Chapter Text
It was a cloudy day in New York, colder than the usual winter day in DC. Alex wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck to defend himself against the icy wind blowing against his figure walking along the sidewalk.
Henry was sleeping on the couch in their apartment, knocked out on medication, contaminating their living space with his bacteria. The worst thing that could happen now was Alex getting sick as well, because if both of them were sick no one would be able to make soup or set up the VPN client to stream The Great British Bake Off reruns for the third time.
Which is why Alex escaped the hellhole of bacteria, also known as their apartment, as soon as Henry fell asleep to instead study at the NYU Law Library. Exams were coming up after all and he still had to finish several papers.
Unfortunately, he had promised Henry with all his heart that he would never take any kind of performance-enhancing substances again for college or work, which left him no choice but to study a lot more during daytime hours. It was okay; Alex got the benefit of being able to share a bed with Henry nearly every night out of it, which is a good deal if you’re asking Alex. Henry’s back against his chest, the little noises he made while sleeping and their intertwined hands were probably enough to make him do anything Henry asked him to.
Alex could now see the imposing building he was heading to in front of him, the pavement under his feet appearing more polished as he felt a tiny drop of water on his forehead. He looked up to the sky, it was starting to snow.
He fled into the warm building, got himself a seat to dump his coat, scarf and heavy messenger bag before walking towards one of the hundreds of book cases in search for adequate sources on immigration laws in the early 20th century. He was strolling along the wooden flooring, taking in the distinct smell of really old books in this library while reading the titles, his head turned to the side.
At least he did until he crashed into… something and landed butt-first on the floor, all eyes turning to him. As he regained his sense of orientation, he tried to lift himself from the floor and nearly ran into this person again, until he looked up.
Alex couldn’t believe who was standing right in front of him. He had seen this brown hair styled into a near-perfect quiff and those thick-rimmed glasses before. Payton Hobart in flesh and blood was towering right in front of him, with a look of slight concern, here at the library of the NYU law department.
It was the same Payton Hobart that nearly won the race for New York senator a month ago while only being 22 years old. The same Payton Hobart that nearly ended Dede Standish’s career with the snap of his fingers. The same Payton Hobart that had been ignoring him, no matter how many times he tried to slip into his DMs. (13 tries, still not given up yet.)
Realisation seemed to hit Payton because after his eyes started to widen he quickly turned around and walked away from Alex with rather fast steps as if he had a contagious disease. Well… Alex could have a contagious disease but Payton had no chance of knowing that. Still, he left the first son lying on the floor before he could even say a quick "sorry" or "hello", which was honestly just impolite. Why did he ignore him? Did he hate him? Or was he scared of him? What did Alex ever do to Payton Hobart to make him react this way?
Alex was relieved, however, to know that Payton apparently did get his messages, but was still infuriated to be treated in such a way. He only wanted to get to know Payton, meet up with him and ask him about his motivation or his ideas for New York, wanted to meet someone that maybe... just maybe could be like him.
He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. Payton wasn’t worth his precious time if he was going to treat Alex that way. He lifted his butt from the wooden floor, dusted his clothes off and returned to wandering aimlessly along the bookcases, of course not at all while asking himself why Payton Hobart hated him.
When he returned to their apartment a few hours later with 5 books more to add to his collection of sources for his papers on the floor next to his small desk, it was already dark outside. As he tip-toed into their living room, expecting quiet snoring he was instead met with accusing blue eyes and a displeased-looking prince of Wales, wrapped into a burrito of four blankets, tousled hair, sitting upright on their couch.
Before he could start to apologize Henry had already opened his mouth, probably trying to say something but then deciding against it. His throat hurt like hell and speaking was torture. So he kept on looking in a quite annoyed manner at Alex, waiting for an explanation.
Alex sat down next to his boyfriend and started speaking with a really big smile, showing his shining white teeth “Hi”. Henry just rolled his eyes and lifted his eyebrows, probably wanting to ask where Alex had been. “I’m sorry I left without telling you, I didn’t want to disturb your beauty sleep.” The joke did not please Henry at all. Really quietly he managed to croak “I was worried, you didn't answer your phone.”
“And I’m so sorry!” he scooted closer to Henry, their legs touching “I won’t leave your side from now on, promise. In sickness and in health, right?” But Henry pushed him away, indicating that he didn’t want Alex to catch his flu. Alex just sighed but leaned back on the other side of the couch and let his head roll onto the armrest, his feet nearly touching the blanket burrito that was left of his precious boyfriend.
“The library was really weird. You’ll never guess who I met!” Now Alex had Henry’s attention, he made a gesture that could mean something like ‘carry on’. “Payton Hobart! The guy who nearly became senator last month! I told you about him.” Realisation hit Henry and he eagerly nodded his head for Alex to go along with the story.
“Well turns out he is a huge prick! Dude first ran into me, then didn’t even have enough manners to apologize and just turned around and walked away!” Henry started to giggle… or at least Alex thought it to be giggling with Henry protecting his voice it rather sounded like wheezing.
“Why are you laughing?” Alex asked frustrated at the situation. “It’s like… he hates me! Without even knowing me and with absolutely no reason at all!”
This statement made Henry fall into a serious fit of laughter, falling onto his side and coughing after every few laughs. Alex just stared at him in disbelief; when the laughter died down he asked the burning question: “Why are you laughing?”
Henry just looked at him with a sweet smile, his eyes shining brightly. Very quietly he managed to state “sounds somehow familiar,” and raised his eyebrows. He quickly added to further underline his point with a pinch of sarcasm in his voice: “it must suck to have a person hate you without any reasoning behind it.”
“Ah come here you massive dork” and with that he jumped onto his sick boyfriend and pressed his lips on Henry’s. The brit started to protest, but Alex just held his head in place and started to kiss him lazily, their foreheads touching and Alex slipping inside of the blanket burrito, simply not caring anymore if he got sick.