2. Regardless of who Heather is to the MC, how Tommy treats anyone that he's in a relationship with is going to influence MC's opinion of his character. To take it to an extreme, imagine if Tommy was routinely physically abusive to Heather. Do you really think that shouldn't influence how MC feels about Tommy's character quality just because he's a "brother" and Heather is someone MC only somewhat knows? A pattern of cheating is a form of emotional abuse; if I was MC, you can bet your ass I'm thinking less of Tommy for doing it, even if I don't get involved or intervene in the relationship since it's a private matter.
Of course, if physical abuse was a thing the right course of action would be to try to set Tommy straight, and if he ignores that, to alert the authorities. When there's physical abuse in the picture there's a threat of injuries, physical damage and even a threat of the victim dying, if the situation is severe. Thankfully, Tommy is not a physical abuser
and it's debatable if cheating is a form of emotional abuse, but I don't want to argue here, and cheating, while painful and overall a shitty thing to do, is not the end of the world.
Of course, it's up to you what to think of Tommy. It's just that cheating alone doesn't make you a bad person, in my opinion. Maya, Josy, Sage are all cheaters. Even Bella thinks she is one, even if her husband "isn't around anymore". Are they all bad people? I don't think so.
3. Regarding Josy and MC's relationship, it would certainly have been more considerate if MC mentioned it to Tommy much earlier on. That's on him, though he did have some extenuating circumstances since 1) he met Josy months before he met Tommy or knew they were related and 2) Maya is involved as well and shit could go bad for her if too much of their relationship goes public. I find it interesting though how for Tommy/Heather's relationship you say it "ain't my business what's going on in that relationship", but for MC/Josy, you imply that they should break up just because it might make Tommy uncomfortable. It feels like there's a bit of a double-standard there just because they're step-siblings, and that you're taking away from Josy's personal agency (and I say this as someone that has a younger sister in real life, with whom I have a much better relationship that Tommy and Josy).
Coming off as a guy with double standards wasn't my intention, sorry 'bout that. Of course ending the relationship with Josy wasn't the only right thing to do in this situation. I guess having a private conversation with Tommy and explaining things to him would be best. He'd still be pissed most likely, but at least you're not dropping the bomb on him publically. I believe he'd come around eventually, especially if MC shows him he's serious about Josy.
5. It's certainly possible that he's overprotective of Josy. But it's easy for overprotective actions to slip into controlling actions instead. Feeling that MC shouldn't date Josy just because he's a DIK without considering how Josy feels and/or whether or not the relationship is healthy and good for her isn't being protective, it's being controlling. With that said, a conversation could be had to consider how if the relationship goes south, how is that going to impact MC and Tommy living in the same house etc.
Which is why it's called
overprotectiveness. Taking things to extremes is a recipe for disaster and turning into a controlling jerk and thus alienating his sister is a good example of that. All I'm saying is that Tommy means well, but is overdoing this protective big bro thing. Just my opinion of course.
All in all, I'm biased when it comes to Tommy. He's my favorite DIK brother
yes, even above Derek, who I'm frankly not a fan of, and without him the DIKs wouldn't be much better than the nerds. A bunch of doormats and pushovers. But that's an entirely different topic. I guess I just want to see the best in people
case in point - my pfp and sigs . Again, I might eat my words later, so we'll see