Hope I wasn't one of the people who caused the confusion. :) I often cite canon as an example to answer the question of "How much romance/relationship references can there be in a Genfic?".
But other than that I don't think that the characterization has to match the canon source at all. To me it just shouldn't be more romantic than canon (potentially even less), but other than that...you can take two characters, interpret their relationship as a friendship. You can write them as friends who are secretly using each other, who are best buddies, who love each other but don't really understand each other, who can rely on each other, who can't rely on each other, who are secretly envious or in competition with each other, who teach each other, who give each other strength, who joke around, who talk about serious things, who support each other without words. Some of these characterizations might be great and in character and others might be totally wrong and bad writing. But they all explore the non-romantic/non-sexual angle.
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But other than that I don't think that the characterization has to match the canon source at all. To me it just shouldn't be more romantic than canon (potentially even less), but other than that...you can take two characters, interpret their relationship as a friendship. You can write them as friends who are secretly using each other, who are best buddies, who love each other but don't really understand each other, who can rely on each other, who can't rely on each other, who are secretly envious or in competition with each other, who teach each other, who give each other strength, who joke around, who talk about serious things, who support each other without words. Some of these characterizations might be great and in character and others might be totally wrong and bad writing. But they all explore the non-romantic/non-sexual angle.