Joy (M/M, Teen, 2/2) 4/4

Finished Canon/Conventional Couple Fics. These stories pick up from events in the show. All complete stories from the main Canon/CC board will eventually be moved here.

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Anniepoo98
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Joy (M/M, Teen, 2/2) 4/4

Post by Anniepoo98 »

Title: Joy: A Holiday Story
Author: Annie
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters. They belong to the WB, Fox, and UPN.
Summary: M/M - two-parter. This takes place a few weeks after Balance. It’s the holiday season and Michael is trying to come up with the perfect gift for Maria.

Author's Note: The story is for Nibbles. Thank you for your wonderful donations to Support Stacie and all of the time and effort you've put into the Author Auctions. Plus, you gave me a chance to explore my Candy side. :)

PS... I just wanted to encourage everyone to check out the Support Stacie website and see if there is anything you might want and be able to do to help. There is another Author Auction coming up ( THREE days left to sign up if you want to offer a story!!!) in April. If nothing else, spread the word. Us Roswellians are seriously underrepresented this time.

More details can be found through the link in my siggie.

Image


Part One:

Michael looked down at silver and turquoise jewelry spread across the table. He had no clue what he was going to pick. Would she like earrings or would the necklace be better? How in the heck was he supposed to decide?

He thought he’d been doing a good job with the idea of getting something out at the reservation. After all, since everything that had happened here a few weeks ago, he’d felt more tied to it. And to Maria, he thought. He definitely felt more tied to Maria, more than he thought ever possible.

It was almost as if the Balance ritual changed something inside of him. Nothing drastic, granted, but Michael felt more settled. With everything he’d been thought in his life, especially the past year, it should be nearly impossible to feel practically calm. In fact, he felt downright normal.

Just imagine an alien walking among the human race feeling completely normal. Wasn’t that a kick in the head?

Still, that was how he felt, and being Michael, he wanted to take this new found inner peace or whatever it was for a ride. So, when Maria decided that the entire group really needed to get into the holiday spirit by doing a gift exchange on Christmas Eve, he’d decided to give it a shot. Sure, he, Max, and Isabel had always exchanged presents, but they had always been more like little tokens. This year, he was really putting some thought behind each gift.

At first, Liz and Alex posed a bit of a challenge, but, in the end, he’d managed to settle on something he thought they would like. Isabel was a no brainer. Every time they passed the little boutique in town, she’d stopped to look at this one item in the display. The only problem he’d with Max’s gift was how time consuming it was to make.

So, now he was down to Maria. How ironic was it that the one person he really wanted to impress was the hardest one to buy for?

Reaching down, Michael picked up a necklace. The silver findings were intricate knots with tiny polished beads dangling down. When the woman on the other side of the table offered him a hopeful smile, he nearly winced. Yes, he’d already looked over everything on display twice. Yes, he’d been there nearly thirty minutes. Still, a customer was a customer, right?

Feeling a little guilty, he offered an unsure smile back. “It’s nice.”

She nodded, but her smile dimmed just a bit. “More than nice,” she told him. “And a bargain too.”

Michael looked down at the price tag. This time he really did wince. “Not that much of one,” he muttered to himself.

“Anita spends several hours on each piece,” a voice said from behind him
.
Recognizing the voice, Michael felt his shoulders stiffen on their own accord. Trying to seem casual, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Eddie standing just a couple feet away. “It’s really nice,” he offered, cursing his lameness the second the words were out of his mouth.

Moving towards the table, Eddie pointed towards a pair of earrings. “These are nice too,” he offered.
Michael looked down at the earrings. Silver wire was twisted into a spiral with a blue stone anchoring the center. Eight other smaller stones were scattered in other places on the wire. Whether they were meant to resemble a galaxy or not, the unique pieces did exactly that.

Yep, as far as girly baubles went, these were pretty neat ones.

With what he hoped was a discreet move, he flipped over the tiny tag to take a look at the price. It was a near thing, but Michael managed not to wince this time. While more reasonable than the necklace, the earrings were still a bit more than he intended to spend. Though it sucked, since he could already picture Maria wearing them, there was just no way he could come up with the difference in time.

Giving the ground a little kick with the toe of his boot, Michael put down the box containing the earrings. “I’m just going to keep looking around,” he muttered. “Thanks anyway.” Turning, he gave Eddie a short wave and made his way back to his bike.

~~~~

Eddie glanced down at the earrings as he heard Michael’s bike peal down the dirt road that lead into the reservation. A little twinge of pity rippled through his stomach when he remembered the teen’s face as he placed the box back on the table. The combination of longing and regret had been too powerfully written on his face to be mistaken.

That alone was unusual. Out of all the teens from Roswell that visited the Reservation over the last several weeks, Eddie had seen firsthand that Michael was the most reserved emotionally. He was the loner lost within a group of friends he was trying to accept.

Maybe that was why Eddie found him to be the most fascinating. After all, like recognizes like.

Though his reasons ran nowhere near as deep as Michael’s, he knew how it felt to be different, how that feeling could lead a child to withdraw into themselves. He also knew that if steps weren’t taken, it was nearly impossible for the child to escape becoming lonely and bitter when he was grown. For some reason he’d yet to explore, that was the last thing Eddie wanted to see happen to Michael Guerin.

He knew the teen was trying. He’d nearly bit his own lip through trying to hold back a laugh at the expression of sheer panic on the Michael’s face as he struggled to buy a gift for his girlfriend. It reminded him so clearly of his first attempt buy a gift for a girl he liked. There had been no one to help him out then, and it appeared to Eddie that Michael felt there was no one to help him now.

An idea began to form in his mind as he looked at the earrings again. Yes, he thought, they would suit the little blond waitress very well.

With a wicked gleam in his eyes, Eddie lifted the box and handed it to his cousin. “Anita, what kind of deal will you make me on these?”
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Re: Joy (M/M, Teen, 2/2) 4/4

Post by Anniepoo98 »

Howdy all,

Here is the second and last part, as promised I hope you all enjoy.

Annie:)


Part Two:

Michael twisted and turned the ribbon every which way, but he still wasn’t able to get the bow to look as nice as the one Max had just done. The rumble of laughter coming from the other side of the table only served to irritate him more.

“Shut up, Maxwell.”

“Sorry,” Max said. “I’m just trying to figure out why you want to strangle the box. What has it done to you?”

“Not funny,” Michael all but growled this time. Then, he studied the box and saw that Max was right. It did look like he was trying to kill it. “Man,” he grumbled. “I suck at this.”

Max held out a hand. “I can fix it.”

Sure, Michael thought. I screw something up, no matter how small, and Max rushes to fix it.

Well, that was the last thing he wanted. Once, just once, he wanted to manage something important completely on his own. Hell, he’d actually been looking forward to exchanging Christmas presents this year. Maybe that was because it was the first time he’d invested time on each gift. Well, except for the one that mattered.

When it came to Maria’s present, he’d failed big time. Not that she would say anything. Michael knew that when she opened the box containing the brightly colored scarf, she would be happy, but he wouldn’t. Not when he knew that the perfect gift was out there, just out of his reach.

After his trip out the reservation, he’d done everything he could that fell just shy of begging to scrape up the extra cash, but he’d still fell short. He’d even made a trip back out there to see if the woman would be willing to negotiate the price. However, the only thing she could do was tell him that the earrings had been sold the day before. In the end, there had only been one option left. He’d braved the horror of the mall and eventually found the scarf.

Shaking his head against the feeling of utter disappointment, Michael started to unwind the ribbon from the box. “No. I’ll just do something else with it.”

Max nodded. “Are you sure everything is okay? You seem kind of,” he trailed, obviously searching for the right word, “down.”

Michael glanced up and saw the look of concern in his friend eyes. Typical Maxwell, he thought, not without little humor. “I’m fine.”

One of Max’s dark eyebrows arched up in another look that Michael knew all too well. It was one that said without a word that Max knew he wasn’t being completely honest. And, knowing his friend as he did, Michael also knew that Max would wait for the whole story as long as he had to.

Giving in, Michael started to go through the whole earring fiasco. “Okay, I went out to Reservation a couple of days ago to look for a present for Maria and I found one that was perfect for her.”

“What did you find?” Max asked.

“Well, there was this really great pair of earrings.” Max let out a snort of laughter, so Michael threw a roll of tape at him. “I’m serious. You know how much Maria enjoys all that girly stuff like makeup and jewelry. She’s like Isabel that way. Plus, these earrings were really cool. I know Maria would have loved them.”

Though he there was still humor in his eyes, Max stopped laughing and focused back on the conversation. “So, what happened?” His eyes drifted to the box in Michael’s hands. “That box is a little too big for a pair of earrings.”

As much as it embarrassed him to admit the truth, Michael decided that he wasn’t going to lie about it or beat around the bush. “They were kinda expensive and I didn’t have the money.”
Max nodded. “You could have asked. I would have helped.”

“I know.” Michael set down Maria’s present. It might not be the perfect gift, but it was something that made him think of her. It might not be expensive, but he’d worked hard for the money to buy it.

Above all, he knew she would like it.

Realizing that it was enough, some of the embarrassment he felt eased. “I wanted to do it on my own,” Michael said. “All the way on my own, you know. It would have been the same if I had borrowed money from you.”

“I get that,” Max said after a moment. “Besides, she will love the scarf. It’s very Maria.”
Michael opened his mouth to say thanks, but before he got the chance, there was a knock on the door. “Hold on a sec,” he said, getting up to see who it was. To his complete shock, Eddie was standing in the hallway.

“What are you doing here?” Michael asked. Behind him, he heard Max moving toward them, probably as interest in the newcomer as Michael was. Still, he didn’t look away from Eddie. Granted, he didn’t have anything against the guy. On the other hand, he didn’t have anything for him either. Eddie was an enigma, a mystery, just like Riverdog. Both were hard to get a read on.

Obviously unfazed by the less than welcoming greeting, Eddie’s expression remained the same, flat. In response, he held up a small white box, a small red bow topping it. “These are for you,” he said with barely any inflection.

“Sorry, but you’re not really my type,” Michael said, falling back on sarcasm out of habit.
To his surprise, Eddie smiled for a moment. Then, just as soon as it appeared, it was gone. “Give these to your friend. They’re the ones you picked out for her.”

Michael took the box from Eddie, lifted the lid. Inside, the earrings were nestled in tissue paper. Not knowing what else to say, all he could only ask, “Why?”

“It’s Christmas,” Eddie said. Then, without another word, he turned and started for the staircase.

“Hey,” Michael shouted after him. “That’s it. That’s your only answer.”

Eddie nodded without stopping.

Before he realized he was going to say them, the words were coming out of Michael’s mouth. “Merry Christmas.”

A moment later, Eddie was out of sight. Michael thought he heard a chuckle, but it was too far away to be sure.

~~~~

“How did you know?”

Maria bit her tongue to hold back the laugh, but it was tough.

Isabel was holding up a zebra printed wallet, positively beaming at it. It was as if she was genuinely surprised at the gift, when Maria knew Isabel had been hinting at it for weeks. That was why Michael, Max, and Alex chipped in to purchase the matching purse, wallet, and makeup case set.

Apparently, the guys didn’t have the same level of control that she did. They each started to laugh.
Isabel looked up from the wallet. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Michael said quickly. Still, there was a hint of laughter in his voice. “Nothing at all.”

“Hey,” Liz said, before a bickering match could break out. “It looks like there is just one box left to open.” Liz pointed to a little white box with a red bow on top. “I wonder who it’s for.”

Maria glanced over at Michael, who swallowed hard. It’s like he was nervous or something, she thought. Even as he moved towards the little tree the Parkers set up in the backroom of the Crashdown, he kept his gaze down and away from hers. Reaching out, he grabbed the box.

Then, he took a deep breath, turned around, and held it out to her. “It’s for you. I hope you like them,”
As Maria reached out to take the box from him, she felt his nerves feed her own. They doubled when he added, “But, it’s okay if you don’t. I have something else…”

Making quick work of the wrapping, Maria lifted the lid of the small box. And her heart did one slow turn in her chest. Nestled inside were two swirls of silver with eight blue stones. They instantly reminded her of galaxies.

He’d given her galaxies.

Knowing the significance of that, Maria reacted without a thought.

~~~~

Across the street, a man watched the revelry with a smile. When the boy with the spiky hair handed the petite blond a small box with the red bow on top, he sucked in a deep breath. He held it the entire time she while she was unwrapping the gift. Then, when she threw her arms around the boy, he let it out on a laugh.

He saw pure joy in the giving and receiving of the gift and he knew from personal experience that the joy was often more memorable than the gift itself. It would linger in the memory much longer than those pretty earrings would keep their shine. He’d learned that on a night very similar to this one several years ago.

Maybe that was why he did it, so he could relive those memories for just a moment. Maybe it was to help another person, someone he felt a bit of kinship with, to create a memory of his own. Either way, the reaction was more than worth the nagging headache his cousin Anita gave him in haggling over prices.

So Michael spun his girl in a circle, much to the amusement of his friends, Eddie turned and started walking down the sidewalk. “Merry Christmas, Michael Guerin.”
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