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Platonov suggested compressing all episodes, especially boring episodes. You have a story with a great character who is not a significant one. (They're neither the perspective character nor the hero, who are two or one and the same.) Frequently present and visible they* behave intelligently and wittily, contribute humor, and is a person fun to write about and perhaps to read about in small doses. Yet they are also boring. Nothing they do matters. They don't move thing, they don't contribute to the plot, not even supporting the significant characters in the story. They are simply there, being themselves, like the atmosphere. Why they're there nobody can say. Not even you the author knows that. The story becomes stretched and loses tension and liveliness. Readers won't find sufficient novelty per text block to bother reading it.*
I suggest that there's only one end with this character. (You don't let them die here by the way. That'll offend the readers if they're really so likable.)
He bravely sides with the perspective character, shows solidarity. Then he leaves to find himself, saying there is something he must do. The details are suggested to be significant; also they're naturally vague. The perspective character simply lacks the relevant information here. The boring character is secretive at this point you see. This done you immediately write:
"That was the last time I saw him. Maybe things would've been different if I'd know this before, then and there. I don't know."
That's the only real way to deal with him without rewriting your entire work. It gets rid of him,-- and provides a "hint of deeper meaning". (Suggestion courtesy of Dostoyevsky.)
(It's better to rewrite and remove this character from most places, if you have the time. It doesn't matter if they're likable, for reason * dominates.)
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