My boyfriend of four months broke up with me this Saturday

I have been fluctuating between quiet hope and immense loud sobbing anguish.I could tell something was off with him, and when I started prying a bit he told me everything. Tears erupted from my eyes the moment I realized what this meant. We had a decent talk. He said that for about a month prior, he hadn't quite been feeling anything for me anymore. He tried to make it work after that, but realized that it was futile. From then on he told me that he'd slowly been acting more distant until he was able to let me go. We had a good talk, reminisced about the good times and both agreed we wanted to remain friends.I'm not sure how I feel about him distancing himself, from me, though. On the one hand, I'm glad he didn't completely break up with me the very instant he stopped feeling in love with me, but on the other hand I feel like he played me a bit by pretending everything was fine while slowly driving me away. Honestly, I still really would prefer to stay with him, but I don't think he agrees.We're going to be having a short talk tomorrow, and I was wondering if any of you guys have any tips on how to handle the issues mentioned, but also how I should be approaching this tricky conversation.Thanks in advance.Edit: This might sound silly, but he was actually my first every boyfriend, and this is obviously my first break-up.