Work Text:
"I just don't get it," Alex said from the end of the bar.
Michael looked up from his phone. He hadn't noticed Alex sitting down at the bar, too focused on finding out the whereabouts of his absent husband.
"You don't get... what?"
"How the hell did you end up married to Kyle Valenti?"
Michael sighed and shook his head.
"He's changed a lot since high school. Going off to college was really good for him... and he was there for me when I really needed someone." Maria set his beer down and then handed one to Alex.
"Just, can you walk me through it? How did you guys go from mortal enemies to... getting together?" Alex asked. Michael took a deep breath and a long drink from his beer.
"The summer after his sophomore year of college, i guess he realized he hadn't seen me around town, at all... I was... I was in a real dark place, after you left."
Alex looked down, the pain and regret marked plainly on his face.
"Michael, I-"
"It doesn't matter, I'm not blaming you, it's just part of the story. Anyway, I was in a dark place, and I'd had two years since then to spiral down even further. I barely remembered to eat half the time, I was drunk a lot, or high. I don't think i was suicidal, it's just that life didn't really seem to have much of a point, a purpose... So then Kyle shows up, out of the blue, and picks a fight with me, and we beat the crap out of each other... and the next week he came back and did it again."
Michael grinned a little at the memory.
"Even when he left for college again, he came home every weekend and he'd stop by my place on Friday night and pick a stupid fight so we could just absolutely beat the shit out of each other."
Alex seemed a little stunned, not really making eye contact.
"After about four months I started asking him why he was doing it... He was like 'since when do I need a reason to kick your ass?' But it gave me something to look forward to, something to live for, as twisted as that probably sounds. I knew Kyle would be there, around 8:30 on Friday night."
Michael took another long drink.
"Of course i started eating better, working out. If we were gonna have Fight Club every week, i was gonna start winning, like really winning, and I did. About a year after he started it all, I started winning consistently, a lot. One time the fight ended with Kyle on the ground, and I was straddling him and he suddenly, like, panicked. The next week he didn't show up, which was weird, we'd been doing this for over a year. The next week he wasn't there by 9 and I drove out to the Valenti place."
Michael laughs and rubs a hand on the back of his neck.
"I hadn't thought about the fact that I was knocking on the sheriff's door at almost 9:30 pm until she opened it and gave me that look. I was just like 'uh... is Kyle here?' Like i was a 10 year old who wanted to play catch or something."
There's a long pause, until Alex finally clears his throat and asks, "So then what happened?"
"Kyle came to the door, he knew it would be me. The sheriff said she'd give us our privacy. He came out and shut the door and had the audacity to ask what I was doing there. I said he'd stood me up, two weeks in a row, and he was like 'maybe I just didn't feel like getting my ass kicked tonight'... and i called bullshit and kissed him right there on his parents' porch. He punched me in the ribs. I told him I'd see him on Friday." Michael takes another drink.
"So the next week he shows up on time, just like usual, and I was like 'so what's it gonna be?' And we fought, but not nearly like we had been, until Kyle had me pinned to the ground and then he kissed me and we made out. That was the last night of our Fight Club, but Friday night is still date night, nearly seven years later..."
"You realize that's pretty fucked up, right, Michael?"
"Yeah, but we were both kind of fucked up at 21. Who wasn't?"
Michael looked down at a notification from his phone.
"Anyway, halfway through his senior year of pre-med we were officially dating so I started driving out to see him on Friday nights and got to know his college friends and one night his roommate pulled me aside and was like, warning me that Kyle's ex-boyfriend was really abusive and Kyle used to come back to school with fresh bruises every week that he'd never talk about, and Jon was so glad that Kyle and I were together because Kyle seemed so happy now, but that I should watch my back because that other guy seems pretty dangerous... and I couldn't exactly tell Jon that I was the guy who had been giving Kyle all those bruises..."
"So what did you tell them about y'all getting together?"
"The highly abreviated version: We knew each other in high school but never dated and I finally kissed him last summer."
Kyle finally slides onto the stool next to Michael, one arm around his waist, and presses a kiss to his husband's curls.
"Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?"
"Oh, not much. I was just telling Alex about how we got together."
"The whole story?" Kyle asked, surprised.
"I mean, i left out the gory details, but yeah."
"Well, congratulations, Alex! You're officially the third person in Roswell to hear the whole thing, after my mom and our therapist."
"Nah, he's the fourth, DeLuca knows, too."
"When did you tell Maria?"
"You were studying for that big test leaving me to do all the wedding planning and she offered to help."