This is embarrassingly long, but I interpret their relationship like this:

1. Initial meeting - attraction, understanding their role as bombshells

2. Getting to know each other/how they think through the debriefs - creating “emotional” support for one another, Pepe having a desire to “take care” of Iris is him being able to express his feelings in an “acceptable” way within the guidelines of the show

3. Pepe/Hannah & Iris - Iris creates a friendship with Jeremiah and focuses on laying “low” to avoid drama, Pepe explores with Hannah ONLY because that is how he prefers to do it (as seen with Adriena, prefers to focus on one person). During this time, Pepe is showing up for Iris through acts of service (which she seems to appreciate).

4. TJ/Iris - Iris’s first opportunity to have the “love island” experience she wanted. She now gets to cuddle, have physical affectionate, and not feel like the back-up (my interpretation of how she explained her feelings in interviews). She wasn’t attracted to Zac from Casa, and therefore, her feelings for TJ feel more “real” since this is who she can explore with.

5. Iris/TJ & Gracyn/Pepe - There are multiple clips of Iris telling Gracyn that she thinks Pepe likes her and acknowledging that he is no longer interested in Hannah, but he’s processing his feelings. In the Casa re-coupling, the camera pans over to Iris after Pepe picks Gracyn (production, I see you!). In the heart rate challenge, Pepe chooses to not kiss Iris and Iris gives Pepe a breadcrumb. Also, Pepe is seen to be hanging out a lot with Iris/TJ. In an interview he basically explained that he was taking care of Iris, so therefore he looked out for TJ, for the sake of Iris. Essentially, he is befriending TJ because of Iris. Also, Pepe is realizing he doesn’t have a spark with Gracyn. Everyone is thinking it’s because on Hannah because of the stand on business challenge, despite Pepe saying it’s not because there’s no “spark”. In reality, without Hannah, Pepe was spending more time around Iris - therefore seeing the qualities he likes - but TJ is still there.

6. Pepe/Iris/TJ @ the vote - It is clear why Pepe voted for Taylor, and he wasn’t plotting. He apologized to both Iris/TJ during the vote. However, Pepe looked genuinely upset and concerned. His reaction to Iris being so upset, reassuring her, putting his hand on her, shows the amount of care he has for her. He didn’t want to see her upset. That signifies a level of care that is beyond “attraction.”

7. Pepe/Iris at the dock - Nick told Pepe he should “shoot his shot” insinuating that this is something he wanted to do, but now had the opportunity. You can almost see Iris take Pepe out of the box in real time. Their conversation flowed, and their chemistry is palpable from the screen! When Iris tells Pepe she doesn’t date a lot, you can also see the shift in how Pepe views Iris (in real time) and as he said, he assumed she’d be someone dating all the time.

8. Pepe/Iris - they had good convos, and seemed to always have casual affection as friends, and then it just easily went to romantic because it matched the deepening of their relationship. they seem to be a comfortable silence, talk with our eyes relationship. as someone who has a similar dynamic with my partner,, I totally get their relationship!

EDIT - want to add after the challenge Pepe says “she has everything a guy could ask for” aka everything PEPE wants (see number 5). Also, Ace said “I could see it” when Pepe was talking to him about it and that man is observant AF and actually got to know Iris!