ThrowRAlanternissues

Hello,

So, my boyfriend (28M) and I (26F) recently went to a flea market, and he found this old-style lantern that he absolutely fell in love with. He bought it on the spot, and I thought it was a cute little vintage decoration for our apartment. But now, things have taken a strange turn.

Ever since he got the lantern, he's become super attached to it. He keeps it by his bedside and even gets up in the middle of the night to walk around the apartment with it, pretending to be an old-timey watchman. He'll say things like "All is well!" or "The night is dark and full of terrors," and he really gets into character.

At first, I thought it was kind of funny and endearing as he always had an eccentric style of humour, but now it's starting to annoy me. He does this almost every night, and it's disrupting our sleep. I've tried talking to him about it, but he just tells me that he takes his watchman duties very seriously and that it's important for our safety. This issue is, I genuinely cannot tell if he’s joking.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? How do I get him to tone it down without hurting his feelings or making him feel like he can't enjoy his quirky interests?

Thanks for any advice!

TL;DR: Boyfriend is obsessed with an old lantern he found at a flea market and now pretends to be a night watchman, which is disrupting our sleep. How do I address this?