Long Time Friends Recently Reconnected.. Is it mutual?

Hello!

Thank you all in advance for reading my post! This story goes way back to early high school (2000ish) where I made a new friend and immediately developed a crush. He was perfect in many ways, but there was one problem. He had a girlfriend and I am a guy. We were always great friends, and I had doubts about his orientation but never questioned or made any attempts to find out. He eventually broke up with this girl and started dating a another girl as soon as we started undergrad. My feelings were still there, but I too dated other people because I knew this would never be.

After graduating from undergrad (2008), we lost contact, as he moved away. He broke up with his then girlfriend before leaving. Fast-forward to the present, he posted on social media he would be visiting the city I currently live in for a weekend. I reached out, and we ended up spending the whole weekend together. It was awesome and felt just like when we were best friends. I found out during this trip that he is in fact gay and ended a five year relationship in the summer of 2017. My feelings never truly went away, and I sensed something on his end during this trip. Nothing physical happened, but it was filled with cute, little touches and ended with us laying on my bed watching "Parks and Recreation." We have been texting constantly since that day, and I'm having a hard time containing my excitement about the possibility of something more than a friendship developing between us.

How can I move forward here? Is it too early to "make a move?" Any advice at all? This guy is a dream come true, and I'm really struggling with these emotions, which is rare for me, as I can normally keep it really cool!

I would just take it slow. Relationships come and go but with friends you can sometimes form a bond which has the safety and emotional intimacy which may or may not come with a relationship.

I often make the mistake of rushing into making things physical with many of the women I have dated in the past, only to find out that those things either made the relationship more complicated (not getting to know the person well enough), or too intense early on. I am sure that if the feelings are mutual then things will happen naturally with the course of time, neither party really having to force the issue.

And if they don't happen then that should be okay too.

Well, wait a minute. You said he moved away. Are you trying to make this a long distance relationship? If you're trying to do an LDR, they are always frustrating and never work out unless either he or you moves and lives in the same area. I would say to hold your horses and calm down your emotions. Unless you want to be a FWB whenever he's in town, you might want to leave things unrequited.

Thanks to both of you for your responses! I have no interest in being a FWB in any scenario. It never has and never will be my thing. The physical side to things is a plus, but not my primary interest here. When I talk about "making a move" here, I'm talking about opening up about my feelings. :S

I'm talking about opening up about my feelings. :S

I understand that, I'm just saying where is that going to lead? If he agrees that he likes you as well, the seed is already planted, if he doesn't feel the same way then you have an awkward friendship at best (meaning you wanted to be more then friends but settled). If you feel that strongly then just let him know how you feel and be ready to cut your loses if things don't work out.