The nuance of '媚びる' is tricky to capture in a single English word, but 'to fawn over' comes closest in my experience. It carries that sense of excessive flattery or obsequious behavior to gain favor. I remember watching characters in 'The Crown' fawning over royalty with exaggerated deference - it perfectly illustrated that dynamic.
Another option is 'to grovel,' though it leans more toward humiliation. When a character in 'Game of Thrones' groveled before Cersei, it wasn't just flattery but desperate submission. The Japanese term can sometimes imply more subtle social maneuvering than outright groveling though.
'To curry favor' works well for workplace contexts where someone might excessively compliment a boss. I've seen this in office dramas where junior employees strategically praise superiors while hiding their true opinions - that calculated social dance feels very '媚びる' to me.
人間関係のダイナミクスの中で生まれる特別な絆について考えると、dom/subという概念は非常に興味深いです。これは支配(dominance)と服従(submission)を基盤とした関係性で、必ずしも性的な文脈だけに限られるわけではありません。
日常生活でも、指導者と弟子、先生と生徒といった関係に見られるような、信頼と責任を軸にした相互作用が存在します。重要なのは、この関係が双方の合意と尊重の上に成り立つこと。『50 Shades of Grey』のようなポップカルチャーの描写とは異なり、現実のdom/sub関係は綿密なコミュニケーションと境界線の設定が不可欠なんです。