NT needing advice - online friend stopped talking to me

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Hi, so this has been bothering me for awhile and since we're not really close, I feel like I don't have the right to ask how I can help or anything (to him). I'm an NT and my new online friend told me he has Autism at the beginning of our friendship. We've only been talking for about a week actually - he messaged me on a forum and asked if he could private chat due to common interests. Ever since then, we've been talking relatively non-stop, exchanging our numbers in the end, and even our Snapchat.

We would exchange goodnight's and good morning's up until THE DAY he stopped. I'm not sure what happened but I have an idea. Here's a number of things that happened the night he didn't say goodnight:
- Asked me if I wanted to see more of him (we made plans to meet up sometime in the future, so he's been sending me snaps of his legs, arms, etc., as a "hint" to how he looks)
- I replied sure, if he wanted to send a photo
- He sent me an angle of his pelvic region, and admittedly I was slightly stunned to receive it and asked him teasingly if he was horny, which he replied as a "no" to.
- I then explained that that kind of picture was what a lot of guys would send to girls before they send a picture of their genitalia (I realize how awkward this sounds; yes, this was an awkward conversation)
- He clarified saying that that wasn't his intention which I then fired back with something along the lines of "LOL and you think I want to [see]?" but I didn't mean it as a mean gesture. (okay, reading this back in retrospect makes me sound like a loser and rude. I'm sorry.)
- After that, the conversation transpired into a much more awkward conversation about masturbation.

Needless to say, we both moved on to a new topic since it was getting really awkward. And that was the first night he didn't say goodnight, and I can't help but wonder if I made him uncomfortable or if I made him hate me or something, I don't know. The next day he stopped initiating conversation, and the following days, wouldn't reply.

It's been a couple of days since and I've been freaking out whether or not I made him super uncomfortable or anything. So, two days ago I sent him a text apologizing if I made him uncomfortable, and how I hoped he was doing well. He responded surprisingly quick letting me know that he was fine but wasn't in the mood to talk and I left it at that.

I'm starting to feel like everything is my fault even though I realize there could be other things going on in his life. I suppose the timing of it just makes it feel like I made him hate me. I've started to read up on Autism and how I could accommodate his needs, and I suppose the more I read the articles, the more I feel like, perhaps he'll stop talking to me forever? I realize everyone on the spectrum is different, and so it wouldn't be right of me to assume anything, but I'm thinking maybe he went into withdrawal because I made him uncomfortable? (My psychiatrist told me I have symptoms of BPD - I don't know if this affects the way I think tbh).

I know I should give him his space so I won't text him or anything like that going forward, but I suppose a part of me is sad at the proposition that we'll never talk again. And I can't help but wonder if it's because I f****d up our friendship.

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated. Thank you!

I'm sorry this happened to you.

I wish I can offer more advice at this point. I just wanted to respond to you, so you'll get more responses.

I wonder if this person got sort of "scared," in a sense. If so, it's probably not "your fault," nor is it "his fault."

great username you have

ah the dickpic, a certificate of narcissistic behaviour
its in nt and nd range, it's a 'spectrum' encouraged by societal media
but stay on the safe side; narcissistic personality disorder
- don't play nurse on that
it simple that after he'd got off on you, he lost interest

A dick pic is probably what he intended and than he probably self pleasured himself and moved on. What an as*hole.

I have historically had a bad habit where I talk to someone regularly and then all of a sudden stop talking to them forever for no reason, I don't know if that's relatively common for ASD people in general.

People with autism can be obsessive, on the off-chance that like me he has both autism and ADHD (common), the obsessions can be intense for short periods of time but constantly shifting to something else (I say this cuz you said it was only one week and pretty intense during that time). Even if the interest level seemed crazy high, it might have just been temporary.

Like some others have mentioned, people on the Spectrum can also be known to sometimes do inappropriate things because of their unawareness of what is considered proper behavior or not, calling him out on that could've indeed been deeply embarrassing to him and lead him to believe he isn't good enough for a relationship. As an example from my life, is I've quit some social groups before cuz I realized I engage in ranting and I felt that was a burden to others.

If it were me, I'd say that if you just wait for him to respond next, you might never get one. Probably best idea would be to give him his space and a break for a while, and then try again to contact him at a later time.

Those are the positive interpretations I can think of, there is also the negative possibilities due to the brevity of your contact, but other respondents have already addressed that!