Sep 23, 2023
Max Evans Weekend: Mirrors
“If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people.”
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Max Evans Weekend: Mirrors
“If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people.”
“I read a lot of religious texts. Like, all of them. The stories don't generally end well for guys like me. You know- men who work miracles with their hands tend to die bloody.”
Join us in celebrating our leading love interest September 22-24! Prompts are open to your personal interpretation. Any questions about the event or prompts can be submitted to the ask box
Latent Hero
lost decade (adolescence)
(self) isolation
refusal of self/powers (self-hatred)
Self Discovery
mirrors or mirage (facing self through others)
meditation (facing self through rumination)
control (facing self through mastering abilities)
Rising Hero
acceptance (self, culture, mantel)
enduring love (familial, platonic, romantic)
the road back (bridging the old and new, returning home, leadership)
Tracking #maxevansweekend23 #maxweekend23 all content types (fic, gifs, edits, playlists, etc.) and ships welcome 💙
Max Evans Weekend 2023 (3/3)
When Max got a knock on his door one morning, he hadn’t expected to find Alex Manes, of all people, on the other side.
“Hey,” Alex said, wringing his hands and looking, for the first time since Max had ever known him, nervous. “Can we talk?”
Max blinked, then quickly said, “Uh, sure, yeah, come on in.”
“Thanks,” he murmured.
“Is something wrong?” Max asked, watching him. “You haven’t looked this worried since Michael went missing three years ago.”
Alex exhaled shakily and sat down, only to stand right back up and start pacing the living room. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. Michael’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
Max sat down, hoping it would encourage Alex to do the same for the sake of his prosthetic. He did not. “Okay?”
“So,” Alex started.
“So?”
“So . . .” He seemed to deliberate something with himself for a while before he finally sat down on the same couch as Max, and said with an intensity befitting a military captain, “So Michael’s birthday is tomorrow.”
Max’s shoulders fell, realization dawning. A chuckle escaped his lips before he could help it. “And you don’t know what to get him.”
“I don’t know what to get him,” he repeated gravely. “This isn’t funny, Evans, I’m seriously freaking out here.”
“I honestly don’t know why,” Max said. “You’re all Michael’s ever wanted, so I figured the answer should be easy, but I really don’t want to talk about my brother’s sex life—”
“You’re Michael’s brother,” Alex cut him off, clearly not finding this as funny as Max was. “What do you think I should do?” Then pointedly added, “Seriously.”
“I’m not joking, Alex,” Max said simply. “All I can think of him ever wanting is you. Then he got you, and nothing else compared. Still the case, by the way, so if anything, I should be the one worrying about this.”
Alex ran a hand through his hair, jaw working furiously. So quietly that Max almost missed it, he said, “You’re not the one that has years to make up for.”
Max smiled. “Oh, and you are?”
Alex’s good knee bounced up and down, agitated. “I ran from him, every chance I got, because I was always scared. I don’t want him to think that I’m not taking stuff like this seriously.”
“And panicking about them is taking it seriously?”
He groaned, shooting to his feet to pace again, “Would you stop asking me questions? I can barely answer one right now!”
Max laughed fully at that. “Alex, what language do I have to say this in for you to get it? Michael loves you. More than anything. No matter what you give him, he’ll love it because it’s from you.”
Alex shook his head. “That’s not good enough.”
Somehow, Max heard the words Alex wasn’t saying. I’m not good enough. He leaned back on the couch, almost in awe. It was truly a wonder Alex and Michael hadn’t gotten together years ago.
“You guys are so painfully alike,” he said, “you know that?”
Alex stopped, surprised. “Me and Michael?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No,” he murmured, and a smile tugged at his lips, pleased at what he was evidently taking as a huge compliment. “Oh wow.”
Max’s smile softened as he watched him. He stood, and patted Alex’s shoulder. “He believes in your love already, Manes, he doesn’t need you to prove it, not like this. And since he believes in you, believe in him. Love him with everything you have. No one’s a better expert on that than you.”
Alex pursed his lips, even as a faint blush tinged his cheeks. He nodded, moving past Max to the door, and stopped. “Thank you, Max.”
He smiled. “What are brothers for, right?”
Alex’s face did a cross between a grimace and a shy smile before he shook his head. “That’s so weird to hear.”
Max tilted his head as he watched him go, affection blooming in his chest for the airman. Weird, definitely. But, he thought, definitely the good kind.
Savior - “men who work miracles with their hands tend to die bloody.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The sky is clear. The few clouds sparse and flat, as if briskly painted onto a canvas. The pale blue of the sky deceiving as the sun beats down on him, making sweat bead across the back of his neck and slide down the curve of his back.
He’d wipe his brow clean of the tickling sensation of sweat beading except his hands were covered in soil. Thick black planting soil, full of nutrients and stinking to the high heavens.
But Liz had said she wanted a vegetable garden. Or more accurately mentioned around the lip of her morning coffee they had enough room for a second garden bed, maybe one for practical plants. She’d been beautiful, hair draped over her shoulder, tousled and knotted from sleep, the sunlight peeking over the horizon seeming to cast her in an angelic glow. Liz always spent her mornings with him, coffee and kisses before she went into the lab. And during good weather they usually spent that time outside, while Liz smiled at the plants waiting for them to bloom, as if her mere presence would be enough for the delicate petals to unfurl and greet her.
It was enough for Max all those years ago.
One genuine smile and an act of kindness with no expectations behind it. And Max had crumbled. Fallen in love with the idea of life and the world. He used to say that he fell for Liz on that playground, had somehow known the woman she would eventually become. But after a longtime he came to realize he had actually fallen for kindness. For humanity.
read on ao3
"It's always three." Max Evans, 2x05 Here's a third poll and reminder about Max Evans Weekend 9/22-9/24! 🤠 👽 ⭐️ Max changes his career to write full time. He moonlights doing what to earn extra cash?
Wears a pair of silver antennae as a waiter at the Crashdown 🍔
Bull riding competitions (he's not very good at it) 🐂
Bar tends at the Wild Pony again but takes up exotic dancing for better tips 🍺
Teachers assistant for Isobel’s yoga classes to entice more male clientele 🧘♂️
Liz's lab assistant at university (he's useless but motivating 😉)
Tries to help out at Sanders Auto Shop but resorts to driving Uber instead 🚗
Tutors ESL to new Americans at community centers 🍎
Housekeeping: Does Kyle’s laundry when he's doing long shifts at the hospital 🏥
Gets entangled in a pyramid scheme and becomes insufferable 💼
Hosts writing workshops at rehab centers and VA programs ✍️
Cooks meth in a trailer with Walter White in the desert 🧪
Nude model for art classes (he's in high demand!) 🎨
Max Evans Weekend 2023 (2/3)
Max had woken with a throbbing pain in his temples, and it had followed him around for the rest of the day.
“You doin’ okay?” Michael asked at one point after lunch. Max and Isobel had both come to eat with him and Alex, and when Alex had started to do the dishes, Max had followed to insist he could do them himself, but the headache hit at full force and he’d had to grab the edge of the counter to steady himself.
“Yeah,” he said through gritted teeth. “Yeah, I’m—I’m fine.”
“He’s been like this since Liz left to her conference in San Diego,” Isobel said, rubbing his arm. “I don’t know why.”
“There’s nothing to wonder about,” he grit out, forcing his spine to straighten. “I’m fine.”
The sound of running water stopped, and Max made out Alex’s soft “Get him to a couch” to Michael. The throbbing was getting so bad that Max couldn’t find the strength to argue, and Michael was leading him into their living room. He sat him down, and a few seconds later, Alex was there, kneeling in front of him. He gently dabbed a cloth soaked in hot water to Max’s temples, and Max’s entire body shuddered in relief.
“Stop worrying about her,” Alex said with a sigh, and it was funny that as the human, he was the one seeing directly into Max’s mind and finding the problem. “Liz can take care of herself.”
Michael scoffed and Isobel hit his arm. “Are you kidding me? That’s the problem?”
“She went to a science conference, dude,” Michael said, “not another planet.”
“I know that,” Max argued, “but how many psycho aliens have we met up with? I don’t like her being out of my sight.”
Alex shushed him softly, dabbing the cloth more firmly to Max’s temples. “Stop. Worrying. I have the highest clearance at Deep Sky, remember? Finding anything out of the ordinary is my literal job. If anyone else came through the atmosphere, I’d know.” He shook his head. “I know it seems hard to believe after everything we’ve been through, but we’re okay now, Evans. We really are.”
Unable to help his next shudder, Max caught Alex’s wrist as it was the closest thing to him and squeezed. Alex didn’t say anything or pull away. He let Max hold on until, gradually, the pain in his temples finally receded, and he heaved a long sigh.
Isobel kept tsking, Michael shook his head and laughed at him under his breath, and Alex . . . Alex just waited, a silent, reassuring anchor.
In the end, he could manage no more than a quiet, “Thanks, Manes.”
Alex shrugged in response and stood, giving Max the cloth. “It’s what I do.”
Michael slapped his ass he went back into the kitchen, and Alex gave him a grin over his shoulder, swatting at his arm, and Max leaned against Isobel’s shoulder, so grateful that Alex was now part of their little family.
It’s time to celebrate our leading love interest! Remember to tag your works with #maxevansweekend23 or #maxweekend23! We are excited to see what you’ve all come up with 💙⚡️
Prompts can be found here and the ao3 collection is Max_Evans_Weekend_2023 (here)!