(no subject)

[littleorphanalien]

Fuck. Why doesn't he have better clothes?

Michael reaches for his glass of whiskey and knocks it back, throwing the sweater he's wearing onto the bed as he reaches for another one. It's cream colored and soft, but is it too casual? If he wears this, does he have to take off the jeans? He unbuckles his giant silver belt buckle, but leaves it hanging open.

Then he goes for the booze again, but stops because they're about to go to Luke's parent-teacher interview and if he shows up smelling of liquor, they might revoke the fostering papers. "Alex," Michael calls out to him, pleading. "Help," is a strangled, stubborn thing, like he doesn't want to admit that he needs help figuring out how to look like a respectable father figure and not just the town's dirty mechanic.

It's just never come up before.

Comments

[unendurable]

Alex can't help but smile, turning to face Michael a bit and smiling. "Hey, so... we're not doing so bad." He is beaming thinking of that. Even as he stops, glancing at the door and then at Michael.

"I wasn't a total dick, was I?" He just reacted, defending them, defending Luke. He only thought after he said it that it might be taken so bad.

[littleorphanalien]

Michael's still in shock, but he stares at Alex with that same hungry, clear look in his eyes. "Total dick are nowhere near the words I would use," he says, still processing everything that just happened. "You're hot when you're being Captain Manes, you know that?"

He probably does, but Michael feels like he should be putting that out there.

"He's okay," he says, mostly for himself. "He's okay." He snorts. "I wonder if the distraction was before me, or if he picked that up from the way I tend to wander."

[unendurable]

Alex chuckles, leaning in and stealing a quick kiss, then another. "Am I? Huh, good to know," he admits, grinning though at that comment. "I'm glad you think so. I wasn't listening to her speak bad about our kid though," he admits. He really hated that idea, especially when there's things to consider that have happened to him here, that's not even thinking about his life before this place.

"Did I tell you that when I was a teenage, I went into that basement with him? They were goading him, pushing him to go by himself," he says, indignant as all Hell. "Even teenage me wasn't going to let that happen."

Alex stands, offering Michael his hand to pull him close. "He's okay. We're doing okay, Michael. And he likely was distractable before. You both sometimes take the long way around, but that doesn't make it bad. Not as brilliant as you both are."

[littleorphanalien]

"So hot," he teases, barely more than a whisper as he laughs and leans in to that warmth, not wanting to drift away from him, even as he listens about the shitty things that happened in that home before they got him to stay. "Alex, I really don't know what I would have done if he hadn't come home with us."

Because there's no way that he would've been okay with him staying there.

Michael takes Alex's hand and eases them to their feet, not wanting to linger around the school. "Just means we're interested in other things," he admits. "Do we get him something? For being good? Or is that a bribe?"

He really has no clue how these things work.

[unendurable]

"Me either. I hated him being there. It's why I was always coming by to see him. Anything to make it better, even a little bit." He grips Michael's hand, smiling at him. "Thank you for being okay with us bringing him home," he says softly. "I'm so glad to have him in our home. With us."

Their family and he loves it.

"I don't care if it's a bribe or not, I think we should. Let him know we're proud of him," he says with a nod. "But then honestly? I'm all for spoiling and bribing him." He'd been abused, so he's gleeful to make things better for the child they're helping to raise.

[littleorphanalien]

"You were buttering me up, getting me ready to adopt a kid, weren't you?" he accuses, but not in a bad way. Michael's always wanted kids, he just never thought that he'd be the kind of person in a healthy place to be able to adopt any of them.

He leans in and kisses the tip of Alex's nose, loving the idea of spoiling him.

"So, what do we get him?" he wonders, like he hasn't even stopped to consider it until now.

[unendurable]

Alex pauses, giving Michael a look at that. "Since we've been here? I was showing you that you could do this. Now, the adoption thing? I admit, the longer we're here, the more I think about it," he admits. He often thinks about this for them since Luke came into their life.

"I don't know. What about getting him a bike for riding on the boardwalk? We've talked about it before." And he thinks that would be awesome to get bikes for them all eventually. "What do you think?"

[littleorphanalien]

Michael breathes out raggedly, because Alex is right. They have been doing it and they haven't failed, and maybe they could adopt. They could adopt Luke or they could adopt another kid and it would be fine.

"You wanna go riding with him?" There's another thing Michael never learned to do and at this point, he thinks he's probably just too damn old for that. "If you don't think it's too much money, then yeah. I'm in."

[unendurable]

"Do you think I can?" He has been thinking about it with the new prosthetic. "Or we could get me a scooter," he offers with a grin. "Close to a skateboard."

Though it's really not the same, but he wants to share this with Luke. With their kid.

"We can start with a bike for him and it won't be that expensive. We can help him and watch him from the benches."

[littleorphanalien]

"I think you're gonna have better luck biking than I would," Michael points out. "But yeah, I think you can use it if I can modify a bike and put the pedals a little lower," he says. "I could also get you a scooter," he teases, reaching out to take Alex's hand in his, tugging him along.

He gives him a fond smile, nodding towards the truck.

"I never learned how to ride a bike," he admits, with a shrug. "I know it's probably easy, but bikes weren't exactly on the list of things my terrible foster parents would buy for me."

Hell, some days, food was a reach.

[unendurable]

Alex stops, leaning into Michael as he pulls him in close to him. He leans up, kissing him slow and deep. Nuzzling at the corner of his mouth, realizing he hadn't even thought about it and he's sorry he hadn't before now.

"Do you want to learn to ride one? I can teach you," he offers. "Because this family wants you to have the things that let us all have fun, together," he admits, kissing Michael tenderly. "If you want to learn."

And he can't help that he likes the idea of teaching him, of showing him how much he can enjoy it with them. If they can work it out for him.

[littleorphanalien]

Michael leans into that kiss, knowing they're in public, but still unable to help himself from taking that and more, moaning softly as he lets himself get lost in the kiss, a hand at the small of Alex's back. He needs a moment to steady himself, after that, and he closes his eyes while he gets a hold of himself.

He shakes his head. "Nah. I'd rather be the guy recording videos of his kid learning," he admits, and that'd be good enough for him. "Maybe it wouldn't suck to learn how to swim, though, if you're willing to put up with taking me to lessons."

It would make sense, being out at the beach the way they are.

[unendurable]

Alex nods, understanding if Michael doesn't want to learn but when he mentions being willing to learn to swim, Alex can't help but light up. "I'm willing to teach you," he says with a smile. "The water is good for me," he adds. "For my leg and therapy. So if you want to learn, I'll teach you."

He actually sounds excited about that, loving the idea of doing that for Michael and seeing what all they can learn. "Have you talked to Luke? Do we know if he can swim?"

[littleorphanalien]

He shakes his head, because, "It hasn't really come up," he admits, which is more because Michael doesn't want to admit that he can't swim. It feels kind of weak to do, which is why the subject never pops up. He heads out to the truck, tossing his keys up, using his powers to make them suspend for the briefest of milliseconds before he grabs them.

"So," he says, waggling his brows at Alex. "Where are we going to buy him a bike? And are you gonna end up buying him a little leather jacket, too?"

[unendurable]

"So then we can start working on you learning and then we can go swimming as a family? I mean, if you want to learn," he says quickly. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he adds, in case.

Following Michael, nudging him when he holds the keys. "Okay, smart ass," he teases, smirking. "And yeah, maybe I will. He'd look good in a jacket," he points out. "Don't you think?"

[littleorphanalien]

"We live by the water and you and Luke are gonna want to go swimming at some point," Michael points out. "At this point, learning is more about safety than interest," is his pragmatic brain at work, trying to work the problem.

He smirks and gets in the car, snorting as he looks over at Alex. "He'll look like a mini you. Which is not a bad thing," he permits. "You and your matching jackets, out there."