Do you think he's seeing me in a different light?

We've known each other for 4 years, I spend half at his place. I guess it's a friends with benefits type setup - or more a relationship without the label. I see him as my partner. When I am at his place he always cooks for me And looks after me. Lately, we had been arguing over stupid little things that weren't worth arguing about. Anyway, he went away for 4 days on a riverboat trip with the boys. Reception was patchy but I did get a few messages from him telling me he missed me (he's the anti-romantic type, he's 10years older and has been really hurt in the past, and I think due to his really horrible childhood he has abandonment issues). He said he had been wandering around the boat, trying to get reception so he could call me. When they got back closer to civilisation, he called. After getting off the phone he sent me a message saying 'it's so good to hear your voice'. A few days after he got back, he picked a fight because I asked if he could get the ball off my piercing, and He felt that I cared more about that than the lovely roast he had cooked for me. He said 'I'm trying, because I really missed you while I was away', he has also been inviting me around to visit on nights I don't usually see him, and He said the other night 'I would ask you to stay if I had food' (end of tHe payweek, we were both broke!). It's certainly not about because that doesn't happen all the time. He said before he went away 'it is how it is but that doesn't mean you can sleep with someone else', I said 'likewise!'. But I feel he's changed and for the better, He was cuddling me in bed the other night, something he doesn't normally do. Do you think the time away has made him realise that we are right for each other? I feel like, aside from the silly argument, he is trying to be more tolerant and easier to get along with! His brother asked him why we don't move in together, and the only excuse he gave was that I have too many debts to be able to afford it right now...thoughts??