#“Oh but I hc they're aspec!!” you say as you don't take ANY time to actually portray it in an accurate way.

[unnamed-idi0t]

hey btw i don't really appreciate my identity being used as an excuse to ship aro/ace characters

[awaysantiana]

Help, aroace Izzy has broken my heart and brain. It's too powerful, it really shouldn't happen. The resentment of the power of love, the reliance on structures that recognise the value of your non romantic relationships, the experience of sexuality through kink. If not aroace spec, why relatable? It's like the forbidden snack of Izzy readings.

YEAH i feel like i'm breaking into a container of cake at 3 am when i think about aro and/or ace izzy. like literally any combo on any part of the spectrum is just so good to me, i'll take any and all of it and stare at it all day. i'm certain that izzy wasn't deliberately written as aspec, but subtext can be unintentional. i've seen a few other people hc him as aro or ace so at least i'm not the only one in the fandom, so i think there's fertile ground for a subculture within the izzy enjoyer society.

it's especially compelling to me since 90% of aro/ace hcs tend to revolve around funny sidekick types instead of main characters (much less angsty ones), and while that's all well and good and i indulge in it myself, i LOVE villains and quixotic characters. the whole abandonment + resentment angle that izzy has taps into a narrative that we don't really get to see explored since aro/ace characters are usually written more lighthearted/don't have a story arc of their own. but the struggle against loneliness in a world that doesn't take it seriously is, arguably, more essential to the aromantic experience than rolling your eyes at gooey couples (though it is very funny and izzy's Moments with lucius and ed/stede swordfighting never fail to send me).

The Power Of Love is absolutely a part of the muppet mechanics that's tripping him up so badly-- people keep doing weird things chasing pleasures and objectives he doesn't understand and it should have gotten them killed a dozen times over, but somehow it's normal and everything works out fine and he's the odd one out. which is literally what middle school felt like to a 12 year old me, once all my peers were starting to have Realizations and i was not. and for a while i hated them, the way izzy hates the crew, because the rug has been pulled out from under you but you're the only one who tripped on it and you feel like you've gone crazy because you thought the rug was a carpet nailed solidly down to the floor.

and thank you for bringing up kink!! god there's so much to say about asexuality/aromanticism and kink, but i'm not going to go into it because it seems like you're already aware (but again, if anyone Does want to know, my inbox is open since i know kink/BDSM isn't really discussed much in aspec circles here). but yeah, if izzy has any sort of sexual feelings towards edward, they're definitely stemming from his devotion to him and their long friendship more than any traditional sense of attraction, if that's present. which really lends itself to D/s stuff and fandom picks up on that (which i love). and like a lot of aspecs, izzy's definitely not the Confident And Free type, because in my experience, being ace or aro means that you're coming into relationships with an extra vulnerability, and even people that you'd assume would be more fine with casual flings (ie alloaros) tend to be quite selective and cautious. most people need a lot of trust in someone before they're willing to bone them, and for allo people, romantic attraction and dating is the conduit to build that trust. for aro people, that isn't really an avenue they can explore, so they have to build rapport other ways, like exploring the kink community, which is very good about respecting boundaries, building trust, and not catching feelings. oh, and being asexual tends to mean you have less instinct for what's Inherently Sexy and what's not, so the wires for things like, say, choking (or getting your toe cut off...) can definitely get crossed with the sexy wires. and when that stuff is further crossed with the impossibly deep feelings an aro person can have for a friend? insane. it's so similar to romance in so many ways and can sometimes be indistinguishable from an outsider's perspective, but it's like a bi man and woman, or a trans couple dating each other-- it's just so different on the inside.

and as (deliciously) tragic as it is to view him as aroace while he's still the villain, it'll feel so good if they redeem him. because it's well-acknowledged at this point in queer circles that coding villains as gay or trans in order to make the audience dislike them more is fucked up, but there isn't as much dialogue on that for ones that don't love at all. usually those are considered the Worst ones, the ones that can't be redeemed at all because Their Brains Are Broken And They Are Incapable Of Experiencing Love, The Meaning Of Life, which is unfair to aspecs and to people with some personality disorders. could you imagine how juicy it would be to finally have that trope acknowledged and then stomped firmly into the ground? like i'm just dreaming of an ending where they say "yes, your feelings for edward do matter, he loves you too, and your world and muppet world can exist together without you hurting each other because there's nothing inherently competitive between romance and friendship." obviously i'm not saying that's the only ending i'll be happy with, just that that's what i'd love to see if they went the "sympathetic aspec izzy" route.