to the point of purposefully subverting typically-romantic AUs (such as hanahaki) in my fic, for platonic uses

Okay, but this sounds fascinating. I love the hanahaki trope (even though I often wish it was more tragic) but I've never seen it used platonically before.

Fanfiction does seem to revolve around romance, which I don't usually mind, but which can feel exhausting at times, especially when it comes with the devaluing of non-romantic relationships.