Another ~I'm in love with my straight best friend what do I do~ thread. Help?

I know there are a million and one threads like this on here, but I decided to create an account and share my own story to hopefully get some more personalized advice.

I'm currently in college and I met my best friend here almost a year ago. Since then, we've grown insanely close. We spend literally all of our free time together. We wake up and go our separate ways in the morning to tend to our own personal obligations, but all the other time we have is spent together. We tell each other everything and trust one another immensely. We take care of each other when one of us is sick or having a rough day. We're very touchy with each other and will lean on each other on the couch and hug pretty frequently. We've even talked about what we'll be doing together in the distant future. Despite these things and this huge amount of trust, there are still some things I can't tell him. I accidentally fell in love with him, even though I told myself I wouldn't.

I think this is the first time I've ever fallen in love. I think about him all the time; I miss him when he's away, and I feel pure elation with each moment I spend with him. I love his smile, his laugh, the way he cracks his neck, the way he drinks his coffee... literally every little thing about him. Sure, he like all people has his flaws, but ultimately I accept them. There's very little he could do to make me mad, and even when he does I simply can't stay mad at him. I find that most people when they spend a lot of time with another person, they tend to get really tense and the other person begins to get on their nerves, and this hasn't happened with me and him.

I've recently begun to accept myself as bisexual, but I'm still not out to anyone. Even when I am ready to come out, I think it would be him that I tell first. The thing is, I don't know if he's into other guys or not. He claims to be straight, and has had intimate/sexual relations with females in the past, but then again, so have I. There have been some instances which make me think our feelings are mutual. Whenever the subject of sexuality is brought up, he seems to act strangely, and always makes a comment as to how sexuality is a spectrum and that "we're all a little gay." When questioned about this, he said he was 98% heterosexual and 2% homosexual. When I asked him how he arrived at the 2% value, he told me he believes each friendship he has does have some basis in sexual attraction. One other time he mentioned some object (like a photo) not being straight, and jokingly I said "neither are you~!" A somber look fell over his face and timidly asked "and what if I wasn't?" and I told him I would be completely fine with it. Then again, he is constantly scheming to hook up with girls and is always on ****** trying to find his future girlfriend. He hasn't done either of these things although he definitely has had some opportunities to, and I think he's starting to pick up on the jealousy I feel when he mentions these things.


Every night before bed we tell each other "I love you" (or some variation of this), although I'm not sure if he's speaking romantically or platonically. One time he said he thought it was "cute" that we do that, and that neither of us need girlfriends because we have each other. A lot of the time I believe he just sees me as a very close friend, and I think he may even be using this slightly-more-than-friendship to compensate for his recent lack of success with girls and finding a girlfriend. Overall he is an astoundingly nice person and I wouldn't be surprised that he just naturally gets very close to people very easily. Another possibility is that he is just giving me extra love and support because he knows I've been through a lot recently and have been having a very tough year.

This has been weighing on me more and more with each passing day and I'm considering coming out to him. If I do this, the implication is that he will definitely realize I have feelings for him. And this is the classic dilemma. If we do have feelings for one another, we could be missing out on something really special just because we're too afraid to come out, but on the other hand it could be that he's just straight and this would sever our friendship, or at the very least drastically change our dynamic.

What do you all think? Do you think he's sending signals? Do you think I should tell him how I feel? I just don't know what to do.