Light sequel to my other fic, Bright Eyes. You don't necessarily need to read that one in order to understand this one, but it's recommended, since there's a couple references to events from that fic. Keep in mind, this is my interpretation/ slight mixing up of some of the events in the games because Scott hates us and doesn't like sharing things, so... yeah.
It had been a month since their Immortal and the Restless binge. Everyone had seemed to enjoy it, so they made a decision: once a week, they'd all gather in Michael's special room and watch a movie. Michael and Susie would go all out with the snacks, having spent the whole week previously deciding what to make. They always had enough set out for everyone.
Evan had noticed that Michael rarely, if ever, ate anything. He didn't understand what that was about. Maybe it had something to do with how he died, something that his brother never really talked about. The kids all understood- dying was a bit of a traumatic experience. But he wished his brother would open up, just a little…
He shook that off. No, he didn't understand his brother's light aversion to food, and he probably shouldn't be worried about it. None of them would starve, not even Michael. Maybe he had grown too used to not needing food. But he always made it a point to eat with everyone else when they were eating, so… yeah, that had to be it.
Everyone unanimously agreed to pass the reigns to Michael, if only because he knew more movies than them. He'd tried to turn down the offer at first, but after Cassidy threatened to put on Grease, he relented.
Cassidy leaned over to Evan and whispered in his ear.
"I don't know what Grease is about… but I heard someone complaining about it once."
Evan coughed slightly to cover up a snicker. He'd actually seen the movie before. He didn't think it was too bad, and he knew that Michael had actually liked it. He was probably just embarrassed about liking it or something.
"What movie is that?" Susie asked excitedly, leaning over Michael's shoulder to see.
"The Giant Spider Invasion," he said. Fritz turned his head to the side.
"...that sounds… um…"
"We'll pretend we never saw this," Michael said. The kids nodded and agreed. Evan rolled his eyes and smiled at Cassidy.
"Michael has seen a lot of movies," he said. "And I recognize a couple of the ones they've shifted through- "
"Nashville?" Gabriel asked. Michael tossed it over his shoulder.
"Doesn't exist," he said. Evan hissed slightly through his teeth.
"...a lot of them are as bad as they sound," he said. Susie gasped excitedly and tried to jump over Michael to get to whatever movie he was holding.
"WHAT'STHISWHAT'STHISWHAT'STHIS- "
"Sue, SUE CALM DOWN PLEASE!" Michael said before he fell over backwards, Susie landing on top of him. She was holding the movie, staring at the front of the case. Michael groaned a little bit. Susie ignored this, excitedly showing him the case and bouncing on him slightly.
"Canwewatchthiscanwewatchthiscanwewatchthis?" she asked. Michael lifted his head slightly to look at whatever movie she had grabbed and raised an eyebrow.
"Beauty and the Beast?" he asked. Susie nodded enthusiastically.
"PLEASE?! The cover looks so pretty!" she begged. Michael laid his head back and let out a small sigh.
"I have seen this movie so many times…" he said. Susie pouted slightly.
"I haven't seen it," she said. Michael gave her a confused look.
"You haven't?" he asked. "I would have thought- "
His eyes widened. He laid his head back again, staring up at the ceiling.
"...oh. That's right, you wouldn't have…"
Susie tilted her head to the side.
"What?"
Michael sat up, wrapping his arms around Susie and making her giggle.
"Yeah… yeah, we can watch it."
Susie cheered and climbed off of him, excitedly putting the disc in the player. Michael made his way over to Evan and Cassidy and sat down with a sigh.
"What's wrong?" Evan asked. Cassidy smirked at him.
"Embarrassed to watch a little kid movie?" she asked. Michael frowned at them both and turned to look at the others, making sure they were still preoccupied.
"...Sue will love this movie," he said. He turned back to them. "I assumed she'd already seen it… but it came out in 1991…"
Evan and Cassidy deflated slightly, turning back to look at their friends.
"...oh," Evan said. Michael nodded.
"Yeah," he said. He gripped his arms, his eyes flashing purple. Evan frowned at this.
Great… he's getting all depressed about it.
"There's a bunch of other Disney movies that you all missed out on, too," Michael said. Evan and Cassidy glanced at each other, nodding. Evan reached over and took Michael's free hand, giving him a soft smile.
"So just… put them on for us," he said. "There can't be too many, right?"
Michael winced. This made Evan bite his lip.
"...you've seen every single one of them, haven't you?"
"Multiple times. My friends thought I was mental."
"Why would you watch them so many times?"
Michael hesitated for a second.
"...I was always trying to decide which ones you and Liz would have liked."
Evan felt a stab in his heart at that, but he ignored it for now.
"Well, now you can find out if you were right," he said, smiling at his brother. Michael sighed, giving him a sad smile too.
"We still don't know about Liz," he said. Evan shrugged a shoulder.
"She might be down here with us," he said. "Maybe we can look for her or something."
Michael sat up a little straighter, his eyes turning indigo before finally melting back into blue.
Crisis averted.
"Yeah, we could do that," he said. Susie and the others came running over, and everyone got comfortable.
"Be… our… guest, be our guest, put our service to the test. Tie your napkin 'round your neck, chere, and we provide the rest- "
Evan fought down a smile. He could hear his brother humming along to the song.
"Fun fact, this same song was used somewhere else," Michael said. Susie paused the movie and turned to him.
"Really?" she asked. Michael nodded.
"Yeah," he said. He frowned slightly. "Les Poissons, I think."
"Ooh," Susie said. "How did that one go?"
Michael shrugged.
"I don't know, it was mostly sung in French," he said. Susie nodded and played the movie. Everyone turned back to the screen, but Evan locked eyes with Michael.
His brother shook his head and dragged his finger across his throat. Evan nodded in understanding, turning back to the movie.
Michael was probably worried about how the lyrics would affect them, considering the fact that it apparently had something death-related. He inwardly shivered at the thought.
That was gonna be a fun movie…
Susie slowly pushed another macaron in her mouth. Evan frowned at her in concern.
"Don't you think you should back off on those?" he asked. Susie didn't look away from the screen. Gaston and the Beast were fighting on the top of the castle.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Evan bit his lip slightly.
"...aren't those almost pure sugar?" he asked. Susie shrugged.
"I don't know," she said. She gasped softly when the Beast held Gaston over the edge of the castle. Evan looked down and started fiddling with Fredbear's ear. He had seen that sometimes, his brother needed the plush, too, so he always left the little bear in Michael's special room. Just in case one or the other needed him.
"Sue, I'm pretty sure they are," he said. Susie shrugged again, leaning forward slightly when the Beast began climbing up the tower to get to Belle.
"I don't know," she mumbled absentmindedly. Evan sighed and turned to Michael, who was also staring, transfixed, at the screen. Jeremy was sitting in his lap with Michael's arms wrapped around him. It made Evan smile slightly.
"Michael," he whispered. Michael tore his gaze away from the screen, smiling at Evan.
"Yeah, Ev?" he asked. Evan paused for a moment.
He finally called me Ev… and he didn't stumble over himself to change it.
He fought down the rush of happiness that ran through him, trying not to let his brother see how much that little thing had affected him. After calming himself down, he gestured vaguely to the plate of macarons beside Susie.
"How much sugar is in these?"
Michael frowned slightly.
"About 5 cups, give or take," he whispered back. His frown deepened. "Why?"
"...Michael, Susie just shoved six of them in her mouth."
Michael's face paled.
"That's almost 2 gallons of sugar," he whispered. Evan turned around and watched Susie put another one in her mouth. How many had she eaten when he wasn't paying attention? He turned back to Michael, who bit his lip with a pained expression on his face.
"...oh, we're definitely facing the music tomorrow," he muttered. Jeremy snickered slightly from his lap, making Evan and Michael look at him.
"Face," he giggled out. Michael gave him an unamused expression.
"Really, Jer?" he asked. Jeremy nodded.
"Yes," he said. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Susie burst out laughing when the Beast (now a human) turned around dramatically. Everyone turned to her in curiosity, wondering what had gotten her so worked up.
"H-he looks like… like a GIRL!" she laughed out. Charlie giggled a little bit and shook her head, looking at Michael for help. Michael's lips were pressed together in a thin line.
"...Sue, I think that's enough macarons," he said.
Evan had been helping Michael herd Susie into bed. She kept sprinting out, screaming that she wasn't tired, but Michael would hear none of it.
"If you don't go to bed, we're not watching any more Disney movies!"
Susie had gasped dramatically and shot under her blankets like a rocket. Michael had nodded and made his way over to her, fixing the blanket so that it was completely covering her.
"That's better," he'd said. She'd poked her head out of the top so that she could look at him. He'd ruffled her hair.
"G'night, Sue," he told her. She sprung up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Night, Mike!" she'd chirped. Then, when she pulled away, she'd given him a little kiss on his cheek. Evan had smirked to himself when Michael completely froze. She laid back down, burrowing under the blanket and throwing it over her head. "Go away, I'm gonna sleep now."
Evan had to walk over there and lead him out of the room. After closing the door behind them, he turned to Michael and smirked at him, crossing his arms.
"You handled that well," he said. Michael blinked at him, shaking his head to snap out of his shock.
"Did she just…?"
Evan patted his arm.
"Don't worry, Cupcake," he said. Michael's face turned a little red and he glared down at Evan, who just smiled at him innocently. "I'm sure she'll be just as horrified as you are when she wakes up."
Michael muttered something that sounded vaguely like 'shut up', and the two walked off. Evan noticed that they were headed in the direction of his bedroom. Michael probably wanted to send him to bed, too.
Not that he'd be able to sleep. He hadn't slept in… 40 years? Roughly?
"...Evan?" Michael asked. Evan inwardly sighed.
And… we're back.
Oh, well. Michael had slipped up once. Hopefully, he'd slip up again.
"Yeah, Michael?"
"...were you being serious earlier? About keeping an eye open for Elizabeth?"
Evan stopped, staring at Michael in shock. The older boy stopped too, hesitation on his face. Evan nodded, shocked that his brother even had to ask.
"Of course I was being serious," he said. "She's our sister… we have to find her."
Michael smiled at him and nodded.
"Yeah, we do," he said. He studied the floor for a second, thinking about something. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Evan, there's… something else…"
"What is it?"
Michael shook his head slightly and looked back up, smile on his face. It looked a little forced.
"I… I have a lead," he said. "I think she's Circus Baby."
