Reading this as not-gay, is starting to require some very interesting mental contortions. It's like... having a society where affections between men are in general much more gentle and intimate... except then those rules only apply when such interactions involve the protagonist. (So far.)
I mean, hypothetically speaking, is it even "gay bait" anymore when the levels of affection displayed are already surpassing a lot of the BL I read, with every sign of deepening further henceforth? Will anyone without a stomach for some BL even be able to read this at this rate?
Actually, upon reflection, I totally get it if the whole idea is to be over-the-top gay-bait for the pure-artform-of-gay-bait's sake (it is after all, truly, a dying artform in these latter days where you don't have to try to cram your gay stuff sideways into more-ostensibly 'respectable' publications). That is an explanation I would accept. That's probably how I'm going to think about this from now on.