Work Text:
Michael didn’t really have a lot going on anymore, and quite frankly, it was a little weird. He’d been living on the edge for so long (long before the vampires, even) that his body almost didn’t know what to do with itself now that it was all over. They’d dealt with Max, the Lost Boys were gone, there was a state line and a few thousand miles between him and his dad, and Santa Clara was finally, finally starting to feel like home.
That still didn’t mean he thought about his brother much. Michael still had some things going on, okay? New girlfriend, new town to explore, new appreciation for the daylight hours, so on and so forth. Sam had his own stuff going on anyway. Mainly the Frogs. Now that they had no vampires to hunt, it seemed that the unusual brothers were on the hunt for a new hobby, dragging Sam along with them at every step of the way. He caught glimpses of them sometimes when he and Star were exploring the pier. He’d seen them attempt fishing (Sam had come home sopping wet with live bait in his hair), surfing (Sam had limped home with a sprained ankle), and he’d once seen them just running back and forth on the beach while Sam sat and watched (he still wasn’t sure what that one was about).
So, Michael was arguably paying more attention to Sam than he ever had, mostly because he still hadn’t been able to convince his nervous system that the two of them wouldn’t be in mortal danger again at any second, but they both spent a lot of their days out of the house. Despite being on better terms than they had in a while, the two brothers still didn’t talk much, and Michael, as always, had other things to think about.
The one thing that crept into his mind sometimes, late at night when he was trying to sleep, was the conversation they’d had weeks ago. In the dark living room, when Sam had shook and cried, and they’d traded secrets. Only, Michael’s secret had gone away. No more vampires hunting in the dark. Sam’s secret, Michael knew, was never going to.
They hadn’t talked about it again, but Michael sometimes saw this… hesitance when Sam looked at him, like Michael could turn on him at any moment. He’d thought for a while that it was the vampire thing, like Sam thought he’d just suddenly vamp out and attack even though the head vampire was dead. It wasn’t until their mom made a comment about Sam getting to know some girls his own age and Sam shot him That Look that he realized what was really happening.
He really didn’t worry about him too much, though. Sam had good friends, and maybe things would be harder once school started, but for now, Sam seemed happy just to spend the days trying out hobbies and running amok around Santa Clara.
So it really wasn’t that surprising when, while Michael was lounging on the couch reading a book that Star had insisted upon, Sam suddenly yelled down the stairs, “Hey, Mike! Do you know where we put your old roller skates?”
“Under my bed!” Michael yelled back, barely glancing up from the book.
Sam jumped down the stairs a moment later, roller skates slug by the laces over his shoulder. “Mind if I borrow these?”
Michael chuckled. “They don’t even fit me anymore, knock yourself out.”
Sam bounded towards the door and Michael finally actually looked up at him. He was wearing a truly obnoxious red vest that Michael knew was his favorite, and weirdly, he looked like he’d attempted to actually tame his hair, slicking it down on the sides in a way that made it look distinctly more mullet-esque.
“Frogs?” Michael called out as a blanket question to figure out what Sam was up to.
Sam stopped just short of the door, turning back towards Michael but not quite meeting his gaze. “Frog. Singular. Alan’s at the dentist, had to get a cavity filled.”
Michael nodded, implicitly giving Sam permission to leave, and Sam tried to get out the door so fast that smacked directly into it before stumbling back, yanking it open, and running off.
Michael wished he still had the ability to hear Sam’s heartbeat and get a read on his emotions. Because that was weird.
…
What was even weirder is that it started happening more often. Sam was jumpy in a way that he never had been before. Not quite scared, just… energetic. And distracted. Very, very distracted. He didn’t know it was possible for someone to run into so many walls.
Their mom noticed too, especially after the phone rang while they were eating dinner and Sam yelled “I got it!” before rushing away from the table so fast he knocked a glass off, which shattered on the ground.
“Sorry!” came as a halfhearted, muffled apology as Sam was already down the hall.
“Sam! You can’t just—” their mom sighed, shaking her head as she grabbed the broom to clean up the mess. “I don’t know what’s gotten into that boy, really.”
“Hey, at least it’s probably not vampires,” Michael joked, grabbing the dustpan to help.
Lucy did not look amused.
“Joking, joking,” Michael laughed to himself. He figured he, more than anyone else, had the right to joke about that whole incident.
From down the hall, they heard Sam laughing, talking about something Michael couldn’t quite distinguish, but he picked up that it was Edgar, possibly both Frogs, on the other end of the line.
“At least he has friends to be excited about,” Lucy commented, as if reassuring herself while Michael dumped the glass shards into the trash.
“Yeah,” Michael agreed, shrugging. “There are a lot worse people a teenager could be getting himself involved in than the Frog Brothers. Like vampires, for instance.”
“Michael Emerson, if you don’t stop I’m going to—”
Michael put his hands up in surrender. “Joking!”
Lucy shook her head in disappointment as she sat back down at the table, but Michael saw the corners of her mouth tick up in a smile that she tried to hide.
Sam came running back into the kitchen just as Michael sat down again. “Can Edgar come sleep over tonight? We’ll sleep downstairs so we don’t bug Michael.”
Michael didn’t even know why he asked. The Emerson household seemed to be open doors for the Frog Brothers, but Michael really couldn’t complain because the same rules applied to Star (except more doors had to literally stay open when Star was around).
“Of course, sweetheart,” Lucy smiled, obviously too charmed by Sam actually having friends to worry about the broken glass. “Just Edgar? Is Alan alright?”
Sam did that weird thing again, where his shoulders stiffened and his eyes suddenly became affixed to the floor. “Edgar says he’s got a cold. That’s why Edgar’s coming here; trying to escape the sickness.”
Their mom didn’t seem to notice the strangeness in Sam’s posture, she just smiled that pleasant mom ‘my boys are doing alright’ type smile and nodded. “I’ll get the extra blankets out. Just don’t stay up too late.”
Sam was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, that strange jumpy energy he’d had for the last few days reaching its peak. “We won’t, thanks Mom!” And suddenly, he was gone down the hallway again, presumably to give Edgar the okay to come over.
“Sam! Finish your dinner!” Lucy called after him, but it was no use. She slumped back in her chair, shaking her head. “That boy, I swear. I don’t know what those three get up to that has him so excited.”
“Well, at least it’s probably not vamp—”
“Michael.”
…
When Michael stumbled downstairs at four in the morning to get a glass of water, it was to find Sam and Edgar slumped against each other, asleep sitting up with their backs pressed against the foot of the couch. There was a comic book spread open across both of their laps and a flashlight in Sam’s hand that was still on.
Looks like they stayed up a little too late, Michael laughed to himself as he grabbed his water and headed back to bed.
…
It was Star who pointed out the next thing, actually. She was on the back of Michael’s bike when they stopped at a lookout point over the water and, as they often did, spotted Sam and co. climbing along the sand dunes.
“Where’s the little one?” she asked, peering over Michael’s shoulder.
Michael shrugged. “I dunno. Alan’s been sick recently.” Or at the dentist. Or too tired from bike riding earlier. Or staying in to catch a TV episode.
Star smiled a little as she squinted down at them in the bright sun. “It’s kind weird to see just the two of them. It feels like they’re missing a piece.”
Michael frowned, watching as Sam tripped and fell in the sand and Edgar helped him up. “Yeah. Odd. Sam’s been acting a little weird recently, and he keeps telling me that Alan’s busy with something or other.”
“Maybe they had a fight,” Star suggested, resting her chin on Michael’s shoulder.
“Maybe,” Michael agreed, starting up his bike again. “I’m sure it’ll blow over.”
…
Michael tried hard to consider the fight theory. He really, really did. The thing is, Michael didn’t actually think that Sam was spending less time with both Frogs together. They were still attached at the hip, riding their bikes around town, wasting time in the comic shop, or invading Michael and Sam’s shared bedroom to run what they called ‘military drills’ (which, as far as Michael could tell, were mostly just jumping jacks). It was just that on top of all of that, Sam managed to carve out an extra sliver of time that was just Edgar.
Michael would understand if it went both ways, but it was always either Edgar and Alan together or just Edgar. Maybe Alan really just was busier, or genuinely caught a bad cold, or really just couldn’t spend anymore time with Sam and Edgar without going insane, but as time went on, the excuses got thinner and thinner. Alan has a lot of homework, was the last thing Michael had heard, which was a little ridiculous considering the school year was still a few weeks away.
Sam’s nervous energy didn’t go away, either. It didn’t even plateau. Michael was honestly getting a little worried. Sam’s head had always been in the clouds, but never like this. He wasn’t sleeping well, and some nights he only picked at his dinner. He was covered in bruises from running into stuff, and he was around the house less than he ever had been.
Michael was sitting in the living room, reading that same book he’d been chipping away at by the light of a dim lamp when his mother came downstairs, a concerned look on her face.
“Have you seen Sam?” She asked, looking around like Sam was just hiding behind the couch or something.
Michael had to think fast because no, he definitely had not seen Sam, and yes, it was definitely past curfew. He thought about telling the truth, because Sam was a goody-two-shoes and him missing curfew was cause for concern. But there were no more vampires in Santa Clara, and Michael remembered being fourteen too. “Oh, sorry, that’s my fault,” he tried to say casually. “He called like an hour ago. He’s staying with the Frogs tonight. Said something about a Star Wars marathon. I was supposed to tell you, completely slipped my mind.”
Michael was lucky his mother wasn’t a distrusting woman, and he was also lucky that Sam didn’t usually get himself into trouble, because the worried lines on Lucy’s face smoothed themselves out and she ruffled Michael’s hair as she passed him to head back up the stairs. “Alright then. If I’m at work when he gets home tomorrow, can you remind him to take out the trash?”
“Of course.”
It was only after he heard the door to her room close that Michael let out the breath he’d been holding.
…
Michael couldn’t sleep. He tried to tell himself it wasn’t because he was worried. Teenage boys snuck out past curfew all the time. It was like, one of the defining traits of being a teenage boy, and Sam knew how to keep himself out of trouble. He probably was just with the Frogs, and he’d probably just forgotten to call. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off though.
Unfortunately, Michael’s anxiety proved to be well founded when Sam climbed through their second story window at two in the morning.
“Sam,” Michael hissed as Sam swung his leg over the windowsill, causing his brother to fall, thankfully, towards the inside of the window, crashing to the ground in a way that hopefully wasn’t loud enough to wake their mother.
Sam scrambled out of the heap he’d landed in, pushing his back against the wall under the window and pulling his knees to his chest. “I didn’t think you’d still be awake,” he mumbled.
In the dull moonlight from the window, Michael could see the sort-of dazed look on his brother’s face. He stared, wide-eyed, down at the rug, barely blinking. His breath was shallow. He looked like he’d been crying, but he had a vague smile on his face that he seemed to be actively trying to suppress.
“Where were you?” Michael asked, keeping his voice low.
Sam didn’t answer. He just stared.
“Sam?”
No response.
“Sam, are you high?”
That question shocked Sam out of whatever state he was in, and he almost seemed startled to realize Michael was even in the room with him. “What? No!”
Well, at least that crossed drugs off the list. “How’d you even get up here, Sammy?”
Sam pointed vaguely towards the window behind him.
“I got that part,” Michael snapped, barely remembering to keep his voice low. “I meant, how did you scale the fucking house?”
Sam pointed to the window again, as if that would help illustrate his point. “We have that huge tree in the back yard. The branches reach right to the window. It’s how the Frogs break in.”
Michael had the startling realization that that probably meant Sam had entered the room this way before. He’d ask about that later. He had more important things to worry about now.
“Sam, where the hell were you?”
Sam’s eyes went vague again, and his head thunked backwards against the wall behind him. “Out.”
Michael, for the first time in a long time, considered physically fighting his brother. Unfortunately, his worry won out over his annoyance. Sam wasn’t just being belligerent, something was… wrong. He mentally erased the x he’d put next to drugs on his list of things Sam could have been doing.
“Sam.”
“Hmm?” Sam hummed, thunking his head back against the wall a few more times as he picked at the hem of his shorts.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did something bad happen?”
Sam hesitated before he answered, in a way that Michael found exceptionally worrying. “...No.” Michael saw Sam’s hand clench, his fingernails digging into the palm of his hand, but that dumb grin crept its way back onto his face. Then, Michael watched as Sam flinched, then physically shook his head as if shaking away whatever he’d been thinking about. He looked as though wiping the smile off his face was a chore.
“Were you with anyone?”
“Frog,” Sam mumbled, so quietly that Michael couldn’t quite make out if there was supposed to be an ‘s’ on the end or not.
There was a long silence as Michael found himself at a loss for what to do. He watched as Sam seemed to wrestle with himself, a dozen different emotions running across his face, but all coming back to that dazed smile. A few times, it even looked like he was going to speak, but each time, he’d flinch and fold in on himself.
Finally, in a voice barely audible, Sam spoke up. Not to offer an explanation, but just to quietly ask, “Is Mom mad at me?”
Michael sighed. “No. I lied for you. If she asks, you watched all of Star Wars with the Frogs.”
Sam just nodded, not even offering a thank you as he finally peeled himself off of the floor and slipped into his bed, covering himself so thoroughly in blankets that Michael couldn’t even see his hair poking out the top.
Michael realized at that moment that all the years of trying to get as far away from his family as possible might have left him slightly ill-equipped to actually be an older brother. He felt like he should have been angrier, demanded answers, and got to the bottom of what was going on. He also felt like maybe he should have hugged Sam, let him cry, and told him that whatever happened, Michael would keep him safe. Either one might have gotten him an actual answer.
Instead, he curled up in his own bed and turned to face the wall. He pretended he didn’t hear Sam crying under his covers, or when that sob turned into a watery laugh, or when he started cursing under his breath. He didn’t know what Sam was going through, but it seemed like nothing Michael had ever experienced.
It would be easier if it was vampires.
…
Michael’s somewhat foul mood and utter exhaustion from a total lack of sleep was absolutely not helped by Star being fucking weird the next day. He met up with her to walk along the boardwalk and she wouldn’t meet his gaze, kept fidgeting with the edge of her skirt, and would only respond to him in generic phrases and vague hmms.
Finally, during a long lull in conversation where Michael was trying to figure out if he’d done anything to deeply offend her over the last twenty-four hours, Star hesitantly spoke up. “So… your brother…”
“What about him?” Michael asked. He hadn’t yet broached the subject of last night’s strange encounter. He didn’t know if he wanted to.
“He’s a little… odd, isn’t he?” Star put a strange emphasis on the word odd that Michael couldn’t quite parse.
Michael shrugged. “A little, yeah. He’s always been a bit strange, but he’s a good kid. We were briefly vampires, Star, I don’t think we can judge.”
“...Right.” Star stared down at her feet as she walked, twirling a single dreadlock around her finger. “It’s just that… how do I put this… I was wondering if… maybe… you knew if he was…” She bit her bottom lip and scrunched up her nose. “...if you knew the reason he’s a bit odd?”
Michael was starting to pick up on the implication, but he was still at a total loss. Yes, Sam was gay. Yes, Michael knew that and tried not to think about it. No, he had no idea why Star was suddenly bringing it up now.
He stopped walking and grabbed Star’s shoulders, turning her to face him. “Star. What’s going on?”
She didn’t look at him, just stared down at their shoes. “So… you know how I like walking the beach at sunset?”
“...Yes?”
“And you know how sometimes old habits die hard and I stay up way later than I should, and then I get anxious, so then I check all of David’s old hideouts to make sure that they’re really, really gone?”
“Also yes.” He’d actually been trying to get Star to stop doing exactly that for the past few weeks.
“Well, last night, I was checking under the pier. Y’know, where I pierced your ear?”
He nodded. How could he forget?
“So, I was under the pier, and really, no one else is ever out that late, so I really wasn’t expecting to see anyone, but I kinda… maybe… sawyourbrotherkissingaboyunderthepieratlikeoneinthemorning.”
“Woah there, slow down.” Michael gripped her shoulders tighter. “Say that again.”
“I kinda…”
“... Yeah.”
“Maybe…”
“... Mmm.”
“Saw your brother…”
“...uh huh.”
“Kissing a boy. Under the pier. At like one in the morning.” Star looked like she wanted to throw herself into the ocean rather than keep talking, but a flurry of words broke out of her mouth. “I really thought about not telling you. I mean, it’s really his business, and who am I to get involved? But he’s so young, and I thought you might be worried, and if I saw, than anyone could have seen, and I don’t want him to be in danger, and I wanted to tell him that, but I couldn’t talk to him about it, and I don’t want you to mad at him, but I couldn’t tell anyone else, and it really, really isn’t my business, but—”
“Star, I— STAR,” Michael raised his voice just slightly to be heard over her rambling. “It’s okay. I… I know that he’s… yeah.” Michael didn’t like that he couldn’t bring himself to say it. “He told me a bit ago. It was kind of in the middle of the whole vampire thing.” He winced inwardly before he could bring himself to ask the next question. “Do you… do you know who it was?”
Star kicked listlessly at the sand on the boardwalk planks, still not quite meeting his gaze but tilting her face up towards him. “It was one of the Frogs. I can never keep their names straight.”
Michael sighed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back as his temples started to throb. “Edgar,” he mumbled, squeezing Star’s shoulders. It was the conclusion that Michael had been preventing himself from coming to for weeks. Knowing his kid brother was theoretically gay and knowing he had actual interest in other boys were two different things. Michael really didn’t like to think about it. He tried not to, in fact. Because whenever he did— whenever he tried too hard to rationalize the appeal something like that would have to Sam, Michael found himself thinking about David. About how on that first night, when David had taught him a few chords on the guitar, Michael had wanted something from him. At the time, he thought it was just to belong somewhere, but now, he knew where he belonged and… well, he still wore David’s earring.
Michael cursed under his breath, finally releasing Star’s shoulders to run a hand through his hair. “That makes last night make a little more sense,” he muttered. “Look, uh, thanks for telling me. Really, thanks. And thanks for being concerned and not grossed out, or whatever. Could you do me a favor and just… not tell anyone else?”
That actually made Star laugh and she finally fixed her gaze on him. “Who on earth am I going to tell?”
“Fair enough.” Michael looked around wildly, as if that would help him figure out next steps. “I should, uh, probably go… talk to Sam.” He dreaded the thought, but his long repressed older brother senses were screaming at him.
“You do that, Moonbeam.” Star smiled and kissed his cheek. “Please… er, please tell him I’m sorry. He doesn’t deserve you finding out like this. He should have been able to tell you himself.”
Michael nodded, quickly kissed her cheek, and started off towards home.
…
He was worried Sam wouldn’t actually be home, and equally scared that he would be. Thankfully, their mom was at work, and when he climbed the rickety stairs to their bedroom, he found Sam leaning against his headboard, reading a comic book. Sam looked up at Michael when he entered the room, but quickly diverted his attention back to his comic. That is, until Michael sat down on his bed next to him.
Sam looked up at him like he’d grown a second head as he put his comic down. “...What’s up, Mike?”
Michael didn’t even know where to begin.
“Look, if this is about last night, I really am sorry, and it’ll never happen again. If I’m ever late for curfew again, you can string me up on the wall like grandpa’s old taxidermy. Scout’s honor.”
Michael sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “So… sometimes… late at night… Star gets anxious and checks a bunch of the Lost Boys’ old hangout spots.”
“Uh huh…” the second head look had not gone away.
“Including under the pier.”
Michael watched as the realization dawned on Sam. His face twisted from confused to what looked like utter terror, and in an instant, he tried to bolt out of the room. Michael had, somehow, been prepared for that. He grabbed Sam around the waist as he tried to struggle past him and wrestled him back down next to him. He kept one arm locked around his shoulder, preventing him from trying to escape again.
Sam was already shaking, tears running down his face as he tried fruitlessly to pry Michael’s arm off of him. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, really… I swear, I know I’m not supposed to— it was an accident, I didn’t—”
“Sammy, shh,” Michael hushed, rocking back and forth slightly as if trying to calm a far younger child. “I’m just trying to make sure you’re safe. Star was worried. I’m worried. I mean, you came home last night looking like you’d seen a ghost. You cried yourself to sleep.” Michael didn’t want to ask his next question, but he knew he had to. “Were you upset because you didn’t want to—”
“No, I wanted to,” Sam answered, so quickly it looked like he even surprised himself, and when he realized what he’d said, he tried to hide his face. “I wanted to… I’m just… terrified that I wanted to. I’m terrified that it… it didn’t feel wrong.”
“You thought that—”
“I thought that maybe if I actually did it, then I’d realize it actually felt gross, and all the… the wanting, it would just… go away.”
“But it didn’t go away,” Michael filled in, carefully rubbing Sam’s shoulder. “I’m guessing it actually felt pretty good.”
Sam hesitantly nodded, trying to make himself as small as possible as though that would let him hide. “He kissed me a second time, and I… I just let him. I couldn’t stop smiling, then I couldn’t stop crying. I wanted to hate it, but…”
“... but it was your first kiss, and that’s exciting?” Michael guessed, cursing himself because he hadn’t even thought of that side before now. Sam was a kid, first kisses were scary no matter what. Michael couldn’t even imagine the amount of stress and mixed up emotions Sam was under. He’d never gone through something even close to this, and if he had, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to take it.
Sam was silent for a long time. Michael didn’t prod him, didn’t want to force it. He didn’t even know where the conversation had left to go. He’d leave that up to Sam.
Finally, in a weak voice, Sam finally said, “Mike… I’ve… I’ve never even really let myself… have a crush before. I’ve always just… pushed it away. I knew it would end badly so I decided to just… not think about it. But with him, I—” His voice wavered and he tucked himself further against Michael’s side. “I knew he wouldn’t… hurt me. I didn’t mean for him to know. I didn’t mean for him to do anything back, it just… happened.”
“Sammy, I’m not mad at you, I just—”
“I know, I know,” Sam muttered miserably. “I have to shut this down. I can’t— we can’t— this can’t happen again.”
Michael pulled Sam tighter against his side. “That wasn’t what I was going to say at all. I was just going to say that you have to be more careful. You’re lucky it was Star that saw you, it could have been anyone.”
Sam nodded dully, and Michael could see his fingernails digging into his palms.
“Look, Sammy, I— I’m not going to pretend like I understand this. Now, vampires, that I could help you with. But this… it’s hard. I’m not going to pretend like it’s not. But I don’t think just shutting it all down is good. You’re a kid, and you deserve to have crushes, and bad first kisses, and to make a fool of yourself trying to impress someone. You just have to be smart, you have to be safe, and if anything goes wrong, you tell me, okay? You don’t just climb through the window and cry yourself to sleep. We talk, we make a plan, we find a way to keep you safe while actually being happy.”
Sam nodded, but he looked like all of that was a foreign concept to him. Nonetheless, he leaned against Michael and pressed his face into his shoulder and locked his arms around Michael’s torso. Michael could feel the tears seeping through his shirt, but he didn’t care. He just wrapped both arms around Sam and slowly rocked them back and forth.
Eventually, the tension got so tight that Michael couldn’t take it anymore. “So…” he mumbled, trying to sound as casual as possible. “...Edgar, huh?”
“Shut up,” Sam muttered, pulling his face back from Michael’s shoulder and wiping his face with his sleeves.
Michael put his hands up in mock surrender. In his mind, he was repeating the mantra this is a normal conversation about a normal crush over and over. “Hey, I just wanna know how it all came about. All those times it was just you and him…”
Sam actually laughed. It sounded wet and weak, but he laughed. “I had nothing to do with that. It was the Frogs scheming. Believe me, I would have come up with better lies.”
“So he was trying to spend time alone with you to… what? Ask you out?”
Sam flinched a little bit, biting down on his bottom lip. “I dunno. I don’t know if he knows. Those two are kinda full steam ahead once they get an idea in their heads, if you haven’t noticed. I’m not sure they really thought about it all that hard.”
“And he’s the one that kissed you?”
“Yeah.” Sam actually smiled a bit at the memory. “Full steam ahead.”
“And he kissed you twice?”
“Three times.”
Michael found himself smiling. “Nice.”
“Then I burst into tears.”
“Oh.”
“But he was pretty cool about it, all things considered. He walked me home, and he’s the one that told me I should go up the tree, which is why I ended up coming through the window. I am still sorry about that, by the way. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“Clearly,” Michael chuckled. “It’s okay. Rather you wake me up than Mom.”
Sam’s eyes went wide and his posture stiffened up again. “Mike… I— I don’t know what I’m gonna tell Mom. I’ll have to tell her something some day. I know she probably suspects, but that’s different from knowing, and I know she loves me, but—”
Michael pulled Sam hard against his chest, wrapping his arms tight around him again. “We will cross that bridge when we get to it, Sammy. Right now, you’re going to think about how you’ve had your first kiss, and about what you want to do about that.”
“He invited me roller skating again,” Sam sniffled, voice muffled by Michael’s shirt. “Though Alan might be coming too. I didn’t actually ask.”
“That’s still a step in the right direction,” Michael assured, slowly rubbing Sam’s back.
There was another long silence as Sam’s sniffles slowly eased and his breathing finally calmed down, but this one was far less tense. Michael released him from his embrace and brushed the last of his tears away with his thumbs.
“Star says she’s sorry, by the way.”
That clearly hadn’t been what Sam was expecting to hear. “For what?”
“For telling me. She thought it should be your secret to tell.”
Sam chuckled, though it sounded more like a wheeze. “Tell her I appreciate the sentiment, but I never would have fucking told you.”
“Hey, language,” Michael huffed, quickly grabbing Sam in a chokehold and rubbing his knuckles roughly against his scalp.
“Mercy! Mercy!” Sam coughed, struggling against the headlock.
Michael let him go, laughing at his own antics. Despite everything, Sam was smiling too. Michael thought that maybe, just maybe, he was starting to figure this older brother thing out.
…
Things went back to normal, mostly. Sam didn’t exactly give him updates on his love life, but he still spent most of his days running around with the Frogs, and every now and again Alan would catch a mysterious cold that never seemed to affect Edgar. Michael wanted to leave well enough alone, really. But he couldn’t.
So, one day when the Frogs and Sam had filled a bunch of water balloons to beat the summer heat and they were chasing each other around the house, Michael waited until Sam and Alan were out of view, then grabbed the back of Edgar’s sopping wet camo vest and hauled him behind a tree. Okay, so, maybe he hadn’t fully shaken all of the vampire instincts. Sue him.
The only reason Edgar didn’t scream is because Michael had a hand over his mouth.
“I just wanna talk,” Michael said, slowly releasing his grasp on the young boy in front of him.
Edgar hesitantly nodded, looking nervously around as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. He looked a lot less brave without his other half, but he still stood with his shoulders squared, trying to make himself look big. He didn’t look like much, really. Just a fourteen year old dressed head to toe in makeshift military fatigues, even though the threat of vampires was long gone. He was an odd one, definitely, but maybe Sam needed that.
“You kissed my brother,” Michael said, cutting right to the chase.
Edgar’s eyes went wide, but his posture didn’t falter. “....Yup.”
“He likes you.”
Edgar nodded slowly. “I should hope so.”
Michael grabbed the front of Edgar’s vest and hauled him up until he was standing on his tip-toes. “Don’t fuck it up. I will find out, and I will hunt you down, and I may not be a vampire anymore, but I will make it hurt.”
Edgar, to his credit, gulped but didn’t balk. “Y-Yes. Understood.”
Michael dropped the poor boy, who just barely managed to stay on his feet. Edgar dusted himself off, squared his shoulders, gave Michael a stiff salute, and then marched back into the yard like nothing had happened, just in time for Alan to spot him and tackle him full force to the ground before bursting a water balloon in his face. Michael wasn’t sure he’d ever understand the Frogs. He wasn’t sure he needed to.
…
Later, as Michael was lounging in bed with Star’s book that he still hadn’t finished, Sam suddenly poked his head through the door, eyes narrowed. “Did you try to threaten Edgar?”
“Who’s to say?” Michael shrugged, not looking up from his book.
“Michael!”
…
Things calmed down when school started. He saw Sam in the hallways sometimes, always flanked on either side by the Frogs as though they were his own personal body guards. Michael tried to find that funny instead of worrying about what Sam needed guarding from. Overall, Michael breathed easier. School was going okay, Sam seemed happy, and he walked the boardwalk with Star after classes every day.
This particular day, he’d been out with Star nearly until dark. They’d gotten dinner from a food truck and talked until the sun was setting. It was the most fun he’d had in ages, which was why stepping through his front door felt like plunging into ice water.
If there was one thing he’d learned from their time in Phoenix, it was that houses with people in them shouldn’t be silent. They could be quiet, yes, but they only got that specific type of silent when something was wrong. When someone was angry, or when someone was hurt. He hadn’t walked into a house that felt like this since they left his father in the rear view mirror.
Michael stepped further into the house and found his mother sitting at the table with her head in her hands, sniffling quietly.
“Mom?” he asked carefully, flicking on the kitchen light. “What’s going on?”
Lucy straightened her shoulders, furiously wiping tears and running makeup away from her eyes as though it was possible to hide the fact that she’d been crying. “Oh, it’s nothing, sweetheart. Just… had a little incident with Sam. That’s all.”
Michael felt a pit opening up in his stomach, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. “Oh. What happened?”
Lucy intentionally turned her face away from him, still wiping at her eyes with her shirt sleeves. “It’s none of your concern, don’t worry.”
“Mom, this looks… pretty bad. I’m definitely concerned.” He slowly lowered himself down into the chair next to her. “Please tell me what happened.”
His mother sniffled again, still trying to hide her face by looking away. “Really, you don’t have to worry… it’s just…” He could see her resolve to keep him out of this weakening. “It’s just… I told Sam I’d be home late tonight, but the power went out at the store so I locked up early. He must not have heard my drive up because when I came in he was… it was probably nothing, really, but he was kissing…”
Michael winced, the pit in his stomach turning into a full blown black hole. “...Edgar Frog?” he filled in, not looking her in the eyes.
Lucy sat up straighter, eyes suddenly wide. “You… you knew? For how long?”
“About Edgar? Since it started, but he should really fill you in on the details there.” Michael scratched at the back of his neck, feeling like he was divulging secrets that weren’t his. “About him being gay? For… a while now.”
Lucy dropped her head back into her hands again, and Michael… didn’t know how to parse this. He knew Sam would have to have this conversation one day, but he figured it would go over pretty smooth. Quite frankly, he figured she already kinda knew.
Finally, Lucy tilted her head back and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her sweater sleeves. “I feel like the worst mother in the world.”
Whatever Michael was expecting, it hadn’t been that. “Why?”
She took a few more seconds to compose herself before speaking again. “Part of me always knew that this day would come. Sam’s always been a little…” queer “... strange. I thought he might grow out of it, but he never did. I figured it was only a matter of time before…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “But I always thought he’d tell me, you know? As soon as he figured himself out. I didn’t think he’d go off and try to live a whole part of his life without me knowing. I didn’t think he’d be that scared to tell me. So when I saw him with that boy…” Tears sprung to her eyes again, and she took a few more seconds to continue. “I yelled. I chased Edgar out of the house, I… I realized that I’d known, all these years, that it might happen, and instead of preparing I’d just been… pushing it off. I just… I thought he’d tell me.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Michael sighed, “Every ounce of information I’ve gotten out of him has been mostly due to unfortunate circumstances. I think, if he could, he would have rather just hidden it away forever.”
“He just… he looked so scared.” Lucy pulled her sweater sleeves over her hands, running the fabric between her fingers. “All I’ve ever wanted is for you boys to be safe, and this… this isn’t safe for him.”
Michael knew that particular anxiety well. “Mom, I know I’ve joked about this before but… it’s not vampires. They’re kids, and they like each other, and they have people looking out for them. Me and Star, Alan…. you. Hell, he’s still making better choices than me. He has boldly erred on the side of ‘don’t join an ominous vampire cult.’”
The corners of Lucy’s mouth turned up, just slightly.
“And besides, if we can rid Santa Clara of its vampire infestation, I think we can keep Sam safe.”
…
Michael was scared to find out what state Sam was in after that whole ordeal, so he poked his head into their shared room ever so slowly. The moment he was fully inside and had gently shut the door behind him, Sam appeared from wherever he’d been hiding and slammed full force into Michael's torso, burying his tear-stained face into Michael’s shirt.
“I messed up,” he cried, grip tight around Michael’s ribs. “I wasn’t careful like you said. I wasn’t paying attention, and Mom was really upset, and Edgar didn’t even run that fast when we were chasing down vampires, and—”
“Hey, hey,” Michael hushed, carefully combing fingers through the back of his hair. He wasn’t ready to process the fact that, for the first time, Sam had run straight to him. “Mom’s not mad at you, okay? I just talked to her. You’re still safe, nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
It seemed like it took a few seconds for that to sink in, and even then, Sam didn’t unbury his face. “I still should have been more careful.”
“Maybe.” Michael shrugged. “But you’re fourteen. You’re gonna make mistakes, it happens. That’s why you have me.”
“To chase the vampires away?” Sam sniffled.
“Nah, that’s your job. I just keep the humans off your back. Way easier job for me, honestly.”
Sam nodded, as much as he could with his face still pressed hard against Michael’s chest. “I’m scared to… I’m scared to talk to Mom again.”
“I think she’s scared too. It’ll all be okay, I promise.”
…
In the end, Michael physically dragged Sam, kicking and screaming, down the stairs to the living room. He’d played the calm, comforting older brother for as long as he possibly could, but now it was time to get results. Luckily, Sam was still small enough for Michael to toss over his shoulder.
All the squirming made it a little difficult though. “Sam, you can’t— stop kicking— you’ve gotta— SAM!” Michael yelped as Sam finally managed to kick his way out of Michael’s arms and crash onto the hardwood floor with a resounding oof. Luckily, they’d made it to the bottom of the stairs.
Michael thought he’d run, but he instead just stayed in a quite miserable looking pile on the floor. Their mom reacted before Michael could. She rushed over to him, and rather than helping him up off the floor, she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him in her large cardigan. She kissed his forehead and smoothed out his hair.
Sam’s voice was hoarse when he tried to speak. “I’m sorry, Mom, I shouldn’t have—”
“Shh, shh,” she hushed. “You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have yelled.”
Sam just crumbled into her arms, looking far too young for the pressure he carried around every day. They stayed there for a while, until Michael felt uncomfortable just watching, but he felt like he had to stay.
Eventually, Lucy pulled herself and Sam off the floor and dusted them both off. “Right,” she said, wiping tears away from Sam’s face. “We’re Emersons, we persevere. Please invite poor Edgar over for dinner tomorrow so I can apologize.”
Sam winced. “Mom… you don’t have to—”
“I’ll make cookies. He likes those peanut ones.”
“You really don’t have to—”
“Honey, I threw a shoe at him. He escaped through the back window. I think the least I can do is make him some cookies.” Lucy pressed one more kiss to Sam’s forehead and ruffled his hair.
Suddenly, Michael wished he’d been there for the actual confrontation. He might have actually paid to see his mother chase down Edgar Frog with a shoe.
“Mom,” Sam said hoarsely as she started busying herself with the dishes from last night. “You don’t have to… you don’t have to be okay with this. I know it’s not—”
“Now, you hush,” Lucy chided, scrubbing furiously at a pan. “We’ve dealt with far worse in this family and still come out on top. We’ll be okay now too.”
Michael stepped over to Sam and put an arm around his shoulder. “It’s like I said, Sammy. At least it’s not vampires.”
Sam elbowed him hard in the side while their mother shot him an unamused look, but Michael just laughed. That was one joke, Michael thought, that he would never get sick of.