8, 10, and 15 for Malex for the OTP asks?
8. What were their first impressions of each other?
I feel like they probably knew of each other vaguely once Michael was back in Roswell and they were at the same school, but they don't have like... a specific memory of the First Time they saw each other. But Alex probably had this vague sense of Michael as an outsider, maybe even knew he was poor/didn't have parents, and didn't really think much about him more specifically than that at first. Then I picture one day people are giving presentations in class and Michael stands up and pulls something totally brilliant, and Alex suddenly notices how smart he is... and he's so cute, too...
And then Michael thinks of Alex as Liz Ortecho's friend, whatever, but then does a double-take and starts noticing Alex when he shows up to school with a septum piercing for the first time. And then he's like hmmm okay I've gotta get this guy's attention somehow...
10. Write a ~300 word argument scene for them
"It wasn't exactly your finest moment," Alex says with an eye-roll. "You were supposed to be my rescuer and you left me chained to the radiator."
"Oh, come on!" Michael says, indignant. "I accurately assessed the degree to which you were going to be an idiot and run straight for danger if you were free--"
"Says the guy who ran full-tilt towards my father holding a gun at Crash-Con."
"Yeah, after you confronted him first. I'm only stupid after you've been stupid. My stupidity is actually the inevitable consequence of your own bad decision-making."
Alex raises an unimpressed eyebrow. "Sure, yes, it's definitely all my fault."
“I didn’t exactly have any other choice. And besides, I’d done exactly what they wanted. I didn’t think they’d hurt you.”
“Mm,” Alex says, vague and quiet. He stares down at his hands, and Michael’s no longer sure the degree to which they’re joking about the ridiculous circumstances of the past, or if this is actually bothering his husband, all these years later.
"Hey. I really would have come back for you," Michael says, a little more gently. "You know that, right? Always.”
Alex looks up, a smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. “Yeah. I know.”
15. What are traits they dislike in one another?
I think an actual genuine trait that Michael dislikes in Alex is the way he shuts down and turns really cold and logical during an argument. Alex is getting better at it now that they're together, at actually accessing his feelings and expressing them, but for a long time he'd shut down and make it hard to get to the actual core of an issue, and that makes Michael feel rejected and like his own emotional reaction isn't being respected/taken seriously. He also wishes Alex would admit when he needs help more readily, although Michael has gotten better at giving him the space to feel comfortable being vulnerable.
And I think Alex probably finds some of Michael's frugal habits from his years of housing insecurity to be frustrating. Like, Michael always wants to keep doing things the way he's used to, because it's "fine" that way, and Alex doesn't like having to convince him again and again that they can afford something a little nicer and more convenient. Getting Michael to buy and use suitcases when they go on trips instead of just using garbage bags. Or spending extra money on a nicer item of clothing that will actually last longer.
I also think when they first start cohabitating they move each other's shit around a lot? Michael is trying to consolidate/make sure he knows where important things are located at all times, and Alex is trying to tidy up, and they're both constantly like "where tf did you put my shit" lmao. They get better at it after a while.
But in all the ways they clash, they both take their relationship super seriously and have learned to talk through and find solutions that work for both of them.
