Isolation

Breakfast

Mike hadn't even made it all the way down the stairs when he froze at the sight of the destroyed kitchen. He stood there, completely silent. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung slightly open. There was a mixture of horror, disgust, and annoyance on his face. For Mike Nesmith, this was his "you're in big trouble" look.

Davy and Micky quickly got up off the ground and stood there guiltily.

"We made pancakes." Peter smiled. They weren't in trouble until Mike said they were in trouble. "Or pancake, since there's only one."

Mike didn't respond. He continued walking down, not taking his eyes off the chaos in the kitchen.

"Sorry, we got a little carried away..." Micky said quietly with a shrug.

Mike nodded slowly.

"So I see," was all he said before sitting down. It looked like he was thinking of the right way to feel about it. He stared at the kitchen for a long time before taking a deep sigh and closing his eyes.

"Y'all never cease to amaze me, you know that?"

Peter glanced over at Micky with a look that read: "is that a good thing?" Micky shrugged. Mike stifled a laugh as he continued.

"It's quite incredible, actually, how much of a mess y'all can create when I'm gone. You three are crazy."

"Aw," Micky fawned, "you know you love us!"

"That's the problem, Mick." He smiled for a second before looking back up at the others. "Actually, I take back my previous statement. You two are crazy. Peter, you're fine."

"Thank you." Peter smiled at the compliment. And Mike nodded as a way of saying "you're welcome".

"Hey!" Micky whined, "why's Peter not in trouble?"

"Because I can look at this and tell that Peter didn't intentionally destroy the kitchen for pleasure. You and Davy, on the other hand, I'm much more doubtful on."

"Sorry, Mike," Davy looked down, still feeling a little guilty. "I hope the pancake is good, though."

"Oh!" Peter exclaimed and rushed to get the plate.

"Ta-da!" He beamed as he presented it to Mike, accidentally sprinkling mix powder on it when he did a fake bow.

"Thank you, Peter."

He didn't eat it at first. Instead, he looked at it for a moment before looking back at the others.

"Sit down."

They did, and Mike's gaze returned to the plate.

"I-uh, appreciate you doin' this for me, but you didn't have to."

"We wanted to, Mike," Micky explained, becoming a little annoyed. This wasn't the first time they had this conversation, and most likely, it wouldn't be the last. "When will you get it? We made you breakfast because we wanted to, not because we had to or had some ulterior motives."

"I know that. I just wanted to say thanks is all."

"You're welcome."

They all stayed at the table as Mike cut the pancake with his fork. He cut into four quarters, giving the biggest to Micky and keeping the smallest for himself. The pancake itself was both burnt and underdone. The inside was slightly gooey while the outside was crunchy. It wasn't good, and they all cringed at the taste. But they grinned and laughed as they recounted the events of the great pancake war. Mike smiled but said nothing as they told the story.

"Hey, Mike?" Peter asked after finishing his quarter.

"Hmm?"

"Are you not mad?"

Mike looked at Peter then back at the kitchen. Once again, he waited a moment before responding as if he was thinking of the proper response.

"Oh, no. I am mad." He said honestly. "Just no point in getting angry over it now."

Why? Micky wondered silently. Any other day, Mike would take this time to turn it into a lecture. Or on a rarer occasion, he would go off on them. That didn't happen often but it wasn't unheard of. Instead, he stood and went into the kitchen himself. He grabbed a paper towel and soaked it in water before he began to clean the mess.