start a fight [muke af]

epilogue part ii

epilogue part ii

TEN YEARS SINCE MICHAEL'S RELEASE

Luke was in bed when Michael got home. He was quiet as he tiptoed up the steps, just in case his pregnant partner was sound asleep. Luke has had a tough pregnancy so far. His morning sickness never ended, he tired to drink water but ended up throwing half of it up. He couldn't sleep much, and his computer screen hurt his eyes.

Mike tried to be there for him, but his boxing studios has outreached to four hundred stores across the country which makes him a busy, busy man.

He found Luke half awake, two pillows under his back, three pillows surrounding his head. Michael's side of the bed was stripped of the soft, satin-covered pillows, leaving him with the itchy ones.

"Hi, Baby," Michael whispered. He crawled into bed, moving a pillow to lay at Luke's side instead. "How are you?"

"Sore," he responded, keeping his eyes closed. "I like having your mom here."

"She likes being here."

Ms. Clifford moved in when Michael and Luke moved from their old, small house to a bigger one that fit their needs better. She said it was to help the baby when it comes along, but both Michael and Luke knew she hated living alone.

"I feel like I'm suffocating," Luke complained. He tried to readjust his body, moving his nine month belly away from his lungs. He only frustrated their baby boy, making him kick more than he was before.

Luke groaned, moving his hand to his pounding headache.

Michael rested his rough, callused hands on Luke's lower stomach. He moved up the sweater adorning Luke's body as he felt the rapid kicking and moving of their first born. "Sh," he whispered, his lips pressed to the warm skin. It was weird for Michael to process that their baby was only a layer of skin away. It was alive and growing and bothering Luke.

"It hurts," he complained.

"You're so close to the end. Then we have our baby." Michael wrapped his arm fully around Luke's stomach, pulling himself as close to the thirty-year-old as he could. "I'm excited."

"I can't wait to nap on my stomach again. Or breathe without suffocating. Or see my toes." Luke listed off the things he missed. "And go back to work, I miss the studio."

When Luke took his maternity leave, he took it as his farewell to the prison, too. His chapter off being a patrol officer was over as he now helped Michael run the close-by boxing studios.

"I can't wait to be parents," Michael sighed contently, "Can you believe this is our lives?"

Luke groaned as another punch from their baby was delivered to his ribs.

Michael took that as a response. "Like, who knew me making you shit your pants once a day would lead to this?"

"I wasn't scared of you."

Mike laughed, "You were fucking petrified."

"Shut up."

"I love you, Twink."

Sometimes, Luke forgets the person Michael used to be. He was the one always picking fights, hiding drugs in his shoes, always aggravating Luke.

Michael isn't like that anymore. Michael is the love of Luke's life, and Luke is the love of Michael's life. It was weird for both men to think how much has changed, all in a positive way. 

(a/n) fun fact, i started publishing this story exactly two months ago