Search Results: emotionally distant at times

My boyfriend of one month is someone I used to hate in the past but now have reconciled with. he wanted to go out with me and be exclusive. He was very emotionally open with me the first week of relationship but now that's changed. he's only open when he drinks or is really tired. he seems kinda distant, he isn't physically affectionate to begin with and doesn't initiate sexual contact. He also converses about things here and there for a short time , but b4 we used to talk 4 hours on phone the first week.

Has our relationship lost its spark because we overdid it in the beginning or is this normal? I know he's not cheating or likes anyone else. I don't know why he's not as open anymore and let me see that vulnerable side again (he doesn't like showing emotion). He sorta acts a little bit jerkish and teases cause I can tell he feels weird to be "romantic " and finds it corny. In the beginning he tried a bit more but seems like now the most romantic thing he does is put his arm around me after I sit near him.

So my friend/crush and I got into an argument. Sometimes he's...ok most of the time he's very emotionally distant. I think that was just how he was raised as he mentions how his father is. So, he's been gone on break for a month, coming back this week and on and off he's been bleh to me. So I finally sent him a text regarding it as I was really pissed off. I told him straight up that I do things for him and all I ask in return is that he respects me as a friend. Of course I was pissed and there were lots of curses, caps, and exclamations. But anyway, his reply was basically "I do...and you know I do!"

So my question is...could it be that he really does respect and value me but he might not know how to express it and thinks how he acts is showing it? Or could he just say this to get me off his back?

He grew up in a family where it was a show of weakness to show feelings and to have emotions. His Dad was very hard on him and his siblings not to mention his Mother. He was working full time by the time he was 14, because that's what men did, they went to work. He's been shut off emotionally from the world for so long. How can I make it easier for him to get in touch with the feelings he has, not only for me but for the rest of the world too.

I can tell he cares about me, I see it in the way he looks at me, I feel it in the way he touches me. And how he talks to me. But whenever I approach the subject of feelings he acts like he has none at all. We have been seeing each other for over a year now. I keep thinking that if I show him how much I care he will come around, but I'm getting frustrated with his lack of emotion, and if he does show emotion the next day he will be very distant. It is driving me around the bend.