Chapter Text
"So when you left for break, did you ever think you'd be returning with a boyfriend?" Henry's looking at him from the passenger seat, a sly grin on his face. Alex rolls his eyes.
"Don't get a big head, Windsor. I'm obviously just using you as my ticket into the rooftop parties at McMurtry."
"Oh, is that what all this has been about?"
"Totally. That's been my plan ever since we had that class together last year. Make you fall desperately in love with me on sight, pine and yearn for a solid year and a half while June is undercover becoming friends with you, hit you with a kiss when you're least expecting it, and then take over your dorm room when we get back to campus. It's been a long game, but it'll all be worth it now." Alex shoots him a smirk.
"June's involved too, is she?"
"Yeah, sorry to break it to you, but she's way too cool to be friends with a chump like you." Perhaps slightly undermining his point, Alex reaches over and takes Henry's hand atop his knee. Henry immediately threads their fingers together, huffing out a laugh.
"So I suppose all the sex we're been having is just incidental? Natural consequence of your evil plot?"
"Exactly. I had to really commit, y'know?"
"That's interesting, because I seem to remember you waxing poetic on multiple occasions about how much you love my—"
"Jesus fucking Christ," June yells from the backseat, followed by a sound thwack on the back of both of their heads. Alex winces. "Don't you dare finish that fucking sentence. I'm right here, are you aware of that? Or are you too wrapped up in your little bubble of freakish flirting that both of you seem to get off on so much even though no normal person would ever consider it romantic? I might have given my permission for this sad excuse of a relationship to exist, but I reserve the right to revoke it at any time, and you're on thin fucking ice right now, because this is absolutely disgusting—"
"Okay, okay, we get it," Alex interrupts, yelling back over his shoulder. He flits his eyes to Henry, who's looking down at his lap, grinning.
"If you think I want to hear about this nonsense, you are sorely mistaken," June continues, her voice becoming higher and higher pitched. "And you would do well to remember that I gave you each other's company, and I can just as easily take it away!"
"I think she's still bitter that she lost the bet," Alex stage whispers to Henry, who snorts, then tries to cover it with a cough.
"Et tu, Windsor?" June shrieks. "Kids these days don't show a modicum of respect—"
June keeps ranting, but Alex is suddenly distracted by Henry's thumb, stroking along his palm and over his wrist. He glances at Henry again, who's gazing back at him with hooded eyes and a lazy little smile on his lips. Henry lifts their joined hands to his mouth to press a soft kiss to Alex's knuckles, and a slow rush of heat curls through his gut.
So this is what it's supposed to feel like, Alex thinks dizzily, trying to stay focused on the road.
Later, when June's napping in the backseat, Alex squeezes Henry's hand, still warm and steady in his.
"Hey," he murmurs. Henry looks over at him. "The sunlight looks good on you, too."
Henry's resulting smile is stupidly big and blindingly beautiful. "My boyfriend, the romantic," he says, his voice like honey, and Alex's heart swells in his chest.