Gale in particular asked to show me some "magic". I could either say i'm interested or rudely decline. Now, is there an option to not be rude but not open the floodgate for romance? Nope. "Pretending" to be interested because i didn't want to decline him apparently is my signal to him that i'm interested in gay romance. Yeesh
FWIW the new patch actually did fix the "sex or I hate you" Gale setup.