As the gems are Gender Ambiguous, whether the Ship Tease interactions between them count as Ho Yay or Les Yay is left up to interpretation. Regardless of where you stand on this, there is plenty of Ship Tease between the more prominently featured gems.
Spoilers are unmarked ahead. You have been warned.
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Phos/Cinnabar
- Phos tells Cinnabar not to go to the moon, as they'll definitely find a fun job for Cinnabar that only Cinnabar can do. While Phos' goals have changed over the years, this is the one goal they've never given up on at least until the Moon arc. This promise is what drives Phos to do a lot of the things they do, such as going into the ocean with Ventricocus, and later, going to the moon.
- Cinnabar keeps the writing pad that Phos used to try to save Cinnabar from falling off the Hollow Cape.
- When Phos gets swallowed by Ventricosus, their last thoughts before completely melting away are about how Cinnabar will be stuck like that forever.
- After hearing Cinnabar rant about how much they hate Phos (believing that there's no way Phos will fulfill the aforementioned promise), Dia straight-up asks Cinnabar if Phos confessed to them, to which Cinnabar blushingly denies.
- Despite the above, Cinnabar does hope that Phos will fulfill their promise, stating after Dia leaves that they "won't call [Phos] a liar just yet" while making a mini mercury depiction of the Gem.
- Ventricosus, too, despite having only interacted with Cinnabar that one time, seems to have picked up on the tension between Cinnabar and Phos, believing that Phos "doesn't want to look bad in front of [their] dreamboat".
- When led into a trap for the Lunarians, Phos says they'll let Ventricosus and Aculeatus exchange their own body for the rest of the pair's family, as long as they don't let the Lunarians get Cinnabar.
- Cinnabar still remembers, word for word, the promise that Phos made about finding a "job that's more fun than night patrol" that only Cinnabar can do, even after Phos had lost enough of their original gem matter to forget the gem's own words.
- Cinnabar's blush
◊ after recounting Phos' words.
- Cinnabar's blush
- Cinnabar is the only gem Phos trusts to tell about their suspicions about Sensei. Even after Cinnabar refuses to help the gem investigate Sensei, Phos doesn't tell anyone else, not even their newest partner, Ghost.
- Cinnabar is the first person Phos tells about their plan to go to the moon. Phos even mentions the irony of him trying to get to the moon when the Gem had previously told Cinnabar not to go. This time, Cinnabar is the one to beg Phos not to go.
- Cinnabar has, on multiple occasions, made a mini-figure of Phos◊ out of their mercury. Even before fighting Phos for the first and last time, Cinnabar takes a moment to make one before taking a fighting stance. In the anime, this is mirrored in the last episode by Phos making a mini Cinnabar with their gold alloy.
- There are also several other instances where Cinnabar is shown to be Tsundere when regarding Phos, implying that they have some sort of hidden feelings for the other gem.
- Phos' first instinct when evading the other gems' pursuit is to climb up into a cave, which turns out to be Cinnabar's old haunt. The clipboard was still there, rotted away; Phos looked quite upset when they reached out for it and it broke.
Diamond/Bort
- They're holding hands in the volume 1 table of contents◊.
- The partnership between Dia and Bort seems to be treated by the story as a sort of unhealthy relationship, with Dia saying that even though they lovenote Bort, they can't bear being weaker than the other Gem.
- Bort also cares for Dia deeply, although it manifests in a very different way. They tried to advise Dia on how to improve their fighting technique, and when Dia tried to use a new fighting technique, Bort tried to get them to stop because it forced Dia to exert their body to its breaking point. However, because of Bort's bluntness and refusal to soften up their words, Dia took all of this as Bort belittling their own ability to fight, and Bort ended up ultimately driving Dia away.
- When Phos breaks the news to Dia that they're going to partner up with Bort, Dia tells Phos to take care of Bortz for him, even if they are "a little eccentric" compared to the others. When Phos agrees, calling Bort a weirdo, Dia gets mad, telling Phos not to talk badly about the gem.
- During Shiro's attack on the castle, when Alex mentions that they saw Dia being chased by Shiro, Bort immediately panics and runs off to find Dia.
- After Bort ends their partnership with Dia and partners up with Phos, Dia remarks that the gem's "glad they broke up", as Dia can look at Bort more fondly when they're further apart. After a moment, Bort cups Dia's face and agrees.
- After Dia leaves for the moon, Bort rushes out to search for the gem, not even stopping to change. They've walked to the bottom of the ocean by the time Sensei calls Bort back.
- Dia post-night raid is shown to obsessively mumble about Bort while having a roundtable with the other Gems.
- When Benitoite recognizes Bort post-haircut and points them out to Dia, the first thing Dia does is rush to them for a fight. The rest of Chapter 86 has dialogue that doesn't feel out of place between two exes in very different places in life.
- In particular, after Bort urges Cinnabar to get back inside the school, Dia's enraged face could easily be read ad jealousy.
Rutile/Padparadscha
- Rutile's entire reason for becoming a doctor was so they'd be able to find a way to fix Padparadscha.
- In an omake, when asked by Phos about when they work on assembling Padparadscha, Rutile answers with a curt "always".
- Rutile is so dedicated to fixing Padparadscha that they sleep-talk about fixing him, wakes up in the middle of winter hibernation with ideas of how to fix him, has considered going to the Moon to find new materials to fix him with, etc.
- Rutile has memorized the feeling of the insides of Padparadscha's holes, saying that they are "smooth and pleasant to the touch". Phos is understandably creeped out.
- Even though it will mean they'll never wake up again, Padparadscha wants Rutile to give up on fixing them because the gem doesn't want to keep being a bother to Rutile.
- The volume 8 omake notes that Rutile "only thinks about Padparadscha".
- Rutile's calm and rational demeanor is broken only when Phos takes Padparadscha away to the moon. The shock of this causes Rutile's face to crack— the only on-screen instance of this gem getting broken in the series.
- The artbook's cover has a lineup of naked Gems, with Rutile lying next to Pad and weaving their fingers through the other Gem's holes. Neither of them look like this is a new interaction, and Pad looks pretty comfortable with it.
- The first thing Padparascha does when they return to Earth the second time is meet up with Rutile and give the other gem one of their Lunarian fillings. Fans were also quick to notice that Pad took out the one right where their heart would be if they were human.
- It's worth noting that after this non-verbal slap in the face, Rutile shuts down completely and holes up in their room with the unconscious Padparascha. Even when the Lunarian army comes to shatter them, Rutile does nothing but stare at Pads' body in empty resignation.
- After all the Gems have been converted into Lunarians, Padparascha is shown still decently close to Rutile, as the latter implies the "partner" they talk about is Pads, and Pads themself constantly rests on the roof of Rutile's new therapy clinic.
Phosphophyllite/Padparadscha
- Despite losing their memories, Phos never forgets Padparadscha, taking time during the winter to look for suitable materials Rutile could use to repair them.
- As early as Chapter 29, in their introduction, Padparadscha takes the precious little time they have awake to talk to Phos when Phos asks for advice.
- After Phos ultimately is responsible for repairing Padparadscha by taking them to the moon, Pads swears Undying Loyalty to Phos, saying they will give all of themselves to ensure Phos's success. Phos is shown to be flustered by this.
- Padparadscha is the only gem that can calm Phos out of their rage when they hear Antarcticite is unable to be repaired.
- In chapter 70, Padparadscha follows through on their promise by throwing Phos out of harm's way and getting coated in mercury as a result.
- In chapter 81, when Padparadscha is awoken, their first thought is towards Phos's safety and wondering if their mission was a success. When Phos fails to make Sensei pray due to being attacked, despite barely being able to move Padparadscha immediately seeks out Goshe's help in getting Phos out of danger.
- Also in chapter 81, Padparadscha rips out one of their Lunarian fillings in order to distract Rutile long enough that Goshe and Cicada can rescue Phos. As stated above, the piece Pads ripped out was of their heart, and the scene can be interpreted as Padparadscha giving up their heart to Phos/for Phos's sake.
Other
- Zircon, after partnering up with Bort, seems to be the only one able to wring emotions out of the older gem.
- The volume 7 dramatis personae, which lists the gems' hobbies, mentions that Jade feels that "arguing against Rutile is surprisingly comforting".
- Bort/Cinnabar became a popular alternate pairing when Bort forced Cinnabar into the main group following Phos bringing several gems to the moon. When Bort gets coated in mercury during a subsequent battle, Cinnabar promptly apologizes and Bort accepts it.
- Chapter 86 features Cinnabar going to Bort first after changing for battle to see if they're alright. Bort responds in kind by telling Cinnabar to protect Sensei, and gives a rare gentle smile to them.
- One of the extra 4koma shows that they've become close enough for Bort to share their jellyfish rearing hobby with Cinnabar.
