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YOU'RE MY FAVORITE HUMAN
Everything was so red. And pink. It was like an entire supermarket section had exploded and rearranged itself, from a Christmas' card into a Valentine's one. Every year, Michael thought it was a little disconcerting. It was consumerism at its finest form, kind of a social plague, a black hole where people's common sense and a lot of money disappeared.
Michael wasn't a moralist but was pretty sure about this. Maybe it was because he never had money to waste or more probably because the things he always wanted - answers, a family, someone to love - couldn't be bought. So he didn't really understand the rush to buy things, to jump from one festivity to another, just to give your feelings the value of a gift and its receipt.
Okay, maybe Micheal was a little bit of a moralist, at least about certain things. Or maybe it was Sanders' fault and some of his cynicism just rubbed off on him. Michael nod ded to himself. It was definitely Sanders' fault. And it was even more pleasant to think that he had been shaped more by Sander' presence than by the years of abuse and deprivation of his youth.
Michael squeezed his eyes shut and sighed. He had just wanted to buy some cereals. How did he ended up having such existential thoughts in front of the supermarket shelves? He couldn't really explain it but it's been twenty minutes already and he was still stuck there, contemplating teddy bears, heart shaped cushions, chocolates and Valentine's cards. It was all so red. And pink. Hasn’t anyone really noticed that there are far too many hearts around? Despite it all, Michael wasn't bothered. There weren't bad jokes on the tip of his tongue nor a prickle on his skin for all the sweetness in the air. There were just the old thoughts bouncing around his head. Michael was a bit terrified realizing this but he imagined that there was a first time for everything, especially if you had an Alex Manes in your life.
Michael bitten his lips and the smile that he couldn't stop. In the end it was clear as day that it all came down to Alex. He made all the difference. Until that point, Valentine's Day didn't really mean anything for him, not even when he had tried to make things work with Maria. He had tried to blend in, throwing some money into a gift to consider himself a good boyfriend. It has been a way to convince himself that if things didn't work out between him and Alex it wasn't his fault. In reality both of them had been at fault. Alex always knew it, Michael instead needed more time and space to see things as they really were. There had been too much pain and too much anger for Alex's imperfect love to be enough on its own to repair all the silences and absences of their story. There had been too much disillusioned hope for Michael to be able to look beyond Alex’s and his own suffering and to see that he was really trying to make things work and to stay. Sure, in the end he had succeeded, but how long did it take? Too much. Too much for sure. So much time wasted. So much unnecessary waiting.
Knowing this and thinking about it was like an electric shock behind his eyes. A teddy bear moved on the shelf in front of him. Michael was aware of this because he felt the familiar pressure of his telekinesis and that was why he needed to regain control over his mind. The teddy bear laid still again and hopefully no one noticed it. It didn't change that the supermarket's aisle was the worst scenario for Michael's daydreaming. Michael sighed. He had just wanted to buy some cereals. Instead, he will leave with something red and full of hearts, right? Michael already knew it and it was such a joyful thing that it felt like the best decision in the world. What should he buy? The teddy bear stares at him from the shelf with its glass eyes, an empty look he didn't like. The chocolates were an even worse possibility, since Arturo's churros were available. The Valentine's cards instead… there was potential in them!
Michael moved a perfect curl out of his eyes and looked at the cards display. Too many glitters… too much pink… too silly… Michael rejected one card after another, even if the big-eyed, sappy, seventeen years old boy he once was - and that was living again in his head since he got back with Alex - screamed at him to buy all of them. And that was what he did. Michael desisted and bought all the cards. The one with too many glitters, the one that was too pink, and the silly one, and at least another couple which he hadn't even looked at. The seventeen years old boy from his memory was already planning everything - when, how and which card - and Michael had just decided to go along with him. This Valentine's Day will be special. Alex and him deserved it. Consumerism could be damned.
---
The pen made another lazy spin before Michael stopped it mid air. Alex was in the shower,. The water was flowing slowly behind the closed door of the bathroom and he had no idea of Michael's inner turmoil. The red Valentine's card or the silly one? Two nights ago, Michael had finally been left with two cards only to choose from and hadn't slept since. He was tired. It didn't matter though, because Alex and his first Valentine’s date was ready, carefully planned. He put into this surprise the same care that was reserved to his scientific projects or the delicate engines he worked on. It will be romantic and sappy and maybe a little ridiculous. Michael couldn't wait. The last thing to do was to choose the right card. It seemed to be the most important thing to do and yet it wasn't, Michael knew it. He knew that it was all in his head - the doubts and the obstacles created to be a perfect alibi if things went wrong.
Michael shook his head. Why did he always have to make things so complicated? Michael grabbed the pen, scribbled something on the red card and then hid it under Alex's cup of coffee. Then he waited. He waited for the water to stop running and for the bathroom's door to open. He waited to hear Alex's crutches pounding on the floor and for him to be in the bedroom - the wet towel tossed on the bed, the clothes chosen to be worn, the prosthesis firmly attached to what is left of Alex's right leg. Michael waited until Alex appeared in front of him, with his slightly irregular gait and the sweater's sleeves rolled up. If Michael stared at Alex in awe - at his dark eyes, his perfect cheekbones and his elegant hands - who could blame him?
«Good morning!» Alex said. He smiled and walked around the table to kiss Micheal.
Michael accepted the greeting, the kiss and Alex's hands in his hair with a deep, satisfied moan. Yet again, who could blame him?
«Good morning to you too. I brought breakfast!» Michael explained.
Alex laughed. He watched with the usual awe the coffee pot floating from the kitchen and filling the cups, all by itself. Alex opened the bag of Crashdown's food with great satisfaction. At some point he will have to ask Michael what the problem was, if he thought that he was starving himself or simply not eating enough. Meanwhile, Alex will leave Michael alone and won’t say anything every time he will check on him bringing breakfast or lunch or whatever he wanted. Alex allowed his boyfriend to take care of him, which was good for the both of them.
Michael seated with Alex on the couch, arms and legs spread wide. There was something strange that morning, as if Michael was about to vibrate out of his own skin. A foot was tapping on the floor, a leg was shacking, a hand was torturing the couch's seams. It was anxiety, Alex was sure of it, but he thought there was something positive in it.
«Are you going to drink your coffee?»
The question sounded a little strained to be really casual. Alex would have liked to drag this out a bit longer, just to see how much patience Michael had left. Very little, he suspected.
Alex stretched to take his coffee, the red card visible under the cup. It was folded in half. There was a spaceship with a light beam and "You're my favorite human" written on it. Inside the card, there was Michael's angular writing who invited Alex to their "first Valentine's date". Alex happily laughed and waved the card in front of Micheal.
«First date, uhm?»
«First Valentine's date!» Michael specified, because it was important that Alex understood. It was because they already had their first date and it had been such a long awaited matter for them, that it couldn't be belittled. It came after more than thirteen years, after draining wars - both real and metaphorical - and a couple of terrible fathers to defeat. It has been hard and exhausting. That was why that first date was so important. It was because it has been Alex's choice to hold hands in Main Street right under the judging look of Jesse Manes' statue. It has been enough to make that night the absolute perfect date. Sometimes Michael sounded so sappy that it was ridiculous but he couldn't help himself. It's always been like this with Alex, from their very first kiss at the UFO Emporium, and it was ok. It was something inevitable. And once again, who could really blame him when Alex looked at him like that?
«First Valentine's date» Alex repeated, the words spinning around in his head.
«So, what do you think? It's pathetic, right?»
Alex hated the doubt on Micheal's voice and even more being the one who put it there.
«No, Michael, it isn't. It's so beautiful that I don't know what to say. It's all so new for me…» there was no need for Alex to add this thing between us to be understood. Michael felt the same way.
«We had never got a Valentine’s date. I want to see what it feels like.» Michael shrug ged , unsure and vulnerable.
«I can't wait!»
Alex's words were very sincere and Michael took a huge sigh of relief. The anxiety that finally left him was palpable like the air out of a popped balloon.
«Thank God!» Michael exclaimed, slouching on the couch and taking even more space on it.
Alex shook his head smiling. Then he t ook a last sip of cold coffee for him and gave a quick, unexpected kiss to Michael - more cheeks than lips.
«Do you have any special requests for the date? I don't know, do I have to wear something in particular?»
Michael seated upright, suddenly alert. He looked at Alex with huge and passionate eyes filled with burning desire.
«Please, wear your leather jacket!»
And Michael's voice was like a warm, comforting gesture that Alex will cherish all day long.
---
Michael should have known that planning the date inspired by the teenager he was so briefly and so long ago, it would have been a mistake. He should have known! He should have had a little less trust in his enthusiasm and a little more caution. Not much, just enough to remember to turn off the phones and to build so many walls in his head to block Isobel out of his mind forever. But no, Michael trusted that for once everything would have be okay. How stupid!
«I just asked for one peaceful night. Just this once!» Michael grumbled, again and again. He's been complaining since the exact moment he was dragged into the last alien crisis. What was wrong with them? What was the big unsolved mystery that was preventing them from a quiet night under the radar? Seriously, what was wrong with them?
«Nothing! It's just a little superiority complex mixed with a smudge of protagonism and a lot of very bad timing.» Alex answered, dry and sarcastic.
Michael bitten his tongue so as not to swear. It was bad enough talking out loud without realizing it, that there was no need for him to snap, especially when Alex was already annoyed.
«It shouldn't have been like this tonight» Michael grumbled, words stuck between his teeth.
« Yep! »
When Alex locked himself up, it was never a good sign and Michael felt powerless.
Behind them, Isobel t ook her eyes away from Bonnie and Clyde's last victims. She had just deleted every single trace of alien presence and rewritten their memories about that night.
«I did everything I could, now it's on Max.»
Isobel secured her hair in a tight ponytail, straightened up an earring and sighed. Michael nodded in her direction and nothing more, he had zero interest in what Max was going to do now, how everything was going to be explained in the report and, even less, how he was going to handle the alien thiefs. It was none of his business and Michael didn't care. He had tried to help Bonnie and Clyde but, at this point, he suspected they didn't really want to fit in.
«I'm sorry if all of this ruined your plans for the night.» Isobel said and she appeared tired and disappointed like them.
«I don't think we are the only ones with our plans ruined tonight.» Alex shrug ged , shards of glass creaking under his shoes. Isobel shrug ged too, there wasn't anything else to say. The night was gone now.
«Ok, we are done here. Bye, Iz!»
Michael grabbed Alex and gently pulled him outside from his hand. The glass on the floor an obstacle to walk around. The journey home was filled with nothing but silence, Michael's disappointment still so full of rage that there wasn't space for anything else.
«It's not the end of the world.»
When Alex broke the silence they were already home, the patio barely lightened up by the lamps through the living room's windows. Michael knew it was not the end of the world. Rationally. It was just hard to explain that to his romantic side, the one who planned every detail of that night and that watched the entire thing go up in flames.
«It's not the end of the world, Michael. It really isn't. We'll have another chance.» Alex grabbed Michael's shoulders and shook him a little, so that he could really make a point of his words. Michael really needed to listen and feel the conviction in his voice, so he could believe what it had been said.
«You were angry too, before.»
It was not a question, it was simply the truth and Michael was right, but Alex's anger was different from his own. What bothered him the most was being constantly dragged into someone else's drama. On the other hand, Michael’s anger was much more complex. It was something alive, some sort of self destructive force that made everything look like it was his fault even when it was not.
«I am angry, who says otherwise?» Alex's hands were on Michael's neck, warm and protective. «I am upset they ruined our plan, more so because you cared about it so much . But it isn't the end of the world, ok? It's not your fault, whatever your mind may be telling you right now, it's not and it's fine.»
Michael sighed and the anger flowed out of his body, leaving him so very tired. «Couldn't they have done the robbery tomorrow?» He complained.
«I told you ! You aliens have bad timing! Absolutely the worst!»
Alex pressed his forehead to Michael's and searched his eyes despite the uncomfortable angle. And then he kissed him - their smiles pressed together.
«Do you want to tell me what the plan was for tonight?»
«Really?»
«Yep, I'm really curious to know what you planned and what you wanted to do with me and my leather jacket.»
Alex's hands were now buried in Michael's hair, his fingers pulling on his curls tight enough to show Michael’s thoughts changing path and taking a very specific direction. Their night was ruined, okay, and there will not be a dinner and no star gazing after the drive in, but it was still Valentine's Day, after all. Alex was there and they had all night. To be fair, it was more than enough.
Michael grabbed the jacket's lapels and pulled Alex against him. He whispered in his ear, hot and so, so in love.
«So, my plan was this…» and a heartbeat later the jacket was on the floor.