I pulled a horrible prank on my cousin will he ever forgive me?

[Zanten]

FattyDingDong said:

ReimTime said:
Assuming that this is true;
Do you understand why he put up with all the teasing and insulting you guys put him through? Because he looks up to you as an older cousin and wants to be around you. Sounds like he just wants your company and is afraid of losing it, so he laughs along even though it probably hurts him. You said he doesn't really have any friends and is shy? You were his friend. How can you not understand that?
Let that sink in. He looks up to you, and then you help him land a girlfriend? You just became the coolest family member he has! He finally feels safe enough to come out of his shell.
And then the rug gets pulled out from under him. You broke his heart. He sticks his neck out from his social comfort zone and you fucking whipped his face. Total social humiliation.
I'm going to be honest here. He will never look at you the same ever again, and quite frankly, he shouldn't. I'm not giving you advice on how to mend things with him. If you really valued him like he valued you - well you wouldn't have gone so far to fuck him up.
Since he is too shy to say it, I will. You are a fucking cunt.

Take it easy man. 

Now that I've had some time to get a bit less irate about the situation, I do need to reinforce and agree with Reim's second post with regards to giving your cousin space; the goal here should not be to try and 'fix' your relationship, or get your cousin to talk to you, etc, etc. If you're concerned about his well-being for its own sake, then using his parents as an intermediary- as if they know what went down they are likely keeping a very, very close eye on him- to see how he's doing will be more than adequate to keep you up to speed. Be available to speak with him if he chooses to, but don't poke at him, text him or try to show up at his place without permission.

Because you need to understand that there's no way you can make this 'better.' There's just some things that 'sorry' can't really cover, and suffice to say, there's literally nothing you can say that's going to improve things. If you absolutely NEED to send him the message you're sorry, relay it through his parents. But this isn't a case of him misunderstanding a situation, or needing to have something explained to him. You've no valid justification, no reasoning that'll make him think; "Oh! Well, when you put it that way, yeah, guess it wasn't too bad after all!" You did a terrible, terrible thing, and he's reacted exactly the way almost everyone else would have predicted he'd have reacted.

But on top of that, your presence- be it your face or a text- will just serve as a vivid reminder of his humiliation and heartache, and his decision on when to face that should be entirely in his hands. I've seen people who have betrayed the trust of someone they cared about- a couple of friends who cheated on their significant others, mostly- who got it in their head that 'I just need to go see them, MAKE them talk to me, show them how sorry I am and they'll take me back!' Never works. All it does is rub salt in the wound, cause the person they betrayed more pain.

He may choose to forgive you, to an extent (though it will likely be years before he trusts you in any way, if ever,) and he may not. But if he does, always remember that he never had to; you don't inherently deserve his forgiveness, and aren't entitled to it, so if you GET it, treat it like the cherished gift it is. Basically, don't fuck up again. =P

ReimTime said:

 

Bullying gets my goat. I guess attacking you won't really solve anything though so now that you know my opinion:

All you can really do is apologize, but give him his space. Don't repeat yourself too much either. Check up on him without necessarily trying to invade his privacy ya know? Zanten has some good advice too

Much obliged. ^_^