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This is for a poetic endeavor.
The person allowing this is a people pleaser and lacking in self-esteem (obviously). They feel they are in love with the “user” and although aware that the “relationship” is one-sided, they make excuses and would rather put up with being taken advantage of than lose them. They believe that patience and perseverance will pay off in the end.
Can I suggest milquetoast?
a timid, meek, or unassertive person
A milquetoast person knows they are being abused, but does nothing about it. I think it fits pretty well, though the word is often associated with cowardice.
One possibility:
Merriam-Webster doormat
2: one that submits without protest to abuse or indignities
It's metaphoric extension of the basic meaning - someone who gets "walked on" a lot.
A fashionable word is "simp". It refers to men who allow themselves to be used by women in the hope of receiving favours or approval.
The older meaning of this word is "simpleton", however in current usage, this has been pretty much usurped.
Here is an excerpt from an essay on the origin and meaning of the term.
The internet teen slang simp, as is true of many slang terms that go mainstream, appears to come directly from Black hip-hop slang—and it’s older than you may think.
Hip-hop lyrics from the late 1980s and 1990s were already using simp as an insult for a men perceived as too subservient to a woman. For instance, on Ice-T’s 1987 “Our Most Requested Record [Long Version],” DJ Evil E raps: “Taking out all simps and suckers …” Urban Dictionary entries in the early 2000–2010s also use simp in this way
Consider servile:
too eager to serve and please someone else in a way that shows you do not have much respect for yourself
Cambridge Dictionary
If the person is a man and the word can be a little vulgar then pussy whipped would be an option.
The Free Dictionary: "pussy whipped: (vulgar slang) Totally controlled, domineered, or emasculated by a woman. Typically said of a man. Sometimes hyphenated or written as a single word."
She was subservient to her partner to a fault.
Cambridge Dictionary defines the term as
adjective • disapproving
willing to do what other people want, or considering your wishes as less important than those of other people:
- Women were expected to adopt a subservient role/position.
Co-dependent — this was very popular in the 1980s. I'm surprised it hasn't shown up yet.
From Mental Health America via Google:
A tendency to do more than their share, all of the time. A tendency to become hurt when people don't recognize their efforts. An unhealthy dependence on relationships. The co-dependent will do anything to hold on to a relationship; to avoid the feeling of abandonment. An extreme need for approval and recognition.
The Caimbridge English Dictionary] defines "enabler".
You can read the definition from Caimbridge I supplied, or readthe following novel definition:
For any two persons x and y if x provides somthing to y which y uses to damage themselves, then x is said to be an enabler of y.
An Example:
Sarah was an enabler of her husband's gambling addiction. She even sold her mother's jewelry in order to supply him with more money.
I immediately thought "tool", but that doesn't necessarily imply love as a motivator. Also, "tool" subtly implies not knowing you're being used (possibly willing disbelief), so that makes "tool" less favorable than "doormat".
But it might rhyme!
Why does it always have to be one word with these posts? I just do not get it.
Nonetheless obsequious and credulous are the two words I should use to describe the person about whom you are talking.
A person who allows themselves to be used, perhaps with hope of a romantic pay-off is said to be "passive".
