i sometimes finish reading a work without feeling satisfied by it. not because the ending in particular sucked or wasn't to my preference, but specifically because of an unequal "power dynamic" in the relationship. "power dynamic" because it's not in the "who's more dominant" context, but in the sense of "1 partner feels inferior/insecure due to the other's overwhelming popularity" context. like i understand the whole "you shouldn't be jealous because your partner is popular" spiel, but it's j such an unsatisfying read when it's a continuation of 1 partner feeling so crappy and the other j sucks at reassuring them. it's even worse when it happens multiple of times and none of those times are reversed, such as it's usually A being flirted with and B being insecure, but this time it's B being flirted with and A being insecure. i feel like that would be essentially to character building as well because they'd be able to relate better to their partner who has some troubles, but most j completely lack this, and it's j some weird power dynamic thing to me... because it feels like the secure party is put on a higher pedestal and the insecure party is j left to figure themselves out.
also, i'm referring to cases where the secure party sucks at reassurance and j keeps on making the insecure party insecure despite already knowing. this does not include those psychological ones where insecure party is a yandere because i j never read those.
