muse ✨'s manga / #cheating(5)

Everything goes to hell when a guy falls for his best friend's lover. This features cheating, lying, falling desperately in love with someone you don't intend to and shouldn't be sleeping with, trying to break up but being unable to forget them, cheating with each other again, setting your boyfriend up with a guy you met on Grindr so you can be free to be with the guy you REALLY love, and lots and lots and lots of switching. Cheating usually bothers me but I felt so desperate for these characters (even though they're stupid AF - just break up with the guy already - this hurts him more you idiots) that I was rooting for them even though this is not a good roadmap for How To Form a Relationship. Also I'm pretty sure they're all supposed to be in high school - do we ever GO to school? We just have sex all the time? Anyway.

A serial adulterer who blames all of his problems on other people is reunited with a man who has been in love with him since college, but even though he's loved completely by this person, he continues to search for something else, insistent that he can't be happy with another man. Frustrating at times but really interesting and engaging. I don't LIKE the characters as people per se, but I like this story.

A collection of stories about cheating. The first is about a man who leaves his cheating boyfriend and goes to live with a coworker. They have a slow-burn love story. The second is a prequel to the story with the single dad and the serial playboy! After he cheats on his lover, that lover is propositioned by his sister's 19yo stepson (his sister has recently married a man with a son). We see a glimpse of the main couple from the single-dad story the name of which escapes me. The final story is frustrating. A man whose lover constantly cheats on him is once again disappointed, but ultimately stays in the relationship, believing this time will be different. Frustrating but realistic. I probably would've done the same.

When his current lover won't hold his hand during an onsen trip, Leo picks up another guy at the resort. To his shock, they work together. After a round of casual and often public sex, he uses Ryota as a fake boyfriend to ward off a persistent stalker who has gotten hold of his new workplace. But when his feelings start to develop for Ryota, Leo puts distance between them the same way he's done with his past lovers, only to find himself miserable. This is super satisfying.

Uhh...I'm not sure how old these people are. They look like adults, but then they'll show up in what looks like school uniforms. A guy who likes boobs and the guy who loves him. That guy works at the restaurant with Yuichi, the ex from the one about the playboys. I like how these characters are kinda...not the best people. TW for incest on the oneshot. Two cousins.