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| Allec is my "bratty lover." Like Rory, |
| he saves his older, more stable lover. |
One rather adorable archetype in romance is the bratty lover. The character is often younger than the lover, full of piss & vinegar with a sharp tongue and lots of attitude.
When the archetype works, it is--as noted--adorable and fun.
Unfortunately, when it doesn't work, it is simply irritating. The character comes off as entitled and self-centered and rather incapable (almost deliberately incapable).
In Therin's Magic in Manhattan series, Rory is a bratty lover. And he works for several reasons:
1. He isn't entitled.
His adorableness is built-in, not deliberately cultivated (a character who deliberately cultivates a persona can be interesting but if the purpose is grifting--using others--the deliberate cultivation ultimately fails. Rory, in contrast, is behaving like himself; he has no idea how much he delights his lover, Arthur.
2. He thinks about others.
In fact, one of Therin's insightful points is that Rory thinks about all kinds of things, even his complicated relationship with religion. He is aware of people, their variation, their complications. When he starts to figure out Arthur, he goes out of his way to track him down and bring him a meal.
3. He is fully capable.
A delightful aspect of the book is that Arthur, the lover, isn't only protective of Rory; he is protective of everyone.
"You're right, I'm being monstrously overprotective. I'm afraid it's a bad habit of mine. If it makes you feel better, Jade is a telekinetic ex-spy who can kill a man with her mind, and sometimes I can't sleep because I'm afraid she's lost control and accidentally stabbed herself."
"He calls," said Jade.
"I do," Arthur admitted.
Arthur is protective of Rory, but Rory isn't helpless, and he doesn't practice learned helplessness.
Rory as a bratty lover allows him to be tough as nails, despite several bad events in his past, and to meet Arthur head-on, despite the disparity in class.
From Yugi Yamada's oeuvre, Naoki plays a similar role with the people around him.