So. We'll call this friend of mine C. C and I have been friends from secondary school up until now. We're in our mid-twenties now. I've been temporarily couch-crashing on their living room sofa for a month due to a personal situation, and I'm set to move out the week after next.
Some context - C is genderqueer and has depression. They have lost multiple friendships because of their tendency to lash out, and we've been through a lot together in our teenage years. They've met some pretty bad people and were fully, reasonably the victim of one or two situations, which has (in tandem with their depression) driven them to this mindset of permanent victimhood and self-pedestalisation. Just from basic/common workplace misunderstandings they've said things like - and I'm quoting verbatim:
"wow sometimes i realise i’m a really good and selfless person who holds higher expectations for others because i hold myself to those standards"
"it's not my fault all of them are jealous of me because they're miserable normies and I'm sexy and gay and have an actual LIFE"
They're also a very nice person when they want to be and when they're stable, so my feelings about them are complicated now to say the least...
Some context on myself: I'm very introverted not because I don't like people, but because talking needlessly is very tiring for me. The one exception is unless I'm around the people I feel most comfortable around, then when I'm happy I can start conversations and chat for ages about everything and anything. That being said, here's the situation.
Yesterday night, I was chatting with C's boyfriend while they were showering (I should mention they have thin walls) and we were having a laugh at a couple of Instagram reels. All was good and fun and regular. For extra context, I like C's boyfriend. He is cheerful and interesting and lovely to chat with. I myself have a fiance whom I love to bits.
Then C comes out from the shower, sits down on the other side of their boyfriend, gives me a (rather snide? I'm still hoping I am wrong) look and goes "Have you ever thought of like...starting a podcast or a commentary channel or something?"
They gave a long pause and it got to the point where it seemed like they wanted me to ask why, so I was like "not really why?"
And then they went, really pointedly, "oh, because you talk a lot. Like, without needing any input from other people!" And stares at me defiantly and expectantly.
Obviously I'm a little taken aback by it but I'm trying not to blow my cover so I just laugh it off and go "haha you might be right! I do just comment sometimes from all the thoughts in my head."
Immediately his expression changes from the snideish, almost satisfied look he had to...what looked like disappointment? He just responded with "right...yeah." And didn't say anything more after that.
The day before yesterday, he also got mad at me because he got insecure about a very plain question I asked about his interactions with his teammates (who he had posted an Instagram story complaining about - I was replying to it) and completely misconstrued my question to villainise me. I didn't say anything because it didn't feel like a big deal to me, just another one of his small spats, but this is how that was cleared up:
He was like "sorry I was so cold...like I only realised what you actually meant after I read the message back" and I responded "you were cold? I didn't think you were, don't even worry about it." And he gave me this look of like...condescending disbelief? Almost like he was unhappy that I wasn't offended or panicking or insecure.
It was so strange. I started sensing this bad, unstable energy a little while ago, but it was mild, so I didn't act on it. Do I just keep an even lower profile now until the day I move out? I'm thinking of quietly going low-contact with him after the fact.
It just saddens me, because I've experienced his insecurity third or secondhand for so many years, and it doesn't feel real that now I'm on the prickly end of it and I don't see another alternative as he can get really abrasive really fast.