#Aromantic (Love) Story

[whoishotteranimepolls]

"Who's Hotter?" Pride Month Event: Canon/Coded Aroace

[redysetdare]

enough stories about how someone learns to truely be happy through love. i want a story where someone is desperately seeking out love thinking it's the only way to be happy only for them to learn by the end that happiness is what they make of it and they don't need love at all to make it.

[aroandawkward]

I can't stop thinking about Isaac Henderson in Heartstopper, and the inherent isolation of being an aroace person in a romance story. Because, at the end of the day, that's what Heartstopper is - it's about the romance between Nick and Charlie. Even when the narrative has expanded outwards to focus on other characters, their plotlines are primarily about romance: Elle and Tao, Darcy and Tara… It's true that Isaac has a loving friend group and the show doesn't devalue platonic love in the way that many romance stories do. But nevertheless, as an aroace person, Isaac is at odds with the genre of the story in which he lives. The tropes that shows like this are built around don't work for him.

Something that really hammers this home is how the scene when Isaac and James kiss mirrors Charlie and Nick's first kiss. In both scenes, two boys are sitting on the floor away from the main action of a party, one admits to having a crush, the other nervously wants to know whether it's them, and then they kiss. In his version of that scene with James, Isaac is experiencing a moment that - for another character - could be a beautiful moment in a romantic storyline.

For viewers who weren't aware of Alice Oseman's promise of an aroace storyline for Isaac, his interactions with James in the early episodes of Season 2 could easily have been interpreted as the beginning of a romantic love story. The rest of the main Heartstopper group have certainly been viewing his friendship with James through that lens, as shown by the way they tease him about it. But those plot beats of a romantic story don't work for Isaac. Trying to fit into the romance genre pushes Isaac in a direction that feels wrong for him. He is the one person in his primary friend group who can't make himself at home in a romance story.

I don't mean this as a criticism of the show. There is a lot of value to love stories like Heartstopper and there is a lot of value to having aspec representation in a show like Heartstopper. But I think this is the reason why Isaac's plotline felt particularly heartwrenching for me. Sometimes being aroace does feel like being out of step with the genre of story everyone else around you is living. Sometimes it feels like trying to find a place for yourself in a narrative that wasn't built for you. Sometimes it feels like trying to prove to yourself (and the world) that you can still have moments that feel like swirling leaves.

[mercury-and-scry]

ummmmmmm girls

[infiniteorangethethird]

less "this story has no romance in it" and "this story has aspec characters in it", more "this story is about aromantic people and aromanticism" please and thank you

[the-band-list]

aro culture is having to grieve the idea that you had of love and relationships in your head when you realize you will never actually have them

[losergaymothman]

I don’t think you guys UNDERTSNAD how important Edwin and Charles’ relationship is to me as an aroace person. THAT is what I want from a relationship. Something such an obvious mix of romantic and platonic and I-don’t-even-know that all the lines blur bc the only important thing is that you love them like you’ve loved nothing else and are so devoted that you would do nothing else but love and protect and cherish them for all your worth. isn’t it the love that matters more than what type of love it is? why do their labels need to be so cut and dry? why does it need to be anything more? why can’t they just be? why can’t they love each other how they want to love each other? why do they need to be anything else?

[seaglassdinosaur]

I know we collectively agree that Hiccup isn’t romantically inclined, and his getting married and having kids didn’t make sense in the epilogue, but consider: Hiccup getting married for political reasons.

It’s a marriage of alliance, which is recognized both by him and his partner, and they enter it without expectations of romantic involvement. Since they’re now married, they live in the same castle, spend time together, and Hiccup finds he really likes his spouse. They’re funny, get along with his friends, and has the same interests and values. They both probably speak multiple languages. She understands why Hiccup is so dedicated to making the Wilderwest better, and holds similar views. She’s a good politician (her job after all, was to be an ambassador). Hiccup likes spending time with them, and the feeling is mutual. They’re not in love, they have their own lives, but they’re dedicated to each other and eventually decide to raise children. They teach their kids how to train hawks and hunt with dragons, riding, history, the Languages, and all the necessary skills of their world. They’re not in love and they’re happy together.

[silverirony]

shrue changing the promised bride tale to better suit their political agenda was just so. from a story about a young woman who gives herself over to the trawler-man to avoid getting married (a parallel to carpenter's aromanticism) to a pro-war propaganda meant to encourage helpless people to sacrifice themselves to feed the gods. they created a love story from something that was never meant to be one and then weaponized it. i am going insane

[aroace-cat-lady]

Amatonormativity is OUT queerplatonic relationships are IN

[milkymoon-ramblings]

Romance is actually kinda boring??? Come back to me when you write a story about falling in love with your environment, when you notice that the green grass makes you smile just a bit better, when the sunset makes you moved to create something that you can’t describe but utterly inspires you, when you help raise a plant from a seed and you feel so proud of yourself and the plant for managing to grow it and for growing.

That’s what I’d like to see.

[noxious-fennec]

A scalpel used to cause pain, a surgeon taking life. many such ironies

[nyenylon]

Happy pride to the asexuals and the asexuals only (/j)

Certain this isn't all of the asexual Nysland citizenss

NAMES/SEXUALITIES/GENDERS/PRONOUNS

Charcoal: Lucius - Aro/Ace, GNC, They/Them

Purple: Cythian - Gay/Ace, Cis Male, He/Him

Blue: Grey - Unlabeled/Ace, Unlabeled masc, He/She

Pink: Merk(Mercurio) - Panromantic/Ace, Transfem nonbinary, Any Prns (They/Them default)

Red: Alexander - Aro/Ace, Cis Male, He/They (He/Him preferred)

Green: Lucia - Omniromatic/Aegosexual/Polyamorous, Intersex GNC, She/Her/Any

THE TWO ON THE RIGHT ARE NOT RELATED TO THIS POST AS THEY ARE NOT ASEXUAL!3;3!3!!

[mossiestpiglet]

[ID: a panel of a manga with a character in profile. He has light, shaggy hair and dark bulky clothes. There are three text bubbles which read, in all caps, “But I’ve…” “…never been interested in anyone…” “…the way you have.” End ID]

Sunakawa you aro icon

[oldtvandcomics]

Anyway happy Pride Month to my favorite type of character which I call "might be asexual, aromantic, gay, or a combination thereoff, but it doesn't really matter, because it is very clear that he does NOT like women and his life partner is a man, so clearly One Of Us."

[marxistgnome]

The star trek I've seen has only really focused on the negatives but i think it would be really nice to date or be in a relationship with a vulcan. Like the idea of someone that wants to be with you not due to a feeling but due to a well thought out logical choice? Someone who came to the decision of wanting to stay with you because they thought it was the wisest course of action? Weak at the knees. To me I find putting genuine thought and consideration and then picking someone is far more romantic than doing it based off feeling. Sign me the fuck up. Sarek and Amanda were fucking LIVING