"Hey," Tulio murmured offhandedly as he kicked the door of the casa he and his partner had been holing up in for the duration of their latest scam closed behind him and flopped into a seat, swinging his feet up on the table.
"Hey hey." Said partner replied flatly, not looking up from his cooking.
"What's with you?"
"Oh nothing, darling." A somewhat sour undertone began to surface as he began to decapitate his next vegetable. "How's Chel?"
Tulio arched an eyebrow from his place at the table, trying fruitlessly to catch a glimpse of the blonde's face.
"Chel? I went to the market, Miguel." He reminded him as if it were obvious, jiggling the oranges his partner had asked for before tossing them over.
"Huh. High demand for oranges?" he sniffed, raising a hand to catch the impending fruit.
"What—?"
He was cut off as Miguel slammed the knife down and whirled round to face him, folding his arms.
"For God's sake, Tuli, it's dark. You left this morning," his nose was wrinkled in the snarl he only wore when off-the-wall upset over something. Pushing aside the initial worry that crept up his spine out of habit upon noticing the expression; he shrugged and stood, leaning casually on the table
"You know Altivo doesn't like me riding him without you, I had to walk. Plus I got into a couple dice games and did a sweep for posters. Bo-Both of which were successful." He hastily added as he noticed that Miguel's expression remained unchanged.
"Uh-huh."
"Miguel you can't honestly think-"
"You know, a while ago, I wouldn't have. But yeah, Tulio, I can honestly think."
"Miguel, c'mon… you know it's always been about you and only you…" Tulio said, reaching out a hand that Miguel instantly batted away.
"No, it's not and never has been about me! I'm sick of your bloody lies Tulio!"
The taller man was growing angry himself now, rising from his chair throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"Well sorry if I touched a nerve with the little housewife!"
"How… dare… you. I take the time to do your damn cooking and all you can do is sit there and call me a housewife! Well, I'll tell you something, I definitely shalln't bother next time! Ungrateful bastard!"
"Miguel! I'm not ungrateful!"
"There, see! You're at it again, more lies! It's just all about lies with you, isn't it! If I hadn't have gotten tangled up in all your flaming lies, I could be earning cash honestly!"
"Oh yeah! How!"
"Oh, I don't know, playing my mandolin or something! Anything's better than what we do! I hate being wanted! Being hated! I-I just wish I'd never met you!"
"Pah! Where would you be without me! I saved you from those slave-dealers!"
"I could've easily-"
"Oh yeah, sure. Tiny, gorgeous little golden haired, green-eyed kid. You would've been a motherlode, they were bent on having you! Not to mention that even if, by some miracle you'd managed to get away, you didn't speak a word of Spanish! And may we take a moment to remind ourselves who stole you that goddamn glorified guitar in the first place!"
"Mandolin - and STOLE being the key word in there! God, you're just—I…I hate you!"
Tulio recoiled as if he'd just been electrocuted, completely appalled at this outburst.
"Sh-Shut up…"
"I had everything I'd ever wanted back in El Dorado and I left it for you!"
"I said shut up!" The raven-haired man hissed, now clutching at his throbbing head.
"And you know what, Tulio?" Miguel's eyes were narrowed to the point where only a vicious glimpse of glaring green was visible through his pale lashes "It was the singular worst decision of my life."
"SHUT UP!"
Slap.
Their temporary residence fell utterly silent, save for the sound of the strike echoing against the walls of the hollow room. It was far too loud in Tulio's ears, and for a moment he thought it would continue to resonate inside his head forever. Green eyes locked to blue in an intense gaze as both men took the ragged breaths they hadn't realised they were holding. Tulio was in sheer disbelief. Never in his life had he hit Miguel. No matter how furious the ditzy blonde had made him – how much his constant talking or singing or optimism had frayed his nerves, never once had he retaliated physically. He was too sensitive and to be frank, too cute. Though apparently his parents didn't think so - Tulio had always assumed his partner was abused or ill-treated in some way back in England as a child and, though it was only an assumption, if the slight flinch he had at sudden movements or increases in volume and the fact that he had run away in the first place were anything to go by, he felt that he was probably right; at least to a certain degree.
"Miguel…"
"Don't, Tulio."
"Miguel I… I am so sorry—I mean—just—y-you know how I get when you're talking all fast, a-a-and-"
"I said don't."
The emerald orbs that Tulio adored so were burning with betrayal, fury and hurt. The dark haired man brought up a hand to gently ghost the other's cheek, only to have it slapped away again, harder than earlier.
"Miguel, I—c'mon…" he took his wrists and pulled him into his arms, holding him in an embrace despite his thrashing.
"Get off me, Tulio."
"C'mon-"
"Get off me-"
"Quierido, please, I-"
"I said get OFF!" the struggling blond yelled, wrenching his form from his partner's grip. Tulio failed to form words, too distracted by the angry red mark sullying Miguel's cheek. The silence was only broken by one of the oranges from earlier rolling onto the ground. Miguel raised his leg before Tulio had even registered the fruit's detachment from the group. The pitted zest moulded to his heel as he slammed it into the fruit. Juice exploded from the crippled skin as the citrus crushed against the stone floor and Tulio felt his breath hitch as if it were his very heart being stomped on. The blonde blew a few golden strands out of his eyes as he kicked the mutilated lump of pith and flesh towards Tulio and stormed towards their room.
"Miguel-"
"Enjoy your bloody dinner, cabrón."
A/N: Wow. I have no clue what to say about this. Well, first and foremost I just want to say: I do NOT in the SLIGHTEST consider Miguel and Tulio's relationship as an abusive one. AT ALL. I just wanted to explore the darker side of this pairing, as pretty much all the fics I've read of it have been fluff.
Secondly, I don't think they have arguments on a regular basis. I think this was a big outburst for both of them due to pent up emotions stretched over a long period of time. So Miguel's not constantly acting like a bitch, and Tulio's not constantly hitting him.
OK - now that's clarified! Yay! I wrote this out by hand whilst on holiday in the land of Tulio & Miguel, so yeah, fitting. I'm not 100% pleased with how it came out, but I don't hate it. Special shout-out to MirandaChellSpy/whatever her FF name is now for her Beta-ing and advice! Love ya~ 3 So yeah, enjoy, folks! Sorry for raping your childhood! -Runs from mob-