(good luck reading tonight ;3)
"For not always being a 100%, of course not. It would be foolish to think so."
Uh... wha?
"A large population does not make it right. I'm fairly sure most of them just assumed it was a given, in favt I know some of them here believe that and take it as proven undebatably."
And how can you make sure that they are not right?
OH, wait, didn't I mentioned that large population also includes from the Crewniverse? (pretty much I did, and again, don't get me started with me "misconstruing" them, that doesn't work anymore, as well as your so called "alternatives")
Also, they believed it because it was pretty much self-explanatory. Not just obvious.
In an alternate universe, where's the 80% of the fandom believes that Steven and Connie is strictly platonic and only few believes in the romance, I bet they'll say the same whatsover.
No, it really wouldnt be promising to have both. It takes the same old cliche and throws them on, in some sort of assurance that there must be romance in all relationships.
So what? Old cliche? This world is full of cliches, my friend.
And also, of course there's no romance in every relationships.
But in Steven and Connie's case, there is. Look harder...
It's there, you can see it, you can feel it. It's self-explanatory.
"But just because you failed to see, doesn't mean it doesn't exist"
No, the cliche is the romance. There is natural flow into romance, and there is friends. The worst cliche i can think of is when they take a hard right and force the two to click.
Wha? Cliche is the romance?
Do I have to remind you that the romance in them is NOT cliche. It's just like saying that romance in general is cliche.
Do I have to remind you of MANY romance cliches defied by the romance in them, accompanied by their friendship?
Once again, the extent of friendship is underestimated. It is complex, yet simple, and overall is less common considering modern emphasis on romance. Having them be both, is just romantic, do to underlying submission of loves based on top of romance.
I never understimated the extent of friendship. I treated both as equal as much as I can.
Less common? Watch Steven Universe,15% romance, 85% friendship/unconditional love.
Having both is literally still both friendship and romance. And it's like everytime the word "romance" pops into your mind, you consider it as 100% extravagant romance, it's not always the case. Want an example of what I meant? Two friends who have a little crush on each other. Two friends that have unrealized romantic feelings for each other. They don't want to ruin their friendship by entering a romantic relationship, yet won't mind with occasional romantic affecting being shared. Capisce?
And I thought you know that multiple kinds of love can coexist. So there's phileo and eros: crushes, love interests, puppy love, romantic friendship... and many many forms of the phileo-eros equilibrium.
As for unique defiance, it is actually extremely unique. Because what you are describing is a platonic relationship.......thats not defiance. Thats simply inapplicable to the,. I am referring to depth of emotional connextion. They are removing the romantic cliches. And yet maintaining that relationship in a platonic way, a way that isnt common.
Uh wha?
Not defiance? Do I have to link that post again?
They are defying every romance cliches along the way, but keeping both friendship AND romantic feelings UNTOUCHED.
Ever since Bubble Buddies, we all expected Connie being Steven's love interest. Steven initially acted awkwardly around her. A cliche. But then, in hindsight, it's not. We saw their friendship developed. It knocked out almost every romance cliches along the way. But then, there was a consistent connection that started to grow within them... The innate developing romantic feelings (hint: romantic chemistry, happy?)... Despite of defied romance cliches, it was left untouched. Ironically and unironically, it growed ever further...
Now that's an unique defiance~!
Defying romantic cliches by maintaining it to be platonic? What is this? It's actually a solely platonic relationship in general tbh. I mean, think about it. What's to defy if there's no romance?
If I were to discuss the relationship between their friendship and romance (crushes or whatever, NO 100% EXTRAVAGANT ROMANCE, unlike what you seem to deem my word as)...
Their friendship and romance DOES NOT touch or affect each other. Both are different variables. BUT their friendship can amplify the romance.
As simple as that~
"Them having both will achieve the EQUILIBRIUM of platonic and romantic relationships in them show."
I think I get what you are getting at... it's because platonic love is what they expressed, not romantic love thus you don't believe in the existence of romantic love. Just because they expressed platonic love DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S SOLELY JUST THAT. Yes, romantic love may not be expressed (yet) (although there's are possibilities that they already expressed romance at certain points, at least at some degree or in their own unique ways)
But they also felt it (don't get it wrong, it could be romantic chemistry, or quasiromance, and that they also felt platonic love too at the same time). Expressing and feeling are two different things. Knowing and showing are two different things.
There are few things I would like to clarify for the longest time...
Every time I say 'romantic love' or 'romance' on Steven and Connie...
- I am referring to at least 'QUASIromance'
- Simultaneously, there's also platonic love at the same time, per the 'Ambiguity' and the 'EQUILIBRIUM'. Simply put, there's both platonic and romantic love. While on micro-scale, there are many aspects that are platonic/friendship, and there are some that are romantic.
- I am not only referring to romantic love that it openly showed or expressed, but also felt and more different to subtly show romance. Don't just look for the obvious but also the subtle.
- I am mostly referring to romantic chemistry
- No forced romance here, just a natural progression~
We Stevonnie shippers find Steven and Connie's case understandable. First, is that they are best friends, we understand that they want to ruin that bond with forced romance. Not to mention that the fact they are best friends made it more adorable, complex, interesting and promising. Best friends romances starts as best friends after all.
Second is, aside from the fact that the romance (either crushes or growing feelings or both) in them is just so outrightly obvious... is that, well, they're young. So we normally don't have high expectations for them to openly and extravagantly show romance just yet, they are already as romantic as kids can get. They are in that stage where they don't worry about romantic relationship and crap just yet.
Tbh, they are the most adorable couple in the show (tied with RubyxSapphire), for they are the YOUNGEST one.
Platonic but seemingly romantic? Deep friendship? This is a very similar case with almost every Child Romance + Puppy Love + Childhood Friend Romance out there, look it up.
This fits with "... Love takes time, and love takes work" and "Best romances starts as best friends."
Another thing I would like to clear out is that.
- The second concept is also based from your so-called Garnet's "rule".
- The first concept is also based from the description of 'Innocent Romance' AND a line from one of Rebecca Sugar's statements. (Good luck finding it ;3)
- Oh also, the concept is purely based from a short fanfic namely Head Over Heels, check it out! But just in case, I'll just leave the excerpt here~
Steven watched her as she rambled on about the newest book to her favourite series, her hands flailing about in the air and moving with wild abandon. What she was talking about, he had no idea, but he didn’t mind just letting her talk. She was rather beautiful when she went on about- Wait. Beautiful? It was at that moment that he realised, Oh no. I’m in love with her.
Steven had always liked Connie. There was nothing new there, because he liked everybody. He didn’t really realise he like liked her until the first time they fused and it was so easy to see how well they fit together. Deep down, after they unfused, he knew that she liked him too. Years went by with them dancing around the fact that they liked each other, and Steven always thought it was just a simple crush.
Now, after so many years together, it was impossible to deny that he didn’t just like her. He loved her. He loved the smile she wore, the way her eyes crinkled when she was tired, and her enthusiasm for everything about his life. Just watching her talk was drawing a warm blush to his cheeks. Afraid of her reaction and changing this between them, he didn’t dare breathe a word of this to her. Or for that matter, anyone else.
- And, oh, also from A Rose Bud Blossoming. Where they expect that they'll going to have romance, when they're older. But for now, they want to stay as friends, yet they won't mind with occasional romantic affection being shared.
(If you're wondering why I am sharing fanfics here, it's because I want to clarify the concept of romance in them to you, in a detailed prose form, which seems to be not completely clear for you yet. If this is still needed to be said, there's both platonic love and romance, platonic playing a major role in their relationship, and romance being, well still growing and developing.)
If this is still needed to be said. STEVEN AND CONNIE'S RELATIONSHIP HAVE NO BOUNDS. AND IS NOT LIMITED TO PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP.
It's like you're saying that it must be only friendship, and nothing else. And that there's an uncrossable boundary between friendship and romance in them. Get this, that line is already blurred. The way they'll cross that line would take time and work.
BUT, don't get it wrong, even if they'll cross that line, they'll still be friends, just with a different label. They already are romantic compatible. They already have a good romantic chemistry. They already had qualities of a romantic relationship, and theirs is even healthier than most adult romantic relationships. But they are only as romantic as kids can get.
Despite of all that, they'll still be friends, like they always was. It's just the romance that became stronger than before. Their friendship and romance will leave each other untouched.
Reading some not-so-new fics brought up some interesting thoughts. Namely The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake. In the entire story, aside from how Steven and Connie's characters is portrayed with almost no difference from the show at all. What I caught my attention is how romance in them was written and employed in the story. For the entire half of the story, their relationship and interaction was generally platonic, almost nothing else, which features their friendship above all, which would almost leave you question if you're reading a fanfiction or watching a Steven Universe episode. But deep inside those interactions, there's some tiny details which became integral later in the story.
At one point (those chapters I linked and reposted here a long time ago)... as a fusion, a casual-bring-up of romance of certain relationship between two friends (ohkay, it's Lars and Sadie) to the questioning the possibility of themselves being in love to a talk about love with none other than Greg Universe... all leads to a realization. They are in love with each other. They are made of love. They are made for each other. They are meant to be toether.
They were ecstatic of the realization. But, after that there's almos no difference, aside from occasional holding hands and kisses, the only thing that changed is the label. After that, they are still shown to be best friends (slash boyfriend-girlfriend), dynamics remained. Now that's a promising transition from friends-to-lovers AND a true example of 'Romantic Friendship'~