Sunday, May 26, 2024

The Belligerent Friend or Lover

One fun variation on the civilizing lover (which trope can get rather irritating) is the unapologetically belligerent friend or lover who is just like that. So deal. 

In Yuri on Ice! Yuri P. is a 15-year-old, loud, intensely competitive ice skater who goes at people with no holds-barred. And they love him for it anyway because it is ALL out there (and because it is his way of communicating affection). He challenges the hero, calls him names, yells at his coach...and works tremendously hard. 

He is hilarious rather than irritating (which would likely not be true in real life) because there is zero manipulation behind what he says and does. He simply goes at everything like gangbusters--except his fans, who rather freak him out. 

In Megumi & Tsugumi by Mitsuru Si, Tsugumi is an omega in the Omegaverse who refuses to take his suppressants because he can "power through" his heats by sheer will-power (he says). Everybody, from his parents to his eventual boyfriend, try to correct and civilize his behavior. Nothing works. He is what he is! 

He doesn't irritate in part because he operates from a place of deep innocence that never prevaricates or lies. The day after he and Megumi sleep together for the first time, he stomps over to Megumi's school. Megumi expects a fight (he has been berating himself all day). But Tsugumi is actually there to take him to meet his dads who said, "We want to meet this guy." Megumi is flummoxed but likes the dads so...it turns out okay. 

Tsugumi also takes full responsibility for everything that happens to him. When Megumi his boyfriend, an alpha who is trying not to be an alpha-jerk like his dad, apologizes (for any number of things), Tsugumi responds by telling him to cut it out. Megumi will answer for himself. Tsugumi will answer for himself. Nobody needs to be civilized. Everybody needs to just chill and believe what Tsugumi says.

Tsugami does try to meet Megumi half-way after awhile. But that effort is still entirely his choice, not because Megumi "fixed" him.