Now that Fire Emblem Engage is out in the wild, players might be wondering “what the hell do I have to do to get some lovin’ around here?” If you’re not fighting every battle and if you’re used to other Fire Emblem systems, it can be easy to miss the event that allows your toothpaste-haired champion to hook up with one of the homies. I’m here to help.

Players familiar with past Fire Emblems might think achieving “S” support rank with a character will give you the option to romance them in Engage. However, there is no “S” rank available in the game, which may lead players to believe “romancing” someone isn’t possible at all. It is, but it works a little differently than how you might expect.

For starters, the option to “romance” a companion doesn’t unlock until relatively late in the game. The triggering event happens in a paralogue that becomes available shortly after the late-game plot twist that results in Alear becoming an Emblem themself. As you collect the 12 Emblem rings, you’ll notice that some paralogues require that you fight against your Emblems to unlock their max bond level. While you won’t fight against Alear, completing their paralogue will net you the pact ring that you can give to any companion with an “A” rank, thus allowing you to “romance” them.

It’s also not quite a straight-up “romance.” Alear is allowed to “bond” with characters regardless of gender, but some of these bonds will be romantic while others will be platonic. So while it’s possible for a male Alear to bond with, say, big daddy thiccums Vander, since he’s one of the platonic options, you’re gonna have to rely on your own headcanon to do the romantic heavy lifting.

I romanced the dancer Seadall, not for any real attraction (my heart forever belongs to Claude Fire Emblem) but because he was the cutest person I had the highest rank with. Once you give the pact ring to your chosen, they’ll leave you with a nice memento on the desk in Alear’s chambers. I got a scarf. Seadall likes scarves.