I think you have to consider how their relationship started. Cirrus started liking Skylar while Skylar still hated him for all the blackmail stuff. It started off super toxic with Cirrus being the one in power.
The fact that Skylar got to the point of wanting to date Cirrus after the blackmailing should be notice enough that he genuinely does like him. How he refused to believe what Dongshik had told him because he trusted Cirrus. Then how hurt he was when he found out he’s been lied to this whole time.
Skylar definitely has a harder time showing his emotions (makes sense considering his backstory), but he definitely shows it plenty of times, such as that one time where he camped out with Cirrus at the spa after Cirrus chocked his step-mom. Cirrus was full on crashing out and pushing Skylar away but Skylar stayed because he was worried, and he verbalized this to Cirrus. Once things calmed down, he kept checking up on how he was doing without pressuring him to explain what’s going on. Even Cirrus notes that Skylar is the first one to ever care (this all happens before they started dating btw, Skylar had no obligation to stay the night, he could’ve gone home).
Cirrus is more obsessive/outward with his love (again, makes sense considering his backstory) which I think throws most ppl off into believing he likes him more.
you both cooked so hard, i bet y'all wouldn't even write an essay for school. (i read the whole thing btw)
After re-reading the entire story from the beginning cause I need a refresher, while I don’t fully agree, I actually understand where the people arguing that Skyler does not like Cirrus are coming from. I personally feel like the more accurate conclusion is: Skyler does like Cirrus to an extent, but Cirrus LOVES Skyler while Skyler only likes him.
But I don’t blame people who think Skyler doesn’t like him in that way considering if you re-read it Skyler has NEVER once stated that he loved or even liked Cirrus romantically. Not only did he never tell Cirrus, but we as the readers have also never heard him say it from any of his internal monologues. The closest we got is him suggesting they date, but that was only as a suggestion to try things out since he knows Cirrus confessed. It felt like a trial to see if Skyler could actually potentially develop feelings for him.
I think this makes the fight they had in chapter 100-101 even worse because Skyler, someone who has never once stated he had feelings for Cirrus, told him that he’s only second choice cause he couldn’t have Chan-il. When they made up after it didn’t help either because after Cirrus stated something along the lines of “I’ll wait until you like me back” insinuating that he believed Skyler’s words about Chan-il, Skyler never tried to correct him.
The issue with Skyler not providing any verbal affirmation about his feelings is he has to make up for it through actions. Like if you’re the type of partner who doesn’t like verbalizing your love, you’ve gotta show it some other way you know? But because of Skyler’s trauma, he avoids being overly affectionate so he can’t even do that. So he’s never too affectionate through actions or words.
From Cirrus, perspective, it’s fair to say he still probably sees Skyler as someone who doesn’t like him as much as Chan-il yet at least. Which is fair considering how lukewarm Skyler always is about their relationship. I say lukewarm cause as a partner, his contributions to their relationship is not bad, but not good either. He’s just kind of there while Cirrus is doing the heavily lifting of fighting for him, showering him with I love you’s and I like you’s, getting him gifts etc. He’s showing his love through both words AND actions.
Skyler on the other hand, avoids him though actions, never verbalized he liked him romantically, never verbalized to the readers either that he liked him romantically, and told Cirrus he’s only with him cause he can’t have Chan-il and never clarified.