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“You act so much like Glam, Dee,” Ches remarked, watching the two have a mini-showdown during game night. It was a thing he said very often, but it always rang true.
”I know, I know,” Dee replied before folding. He was mildly fed up with the constant reminder of how much he resembled his father, whether it be through looks or actions.
”What, do you not wanna be like your good ol’ dad, kid?” Chive asked, mostly taunting. The kids loved their parents, but he was sure Dee would give him some sort of entertaining response to that.
”Not necessarily, I just…” he went silent for a minute. Ches could see Glam’s smile tighten the longer the silence continued. “I’m my own person, I guess. It’s kind of annoying to be constantly compared to somebody else, even if it’s somebody I look up to.”
Glam visibly relaxed at the last statement. He pushed the bet chips from him and Dee over to Ches, who had won the round.
”That's lame, I’d love to be like mom,” Heavy remarked, which she very proudly reacted to. Heavy always took after her more, also in both looks and personality, but he took it more in stride than Dee ever did.
”Of course you would, little rascal,” Victoria replied, reaching over to ruffle his hair. They were sitting together this time, trying to strategize how to take the other three down.
”Glad you guys atleast tolerate getting compared to your folks,” Ches remarked afterward, giving both parents a knowing look before going on one of his many stories the kids always seemed entrapped by. “I’ve seen your mom knock a guys tooth out because an old family friend compared her to her mom.”
”That guy who got his tooth knocked out wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?” Dee asked, always theorizing with his brother on how Ches had lost his tooth when there was nothing else to do.
”Nah, my tooth was gone long before meeting your mom,” Chive answered, still not explaining the story as to how he lost his tooth to the kids. He never even told Glam that story. “And your dad and me nearly stopped being friends because I compared him to his old man one time.”
Everyone besides the two who already knew the story gaped at that. “That’s not entirely true Ches, there were a lot more factors there.”
”Yeah but it sounds more interesting,” He said leisurely. “Now I love my mama lots more than they love their parents, but I threw a few darts at a guy when he compared me to her once.”
The whole conversation left everyone, well besides Ches and Glam, very interested in its origins. They did manage to get back to the game but questions lingered.
When the game came to a close with Ches winning per usual, he bid them farewell and climbed out the window with his winnings.
The conversation quickly resumed with his departure, the came now completed and put away (not burned, this time).
”Why do you guys hate your parents so much?” Heavy asked immediately, getting an elbow from his brother who quickly whispered that it was insensitive.
”I don’t hate my mother, and Chive was exaggerating to make it more interesting to you guys,” Glam replied. He didn’t stop being friends with Ches that day, but it came close from a combined soup of feelings and scenarios that were not helped by him doing that.
”That’s none of your damn business kid,” Victoria replied, a bit more serious than she usually was. It was perhaps a bit harsh, especially to Heavy who always dove straight into his curiosity without much thought behind it, but it felt necessary to shut all this down.
”It’s time for you to get ready for bed,” Glam told them in the beat of silence. It was still Saturday so they didn’t have as strict of a bedtime as they usually would, but it was better for them to sleep off the curiosity than be distracted by it for the rest of the night.
The two groaned about it but relented, starting their nightly routines. Heavy was put to bed first, being told some more musical information in lieu of the bedtime stories he used to request. He liked music enough but if he was honest, they helped bore him to sleep a lot of the time.
Dee took a fair bit longer, having to go through a lot more to keep up his well-maintained appearance. He silently went through his brothers room, under the impression that Heavy was long asleep and texted both his parents his usual goodnight message, getting one in return that his dad swore was from both of them.
As Glam settled down beside his wife, he noticed she was still awake, quite unusual for her. She wasn’t one to always stick to a schedule like he was but she was usually exhausted from the days events and fell asleep the second she hit the mattress.
”Something on your mind Vicky?” He asked, running a finger through her bangs like he usually did before going to sleep himself.
”No. I mean yeah, but it’s stupid,” She replied, attempting to wave off his concern while waving away the hand in her hair even if she didn’t truly mind either. She was trying to sleep here.
”Do you want to talk about it?” He would usually talk about how something troubling her couldn’t be stupid but he imagined she didn’t wish to hear that right now.
“I was just thinking… what if the kids do the same thing if they get compared to us someday? I was going to get sent to jail just because some stupid motherfucker said I reminded them of my own mother, hell you almost dumped Ches because he compared you to your father,” She rambled. It came as a surprise to Glam, usually he was the one having worries like these even if he didn’t always voice them to her.
”Vicky, you heard the kids in there. Heavy wants to be compared to you, every time Dee says he’s acting like you, he walks around like he won a gold medal,” Glam recounted, knowing this would also happen whenever teachers would make comparisons between Heavy and his mom, always bragging about it later on even if not to her face. “I know Dee doesn’t like being compared to me as much, but I don’t see him hate it the way any of us do. We can only strive to make sure that doesn’t change.”
Victoria sighed, he always knew what to say. “Yeah, yeah, I’m just scared of fucking it all up, Yknow? I don’t wanna just become my parents-“
”In a different font?” Glam finished for her. The two of them have had similar talks to this before, even if it was the other way around. Ches would always tell them that was the sign that they were good parents whenever they brought it up with him. That they cared enough to be scared of messing it all up.
”Yeah, you smart ass,” She rolled her eyes before fully settling down to sleep. Glam gave her a quick kiss between her bangs before settling down as well, hoping the night would pass easily.
“Heavy get out of my room,” Dee snarked, hearing the door creak open. Sure enough, his brother was standing there, barely visible in the limited light coming from the desk lamp he was currently using to read.
“But you love gossip,” Heavy sighed before turning to leave. Dee copied him, sighing before calling him back into the room. Dee was a gossiper at heart and it was rare that his brother was willing to participate as he rarely knew the people involved. Today, though, was a fair bit different.
The two of them sat on Dee’s bed, mildly cluttered from one of his figures that he had been attempting to fix. They managed to find empty seats around the mess.
”I assume this is what happened at game night earlier?” He asked, not wanting to stall out getting to the juicy part of the rare gossip.
”Of course it is!” Heavy exclaimed, a bit too loud for this time of night. Dee quickly shushed him and told him to quiet down aggressively before letting him continue. “How come Ma, Pa and Uncle Ches all hate their parents?”
”Well you heard dad, he doesn’t hate his mother and Ches also loves his mom. I don’t know why though,” Dee replied, mildly intrigued by the mystery. Both of them were quick to shut down their questions about it and even denying part of the story even if it was true.
”We could ask them again?” Heavy suggested, not wanting to just be left in the mystery. He was never the biggest fan of puzzles.
”Because that worked last time,” Dee snarked. “I say we wait until tomorrow and go ask Ches, if he was willing to talk about them hating their mom and dad maybe he’ll tell us why, too.”
”Yeah!” Dee quickly shushed Heavy again before shooing him off to his own room, knowing that his brother wouldn’t get much sleep that night. He’d be too excited to go visit Ches to get to the bottom of this.
Dee couldn’t say he differed. He stayed up far later than his father would ever recommend hardly processing the words on the page before finally clearing off his bed carefully and actually attempting to fall asleep, even if it took another hour.
Heavy fell asleep at a similar time, though he had far less to distract himself with. Imagining wilder and wilder scenarios about why his parents who valued their family so much had so much hatred for their old one.
They were kicked out for being too metal, they got into too much trouble at school, they were too good at music, they failed to slay the dragon, the list went on. It was hard to see either of his parents in a family that wasn’t exactly like theirs, so he eventually gave up and let his mind wander back to video games so he could actually fall asleep.
Come the next morning, after breakfast both Dee and Heavy told Glam they were going to go out until lunchtime. He, as always, asked a few questions but after they said they were going to go visit Ches he let them go without doing the full list.
The walk to his house was pretty easy, only made slightly more difficult by both of them carrying guitars. They were planning to start with some music to get him in a good mood (especially if he was sober, which was a bit more likely than usual since it was quite early, it was unlikely he was even awake) before asking.
They knocked on the door for a minute before it finally opened up, revealing a very tired and sober Ches. He was about to yell that he wasn’t even late on rent this time before spotting the kids, quickly letting the two of them in. They danced around the mess to sit down on the couch, both of them quickly moving their guitars in front of them to get them out of the case.
Dee quickly excused this as an early morning lesson, which he complained the two of them would be better off going to Glam for but listened to the music they were working on learning anyway. He always started with compliments, giving each of them an equal amount as always even if some were obviously stretches or basics to the both of them now, but it helped the critiques not feel as harsh.
This went on for about two hours before the compliments were heavily outweighing the critiques.
Heavy and Dee both saw the opportunity, though the younger one spoke first.
”So what was up with yesterday?” He asked vaguely, mindlessly strumming his guitar as Dee faked memorizing notes he already knew.
”I don’t ‘member much of yesterday kid you gotta be more specific,” Ches replied, lightly sipping away at his water. He had already taken a couple painkillers at the start of the lesson despite not seeming that drunk yesterday.
”You mentioned something about mom hating her mom and dad hating his dad, oh and you not liking being compared to your mom,” Dee clarified.
“I never said they hated their parents, just that they didn’t wanna be like ‘em,” Ches replied, even though he did clarify that he loved his mother much more than the both of them did which was odd if they also loved their parents.
”Yeah you did,” Heavy said, quickly realizing this.
“Oh, well then you got me, well them,” Ches said, feigning that he didn’t pick up on what they were trying to do here. “Yeah neither of them a fan of their folks.”
”Dad said he didn’t hate his mother though,” Dee told him, though he expected that he already knew this information.
”Did he now? Well that’s new,” Ches said. He knew about this, and it wasn’t nearly as new as he was making it seem, but it was something Glam did in his later twenties. He said he no longer hated his mother, forgave her even, and that he imagined the same would be said for his sister soon too; which it was about a year later.
”How did you not know this?” Dee asked, a hint of snobbiness in his tone that almost made Ches say that he reminds him of Glam again.
“Oh I did, it’s just a more recent development.”
”How recent?”
“Give or take… twenty years,” Ches replied, smiling as they both reacted negatively in their own way. Not exactly what they wanted.
“That’s not recent,” Heavy complained.
”Everything is recent to someone,” he said cryptically. “Anyway, I believe there was something you two wanted to ask me?” He guessed, very easily telling their intentions.
”Oh yeah! Why do our parents hate their parents?” Heavy asked, giving him the puppy-dog eyes as a way to hopefully convince him to tell them.
”That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
”Helpful,” Dee said, always the sarcastic one. “We’re just curious uncle Ches, dad is always going on about how important family is but he hates a part of his? Mildly hypocritical, if you ask me.”
It was quite obvious bait, wanting to get Ches to defend his friend if there was a reason to hate his father. He could read the bait and see Dee fishing for a wanted response the entire conversation, but a nibble wouldn’t hurt.
”His family’s hardly a family, Dee, I wouldn’t be so fast to call him a hypocrite.”
If anything, that caused more questions.
“And whys that?” He asked, mildly annoyed.
”You could go ask him about it kid,” Ches said, knowing Glam wouldn’t appreciate him telling the whole story to his kids.
”We tried, he was about as helpful as you,” Dee spat, knowing that they have come to a dead end.
”That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Ches laughed. “If they’re lips are sealed, so are mine, sorry to tell you.”
Dee reluctantly gave up, getting his guitar all packed up and stalking out with Heavy, a fair bit more frustrated than he would be if Ches just didn’t answer anything.
They returned a while before lunchtime, so they were put to go shower after walking in the heat before it was put in front of them.
“How did your visit to Ches go?” Glam asked after they had all sat down, currently cutting up his steak. It wasn’t a usual lunch option but he decided that after walking with heavy instruments in this weather and practicing for that long they deserved a heart meal.
”It was okay, we managed to get our songs down pretty well,” Dee replied, hoping his brother wouldn’t interject with the real reason they went until he saw the gingers mouth open.
“We tried asking him about yesterday but he would tell us anything,” Heavy added on, words mildly muffled in some places due to his mouth being full of mashed potatoes but it got the message across.
”Please don’t talk with food in your mouth,” Glam requested, about the hundredth time this month. “I can answer the questions you guys had if I feel it’s appropriate to tell you.”
“Why do you guys hate your parents?” Heavy repeated, Dee resisted the urge to face palm.
”I already told you the answer to that yesterday Heavy.”
”Yeah but it didn’t answer our question, just told us not to worry about it,” Dee complained, getting up to wash his dishes. He was always a remarkably fast eater compared to the rest of the family and would usually bolt back up to his room but he quickly returned to his seat.
”And that is all I’m willing to explain to you currently on that question,” Glam said before returning to eating, indicating that the conversation was over silently.
Dee picked up on this but chose to ignore it. “I think we’re old enough to learn about your life dad, personally I wanna know how the person always preaching about a family’s importance came to hate part of his own.”
It was cruel and he knew it would be. Glam wasn’t one to hate people easily, especially not a member of his own family despite their misdeeds. He wouldn’t have said it if he hadn’t been curious about his mom and dad’s pasts for a while now. Maybe getting him to snap just a bit would give some answers.
“That’s enough Dee,” Glam said, which immediately ended the conversation no matter how curious he was. “I will explain to you when I feel ready. I have no concerns how you would handle the information, but I’m not prepared to give you that information yet.”
Even if he hated it, there was too good a reason there to continue to argue. He spared a glance at his mom to see if she had any answers, she gave him a flat look.
Everyone finished their plate soon after and went back to their activities, the topic dropped.
Glam would revisit it one day. Probably.