For the kisses prompts - literally any of them for Malex, but particularly 10, 11, or 43 because I’m a sucker for tenderness. Or 17 because I’m also a sucker for one of them pulling that kind of stunt just for shits and giggles. Please and thank you!
“Hey,” Alex says, leaning on the table next to Michael, looking down at what he’s been working on for the past hour.
Michael grunts to acknowledge he heard Alex, but continues to write out his calculations, brow furrowed in concentration.
Alex rolls his eyes and smiles fondly. “I’m heading out. I need to check in with my team. You know, attempt to do my actual job.”
Michael grunts again, eyes narrowed on a piece of his calculation as he leans in to erase it.
Alex muffles a laugh and says, “Head home soon. You need to sleep at some point.” It’s early, but he’s pretty sure Michael’s been here all night.
“Mmhmm, yeah, I will,” Michael says, tongue peeking out between his front teeth as he makes his correction.
Alex shakes his head and, with an ease they hadn’t been able to accomplish in a decade but which has been hard fought for in the last year, places a friendly hand on Michael’s shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As he’s pulling his hand away, Michael turns to him and, eyes still straying toward his project, says, “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow, drive safe.” He leans forward to peck Alex on the cheek, and it’s more of a scratch of his stubble to the corner of Alex’s mouth, there and gone again just as quickly, as Michael turns back to the work on the table.
Alex’s breath hitches and he freezes, eyes stuck on the back of Michael’s head as he bends over to work, but Michael just continues writing and muttering to himself. He doesn’t seem to realize what he’s done.
Alex lets out a shaky exhale, his heart pounding, and quietly makes his way out to his car. “What the hell,” he murmurs to himself, pulling out onto the road and attempting to concentrate on his surroundings and ignore the fluttery sensation in his stomach.
Ten years. Ten years they’d been in love, and never been able to make it work. They’d given up on the possibility of them last year, and they’ve been working on being friends. It’s been hell, but ultimately he’d rather have Michael in his life as a friend than not at all, and that’s been working for them. Friends, no more. That was the deal, and he’d made his peace with that.
And now this.
“What the hell,” he says again, more forcefully, hands white-knuckled on his steering wheel; he has to resist putting his hand to his cheek, where he can still feel the scratch of Michael’s stubble.
He’s almost to work when his phone rings through his radio, Michael’s name popping up on his dash. He takes a slow breath, in and out, and presses the button to accept the call.
“Did I just kiss you?” Michael asks as soon as the call connects, his voice sounding slightly hysterical. “Because I looked up from my desk just a minute ago and realized: I think I kissed you before you left.”
Alex breathes out slowly and nods. “Yeah, you did.”
They’re both quiet for a long time, and then Michael says, voice tentative, “I’m sorry?”
Alex snorts and shakes his head. “Are you?”
Michael’s quiet long enough that Alex has to lean over to check the call hasn’t been dropped. Then, “No, I’m not.” Another long pause. “I’ve missed you.”
“I… I’ve missed you too,” Alex whispers; he can’t be sure if Michael even heard it.
Michael groans and lets out a loud exhale. “Can we-- I need to-- Ugh. I don’t want to talk about this over the phone.”
The way the last year has gone, and the way the decade before that went, Alex isn’t sure if it’s a good idea to talk about it at all. Maybe they should just forget it ever happened, and go back to the new normal.
Alex takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he prepares to suggest they just forget it to Michael, but what comes out instead is, “Dinner tonight?” His breath hitches in surprise at his own traitorous mouth.
“Yes,” Michael says immediately, and the relief in his tone helps settle the writhing snakes of uncertainty that have started to gather in Alex’s stomach. “Yes, dinner. Come to my place after work?”
Alex bites his lip. His brain is yelling at him to stop this before it goes too far. They’ve been down this road before, and it’s always ended in the worst possible heartache for the both of them.
But his heart is pounding wildly, leaping in excitement, because no one has ever been able to make him feel the way Michael does, and maybe this last year has been enough to make it different this time? God, he hopes so.
He takes a deep breath and says, “Okay.”
/
I had trouble picking one, so I made my roommate do it, and then it just kind of...flowed out of me. I went with 10: A hello/good-bye kiss that is given without thinking - where neither person thinks twice about it.
Well, Alex deffo thought twice about it, and then Michael did too, but... I’m okay with that, lol. Thank you for the prompt!
