What are friends for?

"...there aren't any such things as good friends and bad friends--maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that's what has to be. No good friends, no bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart."(from the book, "IT" by Stephen King)

Do they always have to be beside us for them to be called friend? Do they need to be like us so we could be friends?

Friends are people who makes us laugh when we are about to cry, lightens our world when it suddenly goes dark, keeps our feet planted firmly on the ground when our big heads are already making us float. Sometimes they hurt us with their words, choke us with actions, irritates us with their unsolicited advices and annoys the heck out of us with their over-protectiveness but at the end of the day, they are still the people we never hesitate to hang out with.

Friends are people who accepts us with no buts and ifs. Helps us see our mistakes and helps in correcting them. They are people who will not hesitate to point our mistakes and praise our achievements. They are the first to applaud when we succeed, the first to pick us up when we fail, clean us up when we make a mess of ourselves, and sometimes, makes the mess with us.

Sometimes, they are people who will take the bullet from you.

True friends don't get angry at you when you meet and befriend new people. They don't get mad when you hang out with others. They treasure you but never claims ownership. They allow you to roam the world, meet you new people, and discover new things. They don't stop you from scraping your knees but helps you put a bad-aid on it.

They are the people who will sometimes let you fall and then catch you when you are almost on the ground. They let you do things even when they know that you'll probably get hurt in the end because they know that pain will make you stronger and will help you learn. And if after you still don't learn, they are also the first ones who will not hesitate to slap you to wake your senses.

But what are friends really for?
I don't know. Maybe they're just there to prove to us that angels do exist. And so are devils.