Work Text:
“Alex, darling, if you’re too tired, we can wait till tomorrow,” Henry says softly. “You’ve been studying for finals, I know you must be to exhausted-”
“Never too exhausted to spend time with you,” Alex promises. “Besides, our tree looks sad. We have to go shopping today so we can spend the entire weekend decorating our entire home. I’ll make sure to get plenty of sleep tonight.”
“As long as you’re sure.” Henry runs his fingers through Alex’s hair. “I appreciate you trying to give me a perfect Christmas.”
“You deserve a perfect Christmas,” Alex murmurs. He leans into Henry’s touch easily, eyes falling shut. “That feels so nice. You’re gonna make me fall asleep, baby.” He pulls back and narrows his eyes playfully. “Is that your plan?”
Henry raised his hands. “You caught me,” he giggles. “C’mon, my love, if we’re gonna go, we should go now.”
“We can grab dinner while we’re out. I don’t feel like cooking.” Alex slips his phone and wallet into his pocket, leading Henry out to the car where Cash is waiting for them. “There’s one store that I think will have everything we need, but we can stop by Target on the way home if we decide we need more.”
“What’s the store we’re going to?”
Alex just grins. “It’s a surprise. Get comfy, baby, it’s a bit of a drive.”
-
Half an hour later, Cash pulls up in front of a building that has a big sign out front- House of Holiday. When they finally make their way inside, Henry’s eyes are wide, sparkling under the lights.
“Holy shit,” Henry whispers. “Alex… this place is crazy!”
“I know, sweetheart, and we can buy whatever you want,” Alex promises. He grabs a cart. “Literally anything you want. We need lights, garland, and ornaments for the tree. Garland and lights for the banister, some lights for outside, and maybe some light displays for the window since we don't have a yard.”
“That’s so much, Alex, I can’t-”
“You can, and you will,” Alex insists. “Henry, look at me. I want this to be a perfect Christmas. It’s our first Christmas together in our new home. We can buy a fuck ton of decor this year, and reuse it over the next few years.”
Henry takes a step forward, kissing Alex’s cheek. “You’re so good to me.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m also doing this for selfish reasons. I went from living in my childhood home, to living in the White House with ma. I’ve never had a place of my own to fully decorate, either, so we’re both getting to have fun with this.”
“Mhmm, seems like it,” Henry chuckles quietly.
Alex, it turns out, is a terrible influence on Henry. Every single thing that Henry shows interest in, Alex is encouraging him to put it in the cart. They end up with over a dozen strands of rainbow Christmas lights, multiple packs of brightly colored garland, and a light display for every single window in their house- upstairs and downstairs.
“Alex, this is completely impractical,” Henry tries, shaking his head. “We don’t have a front yard to even display it-”
“It’s not that big, our front porch can handle it,” Alex shrugs. “We’ll just have to squeeze by a little whenever we come home. If it just doesn’t work, we can put it in the backyard and it’ll be for just us to enjoy.”
Henry sighs quietly, a fond smile on his face. “If you say so, my love.”
“You know David is going to love it,” Alex grins as he adds the inflatable beagle to their cart. “We’ve got to represent our son.”
“Our son, huh?”
Alex blushes softly, but doesn’t back down. “He is our son. We both take care of him.”
“He does love you very much,” Henry smiles softly. “As do I.”
They end up with two full carts of brand new decor for the brownstone. Alex makes Henry promise not to look at the total when they pay, and Cash grumbles the entire way to the car, complaining about how many trips this was going to take to get everything inside. (It takes six trips between the three of them, Cash was right to complain)
When they get home, Henry lines all the decor up in the dining room before ushering Alex upstairs.
“You said you’d sleep well tonight,” he murmurs. “Don’t think I didn’t see how many times you yawned on the way home, Alexander, you’re going to change into pajamas and get your cute butt right into bed.”
Alex pouts, keeping his arms around Henry’s waist. “What if I don’t wanna wear pajamas?”
“It’s cold.” Henry kisses Alex’s nose. “You can sleep in one of my t-shirts, sweetheart. Does that sound okay?”
“Wanna wear your shirt, and your pants,” Alex mumbles. “Then I’ll go to sleep.”
Alex is completely asleep by the time Henry shuts the lights off.
The next morning, Alex sneaks out of bed early to go make breakfast for the two of them. He starts his own coffee and Henry’s tea, going through the bags of decor to organize them a bit more. Henry finally comes downstairs, sleepy and adorable, rubbing his eyes gently. They talk about the plan for the day- how long they want to spend on each section of the house, when they want to break for lunch, the areas they want to target first. Alex is in his zone with the list they’re making.
“I didn’t realize how many rainbow items we got,” Henry murmurs, blushing softly as he helps Alex wrap the lights around the tree. “Are you sure you’re okay with it? I know it’s the pride flag, and it’s really fun, but it’s not even your flag-”
“If you want to get technical, there is an entirely separate flag for gay men, too,” Alex reminds him. “The rainbow flag covers both of us, baby, don’t worry about it. It’s your first Christmas as an openly gay man. Plus, I’ve always loved bright Christmas lights. We used rainbow lights every single year, no exceptions. I did not allow boring white lights in my house. The public decor at the White House may have been all prim and proper, but the residence? Bright and colorful. I promise you that I am more than okay with this.”
“As long as you promise then,” Henry smiles softly. “Thank you.”
They spend the entire day decorating the house. They only break for lunch, leftovers from their dinner the night before, and they have Christmas music blasting the whole time. Alex even gets the blow up beagle situated on the porch just in time for the sun to go down. He takes Henry outside to show him what the lights look like from the sidewalk. When they make their way back inside, the house is bright. Rainbow lights shine from every corner, decor lining every single surface.
To Alex’s horror, he sees Henry wiping away tears. “Baby? Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just-” Henry laughs wetly and turns to face Alex. “This is so perfect, Alex. This is everything I could’ve dreamed of as a child. It reminds me of the tree my father used to put up in our residence, away from the public eye. We never had one after he died. Mum and Bea were lost in their grief, and Philip just didn’t care. I never thought I’d get the chance to decorate my own home, with any decorations I want, with the man I love more than anything. Happiness was not in my future before I met you. Obviously our coming out was less than ideal, but I am so unbelievably happy right now.”
“Oh, Hen.” Henry gently wipes under Henry’s eyes. “You’re free now, baby. This is our house, our lives. We can live how we want to now. I love you so much, baby.”
“I love you, too.”
And if Henry posts pictures of their living room on his instagram story just to piss off his grandma, well- that’s his business.
