Best Friend Crush?

Good Morning EC Community!

I'm here seeking some insight on attempting to determine if a long time childhood friend secretly has a crush on me or is he Bi-Sexual (or fall somewhere in that spectrum). For security purposes of my friend possibly having an account registered here or coming across this post in a Google search, I will refer to him as "Jake".

My friend Jake and I grew up in the same city, seem to have similar interests, enrolled in the same school, etc etc. But..... I think my longtime buddy over here might not be so straight after all. When we were younger we often would "mess" around. He would always be the initiator. I was just the curious best friend. I didn't know exactly what we were doing, but I did know it was fun and we both seemed to enjoy it. Generally, whenever we were left alone, behind close doors, he would always whip out his junk around me. Seeing how I am such an open person I would never say anything because I know everyone is different and I wrote off what we did back then as Male bonding or just experimenting. After all boys are naturally curious. At least from what I've observed.

Moving on Jake likes to masturbate next to me whenever we're watching a movie-usually when I spend the night at his house or vice versa. I would always just ignore it... Or at least I would try. Later I found out I wasn't the only person he did it in front of. Jake tends to act "different" around me. He seems more calm, relaxed and always happy to see to me. He's always going on about how we should spend more time together. Every time I leave his house, he has this sad look in his eyes. He seems to worry about us remaining friends. Not sure why. I think he needs a buddy to boost his confidence. I have no problem filing that role, but I don't want to attempt to fill a hole that is already been filled. I assume he feels he is doing something wrong but other than the occasional random thought that makes no sense, I don't give off any hostility. I guess it's his way of trying to strengthen the bond he has with me? Well...... he has no problem stripping in front of me, try's to follow me into the bathroom...yeah he likes to follow me throughout the house, and I'll say it again Masturbates in front of me! It was never a problem. *Still isn't(he hasn't done it recently because when he is over we've been focusing on outdoor activities). But when he starts to bring up blow jobs, I usually say "that's cool...I need to go to the bathroom", and get up to avoid a weird and awkward moment. Most people would declare he's Gay indefinitely, but I don't like to jump the gun no matter how bazaar a situation may appear. Instead I began to collect evidence to form a couple of theories and go from there. *Story jumped into last week a bit.

So what did I collect? Well he has no gay tendencies, with the exception of the incidents I listed above. He had a girlfriend of four years. She later broke up with him. He briefly told me why, but it seemed like he was stretching or twisting the truth. At the time I didn't press on because I wasn't really speaking to him. Not because of the stuff above, but because he has a big mouth and doesn't seem to realize, I have severe privacy restrictions. What finally made me de-friend him temporarily, was when he took inaccurate details, drew up his own conclusion and then told mutual friends about my whereabouts. I had dropped off the radar for a bit because of estranged family members, I'm not to keen on speaking too, but I was still in constant contact with him and everyone else. (I didn't give all the details here. Trying to keep this short and straight forward as possible.) He also likes to play the game of "I'll pay you back later". $5, $10, $20..okay no problem. But there are somethings I require payment up front for over a certain amount(he's not very eBay/eCommerce shopping savy). That blew over and strained things between us a bit more. Time passed it had been about 7 months since we last had spoke. He didn't invite me to his birthday party last year. It was kind of a shock seeing how I always get an invite. The year prior, I missed my other friends wedding just to be at Jake's side. It was like expected of me to be there. Well I didn't blow smoke. It's quite possible I gave off the impression of I'm still pissed off at you in the weeks leading up to his BD. Back to collecting data, he has XXX websites logged into his browsers history but denied he did it. But I know better. I guess he figured I would think less of him or something. Unsure why if he does. When we are out in public he never makes any comments about either sex. So I can't use that. Nor does he say anything harsh or insensitive about the LGBT community either. With that, it says he's open minded, possibly not a closet gay and very accepting.

Fast forward to last week. Jake has always sagged in front of me. He knows I'm not one for hanging out with those who don't respect themselves. "Not intentionally" he says. He always blames the belt. But he has so many so that can't be true. I often say something among the lines of "Dude do you want to violated? Because you're basically implying you're open for business". He chuckled, changed the subject but never corrected the issue. He wasn't one of those guys that shows their complete arse off in their chonies but he shows enough just to get attention. My attention. He is well aware I pay attention to "Everything". Not just around him but around everyone and "everything". I have a knack for noticing the small things. Seeing how, I hadn't really held an in person chat with him in about a year, he knew I was going to be looking him over... not in a sexual suggestive nature but to see if he had grown, gained any muscle, etc-stuff you normally bring up with a person you haven't spoken too in a long time. In retrospect, I started connecting the dots. Is he possibly trying to give me hints is where I am now.

When we spoke last month, we started getting into our hobbies. Particularly baking. So we ended up baking a few pastries. They came out pretty good for two guys who don't have a lick of culinary experience between them. Thursday night we were supposed to do a little hiking. We did. Got back to my place around 3a. We still had some energy left in us so, we streamed a movie. By 4a, I said "Hey, you getting sleepy over there? If so, I can finish this movie later!" I'm a night owl by the way. He declined, and said he wasn't tired. Ha five minutes later he said he was Sorry..mumble...asleep...:sleep: Asleep resting his head on my right thigh out of all places. I was like what is this guy doing. In the back of my head I was like okay, you have this giant couch to sleep on not to mention you got two pillows to rest your head on. A third if he wanted it. So I sat there finished my movie. He didn't move an inch the whole time. A good 20 minutes passed. I shut down my computer, replaced myself with a pillow. He finally awoke. Exchanged some brief words, and then he was fast asleep. In a fetal position. I guess he's one of those guys that are sensitive, like warmth and comfort.

Well that sums up the main points I wanted to put on the table. Now what does the EC Community think? Should I fire a few hints back? I see myself as Straight, but I won't deny I am curious on some levels. I'd like him to know I'm here to support him, whatever way he may swing. I don't care, I'm not worried about him checking me out. I'll take it as a compliment . I've kept his other secrets to myself, so I take it he trusts me to a degree since nobody in our primary group of friends hasn't said anything about "anything" to him. I just wish I wasn't left in the dark or shade..Questioning...pondering what's up next? I don't want to ask him any direct questions about his orientation or sexual preference because that could send him into a fear tailspin. Should I just continue to go with the flow? I don't believe the stuff that's gone on between us over the year falls under a Bromance anymore. (*hug*) I guess I've taken a more in depth interest because I want my friends to know, you can tell me anything, and not have to worry about me judging them. (&&&)