drmcsexy: (Default)
ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ ᴋʏʟᴇ ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪ ([personal profile] drmcsexy) wrote2019-04-24 06:25 pm

For thenewnormal, post 1x13 - Spoilers

By the time Kyle took a moment to truly breathe and thing about what's happened, he is back at the hospital. Hours earlier he had been shot. Yeah, he's standing there, mostly fine, but he had been shot. His shooter is lying in a bed in a coma, Dr Valenti listed as his physician to be contacted immediately about any changes to his condition, and for now, it's over.

Except it isn't. Not at all. And everything is still madness around them, and Liz and Max and all of them are dealing with so much, he realizes that he has to make a call. One that maybe he should have made sooner, as soon as he realized that he was maybe being followed, but if he does nothing else before maybe deciding to drink himself into a matching coma, Alex needs to know about his dad.

Ignoring how cold his hands feel as he hits the buttons to dial Alex, ignoring how the entire world feels kind of distant from him, from what he's going through, moving down the hall from Jesse's room to try and get some privacy as he puts the phone to his ear, praying Alex is okay and that he will answer the phone. That he even can.
thenewnormal: (Soldier)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-05-16 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
"You weren't a monster," Alex said absently. "The monster was who shattered Michael's hand and you were never that." There'd been words that hurt and a few shoves on both sides, but Kyle had never been particularly violent. And that was the problem he was having with shooting a gun. Alex could sense if not see the way his hand would be shaking. Give the man an open wound and he was a professional, but no one should have to deal with his father without a significant amount of training.

He frowned as he thought about it. Was Guerin really jealous of a friendship? Or had he somehow intuited his childhood crush on Kyle? Not that it would be really hard to figure out. Lots of kids had crushes on their best friend when they were the opposite gender and he'd just happened to prefer his own. And there Kyle was.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask him about it when we find him. We were supposed to talk." And now he wasn't sure whether he was supposed to be worried that Michael hadn't come back or angry that he hadn't.

"Do you know that I'd thought about not leaving the Air Force because I thought it would keep me one step ahead of my dad?" He shook his head. "I really should have known better. I've never managed to keep up with him."

He'd only managed to catch his dad flat-footed because his father had never assumed that Alex would have the guts to stand up to him.
thenewnormal: (Soldier)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-05-31 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
You're not constantly thinking about six ways to cover your back. . Alex couldn't help but laugh a little at that and it wasn't the sort of happy laugh that was normally out of his mouth.

"That's exactly why I agreed to go into the Air Force," he pointed out. "Because I wanted to do something more than just sit around on my hands whe someone I cared about was in danger. It's what they trained us to do. Sometimes I think it was the only worthwhile thing I came back with."

The memories, the nightmares. He didn't want those. And he didn't want the expectations his father had that Alex would just fall in line like the good little soldier he'd been. A Manes Man. Maybe that was the family curse. He wondered if any of his brothers had broken free of it or whether they were all good little soldiers like Flint.

He sighed. He really didn't want to think about how being an airman had changed him. That was a long, involved conversation that he wasn't even comfortable talking about with a therapist. It certainly wasn't fit conversation during the hunt for the Guerin-Evans's. But you could always trust Kyle to have a witty comment to fall back on, so Alex finished on that.

"Clearly I'm going to have to find something else to grouse about. You always give me something, so I figure it won't be hard."
thenewnormal: (Yelling)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-07-20 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"If we were back in high school, I might have taken you up on that," Alex said, shaking his head. He didn't really want to shoot Kyle now. He'd changed in some indefinable way. Or maybe he'd gone back to being the Kyle Alex had known when they were kids. The one who hadn't yet given in to peer pressure and dumped Alex on his ass.

He slowed to a stop in front of Isobel's. The benefits of living in a small town. They weren't friends, but he still knew where she lived. Of course, the fact that her dad had had her information in his database had helped. And made him feel a little like Big Brother.

"If we don't find anyone...yeah, drinking might be an option."

Except it wouldn't be. He'd want to be out there figuring out what was going on. Because to have everyone disappear all at once? That meant that something was wrong.

"I'll be right back." He slipped out so he could walk over and knock at Isobel's door. When that didn't work, he tried around out back. Nothing. He started cursing under his breath. Michael had been bloody the last time Alex had seen him. He said it hadn't been his, but...

He managed not to punch anything and headed back to the car instead. "We're heading to the Wild Pony. See if Maria's heard from anyone."
thenewnormal: (BFFs)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-04 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
There was silence in the car for several long, unbearable moments until Alex said, "I love him. I think I've loved him for the last ten years, but it's terrifying. The more I learn about what's going on, the more it seems like he's the only thing I have to hold onto." And there was a small, secret part of him that wondered if it was enough.

If it was enough, would he have kept pushing Michael away at every chance he got? Maybe if he hadn't, he'd know what was going on, but maybe he wouldn't. Maybe it would always be like this between them. Michael was his whole world and he couldn't be Michael's. Not with everything else he had going on.

A stray thought latched on and he glanced over at Kyle. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you and I had never stopped being friends." Maybe nothing would have changed. Kyle's dad would still be dead and Alex's father would still be responsible. And now, all these years later, they were still friends of a sort.
thenewnormal: (Sideeye)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-05 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Alex slammed on the brakes, turning to look at Kyle. "Stop, okay? Just stop. It's done, you were an idiot, but you weren't the only idiot back then. I did some awful things, too." Like run away from something that had felt right. He'd kept running even after ten years and at least Kyle had admitted he was wrong.

"Let's make a deal that that will be the last time you apologize for being a dick in high school." He paused and added, "Otherwise, you'll start a backlog for when you fuck up from here on out." If he'd felt like smiling, that would have been when he smiled, but the smile was in his voice.

"Okay? Besides, it's not like it would have changed all that much. I ran away after Michael's hand got broken when I should have stayed and done...something."

He turned to make sure Kyle knew he meant it.
thenewnormal: (Coffee)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-10 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Alex searched Kyle's face and he didn't like what he saw. He'd seen the same thing in the men and women around him when he'd been overseas and it twisted something in his chest to see it in Kyle's expression now. He'd been in such a rush to go find Michael, to figure out what was going on, that he'd hurried right past the part where he'd checked over Kyle to make sure he was alive. Physically, he was mostly just bruised and that's what Alex had worried about.

But there was more to it than just the physical bruise. The bruise didn't cause the whiteness in Kyle's face or the ways his eyes darted around to assess the situation. Alex pressed his lips together and wondered whether anyone would care if he shot his own father.

"I won't," he promised.

He continued forward slowly, continuing to glance at Kyle out of the corner of his eye. He'd been too lost in his own crap to be worried about more than the physical, but he was worried now.

"I should have known he wouldn't stay away," he muttered softly. Especially since they'd destroyed something that must have been precious. He couldn't help but wonder if that was one of the things his father had squirreled away or whether the government knew about the prisoners that had been held there.
thenewnormal: (Soldier)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-10 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
He'd been putting a lot of things off about this conversation in favor of focusing on the task at hand: finding Michael or Max or Isobel or even Liz at this point and finding out what had happened. But it was starting to become apparent that while Alex could compartmentalize (hide, a part of him said), Kyle was having trouble.

Alex took one hand off the wheel and squeezed Kyle's shoulder gently.

"You're not alone, I promise. Whatever comes your way, especially when it comes to my father, we'll deal with it. You're being a lot kinder to him than anyone else would be and miles away than he would be to you." Given that his father had tried to...

Horror twisted in his stomach and he didn't finish the thought. Just when he and Kyle were getting back to something, just when they were becoming friends again. It was another thing his father had tried to take from him and there would be a reckoning.

"If I have to take it out of your hands so you can sleep easy, I will." Because he'd done as bad or worse over the years.
thenewnormal: (Walking Away)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-11 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Alex snorted a laugh. That was something he admired about Kyle. His ability to put an absurd spin on even the most serious subjects, just injecting a little bit of humor to make the terrible seem not as bad.

"You are. You'd be someone's bitch within the first half hour." And...okay. That was enough of thinking about Kyle bending over and taking it. His love life was complicated enough and his relationship with Kyle maybe even moreso. He didn't want to screw this up the way he had all those years ago.

He pulled his hand back to put on the wheel and shook his head. "You're wrong, though. I'm not brave. I just put on a good act." Maybe he had his moments, but they never seemed to last long. If he'd been brave, he would have told his father to go to hell at the drive-in. If he'd been brave, he would have stayed on that tailgate and to hell with the rest of the world.

He sighed as he pulled into the parking lot at the Wild Pony.

"Someone had better be here," he said and got out before Kyle could respond to his 'I'm not brave' comment. He knew why people always thought he was brave. His leg was a very clear comment about why they thought that. But he knew they were wrong and he didn't need Kyle's platitudes or to go into detail about why Kyle was wrong.

Not that the quiet would last long because Kyle was probably right behind him. He headed for the door, opening it quickly so that maybe he could get into a conversation with Maria before Kyle could call him on what he'd said and froze.

Michael. There he was, like he didn't have a care in the world or had made any promises to be anywhere. And... His heart twisted and tears sprang to his eyes when he actually took in what he was seeing. Michael was playing the guitar. To Maria.

He shut the door quietly and backed up, smacking into a warm chest.

"Michael's fine, which means that Max and Isobel are going to be." Because there was no way that he was going to serenade Maria without his family being safe. He stumbled away from Kyle and headed back to the car. "Where can I drop you? I have a date with..." Michael. He had a date with Michael which Michael was clearly not keeping. And he couldn't drink his pain away at the Wild Pony like he usually might.

"Saturn's Ring," he finally said and yes, it was a tourist joint, but maybe that was for the best. He wouldn't be recognized there. No one would question why he was having a mid-afternoon bender."
thenewnormal: (Sideeye)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-12 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
Alex shook his head. "You don't have to, Kyle. Michael's inside if you want to go ask him where everyone else is." He didn't think he could face the two of them. And maybe it wasn't anything, but it looked like something. It looked as if Michael had his hand back. Clearly near-death wasn't the only thing Max could heal. And he'd chosen to play for someone for the first time in years.

He'd chosen to play for Maria.

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes and he thought that maybe the better idea was to grab a few bottles of something and head home. He couldn't do any damage out there and it wasn't like Michael was looking for him. He'd probably even forgotten that he'd made a plan to meet up.

"And we both know that you wouldn't step inside that tourist shack if someone paid you." Which...it meant a lot that Kyle was willing to go for him. But he wasn't likely to be the best company. He was just planning on drinking until he was sick and then having whoever the bartender was call him a cab.
thenewnormal: (Walking Away)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-14 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
There was a brief flicker of a smile and a bleak expression on Alex's face at that comment. What he wouldn't give for Michael to be the one saying that. Yes, Alex had made mistakes. Plenty of mistakes. But he'd thought they were getting to a better place.

And now...

He pressed the keys into Kyle's hand. "My place. No one really knows where I am. Except for random people trying to break in because they think they still own it."

Another flicker of a smile and he headed for the passenger's side. "We'll have to stop for something on the way out." Because he wasn't too keen on having a lot of alcohol in the house. Too much temptation some days and if he was in that kind of mood, he'd prefer to be at the Wild Pony with friends who could keep him in check.

Which wasn't an option. Might not be an option for a while.
thenewnormal: (Default)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-17 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
"You're absolutely random," Alex muttered, mostly for osmething else to say. He did make a bit of a face at the mention of Alex and Kyle's father sneaking around. Sure, it wasn't like that, but after finding out that Kyle was actually Rosa's half-brother, it was a little weird to hear.

"Fine," he said when Kyle mentioned food. "Stop for fast food, too. Unless you want me to make omelets or something."

Except he didn't really want to stop drinking long enough to cook. He was willing to eat while he was drinking. So if Kyle wanted him to have food, they'd have to get it before the alcohol.
thenewnormal: (Default)

[personal profile] thenewnormal 2019-08-21 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
Alex shook his head. "You were the one who was shot and now you're the one taking care of me." He... He'd only had his heart shattered. Only. "I'll come in with you." And they'd pick out a handful of bottles of alcohol and figure out food and then they would go home and drink until he didn't care that Michael had chosen Maria over him. That he wouldn't care that he hadn't seen it coming because he'd taken Maria at her word.

But he could hold up under a little emotional strain and it wasn't fair of him to make Kyle take up the slack, not in his condition. So they'd do it together. And then get completely plastered together.

It wasn't long before they had all the things they needed and were heading home. And still Alex couldn't keep from seeing Michael playing the guitar. Needless to say, he'd been quiet for most of the drive.

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