i’ve been in relationships where someone passive-aggressively refuses to communicate (or simply through incompetence doesn’t know how, and/or came to believe that I was supposed to already intuitively know their position and condition)

One such relationship recently ended on thankfully good terms.

One such relationship was years ago and never quite got off the ground because I was NOT going to play along with the stupid games.

These people are real. They’re really out there. And they’re either destined to be vaguely miserable forever, or someone is going to have to teach them and make them intensely miserable in the immediacy until they learn - and not many people have the patience or psychological energy to guide someone (who is kicking and screaming objections about how they shouldn’t have to change or grow or adapt because they’re special and perfect just as they are) through establishing a basic understanding of communication.