[ID: Fanart of Hak hugging Suwon tightly. They have their head in each other's crook of the neck. The lighting is yellowish with a white background and some feathers. end ID]
Thank god you're alive
(pose reference from this post https://x.com/MrsGhostStudio/status/2049681317080555833?s=20)
Thought this would be a suhak fanart at first but this is too angsty for me ,, but I like the idea of su won still feeling guilty but hak already has forgiven him😭
So. I wanna talk about Su-won re: relationships, specifically in the context of how I write him as aroace (I think you can make the argument that a lot of different aspec identities can be supported by canon or are just cool for him to be, which I also support!). And this post is specifically my own headcanons, so it's not 100% based on canon because canon is. Vague on the specifics of his disinterest in romance. So I'm doing my own thing and filling in the gaps.
Now while I tend to only write him aroace in my own fics, I do vary in where I write him on the sex and romance-repulsed to sex and romance-favorable spectra. If I'm writing him romance and sex-repulsed, then he's either non-partnering or might be okay with a queerplatonic relationship, in the right circumstances, but is probably satisfied with his friendships and familial relationships alone. If I'm writing him romance/sex-indifferent to romance/sex-favorable, then he'd still likely be perfectly happy with a queerplatonic relationship or without a partner entirely, but he'd also likely be okay with a relationship with limited romance/sex so long as his wishes and boundaries are respected. I do think he'd enjoy aspects of the romance and sex too, in his own way.
(See more thoughts under the cut!)
Now, talking about specific people... I do think Su-won would be incredibly picky with any potential partner. This varies a bit based on where on the repulsed to favorable spectra I write him on, but I think they would have to be a) someone he is already very close with and trusts a lot, b) someone he hasn't sorted into another category in his head (i.e., "this person is like a sibling to me in the literal sense, not the 'this is my comrade' sense"), and c) it would need to be someone with established romantic/sexual feelings for him that also hasn't tried to push those feelings on him or expect romance/sex from him. The last one is because I can't see Su-won initiating a romantic relationship on his own, since he'd be satisfied with the relationship if it was pure friendship and would see no need to change the dynamic if the other person didn't have romantic/sexual feelings for him. At the same time, if he knows someone likes him in that sense, assuming they're okay with either being queerplatonic and/or respecting his boundaries, he might entertain changing the dynamic at that point either to have a queerplatonic life partner or romantic/sexual partner to occasionally engage with romance/sex as his comfort levels allow.
So, Yona is out because although they're close, Su-won has sorted her firmly into the "she's like a little sister to me" category, so I don't think he'd ever entertain a relationship with her other than a purely platonic/familial one. Lili is also out because she shows active romantic disinterest in him, which he might find refreshing (because of the fear of comphet and women only spending time with him because they want/expect romance). So because Lili is never going to express romantic interest in him, he'd have no interest in being anything other than friends with her in turn.
Now. Hello Hak. He's actually a great partner for Su-won, in my humble opinion, whether that be queerplatonic or romantic/sexual. I do think he's fully allo, and that while romance and sex are both very important to him, Su-won's happiness and comfort would be far more important to him. Dude was willing to dedicate himself to Yona in canon despite the belief that she'd never return his feelings, so I can fully see him accepting and being happy with a queerplatonic relationship and being fully chill and supportive of any and all boundaries Su-won might have, so long as he still gets to stay by Su-won's side. He's someone Su-won trusts a lot and has been close with for a long time, plus I fully believe Su-won might've been Hak's bi awakening (it's canon shhhhh). I think he satisfies all of Su-won's strict requirements and that they'd be super cute with one another <3
Zeno is another fun option, for different but related reasons. Zeno is 2,000+ years old. Man has probably had all the sex and romance he could ever want and then some. I can see him falling for Su-won, because of the echos of Hiryuu that Zeno sees within him but also as his own person, and I can see them ending up spending a lot of time together post-canon. I think it might take Su-won longer to warm up to the idea of either queerplatonic or a romantic/sexual relationship than with Hak just because he hasn't known Zeno as long, but I think once he realizes that Zeno is someone he can trust who'd respect his boundaries, he'd be on-board. I think Zeno would be perfectly content with a queerplatonic relationship or whatever else Su-won would be happy with, because like I said, he's probably had all the sex and romance he wants in his life and is happy to just be with someone he's fallen in love with. (If you want more of this, I've got an entire Suzeno fic exploring this dynamic lol.)
Also to be clear, I personally don't think gender plays a factor in who Su-won might pick as a partner (though full respect to differing thoughts on that). That I mainly think he'd work with men is just by virtue of him being picky and process of elimination. Since I headcanon him as not really experiencing any romantic/sexual attraction as an aroace, factors other than gender and physical appearance are going to play a much larger part in his selection of any kind of partner, whether that be queerplatonic or romantic/sexual.
Anyway, thanks for listening to my thoughts! I adore aroace Su-won (or any headcanons that make him any kind of aspec), so I'm happy to chat about him lol.
Kusanagi made Suwon's dialogue here unreadable on purpose. based on Hak's reaction, either Thank You or Sorry? Maybe? We'll have to wait the chapter where it's gonna be clear.
