7, 8 and 10 for Leah and Nate, if you want to, hehe. I adore Leah so much and it’s so fun to watch the push and pull that these two have 💙💙
It warms my heart that you have such fondness for Leah! I'm currently battling a cold so I'll try to be coherent, but I'll take any excuse to talk about her and Nate so thank you for thte opportunity XD 💜
(ask list here)
7. Do they (or would they) pursue the other character’s affection, and if so, how? Do they tell the other character how they feel? Try to earn their admiration? Woo them with romantic gestures? Flirt with them, skillfully or otherwise?
Of the two of them, Nate is definitely the more active pursuer in their relationship. Not only does he shower her with gifts and homecooked meals and just consideration, he shares his feelings with Leah with a frankness and regularity that she very much does not know how to deal with having come from such an affection-starved home. It gets quite frustrating for her at times because she can't work out what response is expected from her when he does this, and she's extremely invested in getting the 'right' answer (because, of course, if she gets it wrong her instincts say he'll leave and it'll be devastating).
When they're a little further into the relationship and she feels more secure, however, she tries to mirror him with romantic gestures, though maybe not consciously. She's fond of teasing him, and though important words are still difficult (they're binding, and real, and can't be taken back) she lets him know how she feels in other ways.
8. What do they think about romantic love? Do they have baggage surrounding it? Do they idealize it? Is it an object of longing and wanting, or were they really not thinking about it until they started falling for the other character? What are their expectations like?
Between past disappointments (thanks, Bobby) and the lack of a social script for her to follow, Leah finds her romantic feelings for Nate absolutely terrifying at first. Just the fact that his smallest action has the ability to inflluence her mood for the entire day is an unacceptable loss of control, especially considering how independent she is. At the same time, it's so easy to want it, and though she assumed it was something she would never have the chance to experience (it's easier to blame fate than to admit she thinks she's unlovable) being in Nate's arms makes the world feel right in a way it never has before.
Nate, on the other hand, has spent three hundred years yearning for the kind of idealised love he imagines his mother shared with his birth father, and to have all that yearning finally pay off after so many false starts feels like a fairy tale. Leah's uncertainty over the whole thing distresses him not just because it hurts to cause her any kind of pain, but also because he has a deep, abiding fear that he'll end up feeling a love that goes unrequited. But he does his best to hide it, because it also hurts to think he's pressuring her into an ideal he can't force into existence. All he can do is wait and hope that she feels the same way.
10. What scares them about entering a relationship?
For Leah it all revolves around a loss of independence, or rather, gaining a dependence on someone else. She shouldn't need to rely on another person to feel happy, or achieve her goals - especially since,in her experience, everyone always leaves eventually. It's vulnerable and chaotic and unpredictable and it really messes with her head.
Now that he's found Leah, Nate's biggest fear is losing her, and by extension, the lengths he would go to to keep her. His overprotective streak doesn't stop at outside threats, but also his own past and the darker parts of himself that could drive her away - the irony being that keeping those parts hidden might have the same effect in the end.
