Buddy story · Family
The two who already knew each other
Lil and Lu live in the same town and joined together, which is unusual here and comes with its own problems.
- Paired
- July 2024
- Cadence
- Daily, briefly
- Status
- ongoing
We normally pair strangers, deliberately: a buddy who does not know your family and will not see you at Christmas is easier to be honest with. Lil and Lu are the exception, and they asked for it.
The problem they hit within a month was comparison. Same town, same start month, different bodies, and a slow poisonous drift into measuring themselves against each other. It took a facilitator conversation and a rule they made themselves — no comparing anything, ever, in writing or in the kitchen — to stop it.
Since then it has been the closest and most frequent pairing on the site, and both say the rule is the only reason. Ada is careful when this story comes up: the rule was theirs, they enforced it, and it would not have worked if either of them had been the type to bend it.
We nearly wrecked it in the first six weeks by measuring ourselves against each other. Same town, same month, completely different bodies.
The rule is that we never compare. Not once, not as a joke. It is the only rule and it is not negotiable.