Chapter Text
[THIS IS BACKSTORY, SETTING UP THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHARACTERS AND HOW I VIEW SHERMAN]
[YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ]
Sherman's father never really did care for him.
He made that well known throughout the boys childhood.
Sherman was born in 1949 to Caryn and Filbrick Pines, he was a small thing. He came into the world crying and kicking, like his father, and his father's father before him.
But as he grew, Filbrick was quick to form his own opinions on his first born son.
Filbrick wanted a son he could brandish, show off even. He wanted a conversation starter - but Sherman was not that.
Like previously stated, he was a little thing, and remained physically unimpressive throughout his entire adolescence. He was scrawny, and passive - not too advanced, and not too stupid, just, average.
He was too much like his mother for Filbrick to find anything appreciative about him.
It was around 1954 when Filbrick had decided he wasn't going to wait around for a stork to give him his dream child.
So, Filbrick and Caryn(reluctantly) tried again.
Filbrick wanted his golden child, but instead he got two.
One could pass as silver though.
Two healthy boys, who came into the world crying and kicking like their brother, their father, and their father's father.
Filbrick only wanted one boy, so you can imagine his surprise when his insistence payed off in numbers - literally.
He wanted a Stanford. He got a Stanley too.
Sherman was around 5 when he saw the two for the first time.
He wasn't hurt, he was too young to even know why they came to be. What he did know is he was now an older brother, and he upheld that title as if it was the very thing keeping him a Pines.
He became somewhat more of a father figure to the twins than Filbrick, closer to a hero of sorts.
When the twins were old enough that Caryn didn't cry when they needed to be spanked, Filbrick switched to the belt.
He'd do their punishments separately, and assure that neither twin tell the other. Only Sherman was aware of this ordeal, but he was too young to know the manipulative purpose.
When Filbrick had had his fill with the twin brothers, they'd run to Sherman's room one after the other, and he'd distract them. He'd spin tales of the twin sailors that took the world by storm on their Stan O' War, led by none other than yours truly, Captain Shermie, placename: 'big brother'
This went on, and the twins got older and older, and Sherman felt more and more separated from his family.
Freshman year for Stanley and Stanford really set things into motion. 1968
Filbrick was aware Stanford was going to be going places and Stanley.. well..
Sherman was 19, and leeching off of his parents after he'd dropped out, 'depleting the money that should be saved for Stanford' as Filbrick stated.
A huge argument arose in the Pines household in which Filbrick expressed is contempt for his firstborn. He was never proud of anything his son had done, and was sure he never would be. He was never easily impressed and that fact had only solidified in the years of Sherman's life.
He said these words as Stanford and Stanley slept soundly upstairs. To the rest of the family's knowledge.
His mother was too terrified to stand up to Filbrick in the heated affair.
Sherman ended up getting backhanded so hard his nose bled.
His father threatened his stay in the household, and ended up kicking him out for the weekend.
The truth is, once Sherman left that night, he didn't return for a week. He came back on a Tuesday afternoon while his younger brothers were in school only to grab his things, curtly tell his mother and father he was joining the Army, and then leave without another word.
It took four years in the army for Sherman to be eligible for Vietman.
In 1972 Sherman was sent to Vietnam.
In 1972 Stanford graduated, and Stanley did not.