Whew.

Yesterday, one of my closer friends dropped off their soon-to-be ex off at a bus station.
The dude left.

And it's great.
Because this dude was the most selfish, lying, whining, entitled, dishonest, attention-whoring piece of shit I've seen in a long, long while.
A year and half ago, I started speaking to this friend more actively, and little conversation bits would come up. Sorry I was X because Y was Z kind of stuff.

Over time, I got a clearer and clearer image of what was going on. My friend has been gaslight and emotionally conditioned by a horrific narcissist piece of shit to just work to support him while he paid almost zero for anything, but did use up 90% + of his own monthly income on uber eats and furry porn.
Over time, I understood that my friend was responsible for having to drive them 1 hour to work and 1 hour back , taking time out of their own work day to do so - when a good (enough) bus service existed and the kid could have done that. But repeatedly chose not to.

My friend told me tales. Of how he was woken up to some creepy hair rubbing by this stoned out loser. Of how he was yelled at for no reason often (Some of which was recorded and shown to me). Of how dismissive, rude and self-important the little bastard sounded like in a regular, normal conversation. This unnamed friend, at one point, was dangerously close to committing the big S - to the point where I do truly believe, had me and another one of my friends not told him that what he feels (In his words, that he "Must deserve it" , to "feel bad all the time") is wrong - and that his relationship is unhealthy.

I'm glad I grew up around awful people and realized what was going on sooner through signs and hunches, and that my friend is now not living with that absolute asshole any more.
Said friend is quite hurt though, because they currently think all that time, effort and energy was now wasted helping that particular douchebag out. And my friend helped this kid out in a lot of ways. If not outright saving his life once as well, then making it a LOT better and easier - something the little idiot actively fought against.

For me, this is a large exhale. I've been listening to what the turdbag has been doing for over five hundred days now, and I'm just so glad my friend doesn't have to deal with it any more.
He doesn't have to deal with being told "We can sleep around, it's fine" but then get query'd and quizzed and harassed about why he went on a work trip and what he may have done - when the kid can go to cons and get fucked with my friend in the same room or next room and he had no idea it was happening.
My friend no longer has to be told he has to uproot his life and leave his good job so they can move to where this little idiot kid was getting side-cock, all the way across the country, JUST FOR THAT.
All the while passive-aggressively tweeting shit about my friend, or pretending to be many medical things (They were provably not) - and pretending to be an anarchist but buckling at the smallest hurdles. All attention-seeking performatism.

I'm so relieved.
Because when I posted more details of this story (PAGES more) , on a reddit meant for relationship advice, within 12 minutes, an admin came and flagged and closed it and messaged me, saying "Dude. This looks like an abusive relationship, post it in [forget the name of the subreddit] !" . TWELVE MINUTES. ABUSE.
And they were right.

I raise a phantom glass to my friend, who may be hurting right now, but is free of this. This and more. So much more. The future is yours after the ache of processing this goes away, sweetheart. And you deserve it, because you're a good guy and a great friend <3.
I'll be here for you as I've been the last couple of months. Enjoy the new, happier days as they come <3.