#tommy doyle ✏ michael myers (lettherebemonsters)

[inxspacetime]

@lettherebemonsters​ continued from here if you want.

Getting woken up at any hour of the night was something Tommy first got acquainted with when he first adopted Steven as a baby. It didn’t happen as much as he got older, but it was something he later got reintroduced to when he took Michael in (and even more once the killer started to warm up to him). Did he have any issue with it? Really, no. At first, back when Michael was more insistent on trying to kill him, it was a little unsettling- but after a while he was able to warm up to them too.

It had been the first snowfall Haddonfield had seen that year, and Tommy would have slept right through it if it weren’t for Michael. It was always interesting to see his more human side make its way to the surface; to see him experience something like snow for the first time; watching it like Tommy had down when he was a child practically praying that a snow day was in his future. Whether or not some of his sleep was sacrificed in order to witness it, moments like these were part of why he was so hellbent on helping Michael in the first place.

It was a bit too early for a scientific explanation, not that he think the other would have cared to hear it, so he did his best to keep it simple for the sake of both their brains. “It’s snow. It happens in the winter time, when it’s really cold outside.” He looked out the window at the snowy streets before he looked back to Michael. “When Steven gets up, we could take him out to the backyard and play around in it. You’ll have to bundle up, though- and maybe wear something a little more heavy duty than the mask. You might not like it anymore if you catch a cold your first time.”

[inxspacetime]

michael​:

No, Tommy hadn’t. Even with the past they shared, from when Tommy was a child all the way to now that Michael was effectively co-parenting his children with him….

Never once did the younger man steer him wrong maliciously. Even taking Steven away had been to keep the baby safe, even though Michael was desperate to find his only remaining son.

Michael reached a long finger and gently poked Tommy in the middle of his chest, then gave him a thumbs-up. His way of saying that……the younger man was a good egg. And that despite how evil Michael was….The Shape approved.

Maybe there was a bit of light left in the devil after all….

The moment was interrupted though as the kids were starting to wonder where their parents were. Steven was calling out for his dads while Michaela hanged back a little. In the shadows with her dark eyes…..she was the spitting image of her father, though without his pale coloration.

It was definitely eerie, seeing a female variation of the Shape, but Michael seemed happy to see his kids. For just a moment…..he wanted the semblance of normality a family could give him. Before Thorn darkened him and made him ferocious and cruel once more.

The gesture was small, but Tommy had been around the other enough to at least somewhat understand the meaning behind it. Their relationship was … well, to say complicated would put it lightly. He feared Michael, he wanted him dead, they both wanted each other dead. And now,… now they were dads together. Michael trusted him, he even felt bad hurting him. It was a strange series of events that neither could have predicted. But now that they had, he couldn’t say he was angry with how things turned out. Stephen was still in his care, Michael wasn’t actively trying to kill him,- getting stabbed wasn’t great, but the wound would heal in time.

He smiled a bit. “Thanks, Michael. You’re not so bad yourself.” He replied, reaching over to past his chest in a similar fashion. It was a bold claim, he knew. And not many, likely not even Michael, would believe it. The man had evil in him, that much was a fact. But after living with the man, and still being alive to tell the tale, Tommy was convinced he wasn’t the ‘personification of evil’ that Dr. Loomis saw. Perhaps he was letting a few instances get his hopes a little too high, but he really thought he could make a difference. And he was the type of person who usually stuck with something he believed in until he was proven otherwise.

The interruption did startle him about — one thing the three all had in common was that they sure knew how to sneak up on someone. But any feelings of paranoia were brushed off at the sight of the children, even Michaela who loomed in the background. She was no different from Michael, the same blood, and the same curse, ran through her. She would need a lot of help fighting it off too, if she chose to. He ushered them both in, looking to the oldest of the two as she hesitated. “We’re right here,” he announced. A hand reached down to ruffle Stephen’s hair, a color similar to the man sitting next to him.

“Your dad just went out for some air after Aunt Laurie came to visit.” He explained, a hand moving behind him to rub at Michael’s back - an attempt to keep him from being further triggered by the mention of his sister. “But he’s back. How come you guys are still up? Couldn’t sleep?” He asked, gaze moving between Stephen and Michaela.

[inxspacetime]

It was a chilly autumn night. Steven had been tucked into bed just a few minutes ago, just after a hot cup of coca. Now he was in the kitchen preparing another round of mugs, one for him and one for Michael. He hummed quietly along to the tune of ‘Mr. Sandman’ by The Chordates as he did.

Once finished, he grabbed them by the handles and brought one to the other. He gave him a chance to sip the drink before he spoke. “Halloween’s coming up. And your birthday. How’re you feeling?”

@lettherebemonsters

[inxspacetime]

 @lettherebemonsters​ | continue from here.

His paranoia got the best of him. Tommy knew Michael, he knew who he was, what he was and the forces that controlled him. No matter how good the older man truly wanted to be, there would always be that nagging urge to hunt, to stalk, to be the boogeymen he was made to be. He knew this and he accepted it. It wasn’t an easy task, but he did his best to overlook what he did; to ignore the reasons for his injuries whenever he had to clean them. And recently, he had been ‘behaving’ pretty well. He shouldn’t have been as worried as he was, it was more of a habit than anything else.

But he was able to tell he messed up when he noticed the look on Michael’s face - or rather, the look in his eyes. He looked insulted, possibly even hurt - and rightfully so. If Michael was really going to change in any sort of capacity, the people around him would need to adjust just as much. Meaning, if Tommy wanted Michael to continue on the path he was on, then he needed to show that he trusted that he could - and his current display didn’t do much of that at all.

“Michael, wait-“ Tommy was quick to follow him. He wasn’t trying to physically stop him, that was a bit of a risk. But if he had a chance to turn this situation around, to calm down the bear he poked before he went out and actually did hurt someone, then he would take it. “Michael, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that-— you know I worry.”

[inxspacetime]

@lettherebemonsters​​ continued from here if you want.

It was a natural feeling for Tommy to worry, especially when it came to someone else. Michael was never an exception to that - whether it was worrying that he would return or worrying he wouldn’t return, as he was just doing a few minutes ago. And he knew it was silly, someone as destructive as Michael was more than able to handle himself. And even if he couldn’t, the curse he was plagued with would refuse to let him die until it saw fit -  which, just the thought of that was enough to make him concerned for the figure currently towering over him.

But it didn’t matter that he was a giant - that he was known to take out entire police stations in minutes. None of those statistics - statistics that Tommy knew too well - mattered. Because at that point, Michael was family. He would worry about him just as much as he’d worry about Steven or Michaela. And though he tried not to make it too obvious to the other, the anxiety he felt was practically embedded into his features. The fact that he was still awake at three in the morning waiting was a bit of a telling sign as well.

The hand in his hair was rough, coated in blood - and he wasn’t sure if it was Michael’s or someone else’s or both. Still, he found himself shutting his eyes for a brief moment and relaxing under his attempt at reassurance. He was okay, whatever trouble got himself into, he got himself out of just as easily. It both impressed and terrified him how he managed it. But in that moment, seeing the condition he was in, he felt sympathy more than he did fear.

“Sorry, I know, it’s just.. - a habit.” A shrug rolled off his shoulders before a hand reached for his arm. “Even if it doesn’t hurt, we should get to fixing you up. Don’t want to freak them out when they get up. Plus, you’ll be more comfortable.”

[inxspacetime]

It felt as though the world slowed down, maybe even stilled for a few moments during the hug. It was a sight that would make Dr. Loomis clutch his chest if he were still around to see it, something he’d likely consider a hallucination before a reality. The Michael he’d known was ‘pure evil’, with no chance of redemption. But Tommy gave him a chance, gave him understanding, and while he was no angel, he was a different man from who he was all those years ago.

And as if on cue, another reason that he was so willing to change decided to come looking for them. He looked up from the other’s shoulder and smiled at the child standing in the doorway; their son. He gave Michael a couple pats on the side before pulling back, his attention drifting to Stephen. “We were just talking,” he assured. He looked at the child, a spitting image of his father when he was around that age - though much happier. 

“What’cha doing, son?”

@lettherebemonsters

While there was always going to be the instinctive caution that Michael had been forced to develop….Tommy was the only person he trusted.

It had taken him an extremely long time to trust the younger man….the first big sign of trust was letting Tommy raise Stephen. The Shape willingly letting someone take his son…..

And from that, he had a family again.

From behind Michael came a small voice.

“ Papa Michael? Daddy?”

Stephen had come out of his room, curious to know where his parents were. His siblings were out so it was just the three of them.

[inxspacetime]

( @lettherebemonsters​ )

Things around the house had been changing. Not significantly, but there was an ease in the tension between the two men as they attempted to raise Steven together. Some moments were better than others, sure, but there was definitely an improvement from when he first moved in.

Tommy had been putting Steven to bed, reading him a story when he was interrupted by a commotion going on a floor beneath them. Concerned, he told the child to remain in bed while he investigated the situation. He wasn’t sure what to expect — perhaps a burglar had the misfortune of picking this house out of them all to break into. Or even surviving members of Thorn, here to collect both Michael and Steven. Either seemed more likely than the sight he was met with when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

There was Michael, writhing on the floor as his entire body were on fire. And in a way, it may have been. He was concerned, but he made sure to approach him slowly, cautiously. He wasn’t sure what was happening, and he didn’t want to make any sudden movements before he was. “Michael.” He spoke, his voice stern, but not cold. He knelt next to where he was, eyes softening as he looked his body as it stretched. Contorted. “Michael, it’s Tommy. I’m here.” He brought a hand down to his arm, lightly rubbing at the muscle as it ached beneath the fabric of his suit. “Michael, can you hear me? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

[inxspacetime]

( @lettherebemonsters​ )

Raising a child was no easy task in its most basic format. Tommy was well aware of this when he first decided to adopt Steven as his own child. But raising a child with the help of a live-in serial killer, one who was the root cause all his traumas, was something he never expected his life would come to. Michael was an evil killing machine, he would snap his neck in seconds if Steven would have permitted —and tried to a couple times even despite the child asking otherwise. However, he also knew it wasn’t his fault he was this way. At that point, he knew more about Michael than anyone else that was still alive. Anyone thrown into the environment he was raised in would have turned out no different. In a way, he actually felt a small bit of sympathy for the monster that currently resided in the finished basement of his house. Enough to allow him to have a relationship with his son; as much of a relationship as someone in his state could have.

Still, Steven took to him. It was his father, after all, and he knew it. He still regarded Tommy as a parental figure, but he wanted Michael in the picture just as much. That was the main reason for their awkward living arrangements but as long as the child was happy (and as long as Michael didn’t try to kill him in his sleep), then he would be accepting of the situation. He had just gotten Steven to fall asleep for the night, and returned downstairs to where Michael was. The tension between them was very prevalent, how the other managed to refrain from lunging at him any chance he got still amazed. Almost as much as it shocked to see he actually wasn’t a terrible parent. He had been so set on the idea that he wanted to hurt Steven that it genuinely shocked him to see otherwise. And that’s when something to say came to him. “Y’know, you’re really good with him. Have you ever had any kids before?” He knew the more grizzly answer to the question, but perhaps there had been a child who lived that even Tommy wasn’t aware of.

[inxspacetime]

@lettherebemonsters​

It was an eventful last few days — though, there really hadn’t been a boring day ever since Michael first started to stay with them. But now there was a new addition to this sort of makeshift family they had going on, and she was almost more aggressive than even Michael had gotten at times. Tommy was doing his best to keep things from escalating too far; and while he’d been successful at this, it wasn’t an easy task. But while he knew this was a challenge for him, there was one person he knew had to be struggling at least a bit more.

Michael was being faced with emotions he hadn’t been exposed to in a long, long time. He finally got to see his daughter again, for the first time since he believed her to be dead. But at the same time, he saw how much her mind had been consumed by the curse; how much she embraced it. It had to be bittersweet for the father, on top of everything else brought up by her return. They only briefly touched on his time in captivity. A good chunk of it Michael couldn’t remember, and what he did wasn’t anything he wanted to relive. But with everything going on, he imagined some of that would come back up to the surface of his mind. But even if nothing had, he figured the other could just use someone to voice (or in his case, write) his thoughts out to.

That was why he currently sat with Michael in his room. Everyone in the house had been asleep aside from the two adults, so it felt like the best time to actually discuss what has gone on. The door was kept open a crack, partially for their privacy in case someone woke up but also in case Michaela tried to attack Steven — but she seemed to get that out of her system for the day. He sat down next to where Michael was and looked towards him. “So… what’re your thoughts? On... all this.”

[inxspacetime]

corey/michael​:

He knew Michael was close, but just a few feet away? He couldn’t help the anxiousness in his chest…..

His father….his real father….was here. The person who he’d subconsciously been searching for….

He could feel him, the pull magnetic. Corey was scared, nervous….but that need to see him was greater than his fear.

“…….Y-yeah, I want to see him. It’ll get me enough time to get the photos….”

Corey couldn’t help himself. He took a step towards the door to the bedroom, and slowly reached out. His fingers brushing against the wood as he slowly pressed his hand against it.

As if he was calling to his sire…..the bond growing stronger.

And below, in the darkness, sitting in that single chair….Michael slowly turned his head to look up the stairs.

Sensing blood above him….sensing a child reaching out for him.

Tommy knew it was a lot on them both, but he knew this was the right thing to do. But no matter what happened, no matter how intense this meeting got, he didn’t expect anything to go too sour. If Michael had enough restraint to keep himself from purposely hurting Tommy for this long, he didn’t suspect he would d anything to harm his blood —- well, his blood that wasn’t Laurie, of course. But Corey was his son; even if he didn’t know him formerly, if their bond was anything like his to Steven he knew it went beyond mortal limits. It was something that had been slowly building despite not getting the chance to meet before then. Had he thought there was any chance of danger he would have advised against it, but he didn’t sense any.

“Do you want me to come down? Try and get things started? I’m sure you have more than enough to talk about with him, but getting these sort of things started can be a bit awkward. Especially when the other party doesn’t talk much.” Aside from that, he was offering to be there as moral support - for both Corey and his father. No matter how nature their bond was, this wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do. Corey already seemed anxious, and he was only able to imagine how Michael would feel. At that point, it was pretty clear Tommy was just as much part of the family as anyone else there. He was the one to bring them all together, so assisting in this only felt natural.

[inxspacetime]

laurie/michael/michaela/steven​:

It had been years since she had been physically this close to her brother. Laurie had followed everyone down to Michael’s room and despite her terror, her anger…..all that didn’t matter as she saw what had become of the Boogeyman that haunted her.

Without the knife, the mask….he was just an old man. He looked….normal. Yet suffering….she couldn’t imagine the pain in him to cause a stoic like Michael to whimper in pain like a struck puppy.

Part of her enjoyed it….but another hated it. The part that had only wanted a brother….the only part that still loved him despite his evil.

She stepped closer, not hearing Tommy’s words. Michael managed to turn to look at her, the skin around his eyes mangled from when she gouged them both out decades before.

His hand weakly seemed to reach out for his sister….and she returned by reaching out to hold his hand. Not as a victim, not as someone who wanted Michael to suffer….but as family.

She knew what was happening…..the Myers blood connection let her hear him without Michael saying anything.

“……Everything hurts. He’s saying it hurts being alive. Like he’s being dragged to Hell while still here…”

Was this what being the Boogeyman meant? To be reduced to this? A dying man….

Her brother’s agonized whispers spoke to her and she was confused, brow furrowed.

“ He says…..three. Something about….the magical three. I….I don’t know what he means. I think he’s hallucinating….”

Tommy’s gaze fell to Laurie as she came closer to Michael. He remained quiet as the two had their first non-violent interaction in… well, almost ever as far as he was concerned. He didn’t expect it to be much of an actual risk, Michael seemed like he was in no condition to hop out of bed and attack. Still, he watched them both closely from where he sat, head tilted a bit as they held hands. The sight almost felt unreal, as if he would blink and look back to see them strangling each other. And though this was a bit monumental for all three of them, there was a bit more going on that would further hold off any celebration.

He nodded along as he explained his thoughts, a faint frown tugging at the corners of his lips as he looked Michael over. He wanted to help, he always wanted to help, but times like these reminded him that sometimes it was just out of his power. Not that it would stop him from trying. A hand continued to rest idly against Michael, eyes flickering from the older man to his sister for any sort of update. The next one that he was given, he really wasn’t sure what to think. At first, he thought maybe he was hallucinating. But even if he was, there was a chance whatever he was seeing could prove to be helpful.

“Three what, Michael? What about three- what makes up the three?” He looked him over once more, before looking to Laurie again for any sort of answer. It was a hint that felt so vague yet so clear at the same time. Three wasn’t a number that particularly meant much to him, but he knew that could be a different case for Michael. He might have known as much as a living person could know about the man, but there were things even Michael couldn’t properly explain, whether it flashed to him in a vision or haunted him in a memory.

The number three could have meant anything, he just hoped it was something he could figure out before this episode got out of hand.

[inxspacetime]

michael​:

Michael could barely let out a very weak groan, the slightest shake of his head. He wouldn’t be able to hold anything down, and the thought of anything touching his exposed skin beyond the thin sheet wrapped around him sounded like Hell on Earth.

He could already feel the feverish chills start to hit him, part of his body’s reaction to the healing process Thorn forced on him. He’d burn up dangerously with a fever and when it broke, he’d be strong enough to be mobile again. What didn’t kill him was only making him stronger.

Thankfully though he was strong enough later after nearly sleeping the entire day in a rest so deep he could have easily been mistaken as comatose. That sleep let him focus on what he had realized in one of the times Thorn had forced him into going at full force on a hunt.

The times he went out on a hunt….it was like he was looking for someone. The other he had sensed that night he spent with Tommy…..he knew Steven’s effect on him well, but this was different. Similar, but more dangerous….not tempered. Like himself as a child….or Danny when he was brushed by Thorn when Steven had been born.

He managed to reach for Tommy, tugging on his sleeve. Wanting his attention. He needed to talk to him about this revelation…..or ‘talk.’ Just because he spoke a few words before didn’t mean he was able to do it again on a whim.

So off to his useful notebook.

Felt them again when outside. The other child. Thorn knows.

Tommy nodded when he assured he didn’t need anything. He was still learning what this all entailed, and how exactly to tend to him afterwards. And if all he wanted to do was lay there, he wasn’t going to tell him otherwise. He wasn’t too shocked he slept through just about the entire day, it was what he’d done last time. Steven had questions, and he was able to answer them all without bringing any suspicion to the night before. He wondered why his father felt so sick, but he was able to satisfy the child’s curiosity without giving him the gruesome details he witnessed.

It was getting later into the evening. Steven had just gone to bed while Tommy remained in the living room, working on some paperwork. He wasn’t exactly tired, but part of it was to keep a bit of an eye on Michael. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would be in the condition he was in, how much longer until his body felt well enough to move again. He didn’t suspect it to be too much longer, and sure enough his suspicions were confirmed just a few minutes later. He was deep in thought at what he was working on when he felt a tug on his sleeve. A bit startled, he looked over to the source to see Michael was awake again. “Oh.. hi. Feeling any better?” He inquired, looking over the other as he set his work to the side.

But then he was reaching for his notebook. Michael spoke to him before — only a few words so far, but he’s managed to get a few things out. But he knew it wasn’t something he could rely on just yet. Just getting those few words he did out had been a lot for him, and Tommy recognized that. So the notebook was still in heavy use. He waited for him to finish what he was writing before he read it. “They know?” He looked from the notebook to the man holding it as he asked. The discovery that there may have been another child of his who survived was a rather recent one, one that Michael made through these episodes of his. The two instances were obviously linked, and it was left to them to figure out how. But if Thorn was aware of their existence, perhaps it was trying to turn them into the beast Michael transformed into just over a day ago.

“Do you think it’s too late to do anything?”

[inxspacetime]

michael​:

Could Michael love? He didn’t know. He knew he loved his children, or close to it. He could never forget the cold ice that flooded his veins when he lost his children, the desperation and panic that fueled him in trying to find the only child he had left.

He felt true grief, pain worse than any wound that left the broken Shape sobbing in the shadows for the family that he could never have.

To find the children that survived were still alive….his broken heart slowly healed. He still grieved those he lost, still missed the one woman that carried his child that he had been able to bond with….

But he had a family now….HIS family. And no matter how hard the curse hurt him, he’d never let it take over him and take his family again.

All his joy, al the times he felt happiness…..was because of Tommy. Tommy had saved Michael…..had kept the Shape at bay to let the man inside reach out.

A life without Tommy…..was a bleak life that held no joy.

With that kiss…..Michael hugged Tommy. He held the tiny man close, like he wasn’t letting him go. His way of saying that Tommy was his….only his. And he whispered something that suspiciously sounded like….

“ I won’t let anyone take you away from me…”

The embrace was firm, tight even, but not exactly crushing. Tommy’s seen the man crack a skull with his own two hands, he knew if he really wanted to do any damage that he could. He put himself at risk just taking the killer into his home, without even putting himself right in the man’s grasp. But that risk wasn’t something he paid much mind to anymore, as Michael no longer saw him as a threat. For some time, he wasn’t quite sure what exactly he did see him as, and likely the older was just as unsure. It wasn’t until recently that he was able to really put things into perspective, with moments like these giving him the clarity he needed.

Only a trained ear would be able to pick up on what Michael say trying to say, and luckily no ear was better trained for the job than Tommy’s. His free arm slithered around his neck, his grip around him tightening in an attempt to pull him in even closer (as if that were possible). “I’m not going anywhere, big guy.” He assured, a promise he intended to keep. Michael didn’t attach himself to many people, and a he lost a lot of those he did. While he took it to an extreme, he couldn’t blame him for being guarded. But Tommy’s seen him through so much, witnessed some of his most vulnerable points and did his best to help him to the other side of them…

At that point, leaving wasn’t an option. The family was almost as much his as it was Michael’s. It was hard to undergo even a quarter of what they’d been through and not get at least a little attached —- Tommy sure didn’t manage it.

[inxspacetime]

michael​:

Years of pain marked Michael’s face. From the Cult scarring him, to being set on fire multiple times….to having his eyes gouged out, his body riddled with enough bullets to send anyone to an early grave…..

He had survived everything imaginable and still kept coming back for more. More pain, more rage….that was all Michael had known since he had been a child.

But here, with Tommy…..he didn’t feel that pain. He didn’t experience the rage as much……he wasn’t tormented constantly by the very thing that gave him his immense power.

He willingly let Tommy touch his face as moved forward, meeting Tommy’s lips with his own. Once, a very long time ago, Michael Myers didn’t even know what a kiss was. He didn’t know intimacy could be anything more than siring children destined to die.

Now though….he knew there was more to life than all that pain. For once…..he felt…..happy.

The kiss was soft, gentle. A huge contrast from what Michael normally projected. But Tommy knew the man before him was almost completely different from the one who first tracked him down. Michael had been through much in his life, damage that’d never be fully reversed, but he found it in himself to try and most past it the best he could. Tommy did his best to give the other what he could of a second chance, and it seemed Michael accepted it.

An arm hooked around the larger’s neck, his grip around him loose. At first he’d done it to not risk losing an arm, but it slowly became something for the other’s sake. Michael was a killer, he hurt people, but Tommy had cleaned the body beneath the suit enough times to know he’d been hurt just as bad. For such a long time, all he knew was pain. And once Tommy recognized that, he did his best to be a comforting presence for the older man. And though that road wasn’t perfectly linear, there was no denying the progress he’s made.

But the kiss wasn’t a tactic to calm him down, or a part of some sort of ‘experiment’. The gesture came from a place of emotion that he couldn’t even try to fake (he was never the best liar), love in one of its purest form. He leaned further into the other, no real urgency in his actions other than a desire to be close to the other.

[inxspacetime]

michael​:

The Shape visibly blinked. He very, very rarely looked surprised, even wearing his mask. But those blue eyes of his showed surprise….gentleness. Love had never really existed for him before. Certainly not from his parents, not from the cult…..

But here……with what survived of his family….with Tommy…..he finally found the very thing denied from him for so long. Slowly Michael reached under his mask…..and pulled the latex off his face.

He was willingly giving up his shield, his protective shield….his face bare, pale from lack of sunlight……but open.

The trust in those eyes he had for nobody else, as he forced himself to use his damaged vocals to speak something from the heart.

“…….I love you too…..”

It wasn’t said with the intentions of hearing it back. Love wasn’t conditional in that way, not Tommy’s. And knowing the conflict the man he was talking to had when it came to love, he really didn’t need to. He came to care for Michael a lot, much more than he ever would have anticipated. It would be hard for anyone in his position to not go soft on the killer — perhaps a sane person. But they had a family together; it was Michael’s to begin with, but they all seemed to accept him as just another member. And part of that was because of how they saw their father treat him. Even if the words weren’t returned, he knew Michael had some sort of love in there for him; Tommy surely would���ve gotten himself killed by then if he didn’t.

But sure enough, movement was felt soon after. He pulled back slightly in order to look up at the larger of the pair, watching as he unmasked. Seeing his face wasn’t a particularly new sight, but it was one that usually put a smile to his own. He knew what it meant to take his mask off, the level of comfortability (or distress, which clearly wasn’t the current case) he had to reach to do so. He kept his gaze fixed on his now bare face, watching closely as he managed to get the words out. Surprise sat in his own stare, almost unsure how to proceed - but he seemed to figure it out after a few short moments.

A hand slowly slid up his body, resting against his jawbone in a gentle attempt cup his cheek. The skin is scarred, years of terror inflicted on the town they lived in visible within the marks. But he caressed it lightly, fingertips rubbing back and forth as he leaned up to offer Michael a kiss.

[inxspacetime]

steven/michael​:

Steven was excited for pancakes and all but dragged Michael with him. He held on to his dad’s hand, taking him to the table to have breakfast with Tommy.

Though both were Steven’s parents. In a way…..it was like a married couple and their child. And Michael, having never known a healthy relationship in his life……found that he enjoyed it.

Michael was smiling as Steven hopped onto a chair, himself sitting next to Tommy. The smell of the pancakes was absolutely mouthwatering, though already Steven was pouring way too much syrup on his pancakes.

“ Syrup syrup syrup! It’s like juice for a pancake!”

It was so….normal. It was just…..a family. No killers, no cults or curses….just a family enjoying breakfast.

Tommy watched the two as they came over to the table, Steven practically dragging his father over to the table. He wasn’t his child by blood, but he still saw a lot of himself in the growing boy. Physically he looked just like his father at that age, but his personality seemed to be a blend of the two. It only further pushed them into this family dynamic, and also made it easier to fall into.

He sat in a chair of his own before the other two got situated. He still had some moving around to do to find a few extra layers for Michael, but he had at least a few minutes to spare. And knowing how hungry Steven and his father could get, that was likely more than enough time to finish some pancakes.

He noticed the youngest going a little overboard with the syrup, but Tommy allowed it. It was a snow day, after all. He’d need all the energy he could get to play around in the colder weather - though, he already seemed filled with more than enough energy. He started to dig in, peeking over to make sure the other two were doing more than just drowning their pancakes in syrup.