Imagine your college roommate being your adopted father of just a couple years. You’re playing a battle royale game together over Discord, he dies and seconds later comes into your room and says “are ya winning, son?”

He takes you to McDonald’s after you go through a rough breakup to cheer you up and while ordering he says “…and a happy meal for my kid here.” You’re simultaneously a little insulted as he’s literally only 1 year older than you, embarrassed because he’s not wrong but you’re an adult, and grateful because you appreciate your roommate dad taking care of you. He thinks he’s hilarious for ordering you a happy meal but secretly he’s a little jealous that his meal doesn’t come with a toy, despite you both being grown adults and the toy being a cheap piece of plastic.

Some years pass and your dad has graduated. You’re on your last semester. You’ve met someone who you’ve committed to spending your life with, and they ask to meet your parents. Due to your upbringing (I’ll leave the backstory blank here) you have exactly one person to bring them to: your dad. He’s gotten a nice apartment not too far away. You bring your fiancé(e) there and the three of you have a wonderful evening. With tears in his eyes your dad looks at you and says your favorite words to hear from him. “I’m proud of you.” months later at your wedding you see those same tears again and you think to yourself “I’m glad that my dad is here.”

And then you get a slight sense of realization that it’s weird you’re 22 and your own dad is 23.