Lady

✽ You who felt extremely sad when your friend slowly stopped coming to school due to his fame and responsibilities as a musician. Michael kept contact with you through letters.

✽ Michael who kept every letter you sent to him in a small box, including the Arabian jasmine flowers to perfume your letters. You kept every postcard he sent while he was on tour.

⤷ Eventually, you both were able to visit each other or hang out.

✽ In your culture, parents’ approval is a huge aspect. 

⤷ Michael watched you try extra hard for your grades.

⤷ Michael noticed you tried your best to not upset your parents.

⤷ Joseph not approving of your friendship with Michael was more upsetting to you than he realised, especially since he seemed a bit scary to you. Michael did not care and he reassured you that he wouldn’t let Joe get in between your friendship. (a/n: people pleasing might be a disease)

✽ You were not allowed to close the door to your bedroom with a boy in your room and Michael was no exception. 

✽ You were the only one who could compete with his level of drama and sass. 

⤷ Besides him and his sisters, you formed a close rapport with his brother, Marlon. (a/n: South Asian girls have a playful stereotype of putting up dramatic airs or being coquettish or being hard to please) 

✽ Michael who was curious as to what reader says when she’s frustrated and seemingly cusses in her native language under her breath, despite him not liking cussing.

✽ You who taught him a few basic words in your native language, which he sometimes tries to use to subtly flirt with you.

⤷ You taught him some cuss words too, saying cussing in English felt lacklustre. He didn’t agree or disagree.

✽ Michael would be intrigued by how your voice and accent would change when you would speak to your parents in English, how different you sounded when you spoke in your native language and then quickly swap back to the normal accent you used to speak with him or anyone from the states.

⤷ You didn’t realise you did it until he pointed it out. He found it endearing.

✽ Michael who would get concerned and puzzled by how much you always felt cold and dizzy.

⤷ You would stick your hands on his neck or touch his cheeks to leech off his warmth and he would yelp. (a/n: South Asian girls are more prone to having low iron)

✽ Michael who was surprised by how well you masked your troubles. 

⤷ He found out in your culture, people pretended to appear as though everything was fine and how people wouldn’t share their problems with others. You ended up warming up to him enough to vent your frustrations or talk about your issues.

✽ Michael who racked up the phone bill because of the nightly phone calls with you while you did your routine of oiling your hair and homemade turmeric-yoghurt face masks on Fridays. 

✽ Michael who watched with comically large eyes as he watched you lie through your teeth to your parents about something on the phone. 

⤷ “I’m a brown girl with strict parents.” you would shrug, as if that was enough explanation. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t lie to you.” you reassured him with a wide smile and a pat on his shoulder. It did nothing for him.

⤷ “Y’know, maybe you should pursue acting.” he said as he shook his head in disbelief. “You might be right.” you laughed. 

✽ Michael who was always enthralled by how expressive your face was, especially your eyes. 

⤷ He didn’t realise how eyebrows could move in so many ways until he met you.

⤷ He found it so pretty when your dark and pretty brows furrowed or raised to express emotions.

✽ You who taught him some traditional dance steps when you were bored. A lot of traditional/folk dances were almost always used for storytelling. You also explained how the dance attire, makeup and jewellery were also important for dance performances.

⤷ You taught him how to fold his hands or wave his fingers, bend the knees and some rhythmic footwork. 

⤷ The harder part was the art of your facial expressions while dancing and you would burst into peals of laughter because he sometimes looked a bit funny or he would purposefully make funny faces to make you laugh. 

⤷ On the other hand, he would watch with pure awe as he watched you dance and as he watched your face change to match your steps. 

✽ Michael who would sit calmly while you stuck Arabian jasmine flowers in his afro or his curls. 

⤷ It was the cutest photo and he just looked so pretty. You had framed it and kept it in your drawer. 

✽ Michael who was sometimes astonished by how your hair seemed like spun silk. Must be all the hair oiling.

✽ Michael saw you wearing a lot of gold jewellery and he admired how it seemed to make your beautiful skin almost glow. 

⤷ You loved to accessorise. You wore small jhumkas (dangling earrings), payel/nupur (south Asian anklets), gold bangles, rings, etc. 

⤷ You explained the importance of gold in your culture, especially it playing a part in security for women, inheritance for children and overall asset. Michael agreed and told you it was similar for black people.

✽ Michael admired your style where your clothes boasted hand-stitching, different types of embroidery, various kinds of patterns and colour combinations. He never witnessed a boring look from you. 

✽ Michael who was intrigued by the sound of your jewellery too. 

⤷ Not only did you look beautiful, you had a unique and head-whipping sound- either your bangles clanking on your wrists or your anklets jingling because they had tiny bells. 

⤷ You once sat in the studio because he basically begged you to sit there and jingle them, in case he had ideas for a future song (he already did). 

✽ Michael who watched you apply kajal/kohl/surma (powdered eyeliner) to tightline and smoke out your eyes as a step in your everyday makeup routine. (a/n: surma isn't just used in South Asia but also a good chunk of African countries)

⤷ That’s why he got inspired to wear eyeliner. 

⤷ You gave him a new vial of eyeliner for his personal use, though it took some time getting used to the powder application. You tried not to think too deeply into how prettier his eyes looked.

✽ Michael who listened to your angelic voice humming or singing songs in your native language under your breath when you thought nobody was looking. 

⤷ The melodies and tunes you used to sing those songs were unlike anything he heard. 

⤷ “I’m not that good at singing.” you said, exasperated at him staring at you with his pretty doe eyes to entice you into singing with your whole chest. “Yes you are and it doesn’t matter. I wanna listen.” he huffed and he sat with his head propped up on both hands. 

⤷ Eventually, you got comfortable enough to stop caring and you sang freely, much to his delight. 

⤷ This evolved into the two of you traveling to major stores to hunt for some vinyl records from your motherland to listen to. 

✽ You who complained to him you got some of your beauty products and some grocery shopping from an South Asian store far from where you actually lived. 

⤷ He decided to tag along on your next trip and he was shocked by the warm and spiced scent emanating in the store and at how many different spices, snacks, variety of vegetables, hair and skin products he saw. It felt like he took a glimpse into your soul.

⤷ Michael insisted on you buying triple of everything to avoid a sooner trip for your beauty stuff and proceeded to pay for all your items after much arguing. 

✽ Michael in turn asked La Toya to take you to a black beauty supply store where you were amazed at all the variety in hair care, wigs and extensions, tools, and skin products.

⤷ You realised there, so much care goes into taking care of black hair. 

⤷ If reader has curls, La Toya encourages her to buy some curl care products and teaches her some tips and tricks to maintaining them. (a/n: curls are actually quite common but a lot of South Asians don’t know how to care for them, old generations usually brush them out in an effort to straighten them)

⤷ La Toya also didn’t let you pay for any of your products. 

✽ Michael who discovered henna/mehndi art on your hands and feet. When you told him it was a natural dye, he was blown away. 

⤷ He thought it looked prettier when you paired your tattoos with nail polish, your favourites were some sort of sparkly or red polish. 

⤷ You offered to draw some small inconspicuous designs on his hand one day.

⤷ You did hold onto your end of the bargain and drew flowers on his vitiligo spots. He realised he felt less awful about his vitiligo. 

✽ Michael who would invite you to family cookouts and weekend lunch events because he considered you a part of his family. 

⤷ You insisted offering a helping hand to his lovely mother, Katherine, when she was working her magic in the kitchen cooking up a feast and observed with great appreciation how she dedicated herself to her craft in feeding her family- reminding you of your own mother.

⤷ She even showed you how to make a dish Michael liked. (a/n: I believe Jermaine's wife used to spend time in the kitchen with Katherine)

⤷ The music was flowing, his mother would continuously fill up your plate until you nearly burst, his brothers would joke around with you and handed you drink refills, his sisters sat and chatted animatedly with you and you would play with Michael’s nephews and nieces. 

✽ You who invited him to a special cultural or religious celebration. 

⤷ You gifted him a simple hand-crafted cotton kurta with some gold embroidery on the collar and chest and it came up to his mid thigh. 

⤷ From then it was wraps. Your mother and aunties were incessant with feeding him. “You’re too skinny. Eat more.” they deadpanned but there was an undercurrent of affection. You told him beforehand, he couldn’t refuse food. You watched from the sidelines, giggling at all of this unfold while he stared at you helplessly.

⤷ Eventually, your dad and uncles talked his ears off about politics over endless cups of chai/chaa (milk tea). 

⤷ Some of your family members couldn’t hide how starstruck they were by Michael Jackson being in presence. 

✽ “Here, try some of this.” you came up to him with a beaming smile as you hand fed him some sweets and Michael briefly wondered if it tasted sweeter because you fed him. 

✽ Michael realised the phrase “You learn new things everyday.” held true because he definitely did learn new things everyday, and you helped him with that. 

✽ Curiosity was the foundation of your friendship as two individuals from different racial and cultural backgrounds, and you held immense respect for each other.

✽ Michael who came to the realisation that both of your cultures were so different and yet, so alike.  

masterlist

taglist: @brownsugarletters @hannimite @cermoore @miratate @liberiangirl7 @izzyy8 @botdfaholic @stormatsea6 @bloodyellenlost @naturallykae @backupschmuck @thabiddie23 @mal3volentr0se @mjfan4ever @wisejudgedragonhairdo @gingerrsnapp @hyacinthmelliot @waywardgirl83 @kalista-101 @izkzauyloitz @luzziii-luvv @cecpizzarocks @domfikeluva @navydotz @alleycat808 @miss-conjayniality (lmk if you wanna be added or opt out!)

dividers used: one, two

a/n: i had more headcanons than listed here but i didn’t wanna put all my eggs in one basket, in case this flopped. i also have a series i am working on with a south asian reader but since the mjblr population has essentially been cut in half, i’m hesitant to post it now. :/ i actually have so many ideas i could turn into one shots or blurbs ;-;