Please Explain Fiat?
Caregiver Codependency & the Salvation Trope
Salvation or the reformed rebel trope is a pretty rare in modern romance literature these days. It’s most commonly seen in historical romance as “the reformed rake.” Netflix’s Bridgeton utilized this trope. Sometimes our het hero will be saved (in sweet & spiritual romance or even lit fic) by the birth of the first child. (And yes, we are all aware of the religious connotations.)
Essentially, it's the concept that love of the right one can morally redeem a bad boy.
In Yaoi we usually see it as a seme being saved by the affection of the perfect uke.
Fiat’s version, where the uke is bonkers, actually ties to BDSM romance - where the submissive is going crazy because he doesn't have the right Daddy (or any Daddy) to discipline him. It's an extreme version of caregiver codependency.
Basically, since Fiat can’t have Leo, yet Leo has been acting as seme/Daddy for years without physical/romantic bonding, Fiat is a loose cannon.
Leo has been unintentionally running a long con tease on Fiat’s uke instincts. Fiat goes out of control when Leo is out of town because he depends on Leo to be his foundation at all times. His moral compas is missing.
Fiat acts the way he does because his character is composed of:
an inability to make sensible judgement calls,
an unformed core identity without ethical grounding,
and chronic abandonment issues.
Fiat is looking for total support from a lover - it’s ironic that he lands on Type, but not unexpected, since Type has such a strong personality.
Incidentally one of the reasons I like TharnType as a couple, problematic as they can be, is their lack of codependency. They don’t have a standard seme/uke dynamic, despite all of Tharn’s seme efforts. They’re almost a subversion of the salvation trope. Type is not an uke, he’s a boyfriend. He likes Tharn’s care, might even rely on it, but he’s not going to outsource any of his decisions, feelings, morality, or identity to Tharn.
It’s actually not odd that Fiat would target Type as a possible Daddy since this isn’t about top/bottom it’s about power and control. Type gives off Daddy energy, especially with his patients and in the workplace.
The salvation trope can also be written to reform a villain, where that villain becomes a good person after they fall in love, because they outsourced their moral compass to their lover. (As writers this can be fun because then if you remove the love interest, the villain can go utterly evil but the audience still sympathizes.)
Whether you hate, like, or understand Fiat will depended on how you feel about this particular trope.
*updated*
Other Characters in BL Using this Trope
Pei Shou Yi & Yu Zhen Xuan in We Best Love: Fighting Mr. Second.
(source)