Not Understanding Guys

Back Story: (it’s a little lengthy, I apologize!) so, I know guys (‘typically’) are straight forward or to-the-point creatures.. but my guy friend and I (that had a history that wasn’t necessarily defined) had a long phone convo because I initially asked to talk to him so I can finally get some closure or understanding on what happened in our past. It wasn’t a ‘bad’ past but we didn’t get a fair chance at the start of something healthy. I was broken and still healing from a 4-5 year long relationship with what I thought was my first ‘love’ and when we reconnected, he just got out of a tumultuous 2 year relationship. I was a friend to him and it became a more but I soon realized he could be just rebounding while genuinely finding comfort in me and my presence. Long story short, it lasted for 3-4 months but we’ve known each other since 2010. Fast forward to today, we finally spoke about what had happened between us and he said we didn’t start off right and that he didn’t want to put me in the rebound category because he knew he liked me since he met me but the timing was bad because he was hurting. So I asked him if the timing was right, would this be something he’d be interested in? I also told him not to be afraid to say ‘no’ (we are both pretty honest, open, and chill people). (Side note: it’s now 2 years later since what happened between us). He said “I don’t want to say no. I don’t want to rule anything out”… he mentioned that he had genuine feelings for me and often still thinks of our time, he’s over his ex, he wants me to love and enjoy the people around him regardless of him or not, and that he’s in the greatest place he’s been in. Was I too forward and he didn’t want to say no or is he hinting of taking it slow and seeing how we can start off on a better and more healthy new beginning?