Most of the time, people assumed they were a couple.
And they were correct, in a way.
Even if you didn't know them, one look at them laughing, talking or maybe even sharing a private-joke sort of look, maybe even when they're falling out, and you know without even consciously deciding to believe it, you know straight away, that they're close.
They would tell everyone they're friends, but that's not quite true. Everyone would presume they're lovers, or a couple, or romantically involved, but that's not it either.
People usually see strong emotional ties and link that to the physical aspect of relationships. It's only natural, for people crave exactly that kind of connection with someone - they want both. They want their lover to be the most important person in their life, their best friend, and maybe if they're lucky, their soul mate. And the stronger those feelings are, the better the physical side of things is anyway. So most people naturally put their intriguing bond down to physical intimacy - Oh they're lovers. Can't get that close with someone without something else going on.
Perfectly illogical, really.
People, feelings, emotions - none of that can be sorted properly into neat little groups, categories, labels or any such thing. It's anything but logical. There are the generic terms, of course, and some people are happy with that. Might want it even. They might want the perfect white-picket-fence life. But on the odd occasion where lines converge, when actions speak louder than words, when it's all platonic but just as powerful, that's when people get confused. They don't understand, and people don't like not understanding, they don't like the unknown. And like most anything, this stimulates a reaction.
People will look at others and believe they are exactly what they crave for themselves. People like to fantasize, to elaborate and make something that's already beautiful just as it is into their own version of beauty. They see what they want to, not what's there. Seeing, but not observing. They want to be a part of it, to reach out and touch it and maybe catch some of it for themselves. They see what they want to see, and then they want what they want anyway. But it never works out conventionally for everyone, not completely. That's just how life is.
Most of the time, this has a positive outcome. They'll swoon, or tease, maybe they'll be a bit envious too, but that's okay. But it's when that envy turns into something vile and putrid, when that resentful villain comes out, do things go downhill fast. And not necessarily for the unorthodox pair; it's rarely them that truly deteriorates, although their relationship might. That vomit-coloured parasite, if allowed to manifest, will fight to destroy what it hates, and if it fails, or it finishes with its list of hated things, it will turn on itself and its host because it needs to feed on something.
When such things get out of hand, there's bound to be collateral damage. In fact, many things could go wrong with such a relationship. There could be doubt. Fear. Maybe it's a combination. None of it should matter, not in real life, not when they care about each other so. But most of the time, it does.
People rarely mean what they say, and rarely say what they mean.
Sometimes after a fall, the damage is thought to be irreparable, and those two people miss out, on both each other and on something that everyone desires but is rarely fortunate enough to find. They're left wanting but not knowing how to fix it. Exposed. Afraid. It's probably for the best anyway, they would console themselves. But their hearts will always carry the other with them, whatever they do. Their lives would change, but their memories, both of the times and the feelings, would not. At night, they might lie awake and think of the other, regardless of who does or does not sleep on the other half of the bed. During the day, while they're rushing about their beloved city, they might see something, a snippet of a movie, a single piece of jewellery, a tall historic building, and they'll instantly be transported back to a moment lost in time. It might hurt, for a while. Maybe it never stops hurting. But they both know that they'd rather have it hurt now than not have felt anything at all.
Perhaps they miss it, but they will never regret it.
Most of the time, they'll look back on the good moments and smile.