Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson Appear to Be Flirting on Instagram

This week, the rumor mill cranked up around an alleged relationship between Ariana Grande and Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson when People reported the two were casually dating. Neither has officially commented on the rumors yet, but some recent Instagram activity has fans thinking something is definitely up between the two.

It all began on Thursday afternoon, when Ariana posted a photo of the worker bee tattoo she got behind her ear to honor the victims of the Manchester bombing. (The bee is the symbol of the city, and Tuesday was the one-year anniversary of the bombing, which occurred at one of Ariana's concerts.) She captioned the photo with "forever" and her favorite cloud emoji. Then, Pete promptly chimed in in the comments, posting the bee, yellow heart, and heart-eyes emojis. In return, Ariana made her way to the comments section of Pete's latest post, a shot of him smiling at the ground, and posted just the blushing, smiling emoji, because sometimes a single emoji is worth a thousand words, OK?

Finally, late Thursday night, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown posted a photo of Ariana at one of his football games, writing, "You still welcome @steelers game baby," since Ari's ex Mac Miller is from Pittsburgh and definitely doesn't get full custody of a football team in the breakup. While Ariana, apparently shocked at just how wide her fanbase is, commented, "HAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA R U OK," Pete took a different tack, writing, "hey cutie u up," plus a string of heart-eyes emojis, as Instagram account Comments By Celebs noticed.

The emoji exchange took place mere hours after fans noticed what they believe to be matching cloud tattoos on both Ariana and Pete's left middle fingers, just a few days after rumors linking them first surfaced. According to media reports, the duo hung out at an SNL afterparty earlier this month, and then again backstage at the Billboard Music Awards last weekend, where Ariana performed. "After Ariana's performance, they were backstage and he had his arm around her," an eyewitness told People of the recent hangout. "They seemed very lovey-dovey. He was hanging out with her and her friends with his arm around her. She seemed quite smitten." But despite the increased reports, it's important to note that until they actually comment on their relationship status, it's unconfirmed, and their privacy should (always) be respected.

Let us slide into your DMs. Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Ariana Grande Responded to Someone Blaming Her for Mac Miller's Reported Arrest