Coming from Our Dining Table, I knew it'd be masterpiece but didn't expect to cry, the childlike innocence and fear mixed with harsh reality and the hope... it's so good
The start gave me a pretty bad impression, and I almost dropped, but glad I didn't. It started with a down-bad uke for someone else and a rude playboy seme who seemed like he was bothering the uke for no reason and taking advantage of him, and it annoyed me so much, but, as the story progressed, a lot of things made sense, and even if they don’t excuse his behaviour, it made him a complex and realistic human character who has earned forgiveness.
Spoiler ahead: given his family circumstances, it was understandable why he had anger issues; what he needed was therapy, but he got his best friend’s betrayal instead. His reaction was pretty understandable, but because he had some humanity left, it left him traumatised with panic attacks, probably agoraphobia, anxiety, and he probably stopped standing up for himself cause he thought he was repenting/he would hurt others. I sincerely hope he had gone to therapy after he started dating uke, cause or else it’d leave him co-dependent on uke, and that he learnt that he can and should stand up for himself without resorting to violence so he does not feel guilty anymore. It is easy to hurt people, but it is not easy to understand the consequences and take responsibility, which is not the case with seme. I wanted to see him falling from his high horse and suffering and begging for mercy, but he turned out to be a harmless lost kid who has suffered enough; he just needed to be more honest with someone who will understand, believe, accept and support him and will not harm him. The way he learnt from his mistakes and did better again and again is impressive.
He learnt to do better in bed, fell in love and became a puppy but not in a controlling, manipulative way, was honest about his feelings, let go of the person he loved without bothering them, when he got the green signal still waited patiently, tried to go out of his comfort zone to impress his love. On the other hand, the uke turned out to be unexpectedly strong, both physically and mentally. Letting go of his love, understanding and giving the seme support and reassurance, confessing his feelings bravely, etc showed his cool side, and I came to love him a lot too instead of feeling sympathy. The only unhealthy thing when they started dating was jealousy, but well, they match each other there, I guess. The progress of the relationship may appear unrealistic to people, but I found it pretty normal and not rushed at all. Dunno if I’ll reread, but this definitely left me wanting more.
Historical stories often focus so much on a particular goal first and romance second that the details of mundane life are often neglected, and I find myself questioning, "That doesn't make sense; how did this happen?" but not here; they even chose the right type of swords for dual wielding! A story where other characters are involved too and portrays a journey and characters' growth is the best. Also, for now I love the ML even if he stalked the MC once; he's not cold, just a resting face. I sincerely hope he won't become a yandere, or worse, a rapist; I want a healthy relationship where both have equal weight.
The ML will stay lovable
the ml of "Traces of Sun" pmo real bad on chapter 67 and I felt horrible for the mc, so I ditched it and found something similar and unread, here the ml is annoying too sometimes but does not look like he's coercing/raping/mentally torturing/using the mc, at least till chap35, I'm genuinely enjoying their bickering and ml secretly being a protective tsundere cat, sincerely hoping that he's not a obsessive control freak abusive psycho or else I'll have to ditch this too
More like Bully and Victim to lovers, it makes sense in queer context cause the bully often has internalised homophobia but still I'm not a big fan of this trope, it works here cause he wasn't actively bullying ml, so it was easier to forgive him. And the ML took revenge with work but he's never a sexist which makes it better.
to be very honest I didn't find ml-s behaviour creepy, mc was in love and he handled it well, ml too, there was no manipulation or stalking so it felt natural, also the moment they didn't show the face at first, I knew hehehe, sweet story
who am I to judge a stalker if the person getting stalked enjoys it lol they're weirdos together hehehehe