Chapter Text
“I’m going to show get-well bear my new room!”
Elody bursts through the door of their new brownstone, cuddly toy brandished in one hand and taking the stairs two at a time.
Alex ducks through the door and sets down the box he’s carrying. Henry follows behind, though seems more concerned with his daughter’s speed than finding somewhere to deposit his own load.
“Don’t run - Angel, you’ll trip!”
The words are absolutely ignored as Elody disappears out of sight, her footsteps hammering over off into the distance. Alex can’t help but laugh. No amounts of her dad shouting will dampen that girl’s excitement. She has been vibrating with it all, crossing off the days on the kitchen calendar until the big move, the date circled in thick red pen with a heart added by Elody. It became a morning ritual for the girl, watching the day sneak closer and closer until the keys are in her dad’s hand and the room is finally hers.
“Someone’s excited…”
Alex feels Henry’s hands settle on his hips, his chin coming to rest on his shoulder.
“Well it’s a big day, aren’t you excited too?”
And… Yes. Alex is excited. Of course he’s excited. The house is beautiful. Huge. It ticks every one of the boxes on the wishlist Henry had shared one night curled around each other in bed.
More than one bathroom? Check.
A fenced-in garden for David? Check.
Space for a dedicated office space/library? Check.
A bay window with a bench where the sun hits in the afternoons, perfect for reading or Callie’s luxurious naps? Check.
Enough extra bedrooms to have people to stay from England or California? Check.
It is perfect.
And after Mary’s death, they can afford it.
Alex doesn’t know the exact number of pounds Henry has inherited from his late grandmother, though he knows it… Substantial... The Mountchristens are old money in a way which Alex had never really understood before. Between straight money, investments and properties the amount has been far more than any of the siblings had expected. Even though Mary had left everything to Phillip, a final fuck you to the the two ‘lesser’ grandchildren, he had split it equally between the three.
“It wouldn’t be right…” Phillip had said to Henry when he’d revealed his plans. “I think we all deserve something positive after dealing with that woman.”
And… And that’s great. Alex is happy for Henry. Ecstatic even. He deserves something good to come out of having that woman for a grandmother. Except… Except there’s something nagging. Niggling. Chewing at the edge of his thoughts whenever they’d ventured out house hunting or discussed finances.
“That’s what he’s after, I assume? Granny’s money?”
Fuck off!
Angus’ voice has been showing up more and more lately. It hadn’t even registered the night of Pez’s party, not with all the other bile Angus had spat about Elody which had been more important. But now? Now, Alex can’t stop those words echoing in his mind. Those stupid Scottish accented words stoking emotions like a red hot poker.
It’s not true. Alex knows it, Henry knows it. Alex hadn’t had the faintest idea about Henry’s blue blood when they’d met. Henry had just been… Henry. Professor. Father. Dog dad. Book obsessed. Wonderfully soft with the people he loves. Alex had fallen in love with the man which the world rarely ever got to see. The man Elody had helped him see. Money hadn’t factored into it.
And the house is beautiful. The perfect place to start their family. The money had facilitated that but Henry had driven the move, not Alex. And then there was the ownership… Henry had insisted they both be on the deeds, equal ownership. Even though Alex’s monetary input towards the down payment had only been enough to buy a few bricks, maybe a door handle or two.
“Love?”
Alex blinks and drags himself out of his thoughts. He looks down, seeing the engagement ring twinkling at him from Henry’s hand on his hip.
He’d done that.
He had asked Henry to marry him before the money had materialised. Everyone who matters knows Alex would be just as entranced with his Foxes no matter the situation they’d met in.
“Of course I’m excited!” Alex wiggles round in Henry’s arms, turning in the small tight space so he can look up at his fiancé. “I love it. I love you.”
Henry dips his head far enough to capture Alex’s lips. Alex can feel that Henry is still smiling, beaming in fact. He just wishes that he could match that energy without Angus’ words digging into the back of his mind and making their home there.
“Well I suppose it will be an expensive first marriage for you.”
The brownstone comes together slowly. A 5 bedroom, 3 bath over three floors, along with a separate 1 bedroom apartment in the basement which has had the same tenants for the last 20 years. That had almost been a deal breaker for Alex, the idea of buying a property with sitting tenants and becoming landlords had left him all kinds of uncomfy. But the couple are in their 60s, the husband confined to a wheelchair with MS. They seemed nice enough and had been so grateful to not have to find somewhere else in New York which is both accessible and on budget.
Even if the idea of being a landlord still left an odd taste in Alex’s mouth, he couldn’t deny that being able to settle their anxieties had been satisfying.
The rest of the property is perfect. An open plan living room and kitchen which stretched the entire footprint of the first floor. There’s space for a dining room table and the window bench Henry had yearned for. Up the stairs to the second floor is a wide hallway which leads off to Elody’s room, a family bathroom and 2 real spare rooms which could be ready at a moment’s notice for any members of their family. And on the third floor? Well that’s Alex’s favourite. A whole floor just for them. A large primary bedroom with its own en-suite (no more being a sticky mess, sneaking down the hall to clean up) and one final bedroom which they have already had measured for bookshelves across three walls.
Henry’s dream library.
Elody’s bedroom is the first room to be finished as both men agree its most important. Alex and Elody paint the room on his day off, each wall a different shade of purple. Her bed frame is the same but they pick out a new navy bedspread with yellow stars across the material. On the way back from the store, the pair stop to choose a few photographs to be professionally printed and framed.
A picture from the day of the picnic in the park, daisies in her hair and Henry and Bea on either side of her like guardian centuries.
One of Callie and David, snoozing in a sun beam.
The trio of them in England, Henry and Elody flashing their new jewellery while they each kiss Alex on the cheek. That is Alex’s favourite, though he’s a little biased.
The rest of the house comes along over the next few weeks, some new furniture and some old, a mix of both Henry and Alex’s tastes into something which is them.
Alex loves it, adores it and, if he could figure out how to silence that little voice in his head which sounds dangerously like Angus, it would be perfect.
Except he can’t.
It sneaks in during the most random of moments. The last few moments of consciousness before sleep, when a resident asks Alex how the move is going, when his card is declined while paying for Elody’s block of dance lessons and he had to SOS Henry for a bank transfer.
After that, Alex makes his decision. He was in law school after all, even if just for a semester. They’re not the first couple to have a financial imbalance. Or an age imbalance. Or a… whatever imbalance.
There’s an easy way to sort it.
Alex clicks the door to the brownstone shut, his hair askew and a bit greasy from his overnight at the shelter. Not that he’d spent much time sleeping. There’s always a never-ending file of forms to fill out and submit, paperwork to file with various governing bodies including their own system. And if he’d spent a little time researching his plans ahead of talking to Henry? Well that’s neither here nor there.
“Hey, Hen! You got a sec?”
Henry pauses, paint swatches fanned out in his hand as he ponders the colour options for the living room. He’s been swithering between spring meadow green and calm clouds blue for days now. The ‘final’ decision has been made at least a dozen times, so Alex doesn’t plan on buying paint any time soon. Maybe Henry will have decided by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.
“Hmm?”
Alex sits on the sofa, a gentle perch instead of the normal flop after a long night shift. “Can you…” He gestures to the cushion next to him, his knee already beginning to vibrate with nerves.
Henry frowns but nods in agreement. He settles down next to Alex and places a hand on his knee. “Love? You’re bouncing.”
One day Alex would learn how to be anything other than utterly transparent.
“Did something happen at the shelter?”
“No!” It comes out a little too loud, a little too fast. Alex forces himself to take a breath. Calm, this is a conversation that requires calm. He covers Henry’s hand with own and offers what he hopes is a convincing smile. “It’s just, well I’ve been thinking. It’s nothing bad!”
Henry doesn’t look like he quite believes his fiancé but nods all the same, “Well, alright. What’s on your mind?”
Big breath. Be brave. This is the mature thing to do, the adult thing to do. It makes sense.
“So I’ve been thinking about your gran’s inheritance. We’re engaged now and I’ve been thinking about, well the future, and what we’re both bringing into the marriage. I just wonder… I mean… Well I don’t want anyone to think I’m in this for the wrong reasons. I mean, I know that and you know that but the rest of the world can be so fucking noisy and I just want anyone to get the wrong idea so -”
Alex would pay disgusting amounts of money for someone to magically fix his verbal diarrhoea problem. It’s gotten better over the last year between Henry's influence and Shaan’s support and the new job but sometimes? Well he’s still Alex. Only human. Chaos with a capital C.
“I printed this at work,” Alex pulls a few stapled sheets from his work backpack and holds them out, “It’s just a standard one but if we need something more specific we can always find a lawyer who can…”
Henry looks from Alex down to the papers with a raised brow of suspicion. He takes the contract and unfolds it. He seems to read for a long time. Time gets a bit wobbly. Alex is sure Henry’s been reading for an hour. Multiple hours. Possibly even days. Elody will have had to sleep at the summer program or be adopted by Raf because surely it’s been at least a week that they’ve been sitting on the sofa while Henry reads over Alex’s offered contract.
This is sensible… Alex reminds himself… Logical. Thousands of couples do this. It’s not abnormal.
This is the mature decision.
“You -” Henry finally says as if something has sucked the moisture out of his mouth, “You want a prenup?”
The final word is spat like venom on his tongue.
Alex holds his body and wills himself not to flinch. There’s real anger in that little sentence. A real bite which Alex hasn’t had aimed at him since - Well since that awful morning in Rafael’s apartment.
Ah.
Fuck.
There may be a chance Alex has miscalculated the situation.