#but my default setting for non-blatant romance is platonic

[askshivanulegacy]

This! I don't even know how many shows I've seen and books I've read that were clearly and unquestionably platonic until I went online about it. :')

Korra and Asami from Avatar, case in point. Platonic as HELL. An after-the-fact retcon doesn't make an entire series of platonic moments into romantic.

Zero indication is zero indication. If characters aren't obviously being lovey-dovey on-screen, a platonic relationship is just as valid as a romantic one, and LGBTQ+ doesn't make it any more valid.

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED