it’s frustrating that wanting to be friends with a person is seen as the same as liking them, or thinking well of them, or feeling they have interesting things to say. not wanting to be friends with them, on the other hand, is interpreted as “oh, you must dislike them, right? that’s the only reason you wouldn’t want to be friends with them!”

…so if you imply that you don’t feel that friend-attraction at all, and/or that you don’t “do” friendships, people can percieve it as a rejection of themselves – just because “wanting to be friends” is seen as the obvious, innate human reaction to feeling positively towards someone.

(and this is one of those annoying social things that hurts everyone, not just aplatonic people. it’s unfortunately common to end up in friendships that you aren’t happy in, just because the person is nice to you and you don’t dislike them and you can’t come up with a good “reason” to not be friends with them. you don’t need a reason!)