#yea probably

+ They've known each other for years, before any of the Plasma stuff even started. They weren't childhood friends or anything, but a good few years were spent in each others company before they eventually started to drift. At different points in their life afterwards, they wondered if they may have fumbled that whole relationship, with Ghetsis in particular caring a bit more than Colress in that regard.

+ They traveled around the region together doing their own respective research projects back before the Plasma fiasco, which is partly what led to that whole scheme in the first place. Ghetsis liked to look at old historical ruins and Colress would accompany him because why not, so often times Ghetsis would just be observing the sights while Colress encountered the local fauna in the background (to mixed results--his Elgyem was acquired on one of these outings after it stole his tablet and Colress had to chase it around a desert, all while Ghetsis wasn't even paying attention).

+ Their flirting sounds more like negging then anything else, but that's pretty much how it's always been with them. They can't just compliment each other like normal people, there always has to be some distance in what they say. Anyone listening to them would probably assume they want the other dead, but observing their body language yields conflicting signals.

+ Ghetsis is surprisingly the more overt one when it comes to showing affection, though not by much. He smiles more around Colress, and if he feels the urge to, he'll reach out to touch Colress's face, or even adjust his glasses. He won't try to restrain Colress, since he feels Colress thrives best when given the freedom to roam. Attempting to do so would be pointless anyway, though Ghetsis isn't really worried. In his mind, Colress will always return to his side--where he's meant to be (bit of a delusion).

+ Colress seems like the type who'd be more affectionate, in comparison, anyway, but that's not quite right. He likes to lean into Ghetsis's space, so close they can almost touch, but never fully commits to it, just to see what will happen. He enjoys provoking a reaction more than acting on affectionate impulses himself. He loves to talk down to Ghetsis, especially in front of others, just because he knows he's the only one who can. Everything is an experiment to him, and if Ghetsis weren't already used to it, he might actually be annoyed.

+ While Ghetsis doesn't talk down to Colress necessarily, he does tend to refer to Colress as, "little more than his precious science," or "more machine than man," which sounds degrading to the outside observer, but tends to put Colress in a good mood (as he very much likes the idea of being a machine, especially since machines aren't restricted in the same way people are--he takes these comparisons as compliments).

+ They have fairly different sleep schedules, so it's not often Ghetsis is awake before Colress, but it happens every now and again when Colress crashes completely. Typically, Ghetsis goes to bed first and wakes up just before lunch time, whereas Colress will work late into the night and sleep for maybe two or four hours before getting up again.

Colress is most willing to be affectionate when tired, so the more cuddly or caring he seems to act, the less sleep he's running on. He tends to climb into bed and bully his way into Ghetsis's arms before passing out, where he might roll over at some point. If he's tired enough to sleep through his alarm, then there's a good chance Ghetsis will wake up first, adjust his grip on Colress, go back to sleep, and trap him there for the next few hours. Colress pretends to hate this.

+ Ghetsis always had a suspicion that Colress might discard their plans for his own ambitions, so he really wasn't that surprised when it ended up happening. Both of them are fully willing to throw the other under the bus if it's convenient for them, even if Ghetsis is slightly less willing to do so since Colress doesn't have as many resources to get himself out of tough spots.

They're still in contact post-BW2, despite what Colress claims in regards to hating Ghetsis--he says that all the time anyway so it's not like it means much. Colress went to find him after the dust settled, and even though Ghetsis was miffed about the whole turncoat thing, he's still immensely pleased that Colress came back as he'd thought he would.

Part of what Colress did was revenge for Ghetsis leaving him behind to go off and start the original Team Plasma nonsense, so now that Ghetsis has felt the sting of a partner friend placing their own desires before their relationship, Colress feels as if they're even.

He'd still do it again, but that's a sentiment shared by both of them.

+ The majority of Colress's science babble goes right over Ghetsis's head, but he still likes to listen to Colress speak just because of how excited he gets. Colress isn't normally one for expressing a wide variety of emotion, tending to stick with just a default blank smile, but when he gets into the topic of his research, he's suddenly more animated, smiling genuinely, and repeating words of excitement ("It's great! Extremely great!").

Ghetsis finds it all very endearing, especially when Colress catches him staring and gets flustered; only Ghetsis can garner that reaction.

+ They do call each other variations of "friend" or "my friend," but it's almost always with a mocking undertone. Like, oh, is that what we are? Ghetsis tends to linger on the word, drawing attention to it, or otherwise stressing the "my" part. Whereas Colress uses it a lot more casually but with a somewhat airy lilt to it; playful, in a way (or weirdly sensual, which has the hilarious effect of making anyone else nearby do a double take because like, what--why did you say it like that).

+ Despite how their behavior towards one another appears on first glance, they're actually very comfortable around one another. The only reason they're able to speak the way they do is because they know each other so well. Neither of them are normal.

Colress may claim to loathe Ghetsis and take every opportunity to heckle him, but Ghetsis knows Colress and knows how to read between the lines. If he regards you as a test subject and speaks gleefully about all the ways you could be experimented on, ethics be damned, it means he's fond of you and wants to know absolutely everything about what makes you tick. Not many things outside his research receive this kind of attention, other than Ghetsis.

Ghetsis, on the other hand, often claims Colress as a possession, or an otherwise inhuman entity. While these statements would normally be upsetting or frustrating to any sane person, Colress doesn't mind them as he likes the idea of being inorganic. He also doesn't take it to heart seeing as Ghetsis never oversteps his boundaries, something Colress has noticed but not felt the need to point out. If there's ever an instance of Colress not wanting to be touched or otherwise wanting to leave a conversation, Ghetsis never stops him, even if they both know he'd be fully able to if so desired.

+ Every now and again they'll do something actually domestic and not awful, which usually just amounts to them sitting close together under Ghetsis's cloak while reading or doing some other recreational task. It's hard to get Colress to put down all of his projects, so he may still have a tablet or two with him that he's messing with, though in exceedingly rare cases, he'll just lean into Ghetsis and listen to him talk (often dozing off shortly after).

Ghetsis enjoys these brief moments since he gets to see the actual human side of Colress. The efficient, calculating cold is great for world domination, but the benign, casual warmth is just as important to him.

--

I think that's probably enough for now, especially since I have to go into work soon hhh

They're like, the toxic ship, but they think they're perfectly normal and have no issues with how their relationship is currently, so uh...good for them?? They might kill each other one day but you can bet they'd both be laughing about it

Uhh, ending notes