Relationship Crisis

I'm the one who is having the crisis about my two main characters relationship.

They are either :

A) In love but they don't want to ruin their friendship. When he has to go away on a dangerous mission he kisses her for the first time and tells her he loves her. When he gets back the begin some kind of romance.

Or

B) They love each other like family. People suspect something romantic between them but it isn't there. When he has to go away on a dangerous mission he tells her he loves her (no kiss) and she knows exactly what he means. When he gets back she punches him for leaving then hugs him and the pick up where they left off.

I'm tempted to leave the whole thing vague and let the reader see what they want to see. Then I think I should at least know what is going on.

There are 2 other canonical couples with better defined relationships.

What do you guys think?

edited 7th Mar '13 9:43:16 PM by HistoryMaker

Umm, this may sound a bit crazy, but it works for some, well me anyway.

Have you asked them?

Sit them down, make them their favourite drink, and ask them. If they are 'living' inside your mind, (and you have that sort of brain) they will talk to you, and tell you stuff about them that you didn't actually know.

Unfortunately when I tried this with Charlie (a woman) and Gabriel, Charlie blushed at the question, and Gabriel got angry. I don't think it was 'protest too much', but rather if it happened (and I don't know) it was following the death of husband/best mate respectively, so its a touchy subject.

So I've left it loose, their friends (and his wife) thinks they did

You could do this - have other charactes talk behind their backs, but leave it unresolved. Write what actions feel natural to the characters: you may be lucky to get opposing reader reactions, with boths sides going "but if you look at page..."

edited 8th Mar '13 11:14:53 AM by LastHussar