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“Hey, baby,” Alex says from his place on the bed. His glasses have slid down his nose and his laptop is open on his lap. He is still typing on it from the last time Henry checked on him around an hour ago.
“Hey, love,” Henry carefully sits next to him on what's supposed to be Alex's side of the bed, trying not to mess up the already existing mess of loose paper sheets and open textbooks lying there on their bed.
“I was about to call you actually,” Alex says with a soft smile. He presses the save button on his essay three times for good measure before turning off his laptop and collecting the books and the papers on the bed and placing them on his night stand. “I just finished making the final edits on my paper before submitting it tomorrow. I'm done with it for now.”
Alex turns to fully face Henry and sits cross-legged on the bed, Henry copies his position so they're facing each other. “You want me to proofread it for you?”
Alex's soft smile brightens and he touches a hand to Henry's face, “Maybe,” He pecks Henry's lips softly. “Tomorrow though, it's 2 am now.”
Henry feels the smile on his face widen a bit at that. He couldn't be more proud of Alex finally learning how to not push himself past his limits and knowing that his best is perfectly enough. He isn't however proud of the fact that it took Alex two years of law school and a burnout induced panic attack that sent him to the ER to realize that.
But they're past that now. Alex no longer needs to be two weeks ahead in his classes to feel fulfilled. He no longer needs to pull full one-nighters of studying before an exam he already knows he's well prepared for. He no longer needs someone to tell him when to stop and literally pull him away from his books so he'd stop. He has learned to do all that himself now.
Henry is really, really proud of him.
“Yeah,” Henry cups Alex's face with his hands. “tomorrow.” he agrees.
He pulls him in for a kiss and Alex complies easily, their lips moving slowly against each other, Alex's bottom lip sliding softly between his two, not taking the kiss anywhere but just enjoying the gentle presses of lips and the presence of one another.
They pull away, and Henry watches as Alex's eyes softly open to look at him from behind his glasses with that gentle smile on his face that makes Henry's heart flutter madly in his chest.
Alex is so fucking beautiful.
And Henry feels the need to to tell him as much.
So he gingerly takes Alex's glasses off his face, kisses his forehead, the tip of his nose, his lips, then whispers, “You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.”
“Oh, do I, now?” Alex says, his smile turning into an amused smirk.
“Yeah,”
Alex snorts, “You're one to talk, Mr. Ocean-Blue eyes.”
Henry laughs and lightly pushes his shoulder, “Shut up,” He presses another chaste kiss to his lips. “I'm serious.”
“Oh, yeah,” Alex smirks playfully, like he just can't keep it off his face.
“Yeah,” Henry insists, “That first night at your room in the Whitehouse, your eyes were what did it for me. The way you looked at me and the way you fluttered your eyelashes, Christ, I was a goner.”
Alex's smirk falters into a soft smile before he seems to regain his mischievous glint back, “And here I thought it was my amazing blow job skills.”
Henry laughs, “Of course, love.” he brushes Alex's cheek with his thumb, “Definitely that too.”
Alex is the one to pull Henry in this time. All thoughts and sassy replies out of his mind the second Henry's lips touched his. It was all so soft and so tender Alex wanted to keep kissing him forever. But one thought made it to his sleepy brain and interrupted that.
“Wait,” Alex breathes softly, breaking the kiss, “You say that, but then you say things like how much you love my glasses, shouldn't you hate my glasses then? Because they hide my eyes?”
Henry smiles, his lips are a darker shade of pink now from where Alex was kissing him seconds ago. It makes Alex want to kiss him again, but he can be patient long enough to get an answer. He can be.
“No, I don't.” Henry simply says, “Your glasses can never hide your eyes.” He brushes Alex's cheek with his thumb again, making his heart flutter. “Your eyes are too alive to be hidden.” He plants a small kiss on his lips, “So beautiful.” and it's just a whisper.
Alex groans softly, “Bastard.” he says, “You can't just say that.”
“You asked.” Henry laughs.
“Yes, but—” Alex tries to protest, but Henry pulls him in for a kiss again, just as soft as before, just with them giggling against each other's mouths this time.
Alex loves this man so fucking much.
At some point he yawns against Henry's lips. And Henry laughs. Alex tells him to shut up, but it lacks any bite.
He takes the glasses that were still held carefully between Henry's fingers and places them on the nightstand next to his books before scrambling to get them both under the covers.
That night, Alex sleeps the best he has in a long while. His arms wrapped tightly around Henry's torso and his legs tangled with his, their chest flush together.
Henry's lips were still on his forehead from when he was kissing him goodnight.
He vaguely thinks of love and serenity as the feel of Henry's steady heartbeats against his body lull him to sleep. Dreams about a forever of this life start playing behind his eyelids. And Alex knows that when he wakes up, reality would be a thousand times better than whatever wild images his mind conjured. All he has to do now, is fall into peaceful sleep in the arms of the love of his life.