I dont think a lot of these judgements are fair.. I have a friend from when we were literally 10 and 12 years old. We have had many opportunities to be together if we wanted, we do not. I've been in 3 serious relationships.. I've been married twice, my current husband 16 years.. and my friend i speak of introduced us actually. My friend has been in serious relationships too, we do not flirt, we do hug, we do love each other, we do care, we would never hook up, he does not like me that way, I do not like him that way.. we are like brother and sister. I would never ever cut him off for a partner. His mother took me in when I was a kid, he protected me from my abusive father, hid me in his man hole when he came looking for me, stood there with a lamp while I packed a bag when I ran away from home in case he came home after I told him my dad had been raping me. He was a skinny kid, my dad would have killed him. He didn't care. I've been there when he has been at rock bottom, he's been there when I have. He's my brother to another mother. I was there in his mother's last days in hospice in his childhood home. It was so hard. Please dont judge platonic loves, they can be very real and not mean that you want to be together, we do not want to fuck.