Moving Day - dated first week of June

[littleorphanalien]

It's strange seeing his life packed up in boxes like this. For one, he usually never has that much apart from his Airstream and the junk that lived in the back of his truck. Now, they have possessions and clothes and things for Luke and things for Alex's career. He has a truck, but it's more modern, and right now, it's half full of the boxes.

Ducking back inside, he catches sight of Caleb.

"Don't tell me you're getting all nostalgic already?" he teases, hefting up a box of his library books and other materials, knowing he'll have to sort them and figure out what goes back. He uses his powers to hover the box so he can clap Caleb on the shoulder. "Thanks, man, again, for the help. I don't really want to hire movers when I got able-bodied people and a truck. So long as Alex and Luke don't have to put up with it, I'm happy."

Comments

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"I mean, there are a lot of memories here," he shoots back. But he grins and pushes at the box Michael's powers are holding. "I know you're gonna miss this place, just a little."

[littleorphanalien]

"Are you kidding?" Michael stares around the place, feeling a little empty already to see it like this. The pod in the bathroom is gone, but that still leaves all the renovations he did (ones he'll have to redo, because he really loved that bathroom). "This is the first real home I ever had. I'm gonna miss it like crazy."

His voice is raw and grieving already and he sets the box at the front door to lean up against it, pressing his lips together worriedly.

"I moved in with Alex here. I made him a whole bathroom. We took Luke in here."

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"And now you're gonna make new memories," Caleb says. He gentles his tone, moving closer to give Michael that physical comfort. "It's gonna be awesome."

[littleorphanalien]

Michael grabs at Caleb to pull him in for a sideways hug. He lets out a quiet scoff. "You know, when I was a kid, like, sixteen, you know what I wanted?"

"I wanted to be an agricultural engineer. I wanted a couple of kids and to start a dad band," he laughs, feeling rough as he remembers those dreams and how Alex had fit into them. "Apart from me totally rocking it out on the guitar and the type of engineering being different, I'm not too far off, huh?"

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"I'd say you're doing pretty good," he agrees. He's doing better than 'pretty good,' honestly. He's got a great guy, and a great kid, and they're building an amazing life here — a life that he never would have gotten, back where he's from. And he has a chance for it here, now.

But that's getting way too sappy.

"But, okay, what the hell is an 'agricultural engineer,' is that just a fancy word for 'farmer'?"

[littleorphanalien]

"Yeah, I got my two kids," he jokes, and he's smirking at Caleb as he squeezes him a little tighter, but he means it. Maybe earlier, he'd thought of Caleb as a kid brother, or something like that, but the longer that's gone on, the more he knows he's like a son.

Michael would kill anyone who hurt him, and he loves him just as much.

"It's the equipment and the tech. Irrigation, harvesting, machines and all that," he says, waving a hand. "Making farmer easier, ideally."

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"Oh, shit, so you'd be the guy that, like, invented that huge sprinkler system, or something," he says. He squeezes Michael a little before releasing so they can keep working while they talk. "I mean, except yours would be way cooler looking, too." He grins over at him.

[littleorphanalien]

"Yeah, I could be that guy, but of course, gotta worry about the aesthetic." He lets go of Caleb so they can start to drag the boxes up towards the truck, missing his for a split-second, but then he shakes it off. Who needs a beat old up Chevy, just because it was what kept him alive.

Also, because of how much he got to kiss Alex in the back of it.

"You know, you're about to graduate. What are you planning on doing?" he asks, loading up the back of the truck with another few boxes.

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"Like, for graduation? Or after?" he asks, then decides to answer the second question anyway. "Well, I'm gonna keep working at the shop over the summer, then when school starts at Barton in the fall, I'll probably get a job on campus?"

He shrugs a little as he places his box on top of Michael's.

[littleorphanalien]

"You ever thought about still working for me?" Michael puts out there, trying to keep it casual with a shrug. He doesn't want to pretend like it's an easy ask. "I mean, I can't really afford it now, but we're getting our feet under us, and I could use a second set of hands, especially a set that knows what they're doing."

He shrugs, again, lifting up the other boxes.

"Think about it."

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"I will think about it," he promises. And then, because it's easy to be honest with Michael, he adds, "It's not, like, what I want out of my future, y'know? But something I can do to help you out, and to help me out, too, y'know, once you're ready for it."

[littleorphanalien]

"Yeah, I get it. It can be a part time gig for cash until you figure that out. Social work, right?" he says, trying to remember what he'd been told before. He nods towards the house, ready to make another trip.

"Look, I know you're not gonna follow in my footsteps. I don't need that. Just wanna make sure you're set up fine. And," he adds, "an invite to your graduation wouldn't hurt."

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

Caleb blushes a little, ducking his head. "I wasn't sure you'd wanna go," he admits. "Of course I want you there, Man, and Alex and Luke, if they wanna come too."

They're the closest thing to family Caleb has here, and although it feels like betraying his family back home to admit that, it doesn't stop it from being true. They've been through a lot together in the six months they've known each other.

[littleorphanalien]

"Of course I wanna go, you're my family, man," Michael says, and he has a lot of opinions about family, especially the one that he made for himself here. He rarely had control of that back home, but it's so much more important now.

He lifts up the next set of boxes, peeking inside to see Alex's shirts and shoes, along with some of his makeup, closing it to protect it. "Alex and Luke are definitely gonna be there. I won't even have to drag them along, guaranteed. Just give me a date."