I've made a recent mutual friend on twitter and we decided to gift draw each other's characters. they drew mine's and then i drew theirs last. They said they loved it a lot and i thought that would be the end of the conversation and we would go mind our business. but that didnt happen

i must mention that i would only consider getting into a relationship only if i feel comfortable with the person and ive known them for a while. ive also never been in a relationship and the most "romantic" thing ive experienced was hold hands with a friend who had a crush on me when we were kids. ive had crushes and romantic desires but was shy and never pursued them.  during late high school and college, i lost my desire for a romantic relationship. but recently ive been in a romantic phase where i just want to be loved and cuddle, kiss, fuck, idk lol :P 

they kept messaging me (which i didnt mind) and said that they'd love to do collaborative art stuff and i really liked that idea so we talked more. eventually they started flirting and i flirted a bit back cuz i thought it was kinda cute. i dont know why that happened. i dont usually flirt with people. the most ill do is give compliments like call them good looking. but their flirts soon started to become more frequent. and i just fell for them so hard because of my romance phase.

i didnt mind it at first. they called me cute and we shared a lot of information  with each other like personal struggles and height :0. it was the biggest euphoria ive had in a while but it crashed down so hard when i just snapped out of it and realized what happened in a span of nearly 3 days.

now heres where the anxiety part starts oh boy. im panicking that i cant tell if they were joking or being nice or if theyre naturally flirty but we exchanged a lot of info and i still cant tell. im slightly uncomfortable that this all happened so fast. ive also never been flirted with before so i cant think properly, cant focus well, etc. im also worried that our friendship might be broken or awkward if i  told them that i want to step away or just slow down the flirting stuff. they message me frequently when i want to be alone at times but i kinda like talking to them too. im also really anxoius of the idea that i might be in a relationship cuz i just feel weird and sick (ive seen other people with nearly same reaction so i know im not alone on that feeling). im a fucking mess and ive no idea what to do.

they seem so nice and im way too anxious to tell them about how i feel or ask them if they're serious with the flirting but i like and dont like the idea that i could be in a relationship. T\^T

i hope i gave all the info needed and what i said made sense aaaaaa...

TLDR: New friend like my art, quickly became flirts, I liked and then didnt like, and now i panic because im confused.

oh btw we are both of age