#but Luke is aro

[legolasghosty]

if this doesn't scream boggie, i don't know what does: They smell like sparkles and sunshine and I want to kiss their stupid face so bad

Bobby slammed the apartment door behind him, heading straight for the couch. He didn't slow down until he was flat on his stomach, his burning cheeks hidden by a Gayosaurus throw pillow ("Like a normal gay, but more awesome!") that Willie had found somewhere six months ago. Bobby wasn't ever sure where he found this sort of thing. He'd given up on asking when they were still in college, the two of them and Alex randomly paired up in a freshman dorm.

"What happened here?" the previously mentioned pillow finder said from somewhere above Bobby.

The soft click of Alex closing their front door properly was followed by the drummer's sigh of, "Reggie, what else."

Bobby felt the couch dip near his feet as probably Willie sat down. "You wanna talk about it, dude?" they asked. Bobby couldn't decide if their tone was sympathetic or teasing.

"No," he mumbled into the pillow.

Look, dating your bandmates didn't work out well. Reggie and Luke had been together for a bit when they were all in college and it had burned hot and fast. Bobby had been sure the band would break up for good when they called it quits. It had taken a whole new person, Luke's now queerplatonic partner and their band frontwoman Julie, to get the two of them to talk it out and become friends again. Even then, it had been a rough couple of months for all of them.

So, no matter how pretty Reggie was or how sometimes Bobby thought he leaned a bit closer to their shared mic than necessary, they couldn't be a thing. It wouldn't work.

"Dude, you can't just keep ignoring it and hope it goes away," Alex sighed, now sounding much closer. "Remember how I tried that and it failed? Epicly?"

Bobby lifted his head just enough to shoot Alex a glare. "That's not the same thing," he protested. "No offense, Willie."

"None taken," they chuckled. "But Lex has a point. Shoving it down doesn't work, and it might just turn out better than you think."

Bobby dropped his face back down to the pillow and flipped them both off. "No."

He felt a foot nudging his shoulder, indicating that Alex had found his perch on the back of the couch above him. "Bobby, Reggie likes you back, you guys just have to get your acts together and talk about it."

"Hypocrite," Bobby mumbled. But he groaned and rolled onto his side, glancing up at his roommates and best friends. Maybe talking it out would help erase his stupid crush on his bandmate. "I know he maybe thinks I'm cute or whatever, but it wouldn't work. The band almost broke up when Luke and Reggie did, and I can't be responsible for doing that to you guys. I just can't."

"Okay, I get that," Alex began. "But what makes you so sure the two of you wouldn't work? I mean yeah, Luke and him didn't go so well, but there were a lot of reasons for that."

"Very much including the fact that they were 19 and neither of them had actually been in a serious relationship before," Willie added. "And I love them both, but their communication skills aren't the best now, let alone two years ago."

"You and Reg are good for each other," Alex continued, giving Bobby that heavy, open stare that he usually masked behind several layers of sarcasm. "He gets you out of your routine and trying new things. You help him slow down and talk things out."

"You're both better people for being around each other," Willie agreed, one hand resting on Bobby's ankle. Then the corner of his mouth quirks up. "Not to mention the fact that you guys practically make out at the mic every other song."

"We do not!" Bobby insisted, forcing himself up on one elbow. "Mic sharing is totally normal."

"Mic sharing, yes. But you two take the phrase 'eat the mic' a little too literally," Alex laughed. Then his amusement faded. "But seriously. You like him. He likes you. And we're all semi-functioning adults who can at least pretend to be emotionally mature. At least talk to him."

"Even if you decide not to give it a shot, at least you'll have been honest with each other," Willie said.

"But what if it messes everything up?" Bobby asked, hating how small his voice sounded. "I mean, yeah, he smells like sparkles and sunshine and I wanna kiss his stupid face so bad, but I don't want it to destroy the band. Or our whole... family."

Willie's expression is now solidly in the sympathetic zone. "But what if it makes it better?" they countered. "I mean, Lex and I were great as friends, and we're better as partners, and we're both better friends to the rest of you because of being together."

The smile Alex gave them for that is enough to make Bobby fake gag and throw the Gayosaurus pillow at them. But... maybe they're right.

"Hug time?" Alex questioned.

Bobby just nodded, suddenly feeling heavy at the possibility of having Reggie as something other than a bandmate. But heavy in a good way, like crawling under his weighted blanket at the end of a long day.

Alex dropped down onto the couch beside him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and pulling him in. Bobby let Willie resituate both of their legs on his lap. He usually wasn't one for being manhandled by his friends, but it was nice to let them take care of him every once in a while. He tried to focus on the clean and salty scent of Alex's hoodie and the easy movement of Willie's thumb on his ankle.

Maybe, just maybe, they had a point. At the very least, he owed it to Reggie to let him be a part of the conversation, right? Bobby let out a soft sigh. This meant he'd have to actually have a conversation about it with the bassist. But he was getting better at those at least. It was 'healthy' or something. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe they would be okay.

"So..." Willie mused after a while, "what do sparkles and sunshine smell like?"

"Screw you," Bobby groaned, hiding his face in Alex's chest.

[artemx746]

can people start obsessing over queerplatontic ships the same way they obsess over romantic ships

[drownedscribe]

Happy Valentine's Day y'all! –your local Arospec guy

[Part 1 & Part 2: Couples Version]

[random-colorpicked-pride-flags]

Pride Flags Colorpicked from Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

[is-the-character-aroacespec]

Is he graysexual and demiromantic?

💜 🩶 🤍 🩶 💜

🖤 🩶 💚 🤍 🖤

Reasoning: In the main content he has no romantic relationships; all his deep feelings are platonic. In the Expanded Universe, he does have one romantic relationship, but he doesn't even get together with this person until years after they first meet and work together. He doesn't seem too impressed or affected by sexuality around him either, though I get the sense he wouldn't necessarily be opposed either

[some---weirdo]

"Do you think we're lovers in every universe?"

"Bro, we aren't even lovers in this universe."

[ernestlaytonpolls]

[edge-oftheworld]

shakes EXACTLY captures the vibe of *longing for what you think is a romantic relationship* *when you look deeper you realise what you yearn for is actually deep connections and for every part of you to be known and healed*

[cabin10diaries]

i love fucking with canon so much that i have friendgroups that dont make much sense or have any canon material except in that au

luke clarisse beckendorf silena chris & jake

thalia nyssa laurel mitchell pollux castor & zoe

annabeth katie travis holly clovis & drew

jason connor & valentina

nico lou cecil celyn & will

percy piper & leo

hazel reyna frank & lavinia (actually. this one makes sense but adding anyway b/c it's a part of the au so)

bianca kayla julia alice lacy & billie

estelle yan harley georgina & meg

[twobellsilence]

tungler is recommending me a blog about something that's always annoyed me. And honestly I think?? enough time has elapsed since the thing's source came out so there's less of a chance that I'll get crucified for this so ima drop a hot take about it.

I think people who genuinely thought / still think L/uca and A/lberto from P/ixar L/uca were on a romantic relationship have severe shipping brainrot and should re-evaluate the way they approach relationships of any kind. Shipping them from a fandom standpoint is one thing, you do you, but I distinctly remember there being massive discourse either about the fact that "they were pretty much canon" or about the fact that the movie was "queerbait" because "they were very clearly a couple but we never got confirmation" and then when some people who worked on the film came out and confirmed they were Not a thing they were blasted as homophobic which. Always seemed incredibly stupid and disrespectful to me.

Why did these two children having a very, very close friendship have to be interpreted as romantic? You could make the argument that, by this point, they've already been conditioned with society's view of romance and thus their behavior towards one another IS knowingly romantic and not platonic... But have they? They're still children. They still love their friends like, well, children do. And romance was never really the point of the movie, was it? It's about love, yes, but not romantic love, and approaching it from an amatonormative lens defeats the entire purpose. The protagonists are children for a reason; the writers wanted to explore the whimsy of childhood friendship, the bonds and the admiration and the messiness brought on by emotional immaturity and how these relationships can develop and strengthen over time and despite hardship, without any of the social complexities that you acquire growing up. How children, who are less conditioned by society, can find common grounds even with people so seemingly different from them that adults would shun, and how these preconceptions can harm those they're aimed at even when unfounded. Children hug their friends and sleep with their friends and look to their friends in awe and wonder because it feels right for them, because they aren't older teens / adults who by this point have been conditioned to think that doing this is explicitly romantic and would send the wrong message. It is a wholesome, real showcase of platonic love and its role in our development as people during childhood, and reducing it to "uhm actually they were boyfriends" not only shows a lack of media literacy but implies the narrative isn't valid unless the love present between L/uca and A/lberto is explicitly romantic, which is extremely disappointing.

Listen. I'm not saying gay love between pre-teens is problematic. I'm saying that y'all let your perceptions of shipping permeate the narrative and made you think that SURELY they were a couple when that's inaccurate and also missing the goddamn point and then you got mad when the people who LITERALLY MADE THE STORY went "that's not the approach we were going for actually" and at that point it's entirely your fault

[narcissusbrokenmirror]

aro Luke be like "no, u dont get it. I want a girlfriend...im just so busy with my band that i dont really have time for it."

"Sure making out is hot but i cant get really involved with anyone rn I'm trying to make it big in the scene."

"Of course I'm bisexual, i have chemistry with everyone, i could date anyone who i really like.. I just won't, because my bandmates are the most important people for me."

"Yes i like romance, i like writing love songs and ballads and some of my favorite songs are romantic."

"Okay, okay, I'm not into dating. Sure, i like making out and cuddles but i can do it with my friends."

"All i really wanted was a relationship where we're not necessarily in love with each other but we could still do all the couple stuff, and write love songs together and never get married. "

and he doesn't even realize.

[stimmy-stegosaurus]

Okay so as someone who is greyromantic and has experienced a bit of both, the feelings are remarkably similar, but still different in a way that’s really tough for me to describe.

So I have my boyfriend, and the crushy feeling I had with him was very different from anything else I’d experienced. And if it hadn’t been reciprocated I could’ve dealt with being friends, I guess, but there probably would’ve been some jealousy because I knew what I wanted even if it took me a little bit to decode the feelings.

But I also really didn’t like having a crush.

It’s nothing against him! At all! It’s just that relationships are hard and our circumstances were messy and I was scared and the feelings were strong and I just didn’t like it. But I’m glad things worked out and we’ve been together for as long as we have.

On the other hand, I have a friend crush in the way the original post describes on this person I met at my school.

The day I first talked to this dude (via email first for a student org related thing), I thought he was cool as fuck, but I expected that vibe to chill once I actually got on campus and all. The day I actually met him irl, I knew I wanted to be really good friends with him. There were a handful of people I met around the same time and felt like “I need these people as besties, and I need it soon,” but the vibe was always strongest with him.

We talked at this student org’s meetings almost weekly but it was a group thing and he’s cool with everyone so I was just kinda there. Very sure I wouldn’t get far with this idea.

Over winter break, I’d sent a message or two, not really expecting a reply; I try not to assume that I mean anything to anyone.

Imagine my surprise when a few days before the semester starts, he tells me he had a really rough break, which is why he hadn’t replied, and he actually wanted to know if we could hang out outside of meetings at least once (which happened! It was really cool actually!)

He graduated at the end of that semester, but we’ve kept in touch as much as we could, and I actually saw him irl last week.

(Sorry for the infodump, he’s just also kind of a hyperfixation rn which is awkward and sucky imo)

Anyway long story short (and using this example instead of an example with a friend I talk to daily ONLY BECAUSE my friend crush on him was about a decade ago and the one I talked about above is recent), the biggest difference for me is what label I wanted out of the connections.

See, I love strongly either way. I want my life to be intertwined with my boyfriend’s life, with my best friend’s life, with this friend crush’s life, all of it.

I just really love my boyfriend as my romantic partner, and if we changed our minds and decided to “just” be besties, that’s fine; I’ve always preferred having more than one bestie anyway. But want I want wouldn’t change, it’s more the label itself that varies.

With my best friend, whether we’d swap to a romantic relationship is questionable. I don’t know how I’d feel about that. But I like where we’re at right now.

With my friend crush, I want to know him the way I know my close friends. And I’m okay with him knowing me the way my close friends would.

Deep down I want what I used to read about: the relationships where there are adventures and late-night deep conversations and silly immature things.

I may also want to buy out an apartment complex and have all my loved ones all live near me but like that’s an entirely different fantasy.

As an aroace person, friend crushes are INSANE. And I don’t mean this like “oh I want my friend romantically” I mean like “I need to be this person’s friend so bad they are so cool!!!!” Like there’s this mutual I have on tiktok who I have been sending cat stickers to back and forth all day. The day we have an actual conversation about something will be the day I’ve won. Like is this how allos feel when they have romantic crushes on people???

[ernestlaytonpolls]

[veradragonjedi]

Who would you date Luke or Mando?

AAAAAHAHDHSGRHRHRHRGHR. OKAY. UM. WOAH. @airlocksandaviaries HHYRNBRNRHHHRRRRR I ambgghhh totally into both of them but I think Luke—

I'm gonna be unhinged in the tags of this

[celestialrealms]

ohhhh my goddd I was subjected to these tags PLEASE vote for barbatos

[FINALS]