#influence - isobel evans

[turquoiseorchid]

what is roswell about? i've never seen anyone else post about it but you've got me intrigued

Ooh, join us! Roswell New Mexico has 4 seasons (2019-2022) with 13ish eps each; it was on the CW and is available on Netflix. (It’s a remake of a 90s or early 00s show just called Roswell. That one’s on Hulu and I’ve only seen a few episodes.) Overall, it’s about aliens living in Roswell and their human friends/love interests, plus a few alien-related mysteries. Most of my summary will be about season one and I’ll leave the rest for you to see for yourself.

Liz (human) comes back to Roswell ten years after high school, discovers her high school crush is an alien, and then finds out her sister had been killed by aliens. This and other developments lead to their whole social circle getting in on the secret and there’s a bunch of love triangles.

If I knew who you were, dear anon, I’d tailor this to what fandoms we’ve already got in common but to cover some of the likely options and their high level comparisons: If you like Leverage, this has found family and the love triangles can easily be shipped as throuples/polycules. If you like The Magicians then same as leverage plus canon queer characters and magic(technically science) powers. If you like Supernatural, there can be a lot of overlap between malex and destiel (for better and worse). If you’re still here from my Torchwood days, again queer characters with messy relationships and a lot of snark.

Let’s introduce some of the characters!

In the Pod Squad (the three main aliens), we’ve got Isobel, Max, and Michael (left to right in gif). Max and Isobel were adopted together and grew up as the Evans twins while Michael was a foster kid but all three are inseparable. Isobel starts off the series as someone whose identity is mainly focused on wife/sister/volunteer but breaks down her walls and grows into a total badass. Often portrayed in fanon as “the woman with the brain cell” for better or worse. Max is a writer-turned-cop and total romantic who has been pining for his high school crush (Liz) for over a decade and risks his family secret in order to save her and struggles with choosing between her safety and his family’s. Michael is an angsty bisexual mechanic with a troubled past and became many people’s blorbo on sight. He too has a high school sweetheart (Alex) who he’s never gotten over but grows enough to find healthy relationships and let people in. They all have various powers including telekinesis, healing, and mind control/influencing.

And now for Team Human! Liz is a scientist who left town after graduation because her sister died from (apparently) drunk driving and gets shot an hour after she returns. The lack of being dead causes her to investigate/confront her crush (Max) and learns about aliens, leading to the realization that her sister was killed by an alien and the crash was a coverup. The first person who she brings in is her ex-boyfriend, Kyle, a jock-turned-surgeon with a strong moral compass who tries to rein in the mad scientist tendencies of his ex-girlfriend (who he still has feelings for).

Next in on the whole alien thing is Alex, a gay emo who had a secret thing with Michael in high school before leaving to join the Air Force. He’s back in town (minus a leg) and has his plate full with finding out that his abusive homophobic dad runs a secret military team hunting aliens and oh hey, his high school boyfriend turns out to be an alien! He’s best friends with Maria, a psychic who runs the local bar. Besides bartending, she splits her time between fortune telling as a side hustle, encouraging Alex about his old flame (secretly Michael), and nursing a crush on the local barfly/mechanic (also Michael).

(Fun fact: I have no idea how to use tumblr’s gif search so both of the human gifs were found through their respective throuple ship tags.)

There are plenty of ships around depending on your preference but the most prevalent is malex (Michael/Alex), it’s nearly inescapable. Echo is Max/Liz and generally well liked. Isobel starts off with a husband (Noah) but also gets other love interests. The two main throuples are malexa (malex plus Maria) and kaliz (echo plus Kyle).

Anyone else please feel free to add why Anon should watch RNM!

[jule1122]

RNM Fic - Years past seemed so much grander

Written for @rnmnewyear2023 Day 5:  Yankee Swap.  I went for the rarest pair I could think of (Jesse/Mimi), but I did work in a gift exchange.

So I wrote fic last year, This one goes out to the one I love which was canon complaint, but imagined Jesse and Mimi had been together before Jesse became part of Project Shepherd.  But like Mimi tells Alex, he is corrupted by touching things from another world and becomes the man we know.   This is an AU version of that relationship that give Jesse and Mimi a happy ending.  In this universe, instead of joining Project Shepherd, Jesse dismantles it and shuts down Caulfield.  Jesse and Mimi are married.  The Evans are told Max and Isobel are aliens and Walt adopts both Michael and Dallas.

Title is from “Christmas Saves the Year” by twenty one pilots.

Years past seemed so much grander on AO3

Summary:  Mimi struggles with Christmas without the kids, but Jesse has a surprise for her.

Christmas with five kids was pure chaos, but Mimi loved every minute of it.  There was the mantle overflowing with stockings, five advent calendars to fill with each child’s favorite treat, checking and rechecking the letters to Santa to make sure they had the most important requests covered, remembering what wrapping paper was “Santa” paper and not reusing it the next year for other presents.  And that was before the craziness of Christmas morning when the promise of the season finally become reality.

Mimi loved decorating the house-putting the tree up the day after Thanksgiving.  And Jesse always made sure the outside was just as festive as the inside.  The house smelled like cinnamon and chocolate for the whole month of December.  There were visits to Santa, school parties and sleepovers, night spent driving to see the best Christmas lights.

But the kids grew up, and Christmas started changing.  The handmade ornaments and small gifts from the school’s Santa’s Workshop sale dwindled down as one by one the kids left elementary school.  One year they were convincing Clay to go along with the younger children’s belief in Santa, and it seemed like only a blink of an eye later, Alex and Maria, the last holdouts, were telling her they knew Santa wasn’t real. 

Christmas changed, but Mimi still found joy in her family.  She brought the kids in the kitchen more often - passing on the recipes her mother taught her for cookies and kolachi.  She held on to some traditions like advent calendars and trips to see the Christmas lights, but now there were winter formals and ski trips.  Jesse let the kids take over the outside decorating and it turned into a yearly contest to see who could come up with the best designs between her children, the Ortecho, Evans and Sanders kids.

Their families were close, united in the challenges of raising children with alien powers and making sure they were safe.  They took turns hosting a New Year’s Eve party and the kids were in and out of each other’s houses.  It wasn’t unusual for Dallas to join her and Greg to bake cookies while Flint spent the day at the junkyard helping Walt. Once they all reached middle school, they started their own Secret Santa gift exchange with heavy penalties for using alien powers to cheat after the year Isobel influenced Flint to buy her a purse several times over the agreed upon spending limit.  

But this year December is a quiet month. It’s the second year in a row none of her children will be home for Christmas.  Last year, Jesse surprised her with a trip to Lake Tahoe.  It was romantic and magical enough to distract her from what was missing.  It was the first time in their almost twenty years of marriage she and Jesse had traveled alone, and they treated it like the honeymoon they never had.

Jesse offered to take her to New York City for Christmas this year, but Mimi refused.  Between missing the children and losing her mother in February, Mimi wasn’t feeling the holiday at all and hated to waste the trip when she wouldn’t appreciate it.  So they stay in Roswell, Jesse doing his best to cheer her up while she goes through the motions.

With the kids scattered throughout the country, and overseas in Flint’s case, her shopping is done by the middle of November so she can be sure all the presents will arrive in time.  Jesse still strings the lights after Thanksgiving dinner, but the tree doesn’t go up until the middle of December and except for the star and lights remains undecorated.  She tells Jesse she doesn’t feel like baking this year, and he just smiles and says his waistline and cholesterol thank her.  

They skip the Christmas light displays, but Jesse takes her to the Christmas market.  It’s the best day of the holiday season by far.  They hold hands and drink gourmet hot chocolate while wandering among the vendors.  Mimi buys wildflower honey for her tea, a set of organic cocktail mixers for the Evans, hot pepper relish and mustard for Walt and alien themed hand painted coasters for Arturo.  Jesse leads her to a jewelry vendor from the Reservation, and they pick out a pendant to set aside for Maria’s birthday.

When they leave, Mimi feels lighter than she has in months so she asks Jesse out to dinner.  They go to their favorite restaurant just outside of Roswell.  Every weekend they have a band, and after dinner and a candy cane martini, she and Jesse dance until closing.  Mimi falls asleep on the way home, Christmas music playing softly on the radio and Jesse’s hand warm in hers.

Christmas Eve is quiet.  Jesse makes a scaled down version of their traditional dinner, and they end the night with eggnog in front of the fireplace.  They could have gone to the Evans’ house with Walt and Arturo, but Mimi decided she’d rather stay home.  She doesn’t want to be bad company even though she knew everyone would understand.  Isobel and Dallas are the only two in Roswell this Christmas so they are all missing their children.  Clay and Alex are stationed in different parts of the country, and Flint is in Italy.  None of them were able to get holiday leave this year.  Both Liz and Greg are in grad school on the East coast and couldn't manage the trip home.  Maria and Rosa are on year two of what was supposed to be a month-long road trip, only stopping in Roswell for a week here or there to plan their next stop.  Max had flown out to spend Christmas with Liz, and Michael is staying with Alex until Alex is deployed in the spring.  Mimi will be able to handle all the missing faces by New Year’s but right now it’s just too much.

They sleep in on Christmas morning - there’s no one to bang on their door demanding presents.  Mimi’s tempted to spend the whole day in bed, but she gets up when Jesse brings her tea.  Arturo stops by on his way to church and surprises them with breakfast.  He invites them to join him for services, but they’ve never been a religious family, and he’s not surprised when they decline.  They exchange gifts after breakfast.  Mimi gives Jesse the woodworking tools he wanted and a few new shirts.  He gives her a box set of herbal teas, the latest book by her favorite author and a delicate hand crocheted shawl she lingered over at the market.  They decide to save the presents the kids sent until each of them calls.

Mimi puts on a marathon of Christmas movies - just something mindless to play in the background while she reads and responds to the occasional “Merry Christmas” text.  In the early afternoon, Jesse calls her into the dining room.

“One more present for you, sweetheart,” he says pointing to a laptop with a big red bow on the table.

“Oh, Jesse, you shouldn’t have.  Now Alex will have two computers to fix when he comes home.”  It’s a running joke in their family that no matter how much anti-virus software and firewalls he installs on her computers, Mimi still ends up with viruses.  Her last computer stopped working a few months ago.

“I think you’re going to like this one.  Let me show you.”

Jesse gently guides her to the chair in front of the laptop and opens the cover.  He taps a few buttons and suddenly the screen is filled with her children.  “Merry Christmas, Mom!”  They shout, completely unsynchronized.

“My babies!’  Mimi brings her hands to her mouth, tears filling her eyes.  She can’t believe they are all there together.  “How?” she asks, turning to Jesse.  

“I know it’s not the same as being together in the same room,” Jesse says, kissing the top of her head before sitting down next to her.  “But we thought it was the best alternative.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she leans over and kisses Jesse.

“We wouldn’t have agreed to this if we knew there was going to be kissing,” Clay complains.

“Please,” Maria scoffs.  “If it wasn’t Mom and Dad, you know it would be Alex and Michael.”

“I’m just so happy, I’d give all of you a kiss if I could,” Mimi beams at the screen.  

A chorus of groans greets her, and she blows them all kisses in retaliation.  

“Why don’t you tell your mom what you’ve done for Christmas,” Jesse directs them.

Mimi listens with rapt attention as they all tell her about their holidays.  She doesn't know if they realize it, but they go in age order, starting with Clay.

“Hey Mama D,” Michael greets her.  Mimi smiles at the nickname he gave her when he and Alex started dating.  “I’m making sure Alex has real food in his fridge, and he goes to bed at a decent hour.”

“Thanks sweetheart,” she replies.

“Taking Alex to bed doesn’t isn’t the same thing as him getting a good night’s sleep,” Flint teases.

“Jesus Flint, not in front of Mom,” Alex objects, blushing.

“Poor Alex,” Clay taunts.  “Still the baby of the family.”

“Hey, I’m only a few months younger than Maria.”

“A few months in age, but years younger in life skills,” Maria argues.

“Oh, really?”  Alex counters.  “Who called Michael last week because they couldn’t figure out why their car wouldn’t start. Only the problem really was”

“No, no, no,” Maria shouts.  “You promised not to tell anyone about that.”

“Alright children,” Jesse says in a tone that catches their attention.  “This is supposed to be a present for your mother, not a reminder of why a quiet Christmas isn’t such a bad thing.”

“Sorry, Dad,” they respond in unison. 

“It’s fine,” Mimi reassures them.  She would listen to them fight for hours just to hear all their voices together.

“Why don’t we open gifts,” Greg, always the peacekeeper, suggests.

Jesse brings out the box with all the gifts the kids had sent, and they take turns opening.  Everyone is able to stay on for about an hour after that.  Between occasional connection issues and general confusion of having so many people online together, there is a lot of talking over each other and cut off sentences.  It reminds Mimi of the Christmas morning chaos when the kids were young, and she loves every minute of it.

Once they have to say goodbye, she lets Jesse hold her for a moment while she takes it all in.  “That is just what I needed,” she tells him.  “What would I do without you?”

“It wasn’t all me,” Jesse insists.  “They may not say it, but the kids miss you as much as you miss them.”

“Not possible,” Mimi shakes her head.  She looks out the window and notices it’s already dark out.  “Come honey, let’s go for a drive and see some Christmas lights.”

“Are you sure?”

Mimi nods.  Christmas will never be what it once was, but today her family reminded her it can still be special.

[suzteel]

Isobel Evans + mirrors

[lsobelevans]

I'm not just one of your many toys...

Influence (aka Isobel Evans) for @el-gilliath ✨

[cooleverythingisfine]

Back on my bullshit...the Isobel playlist no one asked for. Hope you enjoy! Click on the Isobel Mix title for the Spotify link.

[el-gilliath]

Cold War (aka the first time Michael gets hurt)

This series is also on Ao3 if anyone prefers to read it there.

Still dedicated to @lsobelevans, my partner in vigilante crime, who makes me gisets (!!!!!) who listens to me whine about Kyle who was NOT supposed to be part of this yet, and who encourages me every day to write more of this.

This part will have a direct follow up, so it ends... abruptly. Because KYLE.

Cowboy continues to baffle Alex as often as he can. He runs around grinning, never once taking the shit perps throw at him. He laughs, he hollers, he fricking whoops. Alex feels tired just looking at him.

Arturo has, of course, noticed the connection between Alex and Cowboy and sends Alex out whenever there’s rumours or talks of him abound. Usually followed by Rosa, Arturo’s daughter and photographer extraordinaire for the Times, who laughs at him whenever he grumbles about it. Probably because she knows how much Alex enjoys writing about Supers, and Cowboy in particular, even if he pretends not too. The fact that she also has a good eye to one icy blonde Super helps. And Influence, who gave herself the name because no other would do according to the note he found one morning on his desk, is just as smitten in return if the way she throws her hair around when Rosa and her camera is around is any indication.

The point is, that by now the vigilante’s of New York, be they Supers or not, know that when Alex Manes arrives you best be on your finest behavior. And if Rosa is with him, well then you better pray your uniform looks good or she will take a picture of it to fuck with you.

It’s also widely known if you’re a vigilante hanging out at the Wild Pony and you don’t want your identity to be known, you scamper when Maria rings the Alex bell. Lovingly referred to as such because Maria rings it when Alex calls her and tells her he’s on his way over. Having Maria as a best friend since childhood gives him an in he didn’t expect, and though he doesn’t quite know why Maria’s bar got to be the vigilante hang out, he certainly doesn’t mind. As long as he adheres to her rules that keep vigilante safe, he’s more than welcome.

The fact that people have started leaving him messages there and not break into his office is also a good thing. Though Cowboy still does whenever he’s bored. Which is pretty much always.

But that doesn’t mean he’s surprised when he walks into the Pony and Influence is right there at the bar. Only she’s not in costume, but he would recognize that hair everywhere.

“Holy shit, I should’ve known it was you.”

Influence smiles, a smile of all teeth he has only seen in the courtroom before. “Why yes, Mr. Manes, you should have.”

He doesn’t know why Isobel Evans has decided to reveal herself to him, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Rosa has a tiny bit to do with it. But no way is that all.

“So, Defence Attorney Isobel Evans is a Super. And not just a Super, but a vigilante that influences people into doing what she wants. Much like you do in everyday life during court.”

“Yes,” Isobel answers. “But in court I do it by being an extremely good lawyer. I don’t need my powers in there, Manes, I just need my god given intelligence and carefully curated female charm.”

Alex huffs. He’s seen Isobel in court, she’s earned her right to be cocky. “So why are you here now? Why prove without a shadow of a doubt that you are Influence? Especially to someone who reports daily on vigilantes.”

Isobel sighs. “Cowboy is in trouble”

Alex will deny to his dying day the timble his heart takes when he hears those words. “Cowboy is always in trouble, he’s too much of a little shit not to be.”

“While this is completely true, this is a bit different.”

“Different, how?”

“Your dad is involved,” Isobel says, looking him straight in the eye. He notices both Maria and Rosa looking at him, but he can’t think. He doesn’t want his dad anywhere near Cowboy. 

“What did he do?”

Isobel turns to Maria for a second, and Maria catches her eyes with a soft smile and a firm nod. Oh. Oh. That explains so much about how Maria always seems to just know things, even though he knew Maria had a long lost sister, a Super she couldn’t tell him about. He just never expected it to be Influence. He turns to Rosa to see what she thinks, but Rosa just looks at Maria, intrigued and very interested. Oh wow. Okay then. 

“Isobel. My dad. What’s going on?” He asks. Mostly to distract himself from the three women and what that might become, but also because. Cowboy. 

“Do you know just how much of a bad man your father is?”

He doesn’t answer, just raises a brow in a clear indication of ‘what do you think.’ Thankfully Isobel accepts it at face value. 

“Cowboy found some intel about a russian mob moving stolen diamonds and decided to go after them on his lonesome. That might have been fine, if your dad wasn’t already involved.” 

“My dad is involved with anything that can give him money, or power. You know that. Cowboy should know that.”

“We do.” Isobel sighs. “But Cowboy overestimated, and now he’s trapped.”

And Alex suddenly understands why he’s there. “You need me to use my father’s connections to get an in with the Russians.”

“Yes.”

He closes his eyes. Remembers another time he used his father’s connections. Remembers what he lost that day. 

“What you’re asking…”

“I know.” He opens his eyes to find Isobel looking at him with sympathy, Maria too. Rosa clasps her hand on his shoulder. They all know, how could they not. “I wouldn’t ask if there was any other way.”

Alex knows she wouldn’t. The reason she’s here unmasked is abundantly clear to him now, she’s making herself vulnerable. To make up for asking him to be vulnerable. To make up for asking him to put himself in a situation he never wanted to be again. 

“I need an hour.”

The way Isobel’s mask slips for a minute tells him everything he needs to know; she loves Cowboy. There’s a relationship there, one he doesn’t know what is yet. But whatever it is, it’s important to them.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he cautions. “Thank me when I can actually get him out.”

“I’ll get you whatever you need.”

“No need. But if I call you and need a lawyer, you better do it pro bono. Cause I can’t afford you otherwise.”

Isobe grins, another one of her smiles that are all teeth. “It would be my honor, Mr. Manes.”

Alex takes a deep breath. And another one. And another one. Before he turns to Maria. 

“You still have my rig?”

“In the back, like always.”

He moves like a man on a mission, which he supposes he is, ignoring Isobel’s questions about what a rig is and Maria’s softly spoken answer. It’s only as he lets himself into the small back room hidden in Maria’s storage area that he completely exhales. And smiles.

The computer setup he has hidden at the Pony is still his pride and joy, still the one thing he misses most in his day to day life. His fingers itch with the need to hack, itches with a longing that he feels deep in his bones every day. He wants to flex his fingers, he wants to hack into the Pentagon just to prove that he can, he wants to show his father that he can topple him from the inside.

He looks down at his leg, remembers what he lost the last time he was itching to prove something to his father. He wanted to truly show his father that he was no longer his son, and that even though he would act like it in public, he was determined to take him down.

Instead he lost his leg, he lost his brothers, he lost his best friend. He survived losing his brothers, they were always standing in his father’s shadow anyway. He survived losing his leg too, the prosthetic he wears gives him almost as much range of motion now, two years later, and he doesn’t completely hate it.

But Kyle. He will never get over Kyle believing his father over him. He will never forgive him, even if losing him felt worse than realizing his father hated him for something he couldn’t control.

He shakes his head slightly, he’s not here for a pity party. He’s here to do something he swore he would never do again after last time. But he’ll do it for Cowboy. And he knows exactly what he needs. 

Project Shepherd is his dad’s most hidden project, his dad’s pride and joy. Created to target Super’s, with it he can topple every vigilante off of their ‘throne’, and make them pay for showing him up. To bad he’s using bad men to fund it. 

Alex knows he doesn’t have time to find everything but he doesn’t have too. He just needs the info on the Russian mob hidden in those files. And then he can go get Cowboy. And tear him a new one for being so stupid. He doesn’t know how Cowboy got whatever information he’s working with, but it’s not the best and now he’s in danger. The stupid idiot.

He gives the rig one last look over before he sits down, shaking off old memories as he does. Maria’s been taking good care of it, as she promised to do, and when he turns on the computer it responds like it always does; quickly and perfectly. The way he remembers.

He smiles as the computer boots, he smiles wider as he logs in and sets the security, he grins as he starts the hack. It’s easy, it’s familiar, it’s home in a way many things in his life isn’t these days. But he leaves that all behind, he doesn’t have time for the feelings of right that settles in his spine as he wades through the information on his father’s server. Though, really, he has a hacker son that got a lot of information the last time he got in. Why the hell the Chief hasn’t updated the security he will never understand. Even though he probably didn’t expect Alex to ever do this again. After last time.

But it does make it easier for him to get through, to subvert the passwords and flimsy security measures on the files to find exactly what he needs. He gets lost in it, the world of code, the strings of zeros and ones. Until he finds it.

When he pulls back from his fugue and shuts down the rig he looks at the clock. 58 minutes. Right on time.

He gives his setup one last fond look, before he shuts the door and walks back into the bar. Isobel is on a barstool fidgeting, with Maria glancing over at her as she deals with other customers. Rosa is next to Isobel, softly talking in what seems to be a distracting effort. It’s not working, as Isobel’s head pops up the minute he gets back, but the squeeze she gives Rosa’s hand still says something.

“Did you-?”

“Yeah,” he answers. “I found what I need.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not.” He can see Isobel’s nostrils flare in irritation and the beginning of anger. “Influence is.”

Isobel narrows her eyes slightly. “Why?”

“I need more than the name of Manes to get me in the door, I need a Super.”

The narrowing of her eyes turns into a slow grin. “Meet me out back.”

Alex inclines his head at her as she walks out of the bar. He looks over at Rosa, but she already know, and nods as she moves closer to where Maria is, who smiles reassuringly at Alex. He smiles back before he turns to walk out after Isobel.

“Alex?” He stops. “Influence will take care of you. Don’t be afraid.”

He nods in Maria’s direction as he walks out.

He’s not expecting Influence to already be standing in full attire besides his car. The white, skin tight costume is paired with white boots today, the black accents gleaming in the light.

“A cape?” He asks, referring to the long, white leather cape attached to Influence’s shoulders.

“What? You told me it would look good.”

“That I did.” He grins. “It looks amazing.””

Influence grins back at him as she gestures to the car. He unlocks it, and gets in on the drivers side. She’s impatient, but he understands. He still has much to learn about Cowboy, and Influence. He knows Isobel Evans from the court cases he’s reported on. He doesn’t know the Super.

He also knows that they don’t have time to learn things now but he knows he wants to eventually. Both as a Super and whoever she is to Cowboy. And Maria. And Rosa.

“What do you need from me?” He also likes how direct an on point she is.

“Influence them. Get me in the door, then you can find Cowboy and get him out. I’ll handle the rest.”

“You want me to leave you there?!?”

“You’re not leaving me. You’re doing what I need you to do. I’ll get myself out.”

“Alex-”

“Don’t worry.” He grips the wheel tighter. “I won’t make the same mistake again.”

He can feel Isobel disapprove, but he doesn’t care. He came there for Cowboy, and Cowboy will be getting out. He has his own exit strategy.

The rest of the ride is spent in silence. He knows exactly where the Russian compound is, which building Cowboy would’ve been stupid enough to break into. The diamond storage is a nickname in the underground, but it’s also exactly what it is. While there might not be all that many stones there, all the information is there. And he has exactly what he needs to get out, provided Influence can get him in.

“We’re here,” he says as they arrive at the storage building the Russians guard with their life if they have to. He parks outside and gets out, already aware of the twelve pairs of eyes following them.

“Showtime,” he murmurs to Influence as she joins him, and walks forward as if he owns the place. And in a way he does, he is a Manes after all.

But no one stops them, and as he looks over to Isobel he can understand why. Her eyes are closed, even as she’s walking forward as if her eyes were open. The guards fall into place, they move aside, they open the door for him as he walks up to it. The commotion inside quiets as he walks in, Influence on his heel. He’s seen her work before. But this, is impressive. It’s even more impressive as she opens her eyes and still people stay where they are.

“What. Is the meaning of this.”

The burliest Russian Alex has ever seen gets up from the table set in the outer part of the building. He gives a subtle nod to Influence who gives him one last long look before she moves off, almost as if no one can see her. As if they’ve forgotten she’s there.

“Mr. Serkoff, I presume. My name is Alex Manes.” He’s delighted to see that everyone freezes when they hear the last name. “I’m here to collect for my father.”

“The drop-off is tomorrow.”

“No. The collect is now. Nasty business with the senator last week, Mr Serkoff, the collect needs to happen now.” Finding the senator that had been accepting donations from the Russian mob was the golden goose. Having his father’s name is the egg. “I was sent her by my father to get the stones. Do you really want to make him wait?”

“I will need to call and check.”

“Okay.” He waits until the phone is up off of Mr. Serkoff’s pocket and he’s started to dial. “If you want to disturb him this late, that’s on you.”

He doesn’t have to wait long after that for the diamonds to be delivered to him. A pouch of eight, perfect diamonds with the serial number taken off. He dreads what his father needs this for.

“Thank you, Mr. Serkoff. I’ll tell my father you co-operated, gracefully,” he says, nodding as the Russian as he turns and begins to walk out.

“Wait.”

He stops. Remembers the last time. Shakes his head minutely and pushes it from his mind. “Yes?”

“What about the cash?”

Alex looks at the russian over his shoulder. “That will be dealt with, keep it here for now.” 

“You won’t take it with you?”

“No. Deliver that as planned tomorrow, I’ll take care off the diamonds.”

Mr. Serkoff narrows his eyes, but nods. And Alex is home free.

He keeps his breathing calm as he exits the building, keeps his breath calm as he gets into his car and starts it, keeps his breath calm as he exits the compound. It’s when he encounters Influence holding a bleeding Cowboy that he panics slightly.

“Is he okay?!?”

“He will be,” Influence says as she dumps a groaning Cowboy into the back of the car. “I need you to take us to the Pony, we have a doctor waiting there.”

“You have a doctor that takes care of Super’s?”

“Yes. We also have a healer but he’s out of town. So Dr. Valenti it is.”

He drives them back as quick as he can, calling Maria when he’s 10 minutes out as he always does so she can ring her Alex bell. It’s not until they’re inside the Pony, putting Cowboy on a table in the back room that he realizes what name Isobel said.

“Here, the idiot on the table asked me to give you this,” Influence says as she shoves a piece of paper in his hands. He sees the E on it before the door bursts open.

“What the hell did the idiot do now?”

And Alex watches as his old best friend, the man who sided with his dad and told him Super’s shouldn’t be allowed to roam the streets, walks into the room. He never expected this to be the way he would see Kyle again.

[salmonthestoryteller]

Just Gonna Nope on Wyatt Long’s Arc in RNM S3

Alright. Well, you knew it wasn’t going to all be squeeing and plot spec from me, so…  I’m going to talk about Wyatt Long’s arc, and why I’m against it, one more time.  With tags this time since I don’t think it’s that controversial an opinion.  But still tagging for discourse just in case.  And, hopefully, I can explain what I have against this plot - especially as it is currently being written - well enough.

And where I’m going to start is with the words of our own Max Evans, “Context Matters.”

There is a reason Max begins the story of what happened to Rosa in season one not with the night she died, but the night Isobel was attacked by the Drifter.  With the murder he committed and the trauma it inflicted on the Pod Squad.  With the fact that, his belief at the time, was that his sister had an undiagnosed psychological condition that had lead to the murders. Because Isobel’s crime, even if she had committed it, was not a premeditated act as far as the evidence showed. It was something she’d done while “checked out”.  When she wasn’t truly in control of her actions.

I have posted before that I believe Noah when he says he didn’t used to be who they knew him as.  Why?  Because Noah endured 60+ years of solitary confinement and sensory deprivation.  Look those terms up if you are unfamiliar with them. Extended periods of either can have severe negative effects in much shorter time than 60 years.  So if you tell me Noah was a nice guy before he got stuck in that pod?  Yeah, that I’ll believe.

Wyatt is a far different story.

Wyatt is not someone who is simply angry, or hateful - both of which - yes - is possible for a person to become over time due to experiences.

Wyatt’s acts of violence do not occur during moments of desperation, recent trauma, or even in retaliation for another person’s attack. Wyatt took a gun, drove to the Crashdown Cafe, and carried through with shooting up the building.  Wyatt then bragged about this act afterwards.

Yes, he was encouraged and assisted in grabbing and beating up Arturo. But when those with him grew squeamish it was Wyatt who insisted on continuing. It was Wyatt who was clearly shown enjoying hurting Arturo.  And clearly had no regrets when fighting with Max in the alley afterwards.

Due to things both Jenna Cameron and Max Evans say, we can only assume Liz and Arturo were not Wyatt’s only victims:

Jenna (01x02):  I’d recognize those naked cowgirl flaps anywhere.  Wyatt Long.  Hate him. Jenna (01x02): Which Long probably knew.  He’ll spend the night in jail and his daddy will pay the fine. Max (01x11):  But you are a racist sack of stupid with years of your daddy bailing you out of violent crimes.

In the most recent episodes, Wyatt again took a gun, drove to the Crashdown Cafe, and attacked Rosa.

In short, Wyatt is someone who is capable of premeditated acts of violence against multiple victims, who finds enjoyment in hurting others, and shows no signs of regretting these actions.

The type of person a statement like that can be applied to is not “a sweet kid who turned out this way because he lost his sister.”  Wyatt would most likely have already been showing signs of this sort of behavior in his late teens if not sooner.

If they had erased all of Wyatt’s memories then we could possibly talk about nature vs. nurture and how a different set of influences might change who he turned out to be. They didn’t. They only erased ten years.  His major influence in this regard would be the family that had already been a part of his life for 17(?) years prior to the ten years missing.   The same family Forrest specifically mentioned being the black sheep of. The same family that raised Kate - who wrote racist messages on Rosa’s car.  The same family who is stated to have bailed Wyatt out of jail for violent crimes multiple times.  You can’t nature vs nurture when Wyatt’s nurture would have been the same in both instances.

Even if you are retconning Wyatt’s previous on screen behavior, the way they are writing Wyatt is still wrong.  Wyatt would still have the mind of a teenage boy not only raised by a racist family, but living heavily under their thumb still.  Even if he was attempting to “break out” of his family’s mindset, he would not be acting or responding as written.

To Kyle’s comment about his friend’s, it should have been “You mean my father’s friends.” or something similar.  Because he would still know the type of people Kyle is talking about whether he liked it or not.

And if he has the mind of his 17 year old self, do you honestly think he would have publicly gotten in the face of Jordan to get him to back down from a fight when his family is heavily connected to the man in question?

It’s too nice.  It’s too “perfect.”

And honestly, even if they’d bothered to write either of those two scenarios instead, I would still be against it.  Wasting screen time on a magical reform for Wyatt Long that could be applied to multiple other characters?  No thanks.

tl;dr:

Whether Wyatt is responsible for the crimes he committed despite not remembering them isn’t truly relevant.

The fact that Wyatt is not just capable of premeditated acts of violence but enjoying them without regret is. Ten years wouldn’t change that.

There are plenty of characters this screen time could have been given to instead of wasting it on a magical reform for a racist antagonist.

[therewithall]

Roswell, New Mexico custom Magic: The Gathering cards

For RNM D&D Weekend Warriors, I branched out to another tabletop format and made a handful of custom Magic: The Gathering cards based on the core cast of Roswell, NM. Here’s the break-down of how I chose each character’s color(s) and abilities as well as highlight some of the neat ways they interact. None of the cards have been playtested so there is still room for them to be further developed and balanced. For anyone who isn’t very familiar with Magic: The Gathering, every card fits into various types that can be played for the cost printed in the top right-hand corner. There are 5 colors of Mana- White, Blue, Black, Red, Green- I’ll be using the letters W, U (blue), B (black), R, and G to represent the mana colors in my discussion. Each card can also have different traits and abilities, and a set of numbers that represents how strong its attack and defense are (represented as attack/defense). There’s a lot of amazingly nerdy discussion of Magic Lore that delves into how the Mana colors relate to personality traits and behaviors of the characters on the cards-- more on that here- but just know that I’ll be discussing some of those qualities as I go into why I chose the attributes for each card/character.So here we go!

Max Evans, Smalltown Hero        2WR Legendary Creature – Human Alien Vigilance, Haste (This creature doesn’t tap to attack and may attack or use tap abilities the turn it enters the battlefield.) T, Sacrifice a nonland permanent: Another target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Max is a deputy with the sheriff’s department and a natural leader who has kept his powers and identity a secret for years. 3/1

Max is kind hearted and wants to protect his community and friends. On the other hand, he’s impulsive and will make rash decisions without thinking about the consequences of his actions. These two beliefs place him firmly in red/white for Magic colors; a combination that often plays small aggressive creatures and engages in frequent combat. I gave Max vigilance to represent him being a defender as well as an aggressor in a lot of circumstances. His ability to sacrifice something to protect someone else exemplifies his ability to both heal and destroy. Lastly he has haste and a fragile body (1 toughness) making a game with Max play out with an early attack followed by him protecting someone else and only getting in when the coast is clear.

Michael Guerin, Tech Genius      1WU Legendary Creature – Human Alien Artificer When Michael Guerin, Tech Genius enters the battlefield, search your library and/or graveyard for a noncreature artifact or enchantment card and exile it with a research counter on it. If you searched your library this way, shuffle. X, T: Create a token that’s a copy of a card exiled with a research counter. X is that card’s mana value. 2/3

Michael cares about the team differently than Max does. He is often tinkering with things in order to heal or protect others if possible and is a genius when it comes to inventions involving alien technology. His intelligence and need for knowing more fits in blue (alongside a few other science oriented characters). Whereas Max is a straightforward attacker, I chose an ability that is much more complex to understand for Michael. He makes copies of trinkets after taking the time to examine them which lends itself to more combo and control oriented play patterns instead of just blindly turning stuff sideways. I didn’t capture Michael’s temper, but I didn’t want all aliens to be red. Maybe I’ll make another version some time that incorporates different facets of their personalities.

Isobel Evans, Influencer                UBR Legendary Creature – Human Alien Your opponents play with the top card of their library revealed. 3R, T: Gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. 6BB, T: You control target player’s next turn. Activate only once. 1/4

Isobel has fewer words than Michael, but oh my is she complex as well. If Max leans toward aggro and Michael is combo, Isobel is the control card of the siblings. Isobel is often guided by her emotions, but channels that into careful thought in how to execute a plan and always looks out for herself and her people. Her abilities represent her powers spread across the three colors: Blue – Reading your opponent’s mind, Red – Controlling someone’s impulses for a short period, Black – Forcing your opponent’s actions, once.

Liz Ortecho, Savvy Scientist          1UB Legendary Creature – Human Rebel Liz Ortecho, Savvy Scientist can’t be blocked as long as defending player controls an artifact. Whenever Liz Ortecho deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target artifact that player controls with mana value less than or equal to the damage dealt. 2/1

Liz is smart, cunning, and will protect her own. Her science background lends itself to Blue, but this card plays up some of her devious nature of stealing hospital equipment, doing illegal research, and general sneaking around, so there’s Black in her mana cost as well. She often draws on the abilities of those around her, which means that her connections make her stronger. Amusingly, she’s unblockable against some of our other characters including her own dad!

Alex Manes, Tech Specialist            1WUB Whenever you draw a card, target creature you control gains deathtouch (Any amount of damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.), lifelink (Damage dealt by that creature also causes you to gain that much life.), or vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause it to tap.) until end of turn. Whenever Alex Manes, Tech Specialist deals combat damage to a player, create a clue token. (It’s an artifact with “2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.”) Kyle: “What’s the worst thing we could find?“ Alex: “Literal skeletons.” 2/3

Alex also sneaks around, but I wanted to play up his investigation skills a little more. Instead of just drawing a card when he does damage, he makes a clue “token”. That clue token represents information (drawing a card) that can be held onto or acted on later. He’s a character who’s able to do plenty of damage in his own right, but his big advantage is being able to help other characters do their jobs and get combat abilities they wouldn’t otherwise have. He protects his friends.

Maria DeLuca, Entrepreneur       2RG Legendary Creature – Human Alien Haste (This creature may attack and use tap abilities the turn it enters the battlefield.) Each other creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. “Maria DeLuca is her own savior.” 3/2

Maria cares about her friends and her business. Her ability helps everyone and represents your other creatures being able to stop in for a drink at the bar. She gets haste to show how hard she works and has aggressive stats so she can get her hands dirty in a fight. Like Michael, I could see another version playing into her psychic powers.

Dr. Kyle Valenti                 1WW Legendary Creature – Human Lifelink (Damage dealt by that creature also causes you to gain that much life.) When Dr. Kyle Valenti enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control. "In a hospital it doesn't matter what someone did before they came through the doors." 2/2

Kyle is a healer and instead of showing that with damage prevention, I chose a simpler buff to the whole team. Now you’re less worried about losing fights!

Rosa Ortecho, Troubled Artist                     1BR Legendary Creature – Human Alien At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one — • Draw a card and lose 2 life. • Exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card. Red is armor. 3/2

Rosa was a fun one to design. She is black red which is a color combo notoriously bad at impulse control. She has aggressive stats and an ability that makes the controller make a hard choice every turn. Do I take the guaranteed draw at the cost of a couple life or do I risk not being able to cast whatever I exile? Among other things, this represents her struggle with addiction-- taking the most directly expedient option comes with some harm to her life totals- but it’s the damage you know. The second option requires you to risk the unknown, but be able to participate in the fight without automatically being harmed-- it requires you to trust your deck and your support network...but be prepared for potential setbacks.

Arturo Ortecho                 GG Legendary Creature – Human Defender (This creature can’t attack.) Whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”) G, T, Sacrifice a Food: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. “I already have my miracle.” 2/4

Arturo cares about his community as do many of our characters, but if there’s any color that cares about bringing everyone in for dinner, it’s green. He delivers food whenever a new creature enters and can use them as buffs instead of just life gain! His kindness and compassion sustain everyone.

Deputy Jenna Cameron                 1RR Legendary Creature – Human First Strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.) Whenever Jenna blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, she deals 1 damage to that creature. “Who you callin’ a girl?” 2/3

In case you can’t tell, a lot of our characters act on impulse and emotion, which is a Red trait. Cam is tough (A 3/4 is needed to best her in combat!) and efficiently deals with enemies. The faster-than-first strike damage represents her sharp shooting skill. And because of her skills, anyone going up against her is going to feel it right away.

Sergeant Jesse Manes                   2BB Legendary Creature – Human Soldier Menace (This creature must be blocked by two or more creatures.) When Sergeant Jesse Manes enters the battlefield or attacks, exile the top card of each opponent’s library face down. You may cast noncreature cards exiled this way and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any type to cast that spell. Jesse's inhumane methods leave only pain in his wake. 3/2

Jesse is a character who has his own twisted view of how his actions will better society. His card here plays up how he tends to believe the ends justify any means-- for him, at least. He steals information and uses it against those he took it from, to represent his involvement in Project Shepherd and the threat he represents not just to the safety and security of the aliens, but to anyone helping them. I chose to exclude creatures in order to make the ability a little more efficient and make it feel more like controlling the chess board and less like mind control (Which a Noah card would someday probably do).

Whew! I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed making them!

[rnmsmalltownlegends]

Tongueday

Liz and Isobel get a little tipsy and Liz asks for Isobel's help with exploring her own possible bisexuality.

M | @skinsharpenedteeth​ | Isobel Evans/Liz Ortecho

Why We Love It: This is a delightful little exploration between Liz and Isobel. The author combines the hotness of these women moving beyond words and into physical intimacy with a realistic take of the nervousness and vulnerability that may come from such an act. Both Liz and Isobel are strong and independent, but the way they open up to each other and agree to lean on each other is what makes the fic A+ for us. (We do want to add that the author warns for possible dub-con because both women are under the influence of alcohol, but the act is handled with care and respect by the author, and doesn’t quite fall into dub/non-con territory.)  

[isobelevansappreciation]

Isobel Evans Appreciation Week 2020

Welcome to Isobel Evans Appreciation Week 2020! There are two related prompts for each day that should work for fics/edits/fanart/meta/etc., as well a song (taken from Carina’s Isobel playlist). We hope they inspire you, but, if you have ideas outside of those prompts, we look forward to seeing and sharing those as well. Our only rule: Have fun and celebrate our favorite influencer!

Day 1 (August 2)

Prompt: Fashion | Image

Song: Bathroom Sink - Miranda Lambert

Day 2 (August 3)

Prompt: Alien | Powers

Song: The Monster - The Damnwells

Day 3 (August 4)

Prompt: Relationships | Dynamics

Song: Heartsteady - David McMillin

Day 4 (August 5)

Prompt: Favorite Scenes and Quotes | AU

Song: Liability - Lorde

Day 5 (August 6)

Prompt: Identity | Self-Discovery

Song: Homecoming Queen? - Kelsea Ballerini

Day 6 (August 7)

Prompt: Emotions | Healing

Song: Quiet - Milck

Day 7 (August 8)

Prompt: Lily Cowles Appreciation Day | Free Day. Be bold and be weird, just like Lily!

Song: The Man - Taylor Swift

Reminder to please tag each post with “#isobelevansweek20″ AND “#isobelevansappreciation″ within the first FIVE tags so we are able to find your work and reblog. We will do our best to find all of your work, but please message us with a link if we don’t reblog your post by the end of the day EST.

We have an ao3 collection, if you’d like to add your creations there as well.

Follow for updates (and to see everyone’s amazing work) and please reblog to let all your friends know!

[braveclxrke]

Michael Guerin week 2020

Ao3: Day Two prompt - “There’s something you should know,”

Title: When the truth hunts you down.

Summary: While telling Alex about the aliens, Michael decides it's time to finally reveal to him what actually happened to Rosa Ortecho and why Liz left that summer and the part he played.

Preview: 

Alex knew about aliens and was now involved; the truth would come out eventually. He had to tell him.

Michael shifted on the seat, pulling at his trouser leg for a moment, “There’s something else,” Michael quietly said, hoping that Alex wouldn’t hear, and he could avoid this conversation.

“Oh good,” Alex said sarcastically, smiling at Michael. He could tell Alex was nervous, fidgeting with his hands in his lap.

Michael swallowed, “There’s something you should know…” Michael started, staring up at the smiling Alex, committing it to memory, unsure after he told Alex this, he would ever get to see it again. “That night…when your dad found us,” Alex instantly tensed up, his jaw clenching. For a moment Michael got distracted by the wave of rage that went through him for Jesse Manes, Michael cleared his throat, “The night Rosa died,” He said.

*Keep reading for full fic*

Michael stepped closer to Alex, his head tilted to the side, “Do you wanna know who I am? Or what I am?” He asked, a small sad smile on his face. He watched as Alex scanned his face, his eyes flickering from his lips to his eyes.

He licked his lips, his eyes glassy, blinking a few times before answering, “Yes,” his voice confident and sure.

Michael gave a small nod, reaching up and running a hand down his face. Alex knew, Michael didn’t know what he knew, but he knew something.

Michael turned away from Alex, walking over to the chairs that were next to the air streamer. Michael grabbed them and pulled them across the floor, sitting them across from each other. Michael nodded towards the chairs, leaning against his one, “You should probably sit down,” Alex hadn’t moved from his spot, his chest moving up and down rapidly. He gave a simple nod, walking over to the chair to sit down. Michael walked around and sat in his chair, he leaned forward on his knees, “What do you know?” He asked, not sure where to start, the air around them felt thick with tension.

Alex opened his mouth, but no words came out, he shook his head a little, “I don’t know,” the confusion was clear in his face. Michael sympathised, even though he was an Alien himself even he got overwhelmed sometimes, he couldn’t imagine finding out about Aliens and that your ex something was one as well.

Michael nodded, “Well I’ll start from the beginning.” Michael said, trying to give Alex a reassuring smile, ”Guessing you know about the June 14th, 1947 crash.” Alex nodded, his eyes fixated on Michael, “We came on that ship, we don’t know from where or who with.” Michael said, looking down at his jeans.

“Then 50 years later Max, Isobel and I woke up in the Turquoise Mines from pods, they’d kept us alive the whole time and we gestated till we turned around 7.” Michael watched as Alex’s eyes widened slightly before his face went back to neutral. Michael knew that Alex had perfected his calm neutral face over the years, so it was no indication as to how Alex was actually feeling or thinking, Michael continued, having already started.

“We had no idea how’d we got there or anything like our memory had been wiped, some trucker found us and call the sheriff.” Michael licked his lips, finding them dry, he looked off to the side, “Later that year Max and Isobel got adopted by the Evan’s and I…I went into the foster system,” Michael said, still not looking at Alex. He decided to skip over his colourful history in the foster system, deciding to focus on the alien aspect of the story, “Then when I was 11, I came back to Roswell,” He said. Alex nodded again, Michael took in a breath, leaning forward, “You want me to keep going?” He asked.

Alex took a moment, clearly actually thinking over the question, “I think so,” he said, clearly trying to lighten the mood but Michael needed an actual answer. He didn’t want to overload Alex, who was getting 50 years of information in a few minutes. Alex seemed to understand, sitting up straighter in his chair, “Yeah,” he said.

“So quick run-down of our abilities,” Michael said, this clearly peaked Alex’s interest, he pulled his brows together in confusion. “Max can heal people, Isobel can get into people’s mind, influence them and I’ve got telekinesis; blowing stuff up with my mind,” Michael finished.

Alex didn’t say anything, he was just staring ahead at Michael. He gave a slow nod, his mouth slightly open, “Okay,” he breathed quietly.

“Okay?” Michael laughed, “That’s all you got to say?” He said, in all the times he had imagined Alex finding out he was an alien this was never how he predicated Alex would react.

Alex gave a small smile, “I’ve known about aliens and the crash for a while I’m just…processing the rest,” He said, his eyes going down to the ground. Michael could practically see Alex’s mind working, sorting all the information he had just gathered into sections and processing it. It was then Michael realised he had missed something, Michael felt his stomach cramp, his heartbeat increasing. Alex knew about aliens and was now involved; the truth would come out eventually. He had to tell him.

Michael shifted on the seat, pulling at his trouser leg for a moment, “There’s something else,” Michael quietly said, hoping that Alex wouldn’t hear, and he could avoid this conversation.

“Oh good,” Alex said sarcastically, smiling at Michael. He could tell Alex was nervous, fidgeting with his hands in his lap.

Michael swallowed, “There’s something you should know…” Michael started, staring up at the smiling Alex, committing it to memory, unsure after he told Alex this, he would ever get to see it again. “That night…when your dad found us,” Alex instantly tensed up, his jaw clenching. For a moment Michael got distracted by the wave of rage that went through him for Jesse Manes, Michael cleared his throat, “The night Rosa died,” He said.

“I know she was killed by an alien,” Alex said, letting out a breath like he thought this was all Michael was going to tell him.

Michael just nodded, he took in a large breath, trying to expand his lungs and get more air in but finding it difficult. “After I left yours, I got like a…feeling, like something was wrong with Isobel, Max got it too,” Alex didn’t ask any question, just looked at Michael. He had been hoping Alex would interrupt, that he could stall. “I turned up at the Turquoise Mines and found her…” Michael looked down at his shoes, scuffing them across the floor.

“Michael, whatever it is, you can tell me,” Alex reassured from across the fire pit. Michael wanted to laugh, Alex had no idea what he was saying, what Michael was about to tell him.

Michael looked up at Alex who was still smiling at him, here goes. “I found her with Rosa, Kate and Jasmine,” Alex gave smile a confused look, the smile was still there but only for a moment. Alex’s smile slowly fell from his face, his furrowed brow loosened as he started to process what he was being told, “She killed them,” Michael finally said.

Alex’s face was blank, no emotion, no indicating of anything. “She had been suffering from these blackouts, it was almost like it wasn’t her,” Michael said, shaking his head. “I wanted to call the cops but Max said, Max said we should cover it up, that the police would ask too many questions and discover us…so we did,” Michael could still see the girls lying on the floor, could still smell the fire and gas from the car. Michael blinked his eyes quickly, having not noticed that they grew wetter. “Once Isobel woke up, we told her I had lost control of my powers and had crashed the car with the girls In it,” Michael breathed, he was nearly finished, could almost find out the damage he had done to Alex’s and his relationship. “Max and I promised each other that we’d stay here in Roswell to keep an eye on Isobel,” Michael finally stopped talking. Alex’s face was no longer neutral, his brow was pulled together again, his eyes wide and watery.

“That’s why you didn’t go to UNM,” Alex quietly said, his voice trembling slightly. He looked away from Michael, glancing down at the floor, shaking his head, “That’s why you changed that summer,” He breathed, running his hand through his hair. "I..." Alex trailed off, clearing his throat as the words got stuck, "I always thought it was my dad's fault that you changed," Alex confessed, staring down at the floor, Michael went to speak again when Alex continued, "My fault," Alex finished, a small stray tear escaping his eye.

Michael let out a shaky breath, his face screw up, "Alex, what happened to me that summer..." Michael shook his head, "That wasn't your fault." He assured. What Jesse Manes had done certainly had helped Michael on his way to 10 years of drinking and fighting, but it wasn't what caused it. Michael could feel the mixture of understanding and confusion radiating off of Alex, who’s hands were now resting on the back of his neck, his elbows resting on his knees. “I-I wanted to tell you but I couldn’t,” Michael said and damn it couldn’t be more true. Michael had spent weeks wanting to tell Alex, going over in his mind what he would say, but ultimately realising that Alex would never understand. “I didn’t want you to hate me,” Michael confessed, “but I get if you do,” Michael sadly said.

Alex’s hands dropped from his neck, he let out a deep breath, “I don’t hate you, Michael,”

It was Michael’s turn to look confused, “We blamed Rosa Ortecho for the deaths of those girls, we sat by for 10 years while everyone hated her and her family, Liz included,” Michael said, driving the point home.

Alex nodded, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, before letting his land rest on his knee. “Am I saying it was the right thing to do? No.” Michael looked down at the ground, “But..” Michael pulled his head back up, looking at Alex who didn’t have hate in his eyes or disgust. “You were scared kids, who didn’t want to be dragged off by the military,” Alex said, “You were trying to protect your family, your sister,” Michael looked away, feeling as his lower lip trembled faintly, Michael bite the inside of his cheek, “Is it fair what happened to the Ortecho’s? No, they didn’t and don’t deserve to be blamed for what happened to Kate and Jasmine, their innocent, and so is Rosa,” Alex affirmed, “But you can’t go back and change it, so you’ve gotta do what you can now, to help who you can,” Alex gave a small smile, the corner of his lips just peaking up.

Michael was speechless, his mouth hanging open slightly. Michael reached up and quickly wiped his eyes. Michael had suspected many responses from Alex, but not that. He looked up at Alex who hadn’t run away; who hadn’t yelled but had been understanding and honest. Honest, the relief that Michael had felt was short-lived, “What?” Alex said, clearly noticing the way Michael’s face changed, “What else happened?” Alex asked, leaning forward on his knees, the apprehension clear on his face.

“Remember when Liz left that summer?” Michael started, having kept these secrets for so long he’d forgotten he was holding them, the only reminder being the heaviness on his chest and mind.

“Yeah, a few days before Rosa’s funeral,” Alex said, clearly not understanding the connection.

Alex deserved to know everything, everything Michael had done. “Isobel made her leave,” He confessed, Alex leaned back on his chair, his face visibly distressed. “Max was going to break and tell Liz what happened, and we-we couldn’t let him,” Michael started to ramble, afraid he had said too much, that this was too much for Alex, “So Iz got into her mind and made her leave, it was the only way to protect us all,” That was how Michael had rationalised it when Iz had asked him about it, how he’d rationalised it over the years.  

Alex looked down at the ground, his face wasn’t calm, his brow was furrowed and his lower lip trembled a little. Michael wanted to reach out but knew better, even before this conversation their relationship was fragile, one wrong touch or word could destroy it beyond repair. Alex finally looked up at Michael, his eyes almost pleading, “Did-did you do the same to me?” He asked, “Did you make me leave, so I wouldn’t find out,” Alex gasped. Michael just looked at Alex, Michael leaned as close as he could while still staying on the chair.

“I would have never made you leave for war Alex,” Michael said, his voice solid; he needed Alex to believe this. Michael kept Alex’s glassy gaze, after what felt like an eternity Alex relaxed back into his chair. Michael didn’t say anything, worried he would shatter the seemingly comfortable energy that had fallen over them.

Alex looked off to the side for a moment, wiping the corner of his eyes discreetly before looking back at Michael, “She couldn’t influence my dad not to be a dick?” Alex said with a small smile.

Michael gave a relieved laugh, feeling as some of the air came back into his lungs. Michael leaned back on his chair, “Unfortunately, the person has to want to do the thing before she can influence them,” He joked, one corner of his lip twitching up into a smile.

“Definitely no luck there then,” Alex joked back, resting his head against the back of the chair, the small smile still on his face before he pulled his head back down to look at Michael.

Michael rested his hands against his thighs, pulling the threads on the end of his jumper. He glanced up at Alex, “Well know you who I am,” Michael sighed, he slightly tilted his head to the side, “You still glad you asked?” He jokingly asked, but there was a tinge of seriousness in his voice that even he could hear.

Alex just smiled back, “Yeah, I am,” he said simply and honestly. Michael had dreamt about this day, the day Alex would finally know who he really was, he’d also had nightmares about this day. What had happened hadn’t been close to his dreams or his nightmares, it had been real, and in some way perfect. Alex was still here, he didn’t hate him, he wasn’t scared of him, and at this moment, Michael couldn’t ask for more.

[manesalex]

not in this world (or the next) by @hannah-writes

 It isn’t until he realises he can’t find the keys for his fucking truck anywhere and that there’s mail on the table addressed to Mr M Evans that Noah called him ‘Evans’, too. He fumbles inside the wallet that he’d managed to locate and pulls out a New Mexico licence with his picture on it; he doesn’t have a black eye and a split lip in this one, his hair’s tamed and he doesn’t look like he’s gone three days without showering. His date of birth is stamped, clear and correct, but then where his name should read ‘Michael Guerin’, it reads “Michael Evans’ and the address registered on the license is that of Max and Isobel’s childhood home. Noah had also said ‘your mom’s’. Not ‘Mrs Evans’.

This fic... Hannah seems to have left the rnm fandom (no judgment there), but, before she did, she left us with this gem. The first fic in this series just broke me. I bawled my way through it. There’s an OC in it who I love more than almost all of the characters on the actual show (Alex is the one exception). And the second fic in the series focused on that OC, giving those of us who loved them the ending that they so very much deserved. If you haven’t read this fic, drop everything and read it now. But make sure you have a giant box of tissues with you.

scream in there by @usbournejez

Over the course of Max’s half-year sleep, Alex seeks to earn his keep, Michael drinks and stumbles into talk therapy, Isobel rises as a combination Instagram influencer and supervillain, and Kyle just wants one quiet day. Or, Michael and Kyle have a long talk about what their begrudgingly shared family needs, make some decisions, and still hate each other (mostly).

The first fic in this series is a brilliant character piece that allows for so much healing, growth and love. Kieran handles difficult subjects with care and compassion and that alone would make this series one of my favorites. But then she followed it up with a series of adorably fluffy fics that are everything you want for Michael and Alex.

Whiskey in Mind by @daffietjuh

Michael wasn’t planning on stopping. He really wasn’t. Except, he’s been driving for hours, from Houston to San Francisco and there’s still three hours to go and it’s dark, has been for hours now, and he’s so fucking tired and he really needs a drink and maybe to get laid, but that’s not a priority. He knew Isobel would skin him alive if he wasn’t there in time for her rehearsal dinner or whatever the fuck else you had to do for a wedding, but when he saw the light up sign for a bar in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere… well, he was not strong enough to resist the promise of a barstool and a cold beer. Or maybe some whiskey. God, he could go for some whiskey.

Or

Michael is tired and in need of a stiff one, your choice as to what that's a euphemism for. Spoiler: It's both.

Before Daphne left the fandom, she wrote some of the best AUs out there. I can’t think of a single one that I don’t love. And my favorite is probably ever changing. But, today, this one is my fave. Michael and Alex meet by chance and slowly fall in love, in spite of distance and their own intentions. This verse just brings me joy and we all need more of that.

Faceless RNM by @booksmartstreetstupid

This edit series is an underrated masterpiece. Each individual edit is tied together perfectly and they each invokes their own ideas and moods, almost like each edit is about a completely different AU. A murder mystery, a period romcom, a sci fi thriller, and so on.

cancelling the apocalypse by @queersirius

michael just wants to pilot his jaeger with his siblings so they can save the world and be big damn heroes. unfortunately, he can't seem to keep it together in the drift. so marshal valenti brings someone in to help him get his shit together, someone he hasn't seen in two whole years.

Millie gave us the Pacific Rim AU we all needed. I love how she weaves elements of the Roswell characters’ backstories and interpersonal histories into the Pacific Rim world. There’s so much tension and longing between Michael and Alex specifically and I love seeing how she handles them struggling with it and with being honest and open with each other and the fear of that vulnerability in a world where they can literally see each other’s memories and feel each other’s feelings.

[benkouji726]

So I wrote my 5+1 Forlex fic, as I was saying earlier. I really lack impulse control when it comes to rnm, sigh.

Jealous Guerin may have some appearances in this fic too, but it’s eventually Forlex. 

This is the first part of it. I will try to update it daily, before I lose my nerves.

Five times Alex surprised Forrest and one time he didn’t

1.

It was supposed to be some harmless fun, at first.

Forrest was intuitive, to put it mildly. You didn’t grow up in a Long household and become this well-liked and popular family member by being dense, especially when you were gay. Besides, his gut feeling had saved him more times than he could count in battles, it was one of the reasons his buddies trusted him with their lives.

He was very good at reading people and situations around or between them. He didn’t always care what people thought of him, of others or of themselves, but he noticed all the same and would efficiently use that information to his advantage. Call it his people skills, but it was how he managed to live through his rebellious youth period, his military years, and now his adult life in a backwards town like Roswell, while never stopped being his colorful-haired, emo-poetry-writing, 20 pounds of personality in a 5 pound pocket-sized body self.

So he had known there was something between Alex and Alien Guy even when they first met at the Long farm. As they talked, it was like there were only them in the whole world. The air seemed thicker and more tangible, the atmosphere charged. Then at the diner, Forrest noticed the meaningful glance Alien Guy shot his way. When Alex sang that song, Guerin walked in and they seemed to have some soul searching conversations through their eyes only, well, it was really not that hard a guess who the song was for. And frankly, Alex needed to work on his poker face a LOT if he was ever gonna sell that obvious “it was a long time ago” lie.

But at the time, it hadn’t really mattered. Whatever it was between them, it seemed neither of them was going to make a move. And Alex was so hot sometimes he wondered how the hell he remained single in the first place, but he WAS single, and a smart guy like Forrest was never gonna miss out a perfectly good opportunity to make out with a hot guy and have some fun time with him.

It was supposed to be just like that, some fun, some company, some glorious make out sessions. Nothing heavy or potential heartbreak or anything.

Which was probably why he didn’t even realize he was falling for Alex until it was a bit of too late.

They were dating for two months at that point. Forrest had met almost all of Alex’s friends and family members (the ones who counted as friends and family in Alex’s book anyway), minus Michael Guerin. And Forrest had won them over one by one. He once overheard Liz call him “charming, funny, honest and loyal to a fault”, to a reluctant Isobel Evans, who had been giving him stink eyes ever since he and Alex had gone out, but in their last get-together thingy (Forrest honestly didn’t know how to call these, because they were irregular as fuck, both in schedule and in attending member counts), Isobel joined him at the bar when he was getting them the last round, considered him for a second, patted him on his shoulder without looking at him and said in a small but genuine voice: “You are not half bad”. So Forrest would call it a win.

In hindsight, it should have been his first warning sign that he cared so much of what Alex’s friends think of him. But in his defense, Alex was most at ease when he was with his friends, which meant he would always be sweet, adorable, sometimes sassy, sometimes soft, and had the unique sense of humor in a deadpan way, and Forrest was too busy being charmed to notice it.

So when his platoon buddies, Tony and Chris, came into town to visit him and he brought Alex to have a beer together, he was so caught off guard when Alex went to bathroom and Tony said:

“Man, you’re so gone on him, aren’t you.”

It wasn’t even a question.

Forrest spluttered, red faced, and said, eloquently: “uh, what?”

Tony and Chris changed a look, both amused. “You’ve been staring at him all night, Long. You look at him as if he hung the moon. You can’t seem to keep your hands to yourself, not to be PDA or something, but little touches, I think you didn’t even notice. He made a joke earlier, granted, it WAS hilarious, but the way you laughed, like you think he is the most funny guy in the whole world, which, no offense, is really not the case.”

Tony drank some water after his long ass bullshit, and Chris went in for a final blow. “So in conclusion, you’ve had it bad, dude, like, we’ve-never-seen-you-like-this level bad.”

Forrest was dumbstruck at that. He must’ve seemed like a dumbass too, because they decided to take pity on him, and changed the subject.

“Anyway, you know we’ve been relocated to the nearby base, Tobias and Leo are near enough too. The others all cashed in some long-overdue vacation days so we can have a little get together for our platoon in Santa Fe next month. You should come too.”

OK, that was exciting news. He missed his buddies and would be very happy to spend some time with them.

But Tony hesitated a little before continued: “There is a catch though. We thought it would be nice that we all bring our significant others, or even our children. So it would be a more family style setting. It may not be your thing.”

The thing was, it would totally be Forrest’s thing. He just didn’t know how to say it. With his platoon buddies, he always seemed like the free spirited lone wolf, easygoing, open and honest, but never the one to talk about family issues or kids problems with. But he would enjoy being surrounded by family love and loud but innocent kids, so he opened his mouth to just say that when he was interrupted by a light laugh.

“What are you guys talking about, family and kids and platoon buddies all under the same roof? It’s totally his thing.”

Forrest was startled, both by Alex’s sudden reappearance and his seemingly psychic ability to read his mind. When he remained silent a second too long, Alex apologized.

“Sorry, did I overstep? You actually don’t want to go or...?”

“No! I mean, yes, I wanna go. I just, something they said earlier, it was a lot to unpack. But you are right, I would love to go.” Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie.

Alex didn’t seem to buy it, but he was kind enough to drop it at the time.

On their drive home though, Alex picked it up again, as Alex would do, because he was a stubborn son of bitch like that.

“You wanna talk about what happened earlier?”

Forrest sighed. Best to just cut to the chase.

“Why did you say it was totally my thing? We didn’t often talk about family and kids, if any.”

Alex frowned, “No, we didn’t normally talk about that stuff. But it’s obvious you like family energy and friendly gatherings, isn’t it? Am I not supposed to know that?”

“But how? I served with my buddies for a long time, we trust each other with our lives. But almost none of them know it.”

“Forrest”, Alex smiled, “you like almost all of your family members, stay friends with a lot of them, despite some of them are real assholes. You even like hanging out with my friends and family too, not just because we are dating, but because you love being around people who give you warm family-like feelings. You organize every open mic night at the pony, and are genuinely interested in the acts and the people behind them, you like to talk to them about their lives and their relationships. You volunteer at the youth shelter. You are, simply put, a people person. You like people, you see good in them, you want to be around them and be a positive influence for them. You don’t necessarily tolerate stupid bigots, and you would be the first to call out their cowardice, but if they are willing to change and be better, you would want to believe in them too.”

He exhaled, oblivious of Forrest’s stunned expression, and continued.

“For a man who has that big a heart, I’d imagine spending some time with his buddies and their families would totally be his thing, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, but...”

“And there’s also your poetry.”

Forrest was getting whiplash tonight, he could hardly keep up.

“My poetry?”

“Yeah, you gave me your emo poetry journal the other day and asked for my opinion?”

“I remember that. In fact, I remember it was a week ago and I still haven’t got any feedback yet.” If he was being honest, he would say he had been a little hurt by that too.

Alex’s face turned a shade pink. “I know I was being a little slow. But I just want to do them justice, you know? I’ve been reading each of them multiple times, so I can get the gist right.”

OK, hurt instantly healed. He really should be concerned how Alex’s words could so easily affect his mood.

“Anyway, the poems you wrote, they are all very pro-humanity, at least in my opinion. Like, the themes vary, some about personal journeys, some about lost love, some about struggling life, some about anger and pain. But the words have something like warmth attached to them, like despite all, there’s hope, and there’s good, in people, in humanity, in the whole world.”

He looked down at his hands then, voice quiet.

“And that’s the thing I like most about you.”

Shit.

“Shit”, It was definitely too soon, but Forrest just can’t not say it. “I think I might be falling for you.”

Alex looked at him right then, hesitated then determined: “I don’t think I’m there yet. But I think I could see myself heading down that road someday.”

He added in a more unsure voice: “Is that OK?”

Forrest reached out, squeezed his hand, and reassured him: “It’s OK”.

And it really was.

[aewriting]

Well. Instead of finishing up my remix fic tonight, I wrote this pulpy nonsense instead.

Warnings for espionage, sex (including coercive sexual situations as part of blackmail and espionage), homophobia, threatening situations.

***

(2010)

“Manes?”

Alex groans.

“Manes!” comes the voice, louder now.

“What?”

“Ruiz wants to see you. Now.”

“Fuck,” Alex mutters.  He hasn’t been back on base one hour. What could his CO possibly want?

It’s late, too, he thinks, checking the clock.  As he stretches, he feels the soreness through his thighs, his jaw, his…

It’s not a bad sore.  It reminds him.  Reminds him of Michael.

Fuck, it had been less than 24 hours ago.  Yes, less than 24 hours ago he’d been facedown, gripping the thin, scratchy bedspread and pleading with Michael to go harder, to make him feel it, to give him something to take with him…

He pulls a shirt on over his chest, over the hickey Michael had sucked right onto his collarbone, the one he’d urged him to leave.

The military has certainly taught him efficiency.  He’s dressed and knocking on Ruiz’s door within ten minutes.

Ruiz opens the door, grim-faced, and Alex tenses.

“Come in, Manes.  Have a seat,” he says, gesturing to an open chair opposite four others.  There’s Ruiz himself. Ruiz’s superior, Bruno. A stern-looking man who’s apparently military police. An older guy in civvies.

Ruiz looks at Bruno, who nods.  Ruiz looks… pained, almost. “Alex,” he says, and Alex knows if he’s using his first name, it’s going to be bad. “We received some information. Pictures,” he says, and he opens a slim folder.

Alex’s eyes widen.  It’s him.  And Michael.  They’re standing outside their motel door, takeout bags looped around their wrists.  Alex’s head is tilted up toward Michael, one hand in his curls and the other gripping his ass. 

If a friend had taken a picture like this, it might be funny. Sweet. 

No one’s smiling now.

“You…” Ruiz starts.  “You know what this means, right?”

Alex doesn’t even say anything, just runs a hand over his face and sighs, so deeply. He… he’d tried to be careful, with Michael.  This had to have been his father.

“I… I just got back from my first deployment. Iraq,” Alex says, still disbelieving.

Ruiz closes his eyes, briefly.  “I know, Alex, I know.  And you were a tremendous asset to us there.  But…” he glances warily at Bruno, “but letter of the law says that we need to discharge you.”

“General under honorable conditions at best,” Bruno says sternly. “Maybe even dishonorable.”

“What?” Alex gasps.  “How?”

“How?” Bruno says, incredulous. “You violated the terms of DADT, flaunting your relationship with your boyfriend out in the open like that.” He points at the pictures, shakes his head. “How could you have compromised yourself like this, Airman? Makes me question your goddamn judgment.”

Alex sucks in a breath.  “My judgment,” he murmurs.

“Hope it was worth it, kid,” Bruno’s saying now.  “Hard to get hired without an honorable discharge.” Alex’s brow is furrowed – he hasn’t quite caught up yet with the reality of the situation.  He’s being discharged, dishonorably, just for daring to kiss Michael in a parking lot. One time. Fuck.

“And this is it?” he asks, frustrated. “I don’t get to defend myself?” He shakes his head. “No, you know what?  If I’ve already lost my honorable discharge, I’m just gonna say it.  Fuck this.  I’ve spent the last two years breaking codes and busting my ass, just to get kicked out for kissing another guy in public?  This is bullshit.”

“I agree,” says the guy in the civvies.  “Which is why I’m here to provide an alternative.”

Alex tilts his head. “And what might that be?”

“My name is Long. CIA.  A person of your… background could be very valuable to us.”

Alex’s eyes widen, then he starts to laugh, almost uncontrolled.  “You… you’re asking me to be a fucking spy?” Long just stares at him. Alex is shaking his head.  “Like, when you say my background,” Alex starts, unsure, “do you mean the codebreaking? Or, like… this?” he says, gesturing to the damn photos.

“Both,” Long says solemnly.

“It’s a good offer, Manes,” says Bruno.  “You’d struggle otherwise, with a less than honorable discharge on your record.”

Ruiz is quiet when he speaks.  “I… I was also told to inform you that, should you accept this new, offered position with the CIA, the Air Force will choose not to prosecute the other individual in these photos – Michael Guerin – for trespassing onto a federal facility.”

“What?”

“There is apparently surveillance footage of him sneaking onto an Air Force base just outside Roswell, New Mexico.”

Alex feels, suddenly, so removed from everything.  From his body, the other men at the table… his whole life prior to this moment. “It sounds, it sounds like I don’t really have a choice.”

No one says anything.

***

He doesn’t even get to contact anyone before he’s being shipped off to Camp Peary. The older guy who was at the table, Long, explains that he has the right look, the right skill set for an upcoming mission.

He comes to realize he’s been selected for a very specific target.  Older. Russian. 

Rumor has it he likes young men.

The plan is for Alex to play dumb.  And horny. Get into his good graces.  His bed. Eventually his laptop.  Then maybe his home compound in Moscow.  The main servers.

He’s a bad dude. That… that’s not up for debate.  Alex knows if he does this, goes through with this, that he’ll be saving lives, preventing atrocities.

But the thing is… it’s his own life he’s sacrificing.  Ruining. His own dignity.  And not fully of his own volition. His hand was forced, and here he is.  He hates it.  But… but the threat was there.  Against Michael.  And he doesn’t think that’s going away.

So he goes through with it.  Learns Russian, enough to figure out what other people around him are saying, while still being a convincingly dumb, young American.

Everything moves faster than expected. The first time he finally meets Dmitry, in a club in Paris, he blows him right there in the VIP section, under the table. He must be convincing, because later that night he’s in Dmitry’s hotel room, getting fucked hard against the walls of the shower as hot water beats down on him.

He’s never felt dirtier.

Dmitry texts him.  Filthy stuff.  They see each other again.  Alex spouts some nonsense about wanting to see the world, travel.  Dmitry’s suddenly flying him to Moscow and gifting him with atrocious clothes that he loves to rip right off.

He… he never thought he’d be doing this.  He was supposed to be making music, writing about love and loss and finding himself.

He’s half-dressed in a cold Moscow bathroom, hacking into Dmitry’s servers while trying to convince himself that he’s doing the right thing.  Really.

He becomes Dmitry’s favorite.  It’s a petty, cutthroat world, and he loathes having to deal with the other guys, jostle for time and attention.  He… he does things.  Things that repulse him, but he doesn’t let on. He’s good at concealing how he’s really feeling, reading the cues of the people around him.  He survived 18 years in Jesse Manes’s house, after all.  

Dmitry takes him to New York. A business trip.  Really, he’s accepting payment from some foreign investors who are helping to fund illegal arms trading.  Alex puts on the tight black shirt Dmitry likes and pretends to get too drunk.  He’s using the bathroom when he sees… him.

“Thank god,” Michael says, looking him over. 

“Guerin?”

Michael chuckles.  “Not the reunion I’d hoped for, Alex, but here goes.” He heaves a deep breath. “I’m here to get you out of this.”

Alex looks at him incredulously.  “What?”

“If you want.  If you want to go, we go now, and we don’t look back. No one here will remember you.  I can guarantee that.”

Alex feels cold.  “Michael?”

“I know what your dad did, what he made you do.” Michael’s biting his lip a little.  “I… I wish I could have gotten to you sooner.  But it took time, figuring out what your dad knew.  He… he wanted you gone, Alex.  I don’t think he ever thought you’d walk away from this assignment alive.”

“Shit,” Alex breathes.  “How do you know all this?”

Michael purses his lips. “Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know.”

“Fair enough.” A little shake of the head, then. “I’m an alien.”

Before Alex can call him on his bullshit, he feels himself pushed up against the wall, away from Michael.

Nothing touched him.

“Shit…” he hisses.

“Yeah. I can move stuff.  With my mind. Max heals.  Isobel – “

“Wait, Evans?  Isobel Evans?”

“Yeah. She’s my sister.  She and Max are aliens, too.  They’re helping me.  See, you’re not the only one who’s been busy. Undercover. Your Dad’s been all over our asses, pretty much since he caught us together in the toolshed.  And Isobel, well… she can read minds.  Influence people.” Michael’s lips quirk into a brief smile.  “Hope you don’t mind, but your dad decided to take an honorable discharge and move to Montana.”

Alex’s head is swimming.  “What the fuck?”

“And Dmitry, out here? He’s thinking that he’s grown a bit tired of you.”

Alex’s eyes widen, and he’s beginning to understand. 

“You say the word, Alex, and you disappear tonight. We disappear tonight. We could go anywhere, and we’ll cover for you.”  Michael frowns.  “Let someone else do this, someone who chose it.  Someone who wasn’t forced into it just because…” he falters. “Just because they loved the wrong person.”

And Alex grabs Michael, then, hands in his hair, and pulls. Pulls him right into his space, past his space, really, into his mouth and his breath and his whole being. 

“Fuck, Michael,” he whines. “Yes. Fucking yes.  Do it. Please do it.”

And Michael’s kissing him, raking his hands up his sides, under the shiny synthetic material of the tight black shirt Alex is wearing.  “When we get where we’re going,” Michael mutters, “I’m burning this.”

“Good,” Alex mutters, “good. Burn it all down, Michael.”

“For you?” Michael says, holding Alex even tighter and sucking a bruise onto his neck. “I will.”

[el-gilliath]

A Little Reminder That I'll Never Forget This directly follows Cold War. And Alex is very angry at Kyle. Very. Angry. Other than that, Welcome back to the continued adventures of Cowboy and Reporter Manes

Also on Ao3 if someone prefers to read there. And as always is this dedicated to @lsobelevans. Love you <3

He doesn’t have it in him to be mad at Maria, even though he’s fairly sure she knew that Kyle was the doctor Super’s were using when their healer(which by the way is pretty cool) isn’t there. She doesn’t know everything, just that they had a falling out. He never wanted to tell her, so she would keep her friendship with Kyle. 

And she did, by the way he moves around the backroom as if he’s used to being there, fishing out equipment, gauze and plasters as he needs them, moving things easily aside to get to deposits of medical gear Alex wouldn’t know was there if he didn’t see it. 

It’s eerie, watching him. Like a blast from the past he doesn’t know if he’s comfortable with. Especially when it comes to a Super. To Cowboy. 

He still remembers Kyle talking to him in the hospital, about a month after he lost his leg, telling him that his obsession with Super’s was unnatural. That they were unnatural. And here he is patching up one. 

And not just anyone, the one Alex will admit having a rapid pulse for, if he’s being honest. 

“Alex? You okay?”

He feels more than sees Kyle freeze at Isobel’s question. After 25 years of being best friends he doesn’t need to see Kyle’s reactions, he knows them in his core. 

“I’m fine.” He wait until Kyle is looking at him. “Though I’m curious how you found this guy.”

“What?” Maria asks puzzled. “You know how we know Kyle.”

“Yeah, I do. How long have you been working for my dad, Kyle?”

He should’ve expected the commotion that follows that question. Maria gapes at him, Rosa swears in Spanish, and Influence steps in front of Cowboy with a truly impressive flair of her cape, her lips curling up into a snarl. Kyle just stares at him, before he moves his gaze back to what he can see of Cowboy behind Influence. 

“What is he talking about, Valenti?” Influence asks as Kyle takes a step towards Cowboy. She’s in protective mode, something Kyle obviously recognizes. 

“Alex thinks I betrayed him two years ago and sides with his dad, after he lost his leg.”

“Think? You told me Supers and vigilantes shouldn’t be allowed on the streets, that they were blights on the earth and I was stupid for defending them!”

“You lost your leg, Alex. Lost it for a vendetta your dad had against you and everyone else that supported vigilantes. I told you that so you would stop hacking and get out of trouble. Instead you turn around and run head first into it at the Times!”

“Did you really expect me to just give in to my dad, Kyle?” He asks. He knows his voice is low, dangerous, too much like his dad for him to be comfortable with. But he doesn’t care, he’s too mad. 

“Well I hoped, Alex! But can we can this discussion so I can take care of my patient now?!”

Isobel’s eyes slide over to him. He doesn’t know what to tell her, but he also knows Cowboy needs medical attention. He nods, and Influence steps back. Thankfully Kyle wastes no time in moving to Michael and looking him over. 

Alex just watches him, taking in how gentle he is with Cowboy, how he murmurs and explains as he moves along, regardless if Cowboy can hear him or not. Kyle moves like he always does, professionally and quickly, patching Cowboy up where he can and leaving the long gash in his shoulder alone. 

“You need to get Electrobuzz to heal that up, there’s not much more I can do with what I have here,” Kyle tells Isobel as he cleans the gash. It’s obviously made by a knife and explains why Cowboy was trapped, Alex has seen his powers fritz out when he’s been hurt before.

“Wait, Electrobuzz? He’s your healer?”

“He is,” Isobel replies, glaring daggers at Kyle who has the decency to look slightly shamed. “You weren’t exactly supposed to know that.”

“I’m not gonna tell, I still call him Writer, remember?”

“Oh yes, the name he picked himself. To bad Electrobuzz fits better.”

Alex can't refute that, Electrobuzz does fit the lightning based Super better. But he gets all pouty if no one calls him Writer, which is what he wanted to be called, so Alex does him a solid and calls him Writer. He hates when the Super’s are upset, New York usually suffers for it too. 

“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that Alex didn't know since he seems to know everything. But Cowboy is fine for now, so you should all let him get some rest,” Kyle says, and Alex can’t help but look over at Cowboy. He’s lying on the backroom table, seemingly sleeping peacefully. “I’ll monitor until Electrobuzz gets here.”

“No.” The answer is so quick out of his mouth that he has trouble remembering he said it. “I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

The room quietens, as they all turn to look at him. Everyone besides Kyle. “Alex-“

“You think I’m gonna leave you alone with someone you told me you despise? Not happening, Kyle.”

“I’m a doctor, I wouldn’t hurt him!”

“Maybe not, but I still don’t trust you. I’m not leaving you alone with him.” He sees the hurt bloom in Kyle, in the way his shoulders tighten, in the way his arms tense. He refuses to feel bad for it, even when Kyle’s eyes meet his and he can see just how much Kyle tries to hide that he’s hurt. But that’s the problem, Kyle could never really hide anything from him.

“I’ll stay with him,” Influence says. “The two of you need to have a chat.”

“We don’t.”

“Yes, Alex, you do. Kyle has been the doctor everyone goes to for over a year, and you’re the reporter everyone turns to.” Influence strokes her hand lightly over Cowboy’s curls. “The vigilantes trust both of you equally, do not make me tell them they’re all wrong. I will not like it.”

“Alex, let me explain. Please?”

He doesn’t want to. The thought of being alone with Kyle after the last time makes his skin crawl. It makes his anxiety flare, it makes his insecurities rise, it makes his muscles tense. He’s spent far too much time making everyone believe he doesn’t have anxiety or insecurities or tensing muscles to let Kyle Manuel Valenti get the better of him.

“Fine. But in the bar, right now I don’t want to be alone with you either,” Alex answers, turning to walk out the door before he can change his mind. “Maria, you mind if I take the good tequila?”

“Go ahead honey, you know where to find it,” she says as he walks out the door. He doesn’t check to see if Kyle is behind, he just enters the bar and fishes out the half-full Patrón Añejo Maria keeps hidden away just for him. He knows Maria and Rosa followed him into the bar, but are staying in a booth so he and Kyle can have some privacy while they talk. 

He does get Kyle a glass as well when he sees that he has indeed followed; Kyle’s taste for good tequila is as legendary as his own. 

He might be pissed at Kyle, but he’s not a douchebag. Well. Most of the time anyway.

“Talk, Valenti. You have until the end of this bottle.”

He doesn’t expect Kyle to start talking straight away, and he doesn’t either. Instead Alex watches as he takes a shot, then another. He gets it, he would be nervous too if he was Kyle.

“I’m sorry.”

Alex takes his own shot, and refills both his and Kyle’s glass. “Why?”

“I don’t know Alex, because I hurt you? Because I made you believe I agreed with your father?” Kyle takes a deep breath. “Because I acted like a douchebag and lost my best friend. And now you don’t trust me because of it.”

“Can you blame me? I had just woken up from a coma Kyle, I just lost my leg and here is my best friend, the doctor I needed to support me, telling me that I was a stupid obsessive idiot! I was in pain, I was broken by my father, I didn’t need you fucking me over too!”

“I was trying to protect you, Alex!” Kyle yells back. “You almost died on a crusade to get back at your dad, the only reason I said that was so you wouldn’t go running off again!”

“Fuck you, Kyle. You know nothing about my dad.”

“The fuck I don’t Alex, we grew up together, of course I know.”

“Do you?” Alex asks incredulously. “Do you know he beat me almost every day since I was 12 because he wanted to beat the gay out of me? That he forced me into training scenarios specifically designed to make me puke and bleed whenever I so much as looked at a guy?”

He takes a deep breath. “That he hates the ground I walk on and has told me to my face that he wish I was dead?”

“Alex…”

“I needed my best friend Kyle. Instead you betrayed me.”

“I didn’t-“

“Yes, Kyle,” Alex interrupts. “You did. To me, that is exactly what you did.”

“I was scared, Alex.” Kyle pauses, and Alex has to strain to hear his next words. “At least by pretending to side with your dad, I knew you were going to survive.”

“I didn’t survive. I floundered, I cried, I was so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed. If you call that surviving, then we have two very different meanings of the word.” He takes a shot, then refills his glass and does another one. “I didn’t start surviving again until Arturo gave me the job at the Times. That gave me meaning, hope.”

He looks Kyle directly in the eyes. “You didn’t.”

He knows he’s being harsh, he knows telling Kyle all of this probably hurts him. But Kyle’s motto has always been ‘Do No Harm’. He didn’t keep it so right now Alex is going to say whatever he wants too. Though he is secretly glad Kyle isn’t having any more of the tequila, should something happen. 

“I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“Did you? Or did you let my dad get into your head? You wouldn’t be the first,” Alex replies.

“How the hell can you ask me that?” Kyle asks, eyes finally burning with a responding anger. Good. “I might not know everything that happened in that house and everything he did to you, but I know enough to know that I should never listen to him. I told you, I was scared.”

“So you thought you would use my dad’s tactics to get me to stop.”

“Yeah.” Kyle exhales angrily. “And that was my mistake, I get it. But you didn’t have to just drop me either!”

Alex stills, turning his head slowly and cocking it slightly sideways as he looks at Kyle. He sees the way Kyle freeze, knows he recognizes it. It was a move his mother used to do when she was angry, a move he’s done since he was a teenager. Another reason for his father to hate him.

“Shit, Alex, that was not-”

“Drop you? You think I dropped you?”

“No, that’s-”

“You walked into my room, told me that I should stop whatever I was doing against my father, told me to stop helping vigilantes. Do not tell me I dropped you.”

“I know, Alex. I know. I just...” Kyle pause, takes a deep breath and meets Alex’s eyes straight on. “I thought it would blow over. I figured I would give you some time and then call and talk to you. I didn’t think I had screwed up that badly until I tried to call and my number was blocked. Until I tried to text you on WhatsApp and I couldn’t. Until I noticed you deleted me from Facebook. That’s when I knew how angry you were and that what I said to you might have done more bad than good.”

Alex stays silent. The last of the Patron is in his glass, he can feel the alcohol swimming pleasantly in his belly, his anger still there but sated, for now.

“I’m sorry,” Kyle says. “I’m really sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and if I thought you wanted me to I would’ve found you and apologized before this. But I’m fairly sure you didn’t.”

“You’re right. I don’t know if I want your apology now,” Alex replies, taking the last shot. “But I will accept it.”

“Thank you. And I… I don’t know if this means anything to you, but I was so proud when you got the job at the Times. Like maybe you finally found a place you could call home, away from your dad. At least I hope you did.”

He inclines his head towards Kyle, more of an acceptance than he wants to vocalize right now before he turns and walks back to the backroom, giving Maria and Rosa a slight smile as he walks past. He knows they’ve been listening from the smiles they direct his way. He just wants to be back in Cowboy’s presence, hurt as he might be. Seeing him still alive will help calm him down, maybe even make him feel better. He hears Influence’s voice as he nears the door, opening it with a flourish of the slightly tipsy in the good way.

He does not expect to be met with 6 feet of Electrobuzz leaning over Cowboy with a glowing hand. His outfit is understated as it always is, blue jeans and a brown leather jacket over his shoulders, his brown mask that matches the jacket on his face. There’s a pen lovingly stitched into the upper arm, the official symbol of The Writer. A smaller lightning bolt is on the collar of the jacket, probably sown in after people started calling him Electrobuzz.

“Alex Manes, meet Electrobuzz. Electrobuzz, Alex Manes,” Influence says, a bored tone in her voice as both men freeze. The glow in Electrobuzz’ hand fizzles out as the man looks over at Alex, his eyes narrowing and posture straightening.

“What is he doing here, Influence? And it’s Writer, please.”

Influence scoffs. “You and I both know the love and adorance these two have for each other, is it really that surprising that he’s here? And I told you, I needed him to get Cowboy out of the warehouse. Besides, he knows who I am.”

“He knows?”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, we’re not here for that. Now can you please put your glowy, healing hand on Cowboy?”

“Influence-”

“Please.”

Electrobuzz clenches his jaw, but the glow in his hand resumes and Alex takes a step forward but is shortly stopped by Influence.

“He knows what he’s doing.”

Alex swallows hard, but nods, trusting Influence and Electrobuzz with this man that has become so important in his life in a short amount of time. Electrobuzz gives Alex a tight nod in return, as he puts his glowing hand over the wound on Cowboy’s shoulder. It’s a tense few seconds before the glow intensifies, Electrobuzz yelling as the light bulb in Maria’s backroom shorts out. It takes everything Alex has to stay still, a little because he wants to check on Cowboy, a little because the healing is fascinating. He can see the flesh on Cowboy’s shoulder knit together, even through the glow. 

He’s even more fascinated when Electrobuzz moves back, the glow dying in his hand but a glowing handprint stays on Cowboy’s skin, the man gasping awake a few seconds later. Influence has moved over to Electrobuzz, helping him sit down as he breathes hard, a look of nausea on his face. 

“If you could refrain from getting hurt in the future, that would be super, Cowboy.” The dry tone from Electrobuzz makes Alex snort, as Cowboy groans on the table. 

“Come on man, it was an accident.”

“I’m sure it was. But going into that area without backup was still stupid. 

“Stop fucking preaching, man,” Cowboy says. “You’re making me look bad in front of Alex.”

Electrobuzz huffs while Influence just shakes her head. Which is when Liz Ortecho, scientist and little sister of Rosa, bursts through the door and goes over to Electrobuzz as soon as she sees him, running her fingers through his hair. 

Cowboy grumbles about how he’s the one being hurt to which Liz just gives him the stink eye . “We were on vacation and had to come back because you got hurt. I’m allowed to be a little angry.”

Alex just watches them as they bicker back and forth. It’s interesting to watch for many reasons, one is that he never really gets to see Cowboy interact with anyone but criminals. But it’s not what interests him the most. Because if Liz is here, running her hand through Electrobuzz’ hair in that loving way, that means Alex knows who he is too. 

“You know, Writer, it’s a little hypocritical of you to get mad at Cowboy for being where he was when you’re a Super in the NYPD.” He sees the way Electrobuzz freezes, sees Liz turn around and stare at him in shock, sees Influence cough to hide a laugh.  “I should’ve know, if Isobel Evans is a Super then it’s not that strange that her brother is one either. Though I always thought you were such a goody two-shoes, glad to see I was wrong, Max.”

Electrobuzz slowly relaxes, shaking his head as he exhales roughly. He takes off the mask as Liz gets up from the floor, her eyes still wide. Max’s brown eyes looks up at him, his teeth practically grinding together. Alex only raises one single brow at the sight. Which makes Influence snort as she too removes her mask, Isobel’s green eyes meeting his a second later. Only Cowboy still has his mask on, which Alex doesn’t blame him for. It’s not time yet.

“I shouldn’t be surprised, you were always too smart, Alex,” Max says, his jaw unclenching and a wry smile coming upon his lips instead. Alex inclines his head, accepting the compliment. It’s not often anyone besides Liz Ortecho gets a compliment from Max, backhanded or otherwise.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell your secret either.” Alex smiles at him. “But I am gonna leave you alone. It seems you have things to talk about.”

He throws a salute at Max and Isobel, who both huffs at him. Liz just grins and mouths call me. Cowboy watched him with a soft smile on his face, nodding in both a thanks and goodbye as Alex turns around and walks out the door. He grins to himself as he hears Isobel laugh loudly and Max groan as the door closes.

—————

There’s a note on his desk when he gets into work the next morning. It’s a phone number, and written underneath is

Call me ;)

Cowboy

And underneath that is an H.