beta
I'm 27. If I put myself in the shoes of the guy who is 26, I just feel... put off. That kind of relationship is not appropriate. A 16 year old is in a completely different stage of life. When I was 16, I was so self absorbed, so giving, and so very vulnerable. At 26, you should know better than to start a romantic relationship with a minor. Even if you genuinely have romantic feelings, you keep that to yourself. That's something you go to therapy for. It doesn't matter that they are ten years apart in age. What matters is that one's brain is relatively done developing, while the other is still a child. Even 21 year olds feel like children to me and I would feel like a cradle robber dating them. The difference in maturity is just that palpable. I used to be able to ignore age gaps like this in manga because it's just fiction, but I can't any more. He is literally relying on the guy as a surrogate parent while his real parents neglect him. That is not a healthy basis for a relationship.