He then shows up again after the sewer mission... he already has a grunt to supervise the player, there's no need for him to be there. But the player's piqued his interest with the whole 'I'm the one calming down the rogue megas' thing (as well as having met Lysandre).

He shows up AGAIN at the battle court after you help out those kids.

"Anyway, you really are strong, aren't you? And yet you don't boast or show off... Why, nobody even knows that you're the one calming Rogue Pokémon. You're an interesting one."

You don't have to read it as romantic interest, but he's definitely taken quite an interest in the player and is constantly seeking them out.

The whole thing with his stay at Hotel Z is so fucking funny to me cos he's just saying shit and no one is directly responding to him.

All AZ says after this is "If you would put your name down here."

No one comments on him joking about being a "handyman" No one even comments on his handwriting either after he brings it up, they just show him to the elevator to rest for the night.

It feels like he's trying to break the ice or lighten the mood but no one gaf/too scared to say anything/hates his ass too much to entertain him

In the Z-A Infinite Royale, he says this when you beat him “Even when you beat me, I still end up having fun. Guess it’s ‘cause I can be myself around you.” which is cute but is so sad?? How much of yourself do you have to hide from others that you're saying shit like this to a tourist you only recently met. Skipping forward to the DLC cos my memory of his dialogue in the Jacinthe Tournament is honestly foggy as well as the end of the mainstory (I know what happens just not the dialogue specifically)

It wasn't as obvious in the main story, but it's written out for you in the DLC that Lumiose residents are scared of him.

He probably stays in a lot more than he'd like to avoid causing unecessary distress, and if just walking around is enough to spook them, I don't think its very likely that they'd be comfortable befriending him either.

Even during the main story, we see Jacinthe call him 'The cunning Corbeau', who would ever be comfortable befriending a guy with a reputation like that?

Bringing up the early interaction where the player sasses him again, it was probably refreshing for the player to have an attitude like that. You had the guts to talk back to him despite disadvantageous circumstances he had put you in; you were not afraid of him, and that's just so interesting to him.

Come on, let's be real, this is just his way of saying "I'm lonely, please come visit me" but written up in a fancier way.

A lot of his dialogue feel genuine on his end but because of the way he talks and phrases things, can come off insincere or indirect in a way that may be offputting to people. Like he's addressing matters directly but the phrasing is indirect. Idk how else to describe it. You know when someone speaks so eloquently it comes off pretentious and insincere? smth like that