Inescapable History, Inescapable Fates

Finally

Alex gave them approximately twenty minutes, which was enough but made Henry think they both needed to have sex with people they liked more.

"Are you done? I need my notes." Alex called, Henry let him in without bothering to put on a shirt. Hunter was naked beneath the sheets, scrolling through messages. Alex gave Henry a once over, trying and failing to appear unaffected, and started rifling through his desk.

"Hey, wanna go to a dorm party?" Hunter mumbled to Henry, "As like bros though." Henry glanced at Alex. "Oh, Alex, you can come too," Hunter said. Alex looked at him, confused, "...to the Dorm Party."

"Oh," Alex looked at Henry, "Sure,"

Alex retrieved a bottle of rum from under his bed so they could pre-game on the walk there.

"Why do you study so much?" Hunter asked Alex, which Henry noted was not the nicest way to begin a conversation with someone you had gotten into a fistfight with the week before, "I mean, you're not just studying the Sandhurst stuff, are you? You're doing extra work."

Alex took the rum from Hunter and gulped it down. "I don't know why." For a moment he looked lost and then, with a flourish, he threw open the door of the dorm. "Let's party!"

The room was small, but there was music playing and people had gotten drunk enough to start dancing. Henry spent so much time with Alex locked in their room studying, he had forgotten how extraverted and charming he could be. Henry expected Alex to stay near him, maybe glare daggers at him and Hunter every time they touched, but instead he went and danced with SOME GIRL. It bothered Henry more than he thought it would. He must have been staring because Hunter elbowed him,

"Bro, c'mon," Hunter said like they hadn't had sex an hour before. Henry almost whirled on Hunter, but someone jumped on a chair and shouted for everyone to sit down and play spin the bottle, so Henry let it go. He sat beside Hunter with a respectful gap between their crossed legs. Alex sat across from them, holding a girl in his lap and grinning at Henry like a fiend. What do you want from me? Henry wondered. Alex was dancing with other people but constantly looking at him.

The host of the party spun first and kissed a red-haired girl with tongue. The college students oohed like twelve-year-olds. The second kiss was between two boys and they almost refused, but, after enough peer pressure and postering, kissed - almost on the cheeks. And then it was Henry's turn. He spun the bottle, closed his eyes, and hoped - for... something. That it would land on Alex, that it wouldn't land on Alex. He heard Hunter curse under his breath and opened his eyes. The bottle was pointed next to him, at Hunter.

"We're not doing this. We're bros, we can't kiss." Hunter protested. He slurred his words but was not drunk enough to completely forget his internalized homophobia.

"Come on, we did it." One of the boys who kissed earlier shouted.

Henry looked at Alex who was now staring at him, looking completely sober even though he had drunk all night.

"Just do it Hunt," Henry murmured.

"Fine," Hunter replied.

Henry kissed him too hard for two people pretending to just be bros. When he opened his eyes, Alex was murmuring something about getting more drinks and leaving. Henry waited a few painful moments to let the game continue and avoid suspicion, then followed him out. Alex wasn't in the hall or their room and Henry almost gave up looking for him.

Why was he looking for him? To tell him he had no right to be jealous? To ask him to come back? To ask him to stay? To ask him to just make a move instead of staring?

The shooting range, Henry realized suddenly. He checked under Alex's bed to make sure the gun was gone and shrugged on a light coat.

"You are going to get caught and sent home from Sandhurst."

Alex shot the gun three more times in rapid succession. He was hitting the target's heart. Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Fucking boy scout." He turned to Henry. He looked upset, almost teary. He turned back towards the target, finger on the trigger. Itchy. "I'm sorry, I don't-" He sighed and looked to the heavens, "I don't know why it bothers me so much."

"Me and Hunter?" Alex shot the target again in answer. Henry jumped. "I think I know why."

Alex shook his head, "I've seen Raphael kiss his boyfriend, I'm fine with gay people I swear." Henry started to laugh. He was drunk, and breaking the law, and talking to a spy, and trying to explain the basics of attraction to a boy he liked. Once he started, he couldn't stop. He almost fell to the ground as Alex's eyes knit together in confusion. "I'm... I'm not... I."

"Alex, I don't think you're homophobic!" Henry finally said, pulling himself together.

Alex carefully set down his gun and crossed his arms. "What do you think?"

"Christ, you are as thick as it gets."

And then Henry stepped forward and kissed him.

Notes: Sorry about the month-long break! my life was a mess and now it's not so ill be updating more regularly.