So I decided that SS13 was a sociopath a long time ago. We hit a big point where basically he has gotten into trouble with the law, accused me of abuse (just in here in the house, I squashed that bug so fast his head was spinning with words like "won't living in a foster home be great," and "If I spend even a minute being questioned by cops you won't ever step foot in this house again.")

I finally had a straight up conversation with him as a sociopath. I explained to him that if he doesn't give us what we want, he'll never get what he wants. I told him how everything is in black and white. Grades=video games, pleasant behavior in the house=pleasant treatment by us, etc. things have been going okay since then. Part of me REALLY hopes he's not a straight out sociopath, but when I take all feelings out of it and talk with him as if I am bargaining with the devil, then things go mostly pleasant. Of course, he is still a jerk when he thinks he's been good and doesn't get what he wants.

For example, DH made a rule that for how many hours he wakes up before noon, he gets to play that many hours of video games. I was nice yesterday and let him earn more time because the lazy as* woke up at 11:00am. But he pleasantly picked up the house and pretended to care about his little brother and sister. This morning I reminded him about the rule and that he would not be able to earn extra time. I left at 8:15 and DH woke up at 9:00. SS was awake so he had earned some time. After he played all his games he came up and played with my son and daughter (his siblings). But I swear that he only pretends to like them and play with them to get stuff from us. He plays with them, but there's always an edge. He finds a way to "accidentally" hurt them. He played with them until he realized that no one was going to look at him and said, "You're being so good, why don't you go play some more video games?" So eventually he fell asleep on the couch and then stomped off to his room yelling at the little ones to not follow him.

I hope he has a heart, but there are just things that make me feel like he is a true sociopath. Like when I buy him clothes, even when HE picks them out and tries them on, he won't wear them. We went to another country and bought him some t-shirts, in black because that's all he'll wear, and I found them balled up in the bottom of his closet. But that dude will wear all the t-shirts that he got from his mom's country this summer even when he peels them, wrinkled, off his floor. It's the weird little small things that he does. It seems like it's all planned, like a villain in a soap opera. He'll act fine when his dad is gone, but then he gets all skittish, like he's a beaten dog when DH comes back around.

I just wonder how much of it is in my head? When I just treat him like a robot, things go well, but there are still the small f-ed up things he does just to mess with people. Like his life is boring unless he can sabotage things. Is he really a super villain? He doesn't hurt my feelings anymore, but I would hate to think that he really has no hear, except that all the signs are there.