Work Text:
Fifteen years ago, Cody whole-heartedly believed aliens were locked behind the gates of fantasy and sci-fi movies. Who knew all it took was some shitty reality TV show to prove him wrong? If anyone asked, he could recall the moment to near-perfection. A clone, an open cut, a bone-crushing hug, and so, SO much slime. He hadn’t thought much of the whole incident, the cut on his neck had healed fine (though Sierra, of course being the one to notice the smallest of changes, had pointed out the faint blob of green around the scab. At the time, Cody just chalked it up as her usual shenanigans), so he continued through the competition just fine. At least, until the tiebreaker in Hawaii, but there wasn’t much he was really broken up about (After all, he got to meet the most gorgeous, talented and intelligent man he’d ever seen. Who could be mad about that?).
Life after Total Drama had actually been pretty good, all things considered! Married the love of his life, found a place right by Heather, though the most unexpected thing was by far the latent alien genes manifesting. It happened in the middle of the night, Alejandro found him panicking in front of the bathroom mirror after having one of his more vivid nightmares. He was sobbing, fingers gripping onto the edge of the countertop, thick green, slimy tears streaming from his face and landing in the sink. He was horrified when Alejandro found him, not of his husband, but of himself. Al wasn’t supposed to see him this way- he looked like a fucking monster. For a moment, Cody caught a sight of his own reflection. A pair of thin green antennae poked out from his ruffled hair, his fingers sharpened to claws, ears pointed, and probably the worst of all, his eyes were a bright, glowing green, his pupils practically reduced to slits. He bit his tongue to keep the scream rising in his throat down (did he just feel goddamn fangs??), and mustered the courage to meet Alejandro’s own eyes that were creased with worry and utmost concern.
The rest of that night had been a blur, but Cody remembered the flashes of events. Alejandro taking a paper towel to wipe the tears and slime away, soothing him while he sputtered out apologies, then sitting on the edge of their bed, mouth covered in shock. Cody didn’t blame him for being horrified, guilt washing over him, eating at his insides by the minute. He wouldn’t blame the guy at all if he packed his bags and left. And yet, Alejandro stayed by his side. They talked for what felt like hours, Al sitting on the bed with him, listening to every word of his story. He reassured the brunette that he loved him all the same, and Cody almost started crying on the spot. God, what did he do to deserve someone like that? That night, he slept with his ring close to his heart, snuggling into the side of Al’s face and neck.
In an effort to prevent any possible harm, he devoted himself to researching this new “condition” of his. Little by little, he discovered more of the quirks that came with the alien infection. It seemed to be on a spectrum, ranging from his normal self to the full-blown hybrid form he took that first night. In his days off, he took it upon himself to trigger these states in an effort to figure out the cause. Alejandro, the saint that he was, took notice of how badly the stress had gotten and the way the bags under Cody’s eyes worsened. There were nights where the man wouldn’t even sleep until he could figure something new out, to the point where even talking it out wouldn’t get the guy to take a break. Heather shortly after discovered Cody’s new abilities after having her over for lunch, after a long-winded conversation (and the brunette’s inability to be a good liar), almost immediately getting him to confess the secret. As judgemental as she was, Heather stuck by her brother-figure. An hour later, he left for work, leaving the other two to binge as many bad movies as possible. When he returned, Heather was gone, and Alejandro had a plan.
“Do you think the infection works via bite, mi amor?” It started with a question. Weeks after the “discovery” and sleepless nights, Alejandro finally brought his concerns to light. Cody was splayed on the couch, furiously typing away on his laptop, playing some dumb online game, when Al leaned over from behind, pressing a kiss to the other man’s face. Then came the idea of a bite. Huh.
“Wha?” Cody closed the laptop at the question, turning to look up at his husband with a puzzled expression.
“I beg you to not laugh at me for this, but I actually came up with the idea after Heather showed me these…admittedly awful vampire movies. Perhaps your infection spreads like that.”
“Dude, what are you implying?”
“I think you know,” As if on cue, Cody went bright red. “Wh - cariño! I mean you could try and bite me, you weirdo.” Alejandro let out a light chuckle, nudging the other man playfully. Cody let out a sigh of relief, a small whistle escaping through the gap in his teeth.
“Okay, okay, sorry. My sense of humor is still like…teenager levels of bad. Anyways, why would you even wanna test that?”
“Just for the- what do you call it- the ‘bit?’” This time, it was Cody’s turn to laugh. Alejandro had picked up some of his awful slang vocabulary now, and for a moment, he had to stop himself from pressing a kiss to the other man’s lips. He really couldn’t have found a better man to fall in love with. Silence lingered for a moment, before Alejandro cleared his throat, snapping Cody out of his puppy-love-induced daze.
“Alright, y'know what? Sure. I’ll humor your idea just because you used some of my gamer lingo.” Alejandro wasted no time at the notion, hopping over the back of the couch to plop down next to his love, arm already outstretched. He pressed his other hand to his forehead in a dramatic flair, earning him a playfully unamused look from the smaller man. Cody gingerly took his arm, then squeezed his eyes shut. A beat passed before he opened them again with a determined look on his face. His eyes shined that familiar vibrant green, but oddly enough, no antennae sprouted from his head. Either way, it seemed the alien state had at least been triggered to some extent. The hybrid leaned in, mouth open wide enough for Alejandro to get a view of the sharpened canines poking out and approaching his arm. This could hurt like hell.
And by some miracle, it seemed the Gods had smiled upon them. Alejandro felt nothing more than a gentle prick before Cody lifted his head back up, his teeth leaving nothing more than a faint imprint and a bit of slime. Alejandro raised an eyebrow. “What the- ¿Qué pasó? Mi amor, did you even do anything?”
“Al, I’m not breaking skin.” Cody straightened his posture, wiping ooze from the corner of his mouth with one clawed finger.
“Cody, I genuinely felt nothing.” It wasn’t the full truth, but he needed some excuse to try again. This wasn’t working. “Could you please just try once more? I promise I will not bother you with something like this afterwards.”
“Yeah, fine. It’s no big deal though, I’m not mad, I just don’t wanna hurt you, dummy.”
“I assure you, I have a high pain tolerance. I’ll live.” With that, Cody reluctantly lifted Alejandro’s arm up again, slit-like pupils meeting the other man’s green, almost silver eyes. They gave each other a quick nod, before Cody pressed his teeth back into the skin. Still just a gentle poke. The time was now. Alejandro gripped the edge of his shirt with his free hand in preparation, before letting out a fake yelp of shock. Instantly, Cody’s jaw locked, fangs jabbing further into his arm out of fear. Not enough for a hospital-worthy injury of course, but enough to draw trickles of blood. The instant he realized what he’d done, Cody borderline leaped back in horror, eyes wide with pure guilt and terror.
“Wh-what the fuck was that?? Oh god- shoot- are you okay, Al? I’m so sorry-“ Cody leaned back over, cradling Alejandro’s arm in one hand, the other pressed against the wound. He just full-on chomped on his husband’s fucking arm! What kind of freak even does that? Before he could continue panicking, a sudden warmth reached his cheek, the palm of Alejandro’s hand cupping his face gently.
“Woah, woah. Hey. Cody, I am okay. It barely hurts now, it was just painful for a moment,” that seemed to quell the brunette’s string of muttered apologies for the moment, so Alejandro continued, “I merely saw something outside. Thought I heard a bird hit our window, but it just came close. It’s alright, mi vida. Let’s just get this fixed up and head to bed, hm? I am not mad, I swear on my life.” Cody’s frazzled expression softened a bit, but he stayed silent, opting to respond with a mere thumbs up.
Sleep came quickly for both of them after patching up the wound and settling in for the night. Alejandro wrapped his arms around the smaller frame of his husband, who leaned into the touch as soon as it came. He hated causing Cody any sort of pain, but it all would turn out okay, right? It had to be okay. Right before shutting his eyes, he made a barely-audible promise to his love. The truth will all make sense soon.
Cody stirred awake, still in his half-alien mode. He propped himself on his elbows, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as the world around him became clear again. Why did he feel so awful? His question lingered for a second, then the events of last night crashed back into his head, drowning out the rest of his thoughts. Oh. The bite. Alejandro seemed okay, thank god, his gorgeous hair somehow perfect as always, forest green antennae twitching softly- wait. What the fuck? Cody’s hand shot up to cover his mouth and muffle a scream. No. This wasn’t happening. Please, PLEASE, anything but this. It’s all a dream, it’s only a dream- why aren’t things going back to normal?? To make matters worse, Al’s fingers had sharpened into claws, just like Cody’s, and- what the hell just moved under the sheets? Slowly, he lifted the covers to see underneath the sheets, and just as quickly dropped them at the sight. A long green tail swished back and forth between Al’s legs. Cody found himself completely breathless at that point.
“Al- Al! Wake up, oh shit, dude. Please please please please-“ He shook the other man frantically. At this point, his own antennae grew from his hair out of stress, and finally, his husband opened his eyes. They were the same as Cody’s, except his sclera was a darker green, the slits a more pale color.
“What the- Cody, is everything alright?” He sat up, the slow realization setting in as he examined his own hands. “…Well then. It seems my hypothesis was correct.” Alejandro tossed the covers off his lap, tail now fully exposed and flopping against the mattress.
“Hypothesis…? Dude, what’re you talking about?”
“I had no clue whether this would actually work or not, but I made you bite me harder on purpose. I figured if this was some infection, then it could be spread. And it seems it worked. Quite the interesting new form, if I do say so myself, you’ll have to teach me your strategies for handling the transformation.” At this point, Cody was beyond dumbfounded. His mouth hung open as he sat up, running a hand through his hair. Alejandro furrowed his brow. At least he wasn’t sobbing his eyes out again? Before Cody could fall into a pit of guilt, he continued, “Mi amor, this was never your fault. I knew you wouldn’t have let me do this if I told you the truth.” Alejandro took Cody’s clawed, shaking hands in his own, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. A few seconds of quiet lasted, before the brunette finally mustered the courage to speak.
“W-why?” His voice was barely audible, just loud enough to get the point across. He still wouldn’t look up at Alejandro.
“Love is to share, hm? I never wanted you to face this alone. Whether it failed or not, I had to try and help you in some way. You are the light of my life. Human, Alien, or whatever, you are mi vida. Plus, I make a good alien, no? This isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.” Cody’s dead silence finally broke with a small laugh that quickly devolved into a mix of both sobs and giggling, and before Alejandro could do anything, the smaller man reached over and embraced him.
“You’re such a fucking dork,” Cody stared up at his husband with nothing but adoration, grinning softly. “I-I love you so much, Al.” He nuzzled his head into Alejandro’s chest, who hugged him back, tail coiling around the two of them. Everything was okay. God knows how long they stayed there, wrapped up in their warm embrace. Nothing else mattered, the world fading around them, leaving nothing but the two alien-hybrids together.
“I love you too, cariño. Always.”