Chapter Text
Michael looked up from the grill and across Max's yard, searching for Alex, not that he was hard to find. Their little circle of family and friends had grown quite a bit over the last few years, but not so much that he couldn't easily see his husband and sister chatting away by the house.
Alex laughed at something Isobel said, and Michael felt his heart swell. Not all that long ago, he'd been so alone, holding himself separate even from Iz and Max, and now… Now, by some miracle, his husband was laughing with his sister, and they were both surrounded by people they loved.
"Mikey!" Liz called as she came out of the house carrying a tray of margaritas. "Who let you cook?"
"You'd better be nice to me or you don't get a burger, Ortecho!" he threatened.
Liz laughed and handed him a drink. "Max's special recipe, just for you. I might have tweaked it just a bit, though."
Michael took a sip. It was good, better than one of Max's, which he would find great joy in telling his brother. "Better mixology through chemistry?" he asked.
"You know it!" Liz agreed. She kissed his cheek before moving on to pass off the rest of the margaritas she'd prepared.
Michael set down his drink and returned his attention to the grill, taking extra care to ensure that everything was cooked perfectly. He didn't want to endure Liz's teasing if he fucked something up. A few minutes later, he slid the burgers on the serving tray and set them in the open spot on the long table Max had set up for the food.
“Burgers are ready," he called as he walked across the patio to where Alex was still talking with Isobel. He wrapped his arms around Alex from behind and gave him a quick hug, but didn't interrupt their discussion. Alex was teaching online safety during her next Woman as Warrior class, and they were working out the scheduling.
"Turkey burgers are on the left, Iz," Michael told her after she and Alex had agreed on a date. "I still can't believe Valenti talked you into giving up red meat, but you're my sister and I love you, so I accommodate your alternative lifestyle."
Isobel rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Michael. You could try eating healthier once in a while too, you know. You can't subsist on bourbon and Crashdown burgers forever."
Michael had just opened his mouth to respond when Alex turned in his arms and kissed him, effectively heading off an argument. When Alex pulled back, Michael smirked over his shoulder at Isobel who made a face and walked away.
"Hey," Alex said with a smile. "The burgers smell good. Want to go eat?"
"In a minute, once everyone else has their food," he replied. He leaned back against the house and pulled Alex with him. “I’d rather stay like this right now.”
Alex slid his hands under the hem of Michael’s shirt and relaxed against him. “Yeah, this is good,” he sighed.
Eventually, they made their way over to the food, and a few minutes later, plates full, they joined everyone around the fire pit. There was plenty of small talk and general contentment at all being together for the first time since he and Alex had gotten married. Max and Dallas had returned from Oasis last month, but schedules hadn’t lined up for a family dinner until tonight.
Once they finished eating, Michael tucked himself under Alex's arm, looked up at the sky where the first stars were just coming out, and he drifted, letting his mind wander and the conversation flow around him. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it was full dark when Alex squeezed his bicep to get his attention.
“Hmm?” he questioned, tipping his head to look up at his husband.
“You okay?” Alex murmured.
Michael smiled. “Yeah, I’m good. Being here with you, with everyone, it’s just really nice.”
“It is, but it looks like things are winding down,” Alex replied. He nodded across the fire where Liz was dozing against Max. “I was thinking, it’s a beautiful night…wanna go for a ride?”
Michael perked up at Alex’s suggestion. “Like, out to watch the stars?” he asked hopefully.
“That depends. Do you still have the blankets in the bed of your truck from when we went out to the desert last week?”
“I do, and they’re even clean,” Michael replied as he pushed himself up from the loveseat. “Let’s say our goodbyes and get outta here?”
Michael hauled Alex up, and after hugs all around–and some pointed teasing from Isobel about not needing to sneak off for sex in the truck now that they’re married–they climbed in the Chevy and made the familiar drive out to their spot. They were lying side-by-side in the bed of the pickup, blankets piled thick beneath them, and Michael was happier than he'd been since their honeymoon.
“Do you remember the night you brought me out here, the summer after high school, for the meteor shower?” Alex spoke quietly into the night.
Michael chuckled. “I remember trying to watch the Perseids but getting a bit distracted.”
Alex laughed, too. “Yeah,” he agreed. “But that night in particular, god, you were so animated and excited, talking about the stars. It was so fucking cute, and it was a huge turn-on. I felt a little bad, because you really wanted to tell me about all the constellations, and all I wanted to do was fuck you. But–”
“Which, you have a standing invitation to do, by the way,” Michael interjected.
“Michael,” Alex said, exasperated. “Let me finish, okay? Then you can distract me all you want.”
He leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to Alex’s cheek. “Sorry, listening now, distracting later.”
“I can hear you grinning, you know,” Alex teased. “Anyway, that night, I was mostly just glad that you seemed happy, and didn’t pay all that much attention to anything you were trying to show me. But the rest of the summer, I did. And, uh, that first deployment. It was really hard, in a way that the others weren’t.”
Michael squeezed Alex’s hand and brought it to rest over his heart. He heard Alex take a deep breath and waited for him to continue.
“The only way I got through that first tour, especially the first few weeks, was by looking up at the stars. It helped, knowing they were the same stars we’d been watching together,” Alex confessed.
“I’m glad you took a part of us with you and that it was a comfort, not a burden,” Michael said when he found his voice.
“I love you, Michael. I loved you then, too, even though I didn’t know how to say it. So of course it was a comfort.”
Michael blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall. “I love you too, Alex. Always have, always will."
Alex shifted to pull Michael in for a kiss. His fingers found their way into his curls, as they so often did, and Michael melted into the touch. They made out under the stars late into the night, just like they had when they'd been kids, but this time when they went home, it was together.