You want to know how badly Solas has it for Lavellan? Look at what happens after the Fade kiss. If Lavellan suggests they remain friends, he agrees. That should have been the end of it — the perfect exit, the graceful way to step back. But when the balcony scene comes, it isn’t Lavellan who reopens that door. It’s Solas. He’s the one who brings up the kiss, despite Lavellan suggesting they remain friends. Then, the same dialogue on the balcony plays, the same sequence unfolds. It's like Solas is trying one last time, against his better judgement to open that door, despite Lavellan handing him an escape.
It dismantles the idea that their romance depends entirely on Lavellan's pursuit. Yes, Lavellan initiates much of the physical closeness, but the emotional initiations belong to him. Again and again, his dialogue reveals him as the one who raises the stakes, who admits the depth of feeling. He is the first one to say 'I love you', to go all in on his first flirt lines, to admit how he is drawn away from the Fade, a desire to live in the physical world with Lavellan. Bringing up the kiss after agreeing to stay friends shows just how deeply it affected him, how deeply Lavellan affects him - that intimacy with Lavellan is not something he can file away, not something he can forget, no matter how much he tells himself he should.
