One thing’s for sure: Namjoon gets active being courteous with assertive ladies. He becomes super focused, gets excited easily (read: horny), makes tremendous efforts, is flirtatious, shy, cute. I reckon no other member in Bangtan can be as suave as RM. Not even Jimin. Who’s the Prince of Charm as we know. But it’s all a bit chaotic, extroverted, and depends on the mood. Namjoon is so deliberate being consistently smooth, the understated way. And herein lies his strong point: He knows the method of how to always put her first.
Now our interest here is how that goes together with his submissive side. A perfect exhibit of how Namjoon gravitates toward dominant women, gets along well, and is being suave, where do we find something like that. I think we can actually get quite a lot out of the first mins of Hello Counselor, May 2015. In which Namjoon was conveniently seated next to the domme in charge: Jessi. We all know what she prefers:
Jessi’s dominant through and through: public image, behind the scenes — even if she can be gentle, on stage. It’s true that she amps it up there, don’t get me wrong. But she is known for a very direct approach in person wherever she goes, and has always hinted at being similar sexually speaking in her songs, from Noona Kinks to leashes:
She’s a good, close to foolproof example if we want to look at dommes. RM, believe it or not, met her, they interacted a lot, and something surprising happened.
1:42 It’s already the first scene and he’s at it. Jessi, being her dominant self, is confronting the MC quite confidently. And what does RM do? He shifts his body closer to her. He didn’t look like he noticed. I did. Caught you, Joon.
2:07 Now that Jessi is at full throttle taking over the show as always, Joon gets coy. He looks down and fiddles with his cuff. Boy’s nervous. Look at that smol bean.
2:14 Unlike Taehyung, Joon looks at her performance smiling and stares. He nods his head along to the rap but then tries to avoid looking at her? No, His eyes go up to the left, upwards. That means accessing memory, emotion, and thinking. He’s analyzing what she says, too. Note his entire body’s moving to the rhythm while most of the other cast members sit still. That guy is feeling it and tries to figure her out at the same time.
2:38 More nervousness. This time: touching the calves. He often caresses himself to be calmer. His rap intonation is strangely sharp there, obviously, he’s trying to impress but not overshadow her because he keeps it brief. Jessi, of course, is super happy and claps, flips her hair to the side. Acknowledgement!
3:34 More peacocking. Namjoon clumsily dances backwards right into her zone but his face says smug. That was no coincidence. He looks back at her twice. She imitates the moves. He’s satisfied with the results and looks at Tae like good job! Now Jessi is a bit nervous and fiddles at her tank top. She always pushes her hair back to flirt, exposing the neck (pheromones, showing an erogenous area to kiss, you know how it goes), and guess on which side? Namjoon’s.
4:08 They’re back to the start: Namjoon messing with his own shirt. A minute later, it’s his plushie pillow. Do you see how they went back and forth? That’s mirroring — aka they like each other. You’ll see it all over, especially when both clasp their hands the same way. It’s good chemistry, a good dynamic.
6:04 A classic tough-minded joke by Jessi. Nobody looks at her laughing except Namjoon who is genuinely giggling with her turning his head. But downwards, looking at her from below. Subservience! As he does that, her front foot shifts towards him! Then, they lean their bodies to the exact same side.
9:01 Again, their bodies sync to align. Joon is busy stroking his calf again. Then laughs his ass off to ease the awkward tension when Jessi gets a negative spotlight and super pissed since she fits the rapper stereotype that the mom criticizes. He also sends sceptical, uneasy gazes and a crooked smile to the mom. You can tell by the expression, “oh dear, what does she say to Jessi next...”
9:45 They almost touch! By him pointing at Jessi’s knees during the torn jeans joke. And he uses both hands for that, not just one, wtf! Even a flat palm just hovering there lmao. Physical Freudian slip, that guy is dying to touch her but won’t since he catches himself (good boy). Jessi, however, is leaning back either way, it’s unclear whether he dodges or not since she faces the other way in the first place. She is rather uncomfortable at more negative focus on her created by the hosts, so Namjoon again tried to ease the situation.
Meanwhile, they have completely synchronized their positions — Jessi crossed her legs, Namjoon clasped his hands, both got themselves a pillow to hold on their lap:
Notice again how she keeps her hair to the other side so he can see her face/expression.
12:38 Perfect simultaneous head turn!
13:16 While Jessi has a mad as fuck glare toward the rude daughter, Namjoon is busy pulling his lip down with his pinky and thumb? What! Like hello madam, don’t mind the drama, how about kisses instead (remember her neck display earlier. it fits). Again, he tries to distract from Jessi getting into trouble. It’s really a consistent topic how he accommodates.
When she is very straightforward, RM says appeasing things. It’s striking that he doesn’t get aggressive, offended, contemptuous, or tries to resist like most men Jessi rightfully calls out but works his way around being diplomatic. Even if he is not part of the conflict, he still backs her up, and that says something about how selfless his affection is apart from wanting to seize her attention.
I think their dominant vs submissive inclinations sort of polarize but right when it gets interesting, they sort of disperse because other people get the screen time. For the rest of the broadcast I just noticed they return to sync pretty often, Jessi looks at him quite intently, and keeps her hair from falling to his side at all times :’)
So this is what we got. Take a look yourself. I think his behaviour is quite notable: wanting her close, always endorse, impressing her, being pretty nervous because something’s at stake. He’s definitely the kind of sub who will show his fondness quite readily (à la Taehyung or Jimin) instead of going into his shell waiting for initiative. I observed Jungkook and Yoongi doing this many times which is simply their unique manner of doing it. It takes another type of domme for that. Namjoon will be demonstrative and supportive right away on the other hand. And that’s a good closing note describing his way of submission, he has a lot of what I think the modern devoted gentleman can offer a domme.
