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It’s nice to be back in Texas, to feel the weight lift off his shoulders and tension drain from his muscles. Summer at the lake house is a Claremont-Diaz family tradition, one that eventually grew to include Nora as well. Now, it’s grown again to include Henry. Although, Alex will admit that Henry is a whole different situation, royal status aside.
Bringing a boyfriend home like this, it’s Alex saying in a way that this is long term and permanent. You don’t bring boyfriends or romantic partners of any kind to the lakehouse, it’s an unspoken agreement between him and June.
He can sense Henry standing a few steps behind him, still unsure of such a public display of affection. Alex puts down his pair of tongs and turns, plucking the offered glass of sangria out of Henry’s hand before pulling his boyfriend to him.
“Baby, it’s fine I promise” Alex swears when Henry turns away from a kiss.
“It’s just Nora and June here, they could care less, what are you worried about my dad?” Alex asks with a teasing smile, definitely not pushing himself to stand a bit taller to kiss his boyfriend.
“I wouldn’t have invited you if I thought it would be a problem, it’s okay I promise” Alex swears, taking Henry’s hand when he realizes that, that is in fact the problem.
Alex turns, pressing a kiss just behind Henry’s ear and then murmurs something softly so that only his boyfriend can hear. That gets a reaction that Alex is looking for as Henry’s eyes flare to life and he tightens his grip. With a satisfied smirk he turns back to the grill full of ribs in front of him.
The table is laden with food, enough to feed an army let alone the five of them. It’s quite something to watch Henry try to eat a rib, definitely not on the list of approved princely foods then. He spends a few seconds frowning over a tamale and Alex finally reaches over and unwraps it from the corn husk for him, spooning a bit of each salsa onto the plate too.
Alex lets his hand wander all throughout dinner, another pitcher of sangria and June is baiting him into an argument about how they absolutely can not win Texas in November.
“It’s going to happen, we were so close last time” Alex argues passionately, glaring at June over the picnic table.
“We were nowhere near close, we’ve got Austin sure but, Texas isn’t Minnesota or Pennsylvania, we can’t just count on the liberals in the city” June throws back, matching her brother’s energy.
“Liberals, sorry I didn’t know I just walked into the RNC” Alex scoffs with a roll of his eyes.
“Kids, what have we said about politics at the table?” Oscar finally cuts in, running a hand over his face tiredly.
Alex takes a deep breath, still glaring at June and then turns all his attention back to Henry. “It’s going to be blue in November, we’re going to win” he tells his boyfriend, not caring how childish he sounds in the moment.
“Of course it will darling, I don’t doubt you” Henry placates easily.
It’s late now, the sun is setting and Alex has probably more than one too many glasses of sangria. He’s sated from the food and leaning comfortably against Henry. He really doesn’t mean to let it slip or, maybe more he doesn’t mean to let himself slip.
“Daddy will you-“ Alex requests tiredly, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the piles of churros on the picnic table.
As soon as the words leave his mouth and his brain catches up, Alex’s eyes fly open but now it’s too late to take anything back. He watches in horror as both Henry and his father reach for the plate of dessert. Oscar is glaring daggers at Henry and Alex just prays silently that a sinkhole will open and swallow him.
June is staring wide-eyed and practically turning purple as she tries not to laugh. It doesn’t last and the first burst of laughter comes as the wine glass she was holding shatters from her grip. Alex takes that as his chance to bolt.
Alex hears the door to the bunkhouse open a short while later and he doesn’t need to look to know that it’s Henry. The lock clicks into place and then Henry is crawling into bed next to him.
“I hardly think anyone noticed” Henry tries when they’ve been quiet for quite a while.
Alex turns then to look at his boyfriend, exhausted and barely keeping himself together, opens his mouth to argue that yes, in fact his entire family noticed thank you very much but then Henry is kissing him. Slipping off their shirts and pressing him into the too small bunk bed.
“You have been quite the cheeky little brat today, haven’t you sweetheart” Henry questions as leaves a trail of open-mouthed kisses over exposed skin.
“A tease, not a…not a brat” Alex tries to argue breathlessly, reaching to pull Henry closer.
“Always arguing, really darling you should go into politics” Henry teases as he captures Alex’s hands and gently pins them above them.
It’s slow, sweet and gentle. Alex falls asleep with kisses in his hair and wrapped in Henry’s arms. He wakes alone, a note carefully folded on the second pillow. Henry is gone.
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June finds him first. It’s early, the sun is barely out and there’s still a chill in the air. Alex has no idea how long he’s been sitting on the porch swing, note clutched uselessly in his hand. June hands over a cup of coffee and then sits, wrapping a blanket around the both of them and pulling him to her.
“I’ll fucking kill him, there’s going to be a lot of torture first and then I’m going to fucking kill him” she swears darkly, carding her fingers through Alex’s hair.
“He just…left” Alex says softly, still in disbelief over it and then because he can’t help it, a few tears fall.
One day turns into two and then two into three. Henry dodges all of his calls, texts and emails go unread. And because Alex is a “disaster bisexual” according to Nora, he absolutely falls apart. When he wakes on the fourth day, June is also gone from the lakehouse and no one will tell him why or where she went.
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June is at a loss and so here she is at an ungodly hour, in a foreign country, storming a fucking castle. All because her baby brother and his princely boyfriend share a single brain cell between the two of them.
She can hear whoever it is speaking to Henry, a prim voice announcing “A Miss Claremont-Diaz for you Your Highness” and then Henry appears on the landing, dressed for bed in an ridiculously expensive robe and slippers.
“We need to talk” June manages to grind out as she climbs the stairs and joins Henry in his personal apartments.
“Do you have any idea how fucking lucky you are, Alex is great” she starts off with a glare.
“He invites you to Texas, to the lakehouse. Which is pretty much against the rules by the way and then you ghost him, if you were literally anyone else I’d literally kill you” She continues seriously and up until this point, Henry has been wise enough to not interrupt her.
“Everything is not as simple as you make it seem Miss Claremont-Diaz” Henry returns finally once June has taken a second to stop. He opts to take the formal route, unsure if he’s still permitted to call her “June” anymore.
“We were not all given the luxury to be born into loving and supportive families” he adds with a tired sigh.
“You could have one if you wanted, what do you think inviting you to the lake was...we could be your family if you wanted, we’d really like you to be” June tells him patiently and then she turns to leave.
“Why’d you come all this way just to yell at me?” Henry questions out loud.
“Because you made my baby brother cry, only I’m allowed to do that” June answers smoothly and then she’s gone.
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Years later, after a marriage, a baby and the governorship of Texas, Alex has to admit he couldn’t have done any of it without his husband by his side. They really should send June a fruit basket one of these days, this is all thanks to her after all.