Chapter 6 #8
There’d been a moment—like balancing on a tightrope, like flipping a coin—when Leo hadn’t known which way he’d turn. All he’d known was that Joshua needed something from him; a push or a pull, a kick or a kiss.
Leo had almost taken a verbal swing at him.
He’d been so close, had already tasted the taunt on his tongue, wondered whether Joshua would have believed it just long enough to rise to the challenge.
So you’re just the kind of coward I always thought you were.
Not sure what I expected. Not like you ever had to fight for something, eh, Princeling?
Go on, then. Protect your pathetic little lie of a life. Hope the gold makes for a pretty cage.
And then Leo had gone for honesty.
Even now, he could feel his heart beating in his fingertips, pulsing out echoes of his own words: I really want to kiss you.
Each time he blinked, he saw the shock written into Joshua’s features.
Before, Leo had thought Joshua might be at least a little interested, but now…
Well. Guess not. At least Leo’s words had served their purpose. Job done.
From the sidelines he watched as Joshua smiled at Dimbleby, easy and sweet, ducking his head a little to avoid the brightness of the spotlights.
His voice held a bashful note as he talked about how he wanted a family one day, wanted to get married and have kids, really not very different from the kind of things a heterosexual man might aspire to.
He was beautiful, and Leo still wanted to kiss him.
Wanted so much more than just that.
The first take of the interview had been as close to perfect as these things ever were. Dimbleby requested they do a second one anyway, just to be certain they had options, and Leo could see Joshua swallow, lips tightening briefly, before he nodded.
Halfway through the second take, Tristan arrived out of nowhere, sliding into the space next to Leo.
With the way Leo had been solely focused on Joshua, Tristan’s sudden appearance startled him.
He fought to disguise his reaction by cocking an eyebrow, voice low so it wouldn’t interrupt the recording.
“How did you get in? Security’s really shit at this place, isn’t it? ”
“I could totally run this show,” Tristan said with a grin. “I always wanted to be—like the Master of Whispers in Game of Thrones? The spider guy pulling the strings in the background? Dream job.”
“Varys,” Leo supplied. “The bald eunuch. I’m sorry, but you’re not creepy enough. Or discreet enough. Or castrate enough. Or sticking-to-the-shadows enough.”
“I’m wounded.” Tristan’s grin didn’t dim at all.
He leaned his shoulder against the wall next to Leo, glancing over at where Joshua was perched between his mother and his sister, the three of them presenting a strong, united front.
As it should be. Even Joshua’s father, estranged from his children to the point that Joshua said they talked maybe once a month, had found words of encouragement when Joshua had called him earlier in the day.
Leo was glad that Joshua could fall back on the support of his family.
“You’ll live,” Leo remembered to tell Tristan.
Together, they watched the rest of the interview.
Everything went smoothly, Joshua stumbling over a response only once, and then laughing at himself in a way that would win him every heart in the country.
Well, every heart that wasn’t made of stone.
Or wrapped up in homophobic hate or anti-monarchist prejudices.
God. Jesus fucking Christ, Joshua was doing this.
In five hours, at seven p.m. sharp, the interview would air as a special, short-notice programme change on BBC One, and it would drop like a bomb.
Every single British newspaper would yell the story from its cover tomorrow.
International newspapers would do the same—and while many would applaud his courage, some would paint it as a sin.
People he’d never met would hate him for no reason other than his sexuality.
He’d be at the centre of a storm, and for all that they’d mapped out the consequences, it had been guesswork. What if reality proved them wrong?
Leo wanted to call it off. He wanted to grab Joshua and get him out of this room, out of this city, hide him where the world couldn’t touch him.
It wasn’t in his power.
The moment the interview was over, Tristan shoved away from the wall and was the first person to wrap himself bodily around Joshua, smothering him in an embrace.
Joshua sagged into it. Over Tristan’s shoulder, he found Leo’s gaze.
Joshua’s smile was all in his eyes, a warm gleam that made Leo’s heart perform a drunken lurch.
He grinned through it, gave Joshua a thumbs-up.
Tristan released Joshua to make room for Emma, and then Joshua was suddenly swarmed by people, like moths to a flame. Everyone wanted a piece of him.
Leo snuck out of the room without catching Joshua’s eye again. He pulled out his phone to send him a quick message.
You did fantastic!! I have to take care of some stuff at the office, see you tonight for the broadcast?
He left the Palace without looking back. He felt like someone fleeing the scene of a crime.