Last night I dropped by my parents house to spend some time with 'em and during the few hours I was there my Dad asked me if I "met any ladies" this weekend at camping. I said no, he asked why not, and I replied with "what for?" My mom laughed (she agrees that for me to start dating/get married again would not be in my best interest) but my Dad is definitely a blue pill type guy and he still thinks (or at least professes) that a man "needs a woman" in his life (even though my mother does nothing but stress him out year after year).

So anyway the convo doesn't last long, I tease my Dad and change the subject. He let it go easily since we've had the discussion many times and he knows my views.

A few hours later I'm at my brother's place and I mention this and he agrees with my Dad (another blue piller) and I laugh it off and we move on (he knows my views). A little while later his fiancee got home from work and as they were sitting there talking he randomly says the sappiest bullshit to her (which she brushes off- she's not the touchy feely type) and ignoring her lack of engaging with it or responding in any positive way (she finds his simping disgusting- it's obvious af and part of why they have not had sex in literally years) he turns to me and says "see buddy, that's why you need somebody."

Before I could even say something about how talking in that sappy, overly emotional way is not my style (and shouldn't be his either, goddamn man acting like a woman) his fiancee, almost as though she wanted me to be able to make this post, says to him "Turn that down!" (He was playing Fortnite).

He turns to her, clearly not liking it, and says "I just started, go in another room if it's too loud." She just GLARED at him and he grabs the remote and turns it down. She then proceeds to use her phone and ignores him while he plays his game in near silence and starts getting killed because he can no longer hear footsteps.

I turn, pat him on the back and say "Yep.....that's EXACTLY what I want in my life."

He spent the next hour being really quiet and then throwing shots at me every chance he got, trying to "get me back" because (I know him very well) he didn't like that I "took a shot at his family." Really mean spirited stuff, too. Far beyond the level of joking we had been doing prior.

Funny how they can comment on your life choices but make one about theirs, even just in response to something they say to you and MAN suddenly it's not okay.

I went home and after taking my dog for a night hike in the forest I played Resident Evil Revelations 2 loud as fuck in glorious 7.1 surround in honor of my brother's lost freedoms and my reclaimed ones.