I'm not sure how to broach the subject...

[LadyYouth]

A little over a year ago, I made a good friend on a gaming forum website. We exchanged Skype information and then started talking there daily in a group of friends, but more often than not, just messaging each other privately, which we did literally all day. And at nights, we would do voice calls for hours. Since we got along so well in the group, the other members "shipped" us, so we would jokingly refer to each other as husband/wife, just for laughs.

 

Both of us have been dealing with hard times recently, and our private conversations got more personal. We were both open about our depression and some of our family problems. He helped me through some bullying I faced, he remembers all the tiny things I say and just goes out of his way to make me smile. He even remembered how I forgot to eat there for a while and would message me periodically throughout the day reminding me to have a meal. I tried my best to be there for him when he was dealing with the suicide of a family member, and we would have calls to try and talk him down when he was having panic attacks for a while. He's honestly the only person who has made an effort to remind me I'm never a burden and that he looks forward to hearing from me, and that I'm his favorite person to talk to, swearing he means it and that he isn't just being nice.

 

We live too far away to visit right now without a lot of saving, but recently, things have started looking up for us just a tiny bit, and we plan to meet up in over a year with some other members of the group, and have both been saving money, messaging back and forth how excited we are to meet.

 

We've told each other how much we love having one another to talk with and how much we want to support one another. Just generally how much we value our friendship. We've said how, even though we can only talk online, we count each other among the best friends we've ever had.

 

Every night, we check up on each other and 22nd sweet good night messages... It's great.

 

The thing is, I've developed genuine romantic feelings for him, and I'm bit sure how to phrase it without sounding creepy. I value him too much as a friend to create distance between us, so I'm afraid of making things awkward, and I know he's dealing with a lot right now, so I don't want to overwhelm him.

 

I'm just honestly not sure what to do at this point.

[Wiseman2]

If it's not the right time then refrain for now you can always bring it up at some later point, when it feels right.

I've developed genuine romantic feelings for him, and I'm bit sure how to phrase it without sounding creepy. I value him too much as a friend to create distance between us, so I'm afraid of making things awkward, and I know he's dealing with a lot right now, so I don't want to overwhelm him.

[gebaird]

You could say something like, "I consider you to be one of my best friends. I could even see us being more than friends someday." His response will let you know if it's safe to talk more openly or if you should pull back and stick with the friend thing for now. When you see him face to face, that could be another good opportunity to tell him about your feelings as well. But a year is a long time to wait.

[Rising100]

I say be honest and upfront about how you feel.

Tell him exactly about how you feel. Then it will be up to him to make the next move.

Either he feels the same way or he doesnt.

 

I can understand you have grown feelings for him. I am currently in a long distance relationship and we never planned for it but it just happened. So tell him.

[LadyYouth]

Yeah...maybe I should just wait for an opportunity to tell him. I was kind of hoping to just drop hints, but I don't even know how to do that, and he thinks I'm so cute (I'm really not) but finds himself very unattractive (he's really not), so he probably wouldn't take it seriously. Aah, I wish we were both more confident.

 

It would be nice to be pursued for a change, but at the end of the day, I don't care who asks whom. I just...really care about him. ;;