@Esteban
True, I know some people don’t want their ships to be “torched down” me to I am a shipper myself but I can also tell human behavior because I do it all the time with people like friends, family and strangers. I usually read past denial factors. Yes, he did deny it? I think all he said was “I do like tea all the tea” he never said no and went to far with it. We know he tends to have this cool guys attitude and he fakes stuff a lot to “look cool” because of his character but we know and even Spike sees it that deep down he’s just a warm hearted creature like the rest of them as we also see in the gala episode where he faked trying to look cool and pretend he wasn’t hurt and he wanted to make her jealous to “look cool” like it didn’t effect him and the way he kept avoiding it even when Spike implied it. People say THEY ARE BEST BUDDIES but you forget spike and rarity are to it isn’t impossible to have a crush on a friend. Of course Discord isn’t just gonna OUTRIGHT say it to everyone and admit that on the spot because that’d be embaressing and given his “closed” character he is afraid of rejection and denial whether friendship or any other relationship inbetween so this one was confusing tbh I think they were lowkey trying to establish that he does but we know at the end of the episode he does believe in love so we know he tends to be a liar if it’s at his “repuation”. I am a male myself and my buddies and I spoke about this and this is utter and total denial. My current girlfriend I have right now used to be my friend we both had a crush on each other and we had such a strong bond with each other and still do to this day so it makes for a better relationship beforehand if you have a bond as friends before otherwise everything becomes more toxic. I seen my buddies and I speak of this behavior and this is kind of how I acted with one of the girls I dated sooner on later. I was a player in the past I made big mistakes yes but I always tried to be the cool guy and once I got into a good thing I denied it because I wanted a good reputation but I changed found her and settled down. so either way it’s an iffy situation for me but he is the type of character that “tries to much” makes it to obvious. He’s more obsessed with fluttershy than spike is with rarity. This male and female friend dynamic is a little to close just for 2 completely platonic friends because I am one and I hang around a lot of them and this is a little to much. I’ve never done that even with a first friend. The only time I’ve ever became to obsessed with a girl is when I wanted to be with her sooo. Speaking from personal experience. either way.

Its the closest ship to canon that the show will ever have