What should I do?

I work with this guy who I happened to find out is an aquarius, what is it with me and aqua men?! Lovely, lovely guy BTW. We spend a lot of time together (in and out of work), take our breaks together, crack random jokes with eachother, and generally feel quite free and comfortable with eachother, to the point of letting our more 'unusual way of thinking' out from time to time. All before knowing he's an aqua, though it all makes sense now. For the record I'm a Libra, the aqua magnet come kryptonite (in the nicest way possible). 😉 But I digress! Lately, people at work have been trying to figure out what's going on between us, do we fancy eachother...girls have been trying to act territorial, trying to sniff out any competition what have you. Not feeling so comfortable with this, don't want awkwardness, don't want to put any unnecessary strain on a good friendship and working relationship. I told him how I felt and suggested we ease up on hanging out so much at breaks and what not. He responded by offering a solution as to how we can keep being as we are without me feeling uncomfortable. So sweet. It hasn't worked. Now I want to take matters into my own hands and withdraw a little at work. I believe at work, work SHOULD come first...I'm just a little worried that he may feel a little bummed by this, which is the last thing I would want to happen. Being a Libran, I'm unsure what to do, go figure! :-/ Can anyone help? I love everything about how we get on, but I don't like people prying into my business. If I want an opinion on a personal issue (and to me friendships are personal), I'll ask, as I'm doing now. Do you think he will understand, being as he knows how I feel about office gossip, plus I tried his solution? Or should I just try to bear it? And there the story ends for now...

He will understand you trying to avoid gossip, but none the less he will be upset if you set up a distance because of other's words. My (aqua man) motto is, live for yourself, if she can distance now because of what the world thinks, she us always capable of that and that will hurt me, it isn't worth it. So, don't let him think that. That's very important.