He set his coat down on the recliner as he looked around his living room. "Mikey?" He called out and there was a rustling sound from the kitchen.

"Luke?" He heard and the blond smiled when he saw him appear from around the wall. "I made you something."

He rose an eyebrow before jogging into the kitchen, his curiosity peaked as Michael wiped his hands on his sweats. "A mess?" He teased as he saw the dishes and Michael shook his head.

"No, well, yes, but not that." He answered before smiling widely. "I was watching the uh the television and I saw them do this so I thought I'd try. The woman did it for her husband, but I thought that after our... date, I could do it for you."

Luke stifled a laugh when he presented him a sandwich, and he walked up to Michael before kissing his cheek. "Thank you." He said and Michael nodded. "I appreciate it."

"How was work?"  He asked and Luke shrugged as he grabbed a glass and filled it with water.

"I actually want to ask you about something." Luke brought up. "I've done some thinking, and my father just pisses me off, and I need you to do the thing."

"You'll have to be more specific." Michael told him and Luke tore at the sandwich to place a smaller piece in his mouth.

"You know, that thing where you read my mind and look into my head." He made a hand motion. "I need to know."

Michael blinked a few times. "What do you want to know in particular?"

Luke sighed as he looked down at his plate, wracking his mind for what he honestly believed he could accomplish from this. What if he turns up empty handed and it was just a waste of time?

"Anything. Everything." He replied and then wiped his hands on his pants. "Please."

He's never said please before, and if he had it was rare. It felt foreign on his tongue, and sent an almost heavy feeling pulling at him to be the vulnerable one in any situation.

"It's dangerous. You could get seriously hurt."

Luke was desperate. "I don't care. Please, Michael."

"Okay." Michael nodded and then set a hand on his shoulder. "You should sit down then."

He followed Michael into the living room and he took a seat on the floor before clearing his throat. "Will this hurt you?" He asked and Michael sat across from him.

"I don't know. I've never dug so deep." He confessed and Luke's eyes widened as he made a motion to sit up.

"Then don't -"

Michael covered his mouth with one hand while yhe other pushed down on his knee, and Luke sighed as he hesitantly met his green eyes. They glittered like the ocean, and he felt like he was being pulled in deeper and deeper. He wanted to swim in further, and there was possibly nothing in the world that could pull him away. It was soft, softening by the second, and the emerald glow that flashed like a light was spontaneous before it was steady. A soft glow that didn't quite burn, but still felt slightly uncomfortable.

The markings in his skin shimmered to life for only a split second, mirroring the flashing his eyes had done before they lit up a solid shade of ash and smoke. It was deep, murky, and almost blackening. It was blurry in the unfocused background around Michael's sharpened irises, and he felt like he was in the world's hardest staring contest as Michael gently uncovered his mouth.

Could he speak? Should he speak?

He doesn't know if he can, and Michael's swatting his leg immediately after the thought passes his head. "Don't think about language. Think of what you want to know and remember." He hissed and Luke felt a question mark arise.

What did he want to know, he asked himself as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

His family, he guesses. Or were they family? They felt too familiar to be strangers, but too foreign to be relatives.

He wanted to know what his father meant earlier that day and who those people were in his dreams. He wants to remember the flashing police lights and the hospital rooms, the blond woman he sees and why she's always reaching for him. Who was she? Who was that guy he kept seeing getting arrested? The kids beside him in the winter cold, what were their names? Why does he remember his brother being in his life but can't seem to remember when or why he left? Why does he have these dreams that feel like memories, but he can't seem to even imagine them when he's awake?

He cried out as he felt a pain in his head and he shut his eyes as he cradled his skull in his hand. "I-I-"

"- What?" Luke asked as he looked at Michael who had a hand over one eye and a steady trickle of blue falling from his ear and nose. "Michael, you're bleeding."

"I'm sorry." He told him and Luke felt his eyes grow heavy as his left one throbbed. "I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have had to go through that. No one should."

"What do you mean?" He asked and Michael looked like he was about to start crying. "What did you see? What is it?"

"You're mentally exhausted. Just lay down, and it'll come to you. Just..." He felt Michael's finger's close his eyelids and Luke felt his lip tilt upwards in an annoyed grimace. "- let it come. Don't fight it."

"Don't fight what?" He snapped and there was a knock on his door.

Great, of all the times someone could come by.

"If you don't relax, you'll over work your brain. Humans aren't built for these kinds of things, Luke. There are reasons why you can't remember. I told you it's dangerous to dig too deep." Michael whispered to him and Luke heard a familiar voice at his door. "It's your father."

"He's here?" He asked and then felt his body being lifted. "You have to go. He has a spare a key in case of emergencies -"

"- I will. I can hide, I'm good at hiding. Just don't do anything that involves thinking. Rest." He instructed and Luke felt like his body was asleep yet his eyes were open.

"There's a window in my shower that opens. It goes to the roof." Luke told him and Michael rolled his eyes.

"I think you forget, Luke, I am a warrior from another planet. I know how to hide." He reminded and Luke nodded.

"But you don't know how my father seeks."

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