Meet Me Halfway

by magicmelinoe

5.2k words | One-shot

Can be read as a standalone or as sequel to Like Syrup On His Tongue.

Henry prefers his food spicy. If only he didn’t come to this realization at the worst possible time - much to Alex's entertainment.

-

Texas has broken him. No, Alex has broken him.

The thought is stubbornly stuck in Henry’s mind as he scrapes another tiny bite full of food onto his fork and stares at it.

It looks fine, in all honesty. The same exact way it had when he was a child.

It’s been a while since he’s been here, he’s more than aware of it. Since he’s been away from Texas in general, disregarding the odd trip to California, New York or Mexico to visit Alex’s family. Even their last vacation - a long week in Rio for their wedding anniversary - has been more recent than the last time he stepped foot inside Buckingham Palace.

Maybe it was foolish to expect a sense of nostalgia when he’s done his very best to cut this place out of his life for years.

And yet, there is a whole plethora of things he does regularly long for - his favorite tea, Jaffa Cakes, scones with clotted cream. On the rare particularly cold winter day even a bowl of cawl that inevitably invites memories of family evenings in front of a fireplace in a Welsh cottage.

As it turns out, distance doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder.

He puts the fork to his lips anyway and wonders silently if chewing less and just getting it over with is an option. His stomach rumbles, clearly not in agreement with the rest of him.

But this. This is worse than realizing he hasn’t missed English food.

Alex throws him a questioning glance, tilting his head slightly, and Henry watches with morbid curiosity how his husband takes a perfectly normal sized bite of chicken and swallows it with a straight face.

(Continue reading on ao3)

A tiny tribute to the wonderful Christmas fic @firenati0n wrote (read here)

Have a snippet because it’s Sunday and tattoo artist Alex is still tirelessly at work.

—

This is the moment Henry should stop him. The time to admit he’d really only made the appointment for an opportunity to talk to Alex.

Maybe part of it comes down to growing up in a palace where every decision had to be weighed for its merits and approved long in advance, but Henry is a planner. His therapist always tells him that a good routine is the key to stability and happiness, and Henry has lived his whole adult life by those words. Even the announcement of his abdication, though shocking for the public, had been brewing inside of him for years.

Henry Fox doesn’t do wild and spontaneous.

But then he looks at Alex. There is a whole patchwork of colorful lines visible around his biceps, emphasized when Alex crosses his arms. It's endlessly fascinating to Henry. But what draws him in is a warm smile that he still isn't sure he has earned. The impossibly long eyelashes framing kind eyes. That dimple Henry can’t ever seem to look away from.

He wonders if that kind of effortless confidence, that amount of life could ever seep into his skin, too.

And instead of leaving, Henry says, “Yes, let’s get that tattoo.”

Thank you for the tag @0npurpose

On this wonderful Sunday, I can offer you a few sentences from a WIP about Alex as a tattoo artist.

———

“I’m starting to remember how you got me to make a lot of questionable decisions in uni.”

“Hey now, you slept with the entire rowing team all on your own. I would readily claim that as a personal victory because it was glorious but alas, I had nothing to do with it. That was all you. Which brings me back to my original point: If you’re free to do anything, is your choice really to change nothing?”

Henry looks back at the website. Images of the studio are still rotating on a loop. He navigates the cursor back to the drop down menu and skips over Tattoos straight to Piercings.

A click leads him to the photo of a young woman with dark skin and short black hair, smiling at the person behind the camera. Henry’s gaze catches on the small metal rings adorning her nose, lips and eyebrows.

To be expected considering her profession, he supposes.

Nora Holleran, Professional Piercer the title states, followed by a short description of her personal background and a rather long list of certificates and industry achievements. They’re the same age.

Henry wonders what his list would look like if anyone had the guts to be honest.

A title he didn’t earn, a degree in English Literature from Oxford University he at least worked hard for, and three hundred twenty-seven irrelevant ribbons cut before he threw in the towel and ran away.

He scrolls back up. Nora looks kind and a bit cheeky, like she would immediately get on with his sister and Pez like a house on fire.

“I am going to get this earring.”

10 People l'd like to get to know better!

Thanks to @clockwrkpendrxgon for the tag! 🩷

Last song: Ma Meilleure Ennemie by Stromae & Pomme

Favorite Color: purple

Last Book: Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Last Movie: Howl's Moving Castle

Last TV show: Arcane

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: I love spicy food, I don’t care much for candy but I'm always down for pastries 🙂‍↕️

Relationship status: single

Last thing I googled: crochet patterns, I think?

Current Obsession: rwrb (and everyone was surprised 🤭)

Looking forward to: curling up on the sofa and plotting a new fic

No pressure tags: @miss-minnelli @firenati0n @sophie1973 @reagcdfox @jafffacakess @swoonoveryou3 and whoever else would like to play

May I offer you some fluff and humor? Today the creators of the @anywhere-with-you-event were revealed, so I’m here to present to you my contribution!

Thank you to the mods for making this possible and to @jackzimmermemes for giving me a prompt that inspired a whole bibliography.

———

How Do You Say I Love You

Alex is a gold star kindergarten teacher. He doesn't technically have a star, he'd never take anything from the sticker sheet in his top drawer for himself. But he loves this job. And if you love what you do you never work a day in your life, that was the promise, right?

Well, Alex works, harder than any other teacher he knows.

The first time he introduces himself to a kindergarten class as their teacher and is met with wide eyes and grins missing a tooth or two, he knows he is exactly where he is supposed to be. This is what he’s worked for. This is what matters.

When he enters the teachers’ lounge that same afternoon and meets the school’s librarian for the first time, he has half a mind to quit and move into his mom’s spare bedroom in D.C.

Henry Fox spares him one agonizingly quick look from across the room and physically takes a step back before he storms out altogether on his disgustingly long legs.

It’s just Alex’s added luck that the door hasn’t fully closed next to him, so he clearly hears Henry muttering, “That cannot be the new kindergarten teacher. That’s ridiculous.”

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