Max Evans Weekend 2023 (3/3)
When Max got a knock on his door one morning, he hadn’t expected to find Alex Manes, of all people, on the other side.
“Hey,” Alex said, wringing his hands and looking, for the first time since Max had ever known him, nervous. “Can we talk?”
Max blinked, then quickly said, “Uh, sure, yeah, come on in.”
“Is something wrong?” Max asked, watching him. “You haven’t looked this worried since Michael went missing three years ago.”
Alex exhaled shakily and sat down, only to stand right back up and start pacing the living room. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. Michael’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
Max sat down, hoping it would encourage Alex to do the same for the sake of his prosthetic. He did not. “Okay?”
“So . . .” He seemed to deliberate something with himself for a while before he finally sat down on the same couch as Max, and said with an intensity befitting a military captain, “So Michael’s birthday is tomorrow.”
Max’s shoulders fell, realization dawning. A chuckle escaped his lips before he could help it. “And you don’t know what to get him.”
“I don’t know what to get him,” he repeated gravely. “This isn’t funny, Evans, I’m seriously freaking out here.”
“I honestly don’t know why,” Max said. “You’re all Michael’s ever wanted, so I figured the answer should be easy, but I really don’t want to talk about my brother’s sex life—”
“You’re Michael’s brother,” Alex cut him off, clearly not finding this as funny as Max was. “What do you think I should do?” Then pointedly added, “Seriously.”
“I’m not joking, Alex,” Max said simply. “All I can think of him ever wanting is you. Then he got you, and nothing else compared. Still the case, by the way, so if anything, I should be the one worrying about this.”
Alex ran a hand through his hair, jaw working furiously. So quietly that Max almost missed it, he said, “You’re not the one that has years to make up for.”
Max smiled. “Oh, and you are?”
Alex’s good knee bounced up and down, agitated. “I ran from him, every chance I got, because I was always scared. I don’t want him to think that I’m not taking stuff like this seriously.”
“And panicking about them is taking it seriously?”
He groaned, shooting to his feet to pace again, “Would you stop asking me questions? I can barely answer one right now!”
Max laughed fully at that. “Alex, what language do I have to say this in for you to get it? Michael loves you. More than anything. No matter what you give him, he’ll love it because it’s from you.”
Alex shook his head. “That’s not good enough.”
Somehow, Max heard the words Alex wasn’t saying. I’m not good enough. He leaned back on the couch, almost in awe. It was truly a wonder Alex and Michael hadn’t gotten together years ago.
“You guys are so painfully alike,” he said, “you know that?”
Alex stopped, surprised. “Me and Michael?”
“No,” he murmured, and a smile tugged at his lips, pleased at what he was evidently taking as a huge compliment. “Oh wow.”
Max’s smile softened as he watched him. He stood, and patted Alex’s shoulder. “He believes in your love already, Manes, he doesn’t need you to prove it, not like this. And since he believes in you, believe in him. Love him with everything you have. No one’s a better expert on that than you.”
Alex pursed his lips, even as a faint blush tinged his cheeks. He nodded, moving past Max to the door, and stopped. “Thank you, Max.”
He smiled. “What are brothers for, right?”
Alex’s face did a cross between a grimace and a shy smile before he shook his head. “That’s so weird to hear.”
Max tilted his head as he watched him go, affection blooming in his chest for the airman. Weird, definitely. But, he thought, definitely the good kind.
