you didn't have to go out of your way to take care of me. ( for your henry, from my mike? <3 / @somemindsatwork )
" you didn't have to go out of your way to take care of me. "
[[ cool thanks i. didnt need my heart anyway 😬👍 (/lh) also i went for post-ennard pre pizza sim bc. that time period is so good for the dynamic between them]]
-- [ asked by @somemindsatwork ] --
Henry paused where he was draping a blanket over Michael, hand coming to rest on the boy's shoulder from where he stood behind the couch. "Michael," he started, voice soft - even if the boy looked different now, it was still Mike. Still the same little kid he took in and cared for all those countless times that Will couldn't be bothered to. He still needed to take care of him now, especially after what had been done to him in that facility. Henry never should've let him take the job. "Of course I did. You're my boy, you know that. Taking care of you is what I do. What I need to do."
He would admit, he had been... Startled, to say the least, when Michael had arrived on his doorstep a few nights ago. The darkness and Henry's flickering porch light hadn't exactly done the poor boy's haunted, decayed features any favors, but once the man himself had gotten over his shock and registered just who exactly it was - which, granted, took him a while, and a cautious reminder from Michael - he'd ushered the boy inside without a second thought.
His feelings on the matter were rather conflicted, but not about the boy himself. Never about the boy himself. He cared for Michael like his own - nothing, especially not something like this, something this horrific that had been entirely out of his control and had hurt him this badly, could ever change that. This conflict regarded William and his creations.
He had never known about the Funtimes, not until Michael told him everything. He'd known of them, sure, he'd heard of the rental service his former business partner had started, but he hadn't been aware of the truth about what the man had been working on down there. What those machines were capable of. The news Michael had finally uncovered about Elizabeth's disappearance, the dead maintenance techs, the Scooper and that tangle of wires stealing his skin, walking his lifeless body around like some kind of meat puppet - it was horrible. He couldn't believe he had let that happen to Michael. The poor boy didn't deserve that. Any of that.
"You've just been through Hell, kid. Your whole life has been you going through Hell - it doesn't seem to know when to stop. If there's anything I can do to make it better, I will. You're my responsibility, and I actually tend to take care of those, as opposed to some people," he said, a healthy amount of spite in his voice. Not directed at Michael, of course. Directed at the elder of the Afton men.
This was about the point in the conversation where he would usually reach down and ruffle the boy's hair in an attempt to comfort him, but, well - that. Wasn't exactly going to work in this situation. Considering the fact that he didn't have much left. This was going to take some getting used to.















