Inescapable History, Inescapable Fates

Just Kidding Part Two

The gun clicked.

Henry tried to open his eyes but the world was a blurry din of light. He was looking through water. Tears. He was crying. He was crying. He was crying, so he was alive.

Alex examined the gun, perplexed. He pointed up and shot a hole through the ceiling.

"I quit Sandhurst, I quit Sandhurst, Alex please." Henry babbled, his brain roaring back to life. He felt like cocaine had been shot into his veins. Everything was bright. "The files on your desk, I stole them from M15."

"Wh-what." Alex said. He popped the gun's safety on and put it on the nightstand, his hands shaking. The color was drained from his features. Henry hadn't noticed that when Alex was trying to kill him. "What do you mean you quit Sandhurst?" Alex said, voice shaking, on edge. "What do you mean you stole files from M15?!"

Henry took a breath, blinking away tears. Chin up hun, he told himself, keep calm and carry on. It can't be worse than the blitz. "I got tired of their over-steeped tea." He quipped, "And then there were the genocide accusations."

He tried, unsuccessfully, to push himself up from under Alex. Alex, for his part, was too stunned to move, and unintentionally putting all of his weight on Henry's stomach.

"You should have told me. I killed you. I tried to kill you." Tears streamed down Alex's face. His voice sounded winded even though they were doing nothing, just sitting on Henry's bed. Sitting on Henry's bed, like they had for weeks together before this. "I tried to kill you, why didn't you tell me-"

"I wanted you to choose me." Henry laughed, crying.

"Choose you? Over everyone else in the world?" Alex shouted. He hit the bed next to Henry's pillow. "M15, the CIA, they kill people. They killed my family. You made me choose between someone I love and the world, my family, hogares. You fucking asshole!"

Alex looked pissed.

"Someone I love..." Henry whispered. "You love me?"

The door crashed open. Pez stood outside their room, wielding a fire extinguisher like a battering ram.

He immediately shut what was left of the destroyed door when he registered Alex straddling Henry's naked chest. "Not again!"

"It's not what it looks like!" Henry shouted, "Alex was trying to kill me. I promise."

—----

Alex grabbed the files and thumbed through them while Pez carefully wiped blood off Henry's chess. "You know your boyfriend could do this," He mumbled.

"What?" Said Henry, even though he heard him.

"What?" Echoed Alex, looking up from the files, having very much missed what Pez said. Pez gave Henry a look. Neither answered. "You took these from M15?" Alex asked Henry,

"I printed everything I thought could be useful," Henry said. He noticed Alex's hands still trembling. His eyes were flitting wildly across the pages, he couldn't possibly be reading them. He was overwhelmed. It would be cute if he wasn't a failed spy and terrorist and assassin and coconspirator and if they weren't all royally screwed. "Alex, your parents are alive. Your mom and dad had both agreed to leave EGI and all the guerrilla politics behind to ensure your safety. When Ellen got involved again, your dad made a deal with M15, he agreed to turn over your mom to ensure your safety."

Alex shook his head. "That's not possible. That didn't happen. He would never do that." Henry and Pez shared a look. "Don't look at each other like that. El EGP, hogares, los Zapatistas no son gobiernos. They're not governments, they are movements. My dad wouldn't betray us like that"