This may be a dumb question, but I'm not sure where you're coming from and I'd like to be. Are you saying that the story feels gen to you because, although John and Rodney had a sexual/romantic relationship in the past, that's not what the story is about, and since it's not mainly about a sexual/romantic relationship it feels gen? Or are you saying that from your reading perspective John and Rodney did not have a sexual/romantic relationship in the past, which consequently makes the story feel gen?