I broke off contact with my crush from a few years ago. Rediscovered him and found out he felt the same.

Hi, this sub is awesome, because it takes the pressure of my chest.. I met a guy a few years ago. He is by far the best looking guy i can imagine, he is very smart and is very interested in all aspects of life. Although he is 8 years younger, i felt like he knew more about life than i do. He got messages from sooo many guys, what led him to disable his profile everytime he went offline. He had a very bad experience once, which led him to be very careful with meeting new guys or revealing his phone number. At some point i totally misinterpreted his intentions and broke off contact in fear of rejection and to protect myself. I don't know if it is possible to fall in love with someone just by texting over the internet, but it really felt and still does feel real. Fast forward 2 or 3 years. I stumbled over his new profile a few days ago and it instantly threw me back in the same state i left at that time. Nowadays i'm normally able to keep my expectations realistic but with him i have to be again very careful. I can't even look at his photos or my brain will imagine stuff. I texted him and didn't expect him to even remember me. But he did. He said he was disappointed and very sad for many days by the time. That was something i would have never imagined. I explained as good as i could, told him i was afraid to get hurt again or that his profile won't come back online. I hope he will understand, but again i have the same fear as i had years ago. I try my best to avoid acting desperate or clingy, but i have to think about him all the time and don't really know what to expect.. is this a very bad starting condition for a relationship..? a sign of weakness? Can anybody relate to my actions from the past and has a similar experience? I think i just needed this to get off my chest to calm down a bit..it worked before :)