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Reading a variant of Undercover as Gay where the POV character is gung-ho on the idea and pushing the Romantic Interest, who is obviously wary. It only works as a rom-com of misunderstanding because of dramatic irony, particularly the fanon that Romantic Interest has been in unrequited love with POV character for years, and that interpretation makes it obvious to the reader that his wariness is to do with giving himself away.
But it doesn't really make POV character's behavior okay and wouldn't even if he did share that understanding. All you have to do is flip it and imagine the reticent character to be a romantically UNinterested woman to see how gross it is:
"You MUST accept me going undercover as your romantic partner and all that that entails, even though that wasn't what you signed up for when you agreed to the assignment, because I must PROTECT you! Your discomfort is unfortunate and I'm understanding about it, but we just have to push past it for your own good, because it wouldn't be SAFE to go undercover without making sure we've practiced dating/overnighting together!"
It's possible that I am slightly overstating the degree of pushiness involved. He has checked the Romantic Interest's comfort level verbally and promised to let R.I. control the level of intimacy. BUT the internal narration is very concerned with his sensitivity to the subtle signs of R.I.'s discomfort (no doubt because he has to eventually correctly decipher its real cause) and his internal attitude to it is self-righteous. He never even considers that shoving his way into the assignment like that wasn't the morally right and logically necessary thing to do.
But it doesn't really make POV character's behavior okay and wouldn't even if he did share that understanding. All you have to do is flip it and imagine the reticent character to be a romantically UNinterested woman to see how gross it is:
"You MUST accept me going undercover as your romantic partner and all that that entails, even though that wasn't what you signed up for when you agreed to the assignment, because I must PROTECT you! Your discomfort is unfortunate and I'm understanding about it, but we just have to push past it for your own good, because it wouldn't be SAFE to go undercover without making sure we've practiced dating/overnighting together!"
It's possible that I am slightly overstating the degree of pushiness involved. He has checked the Romantic Interest's comfort level verbally and promised to let R.I. control the level of intimacy. BUT the internal narration is very concerned with his sensitivity to the subtle signs of R.I.'s discomfort (no doubt because he has to eventually correctly decipher its real cause) and his internal attitude to it is self-righteous. He never even considers that shoving his way into the assignment like that wasn't the morally right and logically necessary thing to do.
