Chapter Text
Alex was there. He was there. And Henry was standing, watching him from across the room at a party. Now technically he had been dreading to come to this party, and yes Pez did drag him here… but maybe it wasn’t all that bad…
Almost as if the very thought of Pez had summoned him, suddenly a red cup filled with a sickly sweet alcoholic concoction was trust in his face.
“Hazza, darling! Here you are, the finest cup of jungle juice you’ve ever been served!” Pez delighted at far too loud of a volume.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the only cup of jungle juice I’ve ever been served… this is an American thing, is it not?
Pez rolls his eyes, “Semantics, love, just semantics,” then follows Henry’s line of vision, “Oh? Eye-fucking Alexander are you?”
“W-What? N-No of course not, just staring off into space,” Henry quickly replies, immediately averting his eyes from the curly-haired adonis.
In truth, yes, you could say that Henry was eye-fucking Alex, but in reality he was crushing so desperately on a man who didn’t even know he existed. Alex was so popular, as popular as one could be in college, which more so meant that everyone knew his name and while he did have groupies of girls who went to his lacrosse games, he seemed hyper-focused on his goals, on his law degree, on being kind to everyone.
Pez shook his head, chucked softly to himself and replied, “Ok mate, whatever you say, I’m going to go dance if you’re okay here, making heart eyes at the captain of the lacrosse team…”
Henry nodded along to Percy, too distracted watching Alex blow smoke out of his mouth and nose, from the fire escape window sill, cigarette held artfully between two ringed fingers.
Fuck that was hot. Henry felt himself audibly gulp, take a deep breath, and chug half the cup of jungle juice Pez had gotten him. Speaking of, Pez had disappeared into the flashing lights of the crowd and Henry vaguely remembered something about him leaving to go dancing, or something? Not like it mattered all that much, Henry was now too occupied with thoughts and visions of Alex to worry about anything else, and he was sure that if Percy needed him he would come grab him.
At that moment, Henry could swear the smell of tobacco was the only thing he could inhale, and he had never welcomed the scent so much. He had a complicated relationship with the scent of tobacco, his father, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette after a Sunday roast, his grandmother, smoking menthols, looking down on him with a look of disgust and disappointment, his brother smoking Marlboro Reds after a particularly stressful day… Needless to say, it’s been awhile since he smelt tobacco that correlated to something good, something idealistic.
Suddenly, it was like the alcohol that he had consumed went from a slight buzz to coursing through his veins. He felt brave, fearless, like he could walk right over to Alex, who was laughing loudly at something one of his friends said, and maybe kiss him. His lips looked so soft, and he bet he tasted good too, like cigarettes, and cherry chapstick. Henry took another deep breath, and prepared himself to start making his way over to Alex. He was going to do it, he was, he had to tonight or he might never get the courage to again. He downs the rest of his cup of jungle juice, and left the cup on a nearby table, then shifted his way through the crowd and the flashing lights, towards Alex, his heart a beating rhythm of nervousness and hope.
Alex was set in his sights, just two steps away from him, granted rather large steps, but that wasn't an issue due to Henry's absurdly long legs. He paused for a second, taking another deep breath, and letting the sound of Alex's rambling to his friends wash over him. His voice was warm, coated in honey and filled the air with life. He could see him gesturing wildly, sipping out of a bottle of Jack Daniel's Whiskey, the smell of cigarettes and cedarwood, cinnamon and leather wafting over to Henry only mere steps away, who was trying to make himself blend in with the crowd.
"Hey!" A voice said, and Henry's whole body froze, his eyes snapping up. "Henry, right?"
All at once it seemed like time stopped, as Henry looked towards him, their gaze meeting, and he could feel himself getting lost in the chocolate brown of his crush's eyes. Alex's friends must've moved on in the conversation, seemingly turning away from him and now Henry was just staring at Alex, in the middle of a party, and all Henry could hear was the thump of his heart beat. And it's like Henry didn't know how to talk anymore...