HyoUn did see him as a parent to an extent tho…he never used the words “father”, but he’s said stuff like TaeHyuk raised him into who he is and they both make comments about TaeHyuk teaching him things. I agree with what you’re saying, but I also understand why ppl feel a lil icky.
i agree with why people feel icky!! even i do because of the initial arrangement and decade long “raising”. but i hate people calling their situation grooming or that tae was making moves on a child essentially. i wanted to explain hyo was always an adult, but while (even i think) it’s dubious- he’s never been mentally a child and took on that form to survive!
for me, when hyo says tae raised him i take it more like nurturing and showing him the good parts of humans > viewing him as a literal parental figure. which could just my cope tbh
exactlyyyy and same
tho i do find it weird that he was willing to change his role in HyoUn’s life like that. Even if he didn’t groom him, it feels like that teacher/student relationship trope where it’s like “yeah i was 18 and in hs, but im graduated now. let’s be in a relationship”…that’s where i find it weird on TaeHyuk’s end.
trust me i feel the same… i was complaining about that in real time which is why i brought up the initial arrangement and raising. my only issue is people not conceptualizing hyo was never a child
i was hoping hyo would physically change SUPER quick and then be with tae for however long. but stretching out those years with each younger hyo made the relationship unnecessarily controversial and for what! at first i thought it’d be one of those grew up overnight situations. he’d be a kid/teen for two weeks at a time and then boom adult form. but no a decade is insane
with tae falling in love after the weirdness passed somehow (?) i place full blame the onto the author because any other build up could’ve sufficed so i wrote a different version in my head idk
no srsly there is def sumn to be said about the author’s writing choices. they def made this a dubious situation.
he was never a child how come you’re still stuck on that. i understand it’s uncomfortable that they were together ten years during the young to adult form, but that was the whole point. supernatural beings don’t adhere to human laws or morality but he never saw tae as a parent. did y’all forget, he only took on a child’s appearance because he admired the care and affection they received? not because he was physically and mentally a kid
tae on the other hand was really conflicted and it took him time to accept the person he raised was never young nor easily impressionable. he’s probably regressed back into a kid because he once again feels safe in that vulnerable form? it’s supposed to be poetic and obviously not for sexual means tf…