Work Text:
Now
“Pick your Secret Santa, lovebirds.” Isobel shook a bucket in front of Michael and Alex. “You’re the last two.”
They rolled their eyes.
“We’re not lovebirds, Iz,” Michael said. He pulled a paper from the bucket and checked it. ‘Alex’ was written on it.
“Just friends,” Alex added, pulling the last paper from the bucket.
“Sure,” said Isobel. “I look at all of my friends with the heart-eyes you two give each other all the time.” She imitated a lovesick expression mockingly before smirking and walking away.
“Hey,” Michael said when she was out of earshot. “You think she knows something?”
Alex glanced over his shoulder. “No,” he said. “But I think she’s planning something.” He nodded to the paper in Michael’s hand. “Who did you get?”
Michael scrunched the paper up. “Can’t tell. It’s called Secret Santa.”
“You got me, didn’t you?” Alex spread his own paper on the bar top. “I got you.”
Sure enough, ‘Michael’ was written across the paper in Isobel’s handwriting. With a sigh, Michael uncrumpled his paper to show it to Alex. Seeing them side by side and knowing that Isobel had come to them last, Michael began to suspect that Alex was right. Isobel was planning something. Something that smelled like a set-up.
**
Before
Alex hadn’t said anything. It probably hadn’t been that long, but to Michael it felt like an eternity.
“You’re telling me you’re an alien?” Alex spoke softly as he stared at the three glowing pods in the cave.
Michael stood off to the side, his hands buried in his pockets and his shoulders hunched forward, turned into himself.
“I told you a lot of things,” he said, thinking about all the truths he’d told that night. Truths about himself, about Isobel and Max, about their parts in the deaths that had threatened to rip Roswell apart. “But, yeah, being an alien was one of them.”
“You know, my dad’s gone on about aliens my whole life,” said Alex. “Talking about the alien invasion and the terror and destruction they’ll cause. I just thought he was talking about undocumented people but he also made sure that my brothers and I memorized the UFO’s flight path from the crash. I never understood why.”
Michael took a step forward. “You think he’s after us?” he asked. “Me? Isobel and Max?”
Alex shook his head. “He would’ve done a lot more than break your hand if he’d known about you.”
“So this whole alien thing –” Michael said, taking another step forward – “everything I told you – doesn’t make you want to go running for the hills? Or to your dad?”
“I don’t run to him for anything,” Alex said. “I run to you. I always run to you. That’s why I’m here, why I came back.”
Michael bit his lip. “Then yes,” he said. “I’m in. Let’s do it.”
Alex’s face broke into a grin. “You mean it?”
“Yes,” Michael said firmly. He crossed the space between them and cupped his hands around the back of Alex’s neck. “Look at us. Talking. Communicating. We love each other. We can do this.”
“I love you,” said Alex. He kissed Michael briefly just to inhale his rain scent again. “Let’s go get married.”
**
Now
The first sprig of mistletoe caught them by surprise.
“Hey look! You’re under the mistletoe!” said Liz.
“Kiss him Michael, we all know you want to,” Isobel added with a smirk.
Michael frowned. “Do you harass Max like this too?” he asked. “Or am I the only one deserving of this special treatment?”
Alex reached out to gently touch Michael’s arm. “Hey,” he said. “It’s okay.”
Michael held Alex’s gaze for a moment and then nodded. He leaned in and gave Alex the swiftest peck to his lips, and then they both stepped away.
“Oh come on,” Isobel protested. “That wasn’t a kiss! Not a real one!”
“Mistletoe rules say you’ve got to kiss the person,” said Michael. “Not make out with them.”
Alex sat down on a stool. “Yeah, exactly. You want to make out with everyone you meet under the mistletoe?” he asked.
Isobel gave a contemplative look.
“Her answer is probably yes,” Michael said, pulling his phone out, and sitting next to Alex. He quickly tapped out a quick text to him.
She’s definitely trying to set us up, it read.
Alex waited until Liz was busy with milkshakes and Isobel was putting the mistletoe away before typing out his reply.
Let’s mess with her. Be platonic.
Michael wanted to argue that they were already being sufficiently platonic, given that none of their friends had ever questioned their relationship status. There had been a few jibes over the years that Michael’s pining was what kept him from dating but there had never been any consideration that he was already in a serious relationship.
He did have to admit that with Isobel scheming to push them together, it would be fun to play platonic for a little while longer. He gave Alex a grin and a nod. Alex grinned back and then went off to sit with Kyle.
“You should come by the junkyard later,” Michael said as Liz deposited a milkshake in front of him. “Got something I could use your opinion on.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “My opinion?” she asked. “Since when do you need my opinion on anything?”
“Since I remembered that I outscored you in physics but you outscored me in biology,” he said. “Seriously, it’s a biotech thing. You know I’ve got the tech but…”
“But you need a bio expert?” she finished.
Michael nodded.
“Sure,” Liz said. “But don’t you have plans with Alex?”
Michael glanced at Alex and then looked back to Liz. “Why would I have plans with Alex?” he asked.
Liz waved a hand. “Maria and I thought you two might be back together,” she said. “He blew us off the other day for mysterious plans. Sounded like mysterious plans with a guy.”
“Huh,” was all Michael said. His gaze floated over to Alex and Kyle laughing together. He loved seeing Alex laugh. “Well it wasn’t me. We’re not back together.”
That part, at least, was true. They didn’t want to fall into old, destructive patterns of sneaking around and hiding things from each other so they decided that they would have a fresh start. Their past relationship was a different Alex and a different Michael. This would be new and untainted.
Liz narrowed her eyes like she didn’t quite believe him but she dropped the subject. Mostly. “You should ask him out,” she said. “Before this mystery guy becomes serious. I like you two together.”
Michael suppressed a dopey grin. Liz liked them together. He could tell her the truth. But then she might tell Max or Maria and someone would tell Kyle and Isobel and their whole plan would be gone.
“Thanks,” he said. “But we’re just friends.”
“Suit yourself.” Liz shrugged. She left to bring milkshakes to Alex and Kyle.
The truth was that Michael was friends with Alex. He’d always loved him, but they had connected on what Michael called the cosmic level and hadn’t really gotten to know each other. When Alex was away on base or overseas, they had to rely on letters and through those letters, they had become friends. Sometimes, those letters made Michael feel closer to Alex than he had when they were lying next to each other in his truck when they were seventeen.
**
Before
Alex had leave before his first deployment. Michael could only take a week off before someone got suspicious and by someone, he meant Isobel and Max. He told them he was going camping and Isobel scoffed and asked him what part of his day-to-day wasn’t basically camping anyway. He cleared his vacation time with the Fosters and with Sanders and then drove to meet Alex.
Alex had told him to meet him at a roadside motel in Iowa. There was nothing special about Iowa except for their recent legislation on marriage equality. He drove to the motel and had to take a couple of deep breaths before getting out of his truck.
Finally he knocked on the door.
Alex swung the door open with a hopeful expression on his face. “You came,” he said.
“You asked me to.” Michael said, letting himself into the room. He immediately clocked the one bed.
Alex followed his gaze and shrugged. “It was cheaper. And, I figure, if we’re gonna be married…” He trailed off.
Michael sat on the edge of the bed. “You nervous?” he asked.
“About this?” Alex sat next to Michael. “Or the deployment?”
“Either,” said Michael. “Both.”
“I am about the deployment,” Alex admitted. “I’m fucking terrified. But this?” He looked at Michael and smiled. “Easiest decision of my life. I’m not nervous at all.”
Michael smiled back, finding his own nerves had suddenly dissipated. He hooked his foot around Alex’s ankle. “Me neither,” he said. “So what’s the plan, Private?”
**
Now
The second sprig of mistletoe had Isobel frowning as Alex and Michael stepped around it. Michael went to the bar and Alex slid into a booth with Liz and Maria. Kyle plopped himself down next to Michael.
“What gives?” he asked.
Michael paused with a beer bottle halfway to his lips. He eyed Kyle. “Huh?”
“With you and Alex,” Kyle clarified. “Do you know how much I’ve had to hear from Isobel about how perfect you are together and how frustrating it is that you won’t ask him out?”
Michael signalled for the bartender to bring Kyle a beer. “Not to mention that Alex talks like the sun shines out of your ass all while insisting that you’re ‘just friends’.” He punctuated his rant by gulping down about half of the beer that had been placed in front of him.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Valenti,” Michael said with a shrug. “Alex and I are friends. Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?”
“Not when you get those lovesick puppy eyes every time you hear his name,” said Kyle.
Michael shrugged again and took a drink from his bottle. He figured they would all give this matchmaker business up eventually. Right?
“Look,” Kyle sighed. “There’s gonna be more mistletoe. Do yourself and all of us a favour and kiss him properly next time. Then ride off into the sunset or whatever.”
Michael did not kiss Alex “properly” the next time he found himself underneath mistletoe. It was mostly due to the fact that the mistletoe had been hung near the Crashdown’s bathroom and Michael had been trying to go in while Max was on his way out.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” said Isobel indignantly.
Michael caught Alex’s eye and saw that he was stifling his laughter, or trying to anyway.
“So, do we get out of this?” Michael asked Isobel. “Or are you gonna make me kiss Max?”
Max wrinkled his nose. “Please never say that again,” he said.
“Gladly.” Michael turned back to Isobel. “Iz?”
She threw her hands in the air. “Fine!” she yelled. “You don’t have to kiss. Whatever.” She sighed. “Not like I’m trying to give you a happily ever after or anything,” she muttered under her breath.
Max took the mistletoe down and went over to Liz to hold it above their heads. Michael pulled out his phone to text Alex.
Poor Iz, he wrote. Ready to call it a win for us?
He watched Alex purse his lips and tap out a response.
Secret Santa’s on Friday night. She can survive two more days. The plan will still work.
Friday rolled around and Michael worked a long shift at the junkyard. He showered and changed in the Airstream afterwards. Even though he’d been living with Alex ever since he moved back to Roswell full time, he liked having the Airstream still. It just made things a lot more convenient sometimes. Freshly showered and dressed in Isobel-accepted clothes, he stepped out of the trailer to see Sanders approaching Alex as he stepped out of his car. A memory flashed in Michael’s mind.
**
Before
Michael was finishing up on a tractor when Alex arrived at the junkyard. Normally he would sit and wait for Michael to finish whatever it was he was working on. Today, however, fate had different plans.
Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Sanders approach Alex. That was odd. Sanders usually went out of his way to avoid anyone named Manes. Even Alex. It was odder still when he started to speak.
“You’ve been coming around here a lot,” said Sanders.
“Uh, yeah? I guess?” Alex sounded nervous. “I’m on leave and I like spending time with Michael.”
Michael stopped working to watch them. “I know how you two ‘spend time’.” Sanders studied Alex. “I remember you from his high school days. You ‘spent time’ together then too.”
Alex nodded slowly and his jaw tightened.
“He,” Sanders jerked his head towards Michael, “doesn’t know this but I knew his mom.” Michael dropped the wrench he’d been holding. “She wanted me to take care of him.” He paused and Alex released some of his tension. “I knew your mom too. Kind soul. Kind eyes. Good heart. You’re like her I think.”
Alex swallowed thickly. Michael held his tears at bay and tried to organize the mess of new information.
“Never did like your dad,” Sanders continued. “Mean old jackass if you ask me.” He looked Alex in the eye. “Don’t be like him. You take care of my boy, y’hear?”
Alex nodded. “Yes sir,” he said.
“I ain’t a ‘sir’,” Sanders told him. He looked over at Michael. “You might as well finish that tomorrow when your head’s screwed on straight again!” he hollered.
Michael wasted no time in rushing to Alex’s side and kissing him deeply.
**
Now
“You takin’ care of him?” Sanders asked gruffly.
Alex laughed. “You know we’ve been married for like, eight years, right?” he said. “You still want to give me a shovel talk every time I’m here?”
Sanders grunted in response, something that sounded like “never too late for a shovel talk”, and continued to stare down Alex.
“We take care of each other,” Alex told him. Michael felt himself being drawn to Alex’s side. “Always.”
Michael grinned and kissed Alex when he reached him. “You take care of me way more than I take care of you.”
Alex shrugged. “Agree to disagree,” he said. “I am who I am because of you.”
“Yeah, well I could say the same thing,” Michael argued.
“Puppy dog eyes, both of you,” Sanders grumbled. “Don’t y’all have a party or some shit to get to?”
Michael waved a hand. “It’s just Isobel’s,” he said. “Don’t let me interrupt you giving my husband his hundredth shovel talk.”
“I don’t need shovels,” said Sanders. “I got a whole yard full of tools.”
**
They arrived at Isobel’s house together and no one seemed suspicious or surprised. Michael wondered if their plan had failed somehow and everyone knew they were together. They put their gifts under the tree and turned to find everyone staring at them. Isobel was telekinetically holding a fourth sprig of mistletoe over their heads.
“Seriously?” Michael sighed. “Again?”
Alex said nothing, but he grabbed Michael’s shirt front and pulled him in for a kiss. Michael instinctively moved to deepen it, to lose himself in Alex, but Alex kept his lips closed and their kiss chaste. He pulled away after precisely five seconds.
“Satisfied?” Alex asked Isobel. Without waiting for an answer, he stalked past her to get a drink from the kitchen.
“Wha – no!” Isobel chased after him.
Michael remained rooted in place, a little dizzy from Alex’s forceful kiss, trying to wrap his brain around the fact that he’d just kissed Alex in front of everyone they knew. It was something they’d never done before. That is, aside from the little peck under the first mistletoe, but that hardly counted. They might be playing a game of secrecy now but it wasn’t always like that.
In the beginning, it was a necessity. Alex’s father, for one, could never find out about their relationship or Michael’s alien heritage. And then there was the Air Force. Even after the repeal of DADT, Alex had thought it was still too risky, especially with how deep his father’s military ties were. Michael kept the secret to protect Alex, just as Alex kept it to protect him. The fewer people who knew, the better.
**
Before
Alex was twirling his new ring around his finger while Michael made them coffee. It was probably shitty motel coffee, but it was something. And, technically, the ring wasn’t new. It was a ring that Alex had thought he’d lost the summer after high school. Michael had found it in his truck and kept it.
His own left hand was bare as he brought the mugs of coffee to the bed. Alex had brought one of his rings for Michael but it hadn’t fit over the poorly healed bones and scar tissue. Michael decided to wear the ring on a chain around his neck.
“So domestic,” Alex commented as he accepted both a mug and a kiss from Michael. “I could get used to this.” He sipped at the coffee.
Michael settled in next to him. “Sanders trained me well,” he said. “When I first started staying with him, he made me breakfast. Then he started teaching me how to make coffee and then basic meals, saying that I should ‘make myself useful’.”
Alex smiled softly. “Do you mind –” he cut himself off and bit his lip. “Do you mind if we keep this a secret?”
“Because of your dad?” Michael asked.
Alex nodded. “And the Air Force,” he said. “It’s not safe. If anyone were to find out about you…”
“Don’t worry about me,” Michael said. “I worry about what happens to you if your dad finds out.”
“I always worry about you,” Alex told him.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Michael promised.
Alex set his coffee down and tucked himself into Michael’s chest. Michael immediately snaked an arm around him. “You can tell Max and Isobel,” Alex said. “I don’t want you to have to keep secrets from them.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Michael repeated, dropping a kiss to Alex’s head.
**
Now
Isobel gathered everyone around the Christmas tree. Michael had sat on one side of a loveseat earlier and everyone purposefully avoided sitting next to him. It was the only space available when Alex came in so he squeezed in by Michael’s side. Michael saw Liz and Maria exchange conspiratorial glances with each other and with Isobel.
“Michael, you go first,” said Isobel. “I’ve put you through a lot lately. Sorry.”
She didn’t look apologetic but Michael reached for the gift bag Alex had put under the tree earlier. He pulled it into his lap and opened the card.
“To: Michael,” he read. “Merry Christmas, Alex.” He smiled at Alex fondly and opened the bag. A large frying pan took up most of the space in the bag. “Is this…”
“A replacement for the one I wrecked?” Alex cut in. “Yes. And I promise to never use it or any of your good kitchen equipment again.”
Michael smiled widely and resisted the urge to kiss him. It was the perfect gift. “I love it,” he said. I love you, he thought. He cleared his throat. “Does this mean that you get to open your gift next?” he asked. He turned back to the group where everyone was looking at them curiously. Isobel had her eyes narrowed. Their plan was working perfectly.
Isobel looked between Michael, the pan, and Alex. “I’ve been in that section of your Airstream that you call a kitchen,” she said slowly. “And nothing in there could be classified as ‘good’.”
Michael shrugged. “’Cause that’s not where I keep any of it,” he said simply.
Isobel only narrowed her eyes further. Alex went to the tree to claim his gift. It was large and awkward to carry but it was meticulously wrapped. Michael reached out his telekinesis to carry the weight of the box.
“To: Alex,” Alex read when he sat down again. “Merry Christmas, Michael.” He looked over at Michael. “Huh. Looks like we got each other.”
Michael hummed.
Alex tore the paper off of the box and turned it to read what it was. “An electric blanket?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said Michael. “So you don’t get cold when I’m not there.” Alex let out a bark of laughter but smiled at him.
“I love it; thank you,” he said.
“Oh my god, you’re fucking,” Isobel broke in, her eyes growing wide now. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before but you’re totally doing it! How long?”
Alex and Michael looked at each other and then back to Isobel. “You’re so close Iz, but so far away,” said Michael.
Suddenly, Maria was laughing. “You two are good,” she said. “It even took me a while to see it.”
“See what?” Isobel demanded.
“They’re together,” Maria said. The room erupted into noise when Alex and Michael didn’t deny it. In fact, Michael twinned his fingers into Alex’s to confirm it.
Alex leaned over to whisper in Michael’s ear. “I got you a second gift,” he said. “It’s in the same bag.”
Confused, Michael reached into the gift bag that his new pan had come out of and his fingers found a small box. He pulled it out and let out a huff. “This was gonna be my thing,” he whined. He reached into his pocket and produced a similar box. Alex took it gently.
Neither of them noticed the noise in the room quieting or the hushed gazes which fell on them. They opened their respective boxes and their breaths caught.
“Alex…”
“Michael…”
“You’re engaged?” Isobel broke the silence.
“Married,” Michael corrected.
“Eight years,” Alex added, anticipating the next question.
“We used Alex’s old rings, but mine never fit,” Michael continued.
“I asked him to keep it a secret,” said Alex. “It wasn’t safe.”
Silence fell again.
“Did anyone know?” Liz asked.
Michael laughed. “Sanders figured it out pretty quickly,” he said. “But just him.”
**
Before
Michael stopped outside of a slightly tinted shop window. He took off his hat and fluffed his hair to make sure that his curls weren’t too flat. Then he replaced his hat and turned back to the town square. The bus had just pulled up. His heart tightened in his chest. He rushed over as quickly as he could. He would have driven to the airport or, hell, even a base to meet him but Alex was insistent that he could – and would – make his own way back to Roswell.
Michael’s breath caught at the first sight of him. He looked older and more tired than the last time Michael had seen him but still every bit as beautiful as Michael always remembered. At the first glance, he couldn’t see it. But then he registered the crutch by Alex’s side, the unsteady and careful placement of his feet as he stepped down from the bus, and the white-knuckle grip he had on the railing. Michael longed to reach out and support him with his telekinesis but that had to be a proper conversation first.
When Alex was fully standing on solid ground, Michael all but threw himself into his arms.
“I’m home,” Michael breathed into Alex’s neck.
Alex chuckled. “Don’t you mean I’m home?” he asked.
Michael shook his head, still buried in Alex’s neck and shoulder. “Nope,” he said. “Home can be a person. And you’re my person. My home. So whenever I’m with you…I’m home.”
Alex smiled and gripped Michael tighter. “Good,” he said. “Because I’m home too.”