#asexual trc

[ronanlynchdefender]

Ranking The Gangsey by How Asexual I Think They Are

1. Henry Cheng - 100% canonically aroace. Completely supported by the text. In a queerplatonic polycule with Gansey and Blue.

2. Richard Campbell Gansey III - SUPER a-spec coded in my opinion. Values friendship above all else. His main conflict in the series is learning how to juggle 4 different queerplatonic relationships at the same time.

3. Blue Sargent - Demisexual-coded. She just wants to be friends with Gansey forever with maybe some sex far down the road. Her solution to knowing she will kill her true love with a kiss is simply to never kiss anyone ever. Easy peasy. Also all the scenes where Blue keeps Adam from kissing her are asexual coded.

4. Ronan Lynch - Some ace-spec tendencies but overall I think just a gay allosexual. Too many car=sex metaphors. Most asexual thing he ever did was laugh at Gansey and Adam gawking at Orla in a bikini which was mainly because he’s gay, but as an asexual, I probably would have had the same reaction.

5. Noah Czerny - Straight allosexual. First time we meet him he is a gawking at an Ashley. Even as a ghost he still manages to make out with a girl.

6. Adam Parrish - 0% Asexual. 100% Down Bad Bisexual. Attracted to any remotely hot person: Ronan, Gansey, Blue, Orla, Helen, Colin Greenmantle, Random Guy in Car Magazine

Happy pride to all my fellow asexuals and TRC enjoyers (but especially the ones who project their sexuality onto Gansey) 🖤🤍💜

[clotpolesonly]

Ronan Niall Lynch | asexual

[noa-ciharu]

I have a confession to make: all my knowledge on TB and X/1999 are second-hand knowledge (mostly from you) because if TRC and Holic already traumatised me so thoroughly, I fear trying out the other, even angstier ones. Heck, I still haven't even touched the Clover books I bought last year

Lmaoooo I'd actually say level of angst is more subjective than objective measure. Cuz yea, some tropes and tragedies are just more catastrophical than other but it's actually ours as readers emotional reaction that matters. So whilst TB and X might be 'objectively' angstier than TRC for example I'd say that as a fact amounts to nothing.

For example, Chobits hit me harder than xxxholic did. Chobits is fluff psychological drama whilst xxxholic is.... well, xxxholic. But something about asexual allegories and all the talk what romantic love truly is got to me. Similarly out of all scenes in X (like betrayal scene, Rainbow bridge, all scenes where Kamui is suffering somehow), scene that actually got to me the most is one around vol18 about the character that is nowhere near close to being my fave. Similarly I've heard that some people didn't get emotionally devastated by TB ending while it destroyed me for life ;-; out of all clamp mangas I'd say that's the one that got to me the most, no seconds

So yea, what I'm trying to say is TB or X might not necessarily hit you harder than TRC or xxxholic did

[03junkie]

the only dick i’m into is Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey III

[via-val]

hey @trc fandom does anyone have any ace ronan fanfic recs??? it's my fave headcanon and the ao3 tag is basically empty 😭😭

[aroaessidhe]

2022 reads // twitter thread

Little Black Bird

urban fantasy in Poland

a girl with telekinetic powers is forced to hide them until she's targeted by local sorcerers, and discovers their world of Slavic mythological creatures and demons

questioning aspec MC, soulmates and magical bonds

[ronanlynchdefender]

Happy Pride Month to all the asexuals but specifically these asexuals. 🖤🤍💜

Can’t wait until there is official art of Henry so I can add him to this pic. If the bees did not make it clear enough he is very much meant to be a part of this post.

[theridgebeyond]

Blue Sargent: I don’t have to remind you that I’m with Gansey, right?

Henry Cheng: Naturally not. I’m Henry-sexual, anyway.

Me: Is... is Henry Cheng ace??

[the-incrediblydeadly-viper]

‪Henry Cheng: “I’m Henrysexual”‬

‪Y’all: haha so silly, anyway sarchengsey‬

‪My aroace ass: you fools‬

[mychemicalrachel]

What a great day to remember that Henry Cheng is asexual

[linecrosser]

“A thought occurred to her. “I don’t have to remind you I’m with Gansey, right?” “Naturally not. I’m Henrysexual, anyway. Can I take you home?”    

[strawberryshortpace]

The other day (like 5 months ago) me and my best friend of 11 years were rolling skating and she started talking about dudes she’s crushing on so after she finished I went ‘before I say something and confuse you I like girls’ and she went ‘oooo anyone you like right now’

In the past 5 months we have been exchanging constant info about our crushes back and forth and she has tried to find me multiple dates (none of worked out yet)

But she 1) never asked me if I was attracted to her or say anything dumb like that 2) has never asked me anything about my sex life that wasn’t offered ‘are you a top or bottom’ ‘how do you like... do that’ 3) never told me to ‘stop making things gay’ or tell me to shut up about a crush 4) has actually pressured me into talking about my crushes on a regular basis so I eventually got more comfortable doing it so I would confide in her

Y’all I just love this bitch so much

[alaspoon]

Ace Gansey

tw for mentioned suicide attempt, panic attacks, and drinking

he first noticed that he was different when he was 14 and at a boarding school abroad. he's just as consumed with his glendower search as ever but he he's having an off week it's more than an off week and he can't stop feeling the bugs crawling all over his skin and the voice in his ears saying he's destined for more than this so he says fuck it for the night and goes to a party where he drinks a bit gets drunk.

he eventually ends up playing a game with a spinning bottle he can’t remember what it's called but damn that vodka's strong he likes the way it makes him feel all floaty and not itchy with bugs it lands on him and a girl in his english class.

they’re being shoved into a wardrobe and oh its 7 minutes in heaven and he feels kind of weird and the girl starts to kiss him and its nice she’s a nice girl she always has the best written speeches for class but then she starts to go farther and No he Doesn’t Want This and the girl’s annoyed, says he's ruined the mood and if he didnt want to have sex then why did he play the game.

he stumbles out of the wardrobe and heads back to his dorm decidedly unsettled but hes still holding a half full bottle of vodka and well, it wont drink itself.

he wakes up the next day with the worst hangover he’s ever had and is determined to never get drunk again, to never think about that night again because he’s fine, hes normal, and he needs to find glendower.

he’s 15 and he heads back home to the states after fleeing malory. he misses his family and hes so glad to see them until dinner comes and they want to catch up. his father asks “dick do you have a girlfriend?” and gansey laughs it off saying no hes too busy but something settles uncomfortably in his stomach.

after dinner he and his father sit in the library and have the kind of small talk gansey hates but puts up with and his father tells him he “knows he’ll find the right girl soon” and that he “better make him some grandchildren because who else will pass on the gansey legacy?” the wasps come crawling back and gansey wants to point out that helen can carry the legacy even better than he can, she’s not *broken* like he is; she doesn’t have nightmares every night about dying, she doesn’t balk at the slightest mention of sex, she has a boyfriend, she— gansey leaves the room, and excuse of jet lag fleeing his tongue before he consciously makes the decision to say it.

gansey is 15 and 5 months, is taking drivers ed, is best friends with ronan lynch, and is the captain of the JV rowing team at aglionby. he loves rowing, how he’s near the water but not in it, not wet, he loves how he can take out all his aggression with the woosh of the paddles and the repetitive forward, back, forward, back of his arms. he does not love the lockeroom. teenage boys flock it after practice, the cacophony of yelps and crashes as lockers are slammed open and shut, as boys roughhouse and shit talk other teams, as they talk about girls. since most of the locals wont touch the boys with a five foot pole and the boys live in a dormitory, they talk about actresses, musicians, models. their crass language makes ganseys ears burn, makes him avert his eyes and pretend he’s deaf. it works until McLloyd loops gansey into the conversation, tying it around his neck, cutting off his airway, choking him. would he rather fuck -- he doesn’t know, why does it matter, just chose one man, he doesn’t know, they whisper is he gay, why does it matter, he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know, he doesn’t —

it's one month later and niall lynch is dead, his face smashed open on the pavement, his son staring at him in shock, his insides shattering, and gansey has to be there for ronan, he has to keep the lynch brothers away from each other so they don't fall on freshly jagged edges, getting cut and bleeding out, he doesn't have time to be thinking about anything else. not glendower, not how much he misses his old friend, not how broken he feels inside, not —

gansey's 16 now and he meets adam parrish on the side of the road with his rusty bike and his mechanic skills to fix gansey's broken down camero. adam slots right into their little group, filling an empty space gansey didn't know was there. life moves forward, clues revealing themselves to him, and gansey is Fine.

ronan is admitted to the hospital and gansey is not fine. it's the st. marks eve and gansey hears his voice on the other end of a tape recorder. he sees a girl wearing a shredded dress and 6 different barrets in her hair and thinks she's pretty but he sees the way adam pointedly doesn't look at her so he tries to talk her into coming over but oh god why can’t he keep his mouth shut he's so stupid.

months pass and pretty girl's name turns out to be blue and now she's part of their little posse. they find a magical forrest, learn ronan can bring things out of his dreams, adam loses his hearing and moves into St. Agnes's, and now adam and blue are sort-of-dating and its Fine because gansey doesn't have feelings for blue, nope not at all, he supports them entirely but fuck he thinks he's in love with her.

blue and adam break up, adam and gansey fight, ronan crashes ganseys car, and kavinsky dies in a ball of flame. it's the most memorable summer gansey has ever had. blue and gansey have Something and he knows he shouldn't be but he's so glad for blue's curse because if she can't kiss him then they can't do anything beyond that. he never has to explain to her the ways he's broken and wrong and different because he loves her, he does, but he just can't do it.

they're in cabeswater and there's electronica beats shaking the world and gansey sees how ronan and adam look at each other. ronan has never hid that he likes guys but gansey's curious so when he and ronan get back to monmouth gansey asks the question that's been burning at the back of his throat for ages. "how did you know you weren't straight?" ronan stares at gansey for a full minute. "I just looked at girls the way I looked at guys." gansey nods, looking away. he can feel ronan staring at him but he doesn't pry. he has more questions than answers.

adam asks gansey what love feels like and he wants to cry because he's probably the least qualified person to answer that but he tries his best. the demon is unmaking the world and gansey is so scared, he doesn't want to die but he knows he has no choice. "blue, kiss me" the world goes dark.

gansey opens his eyes and wait what, he's alive? why is everyone crying? something doesn't feel right, there's something more under his skin, leaves unfurling in his mind, memories that aren't his flickering in the corner of his eye. cabeswater sacrificed itself for me he thinks and gansey finally starts to cry.

they've all graduated, fresh out of school with no purpose or plan except to travel the united states, to see as much of the world as they can without a passport. he and blue can be together now and he's happy, he is, but he's so scared. he won't go farther than kissing and blue's becoming concerned. the underlying tension snaps when they pull into another nondescript motel for the night. blue confronts him, asking if she's doing something wrong, if he doesn't love her anymore, but how can that be he's her true love and -- gansey takes a deep, shuddering breath and bears his darkest secrets, ripping his soul in half, crying at all the pain it's caused him over the years. he tells her about the party when he was 14, the locker room and his parents house when he was 15, the terror he feels when he thinks they'll have to go further because he's broken, he doesn't want what he should, he -- "asexual," henry interrupts with a single word, "you're asexual. you feel little to no sexual attraction" and the term is a puzzle piece gansey never knew he needed, oh god it all makes sense, he isn't broken, there's a word for what he is.

they go to their first pride in san francisco and gansey can't stop smiling because people are carrying ace flags and he finally knows he's not broken or wrong, that he's asexual and that's who he is.

[gay-ass-headcanons]

gansey is alterously attracted to both ronan and adam. i relate to him a lot. signed, ur local sad aro

[whatbutandreil]

sorry it's a day late but HAPPY PRIDE!!! here's a little ronan doodle for ya:)

this year has been a rollercoaster, with me having a complete identity crisis and all. ive come to terms with the fact that i don't need a perfectly taylored label to be a valid member of the community and that 'queer' is what feels best. ive learned that demiromantic and asexual explain a lot of my feelings and they are not a bad thing. most importantly, ive learned that i have the right to be myself and that it's okay that i am trans. i am a boy and i know that in my head and in my heart. finding myself has not been easy, and i don't think im finished with this wreck, but for now, im quite proud to be Julian Andrew:)

(yes, i did choose my new name and yes, my middle name is andrew after andrew minyard don't @ me)

[ronanlynchdefender]

An Asexual Reading of Gansey

A little while ago, I made a post saying Gansey should’ve been ace “because reasons” and then I decided to write a post detailing those reasons and here it is.

As someone who is ace, I think many ace-spec (and aro-spec) people conceptualize our romantic and platonic relationships differently than allo people might. When reading The Raven Cycle, I personally related to Gansey and how he thinks and feels about his friendships with the raven boys. Had Gansey been written as an asexual character, I think it would’ve added another layer of nuance to the unique ways in which he views these platonic relationships.

"What has he possibly done to deserve such a thing?" Helen demanded. "Are you sleeping with him?" Indignation cooled his voice. "Because friendship isn't worthy enough?" (The Raven King, pg. 303)

Gansey prioritizes his platonic relationships just as much as his romantic relationships. In fact, Gansey’s primary concerns in the entire series (aside from finding Glendower) are his intense (and often tumultuous) friendships. His friends are such a priority that he brides the headmaster in order to guarantee that Ronan gets his high school diploma. Helen assumes that only a romantic or sexual connection would motivate someone to do something so extreme, but Gansey pushes back on this idea. For Gansey, friendship is just as worthy and just as important as any other relationship. The words,  "just a friend," are meaningless in a Gansey world. If Richard Campbell Gansey III chooses you as his close friend, he will go to the ends of the ley line for you.

I think this is something that ace-spec and aro-spec people can relate to because we may also place higher value in our friendships just like Gansey does. Just because we don’t experience romantic or sexual feelings in the same way as everyone else, or at all, doesn’t mean we won’t still do batshit crazy things for other people.

For an ace or aro-spec person, platonic relationships can be just as strong as romantic or sexual relationships are for allo people. 

“Do you not want me to come?” Something stuck in Gansey’s throat. “I would take all of you anywhere with me.” (The Raven Boys, pg. 163)

This is just an absolutely beautiful line, and what makes it so is that Gansey truly means it. It’s so sincere and vulnerable. The things that Gansey values most in his life are his friendships, and he just wants all of them to be together forever. Besides finding Glendower, his dream in life is to literally live with all his friends in Monmouth. He begs Adam to move in with them. And I KNOW I am not the only ace-spec or aro-spec person who dreams about living in a big house with all their closest friends.

What was it about Blue? Adam was not suspicious of her, and he was suspicious of everyone. But then again, he was clearly infatuated. That, too, was unfamiliar ground for Gansey. (The Raven Boys, pg. 201)

In these couple of chapters when Adam asks Blue out with the guys and they find Cabeswater for the first time, Gansey is confused about Adam’s feelings toward Blue. There are a few interpretations: Gansey is jealous of Adam because he is attracted to Blue; Gansey is jealous of Blue because he is in love with Adam. Both of these interpretations are, of course, not mutually exclusive.

Regardless of any jealousy or attraction he may or may not be feeling in this scene, Gansey is genuinely confused because Adam liking a girl so openly is inconsistent with his perception of Adam. It is exactly as Gansey says. Adam doesn’t trust people.  To see Adam trust another person so suddenly and inexplicably in Gansey’s eyes is disconcerting to say the least.

At the door to the helicopter, Gansey looked back over his shoulder at them, his smile complicated when he saw them holding hands. (The Raven Boys, pg. 196)

Obviously, Adam has a crush on Blue, but this isn’t easy for Gansey to wrap his head around. It's easy for Gansey to conceptualize that Adam may admire this strange and quirky girl from afar at Nino's, but seeing them physically close after only 2 or 3 encounters utterly puzzles him.

I feel like a lot of ace-spec and aro-spec people can relate to the confusion around sudden attraction. We ask totally reasonable questions such as how do you know you like someone after only having one or two conversations with them?

If Gansey was written as asexual, one could interpret this scene as Gansey not understanding the nature of Adam's romantic or sexual attraction to Blue. It would not be Adam’s crush that puzzles Gansey but also the idea of crushes altogether.

[Side note: Just imagine a version of Raven Boys where Gansey is lamenting the downfall of his queerplatonic relationship with Adam because Adam has a crush on a girl. It’s not even too far off from what actually happens in the books. Lmao]

“We’re friends at once, we would instantly do what friends would do for each other. Not just pals. Friends. Blood brothers. You just feel it. We instead of you and me. That’s jeong.” Gansey was aware on a certain level that the description was melodramatic, heightened, illogical. But on a deeper level, it felt true, and familiar, and like it explained much of Gansey’s life. It was how he felt about Ronan and Adam and Noah and Blue. With each of them, it had felt instantly right: relieving. Finally, he thought, he’d found them. We instead of you and me. (The Raven King, pg. 360)

How interesting that Gansey bonds with Henry Cheng, The Raven Cycle’s most aroace-coded character, about the concept of platonic soulmates. This point is pretty self-explanatory. I feel like a lot of ace and aro-spec people relate to the concept of platonic soulmates.

In conclusion, I think making Gansey asexual could’ve added another layer of nuance to the already nuanced relationships he has with all of the members of the gangsey. While it is evident in certain scenes that Gansey was not intended to be an ace-coded character, I still resonate with the ways Gansey feels about his relationships.

Also, I know I wrote about ace and aro-spec people in general for this post, but this is mainly from my own personal perspective so obviously the points I make are not necessarily representative of the entire community.

If any other aces (or aros) are reading this, let me know if you relate or if this is just a me thing. I’m curious to hear what other people think about this topic.