Thank you to the lovely people who reviewed my last Burn Notice story, I always appreciate hearing what people think! Here's another one, because I love Michael and Fi so much that I literally can't stop writing stories for them. I've slowed down a bit due to my course work at the moment, but I still have a few more in the works. This story is a bit different from my others; it's more of a rambling/musing of Michael and Fi's relationship than the missing scenes I love to do so much. However, this was quite fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it. Obviously I do not own Michael and Fiona, or anything to do with Burn Notice. Please let me know what you think!
Unconventional
If you were to look up the definition of unconventional couple, it would definitely include a photo of Michael and Fiona. You know, if that's how dictionaries worked.
They're not big on labels. Boyfriend, girlfriend. Only in rare circumstances do they introduce each other in such formal terms. More often than not, it's simply this is Michael/Fiona, no further explanation necessary. This is partially due to the nature of their relationship. After the constant on/off see-saw they sat on for so many years, the lines between them blurred beyond the point of recognition. Even when they weren't officially together, in the back of their minds they considered each other their partner in every sense. Boyfriend and girlfriend are such insignificant words anyway. Partners suits them much better, considering the fact that they have each other's backs in every area of life, whether it's personally or professionally. Their dislike of labels also relates to their jobs. Both of them, Michael in particular, recognise the dangers in outside forces knowing the true nature of their relationship. Being so entwined with another person is practically begging for them to be put in danger. Love nothing, and nothing you love can be used against you.
Dates for them are certainly not conventional. They spend most of their time helping others, with the aid of Sam and Jesse, so time together is usually sacrificed for matters of greater importance. Their days are spent dealing with guns, explosives and many other means that most normal people would consider "dangerous". Luckily, Fi loves guns and explosives more than anything in the world, so she doesn't mind too much. She is the more conventional of the two of them, in some ways. She insists that they go to visit his mother, and berates him for not taking her out more often. She tells him that she wants to go somewhere fancy, usually in return for a favour. Most of the time it's from saving his ass in a dangerous (or deathly) situation. It often takes a few tries, but they eventually get there. When they do, Michael has to hide the fact that it doesn't bother him as much as he leads her to believe. It's just another part of who they are.
Physical contact between them is substantially different from most couples. They're always discreet in public, partly because they focus on the job before anything else, and partly because they don't need to give any enemies potential leverage. Private moments are something they've become better at over the years in Miami. Where they used to sleep facing at opposite sides of the bed, they now gravitate towards each other. They're more likely to press a kiss to the top of the hair, or forehead. They hold in each other more than they used to, mostly to provide comfort in dire situations. Michael will never forget the way she embraced him when he escaped from the burning embassy, one hand at the back of his neck and the other running through his hair, clinging to him tighter than ever before. Similarly, Fi will never erase the feeling of how desperately he held her the day she was arrested. How she had buried her face in his neck, and felt more connected to him than ever. It would've been a perfect moment, if it weren't for the fact that he handcuffed her so that she couldn't go through with her plan, or she'd later managed to turn herself in. Even the way he held her when she was released from prison, after she had literally ran into his arms, although that was marred by a tragic event. Above all else, her favourite touch of his has to be the way he strokes her cheek with his fingers. It's typically the most he'll ever do in front of others, but it never fails to make her feel cherished, no matter what the situation is. For a brief moment, she can feel like the most important thing in his life.
They don't even fight like normal couples. Most people don't enjoy arguing with their significant other, but it becomes a lot more dangerous when you've been trained to kill, and have access to a vast range of weapons. Fi is obviously the more vocal of the two. She will push, kick and scream until she gets what she wants. Most disagreements happen because she demands confrontation. Michael is the silent one, but he can scare the shit out of you if he really wants to. They'd never really hurt each other (as much as they drive each other crazy, they care too much), but the potential for damage is certainly there.
Pet names are non-existent to them. Why bother with pointless nicknames when their own names hold so much weight? He is always Michael to her, regardless of the situation, whether they're alone or not. He shudders at the thought of her calling him Mike, or Mikey, like Sam does. His name never sounds better than when it's coming from her lips, stretched out syllables and all. For her, it's the tone of voice he uses when he says her name, his ability to make one syllable sound so different depending on the circumstances. Fi can be emphasised in so many ways, from a warning (don't use all the C4 in one go, or shoot anyone until I get there), to frustration (are we really going to talk about this now?), pleading (I need you to do me a favour…) to panic (please be okay, I can't lose you). Her favourite though, has to be the way he whispers it in the middle of the night, when he's mostly asleep and pulling her closer. It's when she gets the full out Fiona that she knows she's in trouble. Sometimes it's because she ignored the first few warnings he gave her, sometime he's trying to stop her from leaving. It usually means he's serious about something. When he drags it out into too many syllables (Fiooonaaaaa), she tries not to laugh, because she loves that she can irritate him so greatly with such little effort.
I love you is not a regular part of their vocabularies. Most couples say it constantly, but they are not most couples. They're both damaged people, and those three little words are something they've both struggled with. Both of them have admitted they're no good at this. They've always been better with actions than words anyway. They don't need something as insignificant as words to know how they feel about each other. It's always been about the little things for them. The way he looks at her, his eyes soft in an adoring way reserved just for her. Or the way he smiles at her, displaying all his teeth, but not in the fake way he does for other people. She likes fixing his tie for him, even though he's more than capable of doing it himself. She always backs him up no matter what the mission is, even if she isn't happy about it. The way she kisses him before he runs off on another one of his crusades without her is her way of begging him to come back in one piece. It's the fact that he never changed his emergency contact after all those years. No matter how many lame excuses he comes up with, they both know the truth. It's also the fact that she answered the call and came to his side, even after all those years. She hears it in his voice every time he says I can't lose you Fi. She saw it clear as anything when he visited her in prison, the day her stoic spy broke down in tears. The look in his eyes reassured every fear she'd ever had towards his feelings for her, although it was breaking her heart. He saw it that day too, watching her as she sobbed behind the glass. It was in that moment that he vowed to always show her how much she means to him. They don't need words when they prove their love to each other every day.
They are so far from "normal" that it's almost funny. But why does it matter? Normal is overrated; normal would bore them to tears. They have their weapons, they have their little makeshift family, and they have each other. As cliché as it sounds, that's all that really matters.