Okay but who confesses his feelings first, Danse or Arcade? And how does he do it?
I feel like Arcade is bolder than Danse, so he might make the move when he sees Danse is totally clueless, so it's up to him lol
Bye
Oh man, that's funny because I actually feel like it would go the opposite way with them! Or rather, I think it's partly a matter of Arcade being more cognizant of his own feelings, but also much cagier and prone to sarcastically deflecting about them, whereas Danse is less in touch with his desires, but more willing to express them earnestly once he figures out what they are.
This got embarrassingly long and involved some conferring with my RP partner as the Arcade Authority, but:
I can imagine Arcade flirting, in a way Danse simply Would Not, but being subtle enough that it just bounces off the brick wall of Danse's self-deprecating tendency to rationalize away all but the most blatant expressions of interest. Between the two of them, Arcade is definitely the one who would initiate that type of casually flirtatious move, but wouldn't push for more.
I think Danse would admire a lot of things about Arcade (in spite of their political differences--that is a separate post I want to make!) but might sincerely mistake his own attraction for platonic until he couldn't repress the physical aspect anymore. He is very repressed about these things, but we cannot underestimate how mutual the lust would be. (It would be so mutual. Danse would want that tall drink of nerd so bad.)
If we're talking feelings feelings, though, it's very much going to be Danse taking the initiative to confess them. Arcade is better at emotional self-preservation, notoriously and self-admittedly difficult to get a straight answer out of when it comes to anything truly personal, while Danse wears his entire heart on his sleeve once he comes to trust someone.
(That does take a while, though. I agree that Arcade is the bolder one in most ways, because Danse spends so much time at the start of a relationship sublimating his attraction into "No Really We're Just Comrades-In-Arms" and seeking validation through weird tortured back channels because he can't bring himself to ask for it upfront. Arcade would never.)
I know affinity conversations and personal quests are a game mechanic, not to be taken completely literally, but I think that with these two specifically there's a lot to be read into theirs and how they play out and how they could intersect. And this is again a whole separate post that I really want to make, but I think the crux of a romance between them would come down to 1. Arcade trusting Danse with his Enclave backstory, and 2. Danse setting aside his lingering Brotherhood loyalties to accept it.
I think that a romantic confession from Danse would really center on the way he wants to protect and be of service to the people most important to him. It would probably be less an unprompted "I'm in love with you," more an assertion of his desire to be worthy of Arcade's trust and to keep him safe from everything that's given him a reason to be cagey and paranoid. Even if that ultimately includes the Brotherhood.
As with pretty much all Danse ships, whether Arcade wants or needs a scowling power-armored guard dog is kind of immaterial. Sole doesn't technically need one either, but when you romance the tin can, that's just inevitably what comes in it. It helps that once Danse is committed to that whole gig, he becomes nearly impervious to sarcasm, criticism, or pointed literary quotation about it. (And also that they can be badass in combat together, should it become necessary.)
I'm going to shut up now because I've gone on way too long, but thank you so much for giving me an outlet for my big feelings about this ship that I didn't think had ever even occurred to more than one other person. There is…more where this came from, lol.
Would he stare at his manly hairy chest and wonder how soft it is? Would he look at his hug ass and think "dayum!"? All while keeping his impenetrable poker face
