So I'm just going to vent because this just happened. I wouldn't say "best" friend but an extremely close friend I spoke with daily.
Mark and I met around 2013 through a group of friends. At first we didn't even LIKE each other, I could tell he thought I was a little sloppy and I thought he was a little stuck up. Still I kind of want everyone to like me and when a bonding opportunity came up, us both sharing and EXTREMELY embarrassing/strange interest, I went for it. I could literally see the difference of how he looked at me in his face, it was so warm. I chalked it up to a victory on my part: I'm very, very selective with friends, and Mark was very funny, smart and compassionate with his friends.
Our embarrassing interest - I might as well just admit is fanfic. He wasn't as experienced at writing as me and I had a much larger following. The current fandom we had shared was very small and unfulfilling so we started leaning on each other for support and validation. Or, I should say, he started leaning on me. Hard. He was also dealing with massive self-esteem issues and depression, so this friendship started to become pretty taxing. But it was worth it, on his good days Mark was the only person in the world I wanted to talk to.
But he stopped reading my stuff. This is fine - it really is - but it became a truly odd point between us. He would write about three paragraphs, eagerly share it, but I'd be finished with entire stories and he was just too busy, or didn't want to read, or wasn't into the subject anymore - by the way, could I read his new outline??
At the beginning of this year he simply announced that we weren't friends anymore. I was floored. His reason being that I was pushing my stuff on him too hard. Eventually we made up, and one of the first things he tells me is that I have to MAKE him read it, or he won't. It was contradictory and bizarre.
About a month after the reconciliation, he says something in passing that really makes me reexamine how we interact. I realize that it is continually me giving, listening, caring, editing, while Mark holds his kindness just out of reach.
I had a series of awful events at the same time, so I pulled back to focus on myself. I knew the silence would be off on my part, but it sends Mark spiraling. He breaks off contact and I follow suit. A mutual friend spills personal details to each other, muddying the water further and the distance widened without a word being spoken between us.
I crack and send a drunk text, it's embarrassing. I send a follow up message today and see SEVERAL upbeat, giddy posts by him online. He obviously got my message detailing how he'd been withholding affection and how much that had hurt me, and it made him HAPPY.
So that is that.
TL;DR: two months after my friend told me we aren't friends anymore.