My intention is to preserve the relationship. When it comes to expressions of affection, I tend to throw them around rather carelessly and without thought to how it affects others. I'll always neglect to show any affection simply because I don't need it, and expressing it constantly feels forced and dramatic to me. I kinda figured that other people experience these things differently than I do, but it's only recently that I've begun to realize how important it is to one's psychological wellbeing. Mostly from hearing people talk about trauma in relationships and what traumatized them, and I'm like, "Oh ****. I do that all the time."

I'd have to be careful with the last bit, and I'd need him to be clear about what he wants.

Oh, that's easy. Emotional manipulation in particular is just blatantly obvious. I don't know how people don't see it.