Can I just say something about this whole "flirting" incident in that it...is so not an incident at all. I was so surprised when Padma was like, "flirting with a girlfriend, shame on you!" and now Cosette it in the same boat, I just find it so...over-protective. :/ I mean I say this as someone who's in probably the healthiest, most trusting relationship in the world but...I just find it surprising that BOTH girls found it so scandalous, I guess. You can't help when you hit it off with people, and anyone trying to restrict a relationship is going to make it so much more tempting (I mean relationship in the general sense here, not in the romantic sense).
I dunno that just irked me so much jeez.
Your feeling is probably largely because we didn't actually see any of the alleged flirting, just Padme reacting to the tail end of a funny story with no romantic subtext that we could see. But flirting is a pretty loosely defined term anyway, and without knowing more of what the heck happens in that story- or waiting for the next strips- trying to figure out whether what he said was flirting is a fools errand. Marten's reaction could be an indicator, but for all I know he was mostly irked at being *ahem* 'cock blocked', and was just acting that way to get back at Steve for... whatever the heck happened, given that Padm
ea thought they were gay when she invited Steve over to the table.
Sorry, but in my opinion, no matter how "innocent" it may be, flirting is still romantic and you don't do romantic things with people who aren't your SO.
Wait, it's still in no way clear that he was doing so. Don't jump from indicators to definite statements like that. And I don't think he was unenthusiastic to admit it; rather, he was sideswiped by the sudden swerve from joviality to relationship talk from Mr. Cockblocked S. Grumpystein.
And hey, TVTropes isn't that bad. Why, I've only got... 296 tabs open.