#aromantic dex dizznee

[asexual-juliet]

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m just supposed to end up alone,” Dex says softly as he watches the tide go out.

“What do you mean?” Keefe asks, and it’s softer, kinder than Dex might have expected it to be.

“I don’t think I—” he starts. “I don’t know. I don’t—”

Here, he cuts himself off again. “I don’t know how to explain,” he says softly.

for @gay-otlc and @xanadaus’s KOTLC aromantic week 2023!!

[gay-otlc]

loveless aro dex dizznee headcanons GO

LOVELESS ARO DEX DIZZNEE!!!!

I am hitting him with my neurodivergent laser btw. Neurodivergent Dex is basically canon but I'm hitting him with the laser anyway. He's got some funky low empathy + alexithymia there which contributes to the whole lovelessness thing.

So, he just really doesn't understand how emotions work, and no matter how much he tries to study them (like the nerd he is). He tries to figure out what love is by analyzing it like one of his machines but it still doesn't make sense.

Amatonormativity has never really been enforced by his parents, because Juline and Kesler are winning the parents of the year award, but unfortunately the rest of Society ™ is not as cool as Juline and Kesler so he internalizes a lot of that amatonormativity

He really hates the matchmaking system because of how much it fucked over his parents, but also he's determined to be a good match. He knows everyone expects him to be a "failure" like his parents and be a bad match and he really wants to prove them wrong. Except they were right, he'll never be a good match.

Once he's old enough he gets a match packet from the matchmakers, but he can't make himself fill it out, because none of the questions are anything he can answer. "What are you looking for in a relationship?" "Describe your ideal partner" etc etc. He can't answer any of those questions, he doesn't want any of that

So he reluctantly realizes that he's aromantic

Sophie explains the concept of a QPR to him (she is in a QPR with Fitz), and Dex decides that even if he'll never have a romantic partner, maybe he can find someone he wouldn't mind spending the rest of his life with, and then marry them for the tax benefits or whatever

Except the thing is. There's no one he would want to spend the rest of his life with.

He likes his friends, he wants to spend time with them, he cares about them, but he doesn't care about them enough to want them to be his partner, even if the partnership is nonromantic

He just... he cares about people, but he doesn't know if he can care about anyone as deeply as everyone else

He's always liked gadgets better than people anyway

And he cares about people, but he can't love them

This has been your daily dose of S projecting onto Dex Dizznee, I hope you enjoyed

[faggot-friday]

Shannon really missed out with Dex and I think about this a lot.

She created a character with good points and flaws, he's not cookie-cutter, and he has a life outside of romantic relationships (unlike Keefe). She set up a wonderful foundation for aro-Dex, or even just gay-Dex, and then she destroyed it with all of two sentences.

The Sophie/Dex kiss was literally just the peak of the iceberg. Dex supposedly "fell in love" with the first female elf he saw who wasn't actively trying to ruin his life, and was utterly infatuated with her. And it all came crumbling down the moment she kissed him, because he didn't feel anything for her after a year of pining.

Choosing someone to have a crush on isn't inherently an aro experience, but it's certainly something a lot of aro people have done, especially if they're aromantic, full stop.

And Shannon had him have this off-page crisis, and she could have easily just slipped in there that he was aro. She had this whole thing built up, and then she implied that he and Biana liked each other romantically, and it all jut came crumbling down.

Where in either of their character arcs was there need for a romantic relationship? It's fucking stupid. Gay-Dex and aro-Dex would have been fucking world-changing for me and other people who would have seen themselves in his experiences, and Shannon is going to pair him up with another girl who he never showed interest in before, with no explanation as to why he thought he liked Sophie. Maybe it'll be explained away with "blondes aren't his type" like she did with Tam, I don't fucking know.

TL;DR: Shannon could have made Dex aromantic, and she had the set up for it so it wouldn't be at all forced even if it was planned, and then she basically set fire to it by implying mutual romantic feelings with Biana.

[strawberryshortpace]

I feel like I’m gonna have a lot of people disagree with me but for some reason I’m getting Aro vibes from Dex in KOTLC

‘What about his feelings for Sophie’ I don’t think he was ever actually romantically attracted to her. I feel like she was the first friend he made and he confused friendship with romantic attraction

Aromantic Dex has taken root in my brain and he means a lot to me so please be nice

[gay-otlc]

Machine

Loveless Dex feat. a lot of projection! Content warning for internalized arophobia and stuff

ao3

Sometimes, Dex wishes he could take himself apart like one of his gadgets. Study how he works, examine all the cogs and gears that make him Dex . He wishes he could look at the wiring in his brain long enough to finally understand what goes on in his head. His thoughts and feelings- well, feelings doesn’t quite seem like the right word, he thinks he doesn’t quite feel emotions like other people, like maybe he’s just a little bit off. Maybe if he could take himself apart like a gadget, he’d know why .

It’s easier to think of himself as a machine than a person. Person fits like one of the appearance-changing elixirs his father taught him how to make. He likes it, he wants to be seen that way, wants to see himself that way, but if he’s honest… it’s not him. He doesn’t quite feel like a person.

He feels like a machine that has something slightly wrong with it. Maybe there’s a wire out of place. Maybe there’s a typo in his code. Maybe there’s a battery in him that needs to be charged. Maybe there’s a screw that isn’t fastened properly. There are a lot of maybes, and no certain answers, but there’s something wrong with him.

He wishes he knew what. He wishes he could take himself apart and examine this malfunctioning machine, identify the problem, and figure out a solution. But he can’t.

Maybe there’s no solution. Maybe there’s no way to fix this problem.

Dex wishes he could take his heart, pull it apart. Put it back together so that it works, because right now, there’s an error. There’s an error and he can’t love. He comes close, sometimes, enough to care about people, but not close enough for love . It doesn’t work right.

He doesn’t work right.

Dex isn’t a person, he’s a machine, and a flawed one at that. 

[arsonistblue]

Who I (personally) ship the Keeper gang with

(AKA more proof that I am a multi shipping heathen)

Sophie: Linh, Biana, Marella, Keefe

Keefe: Sophie, Tam, Fitz

Biana: Sophie, Linh, Marella, Tam

Fitz: Dex, Keefe

Tam: Keefe, Biana 

Linh: Sophie, Biana, Marella

Marella: Sophie, Biana, Linh

Dex: Fitz, Keefe

Wylie: Nobody, he’s the ace/aro big brother of the group ❤️

[gay-otlc]

Keepers Of The Chaos (3)

Summary: Tam, Linh, Dex, Keefe, Biana, and Fitz are part of the tiny fandom for Keeper of the Chaos, and Tam and Linh’s podcast convinces some of their other friends to watch it as well. The group finds themselves strangely invested in this show, where students at Tumblr High School who work together to write about an elf named Sophia, cause incomprehensible chaos, and fight their rival Pinterest High School.

Content warnings: Cursing, religion (Jewish Vackers), and Amsterdam (just in case, I know that was stressful for some people).

Word count: 1621

Notes: Most of the episodes are just events stolen from Lynn's roundup, Dex's memes are here

(Read on AO3)

The life of an amateur meme maker on dumbles dot com was a strange one, that was for sure. After finishing xyr favorite show- Ze-Ra: Monaerchs of Powhir- for the third time, Dex had searched for another show to fill the void in xyr soul. Biana recommended this show called "Keepers of the Chaos" and described it to xem. Xe was doubtful at first, but after watching the first episode, xe was hooked.

Xe used to not have many friends at xyr school, so xe did what every neurodivergent queer teen would do- made an account on dumbles dot com. People seemed to like xem- or at least, they liked dizznee-plus's memes and edits of Ze-Ra characters. Even after Dex befriended xyr squish, Fitz, thons sister, Biana, and aer girlfriend, Sophie, xe continued making content on dumbles. Around that time, the Ze-Ra fandom started dying off, and xyr memes started getting fewer note

In a sudden, two am burst of inspiration, Dex made edits of some of xyr favorite characters, like Ref, Akki, and Rose, with their respective pride flags (all of them bi) over them, and captioned it "we must be gay." The post blew up, or at least, what could be considered blowing up in Keeper of the Chaos's tiny fandom, and that was how Dex found xyr calling as an amateur meme/edit maker for KOTC.

History had been repeating itself, with the KOTC fandom starting to die off, until it was revived by an announcement from creator Saturn Nolastname- a season two would be released soon. Frantically, Dex made a meme about season one episode two, with the car salesman meme. Xe edited "chaos keepers" onto the car salesman, "the rarelynoticed" on the car, and "this bad boy can fit so many stripper outfits into it."

That had been... an interesting episode, to say the least. The chaos keepers had been talking about the antagonists of "Sophie and the Dark Duck"- a rebel group called the Rarelynoticed. In the information packet they'd been given, it was confirmed that the Rarelynoticed wore black cloaks and armbands, but no other clothes had been mentioned. Somehow, the chaos keepers came to the conclusion that the Rarelynoticed really wore neon pink leotards and green stripper heels, then drew this idea.

Needless to say, the Tumblr staff did not let them write that into the book. Nor did Lynn, the unofficially chosen leader of the group. Unfortunately for her, this didn't stop the chaos keepers from drawing more of these- or the fandom from making a ton of memes. In addition to the car salesman meme, a post with Drake saying no to "wearing normal fucking villain outfits" and yes to "leotards and stripper heels" gained popularity within the small fandom.

Though nothing could match the absolute shock of seeing the Rarelynoticed stripper outfit for the first time, Dex decided to rewatch the episode anyway- it was funny to see the chaos keepers freak out, and maybe xe could get some good screen captures. The good Saturn Nolastname indulged xem, and xe captured an excellent scene of most of the chaos keepers either laughing or screaming at the Rarelynoticed stripper outfits, with Kimber- one of xyr favorites- sitting on the side, explaining to Juno and Kaitee why Bianca Cracker was bisexual.

Xe went over to dumbles, posted the picture, added an image description, and captioned it "Live photo of me not caring when my friends talk about sex/romance." Xe chuckled to xemself- this really was how it felt to be aroace. Xe tagged it as aromantic and asexual as well, since dumbles added flag colors. Smiling, xe went to go check xyr notifications.

Xyr jaw dropped when xe saw that @lordofthesnuggles- Fitzroy (Dex didn't know thons middle name) Vacker thonself had liked and reblogged all three of xyr memes, even adding compliments in the tags! Xe'd had a bit of a platonic crush on Fitz for... a really long time, but xe always felt too awkward to talk to thon, so it was nice to see that thon appreciated xyr humor.

Feeling energized- and excited to procrastinate on xyr math homework- Dex went to watch the next episode: Dark Duck Is Jewish Now. Being Jewish xemself, this was a really funny episode to xem.

Lynn had been writing a sort of spinoff- it would be called fanfiction, but it was for her own story- about some of the Dark Duck characters celebrating Christmas, and added a throwaway line about Bianca and Finn Cracker celebrating Hanukkah. Then, her fiance, Shai, had taken that idea and run with it, writing a list of ideas about what would happen if the Cracker family was Jewish. Hir friend Sam had jumped on the idea, and soon they had abandoned writing the actual Dark Duck in favor of writing a story about Jewish Dark Duck characters. Some of the other Jewish chaos keepers, like Ref and Cat, helped out.

To be honest, it kind of surprised Dex that no one had made a joke about the Jewish Crackers just being matzah, so xe supposed xe would have to be the first.

Xe posted that observation, quickly getting a like from Fitz- which made xem smile. After a few minutes, Dex posted another meme: Shai and Sam standing in front of a door with a sign that read "elves don't have religion," and them saying "This sign won't stop me, because I can't read!"

It was accurate.

While that episode was great for Jewish representation, and funny, the Banana Noir episode was just plain weird.

It focused less on the Dark Duck than most of the other episodes, and was more about the crazy interactions of the chaos keepers. The episode was named for Banana Noir, who was really Cat Noir, but in a banana suit. Banana Noir was the son of Mellie, who looked like a shark, and Nora, who had platonically married faer. The mothers tried to arrange a marriage between him and Akki, who loved the side characters of the Dark Duck series. However, Akki wanted to marry Amelia. After a lot of shit that basically no one understood, Banana Noir's attempts were thwarted, and Lynn officiated the wedding between Akki and Amelia.

Yeah, Dex had no idea what the fuck was going on either. Xe'd watched an episode of Twins of the Chaos and a youtube video by arsonpog analyzing the Banana Noir chronicles, as it had been dubbed by the chaos keepers, and both expert opinions seemed to agree that Saturn Nolastname and the rest of the writers had probably been on crack when they made that episode.

The next episode made slightly more sense, though it was a low bar. After taking a break from the "official" Dark Duck story, the chaos keepers began collectively writing a Cinderella story about the characters Sophia and Bianca. People weren't allowed to be queer in the official story, but the chaos keepers still wanted to have fun with their obviously gay characters.

Even to the viewers of the show, who only received secondhand information about the Dark Duck characters, knew there was no way any of them, let alone all of them, were allocishet. The exact identities weren't entirely clear- when Dex had made edits of the characters' official art and xyr headcanons for their pride flags, a few people had disagreed- but both the chaos keepers and the fandom knew that despite what Shannon said, Sophia and Bianca were in love, and their Cinderella story should have made it in to the official Dark Duck story.

While excerpts of the Cinderella story were quoted in the show, most of it was left unclear, so Biana had taken it upon aerself to write aer own version of it. Dex was expecting an update later  that day, actually, or maybe the next. Ae wasn't always 100% reliable with aer update schedule. Still, Dex looked forward to when it eventually did come.

After the brief calmness from the Sophianca Cinderella episode, season one episode six, Amsterdam, exploded back into chaos. A few of the chaos keepers decided to discuss a fake scene in the book in which crazy shit went down, with the scene supposedly being located in Amsterdam. It had never been written and was never going to be, but everyone discussed it like it was real. Some of the highlights involved all the Dark Duck girls having swords (and the chaos keepers being gay for them), and a speedboat chase scene through the canals. Fitz had a popular theory that the chaos keepers would actually travel to Amsterdam in order to commemorate this crazy part of their lives. Almost as popular as that was a meme Dex made, with a man labeled "chaos keepers discussing amsterdam" and gesturing feverishly to a wall covered in papers and red string.

Of course, episode seven (Dark Duck Disney) was chaotic too. Everything was chaotic with this group, it was in the title. Shannon announced that the winning Dark Duck story would be adapted into a Disney movie. After past experience with terrible book to movie adaptations, the chaos keepers panicked. They panicked so much that it became major news within their school, which until then, had been largely ignoring the chaos keepers. Once the discussion about the movie settled down, they talked a lot about how in awe they were that their Dark Duck shenanigans were trending within the school.

But of course, none of that compared to the last episode of the season...

Dex changed xyr profile picture to include an ominous pair of teal eyes and sighed.

[gay-otlc]

Fic Masterpost

KOTLC:

A Little Bit of Love and a Whole Lot of Trust: The four horse girls of the apocalypse celebrate Hanukkah together.

A Risk I Want To Take: Marella is afraid of losing control and hurting Linh.

Alden Sucks: The Vackers are Jewish and Alden is anti-semetic. See @vacker-jew-au​ for more Jewish Vackers content.

Alien: Sophie and Dex talk about gender

Am I Pretty: I'm back to torture Biana more. Biana is Struggling™ post-Nightfall and it's yet another songfic.

And They Were Roommates: Flashback but we get the Keefe and Fitz roommates we were robbed of

Awed By Her Splendor: Sappho poetry, Sophiana, and lesbian sun and moon.

Bad With People: Dex Dizznee is good at a lot of things. One thing Dex is decidedly not good at is people.

Beautiful Mistake: Fitz and Dex had always been destined for destruction, for shouted words at a dinner table, cold glances from disapproving fathers, stormy exits from the outcast, but how could Fitz be a mistake when he was so beautiful?

Break The Rules: Marella is banished to Exillium for being a lesbian pyrokinetic, where she meets Linh and forms a gay revolution. (And fanart by the amazingly talented @thecatdemon!!!)

Cognate Rings: Fitz coming to terms with being aromantic.

Dear Maruca: Biana writes a letter to Maruca.

Defeated By Gay Panic (and a stupid elf cold): Hekster sickfic

Doesn't Pull Away: Short fic on the relationship between Marella and Fintan

Don't Know How To Love People: Stina doesn't think love is worth the effort. It definitely wouldn't be worth the effort to fall in love with Sophie. So it's easier to be an asshole to her.

Empty Space: Post-Flashback angst with Tam's found family.

Fairy Tale Kisses: The first time Marella kissed Biana Vacker, both were six years old and Marella thought Biana looked like a princess. Marella would quite like to marry a princess, she thought, like in fairy tales.

For The Honor Of The Moonlark: SPOP, but make it KOTLC.

Fortunate: Sophie tries to make latkes. It goes badly.

Flowers On The Grave: Sophie visits her old house and grieves the child that she used to be

Girls Like Girls: Biana should like boys, but she likes Sophie instead, and wonders what’s wrong with her. (A songfic to Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko)

Green: Grady and Edaline mourning Jolie.

Grom Queen: Grom, but make it Biana and Maruca.

Hearts Are Stupid Like That: After Nightfall, Maruca visits Biana in the healing center. They have a long overdue talk.

how could something so beautiful hurt?: Marella pyrokinetic Hanukkah angst.

I Kissed Sophie Foster: I Kissed Shara Wheeler, but make it Hekster.

Illegal Rebellions Can Be Stressful: Black Swan game nights.

Invisible: Biana feels invisible, and Linh is the only person who’s ever really seen her.

Jealousy: Keefe is in love with both Sophie and Fitz, and they love each other, but not him.

Keepers of the Chaos: The KOTLC characters are fans of a show... about us.

Little Miss Perfect: A songfic exploring Biana and Maruca's relationship pre-Keeper.

Lost: When he's lost, like it's gravity, he's pulled to Fitz. At least this fucked up universe gave him Fitz Vacker.

No Limits To Love: As he falls in love with both Sophie and Fitz, Keefe tries to understand what love means, and how he can love more than one person.

Pain Is Waiting Alone At The Corner: At Alden's funeral, Quinlin and Tiergan talk about the lovers they've lost.

Perfect: Fitz can’t love Keefe, because he’s perfect.

Pretendaer: Ae can’t catch a fucking break, so, a songfic of Biana struggling with aer gender.

Pride: Various KOTLC characters and their first time at a pride parade.

Sappho And Her Training Partner: Bronte is unaware that Marella and Linh are in a romantic relationship.

Say Goodbye Like You Mean It: Biana, before her friendship with Maruca fell apart + Maruca, after.

Say Goodbye The Hundredth Time: The family Tiergan has lost over the years, and how he remembers them.

Sick of the Silence: AU where Fitz moves to Solreef during Flashback.

Snap the Pen in Half: Tiergan writes Prentice letters while he's in Exile

someone will remember us, i say: Sophie and Biana read Sappho poetry.

Starlight And Superheroes: Biana, being Jewish, is one of the only superheroes available on Christmas, and she’s pretty sure falling for the villain Moonlark isn’t part of her job description.

Tales Like These Tragically End Badly: Marelliana songfic to "loved you a little."

The Owl Haven: Hollow Mind: The Owl House KOTLC au, retelling Hollow Mind.

This Is Where We're Supposed To Be: 11K Delivvy fic.

To Love Unafraid (With An Ugly, Poisonous Heart): Marella has OCD, and her intrusive thoughts center around hurting her girlfriend, Biana.

Untitled Sophiana fic: Sophie gives Biana a pride pin

Untitled Tiergan/Alden as exes fic: Tiergan shows up to yell at Alden for breaking Prentice's mind, and Tiergan and Alden are exes.

Used To Receiving Flowers: Biana hates receiving flowers from boys who only like her looks, but when she receives flowers and notes from a secret admirer who seems to like her for her, she doesn’t mind as much.

We Can Leave This World, Leave It All Behind: Stellarlune fix it, sokeefitz + run away with me trope

Writing Ask Game: Compilation: I had people send me a character and a word, I wrote short fics, and I put them all into one ao3 work.

You Rock My World: Tiergan and Prentice join the Black Swan without telling the other. They start dating as Granite and Keeper, unaware that they've already been dating as Tiergan and Prentice for years. Shenanigans ensue.

You're A Lot Like Me: Marella and Fintan parallels

THE OWL HOUSE:

Bard Magic Can Be Cool: Raine begins teaching Eda bard magic.

i tripped and ended up falling for you: Eda takes Raine to the Human Realm, trying to convince xemself it's not a date. It is very much a date.

Hey, You, Don't You Think It's Kinda Cute: Eda and Raine during that King's Tide scene.

Mundane Slice Of Life: Luz panics over her first date with Amity. Eda tries to reassure her.

Stop Running Away From Your Feelings (Hoot Hoot): Luz talks to Eda about what happend with Raine at the coven day parade.

Try Again: Eda and Raine during O Titan, Where Art Thou.

Untitled raeda fic: Eda comes out to Raine as genderqueer.

THE GREAT LIBRARY:

A Great Deal More Than He Expected: Dario reads Santi's journal and makes the shocking discovery that Santi and Wolfe might not be 100% heterosexual.

Able To Love As Deeply As Normal People: Glain and Morgan discuss aromanticism.

Born Wrong: Wolfe is queer of gender.

Deadly, But Elegant: Glain is nonbinary, feels dysphoric in a dress, and gets some more gender-affirming clothing with the help of their wonderful found family.

Too Much Love Will Kill You: Santi's biggest character flaw is loving Wolfe too much.

You Don't Have To Hide Yourself: Santi comes out to Wolfe as trans, and Wolfe decides to support him in the most Wolfe way imaginable: Researching gender.

THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES:

A Dozen Reasons In This Gun: Daisy and Basira's relationship

Skin: Analysis of Jane Prentiss and dermatillomania.

Unclean: Longer analysis of Jane Prentiss and dermatillomania + contamination OCD.