<human>: Can you condense the text into a few key points?

So I have been in a friends-with-benefits situation for the past couple of months with a really good friend of mine. We're both attending the same college (where we met) and grew close before mutually deciding to bang in our spare time (without any obligations to each other).

A little bit ago (about two months), he--let's call him Mark--told me that he might pursue another girl and so he wanted to stop the on-the-side screwing. He only said this because a girl had come up and declared her interest in him, and he felt it wasn't right to be dallying with two girls at once. Two days later, Mark changed his mind and we've been back to fwb since.

Besides that incident, Mark has not once actually expressed interest in anybody else. More than that, because we were and continue to be such good friends, I feel like he acts more like a boyfriend than a fwb. In fact, I'd really like to call him my boyfriend--he is essentially filling the role in everything but the name. The problem is, I think the idea of cementing our relationship status makes him a little leery (Mark's had some weird experiences with chicks in the past). Even more than that, I'm still not sure whether or not he wants the pressure of having me as a "girlfriend." I think that he puts a lot of unnecessary negative weight on the term (ie I would expect more of him, repeat his negative experiences, etc.).

That being said, I really like him and I want to give this a genuine shot. Should I just leave it as is and hope he comes to me/things develop on their own, especially since he's very shy about it? Or should I take an initiative and somehow open that line of communication now?
<bot>: Fwb is amazing, and acts like a boyfriend rather than fwb. I want to make that an actual thing, but have no idea how, or if its even a good idea. Help.