people have gotten really wild and puritanical about age gap shit, huh! "what does a 24 year old MAN have in common with a 17 year old?" bro. for real?
like the rest of the way this particular story is playing out IS raising a bunch of red flags but like. when i was a teenager i had many friends in their 20s. i also had many friends in their 30s and 40s.
i also waited several years (although not until i was 18 lol) to make a move on an older friend i was very sure was interested because like. yeah 14 and 21 feels like a larger problem than 17 and 24.
IDK man the assumption that a 17 year old is a completely different animal from an 18 year old or someone in their early 20s is weird. there is enough variation in human development that i simply do not think that is a broad generalization worth making.