Is this romantic love or intimate male friendship or whatever?

UPDATE (20th May 2018): Our friendship/relationship has progressed wonderfully since he returned from his home-town. He spends nearly half of his time staying with us at the house, as he promised, while the rest of the time he lives on the University campus to access the library - which also means he spends time with his 'girlfriend'; and i have since discovered this is a casual relationship from his brother/my flatmate. When i express expectations of him spending more time with us at the house, he earnestly explains that he wishes he could spend all his time with us at the house and is constantly thinking of coming over, however, he has to apportion some time apart for his University work. He feels accountable to me for his whereabouts; he will call/msg me to inform that he is leaving town for few days to visit family and our goodbyes always end with the promise of meeting soon. He will play uncontroversially romantic songs and 'dedicate' them to me for how they address the object of the singer's affection. My flatmate wasn't home a few days around my birthday, and interestingly, this is the first time he chose to spend time alone with me. He came to the house 2 days prior to my birthday, and during one such dinner, he said to me that he loves living with us, believes the place to be 'home' and seriously expressed a wish that the 3 of us continued living together in future. As we sat next to eachother during dinner, he then said to me that this is the happiest he has ever been in his life, and claimed he believes he will never be this happy again in life; and then claimed the same on my behalf as well - that he's sure i too will never be as happy again as i am this day. I smiled and nodded in agreement to him. A tangible development to happen over the months is that now it is commonly understood that him and i sleep next to eachother in the common hall. As we lay next to eachother, we usually talk for sometime before eventually falling asleep. I have consistently noticed that he demonstrates a child-like excitement in being there in the moment with me, he will shift noticeably closer to me in bed and will constantly touch me lingeringly, as if to get my attention. He has even invited me to stay with him at the University over a weekend - just the two of us. All of us went to watch 'Shape of Water', and one night when we were the controversy associated with the film - the representation of people living with disabilities and implication for identity politics versus individual experience, he said to me, "I have reached a stage in my life where i believe anything is possible...a woman may fall in love with a humanoid sea-creature or a humanoid sea-creature may fall in love with a woman...or a man may fall in love with a tree or a tree may fall in love with a man...i believe what brings two people together/closer is a mystery, and i would rather choose to go along with it than question it..."...He has constantly demonstrated affection and closeness to me exclusively, to the point that his brother/flatmate is positively amused that his otherwise misanthropic brother has found a companion in me...He still believes that i not only am i the best version of myself as a person i can ever be, but one of the best persons he knows...tl;dr: 38 yr old 'straight' friend and i (30M, gay) share a very cherished and affectionate friendship. He believes and publicly acknowledges that my 'presence' healed him of a debilitating health condition (typhoid) - instead of crediting his younger brother and girlfriend (new and casual relationship) who constantly did all the physical labour during this period for him (while i performed what may only be characterized as 'emotional labour' for him). What does it really mean for a ‘straight’ man to appreciate and acknowledge that a ‘gay’ man has a certain effect on him emotionally and/or physically? He has vaguely expressed a desire for being physically intimate on atleast 2 occasions, and likes sleeping close to me. This story is replete with clichés from romantic legends: I ‘recognized’ him at first sight; I feel like he’s telling me that ‘my love healed him’; he claims he gets poetic for me; his body language responds very powerfully to mine. Should i wait for him to realize he may be bisexual and perhaps feels romantically for me - or is this behaviour or intensity of friendship typical/usual for 'straight' men to share with their gay friends?ORIGINAL POST (January 2018): I (30M) started renting a home in New Delhi with a friend in July 2017. For nearly 2 months, i noticed a young man in a crowd of friends who used to visit my flatmate occasionally, maybe once in 2 weeks, but i barely ever made contact or socialized with him. I didn't even find him noticeably attractive enough to even be curious about him. One fortuitous day in September, i joined the circle of friends at home and started a conversation with him. I found out he (38/39 yrs) is my flatmate's elder cousin brother who lives in the city and studies cinema. I was supposed to be in bed early as i had an early morning the next day, but i ended up staying up till 6 in the morning talking and listening to him, about cinema and his life. We got along really well for a first time meeting. I stayed up all night despite better sense because i kept saying to myself "I like listening to him, i want to stay a little longer. He sounds like a kind, warm and passionate person".Following week, he visited home again. We had a brief conversation, after which he decided to leave bcoz he wasn't feeling well. I remember feeling intense grief and longing for him, which is when it first struck me that perhaps how i felt about him the first time i met him, maybe more than mere appreciation as a person/friend.He started visiting home more often now, and i started feeling it was because of me, that he liked spending time with me - instead of his brother/my flatmate. My feeling was corroborate soon bcoz my flatmate had no idea of his brother's whereabouts, but i always knew his whereabouts or whether he's coming home, because he started texting/calling me. I remember asking him 'how he's doing?' those initial few times we met, and he responded with some melancholy on at least 2 occasions, telling me that he's going through a 'low period' in life, work-wise and that there is no woman in his life. Once i knew he is 'straight', i attempted everytime to restrain my heart.Then, we had 4 glorious days over Diwali, where he spent the long weekend with us at home. After the first day when we had many friends over for a party, we spent the next 3 nights staying up very late, just the 2 of us, talking about our lives. He wanted to know everything about me - right from my childhood, to my growing up years, family, relationships, work, appreciation in music, literature and films - and he listened with immense joy and interest. It wasn't until we were halfway into one of his conversations about his life experiences with family, holding onto a steady job and relationships, that i realized he is trusting me with a lot of information and is a little vulnerable, as he spoke of his 'shortcomings' very unabashedly to me. I felt so honoured and privileged to participate in his life so meaningfully this way, i wanted to hug him for opening up to me so uninhibitedly. He also started reading me very well. He knew exactly what kind of humour offended me, and pre-empted my thoughts even before i had finished forming them. He reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder if he sensed he had offended me and apologized. It freaked me out that he could read me so well, without me even expressing anything. He reached out to me if he saw me lingering in the balcony late at nights, asking after me if i was alright or needed to talk to him. When we stayed up all night talking there were long pauses, where we just sat in each other's company and strolled on the balcony, in silence - and for the first time in my life i did not find silences to be stifling in the company of someone. In fact, i basked in it and yearned for the night to never end. It felt like our minds, bodies and souls are practicing a form of unspoken communication, and we understood each other perfectly. Understanding that i was capable of developing such a sentient relationship with another human being also put me in awe of him and our relationship. My love and respect for him as a person only grew exponentially.So it's during these 3 days that i believe he first 'blurred the lines'. We were having a conversation about dating/relationships. I told him that as a gay man i've tried meeting people either socially or through the dating apps, but i've always been disappointed bcoz i am not what most people are looking for, and vice-versa. I told him that i have an image in my head where my life turns out like a Nora Ephron movie, where the love of my life will just walk into my life one day, or that i prefer meeting people 'organically'. He responded to my thoughts by saying that he has also had similar experiences as a 'heterosexual' man, and prefers meeting people 'organically' like i do. He then said, "Just look at the 2 of us. Earlier we didn't know eachother, and didn't speak, but somehow we came together and now we like talking to each other so much". I thought it was very strange for him to comment on and mix-up our friendship in the backdrop of a conversation exclusively on 'dating/relationships', so i instantly paused him and pointed it out. He considered it for a moment, and replied, "i feel similarly towards any relationship - friendship or romantic". I accepted it, but i still felt it was a strange mix-up, and potentially 'misleading'. Interestingly, the very next day when we were having dinner together and continuing our conversation from last night, he once again remarked with a little joy/excitement, "I agree with everything you're saying. I remember the first time i saw you. You entered the house, put your things in your room, had dinner, spoke to my brother and went to bed. And this is how i saw you for sometime. You didn't say 'hello' to me or acknowledge me. But just see us now, we like spending time together and talk so much". i was like "AAARRRGGHHH! Why does he keep doing this?"Within a week of this beautiful, long weekend, he fell inexplicably and violently ill with typhoid. At first he moved back to his home in the city. His brother and i visited him the following weekend, where he remarked the moment he saw me that he was very happy to see me and later thanked me profusely for visiting him as it made him feel much better than he did in the last few days. After a week, he called me and asked if he could move in with us, so that we could care for him. (Ofcourse, he called me and not his dear brother ! :) ) I welcomed him to our home and told him to stay as long as he wants. While his brother prepared his meals, i would make tea/coffee/soup or breakfast for him, and he was such a darling for it. Even during these days, we had some beautiful moments; like the time i shared anecdotes of arguments or conflict with friends and colleagues, to either vent or seek their opinion - and he always demonstrated the highest faith in me as a person, and never doubted that i could be wrong or capable of hurting a friend. He said i'm a 'good hearted, caring, ethical, nice person'. I was overwhelmed by his unwavering faith in me (more surprisingly, as it was founded on a thin foundation of very recent friendship).My most intense moments with him arrived in the midst of a very complicated time. After a week, his health worsened, and this is when his 'girlfriend' moved in with us. I was hurt, because for the longest time he led me to believe there is no woman in his life, even as a 'heterosexual' man. Once when i jokingly asked him to visit an attractive female friend who is a physician to check up on his health, he replied very self-assuredly and cockily, "i do not want to meet any women. I want to explore my male friendships. I am very happy these days" - which obviously led me to believe that he is perhaps feeling something for me. I was miserable and dying on the inside seeing him in constant pain and misery, and it hurt me more that i couldn't go near him as his 'girlfriend' was there for him. Also, did i mention his 'girlfriend' was more like his child-bride - she must be in her early 20s. Her Florence Nightingale act was really chapping my ass. Now, I will bullet-point the most magical moments, in interest of brevity:The day after his childbride-girlfriend moved in with us and took-charge of taking care of him, i maintained a safe distance from him bcoz i felt totally fenced out by the childbride-girlfriend. That evening when i returned home from work, i made small talk with him, asked after him, and walked to go to my room. He called me back and said, "Can you please sit with me for sometime and talk to me? I'm not feeling well, and i believe i'll feel better if you're here and talking to me". I ofcourse obliged, bcoz was in pain and i wanted to help my friend. At this point i am still under the impression that he just needed anybody's company to humour/comfort him - but as was to learn in the days to come, he meant to seek out for me specifically. After we had a brief chat about my day, work and i shared some jokes, i observed he noticeably looked physically better. He was sitting up straight now, instead of lying in bed. Then he said to me, "Has anyone ever told you that you have a very nice presence?". I literally spat out 'What?' - not bcoz i didn't hear him, but bcoz it was such a strangely beautiful thing to say to a person, i couldn't believe anyone could speak this way. He repeated himself bcoz he thought i didn't hear him. His childbride-girlfriend was in the room when this happened. I wanted to hug him and never let him go, for being so vulnerable and beautiful to me.The very next day was Pride Day in New Delhi. I had already decided to cancel to be home for him. When i woke up by noon (it was Sunday), and walked into the drawing room, he brought up the Pride with me, and explicitly said to me, "Don't go, stay home". I obviously told him, "I'm not going anywhere". He then shared a funny anecdote for about 10 mins, after which i remarked to everyone in the room that maybe the medicines are finally working, bcoz for the first time since his health worsened he appeared to be physically capable of carrying on a conversation by himself. They all laughed, and his childbride-girlfriend sincerely said, "He's feeling better because you're here now. He wasn't talking to anyone all morning" - and his brother jokingly affirmed it. He only smiled and looked away.One can only imagine how this makes me feel. He's tacitly acknowledging that my 'presence' has a 'healing' effect on him (if you're thinking at this point that i'm too full of myself, wait for it...). I felt special, appreciated and loved like never before.One day when i was leaving for work in the morning, he was still in bed when he asked me what time i'll be back home by evening. I asked him if he needed something. He said, in the presence of his brother and childbride-girlfriend, "My health worsens by evening, as the medicines begin to wear-off. I feel terrible and everything becomes unbearable. I'll be better if you're around. I just need you to come home early". I just couldn't believe he needed me this way, persistently, despite his brother and childbride-girlfriend constantly being at his disposal. I was nearly in tears bcoz i have never witnessed a man who is so vulnerable and reached out to someone so tenderly. I stroked his arm and told him i'll be back soon. After this day, he regularly asked me in mornings if i'll be back home soon. When i came home in evenings and asked him how he was doing, he'd say, "I'm OK, but i'm feeling much better now that you're here". I felt like i have someone special in my life and loving to come home to.Despite all his affection, it was a little overwhelming to come to terms with the fact that he has a woman in his life. So for 2-3 days, i remained quiet and aloof from him, as it killed me to be around them as a couple. One day some common friends visited home to see him. He was talking to a friend and was speaking in pain and exhaustion, narrating a story about how the doctors inserted a drip in his arm, and sadly observed it as the 'highlight' of his day. I felt terrible looking at him feeling like shit, so i tried to lighten his mood by reminding him that our lovely friends had come home to see him. He entirely ignored that and said very matter of factly to everyone, "Usually, the highlight of my day is when [insert my name] comes home in the evening from work and tells me about his day, his stories and makes jokes. But he hasn't been talking to me much in the last 2-3 days". I died when i heard him say this, bcoz i never want him to believe that i resent him or hold a grudge against him for anything - even for not telling me that he already had a woman in his life - because I have had the most surreal and beautiful time of my life with him. And it pained me more that he felt this way esp. when he was suffering in such pain. I told myself that i had to learn to deal with the fact that he has a woman in his life, if not for my sake, but for him, bcoz this way i can be there for him again, and i couldn't let him suffer in pain knowing that being with me made him feel emotionally and physically better. I swallowed my problem in one day, and he observed happily how i had 'come back' to him.After a little more than a month, when he was healthy again, we had a little party at the house and invited close friends. One of the friends couldn't stop gushing to him about how good he looked now and that it was so good to see him like this again. Everyone was in the room, and he said to her, "It's all because of [insert my name]. Everything happened because of him". I wanted to hug this tender, beautiful man and never let him go. As much as i fell deeper and deeper in love with him, i was scared his childbride-girlfriend would stab me for 'alienating his affection' :/[Once he was healed (by love?), the childbride-girlfriend moved out of our home]He was discussing cinema with me one day, and spoke of some really good queer cinema he had seen. He spoke of the Chinese film 'Lan Yu' - the story revolved around a slightly older closeted man who is in an on and off relationship with a younger man, is in denial for long, even marries a woman and get's divorced and eventually comes back to the young man - and said, "it's such a beautiful film. It affected me so much. I didn't know i could feel this way." I froze and didn't ask follow-up questions, bcoz i am still not sure at this time whether he feels 'romantically' or 'platonically' about me. On a separate occasion, when we were having a conversation about gender/sexuality - as i'm a lawyer who works on SOGI issues in India - he admitted that it is his sincere belief that everyone falls on a spectrum of gender and sexuality, and there are no fixed identities.One Sunday when i was working in my room in evening, he asked if was very busy. I said i'll be working briefly, bcoz it's urgent work. He smiled and said, "I understand...[hesistatingly] It's just that Sunday is the one day i get to be with you for a whole day..."One night just before sleeping, we talked about faith/God/divinity. He initiated the conversation, asking me what i thought of it. After i gave him my opinion briefly, I asked him for his and he started by saying he believes God/divinity/energy of the Universe flows through everything (i jokingly referred to him as Pocahontas), and for him personally, it manifests most commonly in the form of natural objects (trees) or people / relationships. Then he said, "I believe i cannot live with you. If something happens to me, you are affected by it. If something happens to you, i am affected by it", gesturing at me.He is well-read in literature and poetry, and he often quotes poetry to/for me, whether privately or publicly. And it is always an expression of fondness or appreciation, particularly expressed for me. One day i told him that it's quite admirable that he gets poetic so often in the backdrop of our conversations / situations. He was amused, as if i was telling him a falsehood about himself, and refused to believe it. I reminded him of the times, and he embarrassedly / shyly noted, "Maybe i get this way when i am with you...I am a very different person than what my friends know me for, when i am here...I am a happier person...I think it's because of you...".By mid-December, he decided to take time off from University and go live with his parents in his hometown for a few months. He asked me, nay, rather told me that he wants me to accompany him to the rlwy stn when he leaves, bcoz he needs "help with the luggage". I think wondrously how it worked out so perfectly that of all the people - his brother, his University friends, and childbride-girlfriend - this crazy, beautiful man wanted me to go with him to the stn. on his final day in the city.Few days before he left, when we all decided to sleep in the hall together, communally. While he and i slept on either sides of the room, the middle space was left out for our 2 friends who were still working in their rooms. We were having a conversation, making small talk and jokes. There was a lull in the conversation. The next thing he said was, "We are sleeping on extreme sides of the room" and sighed. The first thought that entered my mind was, "Me thinks thou dost protest too much!". On a simple reading of the situation, that line by a straight man to a gay man did not read like a harmless comment to me in any Universe. I asked him, "What about it?", and he only repeated himself in response. I registered that comment as a protest/complaint, and took the first chance i got to sleep next to him. At one point in the night, i felt his hand on my back, intently. I felt so much love in his touch.The day came for me to drop him off at the rlwy stn. We were more or less quiet throughout the cab ride, except making small talk. After i helped him settle down in the train, i asked him if he was excited to be home. He walked away from me w/o answering the question. When he said goodbye, he had the look that said "i don't even know why i'm leaving/what am i doing?", hugged me tenderly and left.We have been constantly in touch over the phone; in fact he often speaks to me just before he goes to bed. He said the thing he misses most about being home with us is some of times we spent together.I either feel like we are lovers presumptive, where nothing needs to be said and we should let things take it's natural progression - Or - i am dealing with a very intimate, heterosexual male friend.My sincere belief from the point where he first blurred the lines of the nature of our friendship/relationship: i believe for sure there is a lot of fondness, affection and love as friends here. But just based on how he expresses himself about how he feels towards me and is sometime confused on where to place our friendship / relationship, leads me to believe he may be in a process of discovering he is bisexual. And if he is indeed undergoing a process of discovery, i do not want to interrupt it by rushing 'the talk', ask questions, seek answers and ruin everything. I want him to have the time to understand himself better while he's away. I do sincerely hope he loves me back completely as i love him, spiritually/romantically. All those precious moments we shared, he made me feel like magic.Well, that's the best i can do to explain his behaviour or emotions. What do y'all think?