If I may offer my two cents... *clears throat*
Both Thurion Heavenshield and his brother, @[member="Thyrian Ashborn"], have love interests. I started out Thurion as a seven-year-old Jedi Padawan under the care of one @[member="Asha Seren"], and they were/are like mother and son. Signs of affection were common place between the two, with little Thurion holding her hand and wanting to remain close to her at all time. Later he met @[member="Kida Ravos"], a little girl able to shapeshift into a Daux cat. They would, too, show affection towards eachother and come to love one another, hugging and kissing in the way that little children would, mostly for the cuddling aspect of it. Yet another girl entered Thurion's life in the form of young Kära Vi'dreya, now Sith Master @[member="Darth Kyros"], and they would also spend time with eachother and become attached. But their love is more of a platonic one, instead taking the form of deep friendship.
Little Kära would then go on from there to rise through the ranks of the Sith, all while commanding the now giant man-on-fire Thyrian Ashborn, who had been experimented on and engineered by Sith scientists. To make sure he'd remain loyal to her, she entered his mind and successfully subjugated him to her will, all while she was at age 10. Thus he has been at her side throughout her career and the larger part of her life. He loves her immensely, but one might argue it is because of his subjugation by her hand. It might have been what triggered it, but it has taken on a form of its own in recent years. She means everything to him, mostly because she is everything he's got and because of everything they have been through. Coupled with the fact that he could never touch her without running the risk of incinerating her, and the fact that he could never learn to love himself, there's alot going on emotionally between the two despite Kära's often cold and calculating nature.
Where I'm going with all of this is that nothing is certain when it comes to love, whether you plan it or not. My secret? All of my characters' love interests are role-played by the same person, who happens to be my real-life girlfriend. We know eachother inside-out by now, so we can plan out our characters in great detail and dedicate a lot of time to their backstories and current stories alike. None of the romances going on between our characters are forced upon, but flow in a natural way. I know this may not serve as a great, or even good, example on how to deal with love between two characters, so the only thing I can offer as general advise on the topic is to let it happen naturally; do what your character would do in every situation, and if your character is based on yourself, then do what
you would do in that situation. All writers pour themselves into their work and characters in some way, some more than others. But do not force love upon your characters just for the sake of bragging rights or simply "just because". As we've all heard many times before, or know from experience, love is not a simple thing and should not be taken lightly. It can take on many different forms and shapes, and can also shape people into, hopefully, better people.
So what I'm saying is, don't bother yourselves with finding someone to love, 'cause it'll happen on its own before you know it. This goes for the real world, as well.
