Alex's head was spinning. Fine, they hadn't said the word, but Michael was an alien. From outer space. And somehow the only thing he could come up with was that he'd be able to say that he officially had a thing for older men. Much older. It was a stupid joke and he didn't actually say it, but he didn't think he'd be able to come to terms with this here in this cave.

"Then you go to Max and you tell him to fix your hand," he said decidedly.

He took his hand off the pod and walked over to Michael, cupping his neck. The breath he took was shaky. "I'm not going to say that I'm okay... No, that sounds bad and I don't mean it that way. You, Max, Isobel. I'm okay with you. More than okay. I've known you all for years. Max, the goofy book nerd who's in love with Liz. Isobel, the queen of the school and one of the few popular girls who actually cares."

He shifted his hand and ran his thumb over Michael's jaw. "And then there's you, the boy I never saw coming." He smiled and then nodded back to the pods. "That? That's going to take some time."

And he honestly couldn't say that he wouldn't change his mind when the reality finally hit. But here Michael was, offering him a secret the likes of which Alex had never known, offering to fix the mistake that Alex had made by not standing up to his father, and offering him a way out. That outweighed any panic that might be peeking at him from the edges of his consciousness.

He stepped closer and pressed his other hand to Michael's chest to stop his hand from shaking.