SEQUEL PROMPTS ARE CLOSED.
This prompt is a sequel to this (Chapter 122).
TW: Possessive behavior.
Congrats on reaching 700, I love your blog so much your one of my favorite rnm people to follow!!!! I was wondering, if you want, would you be able to do a sequel to the Michael finding out max has feelings for Alex fic you did. I loved that story and the feels it gave me, lol.
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Max had no idea how hard it would be to avoid Alex until he was actively trying to.
He couldn’t believe it. Before Christmas, he almost never saw the guy, now it was like the universe was having them run into each other every few hours. But Max had to keep away, because he’d figured out his problem.
This infatuation with Alex, it was just misplaced fondness, that was all. He liked having a friend who he could talk to about novels, who understood how it felt to be a leader, to have that need to protect the people he loved, who could make him laugh just by looking him in the eye. And in his heartbreak over his separation from Liz, he’d misconstrued that desire for friendship into something more.
Max had felt like a genius with that revelation, determined to simply stay away from the airman for a while, just until his heart stopped doing that pesky thing where it jumped in his chest at the mere sight of Alex. Of course, he quickly realized that when his brother was so in love with the airman, and that when Michael and Alex had some kind of weird magnetism that kept them in one another’s orbit, and when they needed Alex’s help for virtually every other thing, staying away from Alex was next to impossible.
So now? Now Max was standing across Alex in his Air Force uniform, a table separating them (strategically, of course, Max was no idiot) as the airman pointed out entrance and exit points on a blueprint of another Project Shepherd facility he suspected had valuable alien technology.
“I’ve been working on hacking the security footage, but as the place is meant to be top secret, there’s very little material to work with.” With a glance at Kyle who nodded encouragingly, Alex smirked. “But we’re getting close.”
“This is bound to tell us something about our past,” Isobel said. “Some of that material from the barn fire must’ve been preserved. I can’t imagine it being destroyed.”
“When it was meant to withhold the pressure and temperature of outer space? No,” Alex reassured her. “I know my family saved it somewhere, and I have a feeling it’s there.” He pointed at the blueprint again, his touch a little rough, and Max leaned in slightly.
“Well, if anyone’s going to save what’s left of our pods, it’ll be you, Alex. We trust you.”
That was probably the wrong thing to say, Max realized too late as Michael glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, but as Alex’s expression seemed to brighten, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
Even after everything Alex had done for them, after everything he was risking, he still talked about himself as if he was an enemy that they were keeping on tight watch, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Alex was their hero, their only light and hope in a crap-ton of misery and fear – how did he not know that? How did he not know how grateful they all were to him, how much they all owed him?
Then Max caught his brother’s narrowed his eyes, and realized he’d been smiling to himself at the thought of Alex. He cleared his throat and dimmed his expression as Kyle began rolling up the blueprint.
“Alex and I will get to work on the symbols,” Michael said, his arms still crossed. Max noticed his brother was still watching him. “If we stay overnight, we should be done in a few days.”
“Guerin, he needs rest,” Kyle was barely saying before Alex was nodding.
“I’ll be fine,” he reassured his friend. “I’ll finish at the base in a few hours, and come back here.”
Michael nodded, shot his brother another look, and walked off to the bunker door. Max took that as his cue to leave, too, but before he could, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Alex was smiling kindly at him. “Hey, I wanted to thank you.”
Max blinked, unconsciously taking a step back. “Th – uh – thank me?”
“Yeah,” Alex chuckled. He pulled a small book out of his back pocket. “Journaling was a great idea. It really helped me get a lot out. So, you know, thank you.”
“Oh yeah?” Max felt a grin pull at his lips. Then he glanced over his shoulder at where Michael still stood, his smile fell, and he crossed his arms. “You, you know, look better. C-calmer, I mean.”
Max supposed it was too much to hope that Alex hadn’t noticed his covert looks to his brother. He was an Air Force captain after all, wasn’t it his job to notice everything?
Alex followed his gaze, and his own smile fell, too. “He said something to you, didn’t he?”
Max opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. He considered lying, but Alex’s eyes were so full of light despite the rigidness of his shoulders, the small upward lilt of his lips so sad that Max couldn’t help but think that between the Manes family and Michael, the last thing Alex deserved was to be lied to again.
“He . . . loves you . . . very much,” he said slowly, picking his words out carefully. He might’ve expected Alex to scoff, to look annoyed, to be angry.
But the airman only looked down, his eyes shut, a look of utter resignation on his face. He knows, Max thought miserably. He knew how Michael felt for him, how possessive the cowboy was, and he knew that there was no way Michael was ever going to let anybody near him. He knew, and for a moment, he’d hoped that Max was different. But the curse of being loved by someone who didn’t want to be with him was stronger than ever, apparently, because not even Michael’s brother had a chance. And Alex would be destined for loneliness until the day Michael decided he’d truly moved on.
Alex lifted his head, a soft, sad smile at his lips. He nodded, as if to say he understood what Max wanted so desperately to say, and he walked past him, stuffing his journal back into his pocket.
Max stared at the place where Alex had been standing, unable to turn around even as the door to the bunker shut, echoing throughout the cold place. The place Alex had spent all of his time working to give Max, Michael, and Isobel all the answers they were looking for.
“You okay?” Michael asked, and Max shut his eyes a moment, silently asking for strength, before he turned around.
“He’s miserable,” Max said as calmly as he could. Michael’s frown deepened. “Would you just tell him how you feel? Because the guilt is starting to get to me.”
Michael looked over his shoulder as if to make sure Isobel and Kyle were too busy with each other, and when he turned back to his brother, his gaze was serious. “Don’t say stuff like that out loud.”
“Why?” Max shook his head. “Afraid someone will hear you and tell Alex? News flash, Michael; we all know you love Alex. Alex knows you love Alex, and it’s killing him!”
“Why do you care?” Michael asked after a moment of being unable to answer Max’s question. “What does it matter to you how Alex feels?”
“Because he’s helping us,” Max defended.
“So it’s nothing to do with what you wrote about him?” he said, suspicion clear in his expression.
Max stared. “You’re never going to stop punishing me, are you? You’re never going to forget about that stupid poem –”
“Yeah, I’m not, because I know you, Max,” he said savagely, “and you only write about what matters. And now you look at Alex like you – like he means something to you –”
“He does,” Max cut him off, and Michael turned still.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means . . . it means . . .” he shook his head. “It means I know what he is to you, and I know that you love him, I do, but that love is only making the both of you miserable, so either fix things with Alex, or . . .”
“Or what?” Michael’s voice lowered as he stepped closer to Max. Max could feel the ground vibrating. Michael was losing control. “Or what, Max?”
Max probably should’ve taken it all back, told Michael that it meant nothing, that he would do nothing. But then Alex came to mind, the way he’d looked down as if he’d known that here was one more person that didn’t think him worth fighting for. One more person that didn’t think he mattered.
Max’s gaze didn’t waver this time. “Or I’m going to get in between you, for your own good.”
Michael’s eyes flared, and Max was vaguely aware of Isobel and Kyle holding onto the table as the ground shook harder. They were startled, calling Michael’s name, trying to get him to stop. But they had no idea. Michael wouldn’t stop now, he didn’t have control, not when it came to Alex Manes.
“You wouldn’t. Not Alex.”
Max stepped closer, his voice barely over a whisper. “If you’re going to kill Alex, then somebody has to save him. Or you’ll never forgive yourself.”
“Michael, Max, what’re you guys doing?!” Isobel yelled as the bunker shook violently.
“This isn’t about protecting me,” Michael spat. “This is about your crush on him, and knowing that he’d never choose you over me!”
Max searched his brother’s face. “Why didn’t you choose him, Michael?”
Michael froze, the ground suddenly stopped shaking, and for a moment, it felt like the whole world had turned silent and still.
“You can’t answer, can you?” Max asked, and Michael pursed his lips. To Max’s shock, his brother’s eyes filled with tears, but instead of giving him a response, Michael gave him a hollow smirk and turned to leave.
“Max,” Isobel started tentatively a long moment after Michael slammed the door behind him. “What the hell was that?”
“Wait a second,” Kyle shook his head, his brows furrowed. “You like Alex now?”
When Max didn’t answer, Isobel pressed, “Do you?”
Max caught his sister’s eyes, but said nothing. It doesn’t matter, he almost answered. Because Alex loved Michael, and Michael loved Alex, and now that his brother was threatened with losing Alex, he would do the right thing. He would confess his feelings to Alex, he would do everything in his power to keep the airman close.
He would hate Max forever, it was true, but at least – at least – both Michael and Alex would be happy. That was something.