#I just really wish I could find big ass events on SL more often

[kritlekro]

Haha not me feeling sad yet shmoozy romantic at the same time rn haha

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

I will start this analysis by pushing the pause button right here before we actually get to the part everyone knows comes next. This was such a big moment in He Tian and Mo Guan Shan’s relationship that it needs to be taken a closer look at. To truly grasp the significance of it, we need to rewind quite a bit chapter-wise.

For the first time, the earrings appear in ch. 200 and begin their story with this line:

That panel has always interested me, for some reason. It’s a weird way to give someone a gift but fits HT’s character perfectly. It’s domineering and yet almost challenging. The fact the HT is in the more submissive position - looking up at MGS standing in front of him - doesn’t seem to lessen his dominance one bit. Actually, he looks even more threatening and sinister like that. But what’s even more interesting about this opening is that it essentially requires trust from MGS’s part. Something I believe HT hadn’t gained yet at that point.

When MGS refuses and resists, as expected, HT in his typical unceremonious way manhandles him and forces the earrings on MGS. He then proceeds to instruct MGS to come find him next Saturday wearing them.

I have always wondered what was so special about MGS wearing the earrings to work. They didn’t seem to serve any particular purpose when MGS was working but yet HT insisted on it. My first thought was that they somehow made MGS fit in better at the photography studio that had some kind of fashion shooting going on but that explanation didn’t feel very likely. I’m sure it wouldn’t have mattered that much what MGS was wearing.

I still don’t fully understand why HT was being so persistent but I think I have some inkling of an idea. When I was writing my post about Tianshan, it got me thinking about why HT got interested in MGS in the first place. He wanted to distance himself from the ideals he had been raised by but despised and kind of reinvent himself. MGS became a project of sorts to him; someone he could make into “an upstanding person”.

Offering MGS chances to work and earn money without making him owe HT anything was one way to ensure MGS didn’t ruin his future because he was desperate and didn’t have the same opportunities as others. Working would also help “hone down his personality”. He would actually become “somebody” - a respectable member of society. 

It’s difficult to explain where the earrings come to play in all that but when HT looked at MGS working...

...it kind of made me feel like he was proud of his “creation”. In a way, the earrings made MGS his but not in a possessive way.

How to put this... 🤔 Okay, let’s imagine you and your significant other are attending some kind of work-related formal event. They’re talking with their peers and totally kicking ass professionally, and you’re watching them from the sidelines, being so proud of them. Then you notice they’re wearing something you had given them and your heart gives a little flutter. It’s a connection between you and that amazing person over there. Am I the only one who would have that feeling?

I’m not saying HT felt quite like that but perhaps something similar. Maybe HT’s heart fluttered a little. I imagine it hadn’t been often he had a connection like with someone he thought was respectable and admired.

After that, we don’t see MGS wearing earrings apart from the Christmas and Valentine’s specials and that commercial chapter. He didn’t seem to wear any even out of school, and to be honest, I didn’t think much of it. His piercings didn’t come up again until ch. 282.

I’m sure most of us assumed MGS had gotten his ears pierced because he was a big bad delinquent and appearances matter in that line of work. I certainly didn’t expect HT’s innocent question to reveal such a violent and traumatic backstory.

Obviously, HT didn’t know how exactly MGS had gotten his ears pierced but could probably guess by MGS’s reaction and knowing SL it wasn’t a pleasant memory. Someone had hurt MGS - given him a more or less permanent mark - and there was nothing HT could do about it anymore. But even more pressingly, that someone was still lurking around and had access to MGS. And SL seemed to be on the move again (the Coke incident).

Would make anyone of us uneasy, right?

This panel somewhat stirred the fandom since fans seemed to interpret it differently. Some read it as HT being jealous and possessive while others saw it as him protecting MGS. Interestingly, the differences seemed to stem from the same kind of disagreement as to whether or not SL is so hung up on MGS because he’s jealous in a romantic sense. People who read it as jealousy and possessiveness kind of jumped straight to the strongest emotion.

And even though I disagree with the interpretation of SL being in love with MGS, my honest initial reading of that panel leaned towards HT being possessive (not jealous, though). I don’t think it’d be that unheard of in HT’s case and I was somewhat surprised some readers seemed to reject that interpretation so strongly.

I think HT’s objective with the earrings was to protect MGS and then he went about it in his usual overbearing way. @casually-inlove mentioned in her ask that the earrings were a sign to SL that MGS was under HT’s protection. I wholeheartedly agree with that notion but don’t think we can completely exclude the possessive undertones of that reading, especially when it comes to HT. To me, HT’s “back off” also implies “he belongs to me”. I don’t think HT needs to worry about SL as a romantic rival, but the earrings would certainly show MGS’s connection to HT quite publicly but also paradoxically in an intimate way.

In short, I see both interpretations.

I also agree with @casually-inlove ‘s idea about HT wanting to empower MGS by showing SL that MGS was over the incident by wearing something new and what he actually wanted over the old scars. I don’t know if HT was thinking it quite that deeply in the heat of the moment, but why not. It would definitely show SL’s reign had ended mentally, too, and MGS was his own person. But by doing so HT is essentially tightening MGS’s connection to himself. He wants MGS to be independent of people like SL but surely also wishes to become the one MGS feels like he can rely on.

I think it’s also evident in MGS’s actions that "control” has something to do with the piercings even in HT’s case which ultimately makes this moment so groundbreaking. SL had once invaded his bodily integrity in a quite violent and traumatic way. He had been made to submit and the holes in his flesh were a permanent reminder of it. Being under SL’s “protection” had most certainly driven his dislike of being in debt to or depending on anyone.

It had taken a good while for MGS to even begin to trust that HT wouldn’t take advantage of him like that. He had learned not to trust anyone, and it went double for people like HT, but after learning HT is not the same, he’s willing to have this sort of connection with him. He’s willing to receive something - in fact, asking for something - without demanding that he repays HT somehow. It’s a gift, and nothing is expected out of him in return. (Except that he can’t apparently take them off...Which admittedly can be taken figuratively but I think also carries that undertone of control and possessiveness, if in a vastly more positive sense than with SL.)

And finally, we return to where we left off. Let’s press that play button again.

What I love most about this moment is how confident MGS is which we haven’t really seen until now. He’s not freaking out or overreacting but actually calmly faces HT head-on. The way the chapter was constructed with the backstory in the middle while MGS touches his earlobe suggests he contemplated carefully before asking HT for the studs. And came to the conclusion that he wants that part of his body to belong to someone again. And we’ve seen in the special chapters that take place in the future, this kind of symbol wasn’t trivial to MGS or something he asked on impulse.

Now, do I think MGS asking for the studs was his way of answering and returning HT's feelings? No. I think it's way too early to throw words like "love" and "confessing" around, especially for MGS. We’ve recently just graduated from “punching and cursing HT” to “punching and cursing HT while furiously blushing”. I’m sure MGS has become conscious of HT in a new way but let’s not call it “love” just yet. But he's accepted him as someone who he'd normally hate but has actually learned to be on his side.

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