#cause sanders aint blind

[thesquidkid]

Make it purr (3x09 coda)

It will get a title later so I can post in on AO3. This little fic is coincidentally an answer to this ask that @bisexualalienblast got, and loosely based on prompts that @ober-affen-geil gave on discord (thanks again Riley! ❤️)

Enjoy this little missing scene between Michael and Sanders 😁

Edit: it has a title! And you can read it on ao3: Make it purr

Michael was working on Mrs Santor’s car, the sun bright and hot in the sky on this afternoon, making him sweat. But he wasn’t paying much attention to it, repeating the movements he knew well by now, his mind focused on something else, someone else.

He didn’t hear the footsteps coming behind him, not the man standing by his side, with his arms crossed over his chest, until he cleared his throat, making Michael jump.

“Jesus,” Michael said, waving the wrench he was holding in his hands and pointing it to Sanders, “no one ever told you not to sneak on people, old man?”

Sanders chuckled at him, “I’m paying you to fix cars, kid, not to unscrew batteries.” he said pointing to the open hood of the car.

Michael looked down, and saw that indeed, by repeating known movements, he screwed a new battery in, but proceeded to unscrew it afterwards. He looked back at Sanders and took a step back from the car, “Well, I was distracted, won’t happen again,” he said, instinctively.

Sanders waved him off with his hand, and walked towards the main house, indicating with his head for Michael to follow him. “Yeah right, seems to happen a lot these days,” Sanders said walking away.

Michael was frozen next to his car, and when Sanders’ words finally reached his brain, he nearly ran to his level, “What are you talking about?” he asked, eyebrows frowned in confusion.

Sanders breathed out a laugh and turned to look at Michael, “Kid, I told you, I ain’t blind.” he said, stopping to open the door once they reached the house. The two men headed for the worn out sofa, Michael using his powers to get two beers from the fridge and open them. After taking a sip of his bottle, Sanders spoke up again, “You finally figured you and your boy are a thing?”

Michael stared at Sanders, barely stopping the smile forming on his lips. Sanders closed his eye at him, something he guessed was meant to be a wink, but didn’t quite land that way.

“Why - why would you think that?” Michael replied, stuttering and trying to hide the small blush on his cheeks. He and Alex had only kissed the night before, and he hadn’t seen Sanders since. They hadn’t really talked that much, but it was still more than what they were used to. Namely, they agreed that this relationship would be a new one, that the effort they had both done individually wouldn’t be for nothing, and that they would take things slow. Starting by an in-public date.

Sanders looked at him with one eyebrow raised, “You gonna tell me that I’m wrong?” he asked, rhetorically, but Michael chuckled and shook his head. There was no point denying it after all.

“That’s what I thought,” Sanders said, taking a sip of his beer, “and for how I figured it out? Kid, you got that same look on your face you had before.”

At Michael’s confused look, he continued. “When you thought you could sneak in n’ out of this junkyard to hook up with your boy without me noticing.”

Michael took a second to process. He sat further into the sofa, remembering all the times he and Alex had been in the junkyard, all the times he drove off with Alex to see the desert. “You knew?” Michael asked, turning to Sanders with his eyes wide open, “all this time, you knew and you never said anything.”

“Not my place,” Sanders shrugged, as if it was that simple.

“Not your - seriously?” Michael laughed out, not believing it, “so few days ago, when I talked about Alex as a friend and you asked if we were a thing, what was that?” he asked, voice clearly teasing, glad that Sanders had understood that he needed space to figure things out with Alex.

“I got fed up with your bullshit,” he answered, making Michael huff, somewhat agreeing. “So you’re gonna cook him dinner? Or did you forget you had manners?”

Michael laughed at that, his head falling back, “Not today, uh, we have a date planned for tomorrow, and uh, we’re taking things slow?” he said hesitantly, cursing himself for his lack of confidence.

Either Sanders didn’t notice Michael’s voice going higher in the end, or if he didn’t didn’t comment on it. “A date uh,” he pointed out instead, “that’s new.”

“Yeah, yeah” Michael breathed out, with a chuckle, “usually it was junk food at the back of my truck, but not anymore!” He was determined to not fall back into their old habits. Not that he didn’t want them to hang out on the bed of his truck, maybe even make out, but he also wanted them to do new things too, like public dates, movies, proper dinners, and all the things they haven’t done yet.

Michael brought the beer bottle to his lips, feeling Sanders looking at him, silently.

“We, uh, don’t have the best history when it comes to dating,” he started to say, not quite looking at Sanders, “and I don’t want to mess it up, you know? But I don’t really know how - if - we can have this?”

Michael breathed out a shaky breath, sinking deeper in the couch. He didn’t really expect Sanders to give him relationship advice, but he needed to express his doubts about the future. He didn’t have any doubts about his feelings for Alex, but historically, they didn’t always express themselves, and no matter how much he wanted this relationship, craved it even, there was still a little voice, reminding him of all the hurt.

“I ain’t the person to give you relationship advice, kid,” Sanders said, making Michael chuckle and shake his head with a smile. “But I do know how to make machines work.”

At this, Michael turned his head, his eyes meeting Sanders’, a look of confusion on his face. “You don't walk away from a broken engine. You find a way to make it purr again."

On that note, Sanders stood up, leaving Michael sitting on the couch, replaying those words in his mind. He made his way to the door, opened it, “And speaking of engines, I ain’t paying you for nothing!” he shouted back inside, before closing the door behind him.

Eventually, Michael went back to work on Mrs Santor’s car, Sanders’ words never leaving his mind. After he finished work, he said his goodbye to Sanders and drove off to Alex’s house, ready to pick him up for their date.

Their date didn’t quite go as planned, but he wouldn’t change it - well maybe he’d change the part where Alex nearly died or could’ve ended up with a melted brain.

#i have feelings about michael and sanders #many many feelings #michael guerin #walt sanders #discussing malex #cause sanders aint blind #roswell new mexico #rnm #rnm fic #rnm spoilers #thesquidkid writes