how do i ask him out without asking him out?

hi so there’s this guy that i met around last year and we recently got close a few months ago since we have a bunch of classes tg. i used to like solely see him as a friend and nothing more since i liked one of the other guys in our friend group but that didn’t really go anywhere. recently we’ve been talking like alot and talking to him is like a breath of fresh air and he’s just a really nice guy.

but i can’t really tell if he’s feeling me or he’s just being nice because he has a lot of female friends but i feel like he acts a little differently around me yk like i feel the vibes. so one of my friends tried wingwomaning me and she asked him if he had a prom date or if he liked anyone and he said he didn’t rlly know and so she listed a few names then mine and he had the most positive reaction towards my name and he said maybe i could potentially see it then he said he’d sleep on it when she pushed further. does this mean he likes me or idk cuz the day after was halloween and we were all going to this party and he didn’t really talk to me that much as he usually does i mean we got pictures together and stuff but idk yk? and he drove me and my friends home and i sat in the front with him but we didn’t really talk it was kind of akward cuz we usually always have conversation flowing,

but then after he liked all of my stories but none of my friends’ which he never does because he barely uses social media. i want to kind of pursue him cuz i really like him but im lowkey scared that he’s just being nice and im reading too much into it. soo i don’t want to ask him out cuz im like way too shy is there any way i can like plot to make him ask me out instead? any ideas? 😭 does he even like me or am i being delusional? also i really am not going to confess cuz i don’t want to ruin our friendship 🫠