfits.”

“You need at least 2-3 business days,” Henry jokes.

“At least,” Percy agrees, Henry opening his arms to give another hug to Percy.

“Rather clingy, aren’t you?”

“Oh, shut it. You missed me.”

“Not in the slightest,” Percy laughs warmly, patting his back.  

“Okay. No more crying. Let’s have some cake, shall we?”

“Cake, cake!” Jane claps her hands excitedly. Percy gives a soft nod to him, before eyeing Alex with approval eyes. Catherine stays beside him, her hand around Henry’s waist, giving him another squeeze.

“I’m so proud of you, Henry,” she whispers.

“What did I just tell you?” Bea’s eyes widen, seeing the tears that fog up on Henry’s eyes.

“No. More. Crying.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll try my best.”

Bea gives him a happy smile. “You better.”

“Come along, then. Time for cake,” Philip says with a fond smile. Behind in the kitchen, Henry catches June lighting up a birthday cake. Alex helps her to carry it to the living room, all of them singing happy birthday to Jane.

He promised Bea he wouldn’t cry, but the sight makes his eyes blurry with tears again. They planned Jane’s birthday nearly a month ahead in great detail, and Alex never mentioned anything about inviting his family. The thought would have never occurred to him, not this soon anyway. Henry planned to go visit London latest by the Christmas holidays, so the surprise totally took him by surprise.

Seeing his entire family, happily singing Happy Birthday to Jane, makes him a bit emotional. Jane blows the candles, and Henry feels a hand hooking around him. Alex pulls him hip to hip with a happy smile on his face. He doesn’t say anything, not needing to. This is all Henry ever wanted, causing him to be speechless in the moment. Catherine helps to cut a slice of the birthday cake to Jane, but she lifts her eyes up to Henry. Her eyes drift to Alex for a second, before back to Henry, with the kindest smile on her face.

He knows Alex has already gotten his family’s approval.  

Catherine resumes to cut slices of cake for everyone while June pours fruit punch into his finest glasses. Elena and Jane seem to enjoy the cake the most, it being filled with mainly sugar and candies. Percy starts his usual yapping about everything Henry missed about his work gossip, until Bea complains about his lengthy story. They start bickering if they were siblings, Henry starting to clear up the living room table from the dishes.

“No need,” Alex says, sweeping the pile of plates from his hands. “I’ll take care of these. You should spend time with your family.”

Henry’s eyes soften. “Thank you, Alex.”

“Ahem,” Philip’s voice coughs nearby. “I was wondering if you wanted to meet someone.”

Henry turns his gaze to Philip, with a small baby boy in his arms.

“Hi,” Henry waves at the baby, who can barely keep his eyes open.

“Want to hold your nephew?”

Henry nods. Philip gives him to Henry’s arms, carefully taking him and holding his small head.

“Meet Arthur,” Philip says proudly. Henry looks up to his brother. He promised himself he wouldn’t cry anymore.

“You named him after dad?”

“I think he would have liked it.”

“I know he would have,” Henry says, looking at the small boy in his arms. The resemblance to Philip is uncanny, but he can see glimpses of Martha in his eyes. “Such a handsome boy, isn’t he?”

“I’m sorry,” Philip says genuinely, that catches Henry off guard. “I was too distracted with Martha’s pregnancy and preparing ourselves with Arthur’s birth, that I didn’t – I should have realized your situation much sooner. I’m truly sorry, Henry.”

“Philip, it’s okay.”

“It isn’t okay. I haven’t been able to sleep since, though, Arthur helps with that too,” he chuckles, but quickly gathers himself. “I’m never going to forgive myself for not seeing how unhappy you were, Henry. How can I call myself your brother, when I didn’t see how bad things were for you?”

“To be honest, nobody knew. I didn’t tell anyone, because I didn’t want you to worry about me,” Henry reveals, staring back at baby Arthur, opening his blue eyes to stare at Henry. “I sometimes think how different things would have been if I left sooner, if I told you, or if I never met him in the first place. I used to stay awake at nights thinking about all the what if’s, until I realized none of it matters.” Arthur coos and babbles, Henry gently stroking his chubby baby cheeks. “Besides, if I had done things differently, I wouldn’t have met him.”

Philip gives him a warm smile, but his eyes drift behind him. Henry looks over his shoulder to see Alex animatedly chatting with Percy and Bea while drying the plates.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like him,” Philip says.

“Me neither.”

“He cares a great deal about you.”

“I know.”

Philip turns his eyes back to Henry. “I know you will be very happy here, Henry, both you and Jane. I do hope that eventually things will go back to normal.”

“They already have. This past month.. it’s been hard, but at the same time, I’ve never been happier,” Henry says, smiling at Philip. “I’ve also started going to therapy. It’s helped a lot.”

“That’s very good. I’m proud of you, Henry.”

“What are you two hens gossiping about?” Bea lurks in, eyes invested at their conversation.

“Nothing that concerns you, dear sister,” Philip says back.

“Jane wants to start opening her presents,” Bea says, pointing back at her, already shaking and listening to the presents by the couch.

So they walk back to the living room. Jane’s eyes are big and bright when she starts opening and tearing the gift wraps from the presents in haste. It’s mostly horse themed clothes and new toys, Catherine buying her new set of headphones, Percy giving her a horse embroidered hoodie and jeans.

Alex gives her a letter, tearing the letter with a confused face, until she reads the tickets. “Space.. Center.. Houston?” She slowly reads, and when she understands, her eyes lighten up. “Really? Can we go, daddy?”

“Of course we can, honey.”

“Can we go tomorrow?”

“It’s not that close, love, so we’ll have to plan it in advance, but I’m sure we could go in a few weeks.”

Jane giggles joyfully, jumping to Alex’s lap to give him a hug. The sight melts Henry’s heart, and his mother and Bea aww in unison.

“Thank you, Alex.”

“You’re welcome, honey,” Alex says, patting her back, eyes drifting to Henry. “Now won’t you go open your dad’s present?”

Jane leaps off his arms to Henry. He lifts the last unopened present from the floor, Jane messily opening it. She opens the box, taking out a helmet. Her blue eyes study the soft covered helmet for a second.

“Here,” Henry says, taking the small paper from the box. He shows it to her, her eyes reading the text.

“Horse.. riding?”

“Yes, horse riding lessons. There’s a horse farm not too far away from here, a teaching course for young children –”

“Oh, daddy,” Jane squeals, dropping the helmet to throw her arms around him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, honey. I knew you would like it.”

“I got a horse!”

“Well, actually, no...”

“Let her have this, honey,” Catherine chuckles, and they all watch how she starts running around the living room with the horse helmet on her head. The energy and joy that bubbles out of her is so infectious, and Jane is so energetic that she can’t seem to sit down. She and Elena start a game of tag around the house, Jane never taking off the helmet.

They spend the afternoon catching up, Henry’s heart full with the sight of his family in his living room. He knew he had talked about missing his family with Alex, but he never imagined him organizing them coming here and surprising them for Jane’s birthday.

“Totally see why you moved here,” Percy’s teasing voice says, sitting on the arm of his chair. His eyes linger on Alex, rummaging the kitchen to find tea cups.

“I met him after I got here.”

“But it’s not a bad sight to look at, is it,” Percy says. “Speaking of which, I would like to know how the two of you met.”

“I also want to know that story,” Bea joins, leaning her head from the couch. Henry looks back to the kitchen, seeing his mom helping Alex prepare the tea, saying something that makes Alex smile and briefly glance back at Henry.

“Well, it was a pure coincidence. I was driving to Austin with Jane, and the car broke down. He was the one who found us and gave us a ride to Chestnut Creek.”

“You can’t expect me to believe that’s the story,” Percy huffs in disbelief.

“Sounds very romantic,” Bea comments with a dreamy voice.

“I mean, we did have a rocky start because Jane got into a bit of a fight with his niece, but since we wanted them to become friends, we needed to spend time together. He was also my neighbour and teaches at the same school, so we sort of had to meet each other. Alex is.. very spontaneous and charismatic, there was something very irresistible about him. And he has the kindest heart I’ve ever witnessed.“

“He’s also rather good looking,” Percy teases. Henry jostles him with an elbow to the ribs, falling off the chair. “Oi! What was that for?”

“Anyway, you know how it goes.”

“You’re right about his heart. When he called us and suggested this, I knew he was a good man,” Bea says. “And the moment we met him, the way he spoke about you, we all knew how much he loves you.”

“I know that very well,” Henry smiles. He can’t seem to tear his eyes from Alex, who’s pouring tea into a line of cups. He slowly moves his eyes back to his sister. “He’s helped me a lot these past weeks, helping me move on the whole thing with Ben, starting therapy. It’s helped me a lot to process everything that happened.”

“I’m really proud of you, Hen.”

“Everyone keeps saying that,” he answers, looking at his hands. “I don’t know if it’s true.”

“You need to talk about these things,” Percy joins, suddenly with a completely calm tone, sitting beside Bea. “Sometimes it’s much easier to talk with a stranger than with the people you love.”

“It’s always been easy to talk with Alex,” Henry explains, eyeing back at him, spreading biscuits to a plate. “But he suggested seeing a therapist, and when I got past the first awkward sessions, I started to realise all of my bottled-up feelings about everything I went through with Ben. She made me realise that just because they might never fully go away, doesn’t mean I can’t move on.”

“She’s absolutely right,” Percy agrees, adjusting his hoodie collars. 

“We were so worried about you,” Bea says, offering her hand to Henry. “We knew it was the right thing for you to move here, but having you and Jane so far away.. I think mum worried the most. We knew it wasn’t easy, especially with the whole incident with Ben… but I think moving to Austin was the right choice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy, Hen.”

“I don’t think I would have survived without Alex. He’s been so wonderful, not just with me, but also with Jane.” Another glance, Alex is laughing at something Catherine said to him. “He cares so much for her, it’s almost like he’s treating her like she’s his own daughter.”

“Soon enough she’ll start calling him daddy too,” Percy cracks a joke: Henry is used to his offensive jokes, and part of him is grateful how he can change the very serious topic in a matter of seconds. He’s actually missed Percy’s dreadful remarks. Bea nudges him with her elbow. “Ow! What’s with you two? I’m only speaking facts.”

“Shut it. Can’t you see we were having a moment?”

“I’m just saying that she probably hears the way Henry calls him daddy, so –”

“God,” Henry interrupts him with a gasp, gesturing him to shut his mouth when seeing Alex and Catherine walk with servings of tea.

Jane and Elena start a game of hide and seek, while the rest of them enjoy a cosy evening with tea. It doesn’t go undetected the way his family responds to Alex when he brings the tea and biscuits, when he starts talking how Henry convinced him to drink tea instead of coffee, when he plunges off the couch to go brew them another set of tea.

“They’re already really fond of you,” Henry says when he steps into the kitchen. Alex stares at the bubbles increasing inside the kettle, ignoring him. “You don’t need to do this to impress them.”

“I’m not impressing anyone,” he replies, eyes slowly off the boiling kettle.

“So the reason you kept going on about your love for tea is not to impress my very British, tea-loving family?”

Alex spins around, leaning against the counter, arms crossed. “Absolutely not. I’m actually offended that you think I would do something like that.”

“So you’re not doing this to please me?”

“Why would I want to please you in any way?”

“You did last night,” Henry jeers, Alex trying very hard to resist a grin containing his glee. “You seemed more than keen to do that, if I recall correctly.”

“Your memory isn’t what it used to be.”

“Is that so?” Henry leans in, Alex straightening his back and pushing himself against the counter. “Maybe I should remind you.”

“Your family is right behind us,” he notes, eyes drifting behind him. Henry shakes his head amusedly, opening his arms to welcome Alex in. Alex immediately hugs him back, arms around him.

“Thank you,” Henry whispers devotedly to his neck. It results in Alex stroking his back, burying his face in his chest. He feels a faint press of his lips on his jawline.

“Here I was thinking what’s possibly taking the tea so long,” Bea’s taunting voice says behind them. They don’t pull away from the hug, simply turn to look at her. “But I suppose I got my answer.”

“Give it five more minutes,” Alex mutters, hand pulling Henry against his chest.

“I’m not letting your canoodling ruin my second cup of tea.”

“She has a point, you know.”

Alex gives Henry a long look, his expression softening a fraction. “Hm. I guess you’re right.” Alex gives him a peck on the lips, steps back from the embrace to take the kettle. He exchanges a look with Bea, before walking back to the living room.

Henry lets the happiness fill in his heart, enjoying the cosy and intimate night with his family. He doesn’t know when he’s going to get this again. Bea says they’ll be staying over the weekend, but it’s not nearly enough time with them. When he asks about if they booked a hotel, Alex explains that they can stay over at his house and June’s if necessary. Since Alex spends most of his nights at Henry’s, his house is more than prepared for them.

A couple hours later June disappears to make their beds ready, his mother and Philip and Martha going to stay at Alex’s house. Bea decides to use his guest bedroom, which leaves Percy who says he’s more than fine using the pull-out couch in Henry’s living room.

Henry would love nothing more than to continue the evening, but once he tucked Jane to bed, he starts to see the drowsy eyes and long yawns. The flight from all the way to London, and the traveling to Austin, has taken its toll for everyone.

“I’ll walk them over,” Henry says to Alex when Philip is halfway through the door. Martha already left a couple hours ago to put baby Arthur to sleep. Alex takes his keys from his pocket, throwing them to Henry without a second thought.

Henry guides them to Alex’s house, showing the way to their bedrooms. Martha is already asleep in Alex’s bedroom, next to a crib they borrowed from June. Henry has never been much of a hugger with Philip, so it surprises him when he comes to hug before wishing good night.

He knows Philip will always feel partly to blame for the situation, but Henry hopes that one day he can convince him that it wasn’t his fault. He smiles when he closes the door, guiding Catherine to the guest bedroom.

“He’s a keeper,” his mom whispers to his neck, when she pulls from a hug. “I’ve never seen you like this, Henry.”

“I’m very happy.”

“I can see that.”

“I’m so happy all of you are here, even if it's just for this weekend.”

“I know it would be too much to ask you to move back,” her eyes look down, conflicted. “Seeing how happy you are here. You and Jane. She’s just started school, has friends.. I couldn’t possibly ask you to leave all that behind. I can see you have built a great life here.”

“We could come spend Christmas in London, stay until New Year’s,” Henry suggests, Catherine smiling.

“I like the sound of that.”

“I’m sure Jane would love it too.”

“Alex would be coming too, I assume?”

“I’ll have to talk with him, but I’m sure he would love to.”

“I’m so happy for you,” his mom says, giving him another hug.

“Mum, please. I need to get back.”

“Allright, then. See you in the morning. I love you.”

“Love you too, mum. Sleep well.”

Henry walks out of Alex's house, with a happy dwelling in his chest. He looks how the sun dips below the horizon, pink and orange sky reflecting off the roof of the houses. He’s certain he’s never felt this much happiness within a day.

“...how lucky you are,” Percy’s voice says, Henry stopping his steps by the doorway. He leaves the door hanging open.

“You mean Henry?” Alex’s voice asks. Henry freezes in the hallway. “I know that.”

“There’s very few selected people who deserve him,” Percy continues, voice hard.

Alex lets out a relaxed chuckle. “I already got the big sister protection from Bea. I can assure you –”

“I’m not Bea,” Percy cuts off firmly. “I want to know what your intentions are with him.”

There’s a moment of silence. “My number one priority is Henry’s happiness,” Alex says, voice severe. “I only want what’s best for him and Jane. As long as they’re happy, that’s all that matters to me.”

“Even if they wanted to come back to London?”

“I love Henry,” Alex declares, without hesitation. “If going back to London is what makes him happy, then by all means, he should move back to London.”

“Hm.”

“Though I think we both know that’s not what he wants.” There’s another moment of silence. “Have I passed your test now?”

“He’s right,” Percy finally says. “You’re very persuasive.”

“He said that?”

“Oh, wipe that stupid grin off your face. I’m still not convinced.”

“Never thought you would interrogate me this way.”

“I’m not that easily convinced like his family. Just because you paid for the plane tickets doesn't make me automatically like you.”

Alex paid their plane tickets.

“If you don’t like me, that’s fine, as long as Henry –”

Henry purposely closes the door louder than usual, to make them hear he’s back. He hates to eavesdrop on their conversation any longer. He paces to the kitchen, finding Percy leaning on the island, Alex doing the dishes. In fact, the entire living room is cleared out from trash and dishes.

“Everything okay with the beds?” Alex asks over his shoulder.

“Yes, thank you. They settled in well. I hope Arthur won’t keep them awake.”

“I still think he should have named him differently,” Percy comments, straightening his back.

“Well, it’s their child. They are entitled to name him as they please.”

“You deserved to name your next child after your father.”

“It could very well be a girl,” Henry points out.

“I didn’t know you wanted more kids,” Alex notes, drying a teacup in his hands. Percy’s slow, dramatic gaze turns to Henry.

“I’m.. not sure. Possibly.”

“What are you talking about? You always talked about wanting a big family.”

“Pez,” Henry scoffs, giving him a hard look. He innocently shrugs his shoulders.

“What?”

“No, that’s cool,” Alex says, taking another teacup and wiping it dry.

“It is?”

“Totally. You sometimes forget I’m a teacher too, and I’ve always wanted kids. I would love to have a big family.”

Henry shares a long, warm look with Alex until Percy starts coughing loudly. “Need a glass of water, Pez?”

“No, it’s fine,” he suddenly stops the coughing. “I should tuck myself in, long trip and all that. If you guys want to get it on, just say the word. I have noise-canceling headphones with me.”

Henry stares at his best friend with a frown. “Anyway,” he clears his throat. “I’ll go check on Jane.”

He gives Percy a final look before disappearing upstairs. He carefully creeps her bedroom door open, seeing her calmly sleeping in her bed. She has collected her birthday presents around the bed, but she hugs her horse helmet in her sleep, which makes Henry smile from ear to ear. 

He never thought he could have this much happiness booming his chest.

“I’m sorry about Pez,” Henry says when they settle in for bed. “He’s always been like that.”

“That’s fine. He’s one interesting character, though.”

“Yeah, I know. And about the kids... I didn’t mean it.”

“Oh, you didn’t? Huh.” Alex rotates onto his back on the bed. “I meant it.”

It takes Henry aback for a moment, watching Alex stretch his arms on the bed. “You did?”

“Absolutely.”

“Don’t you think it’s rather early to talk about kids?”

“Hm. I dunno. We’ve never been that subtle about our feelings, have we? But if this topic makes you feel uncomfortable..”

“No, no. It’s okay. I just meant.. we’ve only known each other for two months.”

“Jane thought we were getting married just after a few times we met,” Alex recalls with a grin on his face. “I would say we were never really casual to begin with.”

“She was only six, Alex.”

“Truth does come from children’s mouths,” Alex babbles on, but suddenly rolls further on the bed with a serious look. “I didn’t mean that we should get married. Not that I don’t want to, I’m.. god, sorry. All I meant was –”

“Alex,” Henry whispers, stroking his cheek.

“Sorry. I just meant that I want us to have a future, a future we both want, whatever that might be. Because I want to have a future with you, Henry. You and Jane.”

“I’m not sure what will happen in the future, but I do want that, one day,” Henry admits. “As long as I have you, as long as we’re together, that’s all that matters to me.”

“God, I love you so much,” Alex declares, looping an arm around Henry.

“I love you more.”

Henry has never been in love. At least not in the way he is in love with Alex. All the crushes and relationships he had before, were nothing compared to the love he has for this man. He can never fully understand the love Alex has for Henry, just as intense, possibly even more. The thought sometimes scared him, that there was a chance that Alex loved him more than he did.

But Henry knows he’s going to spend the rest of his life proving Alex wrong, and he’s going to start from this very night.

They spend the weekend with his family, catching up with everything that has happened. He notices his mom talking about everything except one certain word. Every now and then, he sees the concern creeping on her or his sister’s face, but it’s not there longer than a few seconds. 

Henry knows why his mom doesn’t mention what happened, and he’s somewhat relieved. Henry doesn’t want to dwell in the past. This weekend has proved that he longs for the upcoming days, the future he wants to have with Alex. Alex doesn’t mention the word kids or marriage again, but he can’t get that thought out of his head. Because the moment he sees Alex holding baby Arthur in his arms, with the most gentle and kind smile, Henry knows it’s something he wants. He shares a look with Martha, they never really had much to say to each other, but in her eyes he sees the same realization.

Alex is the one. The one.

It might be long in the future, it might take years when they’re ready for that, and they most definitely need to have a serious discussion about it – but Henry knows he wants it. He never thought a future like this could even be an option, a possibility for him. Now, with Alex and his family here, he sees it, crystal clear.

One day he wants to marry Alex, one day he wants to have another child with him, he wants Jane to have a big, loving family around her.

That’s all he ever craved for.

“No crying,” Bea tuts when they pull back from the flurry of hugs.

“I’m not,” Catherine assures, even her eyes wet prickling with tears.

“As much as I would love to stay, “ Philip points out with a baby bottle in his hands. “The flight boards soon.”

“I hate to leave you, Henry,” Catherine’s voice trembles, but her eyes catch something behind him.

“I know, mum, and I wish you could stay, but it’s going to be okay. I’ll be fine.”

“I know you’re going to be well taken care of,” she smiles, eyes behind him. Henry takes a look and sees Alex waiting by the car, leaning against it with a warm smile on his face. He wanted Henry to have a moment alone saying goodbye to them. “I know you and Jane will be very happy in Austin.”

“We could come to London when we have a weekend off, before Christmas.”

“Hen, it’s fine,” Philip chips in, taking Arthur into his arms. “We know you’re safe and happy here. It’s more than fine with us.”

“You have built a happy life here in Austin,” Bea joins with a cheery smile. “You deserve to enjoy that. You deserve this, Henry.”

“Thank you, Bea. Really, that means a lot.”

“You guys are so emotional,” Percy complains behind them, adjusting his coat with a pile of passports. “Your bags are all checked-in, by the way. You’re welcome.”

“We really have to get going,” Philip clears his throat.

“Pip’s right, and I want to check the duty free skincare products, though I am not holding my breath for Texas’s selection.”

“Allright. Off you go then.”

“How dare you,” Percy huffs, but comes to give Henry a hug. “I gave him my protection speech, so don’t worry,” he whispers to his ear. “If he ever gives you a hard time, just give me a call. I’m only one plane ticket away.”

“Appreciate that, Pez. Now go or you’ll be late.”

His mother gives him a last hug and kisses his cheek, Henry waving at them, watching them go through the gates to the line for the security. He stays there for a while, before he turns around and sees Alex.

“Come on,” Alex gives him a comforting smile, opening his arms for him. “Let’s go home and have a nice cup of tea.”

“You know just the right words,” Henry mutters into his neck.  

“You’re gonna love it. I have upgraded my selection of teas.”

Henry snort-giggles, holding back a smile. “You can’t stay things like that in public, Alex.”

“Why not?” He arches his eyebrows curiously, catching Henry’s gaze. “Oh. You mean – oh.”

Alex adds to say something, but Jane taps on the car’s window. “Allright, let’s get going. I bet Jane’s hungry.”

Henry gives him a smile, patting Alex’s ass before hopping inside the car. Alex is left speechless, blinking his eyes a few times when he gets back to reality.

They drive back, the house feeling quiet and empty without Henry’s family. It doesn’t stay quiet more than twenty minutes, when June brings Elena over so she can go for her book club. Elena and Jane start chasing each other, creating a game similar to tag. Henry’s halfway relieved, because oddly enough, he finds comfort in the sounds of happy children laughing and giggling. Alex helps him prepare dinner, with flirty glances and innuendos that fortunately go past the girl's innocent minds.

It’s not until very late that night, way past midnight, Henry can’t sleep. Lucky for him, Alex is always happy to help with his insomnia.

”Alex, you…” Henry pants into the shell of his ear. He lets out a frustrated moan, Alex completely ignoring him, stroking his cock even faster inside his underwear. The pressure starts building up, slow and steady, in his stomach.

Alex’s mouth wanders down and starts to leave marks on his hips while his hands work slowly at Henry’s pajamas bottoms. He’s pushing up against Alex, trying to get some sort of friction, when his thumbs dig into Alex’s hips, pulling him toward him, Alex sliding a wet tongue against his underwear. Henry’s fingers curl in his hair as he tries to control thrusting against him, but he glances at Alex, with the sexiest look on his face.

”You’re driving me crazy, baby,” he growls with annoyance, hand sneaking inside his underwear, pulling him out. A gurgling noise is the best Henry can do to answer, when his lips place gentle kisses where his hands were seconds ago.

Alex plants a quick kiss on the red tip. ”God,” Henry groans, letting him be pushed against the pillows, head falling back against them. 

He likes this eager, desperate, yearning side of Alex. Having to suffer the entire weekend without sex, does make a man desperate. His lips drag across his tip, amazed, every touch of his makes a fire aflame, ready to explode inside of Henry.

They’re breathless, sweaty and Henry is clenching himself tighter around him. His hips roll of their own accord, eyes slipping shut and a deep whimper spilling out of him. Alex clutches at his thighs, nails digging in and Henry’s hips begin to roll against him, harder and more insistently than before, pulling a hiss from Alex.

“Henry,” Alex chokes out, hand dropping to squeeze Henry’s ass. “Do you want to –”

“Yes,” he stops his sentence short with a desperate whine.

Alex presses his open lips on the spot of his neck he knows Henry is weak for, darting his tongue out to lick lightly at the heated skin. Henry tosses himself around the bed, coming on top of Alex. He sees the split second of disorientation on Alex’s face, until his face melts into a loving smirk.

One of the things Henry grew to love was Alex letting him be on top, to be able to feel Alex's cock in him. This very angle, slotting himself in place and hearing Alex slip out a growl deep from the base of his throat, riding his ass to make Alex buck himself against him – makes Henry go utterly feral.

He drops his head, brushing his lips against the side of Alex's neck, not really able to reach but not caring: not when Alex is sucking at the skin over his collarbone and whimpering, humming, doing something that makes his whole body vibrate.

Arms tightly around Henry’s waist, so his nails sink into his skin, causing him to thrust harder. Fastening the bouncing speed, Alex leans into him, burying face into his neck. He slips his mouth lower, wrapping his lips around Henry’s earlobe, smiling around it when Alex gasps loudly and thrust his hips up against him in a jagged jolt.

“Henry,” Alex whines, rolling his shoulder up to nudge Henry’s head away from his heart. “Henry.” He stares deep into his eyes for one second before kissing him again, hard and needy, when he feels a hard thrust – finding a spot that makes Alex let out a moan mixed with gag.

“So c-close,” Henry gasps, panting hard, thrusting deeper. “I’m so – god, I can’t –”

“Baby.” That single word, four letters and two tiny syllabes seemed to always be Henry’s undoing. Alex pulls Henry’s face against him, kissing him sloppily yet hard, tongue sliding to the back of Henry’s throat. Alex moans into his mouth, hands curled all the way around his ass cheeks, fingertips pressing sharply into his inner thighs.

It’s like Henry has tunnel vision, only focusing on Alex. His eyes roll back and his hips slam forward, an orgasm ten times more intense than any before rockets through him. The tension and stress that Henry has been carrying for the last weeks, probably the last six months, finally releases.

He blinks away the tears fogging his vision, burying his mouth into the side of Alex’s neck, trembling all over as his release plays itself out, seeming to take hours. He’s only dimly aware of Alex’s body practically convulsing under him the same way.

Henry collapses against Alex, every bit of his weight pressing him into the mattress. His chest heaves beneath him, feeling a heartbeat slamming, maybe it’s his own, he isn’t entirely sure. Alex is still whining a little, with every few breaths, soft little sound of mingled awe and contentment. He can feel one of Alex’s hands stroking very gently up and down his side, until Alex takes his face, kissing him deep and slow.

Alex smiles vibrantly. He’s a blurred image of fluffy hair and scrunched eyebrows and flat mouth. A mouth that was just on him. His cheeks pinken, and Henry likes that color on him. 

Henry makes his life goal to achieve Alex to look this happy every day.

The sun sits heavy across the back of Henry’s neck as he glides up the hill of Chestnut Creek, the hill where he can see all the way to his home. To his left and right, he sees children flooding out of their houses for games of tag, a flock of children drawing all over the sidewalks in bright-colored chalk. He turns his head past the school building, a child screeching “Cannonball!” and the pool’s water splashes loud. All signs of the summer vacation starting for the children, enjoying their well-deserved freedom.

Henry gets to sit fifteen minutes, enjoying the sounds of summer, when he sees Alex climbing up the hill. He’s in a pair of tropical-print board shorts and plain blue T-shirt, but his hair’s impeccably swoopy and bounces as he half-jogs to him. He always managed to make his casual outfit look absolutely stunning, and he claimed he never styled his hair but it always looked perfect.

A giant smile wrinkles in his face. “Hey, Henry.”

“Hi, love.”

“What are you doing here?” he asks, when he kneels to sit beside Henry. He hugs Henry for a considerable amount of time, like they didn’t see each other just two hours ago when they visited Ellen’s restaurant, because Alex had been helping out on the weekends. “June said she saw you walking this way.”

“Just thinking.”

“Highly dangerous,” Alex jokes, rubbing Henry’s back in soothing circles. He keeps his arm looped around Henry, smelling like summer’s heat and thin layer of something else: strange combination of caramel and bananas.

“My mom made maduros,” his voice says, showing a bag in his hand. “She’s testing them for the restaurant. I’ve eaten so many that I can’t tell the difference between patch one or patch twenty-one.”

Alex pops one in his mouth, then scoops out one for Henry. Henry opens his mouth, his hand staying there to rub his cheek when he swallows the piece.

“They’re good.”

“You wouldn’t last an hour,” Alex laughs genuinely, hand lowering. “She smacks me whenever I don’t describe her maduros as ‘pieces of heaven’ or ‘this one needs just a sprinkle more caramel’.”

His lips twitch upward. “Can’t really blame her. She’s a woman who wants to ensure her food is high quality.”

“That she is.” He pops two more pieces in his mouth before wiping the grease on his shorts. Alex slouches against Henry’s shoulder, head into his. “We better get going. Mom said the dinner shouldn’t take much longer.”

“Well, I know it’s not wise to upset your mother, especially when food is involved.”

“I suppose, but..” Alex coughs into the crook of his elbow. “Five more minutes won’t hurt.” Between the minimal space separating them, hands locked, Henry drinks the beautiful landscape in front of him. His gaze doesn’t seem to focus on the sight for a long time, when he turns over to Alex. The sight is much more beautiful than anything else.

“Come on, love. I heard Percy just arrived. He if anyone won’t forget if we’re late,” he softly nudges Alex.

“For someone with more bags than anyone should carry, he is one punctual dude.”

“My goodness. If you value your life, don’t ever let him know you called him a dude,” Henry cracks a joke, helping Alex up from the ground.

“Duly noted.”

Alex drives them to the park with the pond: the very same place where they shared their first kiss. It's a memorable place for him, because they’ve shared a date or two here, and plenty of weekends with Jane.

A hint of smoke lingers in the air with the smell of barbecue oil filling up his nostrils, no doubt from the grill set by Alex’s family. Crickets have begun their evening orchestral performance, and a bird screeches above him. Charcoal clouds gather in the sky over the park, but there’s a golden glitter reflecting off the lake’s surface. It belongs to none other than Percy, wearing a silver-sequined jacket that glows like a beacon in the park.

“Mate, aren’t you hot in all that?” Henry asks, gesturing to his jacket. Percy twirls once, the hems of the jacket fanning out in a dramatic swirl.

“Fashion demands sacrifices,” he smiles confidently. “Que guapo, no?”

Next to him, June smacks patties onto the grill next to stuffed vegetables. “He’s completely useless,” June grumbles annoyedly, filling a patty over the grill. “Tell me that you at least brought the BBQ sauce I asked for?”

“Good day to you too, sis,” Alex taunts with a roll of eyes.

“I asked you one thing, Alejandro.”

“Gez, calm down, Bug,” he waves his hand, lifting up a tote bag. “I’ve got it right here.”

“Thanks,” she says, taking the tote bag from his hands. Jane runs behind the grill with Elena, past the round wooden picnic table, in a carefree giggle.

“Jane sweetheart, stay close.”

“Yes, dad,” she giggles, widely waving at Elena.

“You need a hand there, June?”

Most of June’s hair is piled on her head, but a few pieces fall around her face like black vines. She has tossed her light purple scrubs with sunflowers against the sundeck chair, she just came from a shift at the hospital.

June has been volunteering at the hospital ever since the incident last year, and there’s wordless respect between them. Henry has always loved June, the way she’s around Jane, how Elena and Jane have become inseparable for the last year.

“I’m good,” June faintly smiles. “But thanks anyway.”

“Don’t be offended, babe. The women of the Diaz family never want anyone to interrupt their cooking.” June focuses on scraping the grill before whipping another set of patties on the grill.

“Speaking of which, mom should be here any minute now,” June lifts her head up from the grill, dark grease all over her forehead and cheeks. “Need to get my hands on her maduro recipe.”

“Good luck getting that. Mom’s convinced they’re gonna be the next top-seller at the restaurant. So there’s no way she’s giving you the recipe.”

“Have a little more faith in me, dear brother. I’ve gotten recipes out of her before, this won’t be any different.”

“Whatever.” His hand tugs at Henry, who looks at the table clearing. “You’re gonna love this, baby. It’s a Claremont-Diaz tradition to start summers here.”

June’s head perks up, ponytail swinging. “It is?”

“Yeah, obviously. We do this every summer when the school closes.”

“Obviously,” June tries to repeat the same tone.

“Should we set up the table?” Henry suggests, ignoring the sibling’s secrecy.

“Sounds good. I’ll get the plates.”

“Yohoo!” A distant voice calls. It’s Ellen, carrying a big pile of a picnic basket that’s overflowing with snacks and drinks. Oscar follows closely behind, with a warm smile. ”Sorry for being late, kids.”

Elena runs to her, Ellen giving her a side hug as she puts her picnic basket down. “Oh, hi there, sweetie. How are you?”

She lifts her head up, hugging Ellen’s leg. “Did you bring maduros? Uncle Alex says they’re delicious.”

“Does he now? Hm. Yes, I do think I got a few with me,” Ellen rummages a bagful from the basket.

“Mija, we’re saving them for after dinner,” June calls from the grill. Elena’s head slouches down with disappointment.

“Your mom’s right. Let’s save them for dessert, yes?”

“Okay,” Elena sighs reluctantly.

“Come on, boys. Let’s settle the table ready,” Ellen calls for them. Henry helps them fill the picnic table with too much food, Percy getting chased by Elena who wants to touch his jacket, and Alex taking Jane to a piggyback ride around the clearing, that’s too much of an adorable sight. He misses moments like these with his own family, because they can’t visit Austin as often as he’d like. He’s just pleased that the Claremont-Diaz family has accepted him as part of their family and Jane and Elena treat each other like sisters. He never thought that in less than a year of being here, he could enjoy cosy days like this in Austin.

“So when are you two moving in together?”

Henry tries to focus on cutting the hamburger for Jane to ignore Ellen’s comment.

“Mom,” Alex lets out a whine.

Ellen clicks her tongue as she takes a sip from her orange soda. “Amy tells me that the lights in your house are barely on, even for one day a week. I’m just saying it would be better, financially, to only have one house. I mean, what’s the point of having a house if you aren’t there?”

“Ma, just admit you’re the one who’s stalking me instead of putting blame on Amy,” Alex grits between his teeth, biting down a filled paprika, so most of the fillings fall to his plate.

“Your mother does have a point, mijo,” Oscar agrees, sharing a look.

“Mom stalks everyone,” June quips, slurping from her soda can. “And I do agree with them. It would be nice to know if I will need to bring Elena to your place or Henry’s. More often to Henry’s, it seems.”

Alex makes a face, showing his tongue. “Not you too, Bug?”

“Aren’t you living together already?”

“No,” Alex says.

“Sort of,” Henry says at the same time. Alex whisps his head to his direction, frowning, his brows nearly touching each other. “I mean, Ellen does have a point. Financially speaking, it doesn’t make sense to pay for electricity or water for a house you aren’t living in.”

“Exactly,” Ellen agrees with a pleased smile, but it doesn’t decrease Alex’s eyebrows. “And why wouldn’t you want to live together, since you already are?”

Alex scoots his gaze to Jane, who seems to be in her own world of imagination. She and Elena don’t pay any attention to the conversation, rather playing with their dolls on the corner of the table.

Henry knows she’s the reason he’s hesitating. They never officially talked about moving in. All of it happened so naturally, Alex just never left his home, because every night he stayed over. Now the mere thought of Alex spending the night at his own house seems impossible. 

They didn’t need to talk about it. It felt so normal to have Alex around every day. Having to spend a day when Alex wasn’t there, was pure torture. So it wouldn’t exactly change anything if they made it official.

It was ridiculous that there was a thought in Alex’s head, thinking Jane wouldn’t be okay with him moving in, when he was already there every day. He was there when she woke up, made breakfast, and came back from school together. She had already gotten used to the everyday routines of them spending the days together.

Alex rubs his jaw with a thoughtful face. “I think mom should be more interested in what happens in June’s house than mine,” he says while licking his fingers clean from the sauce. “Like how Mr. Gomez’s son keeps visiting there every day.”

June’s eyes perk up with surprise. “Alex, don’t you even –”

“Rafael?” Oscar is suddenly very invested in the current conversation.

“It’s nothing, dad. I’ve asked him to do some repairs in the kitchen, that’s all. You remember when I said I wanted to do small renovations.”

“Every day?”

“That’s what a remodelling job is, Alex.”

“I’m not sure I recall you mentioning this, mija,” Oscar continues. “You should be more open about the people you’re dating. Me and your ma are more than fine with it. Aren’t we?”

“Why, yes,” Ellen agrees, but has a confused look.

“We’re not –” she emphasizes on each word, with heavy eyes. “dating.”

“June, sweetheart, it’s okay,” Ellen assures, but she scruffs her nose, jumping off her seat. 

“You guys are unbelievable.” She storms off to the grill, starting to intensively clean it with a sponge.

“Should we –” Henry suggests, eyes in her direction.

“No, she’s always been like that,” Alex answers, rolling his eyes. “Always the dramatic one.”

“She’s the dramatic one?” Henry laughs, getting a weighty look from Alex. “All I’m saying, it explains where Elena gets her attitude from.”

“Nice save, baby,” Alex cackles, nudging his side with his elbow.

Summer evenings in Austin are a wonder. Like everything moves in slow-motion. The birds have quieted down, and even the cicadas that Henry grew to love are more subdued than usual. The heat is hotter than he’s used to, but there’s a light breeze pressing its way up from the south, guiding pink and purple clouds across the dimming sky.

Henry can’t believe that in a few more months it's been a year since he came to Austin with Jane. He was terribly scared and stressed the first weeks, but now those memories are only a faint memory in the back of his mind, getting more hazier by each day he spends with Alex. He has new, much better memories with him: Laughing until his sides hurt, long all-night conversations, sunrise tea runs to the local store when they run out of tea, museum dates and cosy nights cooking together with Jane.

It was never about the fancy dates, the dinners, just enjoying each other’s company and making each moment count. Making Henry feel safe, making him forget his past, making him move on. It doesn’t erase the fact what happened, or how he has recurring nightmares about that fateful day, or days when he is swallowed by his bed – but when those happen, he has Alex. Alex is there, he calms him down in ways Henry can never fully understand, how his simple presence takes his mind off the bad thoughts, flooding with a wave of safety. That in Alex’s arms, he’s safe.

The espresso machine hums on the first official evening of the summer, the radio’s soft discussion lapping in the background. Heat radiates from the concrete of the driveway, so even in a tank top and shorts, Henry feels like he’s melting.

Alex’s barefeet tap on the kitchen floor, arms coming to hug him from behind.

“You do realize this is the first time in months we’ve got the house for ourselves?” Alex’s words whisper to his ear, his breath making his neck ticklish. “Jane and Elena are having a sleepover to celebrate the summer vacation. Percy is also at June’s.”

“Our house?”

“Well, I know we haven’t exactly talked about it...”

“It’s what this is, isn’t it? You’re here everyday, we do everything together. You barely go to your own house. Your mom had a point at dinner.”

“I guess so.”

“Alex, I’m more than fine with it. Jane is too. We could just, you know, make it official.”

“I do like the sound of that. “

“Alex, I love you,” Henry replies, in all seriousness, looping his arms around Alex’s neck. “You have quite literally changed my life for the better since I came to Austin. I can’t picture my life without you in it, so of course I want to spend my life with you.”

“Woah,” Alex steps back a bit, with a troublesome smile on his mouth. “You sounded like you were about to propose.”

“One step at a time, love.”

Alex chuckles, leaning in to rest his forehead against Henry. “I love you so fucking much,” he whispers, arms tightening around Henry’s back.

Henry immerses himself in this. This moment right here. He craves for the soft, gentle moments with Alex. Those are the moments he’s loved most this past year – the way being with Alex is so easy, so natural. Loving him is the easiest thing in the whole world, and he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Henry can imagine loving him for the rest of his life.

Henry lifts his eyes to meet Alex. “Most things are awful,” he answers, Alex adorably tilting his head, confused. “But you are good.”

“I can’t promise to love you perfectly,” Alex whispers back, a hand creeping on his back, to rub his shoulder blades. “But I can promise to love you endlessly.”

“You’re such a hopeless romantic,” Henry chuckles, the laugh coming from deep in his soul. They laugh together for a moment, Henry burying his head to the curve of Alex’s neck. He plays with his hair, planting a kiss to his jawline.

Henry settles in the embrace, hands pulling Alex’s face into him. He kisses him right there, in their kitchen, just the two of them against the world. He’s used to the mess of having his daughter running around in their legs, sometimes with Elena, not having a moment of peace or privacy. They have set a rule not to mess around when the girls are around, so it limits their intimate time together. The only exception is date nights, or sleepovers like this night. So Henry knows he wants to take every possible enjoyment of tonight they have together, just the two of them.

Alex detaches himself from his lips and relocates to the expanse of Henry’s neck, hanging his head back for better position. Alex directly moves to the spot, both knowing very well the spot makes him squirm in pleasure. Henry stifles a moan while he expertly works the skin there, sucking, nipping and licking until he can hardly stand it. A hand pressing hard against his back, while another one trails down to cup the curve of Henry’s ass.

“Henry,” a soft moan manages to escape through Alex’s lips, the sound shooting straight for Henry’s groin, where his trousers start to feel ridiculously restrictive and unnecessary.

His mouth opens, tongue licking his ear, nipping it.

“The bedroom,” Henry stutters, knowing that if he doesn’t say it now, they’ll end up on the kitchen counter or the newly bought couch. As much as he desires for those counters, he can’t do it for the sake of Jane.

“You mean our bedroom,” Alex grins.

“Idiot.”

“Come on, baby,” Alex cackles, quickly moving Henry to the bedroom, tossing Henry to the bed. Alex looms over for a second before he’s wrapped around him, kissing Henry hot and hard. His arms embrace him, opening his buttons, while Alex’s tongue finds its way back for Henry’s neck. Lips on his neck, then pressing lips to Alex – falling into a kiss too intense for his knees to bear. Alex leans hard into him, raising his hands to pull at the neck of Henry’s shirt, stretching it so he can kiss a trail down his chest, just a few inches, more and more.

“God, it’s been too long,” Alex whispers, voice dark and horny, kissing the boy slowly and heavily, a finger lowering to Henry’s belt buckle.

Henry has a hard time focusing on his thoughts when a warm finger slides inside. “It hasn’t been that long.”

“Eleven days, eight hours and thirty minutes.”

“You just made that up. At least the hour – ah,” Henry’s sentence is cut off by a sharp moan when Alex’s hand fists around his cock.

“Let’s make up for the lost time,” he pants heavily in return. Henry moans in desperation, hearing himself groaning. Alex tugs his trousers away, pushing Henry roughly against the mattress. Henry’s hands in his curls, ruining it – his lips against him, Alex’s cock undeniably pressed to his hips, against his own erection and everything else feels electric, magical.

“I love you,” Henry murmurs against his hot skin.

“I love you,” Alex’s words echo in return, but the real answer is given by his hungry and craving lips. Alex leaves no space between them, kissing Henry. Hard. Hot. Lips pushing, wet and open.

Henry reacts very eagerly as Alex strokes his chest, Alex getting rid of his own clothes with the help of Henry’s eager hands, undressing him in record time. Alex has a massive smile when his tongue trails down his stomach, to the curve of his abdomen. Henry stares at him, how Alex hands rub on his leg, mouth planting a kiss to the inside of his thigh.

Alex looks up, in between his legs, staring at him.

“Don’t make me wait any longer,” Henry commands, impatiently. Alex keeps his eye contact on him, when his hand lands on his cock.

“Someone’s impatient to start,” Alex teases, massaging his hardened cock, Henry letting out a ragged groan.

“You’re such a bloody tease,” Henry pants. Alex’s lips stay on his inner thigh, before moving closer, finding the spot Henry so impatiently waited for. “Oh, god.”

Henry’s hand grips a fistful of Alex’s hair, grasping, his fingers digging deeper when Alex's head goes deeper. Next of Henry’s pleading phrases seem to consist of ‘Don’t stop’ and ‘Alex’ repeating over and over.

“Now.”

“Too eager, my love,” Alex whispers with a mischievous smile, hand reaching out for a condom he skilfully puts on.

“You’re –” Henry let out a groan, eyes locked with Alex. Henry takes his face, pulling him into a devouring, hot kiss. “Fuck.”

Henry moans into Alex’s mouth between the kisses, hand on his lower back, guiding him in between his legs. His hips start to slowly move, and Henry finds himself gasping loud profanities again. Alex thrusts his hips, deliberately, the boy under him moaning in heightened pitches, repeating the motion over and over.

“Never..” Henry pants, as the steady rhythm continues, wordlessly encouraging him to do it again. “Never let me wait this long.”

“Never,” Alex agrees, voice cracking with a moan. Each thrust is deliberate, deep. His breath faster, getting closer in a matter of minutes.

Henry wants to treasure this moment forever. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to love anyone else the way I love you,” Henry says, out of breath, droplets of sweat on his rosy cheeks. Alex kisses him, sloppily, before he pulls out.

Alex looks deep into his eyes. “I’m going to love you forever, Henry Fox,” Alex says back, with a dashing smile that melts Henry’s heart.

For the longest time, Henry can’t wait for the future. He used to be so scared to think about his future, because he didn’t know if there was anything to look forward to. Now he has Alex, right here with him, and he’s never felt this excited. All the things they can share and experience together.

All the things they can explore. New feelings. New beginnings. The trajectory of his life changed the moment he arrived in Austin. 

Henry gave his heart to Alex a long time ago, but he can still hear it bang on the walls of his chest when he’s close. It wants to betray him, begging to crack his chest open to break free, run to Alex, to rest where it has always belonged. His heart has dreamed of his hands, of the warmth they offer, of the way they cradle around his heart like something sacred, something worth keeping. So it’s not a wonder he gave Alex his heart, praying him to be gentle with it, hold it like it belongs to him, in every beat, he will hear it whisper Alex’s name. If he listens closely, he’ll hear the world altering love Henry has for Alex.

And Henry is okay with that for the rest of his life.