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“What’s wrong with saying holiday?”
“Nothing, except that we’re talking about taking a vacation.” Alex turns to face Henry, emphasizing each syllable. “Vay-cay-shun.”
Henry rolls his eyes. “Hah-li-day,” he says defiantly.
Alex shakes his head. “And besides, you don’t go 'on holiday.' If anything, you go on a holiday.” He pulls Henry’s hand to his lips and plants a kiss on his knuckles. “But you live in America now, so you and I are talking about going ‘on a vacation’.”
Henry stops and takes both of Alex’s hands in his. “Love, I will go anywhere you like, and you can call it anything you like, as long as we go together.” Henry watches as Alex melts a little, right in front of him. They both missed so much when they were only talking on the phone. Henry leans down for a gentle kiss.
“And if you insist on using the inferior form of the language, who am I to stop you?” he adds, as he smugly walks away.
Alex blinks, then whips his head around. “Inferior?! What are you... ?” He has to jog a few steps to catch up with Henry, kicking gravel up around him as he does. “You and your long-ass legs can hold on a second.” He plants himself in front of Henry, arms folded across his chest. “Are you really gonna stand here, in the shadow of the Washington Monument, and insult my country and our language and--”
Henry holds Alex gently by the shoulders and cuts him off with another kiss. “Darling, would you like equal time to insult the monarchy and British imperialism?”
Alex nods, because even after almost a year, Henry’s kisses scramble his brains. “I would, yes.”
Henry cocks his head. “I’ll allow it. Proceed.”
Alex clears his throat. “Um, I’m gonna, um, defer my time til, um, later.”
Henry smirks at him and they start walking along the Mall again. Their security trails them, gravel crunching beneath their polished dress shoes.
“I used to do a two or three mile run around here.” Alex points off in the distance with his free hand. “You can make it a little longer if you do a lap or two around the Tidal Basin.”
Henry looks down at him, trying and failing to look serious. “Two or three miles….what is that in metric?”
Alex manages to pull off an expression of exasperation and absolute adoration. He yanks them to a stop again, lacing his fingers with Henry’s. “I love you but you are such a motherfucker.” Henry’s laugh is loud and bright and Alex responds with a brilliant smile.
Alex slowly starts to stroll down the path again, his fingers still intertwined with Henry’s.
“Oh my god, our kids are gonna be trilingual,” Alex says. “They’re gonna speak American English and British English and Spanish. And probably Spanglish, but that doesn’t really count as a...Henry?”
Realizing he's suddenly alone, Alex looks back to see Henry standing stock-still in the middle of the running path. He walks back and waves his hand in front of Henry’s face. When Henry doesn’t respond at all, Alex gets a little concerned.
“Babe? You okay?” He cups Henry’s cheek, surreptitiously checking for a racing pulse. He looks around for their security, just in case he needs help.
Henry nods. “Yes, I’m fine, I just…” He opens and closes his mouth a few times, obviously struggling to find the words. He finally looks around and drags Alex by the hand toward a bench.
Henry sits down heavily and Alex immediately joins him. “You sure you’re okay?” he asks, pressing in close to Henry’s side and resting a hand on his leg.
Henry nods again, then turns to look at Alex. “It’s just....you said ‘our kids’, Henry manages, trying to explain.
Alex looks a little panicked and the words tumble out of him. “Yeah, I.... Wait. You want kids, right? I mean, I know I’m not the paragon of paying attention in a conversation, but you definitely said you want kids. I remember that. We’ve talked about this.” Alex rambles on, noticeably nervous. “But, I mean, you can change your mind, anyone can change their mind, of course, I mean, I would never--”
“Alex!” Henry jumps in, smiling. “I want kids,” he says, a little quieter. The whole world knows almost everything about them, they don’t need this too.
“Okay,” Alex says, desperately trying to read Henry’s face.
“I just, it’s one thing to think about having children as an abstract concept.” He looks at Alex, who can now see the wonder in his expression. “But it’s a whole other thing to think about actual little human beings." He flattens his hand out in front of him, in the air, like he's touching the tops of little heads. "Little people, who look a little bit like us, or maybe not at all.” He reaches for Alex’s hand and holds it tightly. “And who speak English--both kinds--” he says, before Alex can interrupt. “And who speak more Spanish than I do. And who we get to take on hol--” He looks over at Alex with a grin, “on vacation. And we can teach them things and show them places that are important to us, and we’ll learn things from them, too, and...” Henry takes a deep breath. “And they’ll be ours, Alex.” He smiles at Alex. “We’ll be their parents. Isn’t that incredible?”
Alex smiles at his boyfriend, eyes a little damp. He presses his lips together to keep from crying any more than he already is. “You are a complete sap and I love you so much for it.” He leans in for a kiss and then rests his forehead on Henry’s. “And yeah, baby,” he whispers, “that’s gonna be incredible.”
And a few years later, it is.