ashdbjfa not me forgetting i even twote that?? that first tweet oh my god 😭 i'm LOSING ITTTTTTT icb i forgot about this live 😭😭😭 and OF COURSE this was 2019. such a pivotal yumark year imo (more specifically 2019 to mid 2020, basically after punch era).

i don't really wanna call it the "fanservice year," but i kinda see it that way. but the catch is i think it came at the perfect time bc i believe they were both coming to terms with (or in mrk's case, starting to) their feelings for one another. at that time, i see both of them not quite as confident as they are now (in basically all aspects), so it think they both really took advantage of their situation. they got to act increasingly insane (the isac moments, the weekly idol ship ep where mark wanted yuta to pick him, the damn oppa vlive, the headphone game where yuta just 👁️👁️ at mark for the whole time), essentially exploring their feelings for each other under the guise of filling their fanservice quota. (which is also why i think many people are so quick to dismiss any and all yumark interactions as fanservice asjdabsdj but that's a whole other topic).

insecure about his feelings little markie is all oh i can touch yuta's hair and it won't look odd bc we're supposed to do fanservice rn :) all good haha :)) nothing deeper is going on :))) and trying to seem chill yuta is all haha i can stare at mark instead of actually playing the game bc yay fanservice ;) i'm so cool and sneaky ;))

okay wow i'm getting so off-track dear lord

the head rubbing 🥺🥺🥺 so so soooo precious and dear to me i hope they never stop it ;-;
i don't want to give yuta all the credit bc that's just unfair to mark, but i do think he played a big role in helping him become more comfortable with physical touch (on-camera?). i picture mark as a person who's actually pretty touchy, but doesn't want to allow himself to indulge in it (for a multitude of reasons). it's really nice to see how far mark's come and how confident he's gotten <33

alrightttt i'm going insane now i hope this answer made even a smidgen of sense to you 😅 thank you as always for popping in!! <3