Mileven Stories

Smother (1996)

Lina08j requested I write a oneshot about Mike being mad at El, which results in him regretfully yelling at her. Their arguments can never last in my writing though, so of course Mike apologizes (:
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The Wheeler family, party of three, had themselves a crazy past few weeks.

Willow had been more fussy then her usual bashful self. She was once so cooperative, but was now proving to be a normal baby that enjoys crying. In fact, a six month old experiencing the joys of teething was proving to be quite a beautifully horrid concept.

While Mike and El loved their child dearly, the lack of sleep this situation was creating had been causing arguments to spur between them easily.

One Saturday afternoon, after the two had finally gotten Willow to dreamland, they had found themselves searching the kitchen for food.

"How about we just do spaghetti and meatballs? We can make the sauce together and have a good time!," El encouraged brightly, even though she was truly fighting through the exhaustion.

Her husband responded without a thought, supplying a weak shrug before saying, "I honestly just think I'm going to go get McDonald's. I'll go and I'll be right back."

Mike was just about to peck her forehead when she recoiled backward. He furrowed his eyebrows and quickly looked over her expression. Her golden brown eyes were a little sunken in and she began to bite her lip in worry. All signs were pointed in the direction of distress.

"I want to make something together. It could be fun!," she said once more and appeared to brighten back up.

Although El had thought her attempts of being cheery would be appreciated by the man she loves, she saw that it was having the opposite effects.

Mike's forehead scrunched inward as he ran his delicate long fingers hastily through his unwashed hair. He was so extremely drained from only getting four hours of sleep in the past two days that his sour mood began creeping through his bones like a disease.

Apparently, the two were seeing things from different perspectives. In one corner, Miss Optimism attempted to stride for success. She just wanted to remain as happy as possible.

However, the venom in his mind was unbreakable. Mr Pessimism was about to win this round.

Or could this next action even be considered as a win for him?

Mike sighed heavily before speaking in a sharp tone that fell upon El's ears painfully, "sometimes I just think it would be better if we spent time apart. I can't think straight when you are smothering me!"

The words he delivered with a glare sent Eleven's back to the wall. As soon as she made contact with the sturdy surface, she felt herself catapulted back into her enclosed chamber. She could have even sworn that she felt the hands of men grab onto her arms before throwing her away to face terror in the dark.

She was quickly rattled away from the harsh memories of her past when she felt her tears connect to her arms.

Mike's glassy brown eyes met her's from a few feet away. It was in that moment that the demented weight behind his words registered in his now clear mind, but it was a bit too late.

The damage had been done. A scar upon his love's heart had already been made.

His sentence he had stated began falling into a repetitive sequence within his scrambled head. He was moving closer to her without even noticing and his mouth went to open the gates of apologies, but was stopped before even beginning.