I 24M want to ask 25M out im not sure that he is gay and it could potentially ruin out friendship. Is there a way to go around it?

I 24M have recently reconnected with a friend from highschool 25M who i used to have a huge crush on. We used to be very close and lost tuch after i moved for uni. Now we reconnected adn all of my feelings are back. Not only is he visually exactly my type, but we share a lot of our opinions, we know eachothers histories and like world views. I always thought that he is gay, but he never said it to me. All of our mutual friends have the same opinion. Im in my home country just for the summer and after meeting uo with him he has been constantly on my mind. So i was thinking of asking him out on a proper dinner date, but im not sure if i shoukd do it. For context neither one of us is publicly out. For me my friends in other countries know but not in my home country as it is quite homophobic. Should i go for it or is it to risky? Woukd love to get your advice and or opinions