I can get a huge section on this. I really enjoy watching these subtle, sweet moments shared among close friends and interacting with people who have experienced or are experiencing unconventional relationships.
One of my dream jobs is to be hired by The Altantic to develop their Friendship Files into complete stories.
My take: Strong friendship moves beyond "colleagues" or "close acquiantances." It's rooted in deep trust, potential frication, and motivation to address conflicts. The essence is that you don't need to chat every day or share the details of what you are eating for lunch (you definitely could), while you can get into conflicts and are ready to solve them.
You also witness how each other changes, grows, or faces challenges, as a quote from David Whyte says: "the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the self nor of the other......the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone."
S: This is my sole mentor in the operations field, an older friend of mine who unconditionally supports my endeavor, and a busy, responsible, organized leader who was able to reply to my messages at 1AM. She accompanied me in my most difficult two years without interfering with any aspect of my life, and she witnessed me building from nothing to growth. She's a person I trust unconditionally, and one who helps me understand what unconditional love truly looks like.
A random person: In 2025 I played an online game in which you had to vote "bad" people (or people you consider "bad") out. It always felt bad to be voted out, while at a certain point, you had to decide between voting yourself and some players you trust. I once met a really interesting player, and I typed "you could just vote me," but they kept skipping and resulted in my force win—the host kicked them before I decided to vote myself. That player became my companion in that game now. Anyways, I'm not a huge fan of online games, or games in general, but that experience was really sweet to remember.