>>283028262
nta but Axeman is definitely afraid of changing Twilight too much. His moments of vulnerability and mistakes get swept up too cleanly after a pep talk to himself where he reminds himself of the mission.
As for the romantic development Anya stopped teasing her parents about it until only recently and he's convinced Yor doesn't see him that way. Both of these, as well as the lack of chapters that actually feature all of them, slow down that development considerably on his part.

You're right that the early aspects of the manga are different compared to what came after it. The fake family thing and the spy content took a hard backseat to endless eden filler. For example, it was established early that Twilight doesn't understand children and that Yor was supposed to be the emotional aspect he lacks so he doesn't traumatize Anya. Working together, learning from each other, and becoming more human in the process. But this only really continued for Yor and chapters that involved Twilight being bad with kids pretty much disappeared outside of awkward cruise arc moments and the "recent" seal chapter. Again, because they're never together and it's nothing but pleasantries like making dinner when they show up for a panel or two at the end of a random chapter.

I think that is why Twilight can come across as stagnant or cold to the readers. He is too important to the story, meaning Axeman and his love of status quo is only going to throw out subtle stuff for him. It doesn't help that the image people have of Twilight is being heavily shaped by all the merchandise that makes him a big softie family man. That's not what Axeman wants him to be (yet?) but that's what they're selling him as.