I'm so conflicted about my best friend

For context:

I'm a freshman in college, I met my best friend here, who happens to be a senior (sadly). I come from a very conservative family, so I'm not very open about being gay, and I never told my best friend for quite some time. One night as we were walking through campus, we started talking about marriage, and I eventually decided to tell him I was gay. He was very warm and not at all put off by it, even telling me that he thought he might be bisexual. The only thing is that my best friend is also quite conservative and religious (I'm also quite religious), so he is uncomfortable with that part of himself, much like I am. As the weeks went by we spent more and more time together, becoming very close. Since we're both devout Episcopalians, we started doing nightly prayers together, and the prayers would always be followed by a long conversation. Through these conversations we grew even closer, especially after discussing our struggles with anxiety and depression. Eventually, my best friend began giving me hugs and telling me he loved me. This wasn't super surprising to me, as he's a hugger and pretty open with his feelings anyway, but things got more interesting as time went on. The more we spent time together, the hugs got longer, and he would start doing things like playing with my hair, or gently stroking my cheek, and holding my hand. Then, one night he kissed me on the cheek, which admittedly took me by surprise. I wasn't bothered by any of this, I'm not as touchy of a person as he is, but I always reciprocated his affection. I just kind of thought we were really close friends and he felt like he could be more vulnerable with me because he knew I wouldn't judge him.

Then, we decided to go on a camping trip together one night. We found a nice secluded area by a small lake and set up our hammocks. When it came time for our nightly prayer routine, my friend insisted that I join him in his hammock, that way we could hear each other better while reading from the prayer book. I obliged and we sat in his hammock like a swing while we said our prayers. Nothing unusual. However, once we finished, he asked "you cold?" To which I replied "yes," as it was getting pretty chilly. He then told me to lay back in the hammock, so I did. He nestled right up next to me and slid down a bit so his face was level with mine (as he's much taller than me). I was initially a bit weirded out. I didn't have a problem with laying next to him, but it just seemed a little out of character for him, given his conservative nature. He then told me "relax, you're so tense." I hadn't even realized how tense I was, but I tried to relax. "That's better" he said, and then he leaned his head against mine and put his hand on my chest. For me this was a bit of a "pinch me, I must be dreaming" kind of moment. I've always thought he was really cute (tall, dark haired, and handsome), but I'd never thought he would reciprocate any kind of romantic feelings. This felt different than the previous affection he'd shown me. We laid there cuddled up for the rest of the night, and he would constantly stroke my face, play with my hair, and whisper kind things in my ear. He also kissed me way more than he usually would, sometimes one right after the other. He kissed me once on the lips, although I wasn't sure if it was intentional considering it was dark. He also placed his hand on the back of my thigh once, which I thought unusual. The whole night he kept asking if I was comfortable, always wanting ensure I wasn't to cold or cramped. Periodically he would gently grab hold of my ears to warm them if they felt cold. At one point he tilted my head towards him and locked eyes with me, and there was just a look in his eyes that was totally different from what I'd seen before. His voice sounded different too, he spoke so softly and tenderly in a way I'd also never seen before.

Now, since that camping trip, he's seemed somewhat distant. We haven't seen each other nearly as much. When I have spent time alone with him since then, it was never for much time, and he wasn't nearly as affectionate. He would give me a hug, and that was pretty much it. Granted, he has been very busy and I know I probably spend too much time in my own head, but not being close to him after our experience at the campsite has really hurt me. I almost feel like he felt like he went too far and wants to step back. I really do love him, and I've never felt this way about another person in all my life, and I'm afraid he might also have feelings for me, but is too afraid to express them because of the conservative world he's been in his whole life. Honestly, I'm afraid to ask him too, because I don't want it to end our friendship entirely. What should I do?