Chapter Text
The next time Michael sees Alexis Ness wasn’t outside his front door, but instead sobbing outside of a bar. Michael halted in his tracks, unsure if he should go comfort him or just run away. He wasn’t good with “feelings’ things.
But of course, there was something in him naturally dragging him to the crying man. He felt the need to protect him, for whatever reason why he was crying. Michael slowly sat down next to him. Alexis looked up, eyes widening as a single teardrop fell down his cheek. His face was swollen and his cheeks were flushed. Definitely drunk.
“Ah! We meet again.” Alexis quickly wipes his tears, sniffling. “Sorry you have to see me like this.” He hiccups. Michael softly watched him, his magenta hair sticking all over the place. He looked pathetic. He looked like a mess. Michael knew that feeling all too well. “What happened, loser?” he muttered under his breath. “It’s uncool to sit outside a bar and cry.”
“Haha, I know.” Alexis crackled a smile as more tears streamed down his red face. “I’m not that cool in general, you know.” He shrugs, giving up on wiping his tears all together and just letting them drop onto his knees. Michael stares at him, softly. His own hands finding its way to wipe Alexis’s tears himself. “You know what would make your lame ass feel better?” Michael says, standing up and extending a hand. “Chicken lo mien and a nice can of coke.”
Alexis stared at him, then slowly took his hand, sniffling again. “Isn’t that your go-to order?” He laughs. Michael nodded, interlocking their fingers, making Alexis freeze. “Smart boy. Now let’s go. Come on now.” He drags him away from the bar, as they go in the direction of the tiny Chinese shop.
Michael walked with great courage, each step being bolder than before as Alexis lagged behind, their fingers still interlocked. He could still hear the magenta haired boy sniffle from behind him, and he would be lying if he said it didn’t irritate him a little bit. Crying, especially in front of other people, was a form of weakness.
But Michael learned to understand that people aren’t like him. He grew up in a different environment, he adjusted to the concept of emotions and other complex ideas differently. While most people let their emotions take over their day, Michael lets it sit at the bottom of his stomach, puking it all out at the end of the day.
It was easier said than done.
The door to the Chinese shop opened with a ding, the dim lights forcing both men to squint. Michael squeezed Alexis’s hands, knocking his knuckles at the front desk. “Hey, we want to order to-go.” He commands, staring at the young worker intently. “Two chicken lo miens, and two cokes.”
“Gotcha.” The girl in the ponytail says as she taps it into her device. “Anything else?” Silence trailed after, making the girl laugh awkwardly. “Right. Your total is thirty dollars and fifty-two cents today.”
As Michael paid for the food, Alexis had finally calmed down. He shuffled closer to Michael, a little self conscious of his messed up appearance right now. He sighs, taking in the delicious smelling aroma in the hair. How nice of him to treat me to some food. And I barely know him.
With a bag of Chinese food in their hands, Michael trotted up the stairs. Their hands haven’t left each other’s, yet. Although it started to feel a little sweaty, Michael adored the warmth of someone else’s hands on his own. He huffed and opened his front door. “Get in.”
Alexis stared, hesitant. “Do I have to repeat myself?” Michael asked, raising a sharp eyebrow. “The food will get cold, idiot.”
What if he’s a killer? I barely know him? Am I getting kidnapped? Thousands of thoughts ran around Alexis’s head like a broken toy train as he subconsciously held Michael’s hand tighter. Michael scowled. “I’m not going to do anything bad to you, if you were worrying about that.” He muttered.
I guess that reassured Alexis a little bit. He nodded, taking a step into the apartment. It was cleaner than he thought, and it felt both cozy and homey. Michael finally let go of his hands, setting the food on the small table in front of the TV. Alexis slowly trailed behind him, taking a seat in front of the blonde.
“Well? Dig in.” Michael says, already scarfing down his noodles. Alexis couldn’t help but smile, cracking open his can of coke. He took a sip, the fizzy feeling of the drink sliding down his scratchy throat. “Why are you being so kind to me?”
“This means kindness to you?” Michael snorts, barely looking up.
“I mean, yeah.” Alexis replies, grabbing his chopsticks. “You picked me up from the side of the street, bought me food, and invited me to your house.”
Michael blushed, looking away. “I guess I did, huh.” He grumbled, picking around his noodles with his own chopsticks. Before Alexis could say something back, Michael’s head snapped up, using his chopsticks to point at Alexis’s bowl. “Ness, if you don’t eat your food, I’ll have no choice but to feed you.” He threatened playfully.
Alexis’s heart leaps to his throat at the sound of Michael calling him by his surname. His ears were definitely blushed, as he looked down, picking at his food. If he purposely doesn’t eat his food, then Michael would feed it to him. That’d be cute. Crazy, but cute.
Well, it worked. Michael sighed loudly, leaning over the table to grab a bite of noodles and presses it against Alexis’s lips. “Open.”
Alexis obeyed. He slowly opened his mouth, letting Michael spoon the noodles into his mouth (with his chopsticks! Did this count as an indirect kiss or what?) Alexis then shut his mouth, chewing on the noodles as he smiled.
Good, he’s not gloomy anymore. Michael holds back a grin, going back to his own plate of noodles. “Is it good?”
“It’s amazing.” Alexis noted, washing it down with more coke. “I understand why this is your go-to!” He laughs. It sounded like the birds after the storm, the crashes of the gentle waves at the beach, and the sound of dealing cards getting shuffled. Only a couple of the best sounds in life, according to Michael.
“You must be wondering why I was acting like that.” Alexis suddenly says, his face slowly dropping. It was true, Michael did have a curious bone in his body, so he nodded. But then he says, “Sure. But you don’t have to tell me shit if you don’t want to.”
“I want to.”
“Go ahead then.”
“My father died.” Alexis says bitterly, wrapping both hands around his soda can. Michael looked up, seeing the way Alexis’s eyes welled up in tears again. “He died almost a year ago, and no one told me.”
“What?”
“I…moved away from my family, but I never cut contact with them.” Alexis explained, waving a hand around. “Sometimes we’d have nightly phone calls. I knew I was the most hated in the family but I never thought I was hated so much that they never invited me to my own father’s funeral.” Alexis sighed. “Even though he treated me horribly, he was still my father.”
Michael couldn’t relate. If the news that his old man kicked the bucket, he would be jumping from joy. But this wasn’t about him, this was about Alexis Ness. “That’s messed up,” Michael says, putting his chopsticks down. “Sorry that happened to you, it must be emotionally tolling.” He cringes after he says that. Michael says and covers his face with his hands. “Sorry, fuck. I’m bad with touchy-feeling shit.”
Alexis lets out an amusing laugh, covering his mouth with his fingers. “It’s okay, Micha.”
That nickname. Michael lifted his head, his eyes sparkling. No one has ever given him a nickname, I mean what was the point? Now you have another name people call you by. But it came out so naturally in Alexis’s mouth.
“What? You like the nickname Micha?” Alexis smirked, leaning on the table. Michael bit the inside of his cheeks, staring into magenta eyes. “I don’t like a lot of things.” He starts to say, darting his eyes from Alexis’s plush, pink lips and back to his eyes. “But I know damn well that I like you.”
“Hm?” Alexis turns beet red, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Ah? I-Really?”
“I want to get to know you better.” Michael declares. “I don’t usually do that for people. Be lucky you caught my eye.”
“I feel very lucky.” Alexis giggled, heart racing like crazy. “You just so happen to catch my eye too.” He winks.
Well, that wink sure casted a spell on Michael. He stood up from the ground, rushing over to Alexis’s side and grabbed his chin. Before he did anything too crazy, his electric blue eyes bore into soft purple. “Can I kiss you?”
“Okay.”
With a mind full of patience, Michael leaned in and carefully pressed his lips against Alexis’s, who let out a small surprised gasp before melting in the kiss. This would be both their first kisses ever. What a sweet way to end your lips virginity. Using both his hands, Michael cups Alexis’s face gently as Alexis finds his arms snake around Michael’s waist.
Falling onto the carpet together, Michael lets his long hair wrap around the both of them, heart feeling full for the first time.