Exactly. Emotional regulation.
And yeah, the instant I did anything they saw as the slightest bit weird they attacked me, which was pretty telling.
One guy accused me of stalking him-two days after he sang me a complete entire song, in front of other people, like when no one else was doing that. It was really sweet but a little strange and I didn’t know how to react. But of course I gave him the benefit of the doubt. A few days later I invited him up to my hotel room. He said yes but didn’t show up. I think the point the whole way along was that he liked the idea of liking someone and being liked, but it didn’t necessarily have to be me and he definitely didn’t want to give up control to me along the way.
It’s not like I think I’m perfect and everyone else is fucked up.
It’s that it never would have occurred to me to say he was love bombing me when he sort of was.