
RiqueXinw:
I always ask persons who loved it what about it in terms of the friends to lovers trope that made them love it. For me I loved and appreciated the messages and the story-line of it but the romance part just never hooked me. I did not feel the chemistry on a romantic level. I felt that their friendship was established in a way that I could not look past it and that made their couple scenes cringey for me. Another thing is that the amount of times Seewi said "Cake" annoyed the hell out of me.
(re "My Only 12%") I totally understand what you're saying. Earth can indeed be quite cringe, but somehow it worked for me here: That's the character he plays, and somehow he didn't grate on me like in other roles he's played (Tar in "Love By Chance", Intouch in "Until We Meet Again"). For me personally, Santa and Earth really worked.
Yes, so many BLs follow the same tropes of (childhood)-friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, love-at-first-sight, boss-subordinate, etc. - but on the other hand, if it's a good love story that I feel invested in, I'm fine with that. What I particularly liked here is the intimacy (emotional and physical) and powerful bond between the two boys going back to their earliest childhood; I've not seen any other BL that quite compares to this.
I also recognise that this series is probably too slow for many. For me, not. I appreciated the well-structured and well-written story, the slice-of-life authencity, and the development of the characters and of their struggles with their feelings and jealousies.