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1.
Alex learns something new about Michael every time he goes away for more than one night, be it for training, to go see his mother, or when Michael stays over at Isobel’s to keep her company and have a sibling bonding night with her and Max.
Every time he returns to the cabin after an absence, Michael welcomes him back with a home-cooked meal, a movie of Michael’s choosing, and cuddles on the couch. Every time Alex sits down to eat, the dishes have changed nationalities, the genre of movie is something Alex never would have thought Michael liked, and the tilt of the dial on the cuddle-o-meter is directly proportional to how long Alex has been away. The first time Alex had to go away for more than a week, they never actually got around to watching the movie because the cuddling got a little too... rambunctious.
So it’s no surprise when Alex returns from a recruitment trip for his cryptography lab to find Michael puttering around in the kitchen wearing an apron that says KISS ME I’M AN ALIEN on it because the mercantile stores in Roswell have no shame.
What is a surprise, albeit a rather odd one, is Michael’s request that Alex prop the dvd case of Men in Black on top of the mantle above the fireplace after he removes the dvd and slips it into the player. Normally, he’d just toss it onto the coffee table cuz he invariably wants to read the synopsis or check the runtime while they’re watching the show. Alex shrugs and complies. He can just ask Michael to float it down to them if he wants to check something.
He sits down on the couch to take off his prosthetic and rests it against the side of the couch. Michael likes to rub the soreness out of his legs absentmindedly while they’re watching the movie and Alex has even fallen asleep a couple of times because Michael made him feel so relaxed and warm, sharing some of that extra body heat of his.
Alex glances up at the dvd case again and raises an eyebrow or two at Michael’s movie selection, given his adverse reaction to Mars Attacks! that one time at the drive-in during their non-date. When Alex says as much to Michael as they’re getting comfy under a plaid blanket, popcorn in a large bowl within arm’s reach on the coffee table, Michael replies, “yeah, but the aliens are the good guys this time.” Alex grins at him and couldn’t agree more.
In fact, he finds out this is not the first, second, or even tenth time Michael has seen this movie, as is evidenced by Michael reciting just about all of Will Smith’s lines throughout the movie. With anyone else, Alex would have been supremely annoyed at this point, but since it’s Michael, it’s kind of gross how adorable Alex thinks he is as he shapes his hands like he’s holding the Noisy Cricket, making PEW! PEW! PEW! sounds as J waltzes around on-screen with it looking all kinds of fly.
2.
The next time Alex comes home from a trip, he’s been to see his mom and while he really enjoyed spending time with her, reconnecting and talking her ear off about all the cool things he’s been doing at his new civilian cryptography company, he’s mentally and emotionally exhausted. Somehow Michael senses this... okay, maybe it doesn’t take a genius to guess that Alex would need extra cuddling after a visit with his previously estranged mother. But still.
Alex is not expecting the comfort food Michael serves for dinner. Macaroni and cheese with little broccoli crowns and cut-up hot dog pieces. He may or may not crowd Michael up against the refrigerator accidentally-on-purpose on his way to the table just so he can breathe him in for a few moments while he re-centers his universe on one curly-haired alien cowboy.
Nor is Alex expecting the Jack-in-the-box Michael presents to him after dinner. It fits in the palm of his hand and has a classic hand crank on one side. The part that makes Alex grin like a little kid, though, is the paint job. It looks like one of those blocks from Super Mario Bros., Alex’s favorite video game growing up. The surprise blocks where you never know what goody is going to pop out when Mario headbutts them. He could have gone with the newer high-tech games but he preferred to play the classics on the Super NES system his mother had given him when he was little.
Alex laughs when the lid pops open and startles him even though he knows what’s supposed to happen. Michael is looking at him like... like he’s the gift. Alex blushes from all the attention and looks back down at the block. Instead of a flower or a turtle shell, however, a question mark pops up attached to the end of a spring, which is a bit odd because that’s usually what is on the outside of the block.
“What’s this mean?” Alex asks, a little mesmerized by the handmade gift.
Michael’s eyes are pure mischief as he gets up from the kitchen table, pronounces, “the game is afoot, Watson!” in a horrible British accent, and then dramatically makes a break for the hallway.
Alex has two seconds to process that statement and what comes out of his mouth in response is an indignant, “Wait, what? Why do you always get to be Holmes?” as he chases Michael through the cabin. And don’t say —“
“Elementary!” shouts a cackling Michael as he lunges for the bedroom.
“— it,” Alex deadpans. He tackles Michael headlong onto the bed for that one.
3.
When Alex comes home from the gym a few days later, he notices the question mark block perched upon the mantle in between the MiB dvd case and two pictures of Alex and Michael that one had taken of the other in a candid moment, the subject of the photo unaware they were being photographed.
Michael had taken a picture of Alex in the middle of painting Michael’s toenails a pretty shade of midnight blue. The look of concentration on Alex’s face as he tried to keep as much nail polish as possible on Michael’s toenails and off his skin was what Michael told him had been the inspiration for the surreptitiously snapped shot. And then, just because Michael was a horrible cad who delighted in making Alex squirm, he added that the splay of Alex’s eyelashes against his cheek was the real muse. Alex did indeed squirm, and then he chased Michael through the cabin to tackle-hug him in the bedroom.
Alex had found Michael out on the back patio one evening just after sunset, balancing his chair on its back two legs as he leaned against a support beam and strummed the guitar Alex had given him with two whole and hearty hands like he hadn’t a care in the world, quietly singing into that long goodnight. Alex had put his phone on silent, snapped a few photos from the patio doorway, stared at him until tears threatened to blur his vision, and left Michael to his peace — something he had fought long and hard for and deserved every quiet moment he could get.
+1
Alex has developed a strange habit of checking the mantle above the fireplace whenever he comes home to see if any novelties have joined the pieces already in residence. Nothing has been moved or moved of its own accord (Michael’s telekinesis moves objects around the cabin while he’s sleeping. They’ve had spirited debates about whether or not it has a mind of its own, much like a cat’s tail) for the last ten days.
He’s just about worn off the habit a couple weeks later when Michael comes home from a weekend spent with his siblings. He sees Michael pull a dvd out of the back of the drawer under the television set and place it on top of the mantle next to the photo of him and his guitar.
Alex asks what the movie fare is for this evening but Michael just shoos him into the kitchen to help with dinner and keeps him distracted with hilarious tales of Isobel and himself making a bashful Max turn red as a tomato from having to listen to their in-depth convos about the bisexual alien blasts they’ve both been having lately. Michael assures Alex he defended his honor and just talked about things in general terms to answer Isobel’s curiosity questions.
“So, Max basically walked into a den of lions this weekend for the sibling bonding nights that he started, didn’t he?” Alex surmises.
“Yep,” Michael chirps, a proud smirk on his cherubic face. “Hoisted by his own petard.” He wipes away a pretend tear. “It was a thing of beauty.”
It isn’t until a very familiar-looking umbrella with its parrot-head handle and a sensible black hat with daisies and cherries tucked into the brim float down into view that Alex realizes what they’re about to watch. He sneaks a sidelong glance at Michael and his breath catches in his throat at the serene look on his boyfriend’s face.
Alex snuggles more into Michael’s side and whispers, “you never cease to amaze me,” into Michael’s skin as he rests his head on his shoulder. Michael responds by wrapping an arm around Alex’s shoulders and squeezing lightly, eyes fixed to the screen where Bert the Screever is busy putting the finishing touches on his sidewalk art.
Michael knows the words to all the Mary Poppins songs and sings along in sotto voce so that Alex can still hear the magnificent Julie Andrews sing. Alex’s curiosity finally gets the better of him and he asks why Michael likes this musical so much as the little old bird woman starts feeding the birds outside the cathedral.
They’ve changed positions by this point and Michael is lying in Alex’s lap. Alex is only too happy to return the favor of the leg massages by giving him a scalp massage as he plays with Michael’s curls while they watch the movie.
Michael doesn’t answer right away, instead lifting a finger in the universal sign for one moment please and continues along quietly with Mary Poppins as she sings the signature song of the musical, the one where Mr. Banks finally realizes he cares more about his family than his snooty job at the bank. The significance of the sniffling coming from the vicinity of Michael’s head is not lost on Alex.
Michael fiddles with a fraying seam along Alex’s pantleg as he comments, “we used to gather around the tv when this movie would come on at the group home,” towards the end of the movie once the whole family joins their neighbors outside to fly their kites.
Alex rubs the base of Michael’s neck with one hand in an encouraging gesture. “Sounds like you had your very own sing-along chorus.”
Michael closes his eyes, his words now coming out slower and sleepier. “Mmhmm, we all wanted to have a nanny like Mary Poppins *yawn* to take care of us and give us spoonfuls of sugar.”
Alex leans over to place a sweet kiss on the crown of Michael’s head as he drifts off to sleep in his lap. Alex leans back and stares off into space as the movie credits roll, his mind lost in thought mulling over the memories Michael has shared with him tonight.
Movement out of the corner of his eye makes Alex look towards the mantle where he catches the items reshuffling themselves on the shelf. His brow furrows in concentration as he stares the objects down in earnest, determined to find the pattern to what must be a riddle of some sort. He’d said the game was afoot. Michael is an alien genius after all, and he knows how much Alex loves to decipher codes.
He starts whispering words associated with the contents of the shelf above the fireplace: his picture, MiB dvd case, Michael’s picture, the question mark block, and the most recent addition, the Mary Poppins dvd case.
Michael shifts in his sleep, turning over to curl into Alex’s stomach. His movement reshuffles the items. Alex tries again with a different set of words for the new order, thinking: Will Smith, Michael, Mary Poppins, Alex, question mark.
“Will...you...Mary...me...question mark.”
“Yes...period.”
Alex looks down to see sleepy light brown eyes shining up at him in the glow from the television screen.
“What?”
A Cheshire Cat grin spreads across Michael’s beautiful face. “Yes, Alex Manes, I will marry you. Thought you’d never ask.”
Alex is gobsmacked.
“What?!” He repeats eloquently. His brain has just short-circuited. He looks up at the mantle where all of a sudden the pattern is glaringly obvious, then back down at his cowboy, who has managed to wrestle a chain out from under his white t-shirt. Dangling from the end of the chain is a ring made from —
“Is that a guitar string?”
Michael’s grin turns proud and he preens, shifting his weight so he can look up into Alex’s eyes without straining his neck. He unclasps the chain and the ring falls onto his chest. He picks it up and makes a big show of slowly moving to slide it onto his own left ring finger.
“Wha—what’re you doing?”
“Well, technically speaking, you did ask me,” Michael smirks up at him.
It takes Alex a moment to compute that information. He decides he doesn’t care if that’s true and shoves his left hand into Michael’s face.
“Michael Guerin, if you don’t put that ring on my finger right now...”
Michael chuckles as he complies without a fuss. It fits perfectly. Alex stares down at it in wonder.
“Thank you,” he whispers after what feels like an eternity.
“You’re welcome,” Michael whispers back.
This time when Alex leans in, Michael rises up to meet him halfway and the kiss that is twelve years in the making is...
Cosmic.