Requested by: TheMJPrincess
(Badangerous era)
The year is 1990 and you and Michael have been married happily for 3 years. You love living in Neverland with Michael. It's always so joyful, especially when Michael invites children over to enjoy the amusement park and play on the ranch. There comes a point, however, when it all gets a bit much for you...
You slowly woke up from your restless sleep as the sun poured through the curtains in yours and Michael's shared bedroom. You groaned and rolled away from the light; you hadn't slept enough that night due to the sounds of screaming and laughing that echoed throughout the house until the early hours of the morning.
Michael had invited his entire family over to the ranch for their annual family union, and with being one of nine children, Michael had lots of nieces and nephews. You were of course prepared for this, but Macaulay Culkin had been staying over the week preceding this, and you began to feel like you and Michael were never alone together anymore.
You rubbed your eyes and sighed to yourself, soon realising that Michael hadn't slept next to you last night. The worst thing was that this didn't surprise you, it was becoming a regular occurrence nowadays. It saddened you deeply; when you and Michael were engaged, he was working relentlessly on his Bad album, and then rehearsing non-stop for the tour. This was of course not ideal, when all you wanted was to spend time with your fiance, but you supported him no matter what because you knew the importance of his work to him and loved how it brought out his perfectionism.
You were often left feeling powerless, though. All your life you had also been a perfectionist, liking things done a certain way. You and Michael often joked that you were the only person on the planet who was more of a perfectionist than him; it was actually one of the things that made you and Michael work together so well as a team. You understood and accommodated for one another, because you loved everything about one another, the things that were good as well as the things that were potentially frustrating.
Lately you had felt that Michael's understanding had slipped, though. You were so happy to see him relaxed and having fun with the children, and you often joined in yourself. What you found difficult was the endless mess in the house. The water-balloon fights, the pranks, the silly string- it was dominating your home more often than not.
This is why you had excused yourself early from the celebrations last night. You had set up the dinner table beautifully for the family, making sure that everything was perfectly in place and clean. You were satisfied with your efforts, and the family complimented your hard work.
Despite having maids hired in the house, you always wanted to contribute to the cleaning, tidying and organisation of your home. Michael would playfully tease you at first, but after you explained to him that it was important to you to have things a particular way, he left you to your own devices, which you greatly appreciated.
Thinking back to the previous evening, you remembered how you had felt when Michael had suggested that the children did karaoke. You too thought it was a good idea at first, until Michael allowed the children to stand up on the dining room table, which you had taken so much care to decorate, and dance.
It was of course very sweet, but you felt hurt that Michael had allowed this, considering that he knew how long and hard you had worked to make everything perfect. Plates were broken, the tablecloth was ripped and one of your family heirlooms, a beautiful vase that had been in your family for generations, nearly smashed to pieces. You were in no way annoyed at the children, they were just having fun after all. It was Michael who had angered you, and he didn't even notice when you left.
You sighed to yourself as you swung you legs over the side of you bed, wondering if you had been too uptight about the whole thing. You decided to try and put your negative emotions out of your mind and make more of an effort to spend more time with Michael and the children; after all, his innocent and childlike nature was one of the many things that had made you fall for him.
You got dressed in a simple blouse and jeans before heading down to greet everyone for breakfast. Once you made it down the stairs, greeting a few of the maids along the way, your positive attitude fell away as soon as you entered the dining room.
Almost thirty children were running around, screaming and throwing cream pies around. There seemed to be hundreds; everything was covered in cream- the walls, carpet, paintings around the room, everything. In amongst it all you spotted one adult, a very familiar one at that, wearing a neon yellow button up shirt with slacks, his ebony curls completely covered in white cream.
You stood there dumbfounded, your blood boiling with anger. Michael knew how you felt the last time he had allowed one of the rooms in the mansion to be trashed. You had argued and argued, but he eventually apologised and promised to only have the food fights either outdoors or with protective plastic covering the furniture. You didn't want to be the one to stop all the fun, you had after all enjoyed many food fights in the past with him.
This was different though, it was happening multiple times a week, sometimes everyday, and you felt as though you were living in amongst pure chaos. You could no longer live comfortably in your own home and maintain a tidy and clean living space with your belongings in their correct places. What was worse, though, was that Michael seemed to no longer care about this side of your personality that you trusted him with.
As you stood in the doorway you raked your fingers through your hair and contemplated these painful thoughts, as Michael looked up all smiles and his eyes met yours. He looked so happy, but his face immediately fell when he saw you. It didn't only make you feel bad because you sensed that you were ruining his fun, but his facial expression told you that he went behind your back to do this, like he knew you wouldn't like it. He looked like he'd been caught.
Tears brimmed your eyes as you turned to leave, feeling stupid for getting upset over something as trivial as a food fight, but reminded yourself that Michael's actions were the reason for your sadness.
"Y/N wait!" you heard Michael shout as he followed you out of the room but you walked quicker until you were running up the stairs to your bedroom. You closed the door behind you and sank down to the floor with your back against it, feeling that all communication between you and your husband had been lost.
"Y/N open the damn door" Michael sighed, evidently attempting to sound calm. You just sat there with your head in your hands for a few moments, hoping he would go away.
"I said open the door, Y/N!" Michael raised his voice and that just made your blood boil. You stood up and opened the door suddenly, even catching Michael off-guard. You folded your arms as your eyes met his fiery ones. The two of you never used to argue, but lately it was all you every did and they only got worse each time.
"What do you want? I thought you were having fun ruining the house" you spat and turned on your heel to walk into the bedroom, too angry to even look at him.
"For God's sake, Y/N, it's called having fun" Michael said in annoyance, rolling his eyes as he followed you into your room and kicked the door shut. You pinched your nose in frustration, your back turned away from him.
"Well Michael, maybe it's not 'fun' for me to live in a house that no longer feels like my home!" you raised your voice slightly, trying to get through to him. You seemed to in some way, but instead of making him understand, you made him even angrier.
"You know damn well that I enjoy this because I never had this as a child" he said in a voice so quiet it would have frightened you if you weren't so mad. "I'm trying to allow a little happiness in my life, is that so bad? I thought you of all people understood that" he continued, bringing his eyes up to meet yours. You stared him down for a second, not allowing his dark eyes to intimidate you.
"And I thought that you of all people understood my fussy tendencies, that I can't help! I trusted that you understood that part of me, but now you just don't care. Every waking hour feels like chaos to me, and it's all your doing" you said firmly. In previous fights like this you had given in and backed down, but not today.
"Not everything is about YOU Y/N! Jesus, can't you get that into your head? If I want to have water balloon fights and play pranks in my own home, then I damn well will!" Michael slammed his fists on your dresser, making a few items fall to the floor. You jumped a little at the loud noise, but you still refused to back down. You were about to retort, but Michael cut you off.
"Just because you have to live like clockwork, Y/N, and put a downer on my happiness-". Both yours and Michael's eyes widened at that and you had to turn away, else you would have screamed the house down.
"Y/N, I didn't-"
"You know, Michael, you've always said that you are childlike. I don't think you see how childish and selfish you've become" you muttered quietly.
You knew that your words would've had an impact on Michael, just like his words had had an impact on you. With tears in your eyes you turned on your heel and walked straight out of the room with your head down, not able to look at Michael. You felt him make a hasty grab for your wrist but you turned your body away swiftly and walked out.
You walked out onto the grounds, politely excusing yourself from Janet, Tito and Jackie on your way as they enquired after you with concern. Right now you just wanted to be alone, and you knew the exact place to go.
The Giving Tree.
While it was of course one of Michael's favourite spots on the ranch, you treasured it a great deal for you own reasons. It was a long walk from the house and was perfectly solitary; you knew no one would disturb you here. You always used to sit under the shelter of its branches for comfort whenever Michael was away on tour or you just wanted to think, and that was exactly what you needed to do right now.
You hugged your knees to your chest as you felt the mid-morning breeze through your hair. For the first time in a while you felt in control and calm, away from the noise, chaos and mess. Casting your mind back to yours and Michael's argument, you began to feel a pang of guilt at your words. Yes, you had wanted to make him think about his actions, but you feared that instead you had just hurt him, and you hated yourself for it.
"God, how did we get here? How did I become the kind of wife that goes out of her way to trample her husband's happiness? Michael was right..."
You buried you head in your knees and let out a few quiet sobs, thoughts racing through your mind, telling you that you didn't deserve his love and that you were the problem. You began to feel that you had made an issue from nothing and cried harder at the sudden anxiety that your relationship would Michael would never be the same. Worse still, you worried that he would cast you aside and leave you.
"Maybe he should..." you thought to yourself and cried more.
The sound of hurried footsteps tore you away from your thoughts. You gritted your teeth as you anticipated who it might be, and to your slight dismay, you were correct.
A large, warm hand placed itself over yours as the figure knelt down in front of you. You dared open your eyes, hiding the rest of your face behind your knees as Michael's eyes bore into you, full of concern and sadness.
"Y/N I should never have said those things..." you could tell from his croaky and deep voice that he had been crying just as much as you had, only making your sense of guilt worsen. You shook your head a little as he struggled to continue.
"I haven't taken your feelings into account, and the thought of you not feeling at home in your own home makes me hate myself, Y/N" he croaked out. Your teary eyes snapped up to his at his last confession and you furiously shook your head.
"You should never hate yourself, Michael. I shouldn't have said those things; the fact that I've made you feel bad about yourself makes me s-so...so ashamed" you began firmly but ended up breaking down in more sobs. Michael bit back his tears as he cupped your face with his large hands.
"Y/N, listen to me. This is my fault. I've not been considering your feelings and haven't accommodated for your preferences. I haven't done my job as a husband, I've not allowed us to work as a team and I'm truly...so sorry for that" Michael's firm yet loving voice soothed you a little, but you still felt guilty and stupid for your actions.
"But Michael, I do put a downer on your fun. I'm too uptight, too organised, too fussy and I hate it... I hate it because I make life difficult and dull for you. And worst of all...I hurt you..." you whispered out, looking down to avoid Michael's stare as you remembered your words from earlier. At that he put his long index finger under your chin and gently tilted your head up.
"Never say that about yourself, my love. I love you for all that you are; you are not uptight or fussy, you are attentive to detail and confident in your decisions. Those are not bad things, you hear me?" he stroked a piece of your hair behind your ear while your eyes scanned his.
"And I need you to know, sweetheart, that yes, I have fun with the children, because they rekindle a part of my soul I was never allowed to be in touch with. But I have that and more with you, Y/N. You are the reason for all my happiness in life, but recently I've been blind to that. For that, my love, I can only apologise, but believe me when I say that I know it to be true" he whispered, his voice soulful and passionate as he tenderly caressed your cheek. You pulled him in for a tight hug, feeling a weight lifted off of your shoulders for the first time in months.
"I'm sorry I called you childish...I know that hurt you and the last thing I want is to hurt you" you whispered in his ear and pulled back a little as Michael allowed you to talk.
"I love your childlike nature and I never want you to change...please promise you that you won't" you continued to whisper, your eyes searching his, which held no more signs of sadness, only love.
"As long as I have you, my darling, I never will" he softly reassured, and for the first time in a while the two of you smiled brightly at each other before sharing a soft kiss.
The rest of the day was filled with happiness; the maids had cleaned the house so it was spotless and you enjoyed a meal with the Jacksons filled with laughter and joy. Most importantly, though, you and Michael stayed by each other's side for the entire duration of the day, and you knew that from thereon you would once again be stronger together than when apart.
A/N: Thank you for the request TheMJPrincess -I'm sorry if it isn't exactly what you wanted, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Thank you for reading Moonwalkers; if you have any requests of your own just leave them in the comments of PM me, and don't forget to let me know your thoughts! <3