Chapter Text
Princess Catherine turns and crosses the room slowly, toward the tall windows on the east side of the room.
“Catherine, don’t-” the queen says, but Catherine grabs the heavy curtains with both hands and throws them open.
With the curtains removed, Alex sees hundreds, maybe thousands of people outside of the palace gates. A mix of Union Jacks, pride flags, banners and signs voicing their support.
The world, Alex’s world, comes to a screeching halt.
For them. For Alex and Henry. For Alex and Henry. For AlexandHenry.
He has only really seen this happening outside Buckingham Palace on TV before.
Alex watches as the sunlight hits Henry’s face while Henry puts his hand up to the warm glass and exhales softly. He has his back turned toward Alex now, and Catherine places a gloved hand on his shoulder to get his attention, before hugging her son from behind.
“Oh my son,” she lets out a sigh. A beat later, she turns towards Alex, beckons for him to come, and Alex is too shocked not to.
Glancing quickly at the queen, he moves towards to massive windows, towards his future mother-in-law, and ignores the protests he hears Phillip let out, leaves him for Bea to handle. His eyes don’t leave Henry, even as Catherine puts an arm around his shoulders.
The world stands still, Alex watching Henry, Henry watching the world. Or his world, at least. And Alex realizes.
This man has had the weight of the world on his shoulders since the moment he was born, has held himself back all along because of his people and what the notion of a gay royal would mean for them. Like Henry himself had told Alex just last night, Alex has always had a choice. He could leave the spotlight if he wanted to.
That had been one of the few luxuries Henry had never been afforded.
And here they stand, the very people Henry was born to lead, and their message is so loud and clear that Alex, selfishly, desperately, hopes it reaches across the Atlantic. Here they have gathered, on the steps of the palace that have kept Henry lonely for far too long, and they’re calling for him, for the true version of himself that Henry thought no one wanted.
If it’s this freeing for Alex, God only knows how it feels for Henry.
It’s dead quiet in the room when Catherine leans towards her son, and Alex doesn’t think he was meant to hear the words she whispers to her son, but he does and before he has the time to process what’s going to happen, Henry has turned away from the window, from them, and his gaze locks with Alex’s.
My son, they are here for you. Let me handle my mother, and go be there with them.
Henry grabs Alex’s hand, kisses his mother on the cheek and breaks eye contact to glance at the Queen. Alex lets his eyes follow. She still sits rigid at the other end of the room with a scowl on her face yet Alex can’t tell what she’s thinking. Before he starts attempting to figure it out, Henry has pulled him out of the room.
They’re out of the room before Queen Mary has the chance to react, but they hear a shrill voice calling for the guards to “Stop them!” just as they turn the corner towards the large marble stairs leading down the entrance hall. No one comes for them though, so Catherine must have kept her promise.
“What are we doing?", Alex asks but Henry just stares at him for a moment. a moment in which Alex can see his whole future in the depths of Henry's eyes.
They will really get to have this for real, wont they? The absolute truth of it has Alex mentally planning 10 different proposal ideas in the span of two seconds.
Before he has the time to think about it, Henry tugs his Alex's hand, and they’re running down the halls of Buckingham Palace and Alex would think he was dreaming if it wasn’t for the firm grip Henry has on him, fingers as intertwined as their destinys.
“Henry, I love you,” breathless, Alex turns to Henry then, continues, “I love you, but what’s your aim here baby?"
Henry slows down, stops for a second before cradling Alex’s head between his hands. The signet ring is cold against Alex’s cheek. He’s staring at a spot on the tapestry behind Alex’s head, taking a deep breath and steadying himself before refocusing his eyes on Alex and leaning forward and closing the gap between their foreheads.
“I’m going to be with you. That’s my aim, my goal, my reason. We are going to be together because I say so, and I won't sit in a big cold room listening to my grandmother berate me for it any longer. She always disapproved of my father, kept diminishing my parents’ relationship, looking down on him for his lack of nobility, but I loved him. And I love you. By God, Alex, I’ve been in love with you since we were kids, and I won’t have her do the same to you. She tried to ruin my parents’, I won’t give her the opportunity with us. You’re too damn important. Besides,” Henry finally pauses and breathes, glances towards said big, cold room before continuing,
“I think my mom knows that too. I think she can handle it.” However distant Catherine might have been since Henry’s father died, Alex sees the love Henry has for her in his eyes when he smiles towards the end of the other hall.
Henry turns back to Alex, then, and presses his lips to Alex’s quickly, before he does it again and again, and Alex lets out small laughs between each of them before hanging onto one, deepening the kiss by pushing his tongue past Henry’s lips. Alex pulls his own hands up to grasp at Henry’s hair, not really knowing what he needs but needing more nonetheless, but before his hands reach their intended destination Henry releases Alex’s face in favour of grasping Alex hands.
The whimper Alex lets out would perhaps be more embarrassing if it wasn’t for the smile Henry gives him in return.
“Stop, get a move on. If I remember correctly, you’re the one who said you’d be into making history, so let’s hurry!” Henry’s tone almost sounds impatient, and screw it, Alex is not going to refuse Henry anything today. Or ever. He laces his own fingers with Henry’s slightly larger ones agian, and together they take off towards the rest of the world.
Because he can’t stop himself, Alex keeps pulling Henry into hasty kisses as they run down the halls of the most notorious palace in the world, and for the first time, it doesn’t matter if anyone sees them. They get to have this, will get to have this for the rest of their lives, Alex is sure of it. The queen be damned.
They run down the stairs hand in hand, scrambling down the steps as quickly as possible, not wanting to let each other too far away ever again. When Alex almost trips in their haste, Henry pulls him into his chest to keep him off the floor.
They skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, and Alex is suddenly hit with the notion that this is it. There’s a red carpet leading them to the giant stone doors, and all they have to do is open them. Pulling Henry’s hand up to his heart, Alex talks for the first time since those curtains were opened to reveal a future Alex knew Henry had always hoped for but never thought he would get.
“Sweetheart, are you sure about this? You have my entire heart, this,” he glances down at Henry’s intertwined hand with his, just above his heartbeat.
“This is yours, no matter how you want to deal with this. If we go through those doors, that’s it. No more diplomacy, no more ways to spin this story. Our faces will probably be on every news media outlet in a matter of minutes,” he stops, tries to gauge Henry’s reaction to see if there’s any change in his behaviour, but his smile only grows, reaching one hand up to drag his thumb over Alex’s bottom lip.
“My love, I love you, I have held you in my heart since you first kissed me back. If I am to be one half of an international sex scandal, I want the world to know that you are so, oh so much more than that to me. Let someone else worry about how this will affect the image of the royal family or what implications this will have, I’ve done that for far too long. I want this, and I want you to do this with me. Let’s take back the narrative.”
If Henry can feel the way Alex’s heartbeat speeds up, he’s gracious enough not to mention it- he does, however, push his thumb into Alex’s mouth. Alex lets him, for a heartbeat or two, before he’s realizing where they are. He pulls his mouth away.
“NO, NO! Absolutely not, you are not quoting Hamilton to me and trying to get me hard in the middle of the goddamn entrance hall. What is wrong with you?” Alex half- shouts incredulously and pushes Henry away from him to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Henry, the fucker, shakes with laughter. “There’s paparazzi out there!”
“Thought it’d make you relax. Besides, haven’t you heard? Apparently, there’s nothing wrong with me.” The smug smile playing on Henry’s lips is simultaneously the worst and best thing Alex has ever seen.
“Oh, sweetheart, there’s still plenty of things wrong with you. Your taste in movies, for one. Your taste in guys, however? Impeccable, but the world already knows that.” Alex retorts. The smug smile turns slightly dopey when he does.
“Yeah, they’re right,” at that, Henry wraps his arm around Alex’s waist and lifts him into the air, spinning him around a bit while Alex shouts indignantly and punches Henry’s shoulders softly to let him down. Henry does, after pressing a sweet kiss to the corner of Alex’s mouth.
“Now, let’s hurry before grandmother comes after us herself.” Grabbing Alex’s wrist, they’re off again, running down the red carpet of Buckingham Palace and laughing the entire way over to the giant stone doors. They nearly slam into them, the guards regarding them with a hint of a smile on their lips before Alex and Henry both take hold of a handle.
They afford the guards the opportunity to radio ahead to the outside units, to warn them that the Prince of Wales and the First Son of the United States are about to run out of Buckingham Palace and that, yeah, they might need some protection just in case, They get the green light surprisingly quick.
This is it. They’re about to change their lives forever. Not only that, they’re about to write some profound history. History that won’t have to be dug up and interpreted in the future. There won’t be any question whether Alex and Henry are, were, romantically involved. Unlike all those quotes that the entire world has seen in their emails that the entire world have had access to for the past few days, their love will get the opportunity to be open, and public, and historic.
Alex tells Henry this. Alex also nearly kisses Henry into oblivion at the astounded face he makes while Alex tells him this.
Alex doesn’t, opting instead to fix the few strands of stray hair on Henry’s head. They’re about to be in front of a lot of cameras. The Prince of Wales has an image to protect, after all.
The action is so disgustingly domestic, and the fact that Alex will get to keep this, after all the misunderstandings, tears and late night phone conversations? Well, he’ll never ask his mom for anything ever again.
He’ll have to thank her in his wedding speech.
“You ready?” Henry says, and Alex is ready to burst.
““There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it’s now okay to express ourselves publicly. We make that by doing things publicly until it’s simply the way things are”. Tammy Baldwin said that, the first openly gay senator in the U.S senate, and she was right. I bet she’s pretty proud of you.” Alex says.
“I think she’s pretty proud of the both of us.” Henry replies.
They smile, and then they push the doors open.
The sunlight that greets them is ten times more blinding than when Catherine pulled the curtains away what felt like ages ago, but as soon as Alex gets used to it, he turns to see Henry already smiling at him.
They run down the steps of the palace together, toward the crowd of people that are there for them, and Alex hopes the White House is awake and watching, hopes America will wake up to the news that their First Son made history. He knows the tabloids Bea showed earlier showed teenagers outside his house, and he hopes he makes them proud to call them theirs.
As proud as Henry is currently making these people, his people.
And, Alex supposes, these people will be his one day too. He can’t wait.
“Some closet to come out of, huh? Henry jokes and nods to the fucking palace, and the smirk he's sporting is enough to bring Alex out of his thoughts.
Alex nearly doubles over in laughter.
“Ready to share me with the world?" Alex asks, and Henry grabs onto his hand, leans in real close and puts his lips to the shell of Alex’s ear before whispering a quiet yes.
“I’ve been ready to show you off since day one of this thing. Aren’t you America’s most eligible bachelor, after all?” Henry smiles.
“Was. I was America’s most eligible bachelor. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m off the market.” Alex grins back. Henry kisses him in response.
And okay, wow. This is the first time they’re kissing in front of strangers not on their payroll, and okay, yeah Alex could get used to this.
The crowd breaks out in screams and cheers and chants of Henry, Henry, Henry, and that is something Alex can relate to, after all, and he makes sure to give them a show. Puts his hand on Henry’s chin and deepens the kiss, wrapping his other arm around Henry’s shoulder.
They break apart after a few seconds when Alex remembers that perhaps they are pushing the queen’s hospitality a bit, considering she’s most probably watching the courtyard and while Alex would like to send a very strong “fuck you” to her for the way she’s made Henry feel, he’s faced with an astounding truth.
The queen of England is his family, now.
He pulls back to look at Henry, this sweet, humble, honest, god of a man who Alex is pretty sure was made for him, and yeah, being publicly related to Queen Mary is definitely a sacrifice he’ll make if it gets him this. If it gets him Henry.
“Come on, you have to go indulge your subjects, Your Highness” Alex mock bows, and pulls Henry toward the crowd before he’s even started laughing.
“You know, I think that’s the first you’ve called me that instead of some horrible moniker of the word.” Henry shouts over the crowd’s cheers.
“Not true, I’m pretty sure I called you that when you wanted me on the bed, that first time, before you changed my entire world.” He leans in real close, this time it being him doing the whispering. Henry goes shock still.
And Alex, well, he’s a little shit, isn’t he? Because then, before Henry gets the opportunity to regain his composure, he spins around and stands before the masses.
The cheers finally die down as Alex gets close to the gate. They didn’t really plan for this, did they? At least the tabloids will record it. Either way, when Alex puts his forefinger do his lips to get them to quiet down, they listen. He kind of feels like his mom for a second, a thought that is as equally depressing as it is inspiring.
By the time it’s finally quiet enough for the front row to hear them, Henry has joined him at his side, and Alex quickly smiles at his man before turning back to the crowd. “Hello, Britons! I know you’re not here for me, but I’m just going to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything. Henry and I will never be able to thank you enough, but I will let him try. So, without further ado, The Prince of Wales, or as I like to call him,” Alex turns to look at Henry, and he can see the panic in Henry’s eyes.
Alex laughs. He’s probably right to panic, Alex has given him some pretty horrible and scandal- inducing titles during their relationship, but the tabloids already know all of them. Alex wants to give them something new. He turns back to the microphones.
“, or as I like to call him, my boyfriend.” He can almost feel the relieved sigh Henry lets out before he kisses Alex’s cheek before opening his mouth to speak.
Alex tunes out after that, opting to just watch the crowd as they listen to Henry. They’re smiling, and while Alex know that this is hardly indicative of how the whole country feels, knows how indecisive a country can be, they will always have this. These people’s support. The historical impact this will have, good or bad, will be pretty monumental, but none of that compares to right now, with these people who allowed Henry to be his most authentic self.
Later, he and Henry will stand on an air strip and Henry will give Alex his signet ring as a silent promise of later, and Alex won't stop analyzing what it all means for the whole plane ride back to his own beloved country.
And even later than that, Alex will speak before his own people, with a much more prepared script than the one Henry didn’t get but he will have to do it without his boyfriend by his side. It will be okay, though, because he’ll have his mom, and June and Nora, and the entire White House staff to back him up.
And afterwards, Henry will call him, and they’ll talk about everything and nothing for hours. Henry will talk about how Catherine got the queen to see their point of view, and Alex will show him a photo of a mural he found on the way home from the airport before they have mind blowing phone sex, falling asleep before disconnecting the call.
They’ll be happy, Alex is sure of it, but right now as he’s watching the man of his dreams address his nation with such happiness and honesty, he hopes anyone listening to this, or watches it live on TV, or reads it in the tabloids tomorrow or in the distant future will feel a sense of pride in knowing that your authentic self will always be your best one, and that there’s absolutely no shame in that.
(Alex doesn’t end up thanking his mom in his wedding speech, but Henry thanks Ellen for campaigning for the presidency instead, so it all works out in the end anyway. Things have a tendency to do that with them.)