yes, the title is correct and not bait 👍
i (22x) have a friend/acquaintance (25m) who is friends with a 13f irl, but people are calling him a weirdo.
he has no romantic relations with this girl and knows her through her dad (40s, m) but people are still calling him a creep and idk how to help besides saying he isn’t. it’s not like he went out of his way to go “hi im looking for 13 year old girls, wanna be friends?”
well, i dunno. he helps her. he says hi to her, goes places with her with her parents, and tutors her. he told me he views her as “the sister he never had” as an only child.
he is of normal maturity but he is also neurodivergent so he may view the relationship differently. (not in a rude way, but like, his brain works differently so he may find some commonalities with her and not see age as a problem as long as it isn’t romantic).
That sounds like what I mentioned, a mentor rather than a friend.
Which is much more appropriate.