I’ve been single for like 4 years or something now. Currently I don’t want to date. I have a friend I like as a friend and he recently came out and said he wanted to date me. We have a lot in common. He’s a cool person and I like his company. I like being around him. He’s autistic too so we get along well. But I don’t see him as a potential partner. I just see him as a friend. I’m not attracted to him. I don’t know how to articulate that in a “nice” way though. To me, I’d just say “I am not attracted to you. I just like you as a friend.” But I feel like that would be too harsh. I’m very very black and white direct. I don’t know how to do this kind of stuff. Does anyone have pointers??

When he told me he wanted to date me I said “thank you for communicating that to me. I’ll keep that in mind. Currently I’m not really looking for a relationship” He responded with “well we can keep that open”.

I do not see anything happening more than friends.