Teen stands up for himself after noticing older brother repeatedly trying to hide his existence

Siblings who grow up together are usually close to one another. But there are times when separation and distance take their toll. The family members we used to know well end up becoming strangers. u/MirrorSea2437, a 19-year-old boy, revealed to the Reddit community how this turned out to be the case when his 26-year-old brother started living with him in his apartment after getting fired. The teen, who used to be close with his brother at one point, noticed that their relationship wasn't the same anymore.

"When he got fired, he didn't have enough money for rent, so I let him stay at my apartment," the post explained. The teen noticed that his brother was spending an absurd amount of time on his phone. They barely got any chance to chat with one another. "We haven't seen each other for years. I wanted to get to know him again, but he's on his phone constantly. Every time I talk to him, he says a single-word answer and goes back to texting his friends. Again, I won't mind, but he's living in my apartment and from day one he's refusing to acknowledge me," the post further read.

At one point, the younger brother noticed his older brother receive a call while they were at a restaurant. The older brother told his friends that he was out drinking with his high school buddies while the teen sat right in front of him. "When we finished eating, he wanted to take a picture. Naturally, I got in the frame. He told me to get my 'ugly ass' out of there and sent a photo of him alone to his friends," the teen wrote. "A similar thing happened when he was video calling his friend and I didn't know (I thought it was just a voice call). I accidentally walked into the frame and his friend asked who I was. He immediately said I was a repairman."

When the older brother invited a girl to the apartment, he instructed the teen to hide somewhere. "I just did what he said because he's my brother and I thought he still cared about me like he did before. I think I should have confronted him then, but I didn't. He's so ashamed to have me as a brother all of a sudden. We didn't have a falling out. I couldn't get over the fact that he never told anyone about me. He repeatedly told his friends and even strangers that I was just one of his friends. He said I was a repairman, for God's sake. He's never willing to take a photo with me. He's pretending he's here alone," the teen added.

The teen eventually had enough of his brother's rudeness and decided to kick the older brother out of his apartment. "I have a slow processing time, so it took me a day to think it over. But the fact that he wanted me to hide when that random girl was over at my place was the last straw. I told him he could live at our parents' house, but he won't be in my place anymore. My brother denied everything and said I was overreacting. I'm not good at standing up for myself, so I don't know if I was overreacting," the post concluded, with the teen turning to the Reddit community asking if he was wrong for kicking out his brother.

u/DogmaticNuance noted, "100% chance he's embarrassed to be relying on his kid brother to keep a roof over his head. I get it, but he's taken it way too far." u/BUY_A_SCALE wrote, "Your brother's behavior is incredibly disrespectful and hurtful. You deserve better than being treated like an inconvenience in your home. You did the right thing by standing up for yourself." u/Timely_Egg_6827 added, "Your brother wants the benefit of your flat but he doesn't want you to exist except as a way of having his bills paid. He is telling everyone he has this wonderful flat and life and he'd be embarrassed if he had to explain your role in his life. He had to do the bare minimum of being polite to you, his ATM, but couldn't be bothered to do that."