M/M-Yaoi has its bad boys. It also has its rule followers and free spirits. The tension between the good, upstanding, rule-following, structured partner and the off-the-cuff, rule-breaking partner is so classic--and so strong in terms of writing possibilities--that it flows beyond romance. In both Death in Paradise (first two seasons) and in Monk, a rule-keeper par excellence is paired with a free spirit. In Psych, Gus is more likely to pay bills, save money, and keep the rules of the road than free-spirit Shawn. In Person of Interest, neither Reese nor Finch are particularly rule-oriented but their lack of rules complement each other: John is more rule-oriented about some things while Finch is more rule-oriented about others.
Romance enters the picture with Miss Fisher's Mysteries, the television series, in which Phryne Fisher, the ultimate free-spirit, enchants and dismays Jack Robinson. Bones (Seeley as free-spirit). The Mentalist (haunted Jane as free-spirit). Mysterious Ways (Adrian Pasdar--who can play a rule-follower--as maverick free-spirit). And I have to mention The X-Files!
Interestingly enough, the fans of a number of these and other shows will "ship" the male leads, even when the show isn't M/M-Yaoi. It just feels right that Spock would have his Kirk and vice versa. The natural tension that arises between two disparate personalities focused on the same goal lends itself to all kinds of uses.
Blue Morning--this fantastic manga series, which recently ended, is particularly interesting because the rule-follower is bound as much by internalized cultural expectations, which he finds hard to shake, as by a personal respect for rules. Even his "rebellion" lies within static cultural ideals. It takes his quiet but far more ideologically flexible lover to break the patterns entirely.Interestingly enough--a great deal of M/M-Yaoi plays games with the rule-follower/free spirit designations:
What Did You Eat Yesterday?--imagine Darcy and Bingley were gay and moved in together.
Love is Heartless--Detective Ng is a rule-follower in the sense that he is a police officer and doesn't stray outside the lines. But his willingness to tell people exactly what he thinks without pulling punches makes him a free-spirit. Walt Disney-loving Colin appears to be a product of his class, not an outside-the-box thinker. However, Fielding shows that Colin is no more a "type" than Ng.In the end, however altered, the original, classic archetypes always pull their weight: literal-minded and serious Jason is a perfect match for sweet-natured, free spirit Milo in How to Wish Upon a Star by Eli Easton. And more.
Likewise, when Nathaniel is kidnapped by a pirate--in Keira Andrews's Kidnapped by a Pirate--he is all kinds of relieved (after the initial shock) since he hated the cramped order of his wealthy, gentleman's life.
