I’ve read your posts about honorifics in Thai bl with an older seme/younger uke and how usually the younger character tries to subvert/get out of that traditional honorific system quickly. (For power, maybe equal footing, whatever the reason.) I’m watching Future and Fuse is younger by 3-ish years (?) which I wouldn’t think much about except the age gap has been mentioned in almost every episode, usually by people being surprised/having negative things to say. But Fuse seems to have no problem calling Ana P, and even seems to enjoy it. He acts all cute when he’s drunk and really drags it out. What are your thoughts/opinions on this if you have any? I’m just curious as to your input ☺️ Do you think it’s just a natural bl progression, or that the seme/uke dynamic isn’t strong enough for it to matter? Do I even have them classified correctly or am I just spinning my wheels?
I think all your observations are pretty accurate. And I think part of it is progression of the industry. But a lot of it is this franchise which tends to be soft and fungible in its role assignments (Mark, for example, basically switches from seme to uke in between installments). With the exception of Vee (who's a disaster) it wields soem of the softest semes in the biz.
But note they are still dropping meehas like they are going outa style? So the script is still married to top/bottom, if not necessarily seme/uke.
But to me, most of it is in the characters.
Fuse thinks he wants the S/u dynamic, but he's not actually that into it. And that's because he has no experience, so he only had his fantasies. He's still figuring it all out.
I think this is all a comment on Fuse's innocence. Language play and everyone calling him a dek (kid/child) and the way he kinda relishes being a drunken baby with P'Anaaaaa. He's more uke clingy than seme obsessed, although we saw jealous angry seme in this recent ep. Fuse was clearly uncomfortable with those emotions too.
In the end a lot of Fuse's uke-ness feels natural because he is an innocent and acts younger. His seme-ness feels performative as a result. He's just a big baby puppy. He growls if he has to, but he'd rather flop around with his head in his bf's lap getting belly rubs.
This is his first relationship, and Ana has all the experience and heartbreak. That's what the script and linguistics are revolving around. The age difference is being emphasized for that reason. The implication is that P'Ana might be "too much" for Fuse to handle.
But then the story keeps showing us that this doesn't matter. Fuse doesn't really want to handle Ana, he just wants to be with him, and he's willing to go whatever direction is necessary for that.
I guess what I'm saying is, putting S/u aside, if Fuse turns out to be a top in the end, he's definitely a service top.
