ive read a lot of interesting macdennis meta analysis post season 16 and i think the one consistent thing im seeing between all of them that i vehemently disagree with is the idea that dennis is innocent when it comes to macs obsession/insistence in pursuing him. because. its quite literally the opposite imo ??? throughout the show we see dennis manipulate mac and actively damage his self image and confidence simply to exert control and get whatever petty bullshit he wants that day (e.x. ass kickers united). slowly but surely we see mac get more and more dependent on dennis' praise and approval BECAUSE dennis has purposefully made him so dependent on it by breaking him down and building him back up over and over again. this worked for dennis while mac was "straight" because now he had a best friend who was virtually an obedient manservant whenever needed, no strings attached. but, when mac comes out, it no longer works for him. now mac realizes that that blind devotion and reverence hes had for dennis for years is actually plain and simple attraction (mixed with a ton of manipulation and old man yaoi mind poison) and now its not just a give and take relationship. mac now also wants something, and hes gonna try and get it by using the one tactic hes been TAUGHT will make dennis happy and hopefully love him back: blind devotion and servitude. admittedly he's not going about it in a healthy or normal way whatsoever and my empathy for him kinda drops off at recognizing hes been manipulated and that's WHY hes doing the things he does, but it still needs to be recognized that mac isn't just acting the way he is cluelessly and without reason. this is what hes been TAUGHT, but now that there's implications attached to the actions dennis no longer has the control that he had before, thus the beginning of rejecting the servitude instead of instigating it.