Work Text:
Sometimes, when Alex thinks about dating a man, dating a prince, he wonders if he should do some of the same things that would be expected of him as when dating a woman.
Things that hadn’t really occurred to him when he and Henry having their secret sexcapades because they honestly didn’t see each other enough for some of those things to matter. The communication via texts and calls (and emails) were all normal.
The outings were all near-dates if he thought about it, even if they were used to fake their bromance (not that their friendship wasn’t real, just that they were so much more than friends). Not that they treated those outings as dates, even if they were in a way.
He spent so long thinking of it all as just sex that they probably don’t count, and any event after their outing wasn’t exactly a date. It was an event that showed how supportive everyone was.
But once they lived together, they saw each other a whole lot more often and didn’t really need dates exactly, especially not ones that involved other people possibly seeing them and posting them online.
And living together had better perks than just dating would have. It led to lots and lots of awesome sex but also led to some fights – well, a first fight since living together tonight, anyway.
Normally after a fight with a girlfriend, he would bring her flowers or chocolates to apologize, but were flowers a good apology to a man? Would Henry melt at flowers the way his exes always did?
Not that he needs to make him melt exactly. Just – he doesn’t like the thought of Henry being angry with him, so he wants to give him something that would help ease his rightful anger.
He can’t come home empty-handed when he knows that Henry’s obviously pissed at him.
So, he’ll have to take a chance.
Buy flowers and hope for the best.
It’s all he can do, really.
***
He gets home as quickly as possible.
The house is dark when he enters.
He’s not surprised that Henry’s not waiting for him in the living room, and he greatly hopes that he’s not going to be regulated to a guest room (the couch seems unlikely with the spare rooms that they have available) – would Henry do that when he knows that it bothered Alex as a kid to see his father on the couch? He’s not really sure. They haven’t really established the rules here.
So, he makes his way up the stairs as quickly as possible. David hasn’t even needed to make an appearance, there’s no sound of barking or the pitter patter of his doggy footsteps in the hall, so they must be in bed.
He hesitates a bit when he sees the door is only slightly ajar. Usually, they sleep with the door completely closed, but wide open in an inviting manner if one of them is home waiting for the other.
Being slightly ajar doesn’t exactly send an inviting message.
It’s not completely closed, either, so he can’t be sure that he’s regulated to another room for the night.
And the light is on, so maybe… but he’s still not one hundred percent sure if he should enter and interrupt Henry. Maybe he’d be better off waiting until the morning? (Though he’s loathed to spend any time not sharing a bed with Henry now that he gets to).
“You can come in, Alex,” Henry says, from within the room, voice soft and tired.
Clearly, he could see Alex’s shadow from the hallway and as he enters the room, he sees that David’s got his head up, clearly having heard Alex’s footsteps, and Henry’s on his side of the bed, propped up against his pillows, a book in his lap.
“Hi, baby,” Alex says, softly, entering the room slowly. The flowers held behind his back. “I know I am beyond late and I – I can’t apologize enough…”
“We had a video call with my mum, Alex,” Henry states, plainly. The tinge of disappointment rather than anger in his voice.
“I know – I know, and I didn’t mean to lose track of time, I just –” he stops himself, even as he approaches Henry’s side of the bed. “I don’t have a good excuse. I know that my therapist has given me some helpful things that I haven’t done nearly enough practice with, but I am really sorry.”
He offers the flowers to Henry, who looks more than a bit surprised.
“Flowers?”
Alex gives a half-uncertain shrug. “I, well, I wanted to show how sorry I am, and I was always told to get a girl flowers as an apology, and I didn’t know if it worked for –”
He’s cut off by Henry pulling on his shirt and kissing him soundly. He’s clearly far more pleased than Alex had been anticipating.
When the kiss breaks, Alex lets out a pleased sigh. “You liked them, then?”
“You’re not off the hook,” Henry states, plainly. “We’ve rescheduled for tomorrow, and I expect you to be home early tomorrow just in case.”
“I promise, I’ll be home early tomorrow,” Alex assures him. Even if he has to beg Cash to light his ass on fire to make it here as promised, he will. He’s not letting Henry down again.
“However,” Henry says, accepting and sniffing the flowers. “I do happen to enjoy flowers, especially when they come from the love of my life, so … thank you. They’re beautiful.”
Alex grins. “I’m glad you like them, and … duly noted. I promise that I won’t just buy them when we’re fighting. I’ll buy them just because.”
Henry gives him a smile, and a light kiss. “I like the sound of that. Just because – no reason, no expectation. Just because you love me. I shall have to find a gift that works just the same for you.”
“Maybe you should try getting me flowers and see how that goes,” Alex offers, a sly smile. He did have fun picking out the flowers, after all. “I’ve never been given flowers either, but they’re making you smile, so maybe they’ll make me smile, too.”
“Sounds like a brilliant plan, love,” Henry says with a grin. “We shall have to see, for now, why don’t you get ready for bed, and I’ll go take care of these flowers so that they don’t wilt too soon.”
“Sounds like a great plan.” He leans forward to kiss him one more time and says, “Thanks for forgiving me, baby.”
“Always, love. Always.”