How to subtly find out if my friend is interested in my other friend?

[JustinTheGreat]

My best friend Julien thinks my other friend John flirts with him. But John is a pretty charismatic and chill person so we can’t tell if it’s actually flirting or if it’s just him being friendly.

Julien wants me to figure out if he’s actually flirting and if there’s any interest there. But he wants it to be subtle. He doesn’t want me to make it obvious that he’s the one who wants to know.

how can I bring it up naturally?

[NathanDavis]

is there such thing as "being subtle" and not obvious? lol...

being friendly, being flirty... and to actually have an interest, these are all three different things

and I am assuming here... the Julien person wants the John person to be interested on him, because he has an interest for the other, no?

if John were interested, then he would do something about it... so maybe just invite them both to a situation in which John is more likely to show this interest and make a more obvious more or take more chances

now, if they're both the "shy type" that won't make any moves... then just be up front and ask John "are you being flirty with Julien? just press on them a little bit...

[JustinTheGreat]

Julien doesn’t have a huge crush on him or anything but he just wants to confirm that it is flirtation that he’s picking up on so he can flirt back lol. he doesn’t want to make things awkward if he’s wrong.
I wouldn’t say either of them are shy, especially John (that’s why I feel like John might not have interest because I feel like he would just be straight up and ask me to put him on if he did) but Julien is just awkward and he overthinks a lot.
I would just straight up ask John what’s up because that’s the kind of person I am lol. But Julien was veryyyy adamant that he doesn’t want him to know that HE’S the one who brought it up. So I’m trying to respect that.

[NathanDavis]

I'm not sure there's a subtle way to go about it... lol

maybe it is better for everyone to assume there's no serious flirting going on

[Bovrilbaby]

Life’s too short…. simply just ask over a coffee