#mrlongfic

millie’s long list of malex fics |  Finding You by myrmidryad / @myrmidryad

Kissing a boy was no different to kissing a girl, in practice. Kissing Alex was different to kissing anyone else, and Michael’s brain didn’t have the space to think about it. He’d never kissed anyone like that before, without being absolutely sure they wanted him to. His mind had never gone blank and a little bit desperate like that. He’d never been so happy to find out that someone wanted to kiss him back.

Alex wanted to kiss him back. The fake stars were shining on the wall behind them, and Alex’s arms were around him, hands grabbing at Michael’s hoodie. Michael slid his under Alex’s sleeveless combat jacket thing, fingers catching in the cheap fabric of his UFO Emporium t-shirt as Alex made a soft noise into his mouth that Michael caught, a fizz of heat going through his skin. 

What if events in 2008 went slightly differently, and Michael and Alex joined Max and Liz on their summer road trip across the US? Features: escaping Roswell, camping, teen love, secret reveals, many confessions of feelings, and everyone involved generally having a very good summer with a hopeful ending.

comment: masterpiece after masterpiece! this is just another in a list of amazing long fics that @myrmidryad has gifted as with. if you enjoyed their fic  Take Me Back To The Start and their take on teenage alex, you will absolutely devour this. i love canon divergence that branches off during their highschool years, and this is a beautiful, indulgent cross-country roadtrip with these teen sweethearts. i really can’t do much more than insist you read it. it’s so lovely. i cried at several parts. i have visceral memories of certain paragraphs. this fic is worth every second you spend reading it.

millie’s long list of malex fics | The Black Parade by Strangeredlantern, Vague_Shadows / @vague-shadows

"Nobody owns you, Guerin," Alex says.

“Yeah, right, of course not,” Michael agrees without conviction. “No one owns me. My body is just entrusted to the guardianship of the good ol’ Global Resource Alliance for the Care of Extraterrestrials.” With an acronym like GRACE the program couldn’t possibly be an evil, twisted, farce, after all. Michael’s seen the videos from the propaganda campaigns--been featured as one of the haggard faces in the videos of the crash survivors. It’s what made him such a popular request for the Antaran Family Placement program--except of course, the people who saw that terrified young alien on their screens had all been expecting some timid little child who’d lap up their praise and coddling eagerly and be a Good Little Showpiece of how generous and benevolent his placement family was.

Boy were they all disappointed to meet the real Michael Guerin....

A RNM-AU Inspired by District Nine, Arrival, and real-life coverage of UNHCR work.

comment: i know a lot of people are already on this fic but i wanted to highlight just in case there’s people out there who haven’t seen it! the premise is absolutely fantastic; antarians are refugees that came to earth and have been integrated into the system, although that’s going about as well as you can imagine. michael ends up on the manes property for his placement, meets alex, and well... you can imagine. the issues of power, control, and consent are so carefully navigated within the writing whilst not sacrificing any of the narrative or flow, which is so wonderful. the sweetness of blooming young love is explored parallel to the overarching dread of jesse manes, the warden and The Worst.

millie’s long list of malex fics | The Last to Know by AndreaLyn / @andrea-lyn​

Once the fourth alien crisis dies down and Roswell goes back to being a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere, Alex gets to focus on his personal life again. For the first little while, it’s the kind of awkward that he isn’t sure how to deal with. Things between him and Maria are still strained, not because they’re mad at each other, but they’re not sure how comfortable they both are, having slept with the same man and the feelings that might be developing.

Liz is in the giddy throes of new love and is distracted with trying to find new work, and while Alex and Kyle get along, it’s a little awkward when you take out all the alien hunting from their interactions because there’s still a lot to get over.

It’s the perfect storm for Alex to put his money where his mouth is and see if he and Michael can be friends..

Alex is proud to say how great he and Michael are at this whole 'being friends' thing, but what might have escaped his notice is that most friends don't have the kind of relationship that he and Michael do. (But, if he paid attention, he'd notice that most boyfriends do).

comment: i still can’t believe this series is ooooover. if i could, i would wrap this fic around me when i’m sad or need some comfort, because it is sweet, sometimes a little silly, and just so full of warmth and happiness. each part in the series has a different theme, based around the idea that “alex and michael are xx but don’t realise it and are the last to know” including dating, married, etc. it really is just 29k of delight and if you haven’t read it, i can’t recommend it highly enough, especially as we speed towards season two.

millie’s long list of malex fics | not in this world (or the next) by estel_willow

The first thing Michael notices is that his hand doesn’t hurt. As he stretches his arms above his head and his fingers knock into the headboard of a proper bed, he realises that he’s not in his Airstream. When he blinks awake, rubbing sleep out of his eyes with increasing urgency as he realises that there’s no trace of a hangover to reassure him that’s the reason he’s waking up in a bed he doesn’t know with no knowledge of how he got there, he sees simple decor around him in with splashes that look like Isobel’s handiwork.

The fic spawned from a tumblr prompt about Michael waking up in a parallel reality.

comment: do y’all remember where you were when you read the final chapter of this gd masterpiece? cause i was on the bus and i was cryiiiiing. for those who haven’t read it yet: michael messes with the console and swaps places with mikey evans, his self from a parallel universe. which might have been a fun romp if not for one or two absolutely devastating facts in either reality. this fic is fantastic and you should go read/reread it immediately. it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing that i love about it but the thing that really impressed me was the balance, between the two realities and also between michael and mikey. despite “michael” being the guy we’re familiar with, i never felt like i was rooting for one or the other. very, very well balanced.

millie’s long list of malex fics | scream in there and we feel so american by thepredatorywasp

Alex’s breath caught in his throat the first time he saw the pods. The colors transfixed him beyond measure. They caused an itching deep in his dermis. He thought the piece of the console was gorgeous, too. But the pods surpassed reason. Unearthly, by its very definition. Max seemed to be a peace inside now, encased without worry. Alex is envious. How blissful it must be to be suspended, without responsibility, without pain.

Over the course of Max’s half-year sleep, Alex seeks to earn his keep, Michael drinks and stumbles into talk therapy, Isobel rises as a combination Instagram influencer and supervillain, and Kyle just wants one quiet day. Or, Michael and Kyle have a long talk about what their begrudgingly shared family needs, make some decisions, and still hate each other (mostly).

Ramirez told him a few years ago that when he doesn’t allow people to give to him, he is taking something from them. To reject a well-intentioned gift is to take someone’s joy. 

He likes to think that the universe gave them River. 

Alex found him, his baby, with Max when they were researching in Dallas. The moment his fingertips touched the pod, the baby looked right at him. Alex felt a smarting in his chest, like a clamp on each rib. Then the babe launched himself through the membrane and on to Alex’s chest. The little one let out one, strong life-affirming wail and the sting in Alex was gone. 

There is no easy way to explain to your three year-old that not only is he an alien, but his Papa is an alien and that apparently, Michael loves leaning hard into irony because he has gone on Space Mountain approximately ten times over the course of four days.

comment: holy shit, i’m still messed up about these fics. they are technically in a series, but i wanted to list them separately because they are wildly different in tone. the first part, scream in there, explores how messed up both michael and alex are, featuring michael’s new and fantastic therapist. it is raw, highlights their horrible miscommunication, mentions alex’s nature as an unreliable narrator, but also circles around to how much they love one another. it’s an intense character study of the both of them, and also has probably my favourite depiction (and line from) kyle. the second fic, we feel so american, is set in the future of this universe when alex and michael are together and have a beautiful little son called river. they go to disneyland for vacation, on isobel’s dime and insistence, and proceed to have a wonderful time. it’s a second fantastic, and evolved, character study of alex specifically as a functioning adult, and has some really sweet moments. it’s no less raw though, and i’m still thinking about it weeks later.

i can’t recommend these two fics enough, folks. i have reread both more times than i can count and am left just as speechless each time. please, please, please check out the tags before reading though, especially with the first fic. the author doesn’t pull any punches, and there’s some pretty triggering topics in there.

millie’s long list of malex fics | Take Me Back To The Start by myrmidryad

He glared at his unadorned hands, wondering how he ended up like this, twenty-eight years old with no friends, no boyfriend, no music, and no obvious individuality.

An accident with the pods leaves Alex temporarily deaged to his 17 year old self, pre-prom, and said 17 year old is not best pleased with how his future has turned out. Heavy emphasis on Alex and Maria fixing their friendship as well as figuring out what to do about the Michael-shaped elephant in the room.

comment: can you believe myrmidryad just casually dropped this 40k masterpiece on a tuesday? i’m not sure there’s anything i can say about this fic that hasn’t been said and if you let me, i would babble on about it so long that i’d have to make a second post. let’s try and keep it short and sweet; this starts out as a de-aged alex fic and about halfway through becomes a study on how to beautifully write the fixing of alex + maria’s relationship, as well as an amazing approach to the miscommunication between alex + michael. the ending is so beautiful it had me crying at like 3am (i mean, i blubbered through the whole thing). it ends with malex more in love than ever and, more importantly, on the same page, but it truly ends with a focus on the alex/liz/maria friendship which is just so goddamn important. the writing is amazing, no exaggeration. there were sections where i could hardly breathe i was so focused on getting to the next part, or i was rendered speechless by certain lines. sometimes a fic hits you really hard, my dudes, and i get the feeling that a lot of you feel the same. go ahead and give this fic some love if you haven’t already and if you have, why not give it some more?

millie’s long list of malex fics | To Trust Love by Laughsalot3412

It had taken Alex Manes three days to decide to commit treason.

It had felt like an irrationally short time to turn his back on his career, but now, halfway through his Caulfield briefing packet, he was ashamed it had taken him that long. Because this place? This place was as much of a nightmare as they’d feared.

Alex might be missing a leg but his brain worked just fine, thanks. He knew human rights violations when he saw them, no matter how vaguely and officially described.

AU where Alex Manes goes on an undercover rescue mission in Caulfield Prison and forms a bond with one of the prisoners in the process.

comment: oof. so caulfield is a shit show and i’m in awe of anyone who tackles the subject in their fanfiction. which makes fics like this, ones that are actually set in caulfield, so impressive. in this universe, alex isn’t part of project shepherd until he, liz, and kyle discover its existence and decide that they need to break the three alien prisoners out. this author has so carefully balanced very risky themes, perhaps the most glaring of which is the guard/prisoner relationship between alex and michael. this is so far away from “sexy guard/prisoner times” and heads straight into "how many times can alex offer michael kindness and a little bit of control?” that i weep. each update has me vibrating with excitement, psyched to see where the author is going to take this. please, please, please check out the warnings before diving into this one. it’s careful and respectful but there are some real serious themes woven into the narrative.

millie’s long list of malex fics | redolent air // tremble and shimmer by JoCarthage

And, oh, it was as if Michael had run his burning fingers down Alex's spine, that sound. He wanted to freeze, to run, but that was an option long gone. He wanted to turn, to have some excuse ready: some reason he was here, alone, truckless, standing with the moon in his eyes and his heartbeat pounding copper under his tongue.

Michael opened the door, shirtless, in hastily-buttoned jeans. His hair even more tousled than he normally 'kept' it, eyes scanning the junkyard, body held crooked with sleep. He squinted, shaking his head a little like he was trying to clear it, his eyes widening in the starlight.

He croaked, hand on the screen door: "Alex? What -- what are you doing here?"

Alex comes to the Airstream at midnight; he just wants to sleep. Pre 1x09.

comment: um this fic is... *chef’s kiss*. i keep thinking of it as “communication porn” because that’s what it bloody is. if all you’ve ever wanted from the show was for these two rowdy boys to sit down and have a damn conversation; this is the 24 chapter (and counting) fic for you. sometime pre 1x09, michael and alex sit down, address that they want to be together, and set some ground rules for figuring out their relationship. what follows is a loosely canon-adjacent story (as in, it addresses many of the canon story beats) that makes me cry with happiness at every update. it is so tender throughout the whole thing, even when dealing with tough themes or conversations that might be awkward if not for the way they’re written. words can’t describe how much i adore this fic. please do yourself a favour and set aside some time to read it (it’s already over 100k); it is well worth the time and the the box of tissues for your tears.