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The middle ground is that 2♣ is as "natural" as a 1♣ opening when you play a "short club." Meaning, it shows either the "natural" meaning of "longer clubs than anything else" or a "convenient minor" when your plan is to raise Opener's major later.
If you use the middle approach, partner will not expect that clubs are always longer than any other suit when your next call is a raise of partner's major. So, he will not be tricked or given misinformation because the bid sometimes features that holding. Whereas you would be "controlling the auction" if you told a fib with the intention being to take over and make the brilliant decisions yourself, you are not controlling the auction if 1♥-P-2♣-P-2♦-P-2♥ merely shows heart support, a club feature (possibly Kx), and GF, because you have described your hand perfectly under your agreements. Similarly, the exact same analysis of a 3♥ raise (if forced to that level) is not a problem when partner does not expect purity of the club suit when you bid that way.
When you open a short club (4432 pattern), you also could have held five clubs and four hearts. So, when you raise partner's 1♥ response, he is not sure that you have five clubs, of course. Would you interpret playing a short club as playing a style where Opener seizes captaincy with his opening bid? Of course not. Would you consider the "short club" agreement to be anti-partnership? No.
This is the same thing. This is not as natural as a 1♣ opening would be in a 4-card major openings system, but it is not as artificial as a 1♣ opening in Precision. It is, perhaps, "quasi-natural."
