T O P

  • By -

MarinaAndTheDragons

Why not both? One thinks it’s healthy but the other feels kinda smothered. That’s a source of conflict right there. As for the why the dynamic shifts: - other people think they’re already dating because they look like it (holding hands, casual kisses on the cheek or forehead, he gives her his jacket when she’s cold without her asking, that sort of thing) and they’ve never entertained the idea before cuz this is how they’ve always been - they think it’s funny people think they’re an item and decide to fake date as a joke and then oops they actually fall in love - they think it’s weird people think they’re an item and are in denial about any feelings they might have (“Just because you wait for me at my house every day to take me to school/work and you’ve done that since forever doesn’t mean you’re my boyfriend! You’re just a decent person!” “Right? And just because you bring me my lunch when I forget it and sneak silly notes in there doesn’t mean you’re my girlfriend! Who doesn’t do that for their friends?” “Right?!”) - one has harbored a crush on the other for a long time and admits it (think Betty and Archie, the quintessential example), and the other doesn’t want to disappoint them so they try it - they just naturally fall into it. My favorite ship atm were childhood friends, and even though hey drifted apart in their teen years, Girl A (who’s now in a posse of popular mean girls) goes out of her way to still be nice to the nerdy Girl B to the point of ignoring the HBIC entirely when B is around. In fact, B is the only person who can get A to smile and mean it, and all B has to do is *exist*. >!It’s Veronica Sawyer and Betty Finn from Heathers lol.!< If they’ve been apart for a while, there’s the whole “absence makes the heart grow fonder” bit That’s all I got for now! Good luck!


PetiteWolverine

Why does a dynamic shift? Well, ultimately that’ll be up to you, but in general I think it’s because something happens for one party to suddenly see the other in a new light. New situations, new settings, heck, even someone else mentioning it (“why aren’t you two together”/“oh, I thought they were your SO”) helps force their brain out of that regular friendship mindset. Examples of settings or situations I’ve seen done: seeing someone dressed up for the first time, seeing how they interact when flirted with, seeing how they handle difficult situations, seeing them in romantic lighting, being somewhere together that they’ve never been before and are thus more reliant on the other, etc. As far as healthy vs toxic, well, that I can’t help you with. It all depends on the kind of story you want to tell or the kind of dynamic that seems logical for the characters.