hi anon!!! thank you for your incredibly kind words that i am still working to deserve 😭💖 this wrinkly old brain is too wordy for her own good, but is always happy to be of service to fellow over-analysers and media readers so i'm grateful you enjoy having it around ;v; you make 1823% perfect sense dw!

"xz can never take a compliment to save his life" is the absolute truth omg. he still bats away any and all praise he gets from interviewers, from colleagues and directors, sometimes even from studio staff in the small snippets we do get to see these days... like yes it's a celebrity's job to be humble (not that he can be like "WELL YES! I'M ALL THAT!") but it's like this man is allergic to compliments shdfjhsfhs

which. i understand on a spiritual level. i think xz is the type to take compliments as pressure to do better lmao but that is a conversation for another day

anyway! the ABSOLUTE TOP thought spirals of all time from random interviews, along with their ranking on the 😭? meter, are:

a) "old cow eats young grass" (😭?)
b) "he brings the entire house when camping" (😭😭😭?)
c) yb: "there is no reason for loving someone, you just do" / xz: "how to not be alone for qixi next year? how would i know???" (😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭?)

these 3 collectively lead to one of my favourite silly little headcanons is that xz unleashes his true Cute Bratty Lowkey Passenger Princess Side™ whenever it's just the two of them, because yb brings out that inner child in him and feels like a safe place to be as full of whimsy as he wants ♡ like full-on asking for childish things, picking playful fights, twining their ankles under the table, curling up in yb's arms, letting yb hold all his stuff, the signature bunny teeth snarl we only ever saw during cql days... like. i think xz has a lot of natural cuteness that he keeps tucked away because of his venture into More Serious Work, and because he's tried very hard to separate himself from the idol image he used to have (and all the things that come with it like aegyo, variety shows, etc.)

but yb is only too happy to indulge! he knows gege can do everything himself, but why would he deny is beloved anything, and how could he, when he knows xz is only ever this uninhibited with him? :') after all, "between you and me, there is no need for 'thank you's or 'sorry's" :') he's been made to grow up so quickly — they both have — that he finds this pocket of childlike innocence so precious to him, that no matter how insane their world is, he can still always trust this thing to be a source of comfort in his exciting life ♡

at least, that's what i say on some days, and is what i believe happens on those days!

but i think their dynamic most days is a lot more like an old couple who've been married for 60 years 🥹 i imagine they're quite content to be sitting next to each other in total silence, doing their own thing, snacking off the same bowl or sharing a drink. one of them will order food for the other and set it out before leaving the house, or pick food off the other's plate. that type of quiet, slow, sleepy dynamic, you know? not because they've run out of things to say or that the excitement isn't there anymore, but more because they're always expected to say something or do something in their line of work that sometimes it brings them peace to just. BE. with another person. and they don't need words for that kind of comfort

we veered a little into Serious Territory here at the end and i have started rambling again so i will stop here!!!! one last silly headcanon for the road: i think they have gotten into playful fights before over how slowly xz eats (tiny kitty bites) vs. how yb wolfs down his food SHDFJSFSHS