beta
yo no se pero, maybe ML is just autistic? like that's my theory; he is rigid in his world view, has strong boundaries, is very matter-of-fact, and it takes a lot of convincing (from himself, he needs to see and get to the point in his own time) to change or realize things differently AND he's being to most sincere he can be at all times. even right now, I can imagine he doesn't bother with tears and begging bc that's not him and that would be him being disingenuous (like, he does love him and want to date him but begging and crying would be theatrics).
ykw, he kind of is begging in an autistic way; he keeps saying his truth over and over again, matter-of-factly, urging MC to understand and pondering ways to make MC understand because "if he understood he would return my feelings" (rigid worldview, anything different is hard to comprehend).
(〜￣△￣)〜 you can disagree, autistic people aren't a monolith but ML actions give me the vibes of a person touched with 'tism