Alex and Henry admitted that they love each other and argued about whether or not they could be together with the lives they had. They both wanted to, but Henry didn't think he'd be able to as a prince. They argued until Alex said that he'd leave as soon as Henry told him to.

“Jesus, could you stop being an obtuse fucking asshole for, like, twenty seconds?” “So glad you flew here to insult me—” “I fucking love you, okay?”

“When have I ever, since the first instant I touched you, pretended to be anything less than in love with you? Are you so fucking self-absorbed as to think this is about you and whether or not I love you, rather than the fact I’m an heir to the fucking throne?”

“I never thought I’d be stood here faced with a choice I can’t make, because I never … I never imagined you would love me back.” “Well,” Alex says. “I do. And you can choose.” “You know bloody well I can’t.”

“What do you want?” “I want you—” “Then fucking have me.” “—but I don’t want this.”

“Tell me you’re done with me. I’ll get back on the plane. That’s it. And you can live here in your tower and be miserable forever, write a whole book of sad fucking poems about it. Whatever. Just say it.” “Fuck you,” Henry says his voice breaking

Alex knew he was going to love this stubborn shithead forever.

“Tell me,” he says, a ghost of a smile around his lips, “to leave.” He feels before he registers being shoved backward into a wall, and Henry’s mouth is on his, desperate and wild.

Alex is a cliché on an ivory bedspread, and he hates himself but he’s so in love. He’s in stupid, unbearable love, and Henry loves him too, and at least for one night it matters, even if they both have to pretend to forget in the morning.

Don’t miss it this time. He’s too important.

“Your hair in the mornings is truly a wonder to behold”

“He’s fine. It’s all very deeply fine. A whole lifetime of fine.” He’s been pulling at a thread on the duvet, but he looks back up, squarely into Alex’s eyes, and says, “That’s not good enough for me.” There’s a desperate stutter in Alex’s heartbeat. “It’s not?”

“Before you, I was all right letting everything happen to me. I honestly have never thought I deserved to choose.” His hand moves, fingertips brushing a curl behind Alex’s ear. “But you treat me like I do.”

“I—I wasn’t ready to hear it. That night, at the lake … it was the first time I let myself think you might actually say it. I panicked, and it was daft and unfair, and I won’t do it again.” “You better not,” Alex tells him. “So, you’re saying … you’re in?”

“I’m terrified, and my whole life is completely mad, but trying to give you up this week nearly killed me. And when I woke up this morning and looked at you … there’s no trying to get by for me anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be allowed to tell the world, but I … I want to.”

“One day. If there’s any legacy for me on this bloody earth, I want it to be true. So I can offer you all of me, in whatever way you’ll have me, and I can offer you the chance of a life. If you can wait, I want you to help me try.”

“Okay,” he says. “I’m into making history.” Henry rolls his eyes and seals it with a smiling kiss, and they fall back into the pillows together, Henry’s wet hair and sweatpants and Alex’s naked limbs all tangled up in the lavish bedclothes.

“I don’t think I told you, but she, uh. Well, when she fired me, she told me that if I wasn’t a thousand percent serious about you, I needed to break things off.” Henry nuzzles his nose behind Alex’s ear. “A thousand percent?” “Yeah, don’t let it go to your head.”

“You’re really not frightened of what might happen?” “No, I mean, of course I am. It definitely stays secret until after the election. And I know it’ll be messy. But if we can get ahead of the narrative, wait for the right time and do it on our own terms, I think it could be ok.”

What about you?” “What about me?” Henry says. “Christ, Alex. The whole bloody time.” “The whole time?” “Since the Olympics.” “The Olympics?” Alex yanks Henry’s pillow out from under him. “But that’s, that’s like—” “Yes, Alex, the day we met, nothing gets past you, does it?”