First, I really hope this works out for all parties involved better than I imagine it will. If Pete can pull it together and be decent to a living human enough to have a happy life, more power to him, though I highly doubt that is possible.
When I publicly announced my engagement, I told some of my friends that Pete would be engaged by the end of the year because there's no possible way, he will sit around and see me get married without him being in the realm of marriage too. I know that sounds crazy and narcissistic on my part, but it's really just what people here said. Pete has gotten money, some level of fame and a following, luxury world class travel, and a dream career. He's even been able to stay sober and overcome addiction but he can't seem to lock down love and friendships and it's the biggest thing that he wants out of life. He thinks he wants a 'partner' in life, someone to challenge him, someone to intrigue him and ultimately a companion to work hand in hand with him in life and business. What he really wants is someone to praise him. I don't mean that in a bad way per say, he is a big gift giver and he is someone that spoils the person he is with financially but he is a good listener if you are having a problem. If you really want to do something, he will be a big supporter, but in the drop of a hat, he will become the exact opposite.
For me, I have a lot of friends and I like to go out and be active. Pete is a stay at home kind of person and he isn't really 'into' anything. Once you are done talking about his business and his ideas for where the company can go, theres nothing else. He likes a few tv shows but not enough to talk in depth about them much, he doesn't go to the movies, he doesn't listen to music in the car so he's not really into music much, he's very into politics but if you don't agree with each of his views, he becomes volatile to say the least, so thats not something you can talk about either, even Disney isn't really an activity he can discuss because its work and going there is very limiting as well because he only goes with a specific purpose to eat at a place and leave because he doesn't 'do' things at the parks, so there aren't really any hobbies that he has so there is this 'newness' when you meet him and he's accomplished a lot of things but once you hear about that a few times, theres just nothing left. He can't seem to understand that you can't make quality relationships with people when you only want to talk about yourself. So when you date him (or even as his friend) you need to give him just as much as hes giving you or else you are a monster. Technically more because a lot of the time when I would speak, I could just see his whole face just glaze over because hes waiting for me to shut up so he can start talking again. And his phone is always on him, so the second he stops talking and it's your turn to speak, he just opens his phone up and will start looking at video analytics and such and then start yelling 'damnit' over and over until you stop talking and ask what's wrong and then he will complain about something with the show and then start text means things to Craig and you are just siting there the whole time waiting. I would tell him how rude it is, but that would just get him yelling at me, so I eventually just learned to keep my answers very short so I wouldn't get frustrated.
For example, I love Escape Rooms and I go to different escape rooms with my friends often. Pete has never done an escape room but refuses to try because he doesn't like games (mostly he doesn't like being a position to look foolish if he loses, so he doesn't play) - when I would have friends in town and they wanted to do an escape room, I knew not to invite him because he doesn't like them. Then he got upset that I didn't invite him and Im like 'but you already said you will never go to one, so why would I continue asking?' and he said 'im your partner and you're being rude to not try and include me by not inviting me' - so I started inviting him. When I did invite him, he got angry that we were doing an escape room because If I really cared, I would pick a different thing that HE could also join that he would like. So if you don't invite him, you're terrible, if you do invite him, you're terrible for doing something he wouldn't like. So, then I asked what he would like to do and he said Im his partner and should figure it out. So I planned a game night at his house and we had a good time, but then a few days later I went back to an escape room with my friends and Pete was mad all over again. 'You did what I wanted once, but now you're out doing things again that I can't participate in' - but it was that way constantly. I just couldn't win with him. He does give a lot of money and energy into relationships because he doesn't really have a lot going on but the minute you get other priorities, he just gets so hurt and you have to walk on eggshells and hide everything.
I never posted on social media when I was with him because I knew he would get mad if he saw me out doing anything. It finally got so bad that sometimes I would just leave my phone on the charger or something and he would text me but I was playing a video game or watching a movie and he would get mad, so I had to block him on the Nintendo Switch because it alerts your friends when you are playing a game and he might get upset if I was doing that instead of texting or calling him. So he will be sitting alone at home and have nothing to do and text me something like 'we need to figure out show topics sometime soon for dvc so we can film next week' and this will be like 11pm, if I didn't text back within 15-20 minutes, Id get a follow up 'well I see you're online on Nintendo and ignoring me so maybe ill just do that to you' and then im blocked for 3 days but the whole time my phone was on the charger and I just didn't even know he had texted. In his mind, he now has nothing to do and he is using his time to reach out and you are doing something else and that's unacceptable because he pays for dinner and supports you when you need it etc etc and you are a terrible person, terrible partner and then it grows into 'you're taking advantage of me', 'you're using me' and then it grows even more into cussing and name calling and then you get fired and cut off from any shared things. (Like he has a lot of available company lines with Dreams and he gets people to put their number there because it's like $10 a month instead of $100 by having your own but what you don't know is that he controls the line. You literally can't even call AT&T to do anything because they will only talk to the business owner and if you are bad, no more phone for you) - so he does all this via email (cause he blocks your phone) and you are just apologizing over and over again and he only gets more angry and explosive and then he picks apart any response that you email back and starts a new fight about 'the way' you typed your apology and 'if you were really sorry, you'd have never done it in the first place' (first place being, not responding to a text within 15 minutes). Over time, you just don't bother to apologize anymore because anything you say, will actually make it worse, then hes mad about that, but at least you didn't have to grovel. I tried to just be as amicable as I could be but it's a slow thing. At first it was just shocking and I thought I was the problem. Then I realized he had unrealistic expectations and I just couldn't reach those and I think thats true for everyone in his life. (although I did finally reach my limit when he wanted to make a policy that all MTO realtors had to carry firearms to all showings, just in case we needed to shoot our customers)
So I said all that to say, Pete cannot handle a partner. Pete does not want a partner. He wants someone with no life, no hobbies, and no backbone, to follow him around and truly devote all their time to him and put him on a pedestal. Even if he got that, I still think he would get bored and attack them because I actually tried that for a few months and I would still get screamed at because he could tell the energy was off and would get mad at me. Hell, he had a negative dream about me once and threatened to fire me over it because it was a sign.
Thoughts and Prayers for both parties. I'm just glad it's not me.
As for Walter,
Pete and Walter were together about 11 years. Pete could not buy a house at that time and Walter bought the house Pete lives in now and they moved in it together. Very soon after (6 months-1 year if I remember correctly) Pete kicked Walter out and Walter moved back to the house he already had (or possibly bought another house then) but they stayed together for many years after that - just not living together. Eventually as the business grew, Pete started doing a lot with AbD and Cruise Line so he had to travel a lot. Walter had his own career, I don't know anything about the prison guard job but I thought he did something in landscaping, regardless Pete eventually asked him to quit his job to have fully available time to travel with Pete, so he did. Pete paid both mortgages and gave Walter an allowance of some kind for personal expenses and that's what the relationship grew into. I believe the wedding was more of a 'last ditch effort' to make the relationship work. Like when a couple has a child to fix their relationship. Pete always said that Walter was just aloof and inattentive to Petes needs (outside of quitting his entire career and taking an allowance to be around for Pete). After the wedding, Pete wanted him and Walter to go to couples therapy. Walter refused many times, but Pete finally gave an ultimatum that he would leave him if he didn't, so Walter agreed. They went to couples therapy and things didn't work out. Pete and Walter split up and Pete was actually nice good about it and paid Walter $3500 per month as a sort of alimony for about a decade after since Walter had quit his job and stuff for Pete. So, I actually thought that was quite noble of him (theres a little more too it Than that, but Ill just give the man a win here)
The reason for the ultimatum was because Pete had already fallen in love with Dustin and he did want to try and salvage his thing with Walter but he didn't cheat or anything, I guess it would be an emotional affair.
Then I came along, and Pete and Walter hadn't really spoken much in the years between, just off and on and Pete sending him his check monthly. Walter contacted Pete after Pete and I got together and invited us out to dinner and explained that he had gotten married and wanted to introduce Pete to his husband. We got to the dinner and Walters husband was the couples therapist that he and Pete were seeing together, years prior.
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