Accidentally triggered Gale's romance in Act 1?

So, I'm well aware Gale is, or at least was, notoriously eager to get with Tav, and that many others have experienced this before.

I love the man, but my Durge is romancing Astarion, so I made sure to pick the friendly options during Gale's Weave scene. We stayed on friendly terms after that, although I have very high approval with him, and during the tiefling party we talked about Tara, he told me I reminded him of her, and proceeded to tell me about the magical shenanigans him and Mystra were up to, but cut himself off mid-sentence. He even told me to go mingle and have fun, so that couldn't possibly have triggered his romance... could it?

A couple of long rests after the party, I go to talk to him to add him to my party, and notice that he's suddenly greeting me with his "flirting" lines? So now I'm left wondering how my Durge managed to get herself in a love triangle, and feeling really bad because I don't want to break the poor man's heart in Act 2. Any idea how this happened? I have been very nice and understanding to him about his condition, and made sure to feed him magical items - could this be a possible trigger?