huh. now that I think about it, I do think I conceptualise jonah/elias as aroallo, without even really intending to. his attraction to Jon may take on features and conventions to romance in places but it is not a straightforward romantic attraction at all.
there’s pride in his creation, a magnetic draw born of their shared affiliation with the Watcher, an appreciation for someone who understands him more than anyone else. a fondness for him as a whole. the desire to not just guide and nurture but almost consume and posess Jon. sexual attraction, yes. but. none of that is… inherently romantic.
and as for jonah as a much younger man… well, no man he sleeps with will expect a committed relationship of him. they know better than that. He cares without necessarily loving, and maybe that can just be written off as not wanting to sneak around in an imitation of courting when nobody will acknowledge them for what they are. jonah, quietly, knows that that is not the case, but does not correct anyone.
(“love” sits wrong on his tongue. he adores, he cherishes. he does not love.)