i think it depends on setting a lot of the time. for example, in "ptolemaea" because it's a westernized setting, i use "mother" & "father" to show the distance that kookv have from their korean roots since they're both born in texas & raised there, distancing them away from their korean roots. in other work, like "for you, i'd become the moon" taehyung acknowledges verbally his grandmother as "halmoni" but thinks "grandmother" just so my writing doesn't come across as a strange, koreaboo influenced work. as far as food goes, i use their traditional korean names because there's no point in using a translated one, in my opinion. no one really translates italian dishes or anything, so i think respect for the culture outweighs what's easier to pronounce.

i think as an author, you can balance these things out in a way that suits your writing style or what your preferences are !! if we catered only to our readers, we'd never grow or challenge ourselves to put our best writing forward.

the problem with some parts of the fandom is that they will often infantilize the younger person in the relationship & treat them like a perpetual victim despite the fact that i mentioned 273487234982 times that TAEHYUNG IS. INEVITABLY. THE PROBLEM. because of his unchecked bpd & that the fic was him coming to terms with how to heathily examine his Big Feelings & that tokki hyung isn't weird for being patient with him. they said i wrote taehyung WEIRD & when i pointed out his feelings/reactions were based off mine, suddenly i was a CREEP !!!!

anyway, i decided trying to be patient & understanding with people was just impossible when it came to the anonymous option on retrospring so now i'm just ready to laugh at whoever pearl clutches. like, it's a fanfiction it's really just not that deep anymore.