Work Text:
Nora<3
Henry, where are you?
Alex said you canceled your
flight to D.C.?
Oh yeah, I’m feeling ill.
Just saw the doctor, actually.
Sorry x
Henry was about to close the chat, when another one popped up.
Nepo Baby<3
Are you sure I can’t fly there?
I don’t mind taking care of you…
I also miss you, if that counts.
It counts, promise. x
But I’ll be okay.
I’ll be working from my bed anyhow.
I’d be a bore.
On Alex’s end of the line, he looked up from his phone, locking eyes with both June and Nora who were seated on his bed. “He’s not sick.”
“Oh I figured,” Nora hummed to herself, her head nodding absentmindedly. “He usually sends me emojis. Like the sparkly pink heart. I got an ‘x’.”
Alex scrunched his nose, halting the important part of the conversation. “I never get emojis? Only ever an ‘x’ or the little heart with the three.”
June let out a snort, reaching for one of the croissants she’d snuck in here. “Brutal.”
“Not helping,” Alex glared at his sister before focusing back on the actual issue at hand. “Usually he talks to me. I- I don’t know what to do here! I feel helpless.”
“Maybe,” June spoke with her mouth full and Alex rolled his eyes. “He just needs one of us to talk to him. Or his sister.”
“I tried Bea,” Alex shook his head, tossing his phone onto the mattress. “She said she saw him sticking his thermometer under hot water and then told her the same thing he’s told us.”
In all honesty, he was starting to panic a little. He’d never had this experience before and the last thing he wanted was to make it about himself, but what if Henry wanted to end things between them?
They’d been fine over the last week but ever since two days ago, he’d become strange. Bea claims it can’t be their family. He’s hardly seen any of them. He’s been too busy.
“What if I call him?” Nora suggested, closing her magazine. It had no news about the White House Trio anyway. “I’ll tell him I have a feeling he’s not sick and I’ll coax the truth out of him.”
Alex and June shared a look of apprehension for a moment. “It couldn’t hurt to try, Alex.” June gave him a gentle nudge with her foot. “We’ve tried everything else anyway and you can’t go storm the Palace again.”
Alex thought for a moment, sucking on his teeth. “Fine, yeah do it.” He’d be hurt if Henry did tell Nora and not him, but at least he’d have opened up to someone.
“Great,” Nora placed her hands on her knees, pushing herself off the bed and taking her phone with her towards the door.
“Uh-” Alex reached for her wrist to stop her. “Where are you going?”
“Calling from June’s room… In private .” Nora emphasized, raising her eyebrow at Alex when he evidently seemed to grow annoyed. “Look, maybe he doesn’t want to tell everyone… If it’s something worth telling, then I’ll share with the class, but let me just do this, okay?” She placed her hand over Alex’s and gave it a squeeze. “Trust me.”
Alex let out a sigh, moving his hand back. “You’re right,” he nodded slowly, putting on a thin lipped smile. “I trust you.”
“I’ll be right back,” Nora wiggled her phone for emphasis before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. When she made it to June’s room, she pressed the call button.
It rang and rang before reaching voicemail, but Nora was no quitter. She called a total of six times before an exasperated Prince answered the phone.
“Must you truly call me so many times?” He huffed out, dropping his head against his pillows. “This better be an emergency, and not the equivalent of the turkey’s.”
“The turkey’s?” Nora frowned in confusion before waving her hand in the air to no one. “You know what? I don’t want to know. What I do want to know is why you’re pretending to be sick.”
“Pretending?” Henry scoffed, rolling onto his side and pulling the covers up further. “I’m not pretending to be sick. What gave you that impression?”
“Well firstly, you don’t sound sick at all,” Nora dropped onto June’s bed with a sigh and Henry felt his heart rate increase. He’d completely forgotten about that part. “Secondly… Bea saw you stick the thermometer under hot water-” she blurted it out, hoping Beatrice could forgive her for exposing her knowledge.
Henry closed his eyes for a moment, rolling onto his back and abandoning his phone where it was. “You got me,” he mumbled, rubbing his hands over his face. “Did Alex ask you to talk to me?”
“No, it was my idea actually,” Nora confirmed, which was technically true. “He’s not here, he’s in his room with June going over this week's magazines.”
“Ah,” Henry stared up at the ceiling. He wished he could’ve put those glow in the dark stars on there. That would’ve been nice to look at. “Is there a motive to this call, Nora? I love you, but I’m really tired.”
Nora had forgotten about time zones and she cursed under her breath. “Oh my God I’m sorry,” she dropped onto her back and let out a sigh. “But I can’t feel too bad because I didn’t wake you at least.”
“Nora,” Henry proomted, waiting for her to finally answer his question.
“Okay fine!” Nora caved and sat up again, putting the phone on speaker. “What’s really going on, H? Because I’m pretty sure Alex thinks you want to break up with him. I mean, he hasn’t said it out loud but I can see he’s scared.”
“No, no I’d never…” Henry closed his eyes again, thinking about how kind Alex has been through everything. He deserved an answer, right? “I saw the Barbie movie with Bea the other day.”
Nora stopped fiddling with her nails and paused for a second. “I mean… I cried too but… Henry, I’m going to need a bit more of an in-depth explanation here.”
“Right,” Henry pushed himself into a sitting position again and let out a sigh. “Growing up, Beatrice got dolls, right? She never got Barbies except one, but Barbies were never her favorites for some reason. And I got a toy violin or a new children's book or sometimes, one of those collectors bears that come in different outfits… But I never got a Barbie.”
“Ah,” Nora murmured as realization swept over her, but she let him continue speaking.
“I asked for one once and my father had said yes and he’d gotten me a Ken doll, but my grandparents would not hear about it.” Henry was mindlessly picking at a loose thread on the sheets, a habit he’d adopted over time. He missed his father; he wondered if he’d feed into his wish of revisiting his childhood for a brief moment. “And then after my father passed, I just never asked for one again.”
Henry let out a bitter laugh then and Nora could hear him sniff right after. “It's funny how that is, right? As kids we hardly had much time to watch cartoons. Only when we were very small. After a while, we were being whisked off to polo matches, photoshoots, child friendly galas and picnics. Then it was private schools and after class activities and extra languages. There was no time for us to fully be kids… and Bea might be okay with that, but I’m not.”
Nora heard the crack in Henry’s voice and she wished she could jump right through the phone and hug the poor man. No child should ever have to miss out on the importance of playing with toys and watching cartoons. Of being actual children .
“Anyway, so the movie just got me thinking, you know?” Henry wiped his tears, staring off out the window of his bedroom. “It just resurfaced all these memories of my childhood and what it lacked and what my life still lacks, I guess. Do not get me wrong, I’m a privileged wealthy white male born into money with a high standing social status and I have it way better than many many people who deserve this role more than I do, but the child inside of me is screaming, Nora, and I can’t fucking ignore him anymore.”
“Oh, Henry…” Nora let out a sigh, feeling tears prick at her own eyes. “I can’t say that I understand, but what I can say is that you’re allowed to feel these things. You may be privileged, but you also have feelings that are valid and your hurt is valid too.”
“You think so?” Henry hated how his voice cracked again, but he couldn’t help it. He was tired of pretending like he wasn’t hurt or angry.
“Honey, I know so.” Nora smiled a little to herself. “I also know that you have me and June and Alex and your sister to listen to you whenever you need someone. You’re allowed to share this anger with us. I mean growing up, do you know how many times I’d wished for a black Little Mermaid? When I stepped into that cinema a few months back and I saw Halle Bailey as Ariel, I healed my inner child a little. You just need to heal your own inner child.”
“You’re right,” Henry wiped his tears again, trying to pull himself together, but he still felt a weight on his shoulders. His family would never allow him to just run off and buy Barbies, especially for himself. “Thank you, Nora… I needed to hear that.”
“Anytime, H.” Nora pushed herself off of June’s bed, ready to go back to Alex’s room. “Now you get some sleep, okay? I love you.”
“I love you too,” Henry hung up the phone and let out a deep and shaky sigh before pulling the covers over his head.
Nora walked back down the hall and pushed the door open to Alex’s room.
“Well?” Alex urged with wide eyes, awaiting her response.
What Nora said next, left the Claremont-Diaz siblings looking at her as if she’d just said the strangest thing.
“We need to close down a toy store for the rest of the day.”
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A total of four hours later, and a shock to Ellen Claremont’s bank account, Alex shoved the last bag into the back of the van he’d come in with Zahra, Amy, June and Nora.
“Will someone tell me why on Gods green fucking earth we just did this?” Zahra gestured wildly at the full backseat and trunk of the vehicle. “This better not be another phase Alex, I don’t think I can handle another one after Spider-Man.” The woman pinched the bridge of her nose and the trio let out snorts.
In unison. Because… go figure.
“No no, it’s for Henry,” Alex confirmed, holding up a finger to silence the woman before she could protest. “We are healing his inner child… which is why I need to get on a plane in the next few hours…”
“Your mother will have your head on a stick one day and I’ll be the first one to roast it in a fire like a goddamn marshmallow.” Zahra ushered them all in like children before she climbed in too.
“I already talked to her,” June smiled at the woman. “It’ll just be Alex flying, but she’s agreed. She can never say no to this angelic face.”
“That’s a stretch-” Alex started, but Nora winded him before he could even laugh and he doubled over in his seat.
“Much better,” Nora sighed happily, now that there was silence from Alex for a change.
“Can I ask why we’re healing his inner child?” Amy turned around from the driver’s seat. “I mean, he is a Prince… It’s not like he never had toys…”
“Not these toys,” Nora answered, shoving one of the dream houses onto Alex’s lap because it was poking uncomfortably at her thigh. “He’s going through a bit of a crisis and we’re here to help.”
“That’s actually really sweet,” Zahra found herself smiling a bit.
For the first time, the trio wasn’t doing anything to land themselves on the front cover of every news outlet.
Well, until Alex gets off a plane with over a hundred Barbie dolls.
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“Why am I not surprised you can’t gift wrap?” Zahra sighed, crossing one leg over the next in her seat on the airplane. She looked down at Alex sitting on the floor, legs crossed with sellotape in his mouth.
He was busy placing the dolls and DVD sets into plain brown boxes he’d taken from his mother’s work and filling the extra spaces with hand written notes, pink shredded paper, confetti and in one box, it was just four helium Barbie balloons with a card.
“I’m doing this on purpose ,” Alex mumbled with his teeth still closed around the tape. “I need him to think this is my mom’s boring work stuff, okay? It’s part of the surprise.” He pulled the tape out and looked up at her. “Please tell me you cleared this with Shaan because I really don’t feel like having to open each of these boxes in front of the Royal bomb squad.”
“I spoke to him,” Zahra confirmed, reaching for her coffee. “No one is stopping you and your Barbie dreams, Ken.”
Alex gasped at the nickname, throwing his hands down on the box he’d just taped together. “I am not just Ken!”
“Oh yeah you are,” Zahra laughed into her cup and let Alex huff about whilst he packed the rest of the surprises. He’d forgotten to even pack his own things. Luckily June and Nora had helped with that.
The moment they arrived and made it off the plane, Shaan shook his head, but a smile was there. “You are the reason why my hair will go gray before I’m in my mid forties.”
“It would suit you,” Alex patted the man’s shoulder, a bright grin on his face. “Highlights are in right now.”
“Oh boy,” Zahra ushered him into the car, again feeling a lot like a mother hen, or a duck getting her children in line.
They waited twenty minutes for the boxes to be carefully packed into the van.
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“Why are you lugging in twelve Claremont-Holleran boxes into the Palace?” Beatrice sped walked right up to Alex, ready to whack him over the head. “If this is another prank, Alex so help me God-”
Zahra let out a snort. At least she, Amy and Shaan weren’t the only ones tired of the First Son’s shenanigans.
“They’re a surprise!” Alex whisper-yelled to her, trying not to stomp his feet. It had been a long fucking plane ride and jet lag was bound to catch up. “Did Nora and June not tell you?”
“They’re asleep?” Beatrice spoke matter-of-factly, moving her hands onto her hips. “I can’t blame you for being confused on what time of day it is, though. You have a bad habit of not staying in one country for more than a week.”
“Well, there’s gifts in here for Henry,” Alex whispered, politely smiling at a butler that walked past. Shaan, Amy and Zahra moved down the hallway, leaving them to talk. “Is he awake?”
“Who knows,” Beatrice sighed, her eyes filled with worry. “He hasn’t come out of his room since yesterday and no one is making a fuss because they actually believe he’s sick. God forbid the Prince lie.”
“Well he did hide a secret romance- sorry.” Alex clamped his mouth shut the second Beatrice offered him one of her famous glares. She definitely got that from her grandmother.
“Go say hi, I’ll have someone lug these boxes to his room.” She tapped one with her shoe before walking down a long hallway, looking for assistance.
Alex blew raspberries, reached for his own luggage, and began his own venture off towards Henry’s room. He knocked softly, waiting for an answer. When he received none, he opened the door a crack. “It’s just me… can I come in?”
Despite them being together, the last thing he wanted to do was barge in unannounced.
Henry sat up in bed, the entire room still dark from the blackout curtains. “Alex?” He squinted when he turned on the side lamp and rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing here? I told you I’d be fine.”
“Yeah well,” Alex shrugged, stepping into the room and closing the door. He dropped his bag down and let out a sigh. “I’m stubborn and I missed you. Oh-” he stepped to the side when another knock came and opened the door.
An array of staff came in quickly to drop off a box each before scattering out again in less than fifteen seconds. “What’s all those?” Henry could feel a headache coming on. He’d cried himself to sleep and now he was beyond exhausted and dehydrated and here Alex was, bringing in the chaos.
“Uh, work stuff… Promised my mom I’d help her out while I was here.” Alex cleared his throat and put the first box beside the bed. “Can you help me open these? Start with that one. I gotta find a specific document.”
“Alex,” Henry sighed, watching his boyfriend mindlessly look around for scissors and check his phone. He hadn’t even hugged him, or asked Henry how he was doing. It was just straight to work. “Please love, I’m tired-”
“Please, Henry.” Alex turned around, moving over towards the bed. “It’ll take only a few minutes and then I’ll climb into bed with you.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the man’s lips and whispered, “please, baby?”
Henry closed his eyes for a moment, counting to ten. “Okay fine,” he relented and pulled the sheets back. “Only because you said it’ll take a few minutes. Nothing more though.”
“Nothing more,” Alex swore, feeling his heartbeat speed up. He truly hoped that Henry liked this. If he didn’t… well, he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
Instead of opening a box, he pretended to answer a text but his eyes drifted over to Henry pulling the tape off of the box and for a moment, he thought about pressing record, but decided against it.
He wanted to remember this moment without a camera. They had enough of those on their every move as it was.
The four Barbie balloons popped out with a note attached and Henry grabbed it before it could reach the high ceiling. “Uh,” he faltered at the Barbie logo. He really was being haunted and he hated it. “I don’t think this box has what you’re looking for.”
“Read the card,” Alex smiled, turning his full attention to his boyfriend now, who unfolded the attached card and read what was written inside.
Everyone deserves to heal their inner child, especially you.
I love you, Henry.
Your Alex. (Or Ken)
Henry looked up in confusion, forgetting all about holding onto the balloons that had flown up to the ceiling. “Alex, what is this?”
Instead of answering, Alex just pushed another box over to Henry. “Maybe what I’m looking for is in here…”
Henry hesitated for a moment, placing the card on his bed. He bent down to pull open the next box and inside, he found two large Barbie blanket hoodies, pink popcorn packets, pink sweets, pink cool drinks and even a small pink cooler that had pink Cornettos inside.
Right on top, were two hand drawn pink Barbie tickets that had their names on them. That last one was thanks to June. Alex didn’t possess such artistic talents.
“Alex,” Henry started again, not quite sure where this was going, even though he had an idea, but Alex simply pushed the next box over and Henry pulled that one open too. “Oh my God-”
The next box was filled with every single Barbie movie that had been released over the years, all neatly stacked amongst the shredded pink paper. “Are we going to watch all these?” When Henry looked up, there was a light in his eyes that Alex knew all too well and his heart swelled.
“Every single one of them,” Alex confirmed with a definite nod, not bothering to hide his grin anymore. “Wanna look in the next box?”
“Yes!” Henry let out a laugh, rushing to the next one like a kid on Christmas and Alex did his best to hold in his tears, but he inevitably failed when he saw the look on Henry’s face the moment he pulled out the Barbie Fucking Dream House.
“Alex…” he breathed out, placing the house on the ground as he knelt down to get a better look. “What the fuck?!” He opened the back of the house and saw all the small stickers in a packet, waiting to be stuck in to make up the 2D decor of the home.
“You’ll uh,” Alex sniffed, kneeling down with Henry too and pushing another box over. “You’ll need some stuff to put in there so…”
Henry opened the next box and this time, it was filled with different pieces of furniture, decor, clothes, pets and even a horse that looked just like his polo horse. The sounds of delight that escaped Henry’s mouth as he picked out each item, gasping and showing Alex even though he’d already seen them all, healed something within Alex too.
Seeing the person he loved filled with such childlike joy brought him more happiness than he thought it would. He’d have to thank Nora a thousand times over.
Henry opened the last two boxes which had all sorts of Barbie’s and Ken’s with different clothes and professions, all still in their boxes so that Henry could take them out and dress them himself. Henry picked up each one, making comments about each tiny detail.
“Oh there’s a prince!” Henry laughed through his tears. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this. It was pure, raw joy that could never be replaced by all the wealth in the world.
“He looks a little like you,” Alex teased, leaning over to kiss Henry’s cheek. “I got one that looks like me so you can make them kiss during sleepovers.”
Henry let out a roar of laughter and Alex felt everything fall into place. “Oh please! Ken doesn’t even know what to do at sleepovers!”
“Well, this Ken does, so.” Alex went in for another cheek kiss before playfully biting Henry’s jaw, who laughed in response, all too immersed in what was in front of him. He had everything from sports to books to ponies to crowns and race cars. There was even one like Henry’s father’s car he still drove around. Alex, June and Nora had made sure they’d gotten one of everything for the full experience.
“Alex, I-” Henry turned to look at his boyfriend after placing the Barbie car down in front of him. “I don’t know what to say-” he choked on his words as the tears bubbled up and he launched himself into Alex’s arms, who happily caught the man and pulled him onto his lap.
“I just want to see you happy,” Alex murmured into the man’s hoodie, holding him tighter. “When Nora came to me after your call, we just… we had to do something.”
“And I love you for it,” Henry breathed out, feeling his tears slip down his cheeks and onto Alex’s shirt. “I love all of you for doing this… Thank you.”
The pair broke away, only to go in for a kiss. “Now we have all weekend to play with these Barbies and watch all the movies before June and Nora get here on Monday to watch the new Barbie with us… again.” Alex cupped Henry's face in his hands then. “Just keep fake coughing and shoving your thermometer under hot water so that we have the full weekend, please? Put your father’s actor genes to good use.”
Henry let out another laugh at that, throwing his head back and looking up at the ceiling. He should go buy some glow in the dark stars soon. Maybe Alex could help put them up.
“I will put the actor genes to use, I promise.” Henry bent down for another kiss, allowing himself to disappear for a moment. To just kiss his boyfriend and let time pause around them. “You truly are the best boyfriend, Alex Claremont-Diaz.”
“I know,” Alex winked, leaning back against the bed frame just as Henry flicked his forehead. “How about, we put those blanket hoodies on, make some Barbie cupcakes that I packed and we start on the first film?”
“I’d love nothing more,” Henry agreed and that’s exactly what they did.
For the next two days, the couple strictly ate and drank pink items even though Alex could feel a stomach ache on the rise, Henry kept up his cough and they sped through movie after movie with the occasional nap in between. They’d also paused the movie watching at certain parts of the day to actually play with the dolls.
Alex never thought he’d be sitting on the floor making up unrealistic scenarios with a Barbie in his hand again unless he became a father, but here he was doing just that with Henry, who was having the time of his life.
They actually got fairly into the game and lost themselves for hours in dressing up the dolls, redecorating the Dream House and causing fake drama for their own entertainment.
Beatrice came in every so often to check on them and she too joined in on a few of their games, allowing herself to tap into that part of her childhood again. They even shared their pink Cornettos with her.
In between all of this, Alex would snap the odd photo and send them off to June, Nora and his mother. Ellen was surprisingly beyond thrilled to see her adult son doing nothing except playing with dolls with his boyfriend all weekend.
It was healing something in her too.
Monday came around and they’d successfully finished watching every Barbie film, come up with every kind of scenario for their dolls and now it was finally time to sit down with their friends and watch the final movie.
June and Nora arrived two hours prior with even more pink snacks and in their all pink pajamas that matched with Beatrice’s. They’d FaceTimed before they left so they could coordinate, obviously.
They decided to make pink cocktails and get positively wasted during the film, which was being projected in one of the halls where they’d brought in comfy seating.
“Oh I’m so excited!” June squealed, dropping down onto the spot right beside Nora, swinging her legs over her lap to get comfortable. “We saw the film last week but still! ”
“Thank you again, by the way.” Henry looked around at the people in front of him. Zahra, Shaan and Amy had even joined in on their little watch party. “This healed a lot of hurt and… I’m just grateful. Oh,” Henry held up a finger to pause everyone. “One thing for Nora…” He reached out for a small bag from Shaan and handed it over to her.
Nora pulled away the blue tissue paper and gasped. “Henry, you didn’t!” She pulled the box out all the way, revealing a Mermaid doll. The box had Nora’s name on it in blue, in the font of The Little Mermaid and the doll was a near identical replica of her, right down to the bracelet she wore every day with a purple and blue tail.
“I had it made over the weekend for you,” Henry smiled sheepishly, remembering their conversation and Nora jumped up from the couch, diving into Henry's arms.
“Oh she’s perfect!” Nora squeezed the man, still clutching onto the box. Someone would have to pry it from her cold dead hands. “Thank you, Henry.”
“Of course,” he rubbed her back for a moment, winking at both June and Alex, who were smiling up at the pair.
Nora sat back down and gushed over the doll with June whilst the others got settled in for the film. The movie started and Alex held Henry in his arms knowing full well that he could watch this film again with the knowledge of how magical it feels to play with Barbie dolls and how to feel like a child again.
They reached the part of the film where Billie Eilish’s song had come on and sniffles could be heard all throughout the room, even from Shaan.
When the lyrics got to ‘I’m sad again, don’t tell my boyfriend.It’s not what he’s made for.’ Alex leaned in closer and whispered into Henry’s ear, “It’s exactly what I was made for. Remember that.”
In that moment, Henry knew he’d never feel alone again and he had the most beautiful little family to prove it.