Maybe he's just really cuddly?
So I(m24) have this relatively new friend Rick(m25) who is really cool but I might want to take things to the next level if it won't ruin our friendship.
We're coworkers who both work in the kitchen of a pretty small burger joint. He fits the stereotype of being a short-tempered cook but after working together for a while he started to grow on me. One night everyone went out to the bar after work and we got to talking about video games. We were both pretty drunk at this point but we played a lot of the same games and I drunkenly told him we should game at my place sometime. We both close on Saturdays so we made a plan to go to my place after work next Saturday and game late into the night.
That was 3 months ago and we've made a habit of hanging out almost every Saturday after work, and more recently a couple more times throughout the week too. Outside of work he's way more chill, though we're usually smoking and drinking so that probably helps. We have a lot of the same interests and he's got a sense of humor that meshes really well with mine. He really opens up when it's just us hanging out and he's probably my favorite person to hangout with.
A couple weeks ago we were watching a movie and it was getting pretty late. Usually I'd let him crash on my couch so he didn't have to drive home tipsy/high but my cat was sleeping between us on the couch and we have this running joke that we're not allowed to move the cat. Usually we use it as an excuse to make the other one do something, like, "Hey grab me a beer, I can't get up because the cat is on my lap." So when I told him I was beat and going to bed he joked that he was shit out of luck because the cat took his sleeping spot. I've got a queen size bed so I told him there's plenty of room with me.
At that point I was legitimately not trying anything. He knows I'm gay and he comes off as completely straight to me. I've just always shared beds with friends growing up so I didn't think much of it. He didn't seem to mind the idea so we both headed to my room and crawled into bed in our boxers. We talked about the movie we watched for a bit and eventually fell asleep next to each other.
Half way through the night I woke up and gradually realized Rick and I were basically spooning. I'm 6'2" and if I had to guess he's around 5'5" so he fit kind of perfectly against my chest and it felt really nice. But I was kind of freaking out, I didn't want to be a creep and I wasn't sure how we got into the position. Maybe he'd freak out if he woke up like this, I didn't really know. I nudged him a little and said "Hey, hey Rick" a couple times until he grumbled a response. "Are you... comfortable?" I asked. It felt like a fairly innocent thing to ask. He said, "Yeah I'm good, you?" Feeling relieved I told him I was comfortable too and we fell asleep again pretty quickly.
The next morning I woke up on my back with his arm and leg slung over me and his head on my chest. Not gonna lie, having a cuddle buddy felt pretty nice. Now almost every time we hang out he ends up staying over and we sleep in my bed. We start out sleeping side by side but we always end up cuddled up at some point in the night.
What's weird is nothing else has really changed. We hang out just like we always do and we don't talk about the fact that we're sleeping skin to skin 3 or 4 nights out of the week at this point. I would be totally fine with a platonic cuddle bud if that's all he wants. But this morning when we woke up he was lying on top of me and our morning wood was pressed together through 2 very thin pieces of boxer fabric and I wouldn't mind if this friendship was even more hands on than it already is.
At this point I'm going to leave the ball in his court and see if he escalates things, I just really don't want to ruin what we've got going on right now if that's all he wants.