38. "I can tell you're lying."

here you go darling! it's very delayed, but I hope you enjoy it! we're going to call this one "not forrest friendly" just to cover our bases but personally I think is one of my nicer representations of him

“It’s fine, I promise.” Alex said, his smile tight on his face. Forrest smiled in return, bright and sunny. Michael watched as the smile seemed to get even more wooden, even faker as Forrest smiled and reached for his hand.

“It’s going to be great,” Forrest said as he led Alex through the crowd of people dressed in red, white, and blue. “You coming Guerin?” He called back when Michael hadn’t moved from his spot.

He knew exactly why he agreed when Alex asked him to come to the Fourth of July party at the Planet 7, even if the lower-key beers and BBQ at The Pony were more his scene. They were more Alex’s scene too. That was why he came. Alex asked him to, he actually asked for some support, and Michael did not want to say no to that.

“Coming,” he called back as he watched Alex’s body grow stiffer as they reached the table with Forrest’s friends.

This wasn’t the first time Alex, or even Michael, had met Forrest’s friends. They were nice enough, just a lot. They had the same kind of aggressive, in your face nature as Forrest did. It was an aggression that was nothing like Michael’s own, which was either in defense of his loved ones or against himself. He was no stranger to starting fights, but he didn’t get the appeal of doing so purely to piss someone off. Self-destruction he understood, but courting the attention of the bigots in town? He had enough of that to last a lifetime. Alex never said so, but it seemed like he agreed.

Michael snapped himself out of his reflection and walked towards the table. Planet 7 still had its Pride decorations up, but they had added an American flag and another flag that still had the stars, but replaced the bars with the pride colors. Michael eyed it as he edged around the crowd.

Alex had saved him a seat next to him. He sat down just in time to hear one of Forrest’s friends- one who had quite a lot to say about bisexual ‘tourist’ the last time Michael agreed to come around- ask Alex about his service.

Somehow, Alex grew even stiffer next to Michael. Michael looked over at that wooden smile firm on Alex’s face, and then a little further past him at Forrest who didn’t seem to notice. Or, if he did, kept his bright smile on as he leaned in towards Alex.

“Yeah babe,” he said as he leaned in to kiss Alex’s cheek. “Tell us your favorite story from your service.”

Michael squeezed his hands into a fist to stop himself for reaching for Alex’s hand.

“Most of my favorite things were when I was home,” was all that Alex said. Michael didn’t let himself react to that. He knew that ‘home’ wasn’t necessarily Roswell, but he also know that more often than not, Alex spent as much time as he could with Michael.

“Oh, come on!” Another friend said, this one a woman who had pushed back against the biphobic asshole the last time. Overall, Michael maybe liked her the best, but there was always— “Forrest has so many stories! He says you’re a real American hero! Tell us all about it!”—that.

Alex looked pained. “Sorry,” he said, not looking sorry at all. “I don’t really have any stories I can tell.”

Michael had actually heard most of the stories himself, the good moments and the bad. He also heard Alex discuss his feelings about his service, both the good and the bad there as well. It wasn’t something he talked about to most people.

“Good luck guys,” Forrest told them as he pushed his chair out. “Alex won’t even talk to me about it.” That was a surprise to Michael. “I’m going to get us drinks. Guerin, want anything?”

“I’m good man,” Michael said as he gestured toward the barely sipped beer in front of him. He had gotten there early and hit the bar first.

“You got it. I’ll be right back,” he said to Alex before he walked away.

The rest of the table moved back towards whatever they had been talking about before Forrest, Alex, and Michael had joined them. Michael leaned over to Alex.

“You ok?”

“I’m fine,” Alex said, not looking at Michael.

“I can tell you’re lying,” Michael replied. Alex turned his head to glare. “I could tell you were lying earlier too. Why did you say yes to this?”

Alex’s glare turned icy. “Why did I say yes to hanging out with my boyfriend?”

Michael ignored his tone. “Why didn’t you tell him that you’d prefer to hang out with your friends on this holiday? He knows Maria always has something, he would have understood if you wanted to support her.”

Alex didn’t answer him. Michael sighed.

“Well, let me know if you want to leave, I’ll have Isobel or Maria call with an emergency.”

“You don’t have to do that Michael—” Alex started. He stopped and took a deep breath. “I’m trying to compromise,” he admitted, “you know how he feels about being Out and Proud. I managed to get out of the parade, so this is the compromise.” Alex didn’t look happy about it, but Michael understood. Alex hadn’t always been great at compromising, he never had the opportunity to learn the skill growing up and the military hadn’t helped that. “I can survive a few hours here, today.”

“Yeah you can,” Michael said and bumped his shoulder.

“That’s why you’re here,” Alex said with the first real, though small, smile Michael had seen all day. “We can go play cornhole before I blow up at Erik again.” At Michael’s blank face, Alex elaborated. “The one you want to punch in the face.” Michael nodded, biphobe had a name apparently.

“Well then, I’m glad I could make it.”

Alex smiled again.

“Here you go babe!” Forrest said as he placed a beer in front of Alex and took his seat again. “What are you guys talking about?” His smile was still bright, thrilled to be there with his boyfriend and his friends.

“Just talking about how we’ll probably play some cornhole later,” Alex said. “We’ve been getting pretty good since Maria expanded the deck at The Pony.”

“Yeah, mentioned that!” He leaned so he could see Michael more clearly. “Alex said you decimated Maria and Isobel the other night?”

Michael laughed. “To be fair, I’m pretty sure they were too busy arguing to actually play. I’m not too sure how much that was us being better.”

A million years later - so I ended up using this line in my big bang and 50K won’t fit in this box, so I had to write something else. [Set early season 3]

“There is no right answer here,” Alex replied, peering closely into the mirror as he delicately pinched the cut on his head closed with a fresh butterfly bandage. He caught Forrest’s unamused look in the reflection and sighed. “All I can say is it’s classified.”

“Classified? That’s the story you want to use? You left our date at 11 pm on a Friday night to handle some software emergency, yet here you are, covered in dirt the next day bleeding from your head. So classified is your answer?“

Alex turned the sink taps on midway through, letting the sound of the water drown out the rest of Forrest’s incredulous response. He cupped his hands in the water, to splash his face, letting the shock of the cold chase away the fatigue. He had received Michael’s text after dinner, just as they had arrived at the club for dancing, or rather Alex was ready to be a good spectator while Forrest danced. The simple words “Be careful. He’s dangerous. I’m sorry.” were enough to have Alex out the door with a flimsy excuse. With his head buried in phone as he left the club while he attempted to locate Michael, he had missed the shadow stepping out from the building to intercept his path to the parked Explorer.

One single blow had him incapacitated. The worst case of déjà vu . To have fallen prey yet again was embarrassing. But he had learned long ago, his higher brain functions often went off-line around Michael Guerin to say nothing of his sense of self-preservation.

Thankfully when he had resumed consciousness, he had recognized his surroundings, and by default, his attacker. Three glowing pods, and an empty cave meant he had just been a diverting plaything for Mr. Jones. There was no way to explain that to his boyfriend without revealing the alien secret.

Hiking in the dark through the desert to the access road, using only the faint light from his cell phone, was it’s own version of hell. His leg was a not-quiet agony of pain, radiating into his hip after he had finally made it the mile-marker and was able to call Kyle for help.

Alex leaned on the sink to relieve some of the pressure on the painful cup of his prosthesis, and opened his mouth to reply- except before he could, his front door burst open with a racket.

“ALEX!” Michael shouted, the clatter of his boots through the entry way toward the bedroom.

He pushed away from the sink, brushing past a stunned Forrest, and met Michael in the hallway. Before he could process it, Michael’s arms wrapped around him, pulling him off his feet in a tight hug. “Michael-”

“You’re okay, oh thank god, you’re okay,” Michael muttered quietly into Alex’s throat, his arms still clinging to Alex. The movement of Michael’s lips against his skin as he spoke sent a shiver of pleasure down Alex’s exhausted nerves. That fierce grip, tight enough to leave bruises, was strong enough to support the axis of the planet. Gravitation and orbital spins. “He said it was easy, to take you, and he said he just left you in the desert to die.”

“He?” That was Forrest.

Alex ignored the question as he soaked up Michael’s touch and tried to soothe the anxiety still radiating from him. There would be time enough for half-explanations and fictional accounts to Forrest, this was more important. “He did catch me by surprise,” Alex left out how the faked text from Michael was the effective lure, and continued, ”but he didn’t leave me to die. He left me in a place I had been before, with my phone. I’m fine, just a little tired, okay?“

“I’m sick of his fucking games.”

“Me too, but he’s just trying to drive us apart. Trying to prove some sort of point about weaknesses and attachment.” The superiority of the alien race over the humans was a frequent subject early on with Mr. Jones, before he realized just how deep-seeded the connections were between Max, Isobel and Michael to Earth and their human friends like, Maria, Kyle, Cam, and but especially Michael’s friendship with Alex.

Close, hard-fought, friendship.

Michael pulled back, to look in Alex’s face directly. His honey-dark eyes were blood-shot with worry and lack of sleep, but warm with resolve. “Well he won’t, and he’s wrong. You’re my strength.”

Before Alex could reply, he heard the front door again. This time it was slamming shut. He winced in acknowledgement, the small amount of patience Forrest had was gone and so was the man himself. That would require some damage control of all kinds, but first, Alex allowed himself to be fussed over by Michael, who ushered him back into the bathroom for more first aid. 

Okay so I’ve got a buuunch of Michael Sanders WIPs and I’ve posted about the one where Michael asks Alex out and the one where they (try to) have really quiet sex and the one where Michael crashes Alex’s sleepover, so here’s some snippets/info of the others!

Michael Sanders Valentine’s Day - this is obviously very, very late, but it’s pretty cute so far

“Your dad might’ve showed me a thing or two before he went into work this morning,” Alex answers, his cheeks going a little pink. When he says it, Michael catches sight of a notepad on the counter with Alex’s meticulously neat handwriting.

“Did you take notes?” he asks incredulously. He reaches for the notepad, but when Alex grabs his hand and redirects them to his hips, Michael is happy to let him.

“Don’t make fun of me,” Alex laughs, his blush darkening. “I wanted them to be good for you.”

The mental image of Alex taking notes while his dad taught him how to properly make and flip pancakes just so he could make them the way Michael likes has warm affection spreading through him.

“Aww, Alex,” Michael coos, feeling genuinely touched as he hugs Alex tight against his chest. Alex takes the hug gratefully, hiding his face in the crook of Michael’s neck. “I love you so much.”

Untitled Michael Sanders - I don’t know what this is exactly, or what it will become, but it’s basically a ficlet about Michael being Alex’s safe place.

The second Alex gets the door to the shed open, he throws himself face first onto the futon and hides his face in a pillow. He feels sick inside, helpless frustration brewing within him the longer he thinks about everything his dad said.

His phone buzzes in his pocket suddenly, shocking him out of his wallowing. He shifts around on the futon until he can reach into his front pocket for his phone. 

He nearly cries when he sees Michael’s name on his caller ID and lets it ring a moment more so he can compose himself before he answers.

“Hey, baby,” Alex sighs into the receiver.

*I’m a sucker for re-building friendship and post-breakup moments, so here you go. Also, I am 2 prompts in and already broke my 1k max promise, which is on brand for me.*

“Thank you for this,” Maria says as Michael finishes soldering the new wires together on the cash register that had broken. “I know things between us are weird and you didn’t have to answer my call.” 

“Weird? Why? Because you broke up with me in the middle of a hospital where I’d been sitting at your sickbed for most of the week?” he asks with a straight face, but the moment she starts shifting uncomfortably on her feet he drops it. “DeLuca, it’s fine. We’re still friends, right?” 

The last part is said nervously. Like perhaps he’d misunderstood the situation and she’s about to tell him differently. 

The tension leaves her body and she gives him a soft smile. “Yeah. We’re still friends, Guerin.” 

They smile at each other and for a moment, it feels like nothing has changed for them. But then Maria takes a step back and looks away and Michael remembers that everything has changed. 

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” she says, and the mood shifts back to a friendly one. 

iv is nsfw, in case anyone’s wanting to avoid (;

i. it's isobel's idea, because of course it is. she buys him a session with some fancy ex-airforce professional trainer and tricks him into showing p the appointment at her place because you can't do fitness training in your trailer, michael. he's thinking about ways to get her back right up until the trainer walks in through the front door, all dark hair and muscled arms and shiny blade. michael absolutely tanks his first session. he's tired, embarrassed, already feeling sore, and he blames the adrenaline comedown on the fact that he agrees for captain manes ("retired") to come back next week. isobel is so delighted that she buys him six months worth of sessions before he can argue.

ii. it seems wrong to stand in his sister's house and lust after his fitness trainer, whose ass looks fucking amazing as he leans forward to show michael a stretch for his calves, but he can't find it in himself to care. he definitely shouldn't be flirting with alex but given that alex is flirting back, he's gonna give himself a pass on that one as well.

iii. he hasn't been so fit since he was a teenager. he has to eat well and drink water or he feels like shit during and after the sessions with alex. but he really does start to feel better, even though he absolutely refuses to become someone who drinks those juices.

iv. three months in and he's being so well-behaved, when he lifts his shirt to wipe at his face at the same moment that alex goes to rotate his hips in a certain direction and they're touching skin-to-skin. ten minutes later they’re on the floor and alex is fucking him into the fitness mat. after that, going to grab dinner only seems polite.

He might not speak them but he shows them so openly and freely and he honors them. I'm in awe.

From Blood Skies:

‘I expect you to put yourself together and act like a Manes. Weakness is for lesser beings. And you’ve had this coming for decades.’ Without a backward glance, he steps off the stage and disappears out the revolving door into the waning daylight.

Mimi, the healer, moves to attend him now that his father’s gone. ‘He doesn’t need to know, Lieutenant Manes.’

Answered #20 here.

28. What is your best shipping advice?

Ship the thing that makes you excited. It doesn’t matter if it’s got a healthy dynamic, or it’s not a popular ship. I say, if you see two characters who you think would work together, have a dynamic that you think would be interesting to explore, go for it! Ship the fuck outta those characters!

And on the flip side of that, I would say, respect others. Someone ships something you don’t like? Blacklist the tag or the word. Don’t force your opinions about a ship on people who are trying to enjoy themselves. Nothing hurts others more than people they thought respected the whole “ship and let ship” mentality openly and harshly passing judgement on people for shipping things they don’t like.

29. Do you like OCs (Original Characters)?

I’m weird about OCs, because I absolutely love when they’re given depth and not just introduced to be introduced, I want them to have meaning to the story, especially if they’re a focal point. I’ve read fics where it’s obvious the OC isn’t developed much at all, and I’ve read fics where the OC feels like they would fit seamlessly into established canon.