Their relationship is so interesting to me because it ties to the old "child" monarch vs his steely-eyed advisors. Long story short, its emotional manipulation to come at someone from a position of power and complain about "worry" and "losing sleep." In fiction and history we see these childish kings acting out with their advisors sort of calming them down as this stereotype of how wrong monarchy is, but instead its a valid and intentional leadership strategy: to emotionally manipulate your underlings by seeming hurt and needing of help. Gates played up this coddling attitude because it gets him the results he wants with minimum effort. Nathan recognized this signal and wrote out the logical part of the brain to counter Gates' emotional side. He coddled the child king. This is his job.

The C-levels in my life do this all the time. I've been manipulated many times like this. I think its linked to the habits of being a low-empathic personality. Its run of the mill manipulation which is what powers offices and sales all over the world. I imagine it gets results more often than not but its a bit pathetic looking and an acknowledgment human beings aren't logical animals, but primarily emotional and even the most hardened tech CEO is essentially playing emotional games with their staff, constantly. Its just so brazen and obvious when you see it like this. Especially when Gates is supposed to be the anti-Jobs, and this hard-nosed programmer not a diva, but surprise, surprise its diva behavior top to bottom in the C-suites, because diva-ism works.