Epilogue (Two Gents FanFic)

Chapter 1

How did this happen?

Why did this kind of shit always happen?

Valentine sat with his younger brother, Speed, in the pews, listening to some distant cousin give a speech on his parents. He had obviously never met them, hence the terribleness of the speech. But Valentine had the man tuned out in his brain, just trying to make sense of how everything went so far downhill so quickly.

It was just a few days ago that he was laughing with his parents about something stupid at their dining table. His mother doing that snorting thing she did when she laughed, his father's full blown cackles, his little brother smiling, and him chuckling to himself, wondering how he got so lucky as to have won the lottery with his parents.

His parents.

His dead parents.

His mother whom he had loved so, so much. The woman he would always go to for advice and with his girl problems. The person he thought would always be there.

And his father. The man he looked up to, his idol. As a kid Valentine always tried to copy his fathers dressing style, habits, and speaking tendencies. He had wanted to be just like him.

And although his dynamic with his father was impecable for a kid his age, the family used to always joke that Speed was more of a dad than anyone else living in their household.

If they were being honest, it was quite obvious he was meant to be a dad. It was in the way he talked, the way he walked; everything. He had practically adopted the family and they had all come to a mutual agreement that he was taking role of father three years ago when he was just 12 years old.

Of course, his parents never let him do stuff like taxes, or get a job, or have an actual kid, but nevertheless he filled the title of dad even without doing any of the above.

For a solid two years everyone even called him "daddy Speed", until the brothers got to the age where they realized just how wrong that sounded.

But Valentine? Someone would be better off with Darth Vader as their dad.

Not because he was cruel, or evil, or hated kids, it was that he'd probably find a way to end up accidentally setting his child on fire.

With a two and a half year age gap between them, even though he was younger, Speed was undoubtedly the responsible one, making sure everyone took their meds on time, tidying up the house whenever they expected company, and getting all A's and B's in school. And this was all despite his struggles with bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression.

Valentine on the other hand, was barely passing school, had the attention span of a fly, his room was so dirty you couldn't see the floor, and the only things he actually put his any of his focus into were soccer and the people he cared about. Unlike his brother, he didn't have anything to even remotely excuse his behavior. He hadn't been diagnosed with anything other than "anger issues" from a few aunts and uncles.

"'Anger issues'? Pft. Not even remotely... well except that one time... and the guy whose arm got broken... and the dishwasher incident... ok fine, maybe a little bit. I don't think it's that extreme though. I don't even nee-"

Valentine was snapped out of his thoughts by his baby cousin, Antonio, who had started crying a few rows ahead. His mom quickly removed him from the room, and Valentine looked past them to see the man on the pedestal was still droning on about how Valentine's parents were "a beacon of light in dark times", and "souls put on earth who had finished serving their purpose", and other things you say about people who you don't know but are told to give a funeral speech about.