What I noticed is many people are creating conflicts to probe their relationship. They want to see whether the emotional reaction will be "meh, ok" (bad) or "yo

What I noticed is many people are creating conflicts to probe their relationship. They want to see whether the emotional reaction will be "meh, ok" (bad) or "you do it my way and stfu!!!" (a good start!). It's a sign that they feel being hit by a perceived mini-hiatus and unsure whether it will resolve into "we are in this together" direction or in the "we are further and further apart" direction. Particularly when after a while of bilateral stubborn squabbling the subject suddenly dies, never to return. Just a hypothesis though.