Chapter Text
Michael woke up in the morning next to the love of his life in the house that man bought specifically for them, and he had to stare at the ceiling in amazement while that truly sank in. "I live here," he said out loud.
"Yes you do baby," Alex said sleepily. His lips brushed his shoulder. "Mmm, still tired."
"Go back to sleep," Michael said, ruffling his hair and making his bed head worse. "Was just talking to myself."
"Mhm." Alex tapped his fingers over his heart. "We live together. I want you here. Don't forget it."
"I won't," Michael promised. "I love it here, you know."
Alex smiled, but he was too tired to keep his eyes open. "I do know. Can I tell you something?"
"I thought you were going back to sleep," Michael said.
"Imma tell you first. It's not a guest bedroom."
"It's not?"
"Mm-mm. It's for when we foster our future kids."
"Future kids?" he asked, but Alex was already asleep again. Well, that explained the twin size bed in there, and the utter lack of decoration.
Wow. Not only did he live in a house with Alex, he was going to have a family with him here. They were going to give kids like him a warm place to sleep and hopefully, one day, adopt them. And they could decorate their own room. Holy sh*t, if he had a foster family who had given him his own room, let alone cared enough to take him shopping...
Michael happily went back to sleep.
He woke up again to Alex's phone ringing. Actually, he woke up because Alex was poking him. "Will you get it please? Don't wanna move."
Michael nodded and floated it over. He put it on speaker. "Alex's phone, we're trying to sleep, what do you want?"
"Just wanted to make sure Alex is doing alright," Kyle said.
"I'm fine, just tired," Alex said.
Michael noted the daylight in the window. He tugged the blackouts shut with telekinesis. "He's usually up by now," he said, not quite able to hide his concern.
"That's okay, as long as you feel okay, Alex. Resting is good. But if you need to rest all day, skip your dose again. And go to the hospital if it gets worse."
"Sure," Alex lied. He snuggled into Michael.
"At least call me?"
"I'll call you and take him to the hospital if he gets worse," Michael said. "We're going back to sleep now, bye Valenti."
"Oh, okay, bye."
"Bye Kyle. Thanks for checking in."
"Sure thing. See you guys."
Michael floated the phone back to its spot. He'd been awake long enough now that he was kinda hungry. "Do you want to eat first?"
"Mm-mm," was Alex's answer, or, yup, he was already asleep again. Well, that was one of the best ways Michael knew to fight hunger. With Alex nice and cool using him as a pillow, it was easy to go back to sleep.
"Where going?" Michael asked, aware only that Alex had kissed his forehead and was now sitting on the edge of the bed getting his crutches.
"Bathroom. God, it's almost two."
"Time flies when you're out like a log," Michael said. He propped himself up. "Are you hungry?"
"Yeah," Alex said. "I'll be right back."
They did a late afternoon version of their usual morning ritual. They had lunch sandwiches at the table, though, and Michael could tell that Alex was still tired as they ate.
"We can go back to sleep," Michael offered.
Alex made a face. "I'm not that tired. Hey, actually, you wanna follow that lead in a couple days? It involves a little bit of a road trip."
Excitedly, Michael said, "Yeah, you reckon it'll be safe?"
"It was supposed to be today, but I meant to plan it with you yesterday and we napped instead. Plus I want to fully recover first. He seems harmless, though. Dallas Haines. The church he preaches at is about two hours away."
Michael blinked. "Church?"
Alex nodded. "He's a priest."
He scratched his head. He didn't have the greatest memories of churches or priests.
"It's not a bad one," Alex said quickly. "Their financials all check out, no suspicious news reports. They're very involved in the community there, which has no mysterious murders. And we have an easy excuse to talk to him, we'll say we want an officiant for our wedding."
Michael always did appreciate how thorough Alex was. "Okay. Okay, yeah. Road trip with my boyfriend to meet a possible alien. Ought to go better than Texas."
"It will. Even if it turns out he's human, there's supposed to be some cool stuff around, a nice restaurant we can go to, and we can get a room that isn't war-themed."
He smiled. "You've already planned out quite a bit of this, huh?"
"I figured I'd have to make up for taking you to church somehow," Alex said.
"Just take me in the gay Hozier way, I'll be fine."
Alex laughed, and he did seem more awake than he had earlier. He took his hand. "I'll do that too, don't worry. We can figure out more logistics tomorrow. You wanna watch TV with me for now?"
Michael nodded, relieved that he didn't have to convince him to rest. Alex would probably fall asleep on him in ten minutes.
He wanted to message his siblings about this plan so they'd know they were going out of town, then remembered his phone was still in the Airstream. "Can I borrow your phone to message my siblings?"
"Course," Alex said, unlocking it for him and tapping on a thread with him and the twins. Alex set up the TV while Michael texted.
(AM) this is Michael on Alex's phone
(AM) we are gonna follow that lead I mentioned in two days
(AM) will you be alright without us for a couple days?
(ME) what lead
(IE) yeah I think I want at least a whole week to make my decision
(ME) ???
(AM) oh Alex found someone who appeared like us, naked and mute, around the same time, but it was a couple hours away
(ME) wait so you're going to meet a possible alien? Alone?
(IE) no he's going with Alex
(AM) no I'm going with Alex
(AM) yeah and look, I'm the most practiced of the three of us, and the most resistant, so we'll be fine
(ME) wasn't Alex just drugged yesterday though? Is he doing okay?
(AM) yes, which is why we're going in two days instead of today or tomorrow
(IE) makes sense to me. Well tomorrow I'm breaking Noah's sh*t if anyone needs some catharsis
(IE) jk I need to break all of it myself. All the catharsis is for me
(AM) yeah no Izzy you have fun
(ME) yeah I think I'm not gonna get in the line of fire for that, break it real good though
(IE) I will >:3c
(ME) Michael when are you getting your phone
(AM) tomorrow probably, we're busy resting today. Why
(ME) in case we need to reach you?? I'll put in the group chat that you don't have it
(AM) ok cool I'm giving Alex his phone back now bye
Michael didn't wait for them to respond. Unlike Isobel, Alex didn't scroll through the thread, just put his phone away and settled in.
"Do you want to get my phone with me tomorrow?" Michael asked.
"Sure. Oh, geez," Alex said. "Do you have a vacuum there?"
"Shop vac. sh*t, the Airstream is probably covered in pollen," Michael realized.
"Yeah, but I'll vacuum it for you so it doesn't hurt you," Alex said. "Your truck too."
"Thank you, but two things. It's not easy to come by so I would like to save as much of it as possible."
He nodded. "We clean out the vacuums first so only the pollen is in the bags. What else?"
"Uhhh, I f*cking love you? Oh, and I don't think it's that dangerous."
"I will anyway." Alex grinned. "Because I love you too."
"Which reminds me, I kinda told my siblings last night that our wedding is going to be in April or May."
He raised an eyebrow. "Kinda?"
"Iz asked when we're getting married and I couldn't not answer," Michael said. "I told them not to tell people yet though."
"Hey," Alex said, smiling softly. "f*ck that, let's tell people we're getting married. They can tell people. You know what? Mr. Arturo's been asking me for months if we've eloped yet."
Michael tilted his head. "Do you want to elope?"
"No, baby, I want the wedding we've been talking about. I wanna f*cking...hand out invitations and make people RSVP. I wanna, ooh, do you wanna have a reception here?"
"I would absolutely like the shortest distance to the shower possible for after," Michael said. "But I think maybe the first thing we should do, besides proposing, is choose a date."
"Wouldn't want anybody's plus one to miss it," Alex teased.
Michael kissed him. "April or May?"
"April is sooner."
"Yeah." He hummed. "You reckon you'll wrap up Caulfield by then?"
"I will do my best," he said. "I won't miss our wedding no matter what."
Michael nodded. He believed that. He borrowed Alex's phone again and scrolled over to April 2019. "Weekend? Ohhh we could have our wedding on 4/20!"
"Haha. No," Alex said, though he didn't stop smiling. "What about the week before? 4/13/19 sounds good."
"That sounds awesome. Mostly 'cause I'm gonna marry you that day."
Alex kissed him. "Hm, I think we should go back to bed."
Michael tossed Alex's phone on the table. He could save the date later. Right now he needed both hands on his future husband.
Planning a road trip the next day was easy because Alex really had planned most of it already.
"You want to drive," Alex said. He tapped on his chin. "Right? You don't mind driving all the time?"
"I love driving. You don't mind being driven all the time?"
"Love being driven. Ten in the morning to leave? We get there by noon, maybe we take Dallas to lunch too, if it goes well?"
Michael nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that."
"And we'll have a room, room service... Head back in the morning. Eventually. Especially since it's supposed to storm all night."
He grinned. "Sounds nice."
"As for actually meeting him, I made an appointment. Do you wanna do like in Texas, I'll talk, you telepath?"
Michael nodded again. "I..." He looked down at his hand. Hope has consequences.
"What is it?" Alex asked softly, taking both his hands.
Consequences didn't have to be bad. "I hope he hears me."
Alex nodded. "I hope so too. Come on, let's pack some overnight bags."
"Don't reckon we'll need pajamas," Michael said, following him back to their bedroom.
"Mhm, I think we can skip those."
They easily packed both their things in one duffle bag, and they'd add their toiletries in the morning.
"Let's get your phone," Alex said. He stopped abruptly by the hall closet. "Wait, vacuum first."
"Ought to give some pollen to Liz," Michael mused. "Importing it was such a bitch, and it may help the DeLucas."
"Okay, yeah," Alex said. Michael got at the vacuum's guts before he had a chance. "She's working at the Crashdown while her lab gets refurbished, so how about lunch?"
"Any day with you, honey," Michael said, leaning up and kissing him. It made Alex smile, one of his favorite things to cause. "Okay, all clean."
"Great, my turn," Alex said, grabbing the vacuum and wheeling it outside.
Michael obtained a plastic baggy from the kitchen and followed.
"Hey, wait-- Don't breathe it," Alex told him.
He pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose and gave a thumbs up.
Alex shook his head at him and got to work. The truck wasn't too terribly contaminated aside from the driver's side of the bench, fortunately, and it was pollen free in a few minutes.
Alex insisted on bagging the pollen himself, too. "Should it be in smaller ones? Like sample-sized?"
"Liz can divvy it up as needed," Michael said. "You don't have single gram baggies. I don't even have those, that's drug dealer sh*t."
"Are you calling Liz a drug dealer?"
"Perhaps," Michael said. "I mean, are a poison and its antidote drugs?"
"I guess so." Alex put the bag of yellow powder in a grocery bag, an extra barrier between it and Michael. "Okay, to the junkyard."
"Ah, yeah. Shoot, I gotta put the Airstream back, too."
"Mm, how was your lair in terms of you shedding this stuff?"
"Not too bad, I think," he said, though he couldn't stop a smile at "lair." "I wasn't really paying attention to the floor. I was a little more concerned about you."
"Aw," Alex said, offering his hand. Michael took it. "Uh, I could hear you. Thank you for making Max stop banging on the ceiling. And for defending Maria. You didn't have to."
"Yeah I did, Max was being pragmatic but stupid."
Alex was rubbing his thumb over the back of his hand. "Yeah..."
"Is something wrong?" Michael asked as they parked at the junkyard.
"Well, for one thing, it looks like Sanders moved your trailer back for you."
Michael blinked at him and looked; yup, the bunker entrance was covered properly. There appeared to be a note on the door, so Michael checked to see if anyone was around before he floated it directly to his hand.
If you could warn me when you're involved in shenanigans that leave the place a mess, that'd be swell. -Sanders.
Michael snorted and texted him an apology, for which he didn't get a response. He pocketed the note. "He is so wearing a tux to our wedding and I cannot wait to see it." He turned to Alex. "What's actually wrong?"
"It's probably nothing," he said. "I mean, we were fine."
"Alex."
"Was I possessed?" Alex was squeezing his hand and staring out the windshield. "While I was drugged?"
"You were asleep," Michael assured him. "If he tried that sh*t, you fought him. If he could with all the pollen around. But I'm willing to bet he didn't even attempt it."
Alex glanced at him. "Why?"
"Same reason he never possessed Isobel in front of me after he killed those girls. I would know."
He sniffed. "Okay, but what if he did? Then what? Even if you knew, you couldn't have kicked him out."
Michael supposed they were going to go all the way through this hypothetical. "I would've held you until he f*cked off. What could he do, honestly, Alex? He doesn't have your skills or your mind. He couldn't have used you to hurt us in a way that mattered."
"Every time you are hurt matters. Every single time, everything you've ever told me, every time I-I left or said something sh*tty, I want to make it so you're never hurt again."
Michael took off his seatbelt to slide right beside him. He offered a hug, and Alex melted into him. "Alex, uh, thank you for caring about me. I don't know what else to say. Give me a minute to process, okay?"
Michael felt him nod and sink deeper into his shoulder. Michael rubbed his back as he thought.
Much as he appreciated it, he didn't think it was entirely possible for Alex to protect him from every single possible injury -- Isobel nearly killing herself came to mind, as did everything with Noah. He also didn't think saying so would help. But even if Alex couldn't fully protect him, he was there afterwards to help him heal. They both were. That was kind of the majority of their relationship.
"We've been through a lot," he said quietly. "Separately and together. But together, now, we back each other up and take care of each other. Even if it's not physically, when you're shutting down Caulfield, I'm your backup and I'll come when you call. I'll even wait two whole hours to come if you don't."
Alex chuckled, and Michael could hear his smile. "I appreciate that, thank you. But it sounded like a sex thing."
"That too. You can edge me all you want, honey."
Now Alex laughed, and Michael was sure he was feeling better.
Still, he added, "Alex, we both know the people closest to us have the greatest ability to hurt us."
He sighed. "We've certainly done it to each other enough."
"And now we're trying our best not to."
"We are."
"And there's room for mistakes."
"There is."
"And room for weird alien sh*t that makes you say or do something you don't want to."
Alex leaned back. He was still smiling, which was the important thing. "Yeah."
"You know what you actually did while you were drugged?" Michael nodded at his trailer, the bunker door underneath. "You said I should call it my lair, which is way better than calling it my bunker."
"Hundreds of bunkers in and around Roswell, but I bet you're the only one with a lair."
"I better be!" He offered Alex his hand. "Shall we?"
"Let's get the vacuum." He pulled him out of the truck.
"It's in the workshop. A little walk."
"Good," Alex said. That's right, he liked little walks when he was feeling overwhelmed.
They took a leisurely stroll to the workshop. Michael could tell it helped.
Sanders was there tinkering. "Afternoon, boys," he said gruffly.
"Hello, Sanders."
"Howdy. Need to borrow the shop vac," Michael said.
Sanders jerked his head.
Alex kissed Michael's shoulder. "I'll take care of it. Wasn't there something you wanted to ask him?"
"Oh, yeah," he said, not fully prepared for that conversation. Alex whisked the shop vac away. "Uh..."
Sanders hesitated before he put the pieces he was working on down. "What is it, kid?" He seemed unusually tense.
Michael sat on a stool across from him and crossed his arms. "Me and Alex are gonna get married."
"No sh*t," Sanders said, relaxing instantly and picking up his tools again. "When?"
"Next year. Uh, so I was thinking, I mean, you don't have to, but if you want to, I'd really like if you were a part of our wedding."
His brow furrowed. "Part of it how?"
"Uh, we haven't gotten that far in planning yet, but you know, like if we do a walk the aisle thing, maybe you could, for me-- It's not like Alex's dad would do it, he's in jail and an absolute f*ckhead anyway so, yeah."
Sanders leaned over to spit on the ground. He hesitated before he asked, "You sure? I don't clean up that great."
"Neither do I," Michael said. "I don't care. I'm sure I want you there. You, my siblings, Alex's brothers and his mom and our friends. So, uh, will you?"
"I'd be happy to," he said. Sanders looked up at the ceiling. "I just... I wish it could be your..."
Michael tilted his head, honestly unsure where he was going with that, but he appeared to be tearing up. "Don't get emotional on me now, old man."
Sanders sniffed. "Course not. Hey. Congratulations to you two. Don't reckon there's ever been two fellas more suited to each other."
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
"I don't gotta do a speech, do I?"
"God no, I just know I'm going to have to wrangle my brother over that."
"Aw, he just wants to 'cause he loves ya."
"That's not the issue," Michael said. "It's the time limit I'm concerned about."
Sanders huffed a laugh and got a memo pad out. "Well, you got something more specific than next year?"
"April 13th. We just decided yesterday."
"Huh," Sanders said after he wrote it down.
"What?"
"Thought it'd be sooner, that's all."
"Yeah, I'd marry him today," Michael said. Alex was in the Airstream, but he looked for him anyway. "But it's gonna be at Foster's so we want the weather to be nice. Plus we probably need time to convince the Air Force to let us have it there."
"Don't reckon Alex will have a problem doin' that. If there's anything else I can help with, though, you just give me a holler."
"Thank you." Michael squinted at the bits of metal Sanders was working on. "What are you up to, anyway?"
"You don't work here for hardly a month and don't know what this stuff is," Sanders retorted.
Exasperated, Michael said, "I know what the pieces are for, I don't understand why you're putting them together."
"Look at this one this way." Sanders held out a piece of metal with an uncanny resemblance to a certain couch buddy.
"Oh, it's Leroy," Michael said. "Neat."
"Right?"
He hummed. "Are you really gonna get another dog?"
"Reckon Leroy ruined me for any other full-time couch buddy. I'll stick with the old scrap metal."
"That's a really cool memorial, Mr. Sanders," Alex said, leaning against Michael as he did so, and Michael automatically hugged him.
"Thank you, Alex."
"Hey!" Michael said. "You got it all already?"
"The Airstream, yes. Would like some assistance with your lair."
Sanders snorted. "The boot fits."
"Yeah, of course I'll help," Michael said, ignoring him. Under normal circ*mstances, the shop vac would be a bitch to get down there. He wasn't normal. "Later, Sanders. We'll update you as soon as we know more about what we're doing for our wedding."
The old man waved.
Alex and Michael strolled back arm in arm. "So that went well, then?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, he said he'd do it. I'm glad."
"Good, me too." He was kind enough not to add I told you so.
"How bad was it in there?"
"Really, really bad," Alex said. "Completely coated in pollen except where we were on the bed and where we apparently got dragged out."
"Mmm, don't like that."
"Me neither." They stopped outside the trailer. "Michael, he had to drop us into your lair. If he went in there, there's no way he wasn't affected-- hence the dragging."
"Right."
"But we weren't injured."
"Maybe we landed on Max. It's only, what, an eight or ten foot drop. Besides, we were both passed out, we couldn't have tensed up." Michael nodded at him. "This is what you were talking about, saying we have the surveillance stuff at the house. You want to know exactly what happened."
"How did I get on the cot?" His anxiety was ramping up again.
"My guess is Max. He was awake before me," he said. "I'd have been pissed if he left you on the floor. Plus I was also coated in pollen. I'm pretty sure he knows better than to touch unknown substances."
"Pretty sure."
"A scientist, the man is not."
Alex laughed. Good, he was feeling better again.
"Okay," Michael said, grabbing the chain to attach to his truck. Alex gave him a curious look. "Plausible deniability."
He nodded and hooked up the other end.
Michael got in the truck but didn't start it, and he pulled the Airstream away from his lair entrance with his mind.
By the time Michael got back, Alex was already halfway down. "Stay up there!" he called.
"So assertive today, Alex," he said, rolling the shop vac closer. He sat on the edge to lower it down carefully. "Lovingly."
Alex stuck his tongue out and went to plug in the vacuum. "I heard you say this stuff made you feel broken, and you sounded so... so upset."
Michael scratched his head. "Yeah, but it wasn't like when Iz was broken. The serum completely flips a switch. With the pollen, I could still feel my telekinesis, I just couldn't use it. Which was upsetting, mostly because I couldn't get us out of there. Get you to a doctor."
Alex came back to the ladder to look up at him. "Thank you. I'm going to vacuum now."
"Okay." Michael leaned back and listened to the shop vac run. He needed to do something for Alex soon, too. Maybe he could clean his whole house. Their house. sh*t, yeah, he should especially do that.
Not that they ever let it actually get dirty. Alex wasn't messy, at least not to the degree Michael was, and Michael never wanted to impose. Only his office (wow, it really was his) could be called cluttered. And he knew the only reason Alex's office wasn't cluttered was for security purposes.
In contrast, Alex's keyboard was covered in little notes, key progressions and lyrics he thought of when he didn't have his notebook handy. Alex always invited him to try them out, and Michael loved to test them on the same guitar Alex had gifted him all those years ago.
Hmm. If they were going to do their wedding reception at the house, maybe he could play something for him. Serenade him in front of everyone they cared about.
"Anyway, here's Wonderwall," he said out loud, laughing to himself. It was the first romantic song that came to mind, and frankly, he could apply several of the lyrics to how he felt about Alex.
"No!" Alex yelled over the vacuum. "No Wonderwall! And no Creep!"
Michael leaned on his elbow. "How do you even know what I'm talking to myself about?"
"I know how you think!"
Michael huffed.
"You literally suggested we get married on 4/20!"
"Can I play you Beck's Loser?"
The vacuum stopped, and Alex was back at the base of the ladder. "Really? 'I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me'? That's a Liz and Max song."
"You're calling Max a loser?"
"Absolutely."
Michael smiled at him. "Yeah he is. Are you done vacuuming? Shouting back and forth feels inefficient."
"Just a second. I turned it off for dramatic effect but there's a little more."
"I'll keep brainstorming then."
Alex squinted at him. "No Rick Astley."
Michael gasped. "And Rickroll the entire reception? Now I have to."
Alex groaned as he turned the vacuum back on.
Michael innocently hummed Never Gonna Give You Up until the vacuum stopped again. Then he climbed down to find more containers for the pollen.
"You know," Michael said. "It's a pretty romantic song for a meme."
"For a meme," Alex allowed. "But if you play it you know everyone is going to riot."
"It's also a good song," he said. "Just saying. If they don't like it they can leave. Oh no, I'll be alone with my husband sooner, whatever will I do?"
Alex was trying not to laugh.
"Like, this isn't convincing me to not play it. Alex! We're no strangers to love."
"Oh my god."
"You know the rules, and so do I."
"Do I!"
Michael held out his hands, thrilled that Alex was joining him. "A full commitment's what I'm thinking of."
"You wouldn't get this from any other guy."
"I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling."
Alex was laughing too hard for the next line, face against his neck. "Can't do it, too cheesy."
"Boooo," Michael said. "Eres un perdedor."
"Soy un perdedor que se casa contigo."
"Aw, you're still marrying me," Michael said, kissing him.
"Long as you're still marrying me." Alex tapped on Michael's lips. "No Wonderwall. No Creep. No Loser."
"No meme songs, fine. Counterpoint: no Panic! At The Disco."
"Wow," Alex said. "A blanket ban on my favorite band from high school? Harsh."
Michael raised his eyebrows. "Do they have nice songs?"
"Yes," he bristled.
"Oh really? Sing one."
Alex looked up, thinking. After a minute he said, "Don't say anything."
"I am waiting patiently."
"When the Day Met the Night," Alex said.
"Don't know that one."
"When the moon fell in love with the sun, all was golden in the sky," he sang. He stopped abruptly. "No, never mind, not that one."
"Why not? That sounded nice."
Alex sighed and did another verse. "As long as you can promise not to break my little heart or to leave me all alone in the middle of summer."
"Ah," Michael said. No doubt he was thinking of when he left him behind to go to Basic. "Yeah, but I'd allow it. Cause you can promise that now."
Alex smiled. "I do promise that."
Michael kissed him. "Shouldn't we get engaged before we say any 'I do's?"
Alex shook his head and hugged him. "Northern Downpour is nice too. Maybe Always?"
"Three whole nice songs in their entire discography?"
"I mean, there's plenty of, like, nice surrealist ones, That Green Gentleman, Nine in the Afternoon, Behind the Sea, C'mon..."
"I remember the second one," Michael said. "You'll have to teach me the others. Maybe on our road trip tomorrow?"
"Oh, are you lifting the ban?"
"If you really want Panic songs, I mean, you're usually the DJ. I will point out that you failed to explicitly ban Never Gonna Give You Up."
Alex poked him. "You know what, that can be the second to last on the reception playlist."
"Yeah? What's last?"
"Closing Time. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."
Michael laughed. "Yes! Ah, I love you."
"I love you too. And I think it's sweet you wanna play a song for me. Um, which reminds me, you know how I was writing one about us?"
"Yeah, the one you're always humming. Hell of an earworm. Complimentary."
"Thank you. It's about us, but it's for me. And I--" He hesitated. "I think it's more about me and the sh*t with my dad than us, even though you are a huge part of me. So I would really like it if we could, um, collaborate on one that's really for us. Together."
"I wanna collaborate on our whole lives together. Forever."
Alex smiled, but he nodded at something behind Michael. He glanced back; he was indicating the console. "I have to ask. Do you still want to leave the planet? Find your home?"
"Alex." Michael bonked his head into Alex's. "You're my home. I searched the stars, but you were right next to me. The brightest star I've ever known."
Alex held his gaze. "Yeah," he said finally. "That's going in the song."
Michael laughed, and Alex jumped him, a kiss as intense as the looks they just passed. Searing like a meteorite falling through the atmosphere.
"Just so you know," Alex eventually said to his lips. "If you do want to get out there, find your roots, I won't stand in your way."
Michael's blood ran cold. That sounded way too much like a breakup line. Like if Michael wanted to find his origins they couldn't be together. But that didn't really make sense--
"Agh, no, sorry," Alex said, ducking his head. "I mean that I'll go with you."
"Ohhh." That made sense. They would be together, as they agreed. Okay. Alex was swearing under his breath and repeatedly tapping his head against his shoulder. "Are you currently using me as a wall to bang your head into?"
"Yeah, I don't know why I didn't just say that. I'm really working on phrasing things in a way that doesn't give you that knee-jerk reaction."
"Hey, I'm also working on recovering from that reaction, because, really, I know better."
"We'll get there," Alex said. "We will."
"We are getting there." Michael smiled. "Together."
They lounged in the Airstream for a bit after they made good use of the clean bed while Michael's phone charged. He had so many goddamn notifications, including several voicemails (Isobel demanding to know why they hadn't arrived at the gala yet), and almost every thread he was in had new messages. Including Alex's. Chronologically, his was first, so he started there.
(AM) Liz just brought your keys and Maria's necklace
(AM) which reminds me I have to stop at the gift shop
(AM) I know you don't have your phone right now but I love you so f*cking much, I'm so glad you're officially moving in
(AM) it's literally all I can do right now to not be like jumping up and down cuz my boyfriend lives with me. We live together
(AM) yeah I couldn't hold it in, they could tell I was excited about something and asked so I told them
"I love you so f*cking much," Michael said out loud.
Alex was tracing his abs to pass the time. "It's kinda funny that at the same time you were telling your siblings about our wedding, I was telling Liz and Maria we officially live together."
"I told my siblings that too, and Iz acted like she knew all along."
"She did," Alex said. "So did Liz. Everyone did."
"What? Isobel didn't know. I didn't even know."
"Well," Alex said, propping his head up. "There was a point where she was going to influence me into asking you to move in."
Michael looked away from Liz's theories about the handprint and deep tissue scarring, sent the day before. "She what. When the hell was that?"
Alex waved his hand. "While you were getting the antidote from the safe that time. She mindscaped me and asked which of us was being stupid and why. I said neither of us was being stupid, I just obviously hadn't asked correctly."
"She's dead to me," Michael said flatly, tabbing out of Liz's thread and over to Isobel's.
"She was looking out for you," Alex said. "She didn't influence me, by the way. Seeing as it took me literally getting drugged to actually ask you to move in with me like a real person."
"No takebacks," Michael joked. "You're stuck with me. Whoa."
"Hm?"
Michael showed him the message Isobel sent only an hour or so ago.
(IE) heyyy so tell me asap if you can do telekinesis by screaming because I just got frustrated by all that asshole's sh*t and screamed and broke so many things
(IE) I need new wine glasses. New TV. New picture frames
(MG) no i have never done tk by screaming . Did you only break glass?
(IE) welcome back to civilization
(IE) yeah but I also pushed things over
(MG) hmm well strong enough sound waves can do that too
(MG) there you go. You got a new power, isn't that nice
(IE) screaming??? I hate it here
(MG) Alex says to tell you that supersonic screaming is one of the coolest superpowers
(MG) Black Canary is extremely hot. Land so many guys gals and nb pals with a good fishnet
(IE) while I'm going through a messy divorce??
(MG) Speaking of Alex. I told you not to touch his brain and you mindscaped him ten minutes later?
(IE) uhhh yeah I had to make sure he wasn't stringing you along or something
(IE) me and Max figured back when he gave us his new address that he intended to have you move in with him
(IE) I only checked your trailer first because I forgot it had been four months and he'd have moved and taken you with him by then
(IE) he did literally say he wasn't going anywhere without you
(IE) and it's not like Alex didn't consent to the mindscape, I would've dropped it if he wanted
Michael frowned. "Did she actually ask or did she just assume you were good with it?"
"She asked once we were in there, I said I didn't mind. I knew what it was about."
He huffed. "Why didn't you tell me she did that then?"
Alex smushed his cheek into Michael's chest. "Because then I would've had to tell you why she did it, and I... I couldn't bear the thought of you telling me you didn't actually want to live with me when I was already having a bad pain day."
"But I've been living with you the whole time."
"To your great surprise," Alex teased. "I thought maybe you were only okay with it if we didn't call it that. I don't know. We were being a little stupid."
"We are geniuses," Michael said.
"Ridiculously oblivious ones."
"Yeah, okay."
Michael's phone dinged again, as it had a few times while they were talking.
(IE) Michael?
(IE) I'm sorry okay, I promise I won't mindscape him again
(IE) Michael please do not start the silent treatment while I'm going through this please wait until after I make my decision please
(MG) I'm not doing that
(MG) I was discussing some stuff with Alex that's all
(IE) oh okay. Cool
(MG) he says it was fine so l'll give you a pass this time, but if you ever feel the need to mindscape him again, and you shouldn't!!! But if you do, ask him first, not during
(IE) got it
(MG) thank you. I appreciate you wanna look out for me but you Never have to protect me from Alex
(IE) that's cute
(MG) no it's not. Be quiet
(IE) :3
(IE) so anyway I think you might be right about soundwaves, it's like my ears close up when I do it but it's definitely loud
(MG) Neat. How close are your neighbors
(IE) ah
(IE) yeah I'll uh break the rest of the stuff and then maybe tomorrow I'll go scream in the desert
(MG) remember to write it down or it's not science!
(MG) have fun :)
(IE) >:3
Aaand Michael was done reading texts for the moment. He put his phone up. "Why are you all the way down there?" he asked Alex.
Alex kissed his belly. "Easy access."
"Mmm, are you hungry, though?"
"I could eat. Let's see..." He pressed his ear to Michael's stomach. "Oh no, you're starving."
"Is that your official diagnosis?"
"We need to get some comet-quilles in you immediately," he said seriously.
"Okay," Michael said, waving him closer. "Come here first please."
Alex obliged and kissed his lips.
Michael and Alex sat knee to knee at the Crashdown's counter, a grocery bag full of various pollen containers in front of them. Mr. Arturo spotted them first and studied them carefully.
"You two still haven't eloped?"
Alex just held his hand out like 'see?'
"Mr. Arturo, Alex and I are going to get married next year, we're doing a wedding," Michael said.
"You're invited," Alex said instantly.
"Of course. You can even bring Liz."
Alex elbowed him, and Michael just grinned.
Mr. Arturo, for his part, did not stop smiling for a second. "Muy, muy bueno, and congratulations. I will be there. Ahh, I'm so happy that you boys won't hide your love for each other any longer. You've really grown together."
"Thank you," Alex said sincerely.
Michael knew Arturo was one of Alex's dads away from dad (the other being Jim Valenti) and he was glad he still had one living, non-sh*tty father figure.
"Now, sitting at the counter makes me think you are hungry, but I can also summon Liz, assuming this bag is for her."
"Both, thank you so much," Alex said as Michael dropped his head to his shoulder.
Arturo yelled as he returned to the kitchen. "Mija! Delivery for you!"
"I haven't ordered anything," she called.
Alex looked at Michael, who nodded. They both shouted, "Liz!"
"Gah." She came out with a dry-erase marker in hand, but otherwise in uniform. "You could warn a girl."
"I did," Alex said mildly. "Two hours ago when we decided we'd stop by for lunch. And to give you this."
"I have not checked my phone in a while, noted." Liz used her marker to inspect the bag. "Ohh! Is this from the smoke bomb you told me about, Alex?"
"The very same," he said.
"Wow, that's a lot. Where do we think he got this stuff?"
Michael sat up. "Should be easy enough to find out. He was horrible with technology, and that wasn't an act considering when he broke into the house. I'll be amazed if he actually built the thing himself."
She nodded. "Well, this much is great. We'll be able to run a whole gauntlet of different tests. Ah, Michael, what did you think of the hypotheses I sent you?"
"Uhh," he said. "Isobel distracted me from reading them. But I don't really know what you mean by deep tissue scarring?"
"Right, I'll explain." She winced when she took a breath, and Michael frowned. "I'll text it. Actually, Alex, can you help me out with something real quick?" She jabbed her thumb toward the back where she'd been working and then took the grocery bag of pollen.
"Sure," he said. He got up and kissed Michael's cheek.
"You don't need me too?" Michael said.
"It's girl stuff."
Alex rolled his eyes.
"I'm more of a girl than him," Michael called after them. "Come back soon!"
Well now what was he supposed to do? He took his phone out, but he heard Alex exclaim, "Jesus Christ, Liz."
"You okay?" Michael asked.
"We're fine," Liz said.
Michael shrugged and read more text messages. He still didn't understand what Liz was talking about, which was too bad, since he really liked to learn about their powers. Hopefully her eventual explanation would clear things up. He sent questions about what specifically he didn't get.
She and Alex were in the back long enough that Mr. Arturo delivered their lunch.
"I will get him," he said.
"Thanks." Michael used his fries to steal some of Alex's milkshake in the meantime.
They returned, and Alex sat beside him heavily.
"Hey party people," Michael said since neither of them looked particularly happy.
"Hey."
"Somethin' I need to worry about?"
Alex shook his head.
"Not at all," Liz said, but Michael recognized the fake cheer.
"So yes, but I should drop it."
She reached out to pat his head, and Michael leaned back to dodge. Alex caught him to prevent him from falling off his stool.
"Just eat your lunch. Alex helped me, I think it'll be okay."
"Okay," Michael said. He believed that because Alex helped him all the time. "Cool. No further questions."
"If you need to talk about it more, you can call me," Alex said.
"Thank you, Alex. And Michael, for dropping it." She smiled and waved at them. "Have a nice road trip."
"Oh, we will," Michael said.
"Definitely. Thanks."
Michael kept eating until she was gone, then he bumped his knee into Alex's. Voice low, he said, "I've dropped it but I'm guessing by girl stuff she meant human stuff?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay," he said. "It's dropped."
"Alright."
"But it's pretty bad?"
"It's going to be fine," Alex assured him, and maybe himself, too. He took a deep breath. "Really, physically, Liz is okay. The rest, she needs some time to come to terms with, but I think she'll be okay."
Well, okay. In that case, Michael had far more interesting things to think about than Liz's personal problems. Like how Alex still looked a little stormy, but he brightened up a bit every time Michael bumped their legs together.
"You wanna do anything else today?" Alex asked as they cleaned their plates.
"A repeat of what we did in the Airstream but at home would be epic," Michael said.
"Agreed, but we can't wear ourselves out too much," Alex said. "We have plans tomorrow. And I want to make very good use of the bed and the shower in our hotel room."
Michael was definitely looking forward to that. Hmm, maybe there would be a good moment while they were there to propose. They spent a lot of time in hotels when Alex was on leave, so it would still be meaningful.
So far Michael had restrained himself from proposing during sex. A hotel room with just them would undoubtedly have a lot of that. But Alex mentioned something about room service for dinner, so that would be an excellent opportunity.
Alex touched his shoulder. "Where'd you go?"
"To tomorrow night," he replied. "I'm really excited."
"Good. And how are you feeling about tomorrow afternoon? Meeting Dallas?"
"Gut wrenchingly nervous. And... hopeful."
Alex took his hand and squeezed it. "Let's go home."
Michael nodded.
He had no idea how he managed to sleep that night. He was a ball of nerves. It was about as bad as when he'd first gone to the Rez with Alex to meet his mom and brother.
At least he wasn't worried about what clothes to wear.
Alex still watched him like a hawk while they gathered their things from the bathroom. It continued out to the kitchen while Michael fried eggs for their breakfast.
"What?" he said finally.
"You're not overthinking this meeting, are you?" He provided the toasted, buttered bagels for their sandwiches. "I would like this to be a good day."
"I believe you can make that happen through sheer force of will," Michael said. They sat down to eat. "I'm just nervous to meet him. What if he's human? What if he's not?" He didn't really want to get stuck in that mindset. Regardless, all the ifs roiled in the back of his head. He shook it and focused on Alex. "But either way, I get to be with you all day, and in the morning, we come home together."
"Yes, and you won't have to drive me to the airport this time."
"I'd drive you to the airport every time for just a little longer with you," Michael declared.
Alex pulled him into a soft kiss. He picked up their plates and rinsed them off. "Okay, it's almost ten, are we ready to go?"
Michael patted his pockets, felt the silly alien on his keys and smiled automatically. He picked up their duffle bag. "Yeah, let's go."
Alex put his laptop bag over his shoulder and followed him out to the truck. "What do you want to listen to?"
"You."
Alex laughed. "Okay, I'm sure I've got some relaxing songs to sing along to."
Michael was happy to listen to him. Then he had an idea once they got on the highway. He requested, "Will you play the nice Panic ones you were talking about?"
"Yeah," Alex said, and he started with the one he'd given a sample of, When the Day Met the Night.
Michael's favorite part of all this, of course, was still Alex singing. He loved his voice, yes, but these were songs he'd known for well over a decade and he didn't just know the words and the melodies, but the mood and the attitude.
He wondered which of he and Alex were the sun and the moon in the context of the song. He tended to associate Alex with warmth and light, so his first thought was that Alex was the sun, and Michael was the moon.
But then he remembered Alex calling him Apollo, and how the line asking for a promise was directed to the moon, and Alex in all his teenage emo glory was quite moon-night-darkness-coded.
"You know," Michael mentioned as casually as possible. "When I was helping Isobel out with her wedding, I was thinking about ours."
"Ours? Even back then?"
"Yeah, Alex, whenever I thought of myself getting married it was with you." He glanced over, and Alex seemed pleased, so he continued. "I figured a church like her was a definite no, so I thought outside, because we both look hot as f*ck in the sun."
"Yeah we will, and I can hardly wait," Alex said, grinning. "This one is Northern Downpour."
It was nice. Michael bobbed his head along to the chorus. He thought that this was actually one of the surrealist ones. What did sugarcane have to do with anything?
Then Alex sang: "I missed your skin when you were east; you clicked your heels and wished for me."
"I missed you," Michael said.
Alex squeezed his hand and then brought it to his lips to kiss before he continued singing. "I know the world's a broken bone, but melt your headaches, call it home."
"The world that has you is my home," he said.
"Are you gonna flirt or will you let me finish the song?" Alex teased.
"No," he said petulantly.
"I suppose that's fine, the rest of it is the chorus over and over."
"It is nice," Michael said. "I like it. Well, I like any song you sing, whether it's nice or not."
"Aw. What about you, the music you learned from Sanders? Are there nice Jimmy Buffet songs?" Alex wondered.
"Loads. And also loads of majorly inappropriate ones. The man has range. What about that third Panic one, though?"
"I need a break from Panic. Tell me some you like."
Michael hummed thoughtfully. "One Particular Harbor comes to mind. Especially--" He cleared his throat. "There's this one particular harbor, sheltered from the wind, where the children play on the shore each day, and all are safe within. Also! There's a line that's like, where I can see myself disappear, but in some concert versions he adds but not yet."
"Funny," Alex said, smiling. "I like that too. All are safe within. Yeah." He typed it into his phone. "What else?"
He tried to think of some that were nice and romantic, given this was supposed to be for their wedding reception. Mademoiselle was the only one he could think of and he thought that was too gendered for them. "Alex, I'm gonna be real with you. Most of his nicest ones are dad songs."
He laughed. "Go figure."
"Yeah, more "kid graduating" music than "marrying the love of my life" music."
"Okay, you can tell me those ones when we have kids, then." Michael sensed that this was not the time to talk about that, but holy sh*t. "You said you guys listen to a lot of folk music?"
"Mhm, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel... Hey, d'you reckon Me and Julio was about queer stuff?"
"I'm pretty sure Paul Simon confirmed that in an interview like two months after it was released," Alex said.
"Brooo."
"For the love of God, please don't bro me, I'm going to be your husband."
"Now that's queer stuff."
He tried not to smile. "I am going to play Always now."
"Please." And Michael was hooked from the first line.
"When the world gets too heavy, put it on my back, I'll be your levy."
"Me too," Michael said instantly.
"I know. You know."
He listened to the rest, trying not to interrupt again.
At the end of it, he said, "You know I didn't mean it, right?"
"Mean what?"
"Banning them. If you think they fit with our wedding reception vibes, I a hundred percent trust your judgement."
"Thank you." Alex huffed. "If you really wanna do Wonderwall, that's alright, but Creep, that one is too self-deprecating. Okay?"
"And so is Loser, not that it's even really a love song," Michael said. "Okay, yeah."
"Hey, we could duet," Alex offered.
"Yeah! Yes, let's duet forever."
"Sounds like a perfect marriage to me."
Michael smiled. Yeah, it did. "You remember on our way to the Rez, that Edwin McCain song?"
"I'll Be."
"I used to imagine serenading you with that," he said. "Embarrassing, I know."
"I don't care. I love that you want to do that."
"Not that one either," Michael said quickly. "I'd rather one that you don't feel weird about."
"Aw."
"Oh!" He tugged on Alex's hand. "Do you think we can write our song in four months?"
Alex leaned over to get at his laptop bag, his notebook tucked safely inside. By Michael's estimate, he had ten pages left. "With some intense brainstorming, I believe we are capable of anything."
"Put that in," Michael said.
"Yes," Alex agreed, scribbling his own words down.
Michael was going to get him a stockpile of those notebooks. He asked shyly, "Can we have a dad band, Alex?"
His pen paused, and he looked up with a smile. "Yeah, babe. We can have everything."
Michael pumped his fist, and he tried-- he really did-- Michael tried to brainstorm lyrics with him. But the closer they got to their destination, the more anxious Michael got.
Then Alex flipped a page and several fifty dollar bills fell onto his lap. Michael pretended not to notice.
"Michael."
He watched the road, stalwart. "Yes, honey?"
"Why is there an egregious amount of cash in my notebook?"
He shrugged. "Maybe you put it there for safekeeping."
"We both know that I did not."
"Happy birthday?" Michael tried.
Alex huffed. They also both knew it wasn't his birthday. But he said, "Okay. Thank you." He put the bills in his wallet. "This doesn't get you out of a real birthday present on my actual birthday."
They both knew he was teasing. "I wouldn't dream of it, Alex."
Alex touched his shoulder. They weren't far now, and Michael might've been vibrating in anticipation. Scratch that, he definitely was. "You wanna do some scales with me?"
That was such an odd suggestion that it immediately drew Michael out of his anxiety. "What?"
"Scales. You know." He sang a progression of notes.
"Ohh, okay, yeah."
They went back and forth pretty calmly until Michael pointed out the sign indicating they were entering the town.
"Um, are we going to the church first, or the hotel?"
"I know you want to meet him as soon as possible," Alex said. "We won't put it off any longer. Besides, I made an appointment for like..." He checked his watch. "Ten minutes from now. Up here."
Alex directed him to a small lot where Michael parked the truck and grabbed Alex's hand. Alex kissed the back.
"Come on. His office is in that building."
Michael refused to let go, so they both got out on the passenger side. He looked at each man they passed in priest attire like maybe he'd recognize one somehow.
"There," Alex said, nodding at a Black man stapling papers to a community bulletin board. Alex called to him, "Hello."
Michael tightened his grip on Alex's hand as the suspected priest turned with a smile.
He did recognize him.
Michael couldn't use his voice. He looked familiar, like Isobel and Max way back at Foster's. He felt familiar. Fish from the same pond.
You're like me, he blurted out telepathically. Oops.
If the man heard him, he didn't react, just greeted them. "Good afternoon. I'm Dallas Haines. Are you Alex and Michael?"
"That's right," Alex said, tugging on Michael's hand in question.
You're like me. Do you feel it? Have you been alone this whole time? I'm like you.
Dallas's brow furrowed, but he waved them on. "Come into my office."
They followed him, and Alex leaned over to ask, "Everything okay, my love?"
"I can feel it," Michael said shortly, not an explanation at all. He added quietly, "I know him." Please, there are more of us. Say something so we can rebuild our family.
They sat in Dallas's small, warm office. It was well-lit by a window behind the desk. He asked, "S-So, you're here for an officiant?"
"Yes," Alex said. "We have friends who go here, and they said you're a great orator."
You don't have to be alone anymore. Just say something. I know... I know you can hear me, you don't have to pretend you don't.
A new voice finally entered Michael's head. Does Alex know?
Michael could've cried in relief. "He knows," he said, squeezing Alex's hand. "He knows about aliens."
The last word startled Dallas, who sat back. Then he rubbed his eyes. "So you don't need an officiant?"
"We really will in April," Alex said, tugging on Michael's hand and making him smile.
"But you don't have friends in the congregation."
"Hoping we can be friends," he said breezily.
"Family," Michael said. "You feel like-like my brother."
"I... I actually feel that too." Dallas tilted his head. "Why do you say we're aliens?"
"We came out of our pods by Roswell," Michael said. Dallas raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Me and Isobel and Max. An alien spaceship really crashed there in '47 and we were on it."
"Massive government conspiracy covered it up," Alex said.
"Um, okay. Then... Pods?" Dallas repeated.
"Yeah! The big glowing thing you came out of? Do you call it something else?"
He shook his head. "I didn't come out of anything, I was found in a lake."
"Maybe it's still in the lake," Alex said thoughtfully. "They're pretty deep around here, right?"
"It's possible," Dallas said. "I've always been... drawn to that lake. It's comforting."
Michael nodded. That sounded like him with Foster's Ranch. Then he added: And you're like us since you can hear my telepathy. We can only hear each other.
Again, he shook his head. "I hear everyone when they pray."
"Oh. Huh." Michael tapped on his chin. "Oh! That's your power! Hella telepathy. You can read minds, even humans'. That's so cool."
"I guess? Wait, do you have other powers?"
Michael focused on a frame on Dallas's desk, and it floated into the air.
Dallas quickly backed his chair away, eyes wide. "Holy..."
Michael set it back down carefully. "Nothing holy about me. I can also spontaneously combust and possess people." He looked at Alex. "Geez, altogether that actually sounds demonic, doesn't it?"
"Nothing demonic about you, babe," Alex said. "You forgot your Plant Daddy powers."
"Oh yeah! I can make plants grow."
Dallas was still staring at the frame. Slowly, he asked, "Do you get the signal?"
"The signal?"
He sighed and scratched his head. "Every sixty-nine days, same time of night, for as long as I can remember, this piercing noise comes in my head for an hour. The only thing that mutes it is being submerged in water."
"sh*t," Michael said. "No, but we'll definitely try to find a way to help with that, it sounds awful."
"My best friend thinks it's what's putting holes in my brain," he said quietly, looking at the frame again. "We figured it was that or the prayers, so I try not to listen, but there's not much I can do either way."
"Your friend knows about you?"
"Heath, yeah. We never thought alien, honestly. Mutant, maybe, like a crappy X-Man. Heath's been my best friend my whole life," Dallas said. "Um, he's a-- a bio... Bio med-- bio engineer-- urgh, I'm sorry. Maybe-- I think he does biochemistry?"
"Yay, another one," Michael said.
"Heath got me scanned in a practice lab, fully anonymous. He doesn't want me to become an experiment. Do you guys have brain holes?"
"Oh, he sounds like a good guy. I don't think we have brain holes, but we haven't gotten any scans," he said. "We avoid hospitals. We're too different. Even our epithelial cells are very obviously not human."
"Yeah! And your heart is mirrored too?"
Michael squinted. "Is it?" he asked Alex.
"No idea, babe."
"Well, some humans have mirrored hearts, too. I think Heath said sometimes it happens with twins? Do... Do Max or Isobel look like me?"
"No, but they're twins, we're pretty sure," Michael said. "But aliens don't all look white, Noah's... not white."
"Yeah we're not gonna play that game," Alex said dryly.
"Still, you-- you feel as much like family as they do to me," Michael said earnestly.
Dallas smiled. "I feel that too. Who's Noah?"
"An asshole," Michael spat.
"An asshole who's been murdering people for about a decade," Alex elaborated.
"Holy crap, is he--"
"Powerless in a pod. Our pods sort of freeze us in time. He... hurt Isobel, so she gets to decide how we move forward."
"Oh," Dallas said with a relieved breath. "So you're not in danger from him now, that's good. Then, um, is it just us?"
"We don't know," Michael said. "You're the first one we've found alive."
Alex pinched him. "There was a crash survivor who passed in 1997, she lived on the Rez over there. There may also be more wrongfully detained in a prison," Alex said. "I'm in the process of gaining access."
"Good thing Heath never let my info go anywhere," Dallas said with a shudder. He turned the frame around; it contained a picture of him and a scruffy man in a lab coat, arm thrown over his shoulder. "He's been helping me since we were kids. Hey, maybe this is a long shot, but do you recognize this? I used to draw it all the time as a kid."
He grabbed a notepad and quickly sketched a triangle with three partially shaded circles. Michael smiled automatically. "We drew it all the time, too. Max even has it tattooed on his back. We don't know what it means yet."
Dallas nodded. "Heath saw me drawing it and said it looked cool, it's how we became friends. So I'm grateful for it."
sh*t, then Michael was, too.
"Oh, also, do you have, like, a ridiculously high temperature that makes everyone think you constantly have a fever?"
"Yes!"
"He does run hot," Alex said with a smirk to Michael.
"Audibly flirting with me in front of my brother," Michael said.
"You flirted with me in front of Greg."
"Haha. Um. Wow, this is all a lot," Dallas said, leaning back. "Can-- Can you float something again, please?"
Michael nodded and chose a pen on the desk. "Telekinesis. My hypothesis is that all of our species can do it."
"I've never done that," Dallas said, fascinated.
"Oh, Max and Isobel only learned to do it this year. I've had loads of practice so I can teach you if you want."
He watched the pen a moment longer, then shook his head, so Michael put it down. "I have holes in my brain, I don't want to do anything that might make them worse. Heath is trying to make a cure for me. He said if it progresses too far I might..."
"Might?"
Dallas rubbed his forehead. "Sorry. It's... It's worse when I get a lot of new information..." He watched his desk like it'd give him the answer, and Michael felt a pang of guilt. He was giving him a deluge of new information. Dallas glanced at him and then the photo of he and Heath, which he turned back around. "It's okay. I want to know this. I remember, Heath said it's very similar to dementia but it's not. So I might forget everything."
Alex sat up straight. "Like dementia but not?"
"Like Mimi?"
"Mimi?"
"My friend's mom," Alex said. "She knows about aliens too, though I don't know how yet. She has something like dementia, she's forgotten so much. Oh, but her scans showed lesions."
"That's brain holes, honey," Michael said.
"Oh sh*t, then yeah," Alex said. "Maybe you have the same thing. Liz is already working on a cure."
"Liz?"
"Sorry, we're throwing a lot at you," Michael said. He could feel that Dallas was getting overwhelmed despite wanting to know. "Liz is our very smart biochemical engineer friend."
"About as smart as you," Alex said.
"Flatterer. She actually studied anatomy, so she's good at the body chemistry stuff. But if you need something built, I'm your alien."
Dallas laughed. "What about something to keep the signal out so I don't have to sit in my tub for an hour every two months?"
"Sure, how long have I got?" Michael asked, already thinking of ways to get something to mimic being submerged...
Dallas checked his watch, then took out his phone and scrolled through his calendar. "The next one will be the end of next month."
"I'll make some prototypes."
"Thank you. Do you think our friends could hook up and work together, too? I-I think Heath has been overworking himself on this brain stuff, to be honest."
"Of course," Alex said. "I'm sure Liz would appreciate more help."
"Especially from someone who knows more about, hell, deep tissue scarring," Michael joked. He shifted and was reminded of his flask in his jacket. "Oh, do you know about acetone?"
"Nail polish remover?"
He grinned. "We can drink it."
"What," Dallas said, riveted. Alex pulled a mini bottle out of his laptop bag and offered it. "Why? For real?" Dallas accepted it and flicked the cap off for a sniff.
Michael took a breath to explain, then realized he didn't actually know why it worked. He ought to look into that. "Not sure, but it's a pain reliever. Ibuprofen and such doesn't work for you, right?"
Dallas shook his head. "No, the only thing I've tried that's ever relieved pain for me is weed. Heath gets that for me."
"Nice, yeah. Well, I have weird stamina, but Max and Isobel, they have to drink acetone after using their powers because they make them sick."
"So if I do learn how to do telekinesis, I'll have to drink nail polish remover to not be sick?"
"Yup."
"Weird. But it does... smell good?"
"Yup." Alex made a face. Michael took his flask out, sure this was something it was fair not to immediately trust him about. He offered that too so Dallas could smell that it was the same. "I always carry some around on account of my hand, see?"
"Huh," Dallas said.
Michael took a big swig. It was a difficult experience to describe despite his years of self-medicating. Dallas took a little sip once Michael had his down.
"That's strangely refreshing," he said. "I'll have to get some of my own."
"You can keep that," Alex said. "I brought extra today."
"Thank you," he said genuinely. "I... My head actually... feels a little clearer already."
Hm. Michael wondered if there was something there. The DeLucas probably didn't drink acetone, either. But if their powers were alien, maybe they needed to in order to keep their brains hole-free. But were they alien enough for that to heal them rather than poison them?
"The spaceship," Dallas said curiously, breaking Michael from his hypothesis. "What did it look like?"
"I don't know what it looked like, but I've found pieces of its console. It's like colorful glass, it's really beautiful."
Alex helpfully showed him the picture of the glass from the cabin.
"Wow," Dallas said.
"You think that's cool, you should see it in person," Michael said, rubbing Alex's shoulder gratefully. "I'll show you what I do have if you wanna visit Roswell. And I can probably retrieve your pod for you if you take me to the lake you were found in, but you'd need somewhere safe to keep it."
"Where do you keep yours?"
"Abandoned turquoise mines," Michael said.
"Maybe..." Dallas rubbed his chin. "Maybe I could get reassigned to a parish in Roswell."
Wide-eyed, Michael said, "Yeah?" That was way past what he was hoping for. Hell, finding another sibling was, geez, out of this world?
"I want to get my brain treated, and I'd love to learn anything you know about where we came from. And of course, I'd like to meet Isobel and Max, too. And if you find my-my pod, I'll keep it with yours, if that's alright."
"Yeah, that would be awesome," Michael said.
"You asked if I've been alone all this time, and I have Heath, but that's different, isn't it?"
Michael nodded, but really, he was glad Dallas had someone to look out for him. He didn't have that in a human, not until... Sanders, he supposed, but Sanders didn't know. So it was Alex.
He checked on Alex, but he was on his phone. "What are you up to?"
"Setting up the apps for our new friends."
"Oh," Michael said, and he told Dallas, "Alex is a genius, he made a satellite messenger app that's really secure and encrypted, so we don't have to worry about keeping secrets over texts."
"Cool," Dallas said. "That's great."
Michael was getting a bit hungry, and he was very keen on Alex's suggestion to take Dallas to lunch. He scratched his cheek. "Do you want to get lunch with us? Or, er, we can keep chatting."
"I'm fascinated by all this, but I imagine we shouldn't talk about it in public, right?"
"Right," Michael said.
"How about I order takeout and we keep talking?"
"We'll cover it," Alex said. "We're the ones impeding on your time."
"Please, you came all the way out here without even an assurance we were brothers."
"I discovered some money on the way here," Alex said dryly. "Can't think of anything better to spend it on."
"That's for your birthday," Michael objected. "I'll buy it, I'm the one who's hungry."
"No it wasn't. I budgeted for lunch either way."
"Is it your birthday?"
"No."
"It will be eventually."
Alex's phone beeped, interrupting their debate. He glanced at the screen, squinted, and then quickly typed out a message.
"Who is it?" Michael asked.
"Maria just asked if I'm currently with you. She's freaking out about something?"
"Your friend with maybe the same brain thing as me?" Dallas said.
"Her mom maybe has the same thing as you," Michael said. "Then again, her grandmother also had it, so she may very well get it too."
Alex's phone beeped again, and this time he paled at the message.
"What's wrong?"
"Sorry, she wants to call me." He looked at Michael, then Dallas, then Michael again. "I can't-- I can't let you out of my sight right now, do you guys mind?"
"Not at all," Dallas said, waving his hand. "Send me the thing and I'll message Heath."
"Yeah, I got you," Michael said. "Forward it to him and we'll get you guys on the safe app."
Dallas nodded, and Michael sent the links, but he kept an eye on Alex. Dallas had no issues and spent the phone call texting.
"Maria, slow down. He's right next to me, okay? Michael, say something."
"Hi, DeLuca, Alex found some of my family." He smiled at Dallas, and his newfound brother smiled back.
"See?"
Alex patiently listened to a long speech, and Michael would have to strain to make it out, but she did sound harried. Whatever she was saying was stressing Alex out, so Michael tapped on his knee. Alex covered it with his free hand and squeezed a touch too tight.
"Okay, hey, I'm not-- I believe you, okay? I believe that you saw that. But we're not even in town right now, remember? So it's not an immediate danger."
She said something else, presumably asking for proof.
"Noah is locked up, he can't hurt Michael or me or you or anyone else."
That sounded like she was asking how certain he was.
"I'm positive."
Michael couldn't really make out what she said there.
"Yeah, good idea. I can ask Evans to check and make sure, you go ahead and tell Liz exactly what you told me, okay?"
An affirmative and an additional worry.
"Everything is going to be fine. I'm going to see what Michael wants to do."
Oh goody, he'd get to make some kind of decision.
"I know. But there's still a choice. Bye for now."
Michael wasn't sure how to parse the halfologue. They were talking about Noah in the middle, but he didn't know why. "Did she have a nightmare or something?"
Alex held his phone to his chin, eyes shut. "She had a vision."
"Okay," Michael said slowly. "And?"
"Noah killed you. Kills you? Will kill you? Hate all tenses of that."
"And we're not skeptical of this because?"
"Because she saw you and me freaking out over you. And she sounded like you when you woke up from that psychic dream of Max's."
"Alright," Michael said, getting up. "Then the pod nap doesn't make him less murderous. Too bad. Let's go kick his ass."
"Michael," Alex said softly. "She described you bleeding out in very graphic detail, I can't--"
"It's not going to happen," Michael interrupted.
"Michael."
"And I won't let it be somebody else instead."
Alex looked up at the ceiling like something up there would give him strength.
"So," Dallas said. "Bad news, obviously. Uh, can I help?"
"Stay safe," Michael said. He had no desire whatsoever to put Dallas in danger. "We only just found each other. We'll all meet up, yeah? And get your brain treated. As soon as we deal with the murderer."
"Sounds like you're the one who needs to stay safe."
"I will keep him safe. I'll add you to our group on the way," Alex said. "It was nice meeting you."
"You too. Very enlightening."
"Sorry about running out like this. We'll get lunch next time," Michael said. "Thank you for giving us a shot."
"Thank you for looking for me."
They waved at each other, and Michael and Alex hustled back to the truck.
But Alex blocked the driver's side door, arms crossed.
"We need to get on the road right now," Michael said.
"We don't have any proof that changing a future vision is even possible," he said. "Everything Max saw happened as he saw."
"Then we'll prove it this time," Michael said simply.
"I know you're worried about your siblings, but it seems to me like the best way to make sure what Maria saw doesn't happen is by staying away from him."
Their phones beeped.
(IE) well uhh... The asshole is out of the pod
(KV) you decided what to do?
(IE) no, I was nearby screaming
(IE) I'll explain that later, Max texted me because he said he saw the chupacabra or something out here
(ME) I did not say that
(IE) what else is a large canid supposed to be
(IE) anyway we checked on the asshole and we think the sedative wore off somehow because he was able to get himself out of the pod
(IE) so there's not really any use in putting him in again
(IE) I'll decide today
(IE) We'll be at Max's
(LO) be there soon
(IE) you don't have to
(JC) need back up?
(IE) no, he's still powerless
(KV) do you want me to head over?
(IE) no he's fine other than dying
(KV) okay
(MG) we're on the way too, it'll be a couple hours though
Alex sighed when he saw Michael's message, pulled the door open, and got in the truck. Michael climbed in beside him.
"For the record, I hate this."
"You said everything is gonna be fine."
"Because Maria was gonna retch. She said she could even smell the blood. Your blood. Which she saw a very large pool of."
"You know I can't leave my siblings alone with him," Michael said, choosing to ignore that.
"And I love how protective you are," Alex said. "Just, please, apply some of it to yourself. How-- How are we going to get married if you bleed out, huh?"
"As if I wouldn't haunt the sh*t out of you if I died."
"Wow," he said. "Was it this horrible to hear that when I said it?"
"Worse probably since you typed it over Skype," Michael said cheerfully. "I'm not gonna die though. I'd rather marry the sh*t out of you."
"Then we agree. No dying so we can get married."
"Agreed." Michael took a hand off the wheel to shake Alex's.
They got on the highway, and Michael floored it.
