This isn't weird.

The Moon and Back

A brief lull fell in the conversation, and Millie turned to him with a long, sad look. "I shouldn't have left you like that," she said.

"No, you shouldn't have." He took off his hat and looked back to her, his shoulders slumped, and underneath his rugged mass she could still see the scared, skinny sixteen-year-old he had been when she had disappeared from his life. "You can't know how hard it was without you, Camilla."

Millie closed her eyes hard, forcing back guilty tears. "I think I have some idea."

"I didn't have anybody else," he said, his voice cracking. "There wasn't anybody else here who could understand me, anybody else that would stick up for me. When the whole world was tellin' me I was sick or broken or just born wrong, you were the only person who ever said anything different, the only person tellin' me not to be ashamed of who I am. I knew things would be different with you graduatin' and all, but, Cammy, you and me, we were a team, and I loved you more than anyone, and then all at once, you were just... gone."

She reached for him, and he leaned into her, his body shaking with quiet sobs. "I'm sorry, Walt," she whispered, stroking his hair. "It wasn't right. I'm so sorry."

They stayed like that for a long time, holding onto each other as they quietly wept.

"I'd understand it if you hated me," Millie said.

"Shut your damn mouth, Millie May." Walt sat up, wiping at his eyes. "You know I could never hate you. Do you remember the first time you ever talked to me?"

Millie paused for a moment, then the corners of her lips twitched into a faint, devilish smile. "Hoyt," she said. "Hoyt fucking Harrison."

"That's right." Walt's smile had already returned. "You broke his goddamn nose."

"After what I heard him call you, I wish I'd broken more than that." Millie looked down at her hand, flexing her fingers. "I wouldn't mind punching that guy again. Whatever happened to him?" 

He shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"What, is he like a senator now?"

"Oh, nothin' like that." 

"Well, what, then?" 

"Are you sure you wanna know?"

"Tell me!"

Walter turned to Millie with a smirk, and leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "He's back at home in my bed."

Millie's jaw dropped, and for several seconds, she was dumbfounded. "You're fucking with me."

"Hand to god, I'm not," Walt replied. "We got hitched last year."

"Hoyt Harrison is gay?" Millie paused, furrowing her brow. "That... actually makes a lot of sense."

"Yep." 

"And you married him?"

"Yep."

"But... Walt, that guy made your life a living hell for years."

"Yep."

"But... How?"

Walt ran a hand through his hair, laughing. "He got in touch a few years back, wantin' to make amends. I agreed to meet up for a beer, and we got to talkin', and well... one thing led to another, as they say. I love him, and he loves me, and that's about all there is to it."

Millie rubbed her temples. "Holy hell, Darby, you are rockin' my fuckin' worldview right now. This is a lot to recalibrate."

"Take your time, darlin'."