How I see it, to get a idea of why Vincent's route, we just got to look at his close friend and counterpart Helios as a comparison.
With Helios, we have someone who was born/raised with a kindness similar to his mother and who, fortunately, was not influenced much by Luceris to see MC in a cruel light. He's felt awkward around them because, frankly, the whole situation around MC is awkward, especially because it heavily involves his father. But there was never anything fueled by hatred and while he has been conflicted because he loves his dad, it hasn't stopped him from seeing how unfair and messed up everything has been for MC, even if he may not have a indepth understanding of them. While it in no way makes the romance with him burn fast, it makes sense that Helios isn't as weighed down as Vincent both because of his general personality and his past interactions, while awkward, never went into cruel territory.
Then there's the man of the chapter hour, Vincent. From the moment he met them, he started off as a cruel bully to MC when they were already at the lowest and that behavior went on for a good number of years from the looks of it; right off the bat, the origins of Vincent's connection to MC can be described as hostile and unpleasant. Ikram having a hand in shaping that negative view of MC (a lot of negative things can be spoken about with Luceris, but he at the least didn't try to shape Helios' personal opinions on MC), his original admiration and yearning for his mother's approval, and his own close bond and protectiveness of Helios only further fueled his hatred of MC. He's certainly less hostile now, but he's still got years worth of keeping MC at arms length and, unlike Helios, has no motives at the moment to want to understand MC and their plight better. That's not something that will change overnight and will need active work from both ends to overcome the rough start to make a more positive connection to each other.
This was basically my long winded way of saying Vincent being a second most slowburn bond, romantic or platonic, makes sense considering that his history with MC was really bad. Also makes it very foreboding that despite Hunter's general friendliness towards MC, something of their own past makes them the most slowburn romantic bond MC can pursue. What dark secrets behind that smile...
I always really like to read what you have to say because you really do get me! 🙏
People always expect for Helios to be THE slowburn of the century, and in a way it is because it's so juicy and slow in its own way, but Helios is much more open and has practically no walls around himself. He's very approachable and it's almost easy for the heart to fall for him despite the history that surrounds them.
Vincent is the complete opposite, his walls are super high and he's very guarded and he makes that very clear. With MC, he's not approachable nor friendly nor does he even want to change that about himself because he doesn't want anything to do with MC.
It will take time to change that, it's slow as hell because they have to reach a point where they're at least friendly and then we can finally go to romance.
Aside from that, I find it hard to imagine that MC who suffered from Vincent's words in the past would be falling head over heels for him so soon when it's canon they don't particularly like him at this point because of the past. He will have to change his behavior around MC for there to be anything at all, so enjoy the process. 🫡
Hunter is a whole other matter but I do hope people enjoy all the routes hehe. 🫶
