Should I come out to my gym bro?

I’ve been working out (lifting) with my gym bro ever since I met him in one of my classes about a year and a half ago. From pretty early on, he started calling me a twink. He explained that he had a gay roommate at some point who identified that way and that’s what the word meant to him. I don’t really identify with the label, but enough people have called me that while I’ve been dating that I’ve tried not to hold it against him.

He’s straight and has been living with his girlfriend for about 2.5 years. I’m not interested in him romantically at all, but one day he referred to me as “his twink,” which added a layer of awkwardness for me. Since then, he still makes sporadic comments about me being a twink, maybe about once a month. He also makes other comments that verge on jokingly homosexual behavior, which makes me feel uncomfortable. I think he has picked up on that a few times.

For the most part, he does not seem bigoted against gay people. What gives me pause is that I really don’t want our relationship to change. I like us just being bros and I hope that can continue. At the same time, it feels increasingly awkward to hide such a big part of myself from someone I see so often.

On top of that, he regularly asks about my dating life. I’m honestly getting to the point where it irritates me to misgender the people I’m dating just to maintain some kind of social comfort or validation.

Overall, I’m trying to spend more time being authentically myself, but I’m unsure whether coming out to him would make things easier or risk changing a dynamic I prefer.