idk man i tried reading this cs yall said it was cute but its weirding me out how mr brown...

I gues to each their own....I don't really see it as being gross. They're both literal kids, they're both growing up. The age diff is judt 3 years apart. A kid can't necessarily be predatory. Mc is developing feels for the personality of ML and the adult version of him some day. It would have been more wrong if he fell for his kidself's look more. So pick your poison i guess?

like you said, to each their own
see, personally- how i felt when i read this whole story was how it wasn't exactly wholesome it made me feel weird seeing a kid getting sexualised, even if it is by another kid- who is a high schooler btw, and i mentioned how i was uncomfortable especially cause the 11 year old here doesn't look like one and he looks like an elementary kid and seeing such a pure kid getting sexualised was.. gross.

when shortie's having such pure love for the mc, the mc's out here js sexualising and fantasising this kid growing taller and stronger like each chapter, i could've tolerated one or 2 scenes but this shit outa hand to me

also the part of you saying 'there's js 3 years apart' is also icky, not cause i got a problem w age gaps its because the emotional maturity of a 15 yo is different from that of a 11 or 12 yo, ykwim? its different from a 23 yo dating a 20 yo, it all comes down to your own morals, but personally i dont fw it

I can see where it could come off as weird in some cases. But I think our mc is a lot purer than you think. At an early chapter, shorty basically said that once he gets taller than MC that he is going to ask him out ( in fewer words because he’s not the best at communicating lol). But since our mc already likes him, he is patiently waiting for that time to come. And as it is a coming of age story, there is the awkwardness of figuring out your sexuality and normal teenage hormones. Our MC having to deal with that a bit more, but it’s quite normal to think of the person you like. And he’s thinking of a future where they’re dating, which, based off of what shorty said, isn’t going to happen until he grows. So I feel like that may explain why he thinks of an older version of him

I never saw it as him..sexualising it tho.

I don't know why you think he was sexualizing MC? He wasn't jacking off to his potential future self, nor was he thinking of explicitly sexual things.

Hugs and stuff don't really make...it sexual? Am I just naive? It didn't come across as sexual.

Maybe eventually down the line that will be explored but they haven't done that yet.

If it helps, look up the definition of "sexualisation of children"
"The sexualization of children refers to placing adult attributes on a child's body and then assigning meaning to it. " which is what this story revolves around, and i dont fw that.

Adult attributes refers to sexual things though. Like, associating certain outfits or attributes as being "sexy" or "loose". Look, we're not going to agree on this so I'm going to stop bothering.

I guess I tend to look at things with a glass half full approach. Anime and manga has famously been known to make characters that look pre-pubescent even when they are supposed to be adults or hell, even elderly.

I think trying to put specific meaning to a drawing style is going to get you nowhere especially in the anime/manga community which is notorious for it. For more age appropriate drawings mahua/manhwa are your better bet. In fact, moving on completely from high schoolers are a better bet because technically speaking, drawings about highschoolers who are even the same age getting it on (as they do in most manga labelled yaoi and coming of age, is technically pedophilic from the POV of the readers and author).

I personally don't think there's any deeper meaning to it or anything malicious behind it. I think you're digging deeper into something that at face value isn't as malicious. You're essentially making out of a mountain into a molehill.

They're BOTH kids. One younger than the other yes, but both at pivotal turning points in their teenage hood. I think the MC (Mr brown hair as you put it) isn't as perverted or sexual minded as you think. I don't think he's specifically thinking about those attributes as being sexual. He is simply flushing at the idea of ML being his age based on the ML'S brother he has met. It's supposed to be more of a romantic development and feeling.

Or maybe, my asexuality is blinding me to the part where he has been "sexualized". There's a difference between imagining a child doing adult things and seeing them as being mini adults or equal to adults vs. Picturing a fictional future adult version that doesn't even exist and may not even correlate of a child and not seeing them in that light while they are a child. It's also totally different if what they're Imagining are simply innocent things that revolve around romance than sex or sexual things.

Once again, I never see anyone sexually so perhaps that's why my view is skewed from yours. With that said, I won't argue my point further. You can think of me as whatever you want and furthermore, it really doesn't matter what you think of a drawing. They aren't real people at the end of the day and more important things happen every day in the world like actual Child Marriage, Child Pornography etc.

Have a good day :)

No cause it’s actually funny because I feel like a lot of people tend to dismiss age gaps when both of them are minors but it’s still weird. Like one of the replyers said it’s only just three years apart but it’s like 12 and 15, what sophomore in high school likes a seventh grader? Like lmao that’s very peculiar and it is a very big mental gap like that is pretty odd lmao. Like yeah they’re both kids but it’s weird lol. and then it’s like with that logic. When do you draw the line with that “they’re both kids”? would it have been fine if he was 11 as well or… The age gap that they have is literally a freshman and senior in high school and everybody already knows how weird that is and in all honesty gross so. But the summary does say that they’re both in middle school like first year in middle school and 3rd yr in middle school which would be 2 years no? so it’s like as long as they’re in the same education bracket if you know what I mean. Like I find the story cute but I can acknowledge why it makes you feel uncomfortable when you think of it like that.