Hey all. tl;dr at the bottom. The rest is here just as background info for anyone who wants a more complete picture.

I just started seeing a younger guy (he's 22, I'm 28). We'll call this guy "E".

E has a game plan in life, which is nice to see, although he's still in school cuz he started studying a bit later than most, which I don't see as a big deal. He still has a year and a half left, and then he'll be working in the medical field, which is a really sound educational/professional investment.

Outside of that, however, I am quite literally the first guy he's gone out with "since middle school", according to E. Obviously, I prodded a bit to figure out why he hadn't gone out with anybody prior, and he told me that he has always been super introverted (a fact which became extremely evident on our first date), so he never felt comfortable meeting up with anybody. Now, I am an open fucking book when I meet new people, so I don't really care what your deal is so long as you can carry a conversation with me, and E, despite some initial jitters, was able to do so just fine. Sidebar: he is really communicative, in general, but so far is still "better" at communicating via text than in person due to being meta-cognitive about his inexperience.

At this stage, it is hugely clear to me that E is very much at the stage of limerence (basically, puppy love) because he wants to see me a whole lot. We're at a bit of a distance, which, considering we live in Texas, just happens sometimes. I had driven 3 hours to meet him before, where he drove one, and now he's actually told me he's willing to drive the full 4 to come out to me. I have a feeling y'all will probably say fuck LDRs, but I live in the middle of nowhere and there are nearly zero out gay men. If they're dating you here, they probably have a wife and kids… no gracias. So the fact this guy is willing to come out from another part of the state feels like a godsend.

The thing that's hardest to reckon with thus far is just how little he knows about dating, in general. Thankfully, E's father is military and his mom is from Spain, so he's not been indoctrinated into the leftist gay-stapo. If anything, he's surprisingly masc (which is refreshing as fuck) and extremely open to diversity of opinion, despite appearing to be more of a centrist (from what I can glean, at least). I'm definitely going to red pill him slowly because he's so receptive.

So now we're at the tl;dr, given you know a little bit of background about E. E is this guy I've seen twice now. He's extraordinarily kind, but has zero dating experience whatsoever. I don't want to take advantage of his naïveté, nor do I want to have to guide him through everything. Is there anything I can do to ease the experience difference between the two of us so I don't eventually end up feeling like I'm his gay mentor rather than his date?