I read through the entire topic, and I don't think I saw it anywhere, but have you actually told your friend that you yourself are gay yet?
You are friends, so that should be something you should feel comfortable with doing. You don't have to push anything on to him at that point, or let him know your feelings for him. You don't even have to ask if he is gay or not. Just let him know.
For starters it should make it easier for you two to ever talk about your feelings for each other or for other people.
It's also a good sign that you trust him.
As far as approaching the subject of sharing your feelings with him, my only advice is to not get too worried about it.
Don't force yourself into doing it.
You're only 12, and while I'm not going to say that means you can't love someone, I will say that you've just started puberty.
Your body is a big mess of chemicals at the moment, and it can put you thoroughly into stress. I know it got me thinking of different things and people all the time, and it's not a fully pleasant part of growing up.
As you do grow up however, you get less hormonal and your moods seem less powerful and you get more clarity to your thoughts.
Don't rush yourself into anything needlessly. You're a young person and there's plenty of time to understand your thoughts and express them clearly.
At the same time, remember that your friend is going through all this too. You're both learning what it's like to have romantic and loveual feelings for different people, and it is crazy. Give both of you time to learn who you are.
There's plenty of other things you can focus on at your age, so don't get too hung up and exhausted on it all. Just have fun.
You're much too young to be stressing out over things. Save all that for later.
