ArtemisFowl's manga / #atypical dynamics(53)

Very sweet. It follows one single man looking for love after breaking up with his cheating ex, and another single man looking for love. Both parties aren't looking for a hot romance -- they want, what most people in arranged marriages want, security and stability and warmth in their partner. Perhaps not a romance of the ages but they want to come to cherish and love their partner, and these two have. Side note: there could have been some drama, but thankfully it got talked through amongst the characters and it was good.

Second-year high schooler Hayakawa ends up running into 'Mad-dog' third year Shima. Shima ends up stopping by this kid's classroom and (after a long relationship of him just eating the Hayakawa's sweets) asks him how to make some of the sweets. Slowly but surely, they fall for each other. Side note: you know, one of the few manga that I've gotten my guess on who the seme and the uke is wrong (that's how typical and one-dimensionally sexist that most yaoi mangas are...(I can guess by the way most power dynamics are typically socialized/revered)) ~Chapter 5.5

Wow, wow, wow! This manga blew me away. Two patrons at a bar become friends, one a straight-laced alpha who doesn't believe he's better than everyone else (and is constrained by the pressure of expected perfection at work). His drinking buddy hears him out, and in the first chapter they end up in bed, with the seme super out of it and the uke (an omega) just wanting to be impregnated so that he can have stability. Things do not go according to plan for the uke, and the seme stops anything from happening once he comes to. The next day, the seme goes to work and realizes that his drinking buddy happens to be a coworker in a different department -- who pursues him with the same relentlessness he showed the night of their almost-consumation. Easily could have been trite, but the author managed to spin gold with the dynamics and the complexities of their pasts. An exploration of depth, tenderness, and what it takes to love another fully. ~Chapter 6.5

I wish it had been a little longer and fleshed out their relationship more, rather than just putting an epilogue at the end. About the manga: it was so good! Both characters grew because of their interactions with each other. I especially loved how philosophical and self-aware the main character (the one hiding under a mask of happiness) was. He understood the flaws in his own personality and was receptive to the growth that he experienced due to his interaction with the love interest. Also, the love interest was a very kind person, and his bluntness was pretty great. Fujino and Mad-dog Tsukada seem like total opposites. One is a clean-cut smol bean, and the other is a large, scary fighter whose rumors are second to none with regards to his looks. One day, Fujino, who is fake towards other people because he is scared of being hurt again (by people in general), goes up to the rooftop only to find Tsukada, who says his smile is "shady." And it is shady -- he is fake because he doesn't want to offend people, but is shocked at getting called out by Tsukada. He ends up revealing more of himself to this person, who is unexpectedly kind, gentle, and polite despite all the rumors surrounding him. Then he started to blush after Tsukada said something to him, but freaks out after he guesses what it means. This is the story about a smol bean who wants love and kindness, but is too scared to get it through vulnerability, and a misunderstood and gentle 'delinquent.'