I am 26 he is 18, what is your opinion,

Ok so here is our story,I tend to write what I think in the moment without much processing so I hope it makes sense, I am not one to hookup straight away but I do use grindr and tinder to meet guys, go for dinner and drink and then more often than not, have sex,I started chatting to this guy on grindr but decided not to ask him out on a date as I though him too young, I had been with a guy his age before and as lovely as the other guy was he was just waaay to unstable so I decided that I really didn't need to be involved with some psycho teen so I steered clear, At that time I was going through some really rough times at work and I had just dumped a short term junkie maniac fling so I decided to go and blow off some steam at the local peacock grounds (gay club), me blowing off steam generally means lots of alcohol, drugs and bad decisions and at some point that evening I bumped into this gorgeous younger guy which i mentioned before, we got chatting and I was instantly attracted to him, I don't know why but he had this energy and I could see him looking at me with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen and I'm looking at him and it was all very strange, its like we want each other but we are treading carefully, I proceed to get completely wasted and somehow we end up having a friend in common so I invite them all over to my place to finish the night, secretly I didn't want to seem to eager and I thought he would say no if I made an advance so went for the safe option and invited all his friends over lol, The next morning I wake up a little more sober and realise this boy is drop dead gorgeous, we get chatting and decide I need to spend more alone time with him so i kick everyone out with the excuse that I will drive him home, Of course I don't drive him home and instead we spend the weekend together in bed having extremely passionate sex and talking about everything imaginable under the sun and basically we have been inseparable ever since.We are both well aware of our age situation and he enjoys me for what I am and vice versa, I like to think he enjoys my maturity as much as I enjoy his youthfulness, we also find each other incredibly attractive and we have this strong bond uniting us, I have never felt it before, I can genuinely say I love him, It is not a daddy relationship, he works and I don't support him and I made it quite clear that it wasn't going to be this way, its also not some sort of perverse possessive relationship there is no sub or dom, top or bottom, equality is incredibly important and a large part of this relationship Of course theres things he's better off doing with his friends and things I'm better off doing with my friends and we are developing a good group of friends in common and we give each other as much space as we need, Anyway, we are as happy as ever, unfortunately I tend to go away occasionally for work a couple of weeks at a time and that is really tough on him and I feel awful for doing it but work is work and slowly we are learning to deal with this better,I am starting to become a little conscious of how serious this is getting and I deep inside I am worried I could be committing myself too much too soon and that maybe he is not ready for such a serious thing and I could end up hurting him and thats the last thing i want to do, Obviously my top priority is him and thats why I am writing this today, his happiness comes above anything else in my life and I am making a lot of changes in my professional life to be with him(like stop travelling so much), I want to do this because I love him, Loving him means that I cannot have a negative impact in his young adult life in any way shape or form, so I suppose finding a perfect balance would be key, At his age I was an alcoholic drugged pirate like mess travelling around the world for a living, I'm not proud of a lot of things I did but I did learn a few things from it and it made me extremely savvy professionally, I don't know how I would've turned out if I had an older partner by my side, but theres always the "what ifs" I want him to be successful and I want him to be independent but I also want him to be happy and me being with him makes him really happy, I feel like I am rambling now so:+Do you guys know anyone in a similar position?+Have any of you had any have similar experiences?+Any tips, questions, comments?I feel like the next 3 or 4 years are the most important for him and his development, how can i be a positive influence? I have met a few older gay couples with similar age differences, that met when one was quite young but are still happily together 20/30 years later, This seemed to be the norm back in the day but feel like relationship age gaps are closing as gay culture becomes accepted and somehow we as a community try to replicate hetero relationship behaviours, but that topic is for another day,I don't believe in love at first sight as it is not of the strong kind but I like to think I have found the person I want to build a life long relationship with, the man of my dreams, He is also a redditor and I really hope you don't read this but if you do, I love you baby and yes I do want to spend the rest of my life with you <3 APA