Is AUTHOR wrong in the post ? POST : I met someone at the start of my freshman year of college, aka 6 months ago, who seemed somewhat lonely. The more I got to know him, the more it seemed like he didn't have any good friends. At first this was a hunch, but I came to realize that many people knew he had autism and thus distanced themselves. That upsets me still. 

We started out as coworkers and one day I said something along the lines of "that's what friends are for right?" one day after work. It seems like it hadn't registered to him that I'd been acting as more friendly to him than I had to other coworkers. From then, we've become good friends. 

He's a good guy. He has a very bright life ahead of him. I do enjoy hanging out with him time to time, but... Things have gotten a little stressful. He calls me once, sometimes twice a day. He has some magic way of finding me wherever I am and giving me massive, exaggerated hugs (even at formal or quiet events,) he always wants me to go over to his house for dinners (which usually lasts past dinner,) and recently he said he wanted to take trips to my house over summer break. He's come to saying we're like brothers and yesterday, he said he "could see a lifelong friendship developing."

None of this is unreasonable for friends, but I CAN'T HANDLE THIS. I'm one of the busiest people I know. The responsibilities I've filled my time with represent some of my greatest passions in life. And outside of work/class/my volunteer work, I have many other friends with varying degrees of connection. Not to mention that sometimes I just want to be alone with space to think, but he doesn't seem to understand that ("come over to my place, it'll help you relax!") 

There's also just something about the intense way he refers to our connection. I like hanging out with him, I think he's a good guy... But I don't feel such a strong connection to be able to call him my brother. This may sound cold, but I don't know if I want any lifelong friends. Maybe one or two of my friends fit that bill, but he's not one of them. I'm extremely independent and with the vast majority of my friends I expend more energy hanging out with them than just being alone. For me to want to know somebody for life, something about them has to hit me, it's a very specific type of connection and I don't feel that with him.

I just don't know what to tell him. Whenever he mentions our friendship so passionately, I feel uncomfortable because I have to act like I feel the same way. Obviously I can't just break off the friendship, that would definitively be assholish. But I don't know if I should sit down with him and explain all these thoughts either... That would almost certainly hurt his feelings to tell him I don't want to talk to him everyday right? And saying I wouldn't be sure about being lifelong friends... I should probably leave that out either way right?

Please give me some guidance