AITA for pulling a harmless prank on a guy who has a crush on me?
On a day meant for love and vulnerability, two friends found themselves navigating the fragile boundary between friendship and unspoken feelings.
What began as playful banter and lighthearted pranks suddenly turned into a moment of raw honesty, exposing emotions that neither expected to confront.
As confessions hung heavy in the air, the weight of rejection and understanding intertwined, leaving both shaken yet strangely unbroken.
In the heart of Valentine’s Day, their story became a poignant reminder of how delicate and complicated human connections can be, especially when hearts are involved.
This actually happened on Valentine’s day but I’m still getting shit for it. Please tell me if I’m TA. I’m really good friends with this guy (we’re both 20) and we pull little pranks on each other all the time.
We both started working at the same place so we see each other a lot more. Around early February we were hanging out one night and he got very drunk (he normally doesn’t get that drunk). He started awkwardly confessing his crush and telling me how much I mean to him etc.
I thought he was just messing around but he said the same things the next day fully sober. I told him that I’m not interested and he didn’t look very upset. He actually took it very well and we talked about something else afterwards.
(Fyi - all of my friends said that he was seriously upset about the rejection but that wasn’t my experience).
On Valentine’s Day we were on our lunch break and I told him that we needed to talk.I told him that I really thought about his confession the other night and wanted to tell him something important since it’s Vday. He panicked and asked if I’m serious.
I said yeah and asked if he wants a kiss. EVERYBODY knows that it’s the oldest and lamest trick in the world. But he fell for it HARD and got soooo excited. He was actually about to kiss me but then I pulled a Hershey’s Kiss chocolate out my pocket and offered it.
At first he didn’t get it but then he understood. He didn’t speak to me for the rest of our shift. I told him to lighten up but he straight up ignored me. When we texted later that night he was giving me 1 word answers. I personally think that’s an overreaction.
After that day he stopped hanging out with our friend group and barely texted anybody. Two weeks went by and our friends got really concerned. I told them about the incident and they started roasting me hard. I have never received so much shit for something so little.
They all agreed that I’m an asshole and shattered his confidence. I’m not sure if I agree. First of all, we prank each other frequently. He knows that I’m not serious about anything 99% of the time. Secondly, how could you fall for the Hershey’s Kiss line?
My friends still bring it up occasionally and say that I’m horrible for what I did. He hasn’t talked to me at all since that day. I’m pretty sure he forgot about it by now. So am I the bad guy?
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THIS STORY SHOOK THE INTERNET – AND REDDITORS DIDN’T HOLD BACK.:
The thread exploded with reactions. Whether agreeing or disagreeing, everyone had something to say — and they said it loud.
laurpr2 - :- YTA. He was vulnerable and open with you; you used that to make him the butt of a joke.
Even when you saw he was getting excited, you just doubled down and went on with your planned "harmless" prank (a "harmless" prank that was clearly both humiliating and hurtful for him).
It was cruel to begin with (like, stereotypical-bully-in-every-high-school-movie level cruel), and you never even had the decency to apologize.
1_Justbreakup - :- Yta what the fuck. No you aren’t “friends” with this person, either that or you’re the worst friend in the world. You just thought let’s see, let’s take someone’s vulnerability that they trusted you with and shit all over it for amusement...
Virulencer - :- YTA. Doesn't sound like a harmless prank to me. Playing with his emotions goes far beyond a harmless prank. You deserved the roasting you got.
littlemidgeem - :- YTA You knew this guy had a crush on you (he literally told you he did when sober) so you decide to mess around with those feelings on Valentine’s Day. If he hasn’t spoken to you since, then this isn’t a ‘harmless prank’. You’ve ruined your friendship with this guy, so it’s safe to say the joke didn’t land.
Rittman925 - :- YTA. You basically were playing with the guy's feelings. Old joke or not, his head was in a different place...the place that was holding out hope. You're the bad guy OP.
YorkPepperMintPaddy - :- YTA Your stupid prank was cruel given what you knew about his feelings. I'm struggling to understand what he saw in you in the first place.
MocequaDePerigo - :- YTA. Confessing your feelings for someone is incredibly hard and takes a lot of guts. If you don’t feel the same, it is what it is. But using it to toy with him is cruel.
The original poster (OP) faces conflict because their belief that the Valentine's Day prank was harmless fun, consistent with their established relationship dynamic, clashes directly with their friend's severe emotional response and the negative judgment from their shared friend group.
The OP feels the friend is overreacting to a simple joke, while others perceive the action as deeply cruel given the recent confession of feelings.
Was the OP justified in executing a widely known, albeit potentially hurtful, prank on a friend who had just confessed feelings, given their history of pranks, or did the context of the confession elevate the action to emotional manipulation warranting the friend's complete withdrawal?