Yeah, like, the wiki listing everyone's terms as "[whatever age] mentally and physically" really had me being like did you protect the virtue of the fictional character because none of that matters if they truly are suspended in a prepubescent body relationship or emotionally neutered or however it works that they don't know that love exists until they're off the Flame Clock. Either way, the implications are fucked up and their sexual maturity would be on the level of a fucking child, if that is genuinely something that bothers people rather than just being something to signal their goodness and inclusion in a group with.

And it kind of sucks because the implications of "these characters can bond emotionally and experience attraction and affection, they just don't have the language for it" are fascinating to me. My favourite ship is powered entirely by how tragic the idea of being in love with someone who is warm, genuine, appreciative and affectionate and doesn't know what love is, it's one-sided pining up to the max and it only really reads like that if I let the "they don't know what love is" worldbuilding stand on its own. The writers just didn't think through what a mess conflating sexual attraction with emotional bonding would be, because they never are, because heteronormativity is a mind prison.