You know what, that was incredibly sweet

This wasn't the perfect manga ngl, I stuck through for the setting and art, but I'm super glad I did. This is... surprisingly well-written

I like that the misunderstanding stems from a failure in communication but the ml still knows the mc well enough to understand that he loves the ml, the issue was more their insecurities. The first few chapters were frustrating because I couldn't understand why the ml was somehow both great at understanding the mc yet misunderstood the mc's intentions for getting a job but it clicked after reading the last chapter from the male lead's pov. The issue was a combo between the mc's inability to communicate and the ml's insecurity so he couldn't see that the mc's was thinking more in a "self-determination" way with his manga instead of a "how to save up money to skedaddle" kind of way. The mc is good at expressing emotions nonverbally, so the ml knows that he's loved but there are some things that need to be communicated verbally such as intentions and actions.

Actually what got my heart the most was the way the author constantly showed us why the ml feels so loved, and it's right under our noses until the last chapter. We see the mc's pages filled with sketches of him, we see him take care of the ml's needs, and we see how the ml appreciates all of these things.

The mc is honestly a more unreliable narrator than I thought was possible for manga because we see what he's doing but ngl he fools us into thinking he's not that great too until that last chapter where we learn how the ml fell in love with him and it's because the mc being able to see past his facade and how considerate he is even when he has no idea how to make curry lol

Actually lastly I really liked the little disconnect between how the mc felt his world kind of shatter learning that his manga was discontinued and how the ml reacted to the mc being proactive. I feel like that kind of dissonance between what happens in our minds and how we react does cause similar misunderstandings where someone may like the resulting action but it doesn't come out of a good place mentally. And the manga artist friend was fantastic at giving tough love advice from a gentle place because of how she acknowledged that it felt sh*tty for the mc but he's living a pretty nice life and can keep at it once he's gotten through the sadness.

Sorry for the long comment this was just a really neatly-packaged story for being a random 6 chapter bl manga and I wanted to talk about it. I also have a hard time speaking and try to show love with actions because I want to make up for it (tho obviously not at this bad of a level).