#(tbf this guy has a history of Not Knowing Things because the texas education system will do that to ya 😔)

[brutal-nemesis]

Feel free to ignore this and im sorry if i word it poorly, but I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious and want to learn as I don't know any aroace people in real life! You said you have a boyfriend, but you don't feel romantic attraction. How does that change having a friend vs having a boyfriend?

No worries I'm happy to talk about it!! This might get kinda rambly but oh well shove it under readmore so i can talk forever

So I think for my boyfriend, I think it's just like more intense platonic feelings? The sorts of things I want to do with him are things I would be fine doing with someone else, if that makes sense. Cuz a lot of aromantics/aro-adjacent people struggle with telling the difference between romantic and platonic attraction, myself included. At some point I defined romantic as wanting to do certain things with Them and Only Them, while platonic is like I would prefer to do xyz thing with them but if I did it with someone else it wouldn't be weird. "Doing things" in this case ranges from eating a meal together to cuddling (for me things don't go beyond that physically). Idk if I explained it well enough but that's the definition I use for myself.

So like I still love him and care about him a lot and everything but it's not quite the same way he loves me (he's straight). I at least can sense a sort of difference in how we feel about each other, idk if he can, but it makes me more certain that my feelings for him aren't romantic, and that is okay. He's known I'm aroace since before we started dating (he was super scared to ask me out because of it rip bozo) so we've always been on the same page about all of that.

And you're probably wondering why I did agree to go out with him if I don't have romantic feelings for him. For starters, I've never been opposed to the idea of having a partner, but it was more of a "if it happens great and if not that's fine too" kinda vibe. In the months before we started dating we'd gotten really close as friends and did some cuddling because that shit can totally be platonic yk. He caught feelings somewhere along the way cuz Straight and when he asked I said yes cuz I do want to be with him. I wanna hang out all the time and go for hikes and watch Ghost Files and make dinner together and let him have some of my ice cream.

I could do those things with someone else and still have fun, but I'd rather do them with him. So it's platonic, in my eyes, but it's still very much love.