Work Text:
It has now been a year-and-a-half since the 2020 presidential election. Alex has completed 3 semesters' worth of credits in his law school education, and the Brooklyn youth shelter he and Henry have been collaborating on has been an instant success, attracting hundreds of newcomers a week from within a 50-mile radius of New York City. The two of them do all they can to prevent any children from linguering there too long before beginning the next chapter of their lives. Naturally, Alex and Henry's relationship has continued to grow in strength during this interim. Despite Henry having abdicated his place in line for the British throne, his relationship with his mother, Princess Katherine, has also grown stronger. Her incentive to succeed Henry's grandmother, Queen Mary, remains paramount.
=========================
It's late in May 2022. Alex has completed his finals and committed to spending most of the summer assisting at the shelter. The sight of him and Henry together usually gives newcomers a strong sense of hope and motivation. On this particular Friday morning, just before Memorial Day Weekend, Alex and Henry are getting ready for the day when Alex steals a look at their appointment calendar for the day.
"Hey, what do you think of this? Our 10:00 is with someone identifying himself as 'Phil Hound'." Why does that name seem both goofy and significant? Already, the gears in Alex' head are turning.
"Phil Hound?" Henry responds emphatically, "What sort of name is that?"
Alex gets a serious look on his face and looks his partner in the eye. "I have a bad feeling about this," he says with deadpan.
Henry has to resist guffawing at one of their routine Star Wars references as he responds, "Explain, Alex."
"'Hound'," Alex elaborates, "is clearly a reference to The Fox and the Hound. And, 'Phil' is short for - " He trails off, nodding to Henry.
"Philip," Henry finishes.
Alex nods grimly. "Your brother is here to see us, Henry."
Henry is perplexed. "Why would he want to see us?" he asks, "He's been so distant with me this whole time!"
"And, I can't help but think he's never liked me," Alex says.
=========================
When they arrive at the shelter, Alex and Henry task their receptionist, Geena, with closing off the recreation room with a sign attached, specifying that it would be off limits to the residents until further notice, after which they request for their 10:00 to be escorted there instead of to Henry's office. While Alex and Henry wait for the mystery dude to show up, they deliberate over what Prince Philip could want to tell them.
At 10:00, a 27-year-old man with a nondescript, red baseball cap masking his features comes through the front doors of the shelter and approaches the reception desk. "Hello," he says in a monotone to Geena, trying not to sound posh but failing to completely mask his accent, "I'm Phil Hound. I have an appointment with the overseer of this shelter."
"Welcome to Brooklyn, sir," Geena replies brightly, "I've been requested to escort you to the recreation facility. Prince Henry and Alex Claremont-Diaz are both waiting for you there."
"Thank you," he responds, betraying a small amount of relief at the warm reception.
Geena escorts Philip across the lobby to the rec room entrence and knocks on the door. Alex opens it and stands aside.
"Alex, Henry," Geena says, "your 10:00 is here."
"Thank you, Geena," they reply together. She returns to her station, and Alex shuts the door. Henry approaches his big brother, second-in-line for the British throne, who is holding completely still next to the door and removes the cap from his head.
"Hello, Philip," Henry says, reaching out for Philip - who promptly collapses into Henry's arms. Henry has to hold him tight to stop him falling to the floor.
Alex does a double-take. "What's gotten into Prince Philip?" he thinks, struggling to restrain himself from also moving in to embrace the prince.
"Alex, help me!" Henry calls. Now, Alex does move in to hep Henry guide his brother to the nearet sofa. Alex and Henry sit on either side of him, Henry with his right arm around Philip's shoulders, waiting for the elder prince to catch his breath.
After five minutes, Philip appears to pull himself together. He faces Henry and asks, "How come you two seemed prepared for my arrival? I used a nom de plume when I made this appointment."
"Alex ascertained who you were when he saw your name in the appointment roster," says Henry, "He caught the Disney reference in your surname and put two-and-two together."
"Wow," Philip says, turning to face Alex, "and everyone talks about how Nora is the certified genius of your gang. You, Alex Claremont-Diaz, are yourself a certified genius. I wouldn't be surprised if you're the valedictorian in your law school class."
Alex blushes and has to stuff his fist in his open mouth to keep from talking.
"Cut that out, boy," Philip says, "I realize you've always felt disinclined to interact with me, but that's over with. I came to see both of you. You're indirectly involved in what brings me here."
Then, Henry looks him in the eye and firmly asks, "What's going on, Philip?"
"Mazzie walked out on me 2 days ago," Philip responds, "She's gone back to be with her family."
Alex and Henry's mouths both fall open. "She what?" Alex utters.
"Why would Martha desert you that way?" asks Henry, clarly amazed at the news. He and Alex have talked at length about how Philip and Martha appeared to be so happy in ther marriage, despite having such a hard time relating to either of them.
"She discovered something of mine," Philip says softly. Alex can tell he is trying to find the right words. Then, he continues. "She saw an exchange of email messages I was engaged in. Ever since the two of you have been located here in New York, I've had a penpal. He was someone I reached out to, first in a posted letter with my email address, then with this electronic correspondence. He was a former official, someone whose story of dejection and fallout I could relate to after what went down with Gran over Mum, Bea and the two of you. We first started writing each other just to talk about our shared sense of letdown and loss. He was disgraced and lost his position in the federal government, and I was struggling to contend with my lack of direction after both of you were outed. Eventually, this bloke and I were writing to talk about our day-to-day activities, and we became fast friends." He stops briefly to take a deep breath, then carries on. "The part that angered Mazzie - Martha - was that portions of them include a sharing of - naked pictures of him and me."
"WHAT?" Alex and Henry both cry aloud, "Naked pictures?"
"It's true," says Philip, and he is suddenly trying to stop himself from laughing. Alex wonders what could be funny about it, but then he realizes. "Philip," he asks, "have you been keeping it concealed that you're bisexual too?"
"I didn't even know it myself, Alex," Philip responds, "It kind of snuck up on me from behind."
"That's how it happened when my relationship with your brother began at the start of 2020," says Alex, "What are the chances you could tell us who it is you've been corresponding with? You did say I was somehow involved here."
Philip reaches into the dufflebag he had been holding when he arrived at the shelter and pulls out a portfolio. "I'll ease one of the photos high enough out of the portfolio for both of you to see his face," he says, "You should have no trouble identifying him."
Henry crouches on the floor next to Alex as Philip begins easing out the picture from inside the portfoloio, a peppery head of hair followed by a furrowed brow, peppery eyebrows, horn-rim glasses, round cheeks, a scruffy beard and prominent jowls. There has hardly been any contact between Alex and him since the election, and they knew he had gone to seed since then, but Alex is certainly able to ID him.
"Rafael Luna!" he and Henry say together.
"You've been swapping naked images with Alex' rolemodel, Philip?" Henry asks, "Lord, still waters!"
"I know what you're thinking, says Philip, "You're wondering why, if I had to be inclined toward a gay exchange with anyone, why this version of him?"
"You're kind of right, Philip," Alex says, "Before the events of last election when Raff went triple agent with Jeffrey Richards, he looked young enough to pass for being to me what you are to Henry, even though he's 20 years my senior. When he left the Richards ticket, he was already showing signs of actually looking his age. Since then, he'sdisappeared almost completely from the public eye, and I've gotten subtle intimations from my dad about how much he's changed. I could see you being drawn to the version of Raff I knew in my teens, but - " Alex trails off before he can say anything derogatory about how Raff had ballooned out and gone grey.
"It is kind of funny, Alex," Henry cuts in, "I've observed this a little myself from the turnaround of kids here at the shelter. A bunch of the boys have expressed this unusual inclinatuon toward full-grown men a generation or more older than them and several waist sizes bigger. It's apparently referred to as the Chub/Chaser Subculture. It's been a subpocket of the international gay scene since the 1990s."
Alex whistles.
"I became curious about it myself," muses Philip, "I thought there had to be something wrong with me. It was one thing to suddenly learn about this part of my sexuality as I know it was for you, Alex. How could I also be attracted to a man nearly twice my age and this out of shape?" He opens the portfolio and pulls out one printed then-and-now picture of Rafael Luna (clothed) from when he was running for the senate and one from only a month earlier. Alex is torn between conflicting reactions, looking at the difference between the two pics. He was never attracted to Raff himself, but he is still slightly disappointed in how much heavier and greyer he's gotten just in a year-and-a-half. Then, he is inwardly blown away by how he and that altered physique have captured the imagination of a prince of England. After proccessing all of that, he remembers how the photo exchange has led Philip's wife to walk out on him.
"Philip," Alex says, looking the prince in the eye, "what did Martha say when she left? Did she tell you she wants a divorce?"
"She said nothing, other than that she was going to be with her family," responds Philip, "She told me not to contact her, but she didn't mention a divorce."
"Meanwhile," says Henry, "yu and Senator Luna have never met, have you?"
"Nope," says Philip, "although I will tell you I was thinking of trying to find him while I was here. My first priority was seeking out both of you."
"Do you want to meet Raff?" Alex inquires.
"I've only thought about it," says Philip, "I keep thinking that Mazzie overreacted when she saw these pictures. She apparently took one look at them and packed her bags. I don't know what it would mean if I met the man in person and - something happened. I don't want to tempt fate."
"I understand what you're saying," says Alex, "I think you're curious about getting to meet Raff and seeing if anything happens, but you love your wife and don't want to be placed in a position where you have to end it with her ecause of infidelity."
"Yes, Alex," says Philip, "I imagine she could live with me philandering with other women, but she totally freaked out over the idea of being wed to a prince who has fun with other men like - "
"Like me, Philip?" prods Henry.
Philip blushes crimson. "I - I'm sorry, Henry," he says, dropping the portfolio on the floor and putting his head in his hands.
"Aw Philip!" Henry grabs his older brother in a one-armed hug. "Nothing you can say upsets me anymore. I still love you for - whatever you are. You're my brother, and that won't change."
Alex picks up the portfolio and places it on the nearby pingpong table while Henry stays next to Philip on the couch and waited for his brother to stop crying. Alex brings over a box of tissues and a wastebasket from a far corner of the rec room.
Philip wipes his nose. "Would it be okay if I stayed with the two of you at your house tonight?" he asks, "I need to think this over before I decide to do anything."
"Good idea," Henry saiys "And we have plenty of room. In fact, Pez will be here at noon. I'll ask him if he can take over our responsibilities for the day so the two of us can spend the afternoon and evening with you."
"Are you sure?" asks Philip, "I've already put you out enough."
"Naaaaah," says Alex, "this is important. I bet Pez will be glad to oversee matters here for one day, and Henry is right about there being plenty of room. We have three guest bedrooms."
=========================
The three of them go that afternoon on a Circle Line trip around Manhattan, then return to Brooklyn where Alex cooks dinner for them. The following day, Philip tells Alex and Henry that he has decided he doesn't want to meet Raff. It was great as an idea, but he wants Martha back more than he wants to explore his gay side. That afternoon, Alex and Henry escort Philip back to Kennedy Airport where he boards a trans-Atlantic flight back to London. His plan is to track his wife down at her family's house and have it out with her. After seeing Philip down the jetway, Alex asks if Henry would be willing to talk to Raff. Henry agrees, and Alex puts in a call to his old pal when they'd returned to the brownstone.
"Hello, Alex," says a raspy, defeated-sounding Rafael Luna on the other end, "I should have known I would hear from you around now."
"You know me, Raff," Alex says, the phone on speaker, "Henry and I met yesterday with your online paramour, his older brother and the second-in-line to the British throne."
"Hello, Senator," Henry puts in.
"Your highness," says Raff.
"You needn't call me that. I have abdicated," Henry responds.
"Then, call me 'Raff'," he replies, "We have met each other before, and I, too have lost my place."
"You are right - Raff," Henry says, "I would like to know what the last thing my brother told you was."
"He told me his wife had left him because she caught wind of his correspondence with me and had walked out on him 3 days ago," says Luna, "Since then, it's been dead air."
"Philip was here in New York," Alex said, "He said he had to tell someone about it, and he chose Henry and me. He knew we would understand, and he also knew about my friendship with you."
"We asked him if he wanted to meet you in person," says Henry, "He stayed with us here vvernight, and he decided that he preferred to return home and try to get Martha back."
"He felt that was the right thing to do," says Alex, "and now, I would like it, Raff, if we could talk to you. Would you be able and willing to visit here soon?"
"I have no deeds to do that I can tell for the immediate future," Raff says, "When did you have in mind?"
"Anytime," Alex and Henry say in unison.
"I think you could use a lot of consolation after all that's happened," Alex says, "and I also just learned from Henry and his brother about this subculture, the Chub/Chaser community."
Raff laughs on the other end. "That slice of the gay community is a wonder," he says, "I could be there tomorrow afternoon, if you'd lke."
When Rafael Luna arrives in New York City, he discovers upon arriving at the youth shelter that he might just have walked headlong into the next chapter of his life. After meeting Percy Okonju and observing the motley youths going in and out of the shelter, he asks the boys if he could relocate to Brooklyn and help oversee the shelter. Remembering Raff's checkered past, Alex makes it known what a perfect fit it is, a former US senator who'd been kicked out of his own home helping to provide aide to other rejected or disaffected LGBT youth. Henry and Pez fully agree. Raff decides to sell his house and furniture in Colorado and move in with Alex and Henry until he can find his own home (though the two of them make it clear that he's welcome to live with them as long as he wants). Just after this turn of events, President Ellen Claremont, her husband Leo, Alex's sister June, their closest friend Nora and their father, Oscar Diaz, all journey up to New York for one big get-together. People observe joyously as they observe the First Family interacting with those nearest and dearest to them.