#HELLO did you know it's Midam Appreciation Week? :3

[michaelmilligan]

Midam Appreciation Week Day 1: Can't Spell 'Illusion' Without 'Us'

„Adam?“ Michael asked, the couch dipping lightly as he sat down on it.

“Mh?” Adam made, not looking up from the Switch. He had just cleared another gym and was now checking the map to see what else was close. There was a Team Star base not too far off. Or maybe he should fly back to the school city and go out the other direction, do something there...

“Adam,” Michael said again, a little more sternly.

“Hmmm?” Adam blinked and looked up from the game while it was loading, flying him back to the city. “What's up?”

“You know, when you were so excited and said you would play for days, I didn't take it quite this literally.” Michael raised an eyebrow at him, looking about equal parts annoyed and amused.

“Well, that's kinda on you,” Adam said, but he shifted into a more upright position where he had been slumping against the back of the couch before. He hit the menu button when his character had landed, effectively pausing the game. “How long has it even been?”

Another raised eyebrow. But deep inside Adam, where Michael's grace sat snugly around his soul, there was a twinge of something... almost disappointed?

“Two days, three hours, and fifty-three minutes,” Michael said dryly.

“Oh geez. I really spent a lot of time catching those Pokémon, huh.” Adam's felt a little bad. But only a little. After all, his goal was not only to win every fight in the game, but also to 'catch 'em all'.

“You get very absorbed in that game,” Michael said, and Adam couldn't really interpret his tone.

“Yeah, I mean. It brings up memories from when I was a kid.” Adam shrugged. “And it's a good game.”

Michael made a non-committal sound.

“You're not jealous of the game, right?” Adam asked, and had to suppress a smile when Michael huffed.

“Of course not. That would be stupid.”

Adam bit his lip to keep himself from sighing. That was Michael's catch-all argument against accusations of being jealous, lonely or needy – that it would be stupid.

And yeah, it would be. After all, Michael was literally his best friend of over a thousand years, his match made in Heaven, and the guy who lived in his chest cavity.

And yet.

“You know, I've been thinking,” Adam said, because he couldn't let this stand, and also because yeah, he had been thinking about it. The plan had been pretty vague, but he supposed they could always wing it.

Heh. Wing it. Adam grinned, feeling Michael's wings rustle in suppressed agitation.

“Is this like the last time you had 'been thinking'?” Michael asked warily, wrinkling the nose of his projection. “I'm not going to clean up a bathroom flooded with milk again.”

“Oh come on, that was one time! And you can clean it with a snap of our fingers.” Adam snapped his fingers for emphasis, which of course did nothing for him. “And that's not even what I wanted to say.”

“So enlighten me, oh wise one.” Michael gestured for him to go on.

“Alright. So remember how in the cage, you made games for me to live in, like that farming simulation?”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “You mean the several farming simulations. You always wanted to change locations and NPCs.”

Adam gave a lopsided smile at the memory of trying to change or remove datable characters. He'd never cared much about the romance aspect of those games as a kid, and besides, he'd already had someone living with him on the farm: Michael.

But he hadn't exactly been able to tell Michael that he didn't want to date anyone there because he already had him.

“So could you do that, but for Pokémon?”

Michael's wings shifted in surprise. “But... we're in the real world now. On Earth. With actual people, and things happening.”

“Yeah, I know.” Adam shrugged, and looked away. “But I kind of miss when it was just us. When everyone else wasn't real, so we could just erase them from the world when we didn't like them.”

Michael looked at him for a long time. “I can do it, of course. But is that really what you want?”

Adam looked back at him. “Michael... You know that living in the Pokémon world was literally my childhood dream, right? The only reason I didn't ask for it in the cage was because you said you could only make things that you've seen before. Fields. Buildings. People. I figured that excluded any made up monsters from a children's game.”

Hesitantly, Michael nodded.

“Now that you've seen it all – and don't tell me you weren't watching while I was playing – you could do it, right?” Adam asked hopefully.

Michael hummed. “I could, though you can hardly say that I've 'seen it all'. This is the only of those games you've been playing, and there are many more, right?”

“Well, yeah, but we don't have all of them.” Adam frowned when Michael rolled his eyes.

“You can have everything you want forever,” Michael said, reminding Adam that he only needed to ask.

It felt wrong, though, to ask Michael to give him everything. And not just because Adam had no idea how it worked – did Michael steal a copy of the game from someone? Was it plucked from a stack in a store?

Adam supposed the latter wouldn't be so bad – no one would notice if one measly copy got lost.

But Michael wasn't his servant, or his tool. Sure, it was nice that Adam could rely on him when something went wrong (like said accident with the milk bath). But when Adam said 'Jump', Michael's response wasn't supposed to be 'how high?'. It should be 'But don't you want to cuddle me more?'

“We can do research,” Michael said, nodding. “We tube.”

Adam let out a sigh so long and deep that it could have killed someone who actually needed to breathe. “It's 'YouTube', Michael.”

“Yes, but we will be tubing together.” Squeezing himself against Adam's side, Michael fished their phone out their pocket. “There are those... 'Let's Plays', yes?”

“Dude, yeah, let's watch some nuzlockes!” Adam pulled up the page of one of his favourite groups of streamers. They should have covered most of the older games – he'd seen the video thumbnails, but hadn't had time to watch any of it so far. “This is gonna take us a while, you know.”

Michael butted their shoulders together. “You're the one who just wanted to spend untold hours in a projection.”

Adam elbowed him back. “Hey, that wasn't a complaint. Besides, I wanted to spend untold hours in a projection with you. Don't forget that.”

Michael blinked at him, and his wings rustled shyly. “We- we should be able to set these videos to double the speed, yes?” he eventually asked, managing a scowl again. “You should still be able to understand those.”

Adam couldn't take his eyes off his archangel, projection or not. “Don't worry about me, silly,” he said, a hand on Michael's thigh.

They spent days together on the couch, at some point switching from the small screen of their phone to their laptop. Sometimes, Adam had his head on Michael's shoulder, while other times, Michael's head was in Adam's lap.

It was a good time. Just watching and sometimes commenting. Relaxed. Happy. At times, it felt almost like back then – like they were the only two people in the world, and no one else mattered, or ever would matter again.

“Alright,” Michael said after the last video ended. “I think we have enough data.”

“Mh.” Adam wasn't too hyped about having to get up, or having to disentangle himself from Michael. But then Michael just told him to lay down on the couch.

“Are you ready?” he asked, his face far too serious for what they were about to do.

“Born ready.” Adam grinned when Michael rolled his eyes, and Michael made his projection vanish.

Close your eyes, he said from inside their head.

Adam followed his lead – and felt his consciousness fade away from their body.

When he blinked his eyes open again, he was somewhere else. In a room that looked oddly familiar...

There was a Pikachu plushie on a dresser, and several posters with Pokémon and items on them lined the walls.

Grinning giddily, Adam turned around to where he knew Michael would be standing – and was greeted by several balloons and a party horn almost hitting his face.

“Happy birthday, Addy,” Michael said softly.

Adam stared at him. The last thing he remembered was that it had been the middle of September – apparently, they had been watching those nuzlockes for a bit longer than he'd thought.

“And happy birthday to you, babe,” he said back.

“I wasn't born,” Michael recited their age-old argument, rolling his eyes.

“No, but it's your Feast Day. And what's the day that we feast on?” Adam said, also not for the first time.

Michael sighed. “Our birthday,” he completed their routine grumpily. “Fine. Now go get your Pokémon.”

“Only me? What about you?” Adam checked that he had everything – the obligatory bag, and the phone that would probably get updated with a Rotom, if he understood the newer lore correctly.

“I already have a team, of course, since I'm a lot older than you,” Michael said smugly. Then he strode out of the room – and Adam followed with an indignant gasp.

“How dare you! I'm over a thousand years old!”

“Exactly. You're basically still a baby.”

“Oh, honey, are you leaving?” a voice asked, and Adam stopped dead in his tracks on the last step of the staircase.

“Mom?” he asked under his breath.

“Oh look at you, baby, all grown up.” His mom came out of the kitchen and took his hands. “Ready to become the champ.”

“First, he will have to beat eight gyms,” Michael reminded them both.

Kate cupped both Adam's and Michael's face with a hand. “I'm so glad you'll be there for him,” she said. “I would be worried to death if Addy went out alone.”

“Moooom,” Adam complained. He knew that this wasn't his actual mom, since she was still in Heaven. But his indignation was real. “I'm not a child.”

“I know, baby.” She went on her tip-toes to kiss his forehead. “Now go meet the Professor.”

“I'll come by again afterwards,” Adam said, taking his mom's hands. “I promise.”

“Baby, I'll always be here when you want to come home.”

Adam squeezed her hands. Of course she would be there, he told himself. The mom was always home in the games.

Though of course, his real mom was always there, too, when he wanted to see her in Heaven.

He dropped her hands and gave her a smile. “I'll be off, then.”

“Be safe.” She turned to Michael. “Both of you.”

“Always.” Michael squeezed one of her hands too before they left, walking down the dirt path to the Professor's house.

Adam wasn't going to mention that his real mom wasn't quite as enthusiastic about seeing Michael than this one. In turn, Michael wouldn't mention that he was the current champ of this region.

Adam would find that out soon enough, anyway. And until then, he had a childhood dream to fulfil.

#HELLO did you know it's Midam Appreciation Week? :3 #Now you know #Adam is a 90's kid your honour #Midam #Midamap2023