How would you go about this? First answer will be the best :)?

No need to apologise about the rant-it's good to get stuff out of your head and onto paper. Sometimes even just doing that can help you to see things more clearly. As someone reading this who doesn't know either of you, it sounds like you're a bit sensitive because of things that have happened in the past and he's a bit preoccupied because he's got things going on his life right now. So relax-it seems as if you both have feelings for each other, but you just need to give him some time to sort things out. It's lovely that you've told him you're there for him if he needs to talk, so hang on in there and see how things go. All the best.