Work Text:
12 hours and 1 minute
Just another typical day in an apartment, right in the middle of New York.
Henry just chilling, reading his favourite book, while waiting for Alex to come home. His boyfriend is working his ass out, getting his foot in the House of Representative. After all, living with a congressman is nowhere near his future plan a couple of years back, but now, Henry's loving it.
The sound of the key in the door instantly pulls Henry out of his book; he slowly turns the volume from the radio down.
"Baby, I'm home!" Alex voiced up as lively as usual.
"Welcome home! How is my man today?" Henry walks towards the door and softly gives Alex a kiss.
"Other than missing you, a lot. Everything is fine, like the wine from our house in Texas." Alex chuckles mid-kissing.
"That's what I want to hear." Henry lazily grabs his arms around Alex's neck. Likewise, he misses his boyfriend terribly.
Dragging the kiss to the sofa, after years of dating, these love birds still couldn't get their hand off each other. Nora comments about this here and there; notably, even when Pez is around, she and Pez can still hold things back. But hey, it's their home, and it's on the second-highest floor of the building, so, who's looking anyway. Nor does the former First Son of the US or the Prince of the UK give a damn.
"So, how about your day? Anything new?" Alex drops kisses down Henry's neck, making the apple slide up and down uncontrollably. Alex loves it when his boyfriend gets loose when he hungrily tastes him after just a little more than 8 hours of office time. Then, by surprise, Henry rolls Alex over, gets on top of him, returning the favour. Unbuttoning Alex's shirt like magic, not missing a beat, Henry sits up on Alex's pelvis, holds the hungry man down.
"Just casual stuff," Henry shrugs, "get back on my book, browsing the news for ideas. And actually, there is something new."
"Which is?" Alex gets excited for absolutely no reason.
"We," Henry pokes Alex's bare chest, "Are having a date!"
~~~000~~~
Arriving at the restaurant where Henry just happens to stumbled on their opening advertisement in the newspaper, Alex still can't get his head around this whole spontaneous date night Henry planned while he was out all day. Excited? Yes! Happy? Yes! Does he have a plan for anything to do with this date night? Uhm… not exactly.
"A private room? Wow, you really planned this through, baby." Alex wowed with excitement.
"Not like we have enough privacy since I moved here already, right?" Henry throws his head back, laughing at his own joke.
Alex loves this man, dearly. He loves it when Henry can be just the free spirit he's been hiding inside. He loves… everything about this man, his man. Maybe tonight, Alex is going to add a few more lines to the existing list of why he loves Henry so much. Definitely.
"Remember the night we were tipsy over a bottle of Rosé? I remember we went full-on planning to babysit Shaan and Zahra's kids." Alex started the topic just after the appetisers finished.
"Wishful thinking though, but Zahra would totally Brexit your head from the neck if you lay a finger on baby Dina." Alex nearly chokes on the wine when Henry mentions Zahra's distinctive way of speech.
The night goes on and on, just the two of them, laughing about the old men with their conservative ideas, gasping about what's new and what's not with the world, catching up with one another with their side of the day. And also, sharing songs with each other. This is not new; they have been doing it since the early age of their relationship, and good habits get carried on for life. Henry enjoys this immensely; it's the second thing he looks forward to doing with Alex (after the sex and cuddling), and he is glad that this happens equally frequent.
[Para enamorarte voy a ser quien llega primero a tus sueños
Y así también dormida podrás besarme
Para enamorarte yo voy a cantarte
Para enamorarte voy a ser quien siempre te escribe canciones
El que te quiere a ti las cuatro estaciones
No importa si llueve, yo voy a cuidarte
Para enamorarte]
[To make you fall in love, I will be the one who arrives first to your dreams
And so you can kiss me asleep too
To make you fall in love, I'm going to sing to you
To make you fall in love, I'm going to be the one who always writes you songs
The one who loves you the four seasons
It doesn't matter if it rains, I'm going to take care of you
To make you fall in love]
"With my bygone elementary Spanish, I will need certain translations from you, sweetheart." Henry giggles while letting his body flow with the music as the beats begin to rush. It is a very cheesy song, Alex must admit, but it suits the occasion, especially now.
"I actually prepared a note, though, if you wanna?" Alex shuffles his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. Henry is forever grateful for being in love with Alex, and equally loved by this man. In every way possible and impossible, Henry loves Alex more than words can describe, and songs can be written.
"Yes, I mean, Sí!" Henry grabs the note from Alex's hand, unfolds, and slides the song back to the start. "Oh my, handwritten! This must be the feeling receiving a love letter feels like." He winks, then leans over the table, kissing Alex on the cheek. "Thank you!"
Alex casually sips wine from his glass, admiring the view in front of him. In full-on study mode, his love begins mumbling along with the written lyrics. His hand sweats a little. This song, he prepared it a long time ago. The location is different from where he had in mind, but it might be the time, when everything is right.
[Siento que la vida se me hizo fácil porque estás aquí
Eres razón y consecuencia, eres mis ganas de vivir
Y yo te amo te amo, te quiero y espero que tú sientas lo mismo por mí
Y es que contigo toco el cielo
Y mi alma se pone en vuelo
Mis pies no tocan el suelo
Yo solo se que yo te quiero más]
[I feel that life became easy for me because you're here
You're the reason and consequence, you're my will to live
And I love you, I love you, I like you and I hope you feel the same for me
And it is that with you I touch the sky
And my soul takes flight
My feet don't touch the ground
I only know that I love you more]
"Aw… this song is charming," Henry speaks mid-singing, still tapping his foot under the table to the beats of the song. "Love the rhythm, and the lyrics. But baby, why did you…" He startles the moment his sight is out of the paper. In front of him, right now, is a red ring box.
If Alex were a student of Hogwarts, his Stupefy spell for Henry would be this ring box. Henry is stunned. His mind went blank. Only his eyes are moving, fixed on Alex's movement. Alex stands up, walks towards his lover, takes the box and gets down on one knee.
"Baby," Alex says with a deep breath. "I would be lying to you if I said I haven't planned anything. This ring has been in my pocket for a few months; I have even planned a place for this to happen. But hey, what's the fun in planned stuff, right?"
Alex chuckles, trying to calm his racing heart down for a while, at least until he finishes his speech then it can go wild to its content, but "Settle down a little, will you?" Alex orders his heart.
"I didn't plan to fall in love with you, and still here I am, head over heels, day after day, for Henry George Edward James Hanover-Stuart-Fox - the Prince of England. And that was a mistake, I should have fallen in love with you since the moment we first met, not getting all cocky and irritated at things you do over a misunderstanding."
Henry cackles, Alex knows how to crack him up, and he adores it.
"Okay, this is getting a bit off-topic." Alex frowns his eyebrows, trying to gather his thoughts straight. "My family approved us a long time ago; your family is… being your family and thank God they are your family and not being all Royal protocol about us. The world knows about us, but I want to write this on the first page of our official recorded history."
Nothing can explain what he feels more than this utterly head-on question.
"Henry Fox, darling… Will you marry me?"
~~~000~~~
For the first time, Henry loses his sleep next to Alex.
Being in his lover – now fiancé's arm, closely listening to his strong heartbeats, Henry looks at the skyline out the window, slowly shifting from pitch black to dark blue, then blue, and then light blue.
"You haven't slept all night, have you?" Alex's voice pierced the silent bedroom.
"I couldn't." Henry wiggles his head. "But you can, right?"
"Like I could… draw the map of London up in the ceiling." Alex laughs softly. Henry leans up on his elbow, looking at Alex's eye bags starting to appear.
Throwback to what happened last night, Henry said yes.
Then, right in the middle of the excitement, the both of them just paused as if being hit by a moment of realisation.
"Should we… uhm… wait?" Henry stuttered.
"Wait for a while and then tell everyone?" Alex confirmed the link between them is still functioning normally. "Yes, yes, we should."
"It's not like I regret or having second thoughts or anything," Henry panicked, fearing that Alex might get things wrong. It happened, once. "Just want to let it sink in for a tad longer."
"Yeah, I'm with you. Don't worry, I need a moment too." Alex nodded.
"How long should we…" Henry raised his brow, eyes still fixed on the ring Alex had just put on his finger.
"A night?"
"Yeah, 12 hours should do!"
"You know, baby. I think we might have stretched the time a tad too long." Alex starts laughing things off. They agreed that it would take at least 12 hours for them to sink everything in. Alex's head is wrapped, he planned this proposal for some time, and he should be mentally prepared for this whole status update. He just wondered how Henry would take this.
"I mean…" Henry sits up and looks at Alex, "I can't wait to tell people about us. To call you my fiancé in my letters? I have never been more happy." Henry smiles.
"Oh, Henry! I love you!" Alex softly put a kiss on his fiancé's lips. He has thought of this, but being there is a whole new experience his heart can't contain.
"I love you, more," Henry laughs, mimicking his fiancé's favourite line that would set them off to a dispute of love expression every time being said.
~~~000~~~
12 hours and 1 minute after the proposal, their friends and family receive an email, stating their relationship upgrade status.
Guess how long Henry spent writing up this email!
Forever.