First of all, thanks for responding. The post you mentioned about his acting nonchalant and detached has changed over time. He definitely has expressed his emotions a lot more in the past few weeks/months.

He does tell me he loves me relatively often, and told me that a few days ago even (and he is NOT the type of person to say it without meaning it).

I am also his first ever relationship, and upon sharing this feeling with me he simultaneously acknowledged the novelty of the concept, the novelty of a long-term relationship and the subsiding feelings that occur.

I guess my question is: should I be alarmed that he is panicking about it a bit? Happy that he decided to share it with me? Is it a normal conversation to have, even (aware that normal is purely subjective in the case of relationships, though a certain element of normative objectivity does exist)?

A sign that this relationship is progressing into something more, or a sign of his realisation that I am not what I thought he was getting himself into?

Obviously I will raise the matter with him, however I was wondering what your take would be  on this?