Ultimately a friend is someone that I will care about and be loyal to. Stronger friendships lead to stronger loyalty. Finally I don't feel the need for constant contact or conversations with my friends. If they need help or an opinion, cool. Let's talk. But I am not interested in talking about 'how was your day?' or anything of the sort.
Obviously to be my friend in the first place you need something about yourself that I admire or appreciate about you. Or that we have something in common. It's that simple, I don't think it's much different from anyone else.
My older brother actually apologized to me 8 months ago for all the traumatic sh!t he put me through and I forgave him so we're on good terms now. Thanks Highspace, I wish you the best in life as well.
No one knows irl for me, and I don't plan on revealing myself until specific conditions are met. There's not a single person in my family I would tell because they're all leaky faucets. It's more or less easy to hide it for me so I'm not worried on that front. I don't feel any desire to do feminine things and my voice/walk/attitude doesn't fit the gay stereotype. While I haven't dated a girl forever, it doesn't raise any alarms b/c they just assume it's because I have social anxiety (which I do have so lol).
I'm sorry about your brother. It's great that you have a loving (and intelligent) mom, and I wish you the best of luck so that everything smooths out well as you progress with your life.