bf is asexual and I am not

Me and my boyfriend (both ftm) have been dating for over a year. I have been on T for roughly a year and he has not started yet. I have slowly come to the conclusion that I do really need intimacy in a relationship, and we have had moments of tension in our relationship because I have had to ask for things that I see as intuitive that he does not really think about (like verbal affection.) That is one thing that did hurt me a lot, but this is a much more sensitive topic, and I do not want to force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do. He always prefaced this as him being “different” but didn’t outright say he’s some flavor of the asexual spectrum until a few months ago when I brought it up. He said he would like to try being intimate still in other ways just for me, so I’m the only one that receives (like toys and stuff.) But since we had that talk I haven’t felt comfortable really initiating it anymore because of what he told me. And he surely won’t initiate himself… like ever. I just feel so bad and I can’t handle this rejection anymore. He is my best friend and I don’t wanna break up, but I feel like it’s not sustainable. I just don’t know what to do.