I 20M lied to my partner 21M about someone in my past, how can I gently comfort & nurture him to rebuild our trust?

Me and my partner have been dating for 4 months and have been smooth sailing ( with small arguments here & there ) since the day we met, though around Christmas time last year I had lied in a backwards attempt to protect his feelings when someone i had briefly talked to in my past texted me and wanted to smoke with us, he knew I was in a relationship via my instagram and was foreclosing that he wasn’t trying to be “weird” I immediately showed my

boyfriend the messages

and he asked who it was and if I did anything with them, I explained and said we did nothing as I didn’t want him to overthink and had immediately realized i fucked up HARD. I am not a good liar at all, and he knew something was up and kept asking so the truth came out, and I blocked the person without a second thought.

I knew then and especially now how stupid it was for me to do that, and the worse part is that day his family was on the way for dinner. Now, his trust in me in withering I didn’t cheat nor at all was interested in the person that had texted or in anyway was trying to go behind my partners back to seek someone else I was just trying to get out of the conversation once i had started it because i should’ve just blocked him then & there but i didn’t.

I feel so horrible because I’ve been lied too in the past and he’s told me how the lies he’s been told impacted him and I did it without even thinking straight, I want to repair his trust in me no matter how long it takes and am wondering how I can gently nurture and care for him so we can healthily grow from this situation.

I know he loves me still and is putting effort into the relationship if not more, but I can tell he’s hurt still, from the look in his face and some of his healthy habits falling out of place, I’ve already told him how truly sorry i am, now I just want him to feel better and hold my hand along the way, what can i do if anything?

I know it was very shitty of me, and the broken sound of his voice when he was expressing his sadness haunts me everyday, I don’t want him to feel hurt anymore, any advice would be appreciated, thank you all.