Chapter Text
1975 - Santa Carla Boardwalk, California
Michael looks around the boardwalk with as much wonder a six year old could have. His steps slow down to a halt as he looks over the array of necklaces on the stand, contemplating if two year old Sammie might like one of the vibrant colored flowers dangling from a chain. All around him tourists and locals pass him by, paying absolutely no mind to the lone child. Almost everyone that is.
“Hey dad,” Michael starts but freezes when he sees his old man is nowhere to be found. But that’s not right, he was just here a minute ago. “Dad?” Michael looks around now. He calls out again but it’s too late.
Michael pouts and then bites at his lips, mind momentarily flitting over a dirty word he heard his father say. Mom didn’t like Michael using that kind of language and he loved her too much to upset her on purpose and it didn’t matter to him that Lucy and Sam were back at his grandparent’s house. Michael would be a good boy and not say it.
He took a slow deep breath and brushed back his fluffy curly hair, taking some joy in the knowledge that doing so would only make it all the more unruly. Any little thing to get back at his dad really. The bastard not only ignored Michael for a majority of this trip to the boardwalk but now he’s gone and disappeared and probably won’t even notice that Michael’s missing.
But now Michael has been put into a stressful position. He now has to come to a decision on what to do about this situation. A decision which requires a lot of maturity and thinking to make properly.
Mom isn’t here to come looking for him and if Dad has it his way she won’t ever learn about this incident. Dad has the tendency to get distracted easily and tends to be extremely forgetful whenever it comes to Michael and Sam, conversations with pretty ladies always seemed to be what draws his attention the most and if it’s not women it’s beer. This essentially means that even if Dad did notice Michael’s missing he either won’t bother looking for Michael until after a few hours have passed OR he will simply wait for Michael to come find him.
It’s unfortunate how often this happens when they’re supposed to be having “Father Son Fun.” Mom NEVER looses Michael and when she does it’s typically because Michael wandered off on purpose just to play a game with her. PLUS mom always pays attention to him and has nice conversations with him. Dad doesn’t.
…Dad’s kind of a jerk.
So here he is, standing in front of the store, considering his options. Really, he’s only got two of them right now and the defining factor is how Michael would LIKE his evening to go.
Firstly, Michael could stay right there until an adult decides to be so gracious as to help him (rare) and use a speaker system to call for his father (who doesn’t even show up quickly to get Michael.) If an adult doesn’t help, Michael plays the waiting game like Lucy instructed, and doesn’t move from his spot. He could simply wait for his dad to come back down the road since the car is parked in the opposite direction and then catch up to him once more.
The second option would be to continue walking in the direction they were already heading, maybe peek into every store until he came across his dad. So long as his dad didn’t take a random turn and go off of the main path, then finding him should be relatively easy. This option required significantly more diligence however in that Michael had to be extremely weary of everyone around him and at his height it’s not easy to see every face. But it would be worth it, have no doubt. His father was always happier when Michael proved himself to be self-sufficient an stay out of his hair.
Sometimes it was almost like the man wished Michael were a ghost.
Michael couldn’t ignore that anxious feeling in his chest. There were too many people around, too many chances to be lost forever in the crowd. He almost felt as though the hair on the back of his neck stood up and although the second option would be more difficult for Michael, right now it felt like the best one.
He turned and took off walking down the road as quickly as possible without drawing too much attention to himself. For a moment he considered running instead. Maybe if it helped him find his dad faster it would be worth the scorn of other adults?
“Hey kiddo!” someone suddenly grabbed Michael by the shoulder, the hold slipping down onto his arm as he crouched down lower to leer at Michael in the face. “You seem lost.”
Michael never considered himself to have the sixth sense some of his weirder schoolmates liked to talk about. The instinct that told you that ghosts were in your vicinity, or that sixth sense that acted like a premonition, nor did he even feel like he had a good grasp on the concept of feeling people’s souls or vibes. But the feeling this man gave him was absolutely what Michael would consider to be within the same vein of that.
No, the look in his eye was all sorts of wrong. He literally sent off an alarm in Michael’s head that told Michael he should get away from this man as quickly as possible.
“I’m not lost.” he swallowed down that lump in his throat and lied.
“Well then, where’s your old man.” And ok, Michael may not be the smartest kid but why would this stranger immediately think Michael was here with his father and not both of his parents or mother?
“He’s over there.” Michael pointed down the boardwalk at no one in particular. The man checked over his shoulder and in that moment Michael began to pull away from the man. The hand on his arm grew tighter. “He’s waiting for me so I gotta go.” Michael used his other hand to try and pry the fingers loose. “Let go!” he yelled but the man smirked.
“We’ll you can’t just go wandering off like that, son.” The man grabbed Michael’s hand and began to pull him in the other direction, away from where Michael pointed. “We’re gonna have to have a talk about that later.”
“NO!” random eyes darted towards Michael. He felt like crying, the man’s grip was too tight. “Let me go!”
“Just come on now, If you behave I’ll get you some candy.” Michael shook his head.
Already they began to turn down a dark alley. As they walked farther and farther away from people Michael began to loose hope that anyone would notice his screams for help. No one stepped in back there so why would they now?
“LET GO OF ME!” Michael screeched as he clawed at the man’s hand.
He leaned forward and bit down hard onto the man’s wrist and screwed his eyes shut as he focused on biting as hard as he could. Harder than he ever dreamt of. Enough to draw blood if he had to.
“Ouch!” The man shoved Michael against the wall. “Knock that off!”
Tears blinded Michael. His head really hurt and he thinks he bit his tongue on accident. Before he could turn to run away the stranger’s hands were already on him once more.
“Excuse me,” the man’s hand flinched away from Michael. Michael blinked away some tears and turned to face the new stranger that followed them into the alley. “What do you think you’re doing?” judging from the stranger’s tone this was a rhetorical question. He didn’t care what excuse the man had and he actually sounded personally offended despite the flatness he spoke with.
Michael wondered if angels really did wear all white because this one wore almost nothing but black. Black leather jacket, black jeans, black boots, navy blue shirt. Hell, even the pasty white face, light blonde hair, and baby blue eyes even helped to sell the vision that Michael swore he saw in one of those religious paintings before.
This new stranger glanced over at Michael and he felt electric, excitement and admiration flow through his whole body. Heck! Even though he was probably just a teenager this was the COOLEST person Michael has ever seen. Even the smug smirk on his face looked cool!
“Just teaching my kid a lesson, none of your business.” the angel sucked in air through his teeth making a reverse hiss kind of sound. His eyes twitched as his head shook to the side like he was disappointed.
“But the thing is he ain’t your kid.” the angel began to walk forward. “You’re just some pathetic pedophile trying to get an easy lay.” The man flinched back away as the angel flashed him a cruel leer, one that promised pain and suffering.
Michael realized that the man was not holding onto him anymore and since he backed off Michael now had more than enough space to dart away back towards this angel and the entrance to the alley. The angel held his hand out to Michael and he happily took it. It was the lifebuoy Michael desperately needed and even the simple act of taking the hand made him feel significantly safer and calmer.
Maybe if his dad would let him hold his hand then this never would have happened.
Michael looked over at the other man, glaring at him from next to the angel. He definitely looked shaken and after a few more gaping breaths he turned and ran further down the alley, away from the two of them.
“Don’t worry about him, my boys will get him.” Michael didn’t really understand what that meant. Was this kid a cop? “Say, what’s your name? Mine’s David.” the angel got down on his knees and looked Michael in the eyes. The soft smile made Michael feel happy. Happier than he had in a while.
“I’m Michael.” David smiled and shook Michael’s hand.
“Well Michael, how about you and I go look for your real dad?”
Michael looked back down the alley with a slight frown, remembering the other man and how he approached him. For a moment he wondered if he should be equally as weary of David. But he didn’t feel scared of David like he did that other man.
“I guess.” David chuckled and gave a nod.
“How about I carry you so that you can see him better? There’s a lot of folks out here tonight.” Michael bit his lip.
“Like a piggy back ride?” David’s soft smile grew.
“Sure!” David helped Michael climb up onto his shoulders and Michael felt breathless for a moment.
When he was smaller mom used to give him piggy back rides all of the time, dad even did it a few times. But neither of them felt THIS secure and the newfound height gave Michael a rush. He couldn’t help but to giggle as he looked over all of the adults whilst David walked in the right direction and away from the alley.
“So Michael, where are you from? You’re clearly not from around here.” David called from below.
“Phoenix, Arizona! Do you live here, David?” Michael could feel David’s head nod.
“I’ve been here a pretty long time. Used to move around a lot until my dad decided he really liked it here.”
“Do you like it?”
“Do you like Arizona?” Michael thought about it for a moment.
“It’s ok.” David chuckled.
“So, is it just you and your dad or is there more to the clan?”
“Well I got my mom too, she’s the best! And then Sammy whose like only two right now but I swear he’s such a cool baby! He can say my name!”
“I got some brothers too,”
“Really? How many?”
“Three. I’m the oldest, and then it’s Dwayne, Marco, and Paul.” Michael rocked from side to side as his head swept around, still looking for his father.
“That’s a lot of brothers.”
“Yeah, kind of. But they’re like my best friends, I don’t know what i’d do without them.” Michael nodded. He definitely could understand that even though Sam was still just a baby.
“Oh!” Michael gasped before he frowned and let out an angry huff. In front of a game stall his dad stood relaxed, chatting it up with some lady. They looked all chummy as they both let out a laugh. “Augh, I hate it when he does that.”
“What? You don’t like it when he talks to other people?” For a moment Michael wondered if David was just being sarcastic.
“No, he’s totally flirting with her!” Michael leaned foreword as he let his head hang and sighed heavily. “Mom’s gonna be upset if she finds out.” David was silent for a moment as they both watched the pair chatting from far away.
“Your dad seems like a jerk.” David finally admitted. Michael couldn’t agree more. “But you know what? My dad’s kinda a jerk too.” Michael sighed once more.
This was supposed to be a nice family vacation. A chance to comfort Grandpa whom just lost his wife and refused to move to Arizona with them despite now being alone. A chance to meet his grandpa since none of them had enough money to make yearly visits.
This was also supposed to be their chance to reconnect as a family. Michael knew dad had been drifting away for a while now and this was supposed to be a chance to fix that. Mom refused to simply give up on their relationship, especially with Sam and Michael being so young, but right now Michael wasn’t sure this could be fixed. She said that relationship issues were normal, that any good relationship just needed some communication and effort, and Michael wanted to believe that it would work out. He really did.
“Hey, you ok up there?” David called out.
“Yeah I guess. I may as well just go stand with him and wait for him to get bored.”
He didn’t even get to ride any rides today. Dad was late getting them both to the boardwalk. Sure they ate dinner, but then dad used that as an excuse to not get on any rides and instead browse the shops.
David picked Michael up easily and settled him down on the ground. Michael was ready to walk away but a gentle tap on his shoulder drew his attention back towards David.
“You did good tonight kid, gotta say, a lot of kids don’t struggle quite like you do. But you’re still small and being ferocious won’t get you out of every scrape ok?” David pulled a small metal bar from his pocket and with a flick revealed the blade. “So promise me you’ll learn to defend yourself and keep this on you as much as possible. It’s not much, but it’s enough to scare some people away until you get big and strong like me.”
Michael nodded and watched as David showed him how to open and close the blade. He tested it out a few times and finally David nodded, reaching a hand up to ruffle and mess up Michaels hair further. Michael shot David one final shy smile before pocketing the knife.
“Thank you!” Michael really wanted to hug David but paused. What if David didn’t like hugs like his father?
David muse have noticed Michael’s hesitation because with one arm he reached around Michael’s shoulders and drew him in for a quick hug. A stray hand petted Michael’s head and Michael, now giddy, reacher up to return the hug. David let go and Michael turned and ran over to his father in a significantly better mood than before.
“Stay out of trouble…Michael.”
David slunk back into the crowd. For the next hour Michael made sure to keep extra close to his father whom refused to even acknowledge Michael’s previously missing status. Every once in a while Michael would look around the crowd, wondering if David was still hanging around the boardwalk and wondering if he could catch another sight of his angel. Unfortunately he never caught sight of David and he spent the drive home thinking about his time at the boardwalk. He thought about David as he drifted off to sleep.
David, on the other hand, kept an eye on Michael all the way up until his father finally tore out of the parking lot. His stomach ached but he didn’t really feel the need to feed. No, instead David felt more than content to let the hunger eat at him. He was in far too good a mood to care. Even as he returned to the cave, returned to the noisy jabs and snarky remarks, he felt relaxed and happier than he ever thought imaginable.
“Looks like David’s got a crush!” Marko snickered and tossed a piece of popcorn at Paul whom caught it in his mouth. David shot him a grossed out look.
“That’s disgusting, he’s only a kid.” Marko shrugged.
“I’m sure after a few hundred years almost everyone seems like a child compared to you.” Paul chittered and nearly missed catching the next piece of popcorn.
“Yeah, but that’s way too young. He’s only like five.” David sighed as he leaned back in his chair, taking a heavy swig of the beer.
“You said he’s here on vacation?” Dwayne’s head popped up from whatever pile of crap he had been digging around. David had no idea what he was looking for.
“Oooohhhh, you gonna stalk him the whole trip?” Paul called from his new perch on the fountain. Marco dangled from the ceiling above him, ready to toss the popcorn down for Paul to catch.
“Bet you he’s just gonna follow the kid all the way back to Oregon.”
“Arizona.” David corrected.
“That’s a pretty sunny State there David.” Marco chimed from the ceiling.
“Real sunny, don’tcha agree Dwayne?” Paul echoed.
“It’s sunny everywhere.” Dwayne held up a box, digging through its contents before tossing it aside. Paul and Marco scoffed.
“C’mon man!” Marko almost sounded offended that Dwayne wasn’t in the mood to play along. David watched the duo of idiots toss some popcorn kernels at Dwayne.
“Knock it off!” Dwayne growled as he swatted away the popcorn attack.
“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Marco tutted.
Dwayne frowned and turned back to the pile before throwing a worrying amount of cockroaches back at Paul and Marko. Soon enough their little play-fight grew to include cans, bottles, trash, and anything else they didn’t care about breaking.
David watched from his chair, never getting close to being hit, and enjoyed the chaos. Instead he thought about only one person. The one whom someday would join his clan and live forever together with them. And someday David’s feelings towards Michael might change into something much more intimate, but for now David was content to take the role that an older protective brother.
A much older, much deadlier immortal brother.
~~~~~
“Okay Sammy!” Michael picked up the next card. “What animal is this?” he showed Sam the card and waited patiently whilst Lucy watched from between them.
“Doggy!” Lucy clapped and cheered and Michael reached over to give Sam a small high-five.
“Yes Sammy, doggy!” Lucy smiled at the boys and watched Michael as he pulled out a new card. Although the smile never left her face, she couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
Two days ago Michael and his father went to the boardwalk for what was supposed to be father son fun. They told her they had a good time but she knew that they were hiding something and she couldn’t help but to feel a little frustrated when the father finally admitted that Michael disappeared for a few minutes.
Later on Lucy spoke with Michael and nearly felt heart broken when he told her how a man tried to drag him away and that he had to rely on the help of another just to escape. Lucy was appalled that the stranger, David, gave Michael a switchblade just to protect himself. This David, sure he may have wanted Michael to be able to stay safe, but what kind of idiot gives a six year old a switch blade!?
Lucy was completely frustrated and angry. But hey, they were all trying to be better right? Accidents happen. Michael wasn’t seriously hurt so everything should be ok.
Well, that’s what Lucy WANTED to feel but Michael was just a little different all of a sudden. Maybe the incident seriously scared him. Maybe something else happened that no one mentioned. Maybe Michael had grown up just enough to be noticeable now.
Before all of this, Michael was just a typical older brother. Mostly he wanted to not be stuck with Sammy. He got annoyed with Sam when he cried too much, picked on him a little, played with him a lot, however now he was so much more…protective and proactive and caring. It was like Michael just suddenly decided to up his big brother game, decided that it’s now his job to defend and protect and take care of his baby brother.
Don’t get her wrong, it’s nice to have an extra helping hand. But the sudden change of his attitude was a little jarring. And as much as Lucy hoped it wasn’t so, it’s more than likely a result of the incident. Michael seemed much happier now though, less inclined to go running after his father in search of attention and more inclined to give it all to Sam instead. A sad thing really.
Hopefully they can fix too.
“Now what’s this?” Michael held up a picture of a banana.
“Nana!” Michael and Lucy cheered once more.
Lucy turned to the picnic basket and pulled out a bottle of water.
“You thirsty Michael?” Michael happily took it and tried to get Sam to drink some water as well.
Despite the heat of the late evening, Lucy thought it was actually quite nice out. The sun completely set about half an hour ago and the sky was extremely clear tonight so the stars were shining brilliantly for everyone on the beach. All along the beach, plenty of people chattered and drank and waited, some of the rowdier ones playing music and dancing with no campfire. No, that would ruin the spectacle.
“Sammy, you wanna play?” Michael held up a soft foamy ball. Sam nodded and clapped.
“Yes please!”
And oh how cute! Michael gently tossed the ball underhanded and Sam tried his hardest to catch it. Despite the lack of practice with his father, Michael almost only gave Sam perfect throws.
“Good job! Now toss it back.” Sam clumsily tossed to back to Michael and they continued on like that for a while.
“He’s gonna be all tuckered out tonight.” Lucy commented as she watched the two.
“That’s good! It means he’ll sleep good.” Michael leaned forward to grab the ball. Lucy ran a hand through Michael’s hair gently, fluffing it up for him just like how he likes it.
“I know i’m definitely going to sleep like a log, what about you?” Michael stuck his tongue out in concentration before tossing it once more.
“I don’t know. I’m not really feeling tired yet.” Lucy nodded. Sam began to fuss about being hungry so she pulled out some snacks from the basket and helped him eat.
Michael watched them for a moment, slowly realizing that he felt the weight of eyes watching him. They were watching him for a while and for a moment he swore a shiver of fear trickled down his back, remembering what happened last time. This time he looked around the crowd, slowly turning his head just slightly, just enough to conceal the fact that he was looking for a creeper. What he found instead, however, was something that excited him.
“David!!!” Michael’s head pivoted suddenly with his body as he rose a hand to wave at the blonde.
Though separated by a relatively large crowd of people, David had no trouble darting between the bodies and settling down in front of Michael. Lucy watched with mild apprehension as she recognized the name.
Initially she assumed David was a grown man but looking at him now he must have been around seventeen. Possibly a trouble maker if she were to go by the wardrobe alone, but maybe just a punk indulging in certain fashions. He did help Michael the other day. Though if he sticks around long enough Lucy will be more than happy to talk to him about how inappropriate it is to give a child a sharp knife. Maybe it just didn’t occur to him. Some people were just so ignorant.
“Hey Michael, whats up?” Michael stood so that he could be eye-level with David and pointed up to the sky.
“Are you gonna watch the fireworks?” David rubbed his chin and looked around, giving a small hum as if he were actually contemplating it.
“Unfortunately no. My ears are just too sensitive.” Michael looked sad for a moment.
“My ears used to be really sensitive too! Mom used to give me ear muffs and buds to block out some of the sound! Tonight’s gonna be Sammy’s first show so we’re gonna see how if it bothers him too.” Michael gasped. “Oh! This is Sammy!” He turned and pointed at his brother whom was currently more than pleased to focus on his food. “And this is my mom!”
And, well, just watching the two, Lucy couldn’t bring herself to be mad at David or have any bad feelings towards him. Michael was such a sweet boy and clearly David was more than kind enough to put up with Michael’s rambling, it almost looked like he was happy to have Michael’s attention. So Lucy gave David a small wave and smile.
“Hello, I’m Lucy.” David reached a gloved hand out and they shook hands. He gave a sheepish smile.
“You know, Michael told me how great you were, but he didn’t tell me you’re really pretty.” Lucy flushed.
“And he didn’t tell me that you’re quite the charmer!” she laughed. “How old are you David? Seventeen?” David smirked and looked away.
“Yeah, but good mothers deserve to know how great they are.” And ok, obviously he’s just trying to get on Lucy’s good side, but after all of the frustration and struggles of the past few months Lucy decided to let it slide. “The old man not here tonight?” Lucy shook her head.
“No, he had a really bad headache so he’s staying at the house tonight.” David nodded and looked around the crowd. It was almost as though someone were calling to him and he was trying to see them.
“That’s a shame, it’s a pretty nice show.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stick around and watch it? I think I have some extra ear plugs.” David’s expression almost completely slipped into shock before he raised a hand and shook his head.
“Thank you, but those don’t really work for me.” He ruffled Michaels hair. “But make sure you take it in as much as possible and enjoy it for me, ok Michael?” Michael still seemed a little sad but nodded.
“Ok, David.” David shot Michael a really nice smile that Michael couldn’t help but to return.
“It’ll be starting in about twenty minutes.” he caught Lucy’s eyes once more. “You guys have a nice night.”
“Have a good night, David.”
“Good night, David!” Michael waved as David stood and stocked off, disappearing back into the crowd.
~~~~~
“Man! I hate fireworks!” Paul hissed and pressed his hands against his ears while watching the display.
Despite the distance David and his boys put between themselves and the fireworks shows, they could still hear it easily. To a human with normal hearing, right now it’d be like hearing an obnoxious person speaking loudly in an art gallery. One with an awful echo problem.
None of the other boys had to voice their agreement. Luckily tonight none of them would be hungry, they ate more than enough the night before simply in preparation of tonight. No, unlike their usual nights of partying screaming and loud music, tonight would be a quiet one for them once the fireworks stopped.
Finally the last of the fireworks popped off and the brilliant display burned at David’s eyes as it did for the rest of them.
“Thank fuck.” Paul grouched and lowered his hands.
“I’m still gonna need some booze just to drown that out.” Marko admitted, now that the fireworks were done with his hands were finally free and he began to nibble at one of his fingered gloved. “I swear my ears will be ringing for weeks!” Dwayne and David rolled their eyes.
“It’s just cause you’re still young.” Dwayne shoved Marko lightly as he walked past the shortie. “You’re still teething like a child.” Paul let out a laugh.
“Fuck you! It’s a comfort thing!”
“It doesn’t get better with age.” David cut off the argument before it could even begin. “You just get used to it.” David stretched and laid down on the grassy hill. He was in no rush to go anywhere tonight.
“You look oddly chill tonight.” Paul sat down by David’s feet and glared towards the lingering smoke from the fireworks.
“That’s because he visited Michael again.” Dwayne pulled out a box of beer and passed them around. Marko stole Paul’s before he could grab it and ducked away with a smirk and a snicker. Paul made to smack at Marko but missed and chased after the brat.
“Hey! Give that back!” Marko laughed. David sighed and took the beer though he made no move to sit up. Dwayne and David watched the two wrestle each other onto the ground, spilling the beer all over themselves like a pair of clowns.
“So what are you going to do about him?” Dwayne finally asked before taking another swig. He didn’t need to specify whom he was speaking about, David already knew through their link.
“What is there to do? He’s too young to change and I’m not keen on having a kid be apart of the clan. Seems kind of cruel, don’t you think?” Dwayne nodded. Paul and Marko finally settled down enough to actually drink their beers rather than pour it on each other.
“Well you said he’s on vacation, you just going to let him go back?” David stared at his beer before answering.
“I guess I have to, don’t I? You should have seen how happy he was with his family. I don’t think I can tear him away from that just yet.” he finished his bottle and chucked it at Paul and Marko.
“HEY!” they screeched as they dodged it. They tossed back some pebbles though they didn’t actually hit David or Dwayne with them.
“I don’t think any of us want to bother with raising a kid anyhow.” Dwayne nodded as he listened. “Plus, if Max catches wind of it he might try to cause problems for us.”
“He’s always causing problems for us. That’s nothing new.”
As nice as the thought was to be present for Michael’s trip through childhood and into puberty, David thought leaving it as a surprise would suit him much better. Let Michael grow into the person he’s meant to be without David there to manipulate him. It would make their future relationship more natural. Although, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get his fill of Michael before his vacation was over.
~~~~~
Michael sighed heavily as he looked over Sammy finally sleeping soundly. It didn’t take long, he made sure to play and wear him down before helping Grandpa get him ready for bed, but perhaps the whole process tired Michael out more than he initially thought. Michael sat down on his parents guest bed and watched Sam sleeping in the crib. Is this what his mother did every night? She probably had to do this with Michael too.
Just the idea of doing this every night made Michael feel exhausted.
He laid down on the bed and breathed heavily, trying to fall asleep near the foot of the bed despite the lack of a proper blanket or pillow to comfort himself with. Not that it mattered, after ten minutes he ended up feeling completely awake again.
Michael really wished his mom would come back from her dinner date already. Today was supposed to be her day with dad but he wanted someone to come keep him company until he could fall asleep. Grandpa already passed out on the couch downstairs. Michael couldn’t hear the snoring since he shut the door to the bedroom. He didn’t need to wake Sam up again, he didn’t have the energy to put him back to sleep.
He crawled up the bed and peered between the blinds, out the window. Once more the night sky was clear with the moon big and brightly dangling far out of Michael’s reach. With a pull the blinds went up and now he could sit on the bed and simply look out, but still, he needed something more.
The window slid up easily and now Michael could enjoy the fresh air of the night. He leaned on the window sill, dangling his arms over the edge and relaxed. Maybe he’ll just wait here until they to get home.
“Michael,” Michael squeaked and looked around the bedroom. No one but Sam and himself stood inside. “Michael,” it sounded like David was snickering just outside the window. Michael shoved his head back out the window and looked around. A finger poked at the top of his head and he looked up. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed right now? It’s pretty late.”
“David!” Michael gaped at the older boy. David sat perched on the lip of the roof with his legs dangling over the edge, one ankle crossed over a thigh. Despite the angle of the roof he didn’t look like he had to hold on just to stay in place.
“Shh,” David held a finger up to his lips. “Let’s not wake anyone.”
“Why are you on my roof?” Michael’s neck began to hurt from the awkward angle.
“This isn’t your house.” Michael puffed his cheeks out. David practically glided down onto the roof of the veranda beneath Michael, just outside his parent’s window.
“Why are you on grandpa’s roof?” David met Michael’s eye and tilted his head.
“This is just a dream Michael. I can fly too.” Michael gasped and looked back through the room for a moment. Maybe he actually fell asleep while he was lying down?
“Really? That’s so cool! I wanna fly!” Michael bounced slightly. The old springs of the bed creaked beneath him.
David looked at Michael for a moment then smiled brightly.
“Well come on then,” he held a hand out and Michael took it while he climbed out the window. “Hold on tight now,”
At first it felt like he was simply floating. Michael’s feet left the roof so gently that he didn’t really notice it until he caught the view of the tree tops out of the corner of his eye. He was far too distracted by the soft happy expression on David’s face and the look of moonlight on his skin. But then David took Michael’s other hand and pointed out the town and other random places to Michael as they drifted through the sky. Eventually they settled on a tall tree just on the outskirts of town, just far enough to not really be bothered by the smog.
“We’re leaving in two days.” Michael didn’t want to ruin the comfortable silence he found himself in but he really wanted to tell David. Even though this was only a dream…
“That so?” Michael nodded.
“I don’t really want to, it’s really nice here. But I kinda miss my friends.” David nodded. “I was hoping I’d get to see you one last time or even meet your brothers since you got to meet Sam.” David hummed.
“We’ll see. I don’t know if you’re mother would approve of us all that much to be honest.”
“Why?” Michael finally looked away from the town and back towards David. “She looked like she liked you a lot the other night.” David shrugged.
“She was mad that I gave you that knife. Plus, I know I’m all sweet and charming, but those boys can be animals sometimes. I doubt I could get them to put on the charm just for her and trying to force them to behave sometimes just causes problems and attitudes.”
“Oh,” Michael glanced at the ground and felt a wave of vertigo wash over him. David put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
“We’re kinda like one of those rowdy gangs parents don’t approve of.” Ok, that made more sense.
“A gang?” David nodded. “What’s your gang’s name?” Michael remembering hearing about some gangs. Bloods and Crypts, Hells Angels, Timmy Morton and his dumb friends that just graduated last year.
“Name?” David waggled his head. “You know, I don’t think we ever bothered to give ourselves a name.” Michael wiggled on the branch.
“Oh! We should totally think of a name! What’s a cool gang without a proper name?” David chuckled and continued to hold Michael’s shoulder, making sure the boy didn’t accidentally topple himself out of the tree.
“Alright Michael, what do you think we should call ourselves?” Michael bit his lip as he thought about it.
David was cool, wore leather and black, and seemed pretty smart too. But these things didn’t actually lend themselves to be helpful in picking out a name and it didn’t help that Michael didn’t know anything about the other boys. But David did say that he’s the oldest, being only seventeen. Clearly he had to be the leader of the group, and he flew Michael around effortlessly. Before they came out to California Lucy showed Michael the movie Peter Pan and after mulling over tonight’s antics Michael felt like he knew a pretty good name.
“What about Lost Boys?”
“The Lost Boys?” Michael nodded.
“Like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.” David was quiet for a moment before he broke out into a laugh so hard that he even felt the need to slap his thigh.
“That’s a great name Michael!” Michael smiled.
“Really?” David eagerly shook his head.
“Totally! I think they’ll like it too!”
“Awesome!”
Michael surveyed the scenery whilst David continued to snicker beside him.
“What’s it like, being in a gang?” David’s laughter ebbed away as he mulled over how he wanted to answer Michael.
“Well… every gang is different. We’re not really related by blood, but we’re still brothers, and that’s kind of really cool because we chose each other.” Michael didn’t really understand, but he nodded. “It’s like we have this… special connection. We’re always looking out for one another, even when we’re being assholes or annoying on purpose.” And that Michael did kind of understand.
Sometimes Sammy irritated him, really got on his nerves, but Michael still loved him. If anything Michael cared about Sammy more now than ever. His determination to be a good older brother and protect his younger one had only grown over the past few days. His mother said that he had a newfound protective streak a mile wide, but someone other than his mother had to, needed to. Michael knew his father probably wouldn’t be there enough for Sammy which meant the job was left to himself.
“What if you can’t protect them all the time?” David stared Michael down and for a moment Michael wondered if David knew exactly what he had been thinking.
“Well we all are fighters. We can do a pretty good job defending ourselves, although sometimes the extra help is nice.” Michael nodded. “You can’t always be there for Sam, even if you try really hard Michael, and someday you’ll have to let go of him and trust that he’ll be ok without you.” And wasn’t that a bitter pill to swallow?
When would that day come? Days? Months? Years? What if Sam was never ready to be without Michael?
“Michael,” a hand brushed through Michael’s hair and drew his attention back away from his own thoughts. “If you’re that worried about Sam, look into getting him a dog when he’s old enough. They’re supposed to be good for teaching responsibility or some shit like that, get one that’d be a good guard dog too.” Michael tilted his head.
“What kind of dog would be good for something like that?” He’d heard of service dogs before and if they had a guard dog then mom would have some extra protection too. That would make Michael feel a lot better about when he wouldn’t be able to be there for his family.
“Well, my dad has this husky though that dog’s like crazy protective. Kind of a jerk actually.” David sniffled and frowned.
“You don’t like dogs?”
“More like they don’t like me.” Michael laughed.
Michael felt drowsy but held on for as long as possible, continuing to chat it up with David as much as he could. Then one moment Michael felt the heaviness of his eyelids wearing down on him and the next he was cradled into David’s chest. They flew slowly over the landscape, taking in the fresh air.
“David? Can I join the Lost Boys too?” Michael wondered if David’s chest really did just let out a happy rumble.
“Sure thing Michael. One day when you’re big enough, come back and you can join us. Learn to ride a bike and we can go for rides and have fun every night, whenever you want, and we can go out and fly too whenever you feel like it.”
“I really liked flying.” Michael nodded. His eyes slid shut and he breathed in softly.
David stopped at the open window of the guest bedroom. Grandfather still passed out on the couch downstairs, Sam still sleeping soundly in his crib, and Michael only minutes away from passing out for the rest of the night. David gently put Michael down on the roof in front of the window and helped him climb back in. Their eyes met one final time.
“Come back some day. You’ll think I was just some dream, you’ll barely be able to remember this vacation, but some day you’ll be back here. And we’ll be waiting Michael.”
David brushed Michael’s hair aside as he hypnotized the boy. It hurt to do this, but it’d be better if Michael didn’t fully remember David. Just enough to draw him back.
“Goodnight David.” Michael muttered.
“Goodnight Michael.”
~~~~~
12 years later - 1987
Michael couldn’t really explain it, but the moment Lucy sat him and Sam both down to talk about the divorce he began to feel elated. She mentioned how she spoke with Grandpa about it and he invited them to come live with him in Santa Carla and the excitement began to bubble over. They made the drive and as they got closer to Grandpa and Santa Carla, Michael could feel something pulling at him. Like a sweet sigh followed by a whisper of “finally.”
He saw the girl at the concert, soft face and softer skin reflecting the light of the torches as she slowly rocked to the music. Something about her told him to “follow” and he happily obliged.
Follow, follow, almost there. She’ll lead you to it, just follow her.
And then he saw those blue eyes. Pale blonde hair and paler skin. An alluring smirk bursting fourth and Michael couldn’t bring himself to look away. It had been far too long.
Far too long since what?
He watched the gang drive off on their motorcycles and for a moment Michael thought he heard an echo in his mind, like a soft whisper of a memory from when he was a child. But how could that be? That was just a dream?
“Looks like she stiffed ‘ya.” He could hear the laughter in Sammy’s voice, but he didn’t really care about that.
Not many people knew, but Michael had always been a Lost Boy.