How someone handles being told no
Someone who can hear 'not tonight' or 'I disagree' without sulking, punishing, or repeating the request until you give in is showing you they can tolerate a boundary — which matters far more long-term than how romantic they are during the good moments.
What they're like when nothing exciting is happening
Early relationships are easy to perform well during high points; a real green flag is someone who's still pleasant, curious, and present during the boring, low-stakes stretches — the version of someone you get on an ordinary Tuesday is more predictive than the version you get on a big date.
Whether they take responsibility without being cornered
Someone who can say 'that was on me' before being pushed into it, rather than only admitting fault when there's no way to avoid it, is showing a level of accountability that's rare and worth paying attention to.
Consistency between what they say and what they do, over time
The most reliable green flag isn't any single kind act — it's whether someone's words and actions keep matching each other across weeks and months, in ways big and small, without you having to remind them.
This describes patterns worth noticing over time, not a checklist to grade someone on after one date — real character shows up consistently, not in a single impressive moment, so the timeframe matters as much as the behavior itself.
Spotting green flags in someone else is one skill. Noticing which of these you actually show up with yourself is the other, and it's usually the more revealing one to sit with. Check both sides of this, in OLENRI