Chapter 1 - Welcome to the Chop Shop

For years, Maria DeLuca had been losing her mother, bit by bit, to a mysterious illness. In an act of desperation, Maria decides her only option is to reach out to an enigmatic man known as the Mechanic, whose mysterious powers of necromancy may hold the key to saving her mother. Alex Manes would always stand by his best friend, even if he worries that the price for the Mechanic's services will be far more than they are willing to pay. But as Alex and Maria are drawn deeper into the Mechanic's world, they find they are far more connected to the Mechanic than they ever bargained for....

Without Question by @haloud and @maeglinthebold

Posted for Day 3 - Halloween Hoedown, for @riproswell

Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019), Rated: T, Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin/Alex Manes, Isabel Evans | Isobel Evans/Anatsa Mufaro

Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Costume Parties & Masquerades, The Road to El Dorado (2000) References, Polyamory, Established Relationship, Domestic, Mentions of COVID-19, canon-typical alcohol use, Sibling Rivalry

Alex, Maria, and Michael are ready to throw in the towel after years of humiliating defeat by Max and Liz at the annual UFO Emporium Halloween Costume Contest, but Isobel convinces them to take one last shot at it. What could she be plotting?

Previous Malexa Costume shenanigans:

Off Duty by haloud, MayGlenn

Roswell, New Mexico has a ridiculously good cast with an enormous amount of onscreen chemistry. This has resulted a huge number of viable ships. This list recs some of my favourite polyam fics.

Kaliz = Kyle Valenti/Max Evans/Liz Ortecho

True to Your Heart - islndgurl777 (@islndgurl777) - Liz brings up Kyle. Max has a discussion about sexuality with Michael.

Grounded - xForEverythingElse (PrimaryScavQueen) - Liz wants Kyle in the bed she shares with Max. Max will do anything for Liz. PWP.

All I know is that I'll meet you there by @larenoz (1,505 words) - Shameless self-promotion!! Some days, Kyle can't believe he got this lucky. Liz, Max and Kyle take a well deserved vacation on the coast once their lives settle down, and enjoy an evening together in the pool. Porn, that's it.

Out of My Head by islndgurl777 (2,921 words) - a Kaliz focused fic about them getting together that is part of the wider give michael guerin a friend 2k19 (make that friend maria deluca) series.

I'll Show You Every Version Of Yourself Tonight - DaughterofElros (2,148 words) - A snowstorm helps Liz, Max, and Kyle make sense of what they've been trying to figure out about the relationship between the three of them.

Malexa/Milexa = Michael Guerin/Alex Manes/Maria DeLuca

We Were Bound To Get Together by @myrmidryad (25,376 words)- I love this fic so much. ​I wrote a detailed fic rec. It's about Michael and Maria navigating their relationship and working out where Alex fits in. Because Alex is important to both of them and there was no doubt that room would be made for him.

was it all too much, or just not enough? - colfield (@colfields ) (3,449 words) - Where Michael learns to trust, Alex learns to give up a little control and Maria is surprised. Explicit.

I Was Just An Only Child of the Universe (And Then I Found You) by @haloud , MayGlenn (WIP). Found family, lost family, reunited family. This ones got it all (so read the tags!!). It's our favourite polyam family roving space in their ship!!

Those Wild Pony Nights by MayGlenn - it's people falling in love again. I'm a sucker for it.

Mylex = Michael Guerin/Kyle Valenti/Alex Manes

open up my eager eyes by @haloud (series total - 44,525 words). It is impossible for me to overstate how much I love this fic series. It is so, so, so good. This is my detailed rec post for this series. It's a series of interconnected fics which have a variety of vibes that all still work together. It's about how Alex and Michael and Kyle comes together and then how their relationships grow and develop over time.

Conversations in the Crashdown -  darkangel86 (6,491 words) -  a bit of a talk fest but one where some very necessary things get said by all involved. No porn.

A little more conversation - BeStillMySlashyHeart (@bestillmyslashyheart) - a series of connected ficlets that somehow ends up with multiple couples trying to bed Kyle Valenti. Gen (despite the topic).

“I think we should stop seeing each other” (@el-gilliath​) - Michael’s insecurity rears it’s head and Kyle and Alex have to communicate with him. Great characterisation, a bit of angst but a happy ending.

learning how to watch two points in space at the same time -   - flintsjohn (@flintsjohn) (4,710 words) - Classic road trip of discovery for our three boys.

Formilex = Michael Guerin/Alex Manes/Forrest Long

The Mystery and the Muscle of Love - DaughterofElros - Alex and Michael are together, but Alex and Forrest hook up when Forrest is in town. Sometimes Michael joins them. But what happens when Michael and Forrest start to develop feelings for each other?

Delvecho = Maria DeLuca/Max Evans/Liz Ortecho

Is It Possible to Love Two People at the Same Time? - tv_obsessions - Maria, Max, and Liz agreeing to try dating each other and navigating their polyamorous relationship

DeGuerenti = Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin/Kyle Valenti

Como Me Duele - MayGlenn and mythras_fire - (18, 085) - When you're a werewolf, the only way to heal someone is to bite them.

There are plenty of other polyam ships that I haven't listed, mainly because I haven't read them, so can't rec. But I'd love if people added their recs for the missing ships:

Kylubel = Kyle Valenti/Maria DeLuca/Isobel Evans

Marosabel = Maria DeLuca/Rosa Ortecho/Isobel Evans

Because yes- recognizing that those two people were in a queer relationship because at least one of them is canonically queer? It matters, and I as a queer, bisexual person sometimes forget to do it, forget to really hold that in my mind (because we’re conditioned to see people we perceive as a man and a woman together, and default to thinking they’re straight. Even when they’re queer alien characters.)

But let’s also talk for a minute about Maria there. Canon hasn’t given us any concrete indications of how she identifies, and only statements about attractions to men, so we’ll go with what’s in evidence and consider her straight thus far in canon.

So we get to see a straight woman enter into a relationship with a queer man...and not assume he’s automatically going to leave her or cheat on her just because he wants to sleep with men too.

Any jealousy or concerns she exhibits are about a specific incident with Lindsay where Michael was acting in a deliberately self-harmful way and seeking to push her away. It’s never extrapolated out as a broad idea that Michael can’t commit, doesn’t know his own mind, or just needs to make up his mind about gender.

She welcomes her partner’s spectrum of attractions, in fact.

And while she does eventually decide that they need to end the dating part of their relationship, she doesn’t do this from a fear of him “wanting” random men. She ends that side of things because she believes that even though they love each other, their relationship isn’t best served by dating long-term. She also knows that there’s a specific person that he loves, who loves him too, and she wants them both to be happy- she has no assumptions that Michael will always want “men”, and leave her because of it.

It’s not easy to thread the needle on a story where a straight person dates a bisexual person, and their relationship ends with the bisexual person primed to date someone of another gender...without defaulting to harmful stereotypes.

But as much as it’s possible to do, I think Roswell NM does it. Attractions that impact how the people in the relationship feel are about specific people, not abstractions about entire genders.

The ending of the dating part of a relationship is about support, rather than animosity or anger. The bisexual character is shown making and keeping deliberate, intentional commitments which people of different genders over the course of his life, and his relationship with a woman.

Boundaries within the relationship are negotiated and affirmed. The relationship itself is intentional at every step— not just an automatic default into a heteronormative relationship escalator. There’s a night of group sex, but it’s not orchestrated by the bisexual character. Arguments in the relationship never come back to a fear that the bisexual character wants something he can ‘only get from gender x’. (And by the way, Alex Manes gets the same props for not making assumptions about Michael needing to be with a woman because he’s bisexual and a gay man won’t be “enough” for him, and also affirming his specific attractions to individuals, not just being abstractly accepting of bisexuality.)

All in all, this is what representation matters a whole heck of a lot. Michael Guerin is bisexual. He gets to be authentic. A lot of bisexuals— of a lot of different gender identities, and a lot of different relationship styles (from avowed monogamists or people who are single and looking for a life partner, to polyamorous folks and relationship anarchists) see aspects of themselves put on screen in the character of Michael Guerin- a self-assured bisexual person who is sex positive and capable of great love and commitment... and also allowed to be flawed and work on himself.

It matters to see a character get to be unabashedly bisexual, without the gender of the person they’re dating (or if they’re dating anyone at all!) Defining how the show presents their identity.

Soon or Never

Alex and Maria Manes have always planned on opening up a saloon together. When their friend Liz marries a rancher from out west, they decide to follow her and her family to Roswell and try to make a new start there.

In Roswell, Michael Guerin has given up on finding love, but he's more than happy to help the new saloon owners get everything in shape for opening up.

A His Dark Materials western au on AO3 here. Daemons! Pining! Saloons! The slowest of slow burns! And of course, true love!