Understanding what went wrong, learning from it

My BF and I broke up August 31st of being together for about 7 months, and Ive been spending a lot of time analyzing, thinking, and talking to family and friends about why things went the way they did. This is technically our 3rd break up, and the final one I am convinced. We met through an online site Jan 11th, not long after I finally came out as Bi to everyone on new years this year. He is 19, and I am 26. Over the course of our relationship we have had our issues and worked past them. I learned that I was his first real BF, I helped him get his first car, and invested a lot of time and money in "us". Over the years he was raised with three dads and two moms. He still lives at home and his current parents that he lives with are somewhat controlling, demanding and not very emotionally available or supportive and he really has no one that he can confide in. We have never fought, never had a real argument, just little disagreements about this and that. He has a good heart, is polite, caring about others in general, and could be very goofy to the point of being immature. And when it came to him, he could be selfish at times. We got along really well, and friends and family on both sides loved us and said we were good for each other and did good together. His sister even said that I was like a backbone for him and kept him on the straight and narrow. A week before we broke up we went on a weekend trip and had a great time, though I could feel tension between us at times. Once we got back from the trip, later that week I could sense that something was off. On Saturday of that week we ended up talking because he asked if I was happy, and I said I was for the most part. I told him that sometimes I felt like I was just a friend to him, and he said that's how he felt, like we were just close friends. And so we broke up by his request, but he still wanted to be friends. The problem im having is understanding why he decided to just be friends instead of wanting to work on things when we had a good thing going and got along so well. And I know that he still cares about me. I will always care about him and love him for the person that he is. I feel like the reason he ended up feeling like it was a close friendship is because our relationship got into a routine, it became comfortable, regular, and ended up boring to where he lost interest and attraction to me. I tend to be laid back and easy going, and he is outgoing, goofy and likes to be active. I believe there are other issues on the table here though. Being that I am his first real BF, he has no experience in relationships and is still learning about who he is. And I don't think that he is yet fully comfortable and confident in who he is because I was often introduced as a friend as he is not out to everyone yet. And being that he is only 19, his hormones are probably raging and he wants and needs to experience other people. Until he experiences other people and heartbreak, I don't think he will really understand me or my love for him and what we had going. I truly believe that we could have been good together, but the timing is just crap. The last time that I saw him, I bought a silver necklace and put my ring on it and told him I wanted him to have it and that I knew he needed to go do his thing and that I hoped he might find his way back to me. I have initiated the NC protocol for both our sakes on Friday the 6th. For myself, Ive gotten over the majority of the pain and have been convincing myself that we will never be together again, but Ive left room for a tiny amount of hope. Would love to hear other opinions and insight :/

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