dump him!
pairing: thriller mj x fem!reader
summary: tired of hearing about your terrible boyfriend, michael decides it is finally time to steal you away for good. even if it means making a total fool of himself in the process.
warning: bratty annoying jealous michael
the afternoon sun filtered lazily through the sheer curtains of the encino living room, casting warm, golden rays across the polished wooden floors. it would have been a peaceful saturday, except for the fact that you were currently sitting on the sofa, talking endlessly about him.
"i mean, he said he was going to pick me up at two, and it’s already three-thirty," you sighed, crossing your arms and staring gloomily at your phone. "and when he does show up, he’ll probably complain about traffic the whole time. but... you know. he's my boyfriend."
from across the room, michael froze.
he was standing near the upright piano, staring blankly down at the ivory keys with one finger resting clumsily on middle c. or the past twenty minutes, he had been listening to you drone on about your utterly mediocre, undeserving boyfriend, and something inside him had finally snapped. the chronic shyness that usually kept him quiet evaporated, replaced by a potent, bubbling cocktail of heartbreak, wounded pride, and sheer, unfiltered jealousy.
he turned slowly, leaning his hip against the wood paneling of the instrument. he tried to pull off a casual, breezy expression, but his big brown eyes betrayed him entirely—they were wide, pleading, and swimming with a desperate, heavy reluctance that screamed he couldn't take another second of this.
"oh, wow. sounds... super romantic," michael drawled, his voice dipping into that sweet, high-pitched sing-song tone he used when he was being intentionally annoying. he flashed a completely exaggerated, innocent smile, tilting his head. "really sweeps you right off your feet, doesn't he? leaving you sitting here for an hour and a half while he hangs out with his buddies. man, what a keeper. you're so lucky."
you narrowed your eyes at him, tossing a decorative pillow in his direction. "shut up, mikey. you're annoying."
michael caught the pillow effortlessly against his chest, letting out a breathy, high-pitched laugh. but the playful sparkle in his eyes vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a shadow of quiet misery. he clutched the pillow to his ribs, his shoulders slumping under the weight of his own frustration.
"i'm just saying," he mumbled, his voice dropping into that fragile, hesitant register. he looked down at the floor, his long fingers nervously picking at the fabric of the pillowcase. "if... if i was your boyfriend, i wouldn't leave you waiting. ever. i'd probably be outside your house three hours early just sitting in the driveway looking like an idiot."
a soft, breathless laugh escaped your lips, though your chest did a funny, complicated little flip at his words. "you always say things like that, but you're my best friend, michael. that's different."
"is it?" he whispered, so quietly you almost missed it.
he pushed away from the piano and walked over, his long legs carrying him across the rug until he stopped right in front of the sofa. he looked down at you, his dark curls falling across his forehead, his lower lip caught between his teeth. the teasing facade completely melted away, leaving only raw, trembling vulnerability.
he hated your boyfriend. he hated hearing his name. and most of all, he hated the way you kept trying to make things work with a guy who clearly didn't deserve a fraction of your attention.
"look," michael started, his voice shaking slightly as he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his red jacket to hide how much they were trembling. "you... you can't actually be thinking about spending the whole weekend with him. can you? didn't you say he canceled on your date last week anyway?"
"he had a valid excuse, michael," you sighed, standing up from the sofa.
before he could argue further, the rotary telephone on the wooden side table let out a loud, obnoxious ring that pierced through the quiet afternoon air.
you groaned, stepping away and walking over to lift the heavy plastic receiver to your ear.
"hey, babe," came the flat, unenthusiastic drawl of your boyfriend over the crackling line. "look, something came up with the guys. i’m not gonna be able to make it out to pick you up today."
you pinched the bridge of your nose, irritation flaring in your chest. "you're kidding. again? you've canceled three times this week."
across the room, the moment michael heard the name and caught the frustrated tone in your voice, his entire posture shifted. the soft, vulnerable look vanished, replaced instantly by a toxic mix of pure, unadulterated satisfaction and deeply bratty, weaponized gloating.
he dropped the pillow onto the floor with a loud thud and sauted over. he didn't even try to pretend he wasn't listening. he leaned in so close his shoulder pressed against yours, blatantly eavesdropping on the receiver with a sickeningly sweet, irritatingly smug grin stretching across his face.
"tell him hi from me," michael stage-whispered loudly, pitching his voice into a high, sickeningly cheery falsetto designed to carry straight through the earpiece. "ask him if he wants me to take you out since he's so reliably useless!"
you glared daggers at him, shoving a stiff hand against his chest to push him away. michael just let out a high-pitched, breathless giggle, refusing to budge an inch, stubbornly planting his feet right in your space.
"uh, who was that?" your boyfriend's voice crackled through the phone, sounding suddenly annoyed. "was that michael? why is he always hanging around your house?"
"nobody, just the television," you lied quickly through gritted teeth, shooting michael a murderous look. michael responded by rolling his big brown eyes so hard they nearly vanished into his forehead, before throwing his hands up in a theatrical, bratty gesture.
"yeah, tell him it's the television!" michael piped up again, loud enough to wake the dead, crossing his arms and huffing out a heavy, dramatic breath of air. "tell him the television treats you better than he does! tell him the television actually shows up on time!"
"michael, shut up!" you hissed, turning away from him. into the phone, you forced a calm voice. "look, whatever. we'll just reschedule for next week."
"yeah, yeah, whatever. see ya," he muttered before abruptly clicking the line dead.
you slammed the heavy plastic receiver back onto its cradle with a sharp clack. you turned around, hands planted firmly on your hips, ready to unleash holy fury on the overgrown toddler standing in front of you.
"are you completely out of your mind?!" you snapped, stepping right up to him. "what is actually wrong with you today?! why do you have to be such an insufferable, obnoxious brat every time he calls?!"
michael didn't look remotely apologetic. he puffed out his chest, jutted his lower lip out into a massive, arrogant pout, and crossed his arms tighter over his red-jacketed torso. the fierce jealousy burning in his eyes clashed hilariously with his childish, foot-stomping attitude.
"i am not an insufferable brat," michael whined defensively, his voice cracking into a high octave of pure indignation. "i'm being a realist! the guy is a total flake! he cancels on you constantly, he sounds like a wet piece of cardboard on the phone, and yet you act like he's hung the moon!"
"at least he doesn't scream into the telephone like a lunatic just to ruin my conversations!"
"because he doesn't care about you!" michael fired back instantly, his voice suddenly dropping all its sing-song mockery, turning raw, sharp, and laced with a desperate, furious sting.
the words hung heavy in the room. michael instantly froze, his eyes widening slightly as the weight of what he had just blurted out caught up with him. his chest heaved under his jacket, the bratty armor cracking wide open to reveal the terrified, aching heart underneath.
you blinked, taken aback by the sudden shift. "what did you just say?"
michael swallowed hard, his face flushing a brilliant, angry crimson that crawled all the way up his neck. he looked away, staring down at his sneakers like they held the secrets of the universe, his long fingers nervously picking at the zipper of his jacket.
"i said..." michael muttered, his voice dropping into that fragile, trembling register that always melted your anger into nothing. "i said he doesn't care about you. not the way... not the way i do."
you crossed your arms, your heart doing a wild, erratic flip against your ribs. "michael, stop playing games."
"i'm not playing games!" michael snapped, his head snapping back up, his big brown eyes shining with unshed tears and fierce, desperate frustration. he threw his hands up in defeat, completely dropping the act. "do you have any idea how exhausting it is?! sitting right here, watching you cry over a guy who treats you like an afterthought, when i would literally give you the entire world if you'd just look at me for two seconds?!"
panic flashed across michael’s face the second the words left his mouth. the thought of you walking out or getting mad made his stomach violently churn. his brain short-circuited, overriding his shyness with a desperate, reckless urge to stop you by any means necessary.
"wait—don't!" he blurted out loudly, stepping right into your path as you tried to turn away.
"michael, move, i've had enough of your—"
"oops!" he squeaked, his voice cracking comically.
in a frantic, clumsy move, michael deliberately swept his arm across the top of the side table, sending a massive stack of old vinyl records and lyric sheets crashing loudly onto the hardwood floor in a chaotic avalanche of paper and cardboard.
you jumped back with a gasp. "michael! what are you doing?! are you insane?!"
"my stuff! my important artistic documents!" michael cried out dramatically, dropping down onto his knees in a chaotic scramble. "they're everywhere! help me! you can't leave me stranded in a sea of paper, it's a hazard!"
"you literally just swept them off the table on purpose!" you groaned, kneeling down to help him gather the mess, shaking your head at his ridiculousness. "you're such a menace today, seriously."
as you reached out to grab a stray sheet of paper near his knees, michael’s hand shot out with surprising speed. his warm, long fingers wrapped tightly around your wrist, stopping you dead in your tracks.
he didn't pull you away, he just held your hand firmly against the floor, his grip strong yet trembling.
you froze, looking up. michael was kneeling right in front of you, his chest heaving under his red jacket. his big, soulful eyes were locked onto yours, completely stripped of any teasing or jokes. the air between you suddenly felt heavy, thick, and charged with an intense, suffocating electricity.
"don't go," he whispered, his voice dropping into a raw, breathless plea that stole the air right out of your lungs.
"michael..." you breathed, your heart hammering against your ribs.
"let him wait forever," michael said, his voice hardening just a fraction with a fierce, possessive desperation. he swallowed hard, his thumb softly stroking the inside of your wrist, right over your racing pulse. "because i'm not letting you go to a guy who doesn't even know how lucky he is to have you."
"you..." you whispered, your voice softening entirely as the pieces finally clicked together. "you've been doing this on purpose all day just because you're jealous?"
michael flushed a deeper, more blinding shade of red, looking completely miserable and utterly caught. he shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, rubbing the back of his neck.
"maybe," he mumbled defensively, looking down at the floor again. "okay, yes. yes, i was jealous. i'm sick of it. i'm sick of him."
he looked up through his dark curls, his expression melting into something so achingly vulnerable, so desperately soft, that it made your chest ache.
"dump him," michael repeated, his voice dropping into a breathless, pleading whisper as he took a slow step closer to you, his hands coming up tentatively. "and let me be the guy who actually knows how lucky he is to have you."
the raw, trembling sincerity of his words hung heavily in the air, wrapping around your ribs and making your heart hammer a frantic, dizzying rhythm. for a long moment, you just stood there frozen, caught between the sheer weight of his confession and the suffocating reality of your phone sitting right over on the side table.
you let out a slow, trembling breath, slowly shaking your head as you tried to process the absolute chaos of the afternoon. michael watched you like a hawk, his big brown eyes wide with absolute terror, his hands hovering awkwardly in the air as if he was afraid to move an inch in case he broke the spell.
instead of answering him, you turned on your heel, walked over to the wooden side table, and picked up the heavy plastic receiver of the rotary telephone.
michael let out a high-pitched, terrified squeak of panic. "wait—what are you doing? who are you calling?!"
you ignored him completely, dialing the familiar digits with a stiff, determined finger, and pressed the receiver to your ear. it rang twice before a flat, unenthusiastic voice crackled through the static.
"hello?" came your bf's lazy drawl. "hey, babe, look, about today—"
"don't bother," you interrupted, your voice ice-cold and steady. "we're done. lose my number. i dump your ass."
there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line. "wait, what? are you serious right now—?"
you slammed the heavy plastic receiver back onto its cradle with a sharp, echoing clack.
for a second, the living room was dead silent.
michael stood frozen across the room, his jaw dropping so low it practically hit the hardwood floor. his eyes went wide as saucers, completely blank and unblinking as his brain desperately tried to compute what had just happened.
then, color rushed violently back into his pale face, turning him a brilliant, incandescent red. a sound that was half-gasp, half-shriek of pure, unadulterated ecstasy escaped his lips.
"you... you actually did it!" michael crowed, his voice cracking into a high, giddy octave as he threw his arms up in the air like a kid who just won a prize at an amusement park.
he didn't even try to play it cool. high on pure adrenaline and sheer, chaotic relief, michael launched himself across the room with reckless, gangly abandon, closing the distance between you in a heartbeat. before you could even turn around, his long arms wrapped securely around your waist, hoisting you off your feet in a clumsy, dizzying spin that sent a startled laugh flying straight out of your lungs.
"michael! put me down, you absolute lunatic!" you squeaked, swatting playfully at his red-jacketed shoulders while your face burned a furious scarlet. "you're going to drop me!"
instead of putting you down, michael just set you gently back on your feet and immediately crowded into your personal space, refusing to give you an inch of breathing room. his hands slid up to grip your shoulders, then tangled excitedly into your hair, before wrapping back around to press you gently against the wall.
he was vibrating from head to toe, his chest heaving under his jacket, a massive, blinding smile stretching across his face as his dark eyes practically sparkled with triumph.
"you called him! right in front of me! you dumped him!" michael repeated, his voice bouncing with ecstatic, breathless energy.
you glared up at him, crossing your arms over your chest, though you couldn't keep the helpless grin from pulling at the corners of your mouth.
"you are the most infuriating, manipulative little brat on the face of the planet," you huffed, poking a sharp finger right against his chest. "do you know that? you literally threw a full-blown toddler tantrum just to force my hand, you silly."
michael didn't look remotely offended. in fact, he puffed out his chest with mock pride, letting out a high-pitched, delighted giggle as he caught your finger and held it tightly in his warm hand.
"i'm not silly, i'm a genius," michael beamed, leaning down so his forehead rested against yours, his breath warm and sweet against your lips. "and call me a brat all you want, but you're the one who just single-handedly ruined my social life because you couldn't bear to be away from me for another second."
"keep dreaming, mikey," you muttered, your heart fluttering wildly against your ribs.
"oh, i am dreaming," he whispered softly, his voice dropping into that sweet, devastatingly tender register that always melted your brain completely. his thumb traced a slow, worshipful circle over your cheekbone, his smile softening into something achingly sincere. "and i'm never waking up."
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