au where siffrin takes their time to think about it and decides they don’t actually want to be with isabeau like that, ofc they love him but not in a romantic way that’s any different from their feelings for the other party members
and loop is about ready to throttle him again like. what do you MEAN you get isabeau and you don’t even WANT him!
so, okay, that’s perfect though right, no isafrin means there’s plenty of space for isaloop?
except! being the consolation prize siffrin is actually even worse than being the “date one siffrin get another of equal or lesser value free”!!
bonus points if loop’s identity hasn’t been revealed yet and isabeau does actually have a separate crush on loop. but he feels terrible about it, bc doesn’t it cheapen his feelings for siffrin to be falling for someone else so soon? what if it’s just a rebound thing?? and siffrin and loop are obviously so close what if they like each other??? and then when the reveal eventually DOES happen, that does NOT make it any simpler.
bonus bonus points if loop is also struggling to figure out if they’re actually into isa, or if the only reason they can say “ofc i’d want to date him if i was in your place” so easily is bc they aren’t? they think they want to, but maybe they’re just desperate to be special to someone, to be prioritized more than siffrin for once. maybe they would’ve truly loved isa, once upon a time, but they’re not actually capable of that sort of thing anymore. maybe they really do want to be with him and that’s exactly why they can’t, bc if loop gets something they want it will inevitably be taken away! maybe they want to, but they know it would be wrong to date isa without explaining who they are, and once they do that they’ll never be able to trust that isa wants them back for themself and not as a second chance at siffrin.
and siffrin just wants so badly for two of his favorite people to be happy, and maybe they could be happy together, and it would be so perfect… except for all of the ways that it’s messy and complicated and painful and difficult and imperfect instead. and even if there was anything he could do to help, siffrin is kinda the last person that either of them would want this sort of help from, right now. so he just has to watch, feeling guilty twice over.