The First Prince (A RWRB Fanfic)

22. The Speech (Alex)

A/N: GUYS OMG. Yesterday I had a Spanish quiz, right? And in one of the sentences, the guy's name was MIGUEL. GUESS WHO I THOUGHT OF IN THAT MOMENT?? OH MY DEAR GOD I LITERALLY GOT SO MAD WHEN I SAW THAT NAME LMAOOO. (like seriously, of all the names, miguel?? rlly?? u can do better!) and then i thought... what the heck is rwrb doing to me? i can't even do a spanish quiz without thinking of it 😂

anyways, enjoy the chapter :)

"Good morning, love," Henry said while Alex was waking up. Oh how he loved to wake up to Henry's voice, smell, touch, sight, and taste, even if he did have bad morning breath. Henry occupied all of his senses. It was unbelievable how he managed to do that, but he did and Alex wouldn't complain because Henry was his for the rest of his life. 

"G'morning baby," Alex replied and sat up.

Henry then proceeded to drag his palm down his face, "Oh god, today is the one year anniversary of the shelter, I have to give a fucking speech." 

"Well, at least now you can use all your years of prince training," Alex joked.

Henry groaned, "Shut up!" 

"Henry! First you said 'fucking' and now you're telling me to shut up? You're improving!" Alex exclaimed. 

"Oh my dear god Alex," Henry said. Alex just laughed. The fact was, Henry was starting to lose the disgust at saying curse words, or phrases that were considered profane at the palace,  and Alex was all for it. Maybe it was because Henry was spending too much time with Alex, but there was no such thing as too much time with the love of your life, right?

"Anyways, do you want to practice on me? June told me that you sent her the speech to proofread and that she sent it back to you with her edits," Alex offered. 

Henry gave him a relieved smile, "That would be great, actually. You're sure you don't have to work or anything?"

Alex snorted, "I took the day off for your big day, remember?"

Henry smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek, "You're the best, you know that?"

"Well, yeah, but it doesn't hurt to keep telling me," Alex said. Henry rolled his eyes at him. Hems probably thinking about how much of an ego Alex has but how much he loves him because of that. Alex knows he's thinking about how much he loves Henry through all his highs and lows, and strengths and flaws. All of his traits are what makes Henry so perfect, and it's kind of crazy how his every thought leads to Henry, without fail. 

They both got up and just freshened up a bit. The event wasn't until the evening so they had plenty of time to practice and laze around. Throughout the day, they practiced Henry's speech, watched the Great British Bake-Off when Henry needed to cool down, made-out, and Alex gave Henry some cooking lessons. Oh how nice it was to not have to work and be able to spend the whole day with his fiancé.  

~ time skip to the shelter ~

Alex and Henry had just stepped out of their car and, as usual, they were swarmed by the cameramen and news reporters. Alex was honestly so sick and tired of this ordeal, and if he wasn't so hell-bent on helping people through politics, he probably would run away screaming right after his mom's second term is over. They finally managed to make it into the building. 

"I swear to god, these reporters don't let you in the building, but they'll make such a big deal about you being late," Alex complained while rolling his eyes. 

Henry nodded along, "Yeah, well, that's life for us."

Alex had plenty of other things to say as well, but he knew that Henry was probably already riled up with nerves for having to give his speech, so he stopped himself. He was a kind and considerate fiancé, "Hey, you're going to do great, you know that?"

Henry gave him a lopsided grin. He never took Alex's praises or motivations even though he knew that Alex was the most brutally honest person on this planet. Even to Henry. At least he thinks so. His vision may possibly by clouded over with so much love, but no one's talking about that so... 

 The minutes passed by as if they were seconds and suddenly it was time for Henry to give his speech. Alex gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and walked out with him onto the temporary stage they put up in the middle of the shelter.

"Hello everyone! First off, I would like to thank everyone for being here. This shelter means a lot to me and the fact that it's been so successful has allowed me to help many people and allowed me to live with the love of my life," Henry paused because everyone cheered at that.

"One year ago today, this shelter was started. Now here we are with so many people who are not accepted by their families. I really hope the standards will change because I know how much mental struggle I faced when I was a closeted prince who couldn't share his sexuality because of how many people in this world don't accept people from the LGBTQ community. I started this shelter with my best mate Pez to help those people who aren't accepted by their families and I'm so grateful to each and every one of those people who came to us for help. You all are so brave, braver than I ever was that's for sure, and I am so glad to see so many young people accepting themselves and coming out to their parents, even if their parents can stop loving their children just because of their sexuality. Sorry for my language, but they're homophobic assholes who don't deserve to have such wonderful children. I have been so glad to have this opportunity to interact with so many amazing children and I love you guys!" 

Throughout the whole speech, Alex was watching Henry with a grin on his face and holding his hand throughout the whole ordeal. When he finished his speech, and everyone cheered, Alex grinned even wider and kissed Henry's cheek. Unfortunately, it was time for the reporters to ask questions now. Alex would've preferred if they could skip this whole process, and he knew Henry would prefer that as well, but alas. 

The first reporter came up to them and asked, "Henry! When you said in your speech that you were a closeted prince who couldn't share his sexuality, does that mean that you weren't even out to your family?"

Henry looked a little shocked at the question, but he hid it well in his perfectly disguised face, "I was out to my sister and Pez. I wasn't out to everyone else because... I didn't want to burden them with this information. I know they would've accepted me, but as I've said before, the whole world won't be as nice."

Alex was a little annoyed that Henry lied to make his family look good, he could've just said no. His grandma and brother don't deserve to be called "nice" or given any credit that they would accept him, But Alex knew that Henry couldn't throw shade towards the meaner people in his family, otherwise that might create another international incident, and they've already had enough of those for one lifetime. They kept moving through the reporters until they finally got to go home. God, if crowds can throw tomatoes and stuff at celebrities, why can't celebrities do that to the paps? Being famous is so annoying sometimes. 

When they finally reached home, they collapsed on their bed. Talking to news reporters is exhausting, and Alex just wanted alone time with Henry. That's all he's ever wanted when they started their relationship. 

"I don't like that you had to make your grandma and Phillip to be these awesome accepting people when you talked to that reporter," Alex said.

Henry's eyes saddened, "I know love, me neither."

"I'm glad that things turned out okay in the end though. After all, we are getting married," Alex kissed Henry's hand, the one with the ring on it.

"Yes. Yes we are," Henry smiled and hugged Alex, and they fell asleep just like that.