Manipulation and other stuff

((very long ass comment))
So I keep seeing some people say things along the line of "Mokyeon isn't manipulating Nanjo because he ACTUALLY tried to kill himself, he was serious and he was not lying so it's not manipulation" and uhhhh... It still kinda is ?

At that point in the car, even if it wasn't 100% intentional because of the alcohol and the shock, Mokyeon's subconscious still decided to dump all that raw and heavy idea onto Nanjo, and Mok made it clear to him that his well-being was tied to Nanjo's decision of accepting him a his lover or not. And the fact that he's serious about it would be even more terrifying to hear as Nanjo, because he knows it's not for show and he'd actually have someone's death on his conscience, and that's fucked up.

Mokyeon is clearly suffering a lot mentally, he's got a fucked up past, abandonment issues and what I assume is BPD, so I don't deem him responsible for 100% of what he's doing and saying; being mentally ill is hellish and I know that very well (lots of us do here lol) but it doesn't absolve what you do and what you say completely, especially if the harm starts to not be only directed at yourself.

Mokyeon was thinking about how to scar Nanjo for the rest of his life just a couple of chapters ago, and he spent several days waiting for him in order to see him one last time to then off himself and make Nanjo feel veeeery guilty about being the last person he talked to. So to say that Mok had 0 intentions of emotionally manipulating Nanjo by telling him all this is a little disingenuous. This enormous emotional weight was still put on him by Mokyeon.

But Nanjo clocked it and shut that shit down, which was the right thing to do, even if he was quite cold doing it. Still, it's actually so refreshing to see an uke do that in a yaoi with a very pushy seme ! If it hadn't been Nanjo but a run-of-the-mill fake-strong meek ass uke that easily folds like a spare chair, urghhhh it would have been so frustratingly cliché and disappointing; the moment the seme says "I've decided to die if I can't be with you" the uke would be shocked, brought to tears, and would suddenly condone all the possessive and obsessive behavior of his seme and would say with a tearful smile "I never knew you loved me that much... You must live... I'll do anything for you to live...." and boom he spreads his asshole and they fuck tearfully into the sunset, The End... You get the gist lmao
So Nanjo is a welcomed breath of fresh air in that department lol. We know he's eventually gonna fold because the author said so in the post-S1 Q&A and they are locked into ending up together no matter what, but I'm enjoying him not doing a 180° turn and completely accept Mokyeon in his life (and in his ass) just because the narrative demands it, at least not for now. For most of S2, that man just wants nothing to do with Mok and that's ok.

Anyway, manipulation is not reserved for the mustache-twirling evil masterminds, it's not just Evil(tm) villains that can be manipulative. Anybody has the capacity to be manipulative, even unintentionally; you don't need to lie to be manipulative. Traumatized, pitiful or stressed people can be manipulative too, it's quite common. It's a desperate defense mechanism but it still hurts the target and that consequence can't be put under a rug. Mokyeon doesn't have to be an evil cunning guy who had a devious masterplan of emotionally bombarding his love interest with his suicide to be manipulative.... He's not that. He's a traumatized unstable slobbering mess; he's not a demon, he's just a guy... Who did some questionable things and tried to manipulate his love interest into having an intense emotional response by saying "babe I WILL kill myself if I can't be with you, I'm not joking". No matter how earnest, burning and raw your feelings are, you can't just pour them on your love interest like lava, and then wonder why your love interest responds to this by "hey that burns".

And Mokyeon feels hella embarrassed after hearing what he said because he knooooows it was out of pocket!! That's actually great for Mokyeon, it's a good step to finally realize that him trying to guilt-trip Nanjo with real threats of suicide was shitty. It's great ! The alcohol and the spiral are slowly wearing off ! He's finally seeing that it was a fucked up thing to say to the one he loves ! If he can do it, so can y'all
I'm still crossing my fingers for Nanjo to not give in romantically for as long as possible (personal preference) but I know I'll be disappointed... In 4 chapters or less they'll be back to fucking. Oh well.
We really need the Nanjo cut. It's very interesting to follow Mok but I need to see the POV of Nanjo. That dude intrigues me.

Anyway I'm done for that chapter, have a good one