it's funny because if you wrote this about an autistic person who doesn't know they're autistic, it would also make sense.

i say this because i went most of my life until age 32 without really knowing i was autistic, and then formally diagnosed at age 34, certain behaviors of mine (masking, wanting to be liked, etc) easily could have (and probably did occasionally) been confused for narcissism.

the world is so uneducated about neurodiversity and mental health and narcissism is getting thrown around a lot when there is very likely something deeper going on half the time.