NAME: Michael Darling AGE: Twenty-One SEXUALITY: Heterosexual HEIGHT: 5′10″ PRONOUNS: He/Him OCCUPATION: Liberal Arts Student / Bueno Nacho Cashier
As the youngest of three siblings, Michael has always been the most coddled and looked after, and it was all thanks to the fact that he had Wendy as an older sister. Although his parents weren’t exactly nonexsistant within their lives, they were often far too busy for either of the kids, thus leaving both Michael and his older brother, John, to the care of Wendy. Yet, despite this, the youngest of the Darling children couldn’t say he lived a dull and fruitless childhood.
Growing up with limited screen time, the way the Darling siblings were able to entertain themselves was all due to Wendy’s talent in storytelling. Every night, right before bedtime, Michael’s older sister would tell a story to both him and John— each one being an entirely new adventure from the last, and with every story, the youngest found himself immersed. Whenever there was a suspenseful part, he would hold his breath or shout out about how the hero can get through it! If there was a moment he found confusing, he would ask his sister about it, and if he really enjoyed the story than he would be wishing for it to never come to an end, grumbling to himself about how he had to sleep when the story could be continued. No matter what the story was, listening to Wendy’s storytelling became one of Michael’s favorite pastimes of the day.
Additionally, from time to time, the boys themselves would try and elaborate on some of their favorite stories Wendy tells them. Neither were as creative as she was, but the boys sure tried to be, and whenever he and John got too immersed in her stories, they would start to reenact them together. And personally, Michael always loved playing as the heroes who took down the villains, but even in the stories where the heroes don’t win, he still found them just as fun.
The day where his parents had demanded Wendy to move out of their shared bedroom was one of the most devastating for Michael. An exaggeration, he knows, but he was the most attached to her that even though he himself was old enough to realize that his older sister had to finally have her own room, it was hard to wrap it around his head that she wasn’t going to be sleeping in the same room as him and John. It had Michael wondering too, if that meant Wendy was going to stop telling them stories. And though their parent—particularly Mr. Darling—had tried to stop her from doing so, his sister always made sure to get one good story in before having to go back to her bedroom. That was enough to appease the youngest, yet it took months before he could fully accept that because they were all growing up, things had to change.
If it wasn’t noticeable, this boy was very attached and depended on his older sister. Honestly, he was overly attached to both of his older siblings as a child. And whenever he couldn’t be, he would instead use his brown teddy bear as a substitute. He doesn’t have much recollection who had gifted him that teddy bear, only that he has had it since he was a very young boy and that he enjoyed carrying it around with him wherever he went. Even when his father use to berate him and tell him that he was much too old to be so attached, Michael didn’t care and did his own thing because all in all, the teddy bear was a comfort item for him.
Michael is likely the only Darling child who doesn’t have a clear idea on what he wants to do in life. See, where Wendy was the creative and mature one who could become the next best selling author or worlds best journalist, and John was the studious and smart one who could become one tenacious lawyer or buissnman, the most that can be said about Michael was that he’s basically the impressionable and goofy one who is very much clueless about life. He had an interest in all sorts of things to the point where he never found a niche for any of them. When he discovered how good of a writer his older siblings were, the youngest thought that maybe he could be one as well. However, as stated, Michael wasn’t as creative as Wendy or as smart as John to write anything decent outside of a typical school essay. He then thought that maybe acting would be his thing due to all the reenactments he use to do but as fun as that was, he couldn’t envision himself living the actor lifestyle. Michael even gave sports a try, but outside of basic skills, even that wasn’t much of his thing. It was rather frustration, really, how Michael couldn’t decide. Yet, he also realized that he was still young and had so much time to live, so even if there wasn’t anything that he would consider as his thing—it wasn’t too late for him to find it yet.
When Michael finally met Peter Pan and The Lost Boys, all he thought was how exciting they all were. He could see why Wendy took a shining to them, especially Peter, because they were the best and had so many adventures to tell, and get this— they were all real! Even Tink, who for some reason didn’t like his older sister as much despite how nice Wendy has been to her, Michael liked. She was pretty and had a lot of spunk to her! Plus, she reminds him of what he envisioned pixie’s were like, and that alone gave the youngest Darling the desire to become her friend. He wants to be friends with all of them really! Has even brought up how he could become a Lost Boy himself more than one occasion.
Doesn’t understand half the music covers that Slightly performs, but still get’s hyped up whenever he listens to them. Would pride himself in listening to any of the original covers on repeat for days before a performance arrives just so he can seem like he does know what is being played and won’t look like a total idiot who is as clueless about it. Outside of the covers though, Michael always can’t help but marvel at the original songs that Slightly performs, once again enthralled by the creativity of someone else’s work whether it be due to Cubby’s writing or Slightly’s actual performance.
Hearing about Peter’s adventures enforces Michael’s desires for his own. He never once fully considered leaving Echo Isle before, at least never in a serious manor, but the more he thinks about it, the more he wonders about what else there is and what fun new things he could discover and experience if he was out there.
The Darling’s has a St. Bernard called Nana who Michael absolutely loves and adores and knows for a fact who the dog favors the most. Quite possibly because he was the one who often cuddled and slept with Nana when he was younger and was the one who took care of her in return the most, but Nana is just as much family to Michael as Wendy and John were and would do anything for her. Even now, although she is an old dog who sleeps most of the day, Michael looks after her. He’s even set on taking her with him once he moves out of his home, which he wants to do eventually. He just needs to find a roommate and a place that allows dogs.
As a child, Michael had been more on the quite and reserved side who only became vocal when around his older siblings. But now that he’s much older, the boy come off as the complete opposite— occasionally too loud when around public even.
Loves to tease and poke fun at John the most when it came between his older siblings because John makes it easy for him to mess with. It’s hard to do it with Wendy sometimes because of how motherly she is by nature and sometimes Michael forgets that Wendy is his sister and not his mother despite her being the one who practically raised both him and John.
Sometimes, whenever he can’t sleep at night and is feeling rather peckish, Michael would cook. And not a simple, heating up a microwavable meal, oh no, he would full blown cook an entire dish. It doesn’t matter to him that it was 1, 2 or even 3 in the morning—if he can’t sleep, the boy is cooking. And funny enough, even when he’s not hungry, he likes to still do so because it’s therapeutic for him.
Is willing to give just about anything a try. It could be dumb and yet as long as Michael thinks it sounds fun, you can count on him tagging along.
Is painfully straight, but would kiss a homie if asked or needed.
His motto is to kill people with kindness but also in an oblivious way.
