beta
If there is a narrative that I think is dumb is the whole Jooin doesn't look as happy in the the timeskip as as he was in the series especially when he was with Cain. I'm sorry to say this but when he was with Cain he was constantly pretending to be happy. Those smiles are some of the most disingenuous shit in this whole series. He is constantly lying to himself and to Cain. He is constantly betraying himself to prove a point staying with Cain. I don't know why people dismiss that reality of their situation.
Grown up love often feels boring and dull to so many people and that's why so many people self sabotage. Because it's not whimsical as promised by someone's own fantasies of what love is. You don't get overwhelmed by your feelings anymore but that doesn't mean that what you feel isn't love. People are so over reliant on butterflies to signal that it's love that they feel. This leads to falling in love with the butterflies rather than the person. Jooin is exactly this with Cain, he loves how it feels to be wanted by Cain but at the same time not wanting to love Cain.
With the timeskip Jooin learns how to love Yahwi without loosing his bearings and his love becomes more muted, a love that burns passionately but more quietly. The absence of broad smiles doesn't mean the love isn't there. Jooin smiles "brightly" with Cain while simultaneously doing absolutely nothing for him but just lie while with Yahwi his smile is not as it used to be but he actually puts in effort to show Yahwi he is wanted and desired and evens moves his life to go be with him. He reassures Yahwi when he's feeling insecure about their past. Is that less love because he simply doesn't smile like he used to??
I might be glazing but I'm also speaking as an adult. People grow up and life happens.You can't expect people to move the same when they have multiple factors influencing their life. Life be lifing and people just lose the puppy way they used to love people. It doesn't mean they aren't happy with the love they have though.