I (17M) have been saving up for over a year to build my own gaming PC. I worked weekends and did small side jobs to afford it. It’s not insanely high-end, but it runs the games I like smoothly and I’m really proud of it because I paid for every part myself.
Last weekend, my aunt and uncle came over with their 13-year-old son. He saw my setup and immediately started asking about it. I showed him a few games and he loved it. Later that night, I overheard my aunt telling my mom that I “don’t really need something that powerful” and that it would mean a lot if I gave it to my cousin since “he’d appreciate it more.”
The next day my mom asked me if I’d consider giving it to him since I could “always build another one later.” I said no. I worked hard for it and I don’t think it’s fair to just hand it over because he wants one. Now my aunt is calling me selfish and saying family should share, and my mom thinks I could’ve at least offered to let him borrow it for a few months.
I feel bad because it’s causing tension, but I also feel like I shouldn’t be pressured into giving away something I worked and paid for.
AITA?
Ummmm NO. Fuck that.
NTA. Suggest your aunt gift you her mortgage-free house, as she can always buy another one later.
NTA- Tell your aunt she has a really nice car and you need one so she should give you hers; After all you would appreciate more than she does.
She’ll give it to OP because she’s not selfish right, at least for a couple of months? Right?
This was my first thought too.
What a load of shit from the Aunt and Uncle. The cousin will actually appreciate it less, as he didn’t have to put in any effort. In fact, he’ll just learn to be an entitled arsehole. Bottom line, terrible parenting. Zero out of 10.
OP is also being failed by his own family. If they didn’t realise the effort it took to get that PC, then they’re not paying attention.
Everyone needs to fuck all the way off, and if appreciation means getting something then where’s my Aston Martin?
Classic “entitled family and reasonable teen” trope\* typical of AI models trained on this sub. Haven’t seen this exact moral framing in, oh, minutes.
\* Teen works hard, adult relative minimises effort, parent adds to pressure on OP to give in to hilariously unrealistic demand, OP stays reasonable throughout.
This must be bait, right?
if not, then NTA, obviously
I agree. No way this is a real story.
I could have sworn i have read this exact story before
NTA
“No but I’ll gladly invest some time and help your son build his own, exactly according to his wishes and needs.
What would be your budget for the parts?”
I’d love to know her answer to that
NTA. Full stop. The adults are all the AHs here.
If you want to really go the extra mile, offer to help li’l cuz spec and build a PC so he can learn a new skill and have a cousin bonding experience. Just let them know how much you spent on yours and ask what they would budget to buy the parts. And if they push back to their original request, remind them that *you* earned and paid for the computer yourself, it wasn’t a gift.
And if your own mom pushes, tell her the cost to replace it (and give yourself a small upgrade in the process as a courtesy fee) so you could build yourself a new one.
None of the extra steps are necessary, but they’ll probably help you smooth the ruffled entitlement feathers of the silly adults (spoken as a 38M who built his own PCs since age 19).
No way this is real.
Do not loan your computer to that child. You will never see it again. Also, beware. You will come home from school one day and your Aunt will have visited and your computer will mysteriously disappear. I don’t know your set up but I would take steps to protect it and make sure the entire family knows it’s password protected and if anyone takes it they won’t be able to log in.
Fake, almost the exact same story was posted like a day or two ago. Some details changed, but mostly the same story.