First Prince Week 2024 - Day 5 - Little White Quiches
Alex has always had a problem remembering to eat when he's in the zone, so Henry takes it upon himself to remind him and cook for him... if only he were good at it.
Sometimes, Alex is too preoccupied to remember to eat when he’s busy focusing on some task for his mom or for law school. He just – he can live off of coffee for a decent length of time.
When he lived in the White House, June would check in on him and make sure he took time to eat something, but now that he’s in New York City living with Henry, he’s supposed to remember to eat on his own.
He just can’t expect Henry to keep track of his eating habits.
Yet, Henry appears to notice because every so often, he texts Alex while he’s still at the library: Have you eaten today?
Alex, not wanting Henry to feel responsible for his eating habits, sends back a little while lie: of course i have, baby.
Alex would love for that to be enough for Henry, but he can tell by his randomly turning up with lunch or dinner that he doesn’t quite believe him.
This is further proved by Henry’s attempts at cooking, which admittedly, aren’t that great – not that he tells him that.
“What do you think, love?” Henry asks on one of their regular date nights.
Alex doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, so he says, “I absolutely love it,” instead of telling the truth.
Henry looks pleased. “Glad to hear it.”
A couple of weeks later, Henry peaks into Alex’s study, and asks, “Love, you’re not ready, yet?”
“Ready?” Alex questions, not looking up from his studies.
“You didn’t forget that we’re going to a gala tonight, did you?”
“No, of course not,” Alex lies. “The time just got away from me. I’ll be ready ASAP.”
It’s not until they’re at the gala, which is winding down that Henry asks, “Did you like the mini quiche at the dessert table?”
Alex shrugs. He tried them, of course. They looked good, but whoever made them does not know how to cook.
“Eh, I think whoever made them needs a bit more practice. There’s definitely room for some improvement there.”
Henry hums. “That’s funny, that’s not what you said last week. You said that they were perfect.”
Alex turns his head sharply to Henry. “You made them?”
His boyfriend doesn’t look upset at the thought of Alex’s little white lies, but he’s also good at concealing his emotions in public. “I’m sorry, baby. I should’ve told you that they weren’t great, but… I didn’t know that you were going to serve them to other people.”
“Not sure that makes your little white lie any better,” Henry offers. “However, I am not angry with you.”
Henry shakes his head. “Despite it being nearly two years since our first kiss in a matter of weeks, and living together, we’re still relatively new to this whole dating thing. From what I’ve gathered from Pez, mainly, it’s normal when you’re dating someone to give out little white lies to spare their feelings.”
Alex nods. “I just – you were clearly not buying my little white lies about remembering to eat and I know how hard you worked on those things for me and…”
“I understand, love,” Henry assures him. “But please, just be honest with me. I can’t improve to make sure that you eat if you don’t advise me on what I’m doing wrong.”
Alex smiles. “I will happily teach you to cook, and I will be honest with you about food from now on.”
“Good, that’s all I ask.”
Henry gives him a sweet kiss and says, “I love you, Alex.”
