14 Stories About Real Friends Who’ll Never Let You Down

Perhaps true friendship is not about grand words, but actions. Sometimes it’s a bucket of water brought at the most crucial moment, and other times it’s the willingness to walk across the entire city without pants to support a friend. We put together 14 honest stories about true friendship that is capable of working wonders and remaining in the heart forever.

• I’m taking a shower, all soapy, and suddenly the water goes off. I sit sadly in the tub, not knowing what to do. My friend calls me on my mobile, I complain to her, she sympathizes. And after 10 minutes of sitting there with soap — there’s a knock at the door. Swearing, I shuffle to the door in a towel and soap, and there’s that friend. With a bucket of water. © mantikore / Pikabu

• I think that everyone has done things in their life that they will never be able to forget. For me, such a thing was done by my friends, with whom I often hung out in my youth. We were quite young then, about 17 years old. And so we were sitting together at my place, eating, chatting, and my grandmother mentioned that she dreamt of visiting the sea one last time. I worked part-time, so didn’t have much money and couldn’t fulfill my grandma’s dream by myself. But my friends were great. They saved small amounts all summer so they could give me the money at the end of August. Grandma cried, and we barely convinced her to go to the sea with her friend at the time. Half a year later, she passed away, but every day until then she said we had fulfilled the dream of her whole life! © Not everyone will understand / VK
• Recently got married to my boyfriend, and we were supposed to go on our honeymoon. Before leaving, we gathered all our closest people at our place to give everyone an extra reason to relax and have a good time. Friends came with cute gifts, but my best friend stood out the most, she brought us 50 (!) liters of honey with the words, “It’s a honeymoon, right? This is for you, so your life will be sweet!” Love it! © Caramel / VK

• A friend of my parents gave them a pack of men’s underwear as a wedding gift. My mom complained, “A wealthy man, and the gift is so cheap.” But my dad put on the new underwear and went to sleep. In the morning he said, “Something itches.” My mom reached to cut the tag but suddenly felt something odd, kind of sewn in, so she went ahead and cut it. She pulls out $100 and laughs, saying, “Give me the next pair of underwear, we’ll cut those too.” They found about $1,000. Uncle Eugene really had a great sense of humor. © Overheard / Ideer
• It happened a long time ago. I was friends with my neighbor, who was 4 years older than me. Every day we played together in the yard and rode bikes. And one day, his parents bought him a console. For the first month, we spent almost all our free time in front of the TV. We were over the moon. But after a couple of months, I found out that my friend’s parents decided to move to another city. On the last day before his departure, I came to say goodbye. It was very sad to lose a friend. We shook hands and promised we’d write letters and stay in touch. I was about to leave, but my friend asked me to wait a couple of minutes and ran home. What I definitely didn’t expect was to see him returning with the console in his hands and the words, “Here! This is for you to remember me.” © Snow448 / Pikabu

• I got into an accident, nothing serious, just my face was badly scratched by glass. I didn’t leave the house for the first 2 days because the scratches were covered in green antiseptic. A friend came over and, after drawing the same green lines on her face, took me out. © Overheard / Ideer
• I have a friend named Serge. He worked on a rotational basis at a resort 300-500 miles from our city. Once on his way home, his car broke down, and he also picked up a hitchhiker, some young guy. He calls me and says what’s happened. I say, “Give me the coordinates, I’ll finish work in an hour and come.” That’s about 150 miles. For us, it’s a standard thing, but the passenger was amazed, “Is he really going to come?” Serge was even surprised by the question. I arrived, we fixed the car, stopped at a kebab place to grab a bite, and the hitchhiker was still amazed, but for us, it’s normal. Serge took my pregnant wife to her clinic when I was working and couldn’t do it myself. When I didn’t have my own car, he lent me his without question. We even live in neighboring houses so that we could see each other more often. © ProfMoriarty / Pikabu

• My boyfriend cheated on me with his coworker. So I decided to get revenge; I found this girl on social media and messaged her, “Hi, I’m your boyfriend’s ex...” But she didn’t ignore me. She made a bold move: she replied, “I know you, he told me everything.” We started talking, and she turned out to be a really sweet person. I found out he lied to her about me initially; she didn’t even know he had someone. And you know what, now we’re best friends. Both of us messaged our ex, thanking him for bringing us together. © Not everyone will understand / VK
• A story from my uncle. Summer, heat, mid-1960s. My friends and I used to go to the city beach every day. It took us more than an hour by tram and trolleybus. One day, we swam, had fun in the water, and came ashore — and I was stunned. Everyone else’s belongings were there, but my pants were missing. I imagined the way home: trolleybus, tram... without pants! Unthinkable humiliation. Then my friends did something incredible. After discussing, they hid their pants in their bags and said, “Let’s go!” So the 3 of us traveled across the entire city without pants. We blushed, we turned pale, we argued with some women, and even tried to flirt with girls. And we safely made it home. I’ve had a lot of experiences in life, but this incident I consider one of the best demonstrations of friendship. © AAIvanov / Pikabu

• My mom had to go to the capital for her university exams, having previously arranged to stay with her half-brother, but he turned her down. My grandma later gave him a piece of her mind. It took some time to sort out the dormitory, so Mom was sitting at the railway station, barely able to think from lack of sleep. A girl approached her and asked, “Miss, are you alright? Do you need any help?” And brought her to their small apartment with her husband and child. They’ve been friends for 40 years. © Margarita / ADME

• One time in the middle of winter (it was below 0 degrees) my car battery died. I was stuck outside the school and so I called my family and none of them picked up — they typically didn’t have their phones on them. I called my best friend and he didn’t answer but I get a text back asking what’s up. I tell him I need a jump and he tells me he is on his way. He shows up 15 minutes later with his girlfriend and cables to jump my car. Apparently he was on a date watching a movie — probably why he didn’t pick up the phone — and gets my car starting. I still cannot believe that he interrupted his date just to bail me out. This was 2 years ago and he is still with that girl, apparently she appreciated the loyalty as well. © knight4 / Reddit
• I was running a marathon with a friend who I had trained with (we were in the 8th grade and had both trained with this program with a bunch of other kids so we weren’t super close but we knew each other well). We raced to every check point, but for the most part would stop and wait for each other whenever we needed to stop, drink water, etc. When we were about half a mile away from the finish line, she just takes off, starts sprinting, and completely disappears out of my sight. I am barely able to move my legs at this point, so I can’t catch her. I go my own pace, pushing through the last bit on my own, and as I get to the finish line I see her standing there, waiting for me, about 5 steps away from the finish, she grabs my hand and we cross together. © sleepwithafryingpan / Reddit

• I have a buddy who, no matter when I visit him, always tries to feed me. We’ve even argued several times about this because sometimes it happens that I’m full. So once, I told him that he annoyed me with food, and I wouldn’t come over anymore. Stan got very upset, “I can’t help myself. Maybe in the past life, I was your grandmother...” Unfortunately, I no longer have any grandmothers, but I do have a friend who acts like one, and I know that I will always be fed at his place. © buenoskostas / Pikabu

• After reading the article, I was just about to shout, “I don’t believe it!” when I remembered what I once gave my best friend as a gift. She loved arranging flower compositions and really wanted that green brick, a floral foam. But this was about 40 years ago, and there was no such foam. However, I practically begged the florists for that item and bought it for an enormous amount of money! I presented her with this gift on her birthday, which we celebrated at a café. She jumped to the ceiling and squealed with joy. And those around us couldn’t understand why the girl was so excited about a green brick. © Arina / ADME

Did you get goosebumps? Do you have a story about a friend who still brings you the warmest emotions? Share it in the comments below.

And here are stories about people who have a twisted understanding of friendship.