Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the time that he’s been dating Henry, Alex has been on the receiving end of no less than four shovel talks.

Or.

Okay.

That number may vary, depending on what exactly counts as a shovel talk.

For example, Liam telling him to “get your head out of your emotionally constipated ass, Alex, or I swear to God if you fuck this up with Henry I will make you regret it,” shouldn’t count towards his total. Because, like, he’s mostly sure that that was Liam letting go of some of his unresolved bitterness over what had happened between the two of them during high school? Which is honestly completely fair; Alex is more than willing to admit to his own failings (rare though they may be). The point, however, is that he’s reasonably sure that it hadn’t come from a place of pure concern for Henry’s emotional welfare, hence why it shouldn’t count in his personal and completely unbiased opinion.

Also there was that time that Shaan had told Alex of all the creative ways he knew how to hide a body such that it would never be found, but seeing as how he’s Henry’s equerry, Alex had put that particular conversation strictly under the “job requirements” category rather than the “shovel talk” category.

So yeah.

Alex has had anywhere between 4-6 shovel talks so far, and given that he hasn’t yet had cause to spend any significant amount of time alone with Catherine or Philip, he’s reasonably sure that that number is still set to go up by at least two in the future.

( He wonders if Arthur would have given him a shovel talk.

Probably, right?

He and Henry used to be pretty close.

Sometimes Alex wishes he’d gotten to meet him. Not just because he was a total babe, but also because he was a pretty great father, according to Henry.)

Now, he’s not sure how many shovel talks people typically get upon entering a new relationship, given that there isn’t exactly any empirical data on the subject, but it’s safe to say the number is probably less than 4, and definitely less than 6.

Which means that at this point, Alex considers himself something of an expert on them.

For the most part, they haven’t really bothered him. If anything, he finds them kind of entertaining.

In fact, if someone were to ask him to rank the shovel talks he’s received in order of how much they bother him, he’d have a rather tough time doing so.

Because that’s how little they bother him.

Although that isn’t to say that he couldn’t rank them - because Alex is nothing if not an overachiever, and also lists are kind of his specialty.

So you know what? Just because you said he couldn’t do it, he’ll make the damn list for you. Right here. Right now.

Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz’s definitive ranking on every shovel talk he’s received thus far (excluding Liam and Shaan because, as established, they don’t count) and how much they don’t bother him:

1. Percy “Pez” Okonjo

So obviously, Pez’s shovel talk had been the one that had bothered Alex the least. Not to say that it was the least intimidating , by any means. No, if Alex were ranking these based on which ones still make him feel queasy whenever he thinks about them, Pez would definitely take the cake.

But in terms of how much they bother him?

Well.

Pez is Henry’s best friend.

His real best friend, a title he had earned fair and square instead of having it handed to him on a silver platter in order to avoid causing an international incident. This kind of shit comes with the territory, and Alex understands that.

Honestly, it had made something in his stomach go all warm and fuzzy, to know that even before he had come along, Henry had had someone so fiercely on his side.

It also helps that, immediately afterwards, Pez had thrown an arm around his shoulders and declared that the two of them were going out for drinks, no Henry or June or anyone else allowed.

Because yeah, Alex is completely head over heels for Henry and would spend every waking moment with him if he could, but on the other hand? He also kind of desperately wants Pez to like him, and there’s something reassuring in knowing that Pez wants to hang out with him one-on-one. It helps soothe the (totally non-existent) sting of their previous topic of discussion.

2. Beatrice “Bea” Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

Honestly, Bea should probably be tied with Pez on this list, because her talk had bothered Alex about as much as Pez’s had (which is to say almost not at all).

Is it true that Alex had felt a split second of frustration that, even after their conversation that day in Kensington after the emails were leaked, Bea still felt the need to warn Alex to be careful with her brother’s heart or she would make him regret it?

Maybe.

But Alex is familiar enough with having a protective older sister to not take it personally. Honestly, he wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that June had had a similar talk with Henry. (She hadn’t. In case you were wondering.) So instead of pouting about it and making a general nuisance of himself like he normally would, Alex puts on his most charming smile and takes Bea’s hands into his own.

“His heart is safe with me,” he tells her in his most earnest voice. “I’ll keep it right next to my own, and make sure no one can trample it ever again.”

He knows it’s the right thing to say when all the tension drains out of Bea’s shoulders immediately, and she leans forward to pull him into a fierce hug that reminds him of his sister. He melts into it readily.

“I trust you,” she says where her face is pressed into his shoulder. Her voice wavers a little, and he knows how hard it must be for her to put her faith in someone else, after all these years of being her brother’s ever vigilant protector.

3. Catalina June “Bug” Claremont-Diaz

June is one of Alex’s favourite people in the entire world, no contest.

Some people may find that a little weird, maybe a little pathetic, but Alex doesn’t care.

His sister has always been on the front lines protecting him, whether it be letting him sleep in her bed when they were children and their parents were fighting so loud it felt like their voices shook the house, or when the rumours about Alex and Henry had first started going around and she hadn’t even missed a beat before offering herself up as a fake girlfriend for Henry.

Sometimes that means protecting him from himself, like when he’s pulled three all-nighters in a row and is running on fumes, so she bodily drags him away from his work and bullies him into eating a proper meal and getting at least eight uninterrupted hours of sleep.

She also knows more than a little about Alex’s self-sabotaging tendencies.

Which is probably why she finds herself on his and Henry’s bed in the brownstone one day, watching him tear through his closet trying to find the right outfit to wear for his dinner date. She’s got that dreamy look on her face that she gets whenever she watches those cheesy hallmark movies she’s so fond of around the holiday season.

“You better not fuck this up, Little Bit. I swear to God, I’ve never seen you as happy as you are with Henry and-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it!” Alex says, cutting her off with a roll of his eyes. “Are you losing your touch, Bug? All the rest of our friends have already beat you to the punch on this particular conversation.”

June’s mouth immediately snaps shut at his words, and there’s a wounded look on her face that immediately has Alex feeling bad. Normally he wouldn’t be so short with her when he knows that she’s just trying to look out for him, but Nora had already given him her version of the talk earlier that day and his nerves are still on edge from it.

Honestly, June probably shouldn’t even be on the shovel talk list, because he’d stopped her before she really had a chance to get going, before she’d even reached the threat part of her speech. Alex still includes her though, because even in the sentence and a half that she’d managed to get out before he interrupted her, she’d managed to land a bigger blow than either Pez or Bea had.

He knows that she doesn’t mean anything negative by it but.

But.

She’s one of his people, at the end of the day.

Like, yeah, sure, they’re the Super Six now. They’re all each other’s friends, and there shouldn’t be sides in this. It’s not like Alex sees his boyfriend as an opponent or anything.

At the end of the day though, the simple truth of it is that Pez and Bea’s shovel talks hadn’t really hurt Alex much at all because they’re Henry’s people. Henry had brought them with him into the friend group, and their loyalties will always lie with him first over Alex. It’s a moot point, because Henry and Alex will always be on the same side anyways, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

On the other hand, Nora and June are supposed to be Alex’s people. They’re supposed to be loyal to Alex first, and now it feels like they’re both clamouring to show their support for Henry, and it feels like Alex has been left out to dry.

“Alex,” says June, drawing his attention back to her. “Have the others been giving you a hard time?”

She looks about ready to spit fire at even the thought, and it only serves to make Alex feel like more of an asshole.

Because this is his Junebug, his big sister, one of his favourite people in the world, and she would never purposely hurt Alex

So he smiles at her reassuringly, and steps over to drop a kiss on the top of her head.

“Of course not, Bug,” he reassures her. “I’m just a little stressed because of school, so I lost my temper at you. I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

June frowns up at him, seeing through his carefree façade immediately. Before she can call him out on it though, Alex hurries her out of the house with the excuse that Henry would be home soon from the shelter and they would need to leave for their dinner reservation.

So no, despite that first initial wave of hurt, June’s interrupted shovel talk doesn’t bother Alex.

She was just looking out for him.

4. Nora Holleran

Okay, this one hurt. A lot. And Alex doesn’t even want to pretend otherwise. 

It had happened earlier that day, when Nora had met up with Alex on the NYU campus for lunch, and the lingering hurt from the conversation is probably why he had had such a disproportionate reaction to June’s big sisterly fussing later that evening.

“When was the last time you even took Henry on a date?” Nora had asked, one eyebrow raised as if she knew she wouldn’t like the answer.

When Alex takes too long to reply, she sighs. 

“Alejandro…” she says, a warning note in her voice, and Alex immediately feels his hackles rise.

“I’ve been busy with school!” he says defensively. “Law school isn’t exactly a walk in the park, you know.”

“I know,” Nora tells him, placating. “But Alex…you can’t just let all your relationships fall to the wayside. Henry doesn’t deserve that.”

Alex puts down his spoon and leans back in his chair, his arms crossed defensively in front of him. “It isn’t going to be like this forever,” he says. “Henry understands that.”

“Just because he understands it doesn’t mean he’s happy with it,” Nora says. “He’s already been through so much, Alex. If you hurt him any more on top of everything he’s been through, I’ll never forgive you.”

Alex purses his lips, and swallows hard around the lump in his throat.

The thing is, he’s tired . He’s tired of having this same talk again and again and again.

Especially when Henry is the one that has a history of walking away from him. Henry is the one that had run away from Alex, first on New Year’s Eve, and then again at the lakehouse. He can’t exactly say that though, because he really truly has moved on from it, and he doesn’t want to hold it over Henry’s head like a trump card to win whatever argument he’s not in the mood to have. Henry doesn’t deserve that.

He looks back at Nora.

“Cut the bullshit,” he tells her, and her brows furrow in anger. “I know you’re just trying to look out for him, but I don’t need you insinuating that I’m being a shitty boyfriend or whatever. You don’t see me interfering with your relationship with June, do you? So stay the hell out of my relationship with Henry.”

Without giving her a chance to reply, Alex scrapes back his chair and stands up to leave, abandoning his half-finished lunch without a second thought.

He’s known that June and Nora have some kind of complicated thing for a while now. They’re not exactly dating, he’s pretty sure of that part, but they’re also not completely platonic either.

Honestly, it had been something of a relief when he had first figured it out.

Almost as long as he and June had known Nora, as long as the Whitehouse Trio™ had been a thing, Alex had felt like the two of them had had a special kind of bond that he could never hope to understand, let alone be a part of.

It had felt a little isolating sometimes, even though he knew without doubt how much the two of them loved him, even though he knew that they wanted him around.

But things should be better now, right?

Nora and June have each other, and now Alex has Henry.

But Nora and June and Bea and Pez have all taken it upon themselves to rally around Henry, to protect him from Alex, and suddenly Alex is the odd one out again.

Walking towards his next lecture, Alex pulls out his phone, and shoots off a text to Henry.

‘Dinner tonight?’

Chapter Text

As soon as Henry steps through the front door of their house, he finds himself accosted. A hand wrapped around his tie, pulling him down. Smiling lips, pressed against his own. A low laugh that never fails to make his knees go just a little bit weak.

The kiss is quick, chaste, and then Alex is releasing him and pulling back to grin impishly up at Henry. Sparkling brown eyes are squinted into happy crescents from the force of his smile, and Henry can’t help but laugh as well, leaning back in so he can rest his forehead against his boyfriend’s.

“You’re home early,” he says, keeping his tone light and playful.

“My last class of the day was cancelled,” Alex answers easily, and if Henry wasn’t already suspicious, he would have missed how the answer came just a little too fast, Alex’s voice just a little too casual.

The thing is, Henry knows Alex’s schedule, almost as well as Alex himself does. He knows that Alex has a pretty significant presentation coming up on Monday that he’s been stressing over so much that he’s gotten barely a handful of hours of sleep over the last few days combined.

So when Henry had received Alex’s text earlier ( ‘Dinner tonight?’ ), he had been immediately suspicious.

He must take a little too long to answer, because suddenly Alex is pulling away from him, all nervous energy as he pushes Henry towards their bedroom.

“Come on then, your royal highness, hurry up and get changed! We wouldn’t want to miss our dinner reservation!”

The thing is, when Alex gets like this, he’s a bit like a runaway train, and it can be hard to stop his momentum. So Henry purposely digs in his heels a bit, trying to give himself some time to think through how he wants to handle this situation, which causes Alex to huff out a laugh.

“Baby,” he says in that whiny, pouty voice he uses when he’s trying not to be too endeared by Henry. “We have to go ! Our reservation is in thirty minutes and you need to get changed so I can romance the shit out of you!”

By now, they’ve reached their bedroom, and Henry has finally decided on a course of action. Before Alex has a chance to react, he spins around and pushes Alex up against a wall with a hand to his chest. Taken by surprise, Alex goes easily, and by the time he’s processed what’s happening, he finds himself pinned in place, both wrists encased in Henry’s firm but gentle grip, and a thigh pressed between his legs. Henry’s chest is pushed up against Alex’s, and their faces are so close together that they’re sharing breath.

Alex’s eyes go a little glazed, and a small part of Henry’s brain is smug as he realises he can already feel Alex getting hard. Henry knows how much his boyfriend likes a little bit of manhandling once in a while, and he’s not against using dirty tricks to get his way.

“Darling?” he asks, and Alex immediately reacts to that specific tone by leaning forward for a kiss, struggling against Henry’s hold to try and bring his hands up. Henry holds firm though. “What’s all this about?”

Alex’s brows furrow slightly, and he raises his gaze from where it had been trained on Henry’s lips. “Is there something wrong with me wanting to take my boyfriend out on a nice date?”

“There is when you have that presentation for your Criminal Law class on Monday that’s worth a quarter of your final grade and you’ve been stressing over it for the past month,” Henry tells him in a gentle voice.

Alex looks away - one of his major tells; he can never quite bring himself to look Henry in the eyes when he’s lying to him. It’s rather endearing.

“The presentation is mostly complete anyways,” he says. “I really only have to put on some finishing touches and practise what I have to say.”

“Be that as it may, my love, I know you can never enjoy yourself properly when you have a deadline looming over your head. We already had plans to go out drinking with our friends next weekend anyways, didn’t we? Why the sudden rush to take me out for dinner tonight?”

“Going out with our friends isn’t a date though,” Alex says, shrugging. “It’s been a while since we went out, just the two of us, and I wanted to do something nice for you. So.”

He’s still refusing to look at Henry.

“You do nice things for me all the time,” Henry reassures him, and manages to stop Alex from arguing by pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You make an elaborate breakfast for us on the weekends.” Another kiss, this time to his left cheek. “You notice when my supply of tea is running low and stop by the grocery store on your way home to pick up more.” One more kiss, on his right cheek. “You do all the dishes because you know the wet food is a sensory issue for me.”

“Yeah, but that’s all, like, basic human decency!” Alex argues, starting to look frustrated. “And you do the same for me! If you don’t want to go on a date, you can just say so.”

Henry lets go of one of Alex’s wrists to cup his face with a gentle hand. “Of course I would like to go on a date with you, Alex,” Henry says, stroking a thumb along his cheek. “But not when I know that you’re already overwhelmed, and exhausted, and you’re just going to spend the whole time stressing about your schoolwork. There’s always time for dates during the winter holidays, or during summer break. And law school isn’t going to last forever.”

Alex casts his gaze this way and that, clearly trying to find an argument, and Henry can pinpoint the exact moment all the fight drains out of him when he can’t think of anything.

His shoulders slump, and he looks downwards. “Earlier today,” he finally says, and Henry stays silent, understanding that they’ve finally reached the crux of the matter. “When I was having lunch with Nora. She said…”

“What did she say, darling?”

There’s something vulnerable in the curve of his shoulders, in the way his head dips down slightly, and it makes Henry ache to pull him into the protective circle of his arms. Instead, he pulls away slightly, keeping his hands to himself so that Alex can finally get his bearings.

“She said that I’ve been neglecting our relationship. Because of how preoccupied I’ve been with school, and because we haven’t been on a proper date in weeks.” Alex’s voice is barely above a whisper as he says it, but his words clang loudly around in Henry’s head, and suddenly his chest feels tight with emotion at how much Nora’s words are clearly affecting his boyfriend.

“Alex, I hope you’ll forgive me saying this but…fuck that.”

Alex’s eyes finally snap up to meet Henry’s, looking shocked at the absolute venom in his voice.

“I understand that she’s just trying to look out for us and I appreciate it more than you know, but Nora is not the one I am in a relationship with. Her opinion on how long is ‘too long’ for us to go without a date has no bearing because for one thing, there is a lot about our relationship that she doesn’t know about. For another, the things that she expects from a romantic partner and that she requires in order to feel fulfilled in a relationship are valid, but they don’t necessarily align with what you and I expect out of our relationship.”

Henry’s feeling almost out of breath by the time he finishes speaking, and Alex is looking at him with wide eyes. There’s a telltale tremble at the corner of his lips, and he swallows hard in a way that Henry knows is trying to hold back a sob.

“Now,” he says, “If you do want a break from your studies because you’re feeling overwhelmed and would like to think about something else for one night, then I have no objections. I love you, and I’ve missed you with how much our schedules have kept us away from each other these past few weeks, and I would love to spend an evening of quality time with you here. In the comfort of our house. Because quite frankly my love, you look like absolute shit.”

The last statement startles an outraged squawk out of Alex, and he smacks Henry lightly on the chest.

It’s true, though.

Alex’s beautiful face is lined with fatigue, and despite his valiant attempts earlier to appear energetic and excited, each of his movements betrays the heaviness of his limbs. There are dark purple smudges under his eyes from too many days with too little sleep, and his dark curls hang limp around his face.

Henry chuckles, and steps away to give Alex some room. He releases the grip he has on the wrist that was still pinned to the wall, and instead takes Alex’s hand into his own, tangling their fingers together. Now that he knows the jig is up, Alex doesn’t even bother to hide his bone-deep weariness as Henry pulls him towards their ensuite.

“Now you’re going to be a good boy, and you’re going to let me take care of you, do you understand, my love?” asks Henry, once he’s got Alex leaning against their bathroom counter, carefully undoing the buttons on his shirt.

Alex stops him after only a few buttons, his fingers loosely looped around Henry’s wrist, and when Henry looks up at him, he sees a flash of hesitation in his eyes.

“No sex,” Henry reassures him. “Just a quick shower, then some takeout and a movie. How’s that sound? I’ll even let you put on Empire.”

Alex laughs, and lets go of his wrist, which Henry takes as explicit permission to continue undressing him.

“You know, I think I’m in the mood for something more lighthearted tonight. We can do Return of the Jedi instead.”

“My, my, someone is feeling rather magnanimous tonight.”

By the time Henry has managed to get them both undressed, the water is nice and hot, and he pushes Alex into the shower stall ahead of him.

The groan that Alex lets out as soon as the water hits him would have Henry worked up on any other night, but as it is, it pokes at something soft and tender in his heart.

“Come on then, turn around so I can do your hair,” Henry says, reaching for the bottle of Alex’s shampoo.

“I thought I was supposed to be the one doing something nice for you tonight,” Alex grumbles sleepily as Henry gently massages the shampoo into his curls. “Why are you the one taking care of me now?”

“Well, I rather enjoy taking care of the people I love,” Henry answers easily, dropping a kiss on his shoulder. “So I’d say this is a win-win for both of us.”

“Mm, that doesn’t sound right,” says Alex, but the response takes a little too long to come, and Henry can tell from the way his shoulders are slouched ever so slightly forwards that he’s barely awake at the moment.

“You know that acts of service is my love language,” Henry reminds him with a laugh.

Alex snorts. “Hufflepuff ass bitch,” he mutters.

Henry rolls his eyes, but doesn’t bite back as he normally would.

Ten minutes later, the two of them are finally squeaky clean, and he knows that Alex is going to be annoyed tomorrow morning that Henry didn’t do his full curly hair routine, but honestly, Henry is just trying to get him into some clothes before he passes out. He has no clue how his boyfriend had planned to stay awake through a dinner date.

By the time he has them both dried off and is helping Alex pull on a pair of boxers, Henry has made his peace with the fact that they’re not making it downstairs to their living room for takeout and a movie.

He knows it will probably mean Alex insisting on a midnight run to that 24 hour diner down the street when he inevitably wakes up hungry, but Henry finds he can’t bring himself to care, especially once they’re both curled up together under the covers.

Alex’s back is pressed up against Henry’s chest, his still damp curls smelling sweetly of strawberries. He’s out like a light within moments, and Henry himself lasts only long enough to send a quick text to Nora before he’s also nodding off.

‘Nora, I understand you only had the best of intentions, but I would appreciate if, from here on out, you could refrain from interfering in mine and Alex’s relationship.’