#bravery-sought

[plantdaddyguerin]

💍

send the thing for our muses to wake up married || @bravery-sought

Michael wakes up and his head is pounding. It had been a few years since Michael had woken up hung over as hell after a heavy night of drinking. Michael knows that he blacked out after a certain point. He knows this because he’s currently in Alex’s bed and he’s wearing clothes and Alex is laying right next to him, fully clothed as well.

It was pride celebration at Planet 7 and Isobel had dragged him and Alex to celebrate. He knows Kyle was there with her. Maybe Liz and Maria had also tagged along for the fun? That is still a little groggy. He knows there was a lot of alcohol. One that he kept lacing all night. He knows that Isobel made him dance or perhaps it was Alex? He remembers someone made him dance because of all the Uranus jokes that Michael was doing. That was the payback. “Oh, fuck.” Michael stretches his whole body out, letting out a groan in the process.

He’s never drinking like that ever again.

Once he’s done, Michael crawls on over towards his boyfriend and lays on top of him. “Wake up.” He mutters, trying to shake Alex awake. That’s when his eyes glance over towards the hand that’s laying flat out on the mattress and there’s a RING on *that* finger. “Alex, this is no fucking joke. Wake the fuck up. “NOW.” He says, pushing back on the mattress. Oh hell there’s a ring on his finger too. “We got fucking married?!?????” He yelled, not even bothering to check if Alex was already awake or not.

Yep, he’s never drinking like that ever again. EVER. He is also never going to go out and party with Isobel ever again.

[alienpouts]

@bravery-sought​​ | continued from here

HE HADN'T MEANT TO PANIC SO HARD. jones was gone. the danger was gone, so why does his MIND run away from him so often? always jumping to the worst conclusions, getting himself so WOUND UP, on an idea that honestly, even michael knows is so far out there. ( THEY WERE SAFE. but, how many times did he have to remind himself of that before he would believe it, though? )

it's only when alex's touch registers in him, CALMING DOWN all the thoughts running around in his mind. his words silencing all the negatives. and all michael can do for a moment is STARE. drink in the sight of alex, use his other half for the stabilty that his head, his mind, craves.

                "i thought.." he can't finish it, not daring to speak the words. to put THOSE KIND OF THOUGHTS into the air. but somehow, as he melts into alex's touch, he knows he doesn't need too. it's been TEN YEARS, longer now, but in all those years, they've never KNOWN EACH OTHER. not like this. they can read each other, understand each other in ways that once; would've seemed impossible.

their trauma is shared. and michael feels more open with him than he has with anyone else, THIS IS NEW. but he likes it, their openess, something that is theirs. the nights when the alien can't sleep, convinced someone will try and get between them. or that, jones was still alive, waiting to make his move. WAITING FOR MICHAEL.

but, as they always do, alexs' words are pulling michael out of his thoughts. back into the present, where he can feel the worry washing away. finally able to think enough that he scans his gaze over the male, lingering, looking for any signs that he's not okay. HE'S FINE. they're both fine. a breath, reminding himself he needs to breathe.

                   "i'm okay," a slow nod, it's a promise. he WILL be okay. one hand raised, brown bag from the pony filled with food. if he had drove the speed limit, it would've been cold, but the alien can still feel the heat coming from it. "i brought food," as if that explains EVERYTHING. the three missed calls, the string of text messages.

[apexadapted]

His gaze is still on the big glowing thing on the table.  It would be absolutely mesmerizing if it didn’t make his skin prick like he was standing in a thunderstorm.  The smell burns his nose so he’s been keeping his distance, back to the wall.  “Well, I’ve seen and heard weirder.”  Aliens were still close to the top of the list, near where something veered off the genetic tree away from modern humans and back to something more primal.   There’s a part of him, probably equal parts cat and naturally curious, that wants to touch it.  See if it actually shocks him or if that’s just the way something in him is reacting.  Something that doesn’t like this new revelation.  “Yeah.  I’ve had a very long and...complicated career history.  Changed like three times.  I was in green berets for a couple years after my residency.  Definitely not what I thought I’d be doing with my life, but at least I’m still here.  Airman, right?  I think I met your dad.  Real asshole.” 

@bravery-sought  from here

[labyriinths]

@bravery-sought​  i guess i just woke up in a funk this morning. [ for Gregory, please! :D ]

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND SENTENCE STARTERS

Gregory had driven over to Alex’s to take him for breakfast at the reservation. While it was quite early, his family was used to waking up at the crack of dawn. He was surprised to see him out of sorts, finding it amusing. “What’s that? A new code for hungover?” he teased his brother while he leaned his head to the side--indicating he climb into the truck. “Nothing a good meal can’t cure.” He was determined to keep up these outings with Alex. There was a lot of time they needed to make up for, and Gregory was finally at a place where he could really be there for him. He’s endured so much in the last decade alone, and he wasn’t the same person he once was. He knew how much these moments mattered.

[tigerincahoots]

Washington DC.

It has been several months since the last time Kevin went there. Under less than stellar circumstances. When he was deployed in Iraq, he had never truly believed that his life could become more than what he had been raised to be. His father had raised him to be a soldier. Through and through. Nothing less than perfection was acceptable and soiling the family name with failure was not an option. Deployment after deployed --- his head had been on the game. Don’t think too much, do what he was told to do like a good little lap dog. And then he met Alex Manes. Air Force and also deployed to Iraq like so many other countless men and women. Nothing extraordinary there, right?

What Kevin didn’t expect was to become friends with Alex. Always used to keep his distance --- for it would make dealing with the occasional death so much easier --- they had became something that he couldn’t really find words to label. Not that labels were needed. Kevin had always despised those. But when Alex suffered the accident that had cost him his leg, for the first time ever, Kevin decided to do what he thought it was right rather than do what he was expected to do. He had accompanied Alex to DC where the doctors would take care of him. He had stayed for as long as he could until he was forced to return to Iraq. It had sucked. Not being there for someone who clearly needed someone. It wasn’t just death, dust and bullets. There was also loneliness that made everything worse.

They kept in touch, of course. Letters, text messages, emails… whatever they could do to keep in touch. One letting the other knew how things were in Iraq and the other sharing the news of the recovery. It was Alex that told him about receiving a Purple Heart for his service. And that was all Kevin needed to ask for an excuse and fly back to Washington so that he could be present in what he hoped to be one of Alex’s best days. Who wouldn’t want to see a friendly face in the crowd? Who wouldn’t want to know that they were not alone there? If anyone deserved that medal --- that someone was Alex. It was… just that easy.

“I heard a rumor.” It was already night by the time Kevin abandoned the political bullshit of a party that the Generals and Majors came up with. Military moves and politics never truly combined in his mind. But now that they were alone outside and just being silent while looking at the stars ( not the same beauty as the clear skies in Iraq ), it was as good time as any to catch up. “I heard you’re going home. Back to… what’s the name again? Roswell?” Roswell, New Mexico. “What I’m trying to say is --- and you know how terrible I am with this crap --- I’m going to miss you there. Won’t be the same.”

@bravery-sought​ gets a starter from Kevin

[cowboyruckus]

@bravery-sought​ asked: 15. a kiss on the jawline.

IT DOESN’T MATTER that he has to triple check the locks on the door. It doesn’t matter that it’s an old barn, and it smells like horses, and they have to keep their ears open for any of the late night ranch hands doing rounds.       It might be open to the stable below it, but the loft’s as good a place to hide as any, outfitted with a living space his family’d rented out more than once to their hired hands who needed it. The bed is small but comfortable, the space warm and inviting, with a woven rug from the reservation and his mother’s paintings on the wall.       No one can see the two boys tangled up together in the darkness on top of the comforter, starshine through the window pouring over their faces lying close together.       Alex’s lips wind their way down the sharp corner of Max’s jaw, leaving a constellation behind and Max’s face lighting up in a grin. He holds on a little tighter and slides his knee between his companion’s legs, their gangly limbs nearly hanging off the ends of the mattress as it is.       He doesn’t say anything, cautious even on his parents’ property, locked away from anyone in the world who might care. His family isn’t what they’re worried about. He lets his eyes speak for him in the dark, soft when they fall on Alex’s face. They close when he leans in to steal his own kiss, sealing over Alex’s lips gentle and easy. 

[gregorymancs]

( @bravery-sought​ ) « con’t

               AFTER IT ALL, the sight of his brother’s blood — despite it being from a stupid bar fight — made Gregory ill. Bringing up memories that he’d tried to bury ( the soil kept fresh and constantly-turning with a roiling ocean of guilt and a litany reminding him that he had never been good at keeping his little brother safe ), it had been difficult to see Alex fighting like hell. 

When the bar fight had first broken out, he hadn’t paused — hesitated — like he used to when he was young. Something in his brain ( in his heart, too ) had rewired in the last few years, jumping right past the hardwired desire he’d always had to melt into the background, to not rock the boat, to continue through life quietly and without much incident. He had never been a fearless Manes man; he’d always had too much of their mother in him. 

                                At least, that was what Jesse used to tell him. 

When they’d gotten home and Greg had had a chance to see the damage under real light, he’d cursed and started rifling through the bathroom, nudging Alex to the couch with a gentle, assertive hand. Those hands shook while he was gathering the bandages and trying to find the hydrogen peroxide in the medicine cabinet. He saw the various accouterments Alex used to care for his leg, feeling a thrum of pride at how strong his brother was mixed with an irrational guilt that he hadn’t been able to keep his brother from war.

His arms laden with more than he needed for a few cuts and bruises, he ambled back into the living room and dumped the trove of supplies onto the couch next to Alex. 

“And leave you to lose a couple of fingers to infection to match the leg? You’re too much of a romantic war hero as it is,” he joked, his low tones not affected at all by the little he’d had to drink at the bar, though his enunciation was marred ever-so-slightly by the slip lip he was nursing. “If you lose any more body parts, you’re going to be too tragic for Roswell.” He smirked at his brother and knelt in front of him, pulling the bandages and peroxide closer to him. 

As he busied himself with his ministrations, Greg cleared his throat, finding courage by focusing on the small, measurable, reachable tasks in front of him. 

“If you hear the stuff about Mom, about us again...” he started, his habit of sucking his lip in while he thought sabotaged by the immediate sting he felt when he reopened the cut. “You don’t have to fight for me. I fight for you. That’s the deal now, you got it?” 

He paused in his work just for a moment to look up at his brother. There was nothing like the low light of a living room after a night under the New Mexican moon to loosen his tongue, letting him say what was really on his mind. “I know I’m probably laying it on a little thick right now, but I have been kicking myself for years for the fact that I left you alone to fight a world that already doesn’t like us. You deserve someone to be in your corner. Loudly. Unconditionally. You always have, and I can’t even begin to make this shit up to you.” 

[astormofagirl]

The sun was bright in the sky as she made her way down the path toward Alex’s house. It was early afternoon and she’d been released from the hospital just the day before. Maria was still a bit unsteady - a little weak, but on the mend for sure. She held the box under her arm, pausing only to lift a hand and knock. With everything they’d both found out over the past few days, she thought it would be a good idea for them to catch up. Plus - Maria wanted to check in on Alex and make sure he was doing alright after what happened with his dad. She knew the man had never treated her friend well - abusive as he was - but he was still his dad and sometimes grief was complicated.

@bravery-sought​ hit the 💖 for a starter