Ooh, what about plays? I mentioned Shakespeare, but modern plays too! Websites for playwrights or theater companies sometimes publish the full script of a produced play as a free PDF for promotional or educational purposes. The dialogue in plays is all about relationships. A two-hander play about two lifelong friends can be a blisteringly quick and emotional read.
Honestly, I gave up on hunting for free versions of specific stories. The algorithm-driven discovery on places like Royal Road is so good now that I just find new, completely free stories that are just as gripping.
'Best Friends' might be elusive, but have you tried searching for the trope instead? 'Best friend romance' or 'childhood friends to lovers' tags on those platforms will pull up dozens of high-quality, free-to-read originals. You might even find something you like better. Supporting living authors who are publishing serially for free feels great, and you can often interact with them in the comments. It's a whole different, more rewarding experience than chasing pirated copies.
I have a Kindle, and I've found that if you 'follow' your favorite authors on Amazon, you sometimes get notifications when they put a book on a free promotion. I've snagged a few contemporary fiction books about friend groups this way. It's passive and requires patience, but it feels like a little gift when it happens. You just have to be okay with your email getting some promotional notifications.
You know, sometimes the legal free version is an audiobook. Services like Libby and Hoopla have audiobooks, and Spotify Premium now includes a chunk of audiobook listening time per month. If you're cool with listening instead of reading text, that opens up another huge avenue.
Listening to a story about deep friendship can be incredibly immersive. A great narrator can make the bond between characters feel even more real. Don't limit your search to just ebooks or PDFs if an audiobook could hit the same spot for you.
The comic version of 'Best Friends' is so good! The way it captures the anxiety and joy of friendship at that age is spot-on. I hope you find a way to read it. Seeing it in color and panel-by-panel is crucial—a pirated black-and-white scan would ruin it. Wait for the library copy; it'll be worth it.
Reddit's FreeEBOOKS subreddit is constantly updated with links to free, legal promotions on major retailers. They're usually time-sensitive, so you have to grab them during the promo window. I've gotten quite a few contemporary fiction titles with strong friendship elements from there.
Just subscribe and check it once a day. The posts specify the retailer (Amazon, Kobo, etc.) and the region it's free in (often worldwide).