Telling someone taken you have a crush on them.

Hey first post here, long time lurker, busy college student etc.So I'm in class with this one really cute guy, I had a crush on him since the first day I saw him. One day I was going to tell him how I felt when he ended up telling a story to the whole class about him and his boyfriend, but earlier he mentioned he had been in an abusive relationship. After that I became disheartened and decided to leave him alone. It's been troubling me though and I really still want to tell him how I feel, and not because I expect him to go for me, I just want to do it to feel better, and maybe I could help him if he is still in an abusive relationship.Small note, no one knows I'm gay and I really feel like it will help me if I'm able to tell him. I just don't want it to seem like I'm trying to swoop in on his relationship. I really at least want to be his friend because I've never even known anyone else who is gay.So should I just tell him I'm attracted to him but I don't expect anything or should I just forget it? I wish I could just talk to him even but he leaves early and shows up late often and I'm there for the whole class.