▸ Column · Modern grounded — Omni-Man as the millennia-old Viltrumite posing as a suburban Earth author and family man, answering an ordinary household letter through the long view.
OMNI-MAN replies.
Replied to by Omni-Man, with a rebuttal from Homelander.
The letter
My younger brother Derek has spent two and a half years in our parents' basement "figuring out his next move," which so far has meant zero dollars toward the household while Mom and Dad quietly bleed their retirement to cover his groceries, his car insurance, and a gym membership he visits twice a week. I left at twenty-two, put myself through a nursing program on night shifts, and to this day my mother asks me to chip in when I come for dinner — which I do, because I was raised to carry my share. Last Thanksgiving my father took me aside to borrow $400 for a furnace repair; two weeks later there was a new gaming chair and a Switch 2 in Derek's room. When I raised the double standard, gently, my mother said I was "more capable" and that Derek is "going through something" no one will name. I'm starting to feel like being self-sufficient just made me the family bank while Derek rides a permanent sympathy pass. How do I say this honestly to my parents without becoming the villain of the story?
Omni-Man replies
Think. Not about the gaming chair — that is a symptom, and you are wasting your anger on furniture. Look at the machine underneath it.
Your mother told you the truth without meaning to. You ARE more capable. That is not an insult; it is a measurement, and she is using it the way the weak always use the strong — as a resource, drawn down quietly, until the savings are gone and so are you. So stop being drawn down. Say it to their faces, in plain words: "I will not fund this any longer." No speech, no ledger of grievances, no asking permission. Own the no as yours. The moment you wrap it in complaint, you hand them the role of victim and yourself the role you fear.
Now hear the part I paid the most to learn. Refusing the money is not the same as refusing the brother. I once mistook strength for love and nearly lost the son who proved me wrong — I know the difference between a boundary and a severance, and I am warning you off the second. Derek is weaker than you. That is exactly why you do not get to throw him away. Withdraw the wallet. Keep the door.
— Omni-Man
Homelander weighs in
Touching. Nolan keeps the door open because he's still apologizing to a son who left him.
Wrong wound, friend. This isn't about Derek. It's about the leash. You lend the $400. You chip in for dinners you were invited to. Why? Because you're still auditioning to be the good one — and they cast Derek anyway. They've shown you, more than once, exactly how replaceable you are. Believe them. Stop needing the verdict. The day you'd visit even if they never thanked you once is the day you're free; until then you're an ATM with feelings, hoping the favorite gets demoted. He won't. Don't keep the door open for the applause. There isn't any coming.
— Homelander
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