It happens completely randomly. Maybe Trouble sees Blade catch sight of MC all dolled up for a gala for the first time, and how awkwardly he tries to pay her a compliment. Maybe they’re all just at dinner or milling around in a bar, and Trouble notices how the sound of MC’s laugh can catch Blade’s attention so hard that his head will turn and he’ll pause to look at her for a moment before finishing his sentence. Then he turns around to find Trouble looking at him like :O
Trouble: You like MC! 💡
Blade, scowling: What are you talking about?
Trouble: You do! You like her!
Blade: Keep your voice down.
Trouble: How long have you–when–how long has this been happening?
Blade: Nothing is happening.
Trouble, clutching his hair: Oh my god. It all makes sense. –Wait, what did you just say? Don’t tell me you’re being too chickenshit to do anything about it? God’s teeth, you are.
Blade, clenching his fist so hard he bends his fork into a weapon: doyouwanttodie? iwillkillyou. iwillbreakyourneck.
Chase, wandering over: What’s toward?
Trouble: Blade likes MC.
Chase: Oh, yeah, obviously. Did you just now notice?
Blade: I’m leaving.
*actually leaves, forcing them to chase him down and badger him for more information while he sullenly downs drinks without actually saying anything for hours*
—
Briony comes across Trouble smoking morosely in the courtyard and staring up at the sky in a rather melancholy fashion. Concerned, since she rarely sees him looking so down, she asks him what’s on his mind.
Trouble sighs and throws down his cigarette, grinding it to nothing beneath his boot. “I feel–lately I feel–weird. I can’t exactly explain it.”
Briony arches her brows. “Weird how? As in ill?”
Trouble scrubs a hand through his hair. “Not ill, exactly, but sort of. It’s like I get sort of queasy, and kind of sweaty and nervous, and… I just feel… strange.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and kicks at the ground. “I’m not explaining this right.”
Briony, who already has a strong guess at what this is about: “Do you feel like that all the time? Or does it happen at certain times? …Maybe around certain people?”
Trouble looks at her strangely. “As a matter of fact, it does happen a lot around…” He trails off. “Well, around MC. And that’s what’s so weird about it. I like being around MC. I want to be around MC. But lately, every time I’m around them, I feel… weird. Like, not like myself.” He looks like the idea depresses him, that being around one of his best friends could make him physically uncomfortable, and that’s clearly what’s troubling him so deeply. “I don’t get it. You think I should go to the healers?”
Briony, exasperated: “You idiot. You’re not sick, you’re in love!”
With some tweaking, this exchange may directly lead to this one, if you want a semi-continuation (and @teeth-draws’s amazing illustrations).
—
Tallys and Shery are tucked away into a corner booth at a bar, chatting while the other Shepherds are carousing and watching Ayla and a random recruit arm-wrestle. MC wanders over and checks in with them, casually asking if they’re having a good time and offering to top up their drinks. Tallys shakes her head, and Shery watches her quiet smile and the way her eyes linger on MC as they walk away.
Shery, hesitantly: Um, Tallys?
Tallys: Yes?
Shery: Erm… I couldn’t help but notice… *blushing* …and there are rumors… um…
Tallys: …that MC and I are involved?
Shery, blushing harder: …Yes.
Tallys, nonchalantly sipping her drink: The rumors are true. We’re sleeping together.
Shery: Ah!
A slightly awkward pause as they sip their drinks.
Tallys: It is, of course, strictly physical. I know Blade frowns upon fraternization, but it hasn’t gotten in the way of our work. It won’t.
Shery: Oh, Tallys, I would never–I’m just happy if you’re happy.
Tallys, contentedly: I am. Very much so.
Another pause.
Shery, gently: But it’s… more than physical for you, isn’t it? Or getting there? I can… um, I can tell. From the way you look at them. Or the way you act. It’s not exactly like… anyone you’ve been with before.
Tallys looks at her sharply, as if startled by the acuity of Shery’s insight. Then she looks down into her drink, swirling it around over and over.
Tallys, softly, the smile dropping: It is… more. But I can’t allow it to be, so I haven’t said anything. I likely never will.
Shery: Why? Because of Blade, or work?
Tallys: Nothing so simple as that. It’s…
She sighs and takes a long, deep draught of her drink, draining it completely.
Tallys: It’s everything.
—
(What could she be talking about? What does she mean? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z)
—
Briony walks in on Shery hastily stuffing some papers somewhere suspicious, into her desk or under some books.
Briony, playfully: What’s all that? Love poems for MC?
Shery: 😳 …………………….!!!!!
Briony, switching to horror: Oh, Shery, no–I didn’t mean to make fun of you! Are they love poems?!?
Shery, shocked speechless for several moments: h-how did you… I… I never…
Briony: Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I’d have to be blind not to notice it! You turn as red as a tomato whenever she walks into the room, and any time she praises you or even smiles at you, you look like you could float to the moon! You’re obviously head over heels!
Shery: …But… you don’t think…
Briony, hastily: Um, no, I mean… MC hasn’t said anything about it to me, so I’m sure she hasn’t noticed!… *kicking herself internally* *changing the subject* S-so tell me everything! When did it start?? What made you realize it? What do you like best about her? And you don’t have to show me the poems, but are you going to give them to her??
After Shery’s immobilizing embarrassment and shock, they eventually settle down to get into the juicy details over tea 👀🫖 The whole time Shery looks like this:
—
Chase makes yet another oblique comment or outrageous flirtation with MC in front of everyone, and a bit exasperated, Kato pulls him aside later and says, “Enough with the hemming and hawing and acting coy–you two are sleeping together, aren’t you?”
Chase, grinning and winking: “A gentleman never kisses and tells.”
Kato: “You are so far from a gentleman–”
Ari, interrupting: “It’s much more than sleeping just together. Couldn’t you tell? He’s gotten attached to them. I think he might even be a bit in love.”
Chase: “Haha WHAT? Lol! Now that’s a lark! Really, Ari, you could have been a comedienne instead of a career criminal, your sense of humor is so outlandish. Truly fascinating stuff. Love to see how your mind works. Oh, damn, I’m late to an appointment, it clear flew out of my head–”
Kato: “It’s midnight.”
Chase: “No rest for the wicked! See you!” *climbs out the window backwards*
Ari and Kato glance at each other, completely unimpressed.
Ari: “Told you.”
—
I truly think that even if anyone noticed that Riel was crushing on MC, I don’t know if anyone would have the gumption to broach the subject with him or tease him about it… He’d just give them this look and their nerves would quail… He’s not really one to discuss his deepest emotions with other people who aren’t really involved, so I doubt anyone could talk to him about it until after he and MC were already officially dating 😂
I think, of anyone, it’d be Chase who’d start noticing that Riel “favors” MC and gives him preferential treatment, and he’d think, Could he… And then he’d laugh at the thought and be like, An ice block like him? No way… Like he might say something coy about it when Riel and MC are cozied up over tea or coffee and discussing something in earnest, like, “Looking mighty intimate over here, what are we whispering about?” but it wouldn’t go any further than that!
Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, Lavinet would probably figure it out!! And she would have the gumption to bring it up to him…
[Lavinet and Riel are sipping tea together, talking marriage contracts and the issues of noble houses and their betrothals.]
Lavinet: You’re lucky that you weren’t born into a noble house, actually: you may face the opposition we were discussing earlier, but at least you’re free to marry whomever you want. MC, for example.
Riel, completely ignoring the last part: It’s true in some ways, but not in others. As part of the nouveau-riche, an advantageous marriage to the right person with the right connections is possibly even more important to me than to a noble with their own birthright to fall back on. True, I don’t face the threat of disownment or parental disapproval, but my position is also more precarious if I don’t attach myself to some influential house. I must leverage myself with even more care.
Lavinet, not to be deterred: I’d say marrying the Hero of Haven would get you plenty of influence and connections.
Riel: I find it strange that you keep bringing up MC as an example.
Lavinet, sipping her tea: Do you?
And then they keep talking about it, very circuitously, over a period of many months before he even ACKNOWLEDGES that it’s anything more than a hypothetical exercise, lol
—
Red visits home for a few weeks and hangs out with his sisters and his parents, updating them on his life and his recent adventures with the Shepherds. One day he’s pacing around the study when his older sister Idalia comes in and sits down, picking up some unfinished embroidery. They make casual small talk before she says lightly, “And how’s MC? You mentioned all of your missions with them, but not how they’re actually doing.”
Red: “Oh, they’re good. Great, actually.” [talks about MC’s accomplishments, how they’re flourishing with the Order, how random it was to reconnect with them by coincidence again]
Idalia: “You should tell them to come with you next time you visit. I’d love to see them again.”
Red, smiling to himself and looking out the window: “Will do.”
Idalia sets down her embroidery. “Aha!”
Red: “What?”
Idalia: “There–you smile to yourself every so often, but only when you talk about them. A very secretive, fond smile. That only means one thing. Don’t tell me you’re in love with them again?”
Red, laughing a little: “I don’t have any idea what you’re–”
Idalia: “Spare me the theatrics, little brother: I know that look.”
Red’s smile drops, and he sighs a little and runs his hand through his hair. After a moment, he admits, “All right. It’s true. I can’t stop thinking about them. I haven’t been able to since I got back.”
Idalia, crisply: “So what are you going to do about it?”
Red: “I don’t know.”
Idalia: “I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to go back to Haven, buy some flowers, walk up to MC, and say, ‘I’m sorry I was such an idiot, if you give me a second chance, I’ll make you the happiest person in the world–’”
Red, laughing again: “Idalia…”
Idalia, softer: “Just… don’t be a fool about it, Red. You let them slip through your fingers one time, and I saw how miserable it made you. Don’t let it happen again. Love… love is such a rare and precious thing. Don’t squander it by hesitating or letting your chances pass you by.”
Red: “…Sounds like you’re talking from experience, Ida. Did something happen?”
Idalia: “It’s nothing. Just youthful stupidity, a long time ago. But it taught me a valuable lesson.” A pause. “So when did you fall in love with them again?”
Red, sighing: “I don’t know if I ever stopped.”
—
Ayla, extremely drunk: …Where are we going? Whozzat?
Red and Halek are dragging her through the streets with her arms looped around their shoulders. It is extremely awkward because they’re so tall and she is complete dead weight, so her legs nearly dangle off the ground.
Red: I don’t understand why you couldn’t just pick her up. Don’t you Hunters all go through extreme physical training?
Halek: Are you feeling this? She’s as dense and stacked as a small house of bricks. She’d snap my arms in half.
Ayla: …hey… fuck you!
Halek: Settle down, wildcat. If you try to bite me again I’m dropping you in the river.
Ayla: …
Red: I think she fell asleep again.
Ayla, groaning: …ugh…
Red: Or not.
Ayla: …so hot. Pisses me off.
Red: What was that?
Ayla, yelling drunkenly: I SAID. MC IS SO HOT! IT PISSES ME OFF!!!
Red: Oh.
Halek: *confused squawk*
Ayla: Just wanna… climb them like a tree… ….Fuckin’… make 'em yell words of power an’ shit… but in BED. you know?!?!?!?!
Red, ruefully: …yeah, I mean… I get it…
Halek, laughing to himself: You should tell MC this tomorrow. When you’re sober.
Ayla: YEAH! Good idea!!! (screaming into the night) MC!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!
In the morning she wakes up with no memory of this conversation, but Red and Halek keep snickering at her every time she and MC are in the same room, so she starts to have a suspicion, but she just reacts by threatening to beat the snot out of them and they hide their titters behind their hands like little schoolboys
—
I could see Briony going one of two ways: either MC does something to make her so happy that she can’t contain it, or MC does something that makes her so jealous/sad that she can’t contain it, and either way Lavinet or Shery or even someone random like Red or Riel comes across her while she’s either bubbling over with happiness, or sniffling a little bit to herself while everyone else is partying inside. Like if Lavinet noticed Briony and MC getting a little cozy or affectionate or a little flirtatious during a party game, she’d corner Briony afterwards and be like, “So what’s going on between you and MC?”
Briony, playing with the hem of her skirt with a glowing smile: “Oh… nothing. Did it seem like something was?”
Lavinet: “Darling, they couldn’t take their eyes off you, and don’t think I didn’t notice how much you two were flirting at the drinks table!”
Briony: “Oh, Lavi, it’s so hard to tell with them. I never know what’s just… joking, you know, banter and all that, or what’s actual interest.”
Lavinet: “But you want them to be interested? You like them?”
Briony, putting her hands to her cheeks: “Of course I do. You can’t imagine how much I do! But I can’t tell if they like me back! Is it completely hopeless?”
The sadder version of the conversation would be if Briony saw MC flirting (or seeming to flirt) with someone else at the party, or if she knew they’d slept with someone in Rivercross, or they didn’t pick her as their partner in the drinking game, something like that, and Lavinet came across her outside on the balcony, looking up at the moon while everyone else was enjoying themselves inside.
Lavinet, putting a hand on Briony’s shoulder: “Darling, what’s wrong?” *seeing that Briony has tears in her eyes* “Here, take this.” *hands her a handkerchief and possibly a drink*
Briony, whispering: “It’s so awful, Lavi. I’m being silly, I know, but I don’t really feel like being here anymore.”
Lavinet: “We can go somewhere else, darling. Is it MC?”
Briony: “Yes, though of course it’s not their fault. I just… got my hopes up, or misread the situation, or something. I thought… well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. I was wrong, and I’ll just have to brace up and be an adult and move past it with a smile. …In the morning.” *takes a swig of her drink* “After I’ve had a few more drinks.”
Lavinet, gently: “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you were wrong.”
—
Lavinet, sitting Ayla and Briony down in her room and announcing in a very serious tone: Listen. I have something I need to tell you.
Briony: :O What is it?
Lavinet, both businesslike and secretive: I find myself attracted to MC. No, more than that: I have feelings for him. I think I might be falling for him.
Briony: GASP
Ayla: god damn it
Briony, shaking Ayla: You see? I told you–I told you–
Lavinet: You knew?
Ayla, scowling: We suspected. You kept making eyes at each other back in Lockwood. But I bet five danars you wouldn’t do a thing about it, considering MC’s, you know, a peasant and all.
Briony, squealing: Ooh, but that doesn’t matter to Lavi, the heart wants what the heart wants! Tell us everything!
[After some time gossiping all about Lavinet’s growing affections for MC]
Ayla: So then what’s your plan of action?
Lavinet: Action?
Ayla: Yeah, like, how do nobles tell people they want to get into their pants? You gonna send him a single white rose spritzed with your perfume to let him know he can come deflower you?
Briony: Ayla!!
Lavinet, a little uncertainly: Is… that not how most people declare their affections?
Briony: Lavinet?!?!
Lavinet, smirking: I’m joking, darling. Rest assured, I have been giving much thought to snaring MC’s attentions… ✨
