#lithro!hide

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Journey

[ID: A Tokyo Ghoul manga panel showing Hide as a child, nervously scratching his cheek as he asks with a bright smile "So, do you want to become friends with me?" End ID]

Featuring: Hide's queer journey over the years. Word Count: 2300 Content Warnings: Imposter syndrome, mentions of arophobia, brief mention of homophobia

[ID: a long arrow pointing right, serving as a text break. It has repeating bands of flags on the stick, alternating between the allo-aro and rainbow flags. The arrow has a grey point, brown stick, and green tail fletching. Credit to K.A. Cook @/aroworlds. End ID]

Like most queer kids, Hide grew up under the assumption that he was straight. He didn’t know about queer people as a child, and being straight was the only option.

And then, he got adopted by two dads. He was intrigued that a man could fall in love with another man and spend their lives together happily. It opened his world — that liking girls wasn’t his only option.

His dads told him that they were okay with Hide’s sexuality regardless of what it was. If he ended up liking girls exclusively, or guys exclusively, or liked them both. They taught him that sexuality was complicated, and couldn’t be forcefully changed.

Hide was pretty sure he liked girls. He had a few fleeting crushes on girls in his previous elementary school years. And then, at this new school came his first crush on a boy. Hide didn’t even know his name yet, but he knew he was in love with the nerdy black-haired kid in his class. He seemed lonely and didn’t seem to have any friends, so Hide went to introduce himself. Hide didn’t have any friends either since he was new to class, and he wanted to make this boy happy.

When he went home, Hide gushed about his new crush to his parents. His first crush on a boy.

Hide called himself bi as grew up. It was one of the three label options his parents gave him: straight, gay, or bi. And he was attracted to both girls and guys, so he called himself bi. In middle school, he joined a queer club, and he learned about more sexualities beyond those three. He learned about pansexuality, and a bit about asexuality. He also learned more about transgender people, and how some of them identified outside the binary of male and female. Hide found it all interesting, and he was determined to learn more. Along the way, he found more comfort in the label of pan than bi, and so he changed it.

After Hide settled in his label of pansexual, he was ready to come out to Kaneki. He was pretty sure that Kaneki was accepting of queer people — he was accepting and respectful of his dads, after all — but Hide knew that your friend coming out as queer could be shocking and change your relationship. He was scared of losing his friend, but this was important to him, and Hide wanted Kaneki to know.

“Have you heard of the LGBT+ community?” Hide asked one day over sharing fries.

“Of course I have.” Kaneki replied. It wasn’t a lot, but Kaneki heard of it once in a while. There was an openly gay kid or two at their middle school.

“I’ve been looking into it, the different identities and such.” Hide began. “And I... I’m not straight...”

“You’re gay?” Kaneki asked. He never would have guessed. And seeing how Hide always ogled girls, it didn’t seem right. But if he said he was—

“Well, no, I’m not gay. But I’m not straight either.”

“I’m not following...” Kaneki said.

Hide gave him a look. “Do you know what the acronym LGBT stands for?”

Kaneki opened his mouth, realized he had no clue, and then shut it. “Uh, I actually don’t know, sorry.”

“The L and G are lesbian and gay, and the B is bisexual and the T is for transgender. But there’s also a plus that includes a bunch of other identities too.”

“Oh. So then, what are you?”

“I’m pansexual.” Hide said.

“And that means...?”

“I’m attracted to people regardless of their gender. I like girls, and I like guys, and I like people that are in-between or neither.”

“But... isn’t that... what everything thinks?” Kaneki asked. “To like both girls and guys?”

“Mmm, not really.” Hide said. “I’m pretty sure it's not. If you think it is, you might wanna look into the LGBT+ community too.”

“Really?” Kaneki asked. He had never considered that he might not be straight. Although he supposed having a few fleeting crushes on boys should have been a hint.

“Anyway, I hope this doesn’t change anything...” Hide whispered.

“Of course it doesn’t!” Kaneki cried. “I accept you! I don’t mind!”

High sighed in relief. “Thanks.”

“I’m sorry, I should have said that to begin with...”

“No, no, it’s alright.”

Kaneki leaned over and hugged him, and Hide welcomed it.

In the next few months, Kaneki continued to question his sexuality, and Hide helped him out best he could. After a while, Kaneki settled on the term bisexual.

---

Throughout his school years, Hide joined many clubs, but his favorite was always the Gay-Straight Alliance. It was there that he met other queer people — people like him — and made many acquaintances. Kaneki never joined, too afraid to find out if his aunt was homophobic, but Hide filled him in on any queer news and even set him up to meet a few acquaintances — to know that the two of them were far from the only queer people in this school.

Hide also enjoyed collecting pride items, especially pins. Although Kaneki wasn’t open about being bisexual, he was still proud of it, and so Hide decided to get Kaneki a bisexual pin and keep it with his own pins. Kaneki could take it whenever he became comfortable enough, but until then it would be on Hide’s bag for Kaneki to admire, and know that Hide supported him.

---

In late middle school, Hide decided he wanted to start dating. So he confessed to the girl he had a crush on, and she accepted. She was cute and pretty, and Hide and Kaneki had often talked about her. Hide was so excited and giddy to finally have a girlfriend, but then the dating officially began. His feelings rapidly changed towards her, while hers seemed to stay the same towards him. He cared about her, but he no longer loved her. After less than a month, he broke it off.

---

Maybe I am gay, Hide thought. He had heard about compulsory heterosexuality, so maybe that was what had happened to him?

A few months later, and he crushed on a boy. An openly gay boy in one of his classes. They started exchanging glances, then playfully flirting, and then he confessed and Hide accepted. But the same thing happened as with his previous partner. After a few days, his feelings suddenly changed, and after a month he had to break up with him.

And through both of his failed relationships, Kaneki was there, comforting him through the heartbreak. Except, it wasn’t heartbreak. At least, it wasn’t heartbreak in the usual way. Hide wasn’t upset over his relationships ending. His romantic feelings had faded long before the breakups, and his exes would still be going to the same school. They could still remain in touch and be friends. What was there to be sad about?

His real heartache was learning that his exes took the breakups worse than he did. That they didn't want to remain friends after it.

And the whole time, Hide wondered why. Why had his romantic attraction faded so quickly? This didn’t seem to be what the average person experienced. And since it happened twice, it didn’t seem to be a fluke. He knew it would happen again.

The only relief was that Hide once again settled into his identity of being pansexual, because he continued to get crushes on all genders. But his fading attraction still nagged at him. Was pansexual really right? Was he a different orientation?

Hide began to experiment a bit. Each of the next crushes he got, he would daydream about them as much as he could. And he found that even his romantic daydreams had a limit. At a certain point, he would get bored, sometimes even repulsed, with the romance in his daydreams. It always came after imagining them reciprocating or entering a relationship.

So, Hide swore off dating. He knew that if he continued to date, his feelings would just fade again. He already broke two people’s hearts, and he didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

And really, it wasn’t that bad. As his classmates stressed over their dating lives, Hide was spared from that gossip and stress. Although there was the occasional insistence that he should date so-and-so, or people theorizing what his “actual” sexuality was. But Hide had more time to focus on his friend, his hobbies, his hyperfixations, and his schoolwork. He was happy.

Kaneki’s love life was another story. As hard as he fell in love and as much as Hide encouraged him, Kaneki never dated once in middle school or high school. Hide had to admit, it was kind of relieving. It was for very different reasons, but it was still nice to have that solidarity with Kaneki being single. And anytime classmates tried to give Kaneki shit for it, Hide stood up to them, knowing just how annoying those words could get.

Yet one of the most curious things, was that Hide still had a crush on Kaneki. He didn’t want to confess, for fear of jinxing it and having it fade like the others. But Hide enjoyed all the butterflies and happiness Kaneki’s presence gave him. He didn’t want Kaneki’s feelings returned, and he also didn’t need it. Sure, Hide had his bad days like everyone did, but he was happy the way things were, and he was grateful for Kaneki’s friendship in his life.

---

“Next, I’d like to talk about Aromantics: people who don’t experience romantic attraction.”

Hide perked up at that and he raised his hand to indicate he had a question.

“Yes, Nagachika?”

“Romantic attraction? Like, crushes?”

“Yes. Aromantics don’t get crushes on anyone.”

Hide had never heard it before, and part of him wanted to insist that couldn’t be possible. But in the past several years he had realized just how little society knew about sexualities and genders, so it had to be real. People who didn’t feel romantic love — Was it really that unusual?

And something else nagged at him. Something that hit a little too close to home.

Romantic love, huh? Maybe I’m aromantic.

But no. That couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be aromantic. He got crushes. His feelings were romantic. He knew that.

Hide sighed and slouched. He never did figure out what was up with his sexuality.

“—the grey area of the aromantic spectrum.”

Hide perked up again at the word “spectrum.”

“These aros experience limited romantic attraction.”

It's a spectrum? Then… Then maybe I’m somewhere on it?

Unfortunately, that had been the final note of the aromantic section of Haru’s speech. Haru moved on to talk about another sexuality, and then onto gender identities.

After the vocab lesson, Hide ran up to talk to the club member.

“Hey, Haru!”

“Yeah, Nagachika?”

“Earlier you said that aromanticism is a spectrum. Are there, like, more specific details than that?”

“Yeah. It's a really diverse orientation. Anything specific you want to know?”

Hide thought about it. Should I tell them? This club was judgement-free, and everyone was open about their identities, and Hide was open about his identity even outside of this club. But it was still nerve-wracking to admit he was questioning, especially this soon.

“Are you aromantic?” Hide asked instead, hoping the question wasn’t out of line.

“No, but I am asexual. It’s similar, and has similar roots.”

“Ah. Well. I, uh. What you said got me thinking…”

“You’re questioning if you’re aromantic?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright! How can I help?”

Hide smiled at him. Haru was always so kind and willing to help.

“If I am, I think I’m somewhere in the grey area.”

“Alright. Well, there’s tons of identities. Can you limit it down at all? Why do you think you’re arospec? Do you know how you experience romance?”

“Well, I do get crushes. But…” Hide hesitated. “They sorta… fade?”

Hide braced himself.

You just need to try harder.

You’ll find The One eventually.

Those comments echoed in his mind.

“Fade, huh? That could be Frayromantic, or Lithromantic, or Aroflux!”

Hide’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected there to be one term, much less three!

“Greyromantic is also sometimes an umbrella term. And there might be a few others, but these are off the top of my head.”

“Wow. That’s— What do they all mean?”

“Let’s see. Greyromantic is usually rare or conditional romantic attraction, but anyone who falls into the grey area can use it as an umbrella term. Frayromantics get crushes on strangers, basically, and the attraction fades when they get to know people, as early as knowing their name or interests. Arofluxes have fluctuating romantic attraction. Some days they’re in love, some days they're not.”

“Wait. Most people are in love all the time?”

“Yup.” Haru laughed. “I mean, it fades naturally with time, but that’s after several months for it to chill out a bit and then years for it to fade lower.”

Hide hummed. Technically he knew that, but it was easy to forget when that wasn’t your personal experience.

“You sound pretty arospec already.” Haru laughed. “I had one more term, right? What was it? ...Oh yeah! Lithromantic! Lithromantics have romantic attraction that fades at reciprocation.”

“Reciprocation?”

“Yeah. The way I’ve seen them describe it, is that they’ll confess and if the person reciprocates, it’s like ‘poof!’ Those feelings are gone.”

Hide nodded slowly. “That’s like me. I get crushes often enough. But I dated a few times, and once I got in a relationship, I felt nothing. I tried so hard to get it back, but… it didn’t come. And it all just felt wrong.”

“Sounds like romance-repulsion. A lot of aromantics feel that way about relationships, but not all of them. Anyway, you should look into those terms.”

“I definitely will! Thank you so much!”

“No problem! I’m always here if you have more questions! And I have a few arospec internet friends, if you want anything one-on-one. They’d all be happy to help!”

“No aros here then, huh?” Hide asked sadly.

“Not that I know of. Sorry.” Haru said. “But if it makes you feel any better, I’m the only asexual here too.”

“Well, thanks again. I better head off.”

“See you tomorrow, Nagachika!”

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

This is so pretty!!! Thanks for the tag!

@tokyoghoulaspecs I uhh..i made a thing?

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Like I said in my last post, I’ve been putting more and more aspecs into my writing lately. This fic in particular is being written extremely scattered, so i have no idea when it’ll be posted, if at all. But I wanted to at least share the aspec bits I have written!

This time, it’s Hide’s segments!

(Word Count: 2200)

(Warnings for a brief scene of romance and lots of internalized aphobia/amisia)

[This takes place shortly after Dragon, while the ghouls are all still staying at the CCG]

“Um, Hide? Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Of course!”

“So, um, I was thinking about what you said...” Kaneki began.

“Which one?” Hide asked. So much had happened over the past few weeks, Kaneki could have been referring to literally anything.

“A-about... you liking me.”

“Oh.” Hide could feel his face heating up. He’d almost forgotten about his confession.

“And, I think I’d like to try? As long as that’s okay with you?”

Hide lunged and hugged him. “Of course it is!”

Kaneki hummed contentedly and hugged him back.

-

It was 3am, and Hide was awake staring at the ceiling.

He had forgotten the reason why he stopped dating in high school, why all of his relationships ended badly. Something was different about him — about his sexuality. Kaneki had just confessed and they became a couple, and already Hide could feel his feelings changing. Most people would write it off as anxiety, but Hide knew better. He’d felt this feeling before, and he knew what was happening. His romantic feelings were fading.

Hide groaned and ducked his head into his knees. “I was hoping I would be fixed by now.”

He had given up dating after he broke two people’s hearts. Two people that he had loved romantically, and even when his romantic feelings faded he still cared about, but the relationship became too much for him. Too many expectations, too many things he didn’t understand, and he had to end it. After not even a few months, going from passionate to repulsed, he unintentionally broke their hearts. And then they broke his when they screamed at him, accusing him of never loving them in the first place.

He had hoped that taking a long break from dating would fix whatever was wrong with his sexuality. He had loved Kaneki for so many years, with none of it fading, even when Kaneki went missing time and time again. Hide thought it would stay forever. But now that they were in a relationship, it was fading.

“Maybe I can hold on, and it’ll come back.” Hide said, trying to ignore the fact that he said the same thing in his prior relationships, and it had never worked before.

-

“I love you.” Kaneki whispered, nuzzling him before kissing him on the cheek.

Hide pulled away. “I can’t.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

Hide shook his head. “It’s not you. It’s me.” He grimaced. “I know that sounds cliché, but its true.”

“What’s wrong? I can fix it.” Kaneki reached out to take his hand.

“It’s nothing you can fix!” Hide snapped, yanking his hand away.

“Hide…?”

Hide stepped back. “S-sorry!”

“Wait, Hide!”

“I’m so sorry.” Hide ran off.

-

Hide tried to busy himself with CCG work, which Marude was more than happy to provide. It was boring, but gave him time to think, which he really needed. And after a while, he needed someone to talk about it with.

“Hey, Marude-san…” Hide began. “What are your thoughts on queer people?”

Marude laughed.

Hide winced and continued on his work. Maybe they could just pretend he never said anything.

“So you’re saying you’re queer too, huh?” Marude asked. “I guess I shoulda known, the way you talk about that one eyed bastard.”

Hide perked up. “Too?”

“Hm?” Marude looked at him. “Yeah. You’re far from the only queer person I know.”

“Really?”

Marude gave him a look. “Nagachika, you really think everyone is straight, in the entire CCG, all these years I’ve worked here?”

“Well, no, but…” Hide trailed off.

“So what are ya, then?” Marude asked. “I noticed you said queer and not gay.”

“I’m pansexual.”

“Which one is that?”

“It’s kinda like bisexual. Usually people use it to mean more gender-blind, whereas with bisexual there’s usually some internal difference with attraction to each gender. But not all people use it that way.”

Marude hummed and nodded. Hide was glad he accepted it at face value and didn’t try to pick it apart.

“But the past few days, I’m beginning to think I’m something else…”

“What, like you’re just gay or just straight?”

“Not like that.” Hide shook his head. “Like, an additional label.”

“Transgender?” Marude guessed.

“Not trans, but you’re on the right track on how trans is an additional label on a different axis.”

“Then what label are you thinking about adding? I’m at my limit of vocab here!”

“Aromantic.” Hide said, deciding to keep it as simple as possible.

“And that is?”

Here it comes…

“Not experiencing romantic attraction.”

There was silence. Hide braced himself.

“Romantic?” Marude asked. “So, wait. Separate from sexual stuff?”

“For me, yeah. But some other aros don’t experience sexual attraction either.”

Marude hummed. He seemed to accept it, but Hide couldn’t tell what he was thinking beyond that.

“So what’s the issue?” Marude asked.

“I can’t love.” Hide whispered. “And that’s scary.”

“Eh, love’s overrated.” Marude waved him off.

Hide sighed. He was glad Marude was being so accepting, and it was really nice to hear someone not put romance on a pedestal for once, but at the same time Hide wanted some validation for his fears.

“For so long now I’ve prided myself on being loving. And now knowing that I can’t… What am I now?”

“So was everything fake?”

“No. Yes? It’s complicated.” Hide groaned.

“Look, kid. You feel how you feel. You can’t force it or change it. And that goes for everything, not just sexualities.”

“I know.”

“You’re a sweet kid. It’s overbearing to me, but I appreciate that in a world so cruel, people like you exist. And from what I’ve seen, the care you show isn’t fake.”

“The non-romantic love? That’s not fake. But the romance? The crushes and flirting? It’s not fake but… it disappears. Way sooner than it should.”

“Disappears?”

“I think I’m, like, a subset of aromantic? I get crushes but they fade after I’m in a relationship. Way sooner than it should. I’ve been in love with Kaneki for years, but now that we’re a couple, that romantic attraction is gone.”

“That’s certainly a dilemma.”

Hide scoffed. That was an understatement.

“So what do you wanna do about it?” Marude asked.

“Huh?”

“Break up, or keep it up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then just talk to him.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t give you any advice on the romance aspect, but you two have been through things much worse than relationship drama. Just talk to the guy. Can’t be any scarier than what you’ve gone through.”

“I’d beg to differ.” Hide muttered.

Marude rolled his eyes. “Even I know he’s not gonna get pissed and eat you.”

“Of course not! That’s not what I’m afraid of!”

“Then what are you afraid of?”

“I don’t want to hurt him.” Hide whispered. “Or make him think I hate him.”

“Just communicate with him. You can’t work it out all alone. You both need to work together, or else how do you even expect your relationship to work?”

Hide sighed. “...I guess you’re right.”

-

Akira huffed as she sat down next to him. “How do people deal with it?”

Hide gave her a look. “Deal with what?”

“Crushes!” Akira said, as if it was obvious. “They’re so distracting.”

Hide chuckled. They certainly were.

“I thought one was bad enough, but now I have two! Ugh!”

“Oof. That’s rough. I’ve been there.”

“Hey, you’re allo-romantic, right? How do you deal with crushes?”

“Huh? Allo-romantic?” Hide asked. He thought he was pretty well-versed in sexuality terms, but he hadn’t heard that one before.

“It means people who aren’t on the aromantic spectrum.”

“You’re aromantic?” Hide asked. He had known she was asexual for years, but he never knew what her romantic orientation was.

“Demi-romantic.” Akira explained with a nod. “Got my first crush at 20 on a friend, and now a double-whammy of crushes #2 and #3 at 25.”

“Huh.” Hide whispered. He was 22, and it was pretty incredible to imagine only having a single crush in that much time.

Akira-san is aromantic…

“Do you know a lot about aromantic terminology?” Hide decided to ask.

“I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but I have been researching it these past few weeks. Why? What do you want to know?”

“I’ve been wondering if I fall somewhere on there…” Hide said.

“Really?”

“I’ve actually been wondering since high school, but its come back full force now.”

“What makes you think you are?”

“I get a regular amount of crushes, I think. But they, like… fade…?”

Akira hummed in understanding and nodded. “I do recall seeing a few terms like that.”

Hide’s eyes widened. “Really? More than one? Like what?”

“Um, off the top of my head I remember Aroflux, that fluctuates. Hold on.” She pulled out her phone and typed into it.

“Maybe, but that’s a bit vague…” Hide said.

“I know Grey-romantic can be used as an umbrella term.” Akira added. “Ah, here we go! Fray-romantic means you’re only romantically attracted to strangers, and it fades as you get to know them!”

“That’s close, but it’s not that quick. Well, maybe I can use it anyway.” He knew that a lot of queer terms had a lot of grey area to them.

“Oh, and there’s also Lithromantic, that fades at reciprocation!”

“Reciprocation...?” Hide asked, his eyes widening. “That’s… That’s it…”

“Ha, really? That’s awesome!”

“I got crushes and tried to date them, but once I was in a relationship my feelings would disappear. I tried to push on and fake it, but it didn’t work out and we had to break up. Eventually I just gave up dating entirely.”

Hide sighed and held his head in his hands.

Akira frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Kaneki.”

“Kaneki?”

“We just confessed to each other and started officially dating, and I can already feel it fading.”

Akira frowned, not sure what to say.

Hide laid down. “Who’d want to date me? A person who can’t love them back.”

Akira scoffed, laying back to join him. “What about me, huh? Someone who takes forever to like you back, and even then isn’t capable of sexual attraction.”

“You like Amon-san and Takizawa-san, right?” Hide guessed.

“Yeah. So what?”

Hide turned on his side to face her. “Well, Amon-san doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to care about that. And I don’t think Takizawa-san does either. If they really love you, then I’m sure they’d be willing to find a way to meet in the middle.”

Akira sighed, considering his words. Then she gave some of her own, “You know, you and Kaneki are really close. We can all tell. And I know Kaneki, too, and how he is. I’m sure he’d accept your aromanticism. Maybe you could even be in a non-romantic relationship with him.”

Hide blinked. Akira chewed her lip. They were both silent, thinking on each other’s words.

“You really think someone would be okay having a relationship without sex?” Akira asked.

“Of course.” Hide replied. “Do you really think someone would be okay with having a committed relationship that’s not romantic?”

“Of course.” Akira replied.

-

As he talked, Hide walked around the room, taking in the tiniest of details. And then he came across small pride pins, clipped to her bag laid in the corner.

“Is that what I think it is?!” Hide cried out.

“Huh? What is what you think it is?” Kimi asked, turning around.

“That!” Hide pointed to the pin that had gradients of greens and blacks. “Is that an aromantic pin?”

Kimi’s eyes widened. No one had ever recognized it before. Hardly anyone even recognized her bisexual one. “Yeah. I’m aromantic.”

“Wow.” Hide muttered. “And I know the bi one, but… what’s this other one?” He pointed to the one on the other side of the aromantic pin, the one with stripes making a gradient from pink to green.

“It’s aroflux.” Kimi said. “I fall in the grey area of the aromantic spectrum.”

Hide untensed his shoulders. “You know… I think I do, too.”

“Really?”

“I’m Lith-romantic, I’m pretty sure.”

“Neat! It’s always exciting to meet more aromantics!”

“You know others?”

“Nishiki-kun is arospec too. And I’ve helped a few other people question.”

“Nishio-senpai is too?! You’re in a relationship with another aromantic?! That’s amazing!”

“Tell me about it! It was just a coincidence! He didn’t know he was aromantic before I told him about aromanticism! Although, in hindsight I guess it explains why we fit so well together. We both have very complicated feelings on romance, that our previous partners never were able to grasp.”

Hide felt warm and happy, a sense of comfort and kinship coming over him. He often had a lot of internalized dislike of his aromanticism, but it was really nice to talk to someone who was similar — someone else who was on the aromantic spectrum.

Whenever he talked to other people — other allo-romantics, was the term Akira had used — they never grasped what he was trying to explain and always blew it off. As much as he liked people and socialized, he always felt a heavy disconnect from them.

And it suddenly dawned on him. He knew three arospecs so far, and Kimi had implied more.

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

[ID: Three sets of icons of Hideyoshi Nagachika from Tokyo Ghoul set against aromantic, lithromantic, and alloaro flags, using colored manga panels.

Icons 1 through 3 show Hide from the shoulders up. Hide is swinging into view from the left, with his eyes squinted and an open mouth smile. His hair is short and spiky and he’s wearing a green turtle neck sweater. 

Icons 4 through 6 show Hide from the chest up. Hide has short, spiky hair and is looking to the right with a closed mouth smile. He’s wearing a green collared shirt.

Icons 7 through 9 show Hide from the chest up, wearing his facial scarf and with eyes squinted. He has one hand raised in a greeting and the other is activating his speaking prosthetic lying underneath his scarf. His hair is short and spiky, and he’s wearing a green jacket and brown facial scarf. END ID]

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

[ID: Icons of Hideyoshi Nagachika from Tokyo Ghoul against lithromantic flags, using manga panels colored using lithromantic colors. In all of them, his normally yellow-orange blond hair is colored using the bright yellow from the lithromantic flag.

Icon 1: Hide is seen from the shoulders up, swinging into view from the left. His eyes are squinted and he is smiling with his mouth open. His hair is short and spiky and he’s wearing a red turtle neck sweater.

Icon 2: Hide is seen from the chest up, smiling slightly with his teeth showing. His hair is long and slicked back, and he’s wearing an orange collared shirt with red collars.

Icon 3: A close up of Hide, looking sadly downward into the bottom left corner in thought. He has long hair and bangs, and he is wearing an orange shirt with a red collar.

Icon 4: A close up of Hide talking while touching his chin in demonstration. He has long hair and his bangs are parted on either side, and he is wearing an orange shirt with a red collar and a red baseball cap with an orange visor.

Icon 5: Hide is seen from the chest up, wearing his facial scarf and with eyes squinted. He has one hand raised in a greeting and the other is activating his speaking prosthetic lying underneath his scarf. His hair is short and spiky, and he’s wearing a red jacket and orange facial scarf.

Icon 6: A close up of Hide wearing his facial scarf and activating his speaking prosthetic. His hair is short and slightly less spiky than usual, and his scarf is orange and his sweater is red. END ID]

I keep thinking about how Hide’s color scheme is lithromantic colors and how well he fits being lithromantic, so I tried editing my manga colorings. I think they turned out pretty nice.

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

[ID: An official line sticker of Hideyoshi Nagachika from Tokyo Ghoul edited onto pride flags. He’s smiling and holding his hand above his head in a salute-like greeting. The text “Ossu” is written in katakana beside him, which is a casual way to say “Morning!” or “Hey!” in Japanese. The flags used are: aro, alloaro, lithromantic, triangle demiromantic, diamond demiromantic, bi, pan, and rainbow. END ID]

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Lithromantic Hide Headcanons

He always knew he was a mlm, but he didn’t realize he was arospec as well

He tried dating once or twice in high school, but his romantic attraction faded, he became romance-repulsed, and they broke up pretty soon after

He didn’t really understand what was happening, but he knew it was him and not anything about his partner(s)

So he stops trying to date people

He was always pretty involved with the queer community and in LGBTQ+ clubs, so he ends up finding out pretty quickly about aromanticism

He knows that its a spectrum, and he wonders if maybe he’s somewhere on it

After some research, he’s identifying as lithromantic

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Hide: I’m pansexual and confused

Tsukiyama: Oh same

Hide: Like, not confused about being pansexual. I just never know what the fuck is going on.

Tsukiyama: Oh nevermind

Tsukiyama: I’m pan and quoi — I’m pan and confused about it

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Sunflower Lithromantic Hide

I think this one speaks for itself

(Stock images taken from Pixabay)

[ID: A 3-by-3 image moodboard with a lithromantic border. The top and bottom rows are various images of sunflowers. In the middle row, there’s a picture of a sun, an official image of Hide from Tokyo Ghoul, and another picture of a sunflower. END ID]

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Kaneki: Just so you know, I'm aware of you two and appreciate you

Hide & Touka: ...um, okay

Kaneki: It's arospec awareness week, isn't it? And you're both arospec. So I was just letting you two know that I appreciate you and am aware that you're valid

Hide and Touka, smiling: Oh, thank you!

[Inspiration: @college-quotes]

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

A little sketch of Lithromantic Pansexual Hide & Aromantic Bisexual Touka

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Lithromantic Allosexual Hide

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Aro, Alloaro, and Lithromantic Hide

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Imagine: Arospec Hide

Lithromantic Hide, who gets crushes on people but it fades if its reciprocated. He never confesses to people for this reason, but he has fun flirting playfully with people that he knows won’t reciprocate, or people that won’t tell him if they do (Ex: Touka)

Frayromantic Hide, who used to have a crush on Touka when he knew her as the cute café waitress, but it faded once he got to know her better and become friends with her

Aroflux Hide, who gets crushes often enough, but it fluctuates and constantly disappears and then reappears

[tokyoghoulaspecs]

Headcanon List:

#Yoriko Kosaka -

aromantic (#aro!yoriko)

demiromantic (#demiro!yoriko)

allo-aro (#alloaro!yoriko)

aro lesbian (#arolesbian!yoriko)

demi lesbian (#demilesbian!yoriko)

demi-romantic lesbian (#demirolesbian!yoriko)

bi (#bi!yoriko)

pan (#pan!yoriko)

lesbian (#lesbian!yoriko)

trans (#trans!yoriko)

polyamorous (#polyam!yoriko)

#Kiyoko Aura -

aro (#aro!kiyoko)

ace (#ace!kiyoko)

aro-ace (#aroace!kiyoko)

lesbian (#lesbian!kiyoko)

#Misato Gori -

aro (#aro!gori)

allo-aro (#alloaro!gori)

recipromantic (#recipro!gori)

#Kuramoto Itou

aro (#aro!kuramoto)

#Nimura Furuta -

aro (#aro!furuta)

bi (#bi!furuta)

#Kishou Arima -

aro (#aro!arima)

ace (#ace!arima)

#Take Hirako -

aro (#aro!take)

#Kaya Irimi -

aro (#aro!irimi)

allo-aro (#alloaro!irimi)

aro bi (#arobi!irimi)

bi (#bi!irimi)

#Enji Koma -

aro (#aro!koma)

allo-aro (#alloaro!koma)

aro bi (#arobi!koma)

bi (#bi!koma)

#Kurona Yasuhisa -

aro

alloaro

bi (#bi!kurona)

pan (#pan!kurona)

lesbian (#lesbian!kurona)

#Nashiro Yasuhisa -

ace

allo-ace

demi (#demi!nashiro)

demi bi (#demibi!nashiro)

#Kazuichi Banjou -

aro (#aro!banjou)

demiromantic (demiro!banjou)

greyromantic (#greyro!banjou)

aro-ace (#aroace!banjou)

allo-aro (#alloaro!banjou)

neu aro (#neuaro!banjou)

arohaze (#arohaze!banjou)

#Jiro -

lesbian (#lesbian!jiro)

#Eto Yoshimura -

aro (#aro!eto)

ace (#ace!eto)

allo-aro (#alloaro!eto)

grey-aromantic (#greyro!eto)

bi ace (#biace!eto)

bi (#bi!eto)

pan (#pan!eto)

#Hinami Fueguchi -

ace (#ace!hinami)

allo-ace (#alloace!hinami)

grey-asexual (#greyace!hinami)

bi (#bi!hinami)

trans (#trans!hinami)

transfeminine (#transfem!hinami)

#Ayato Kirishima -

bi (#bi!ayato)

trans (#trans!ayato)

#Nishiki Nishio -

aro (#aro!nishiki)

allo-aro (#alloaro!nishiki)

bi (#bi!nishiki)

#Kimi Nishino -

aro (#aro!kimi)

allo-aro (#alloaro!kimi)

aro-flux (#aroflux!kimi)

bi (#bi!kimi)

#Kuki Urie -

ace (#ace!urie)

allo-ace (#alloace!urie)

demi-sexual (#demiace!urie)

bi ace (#biace!urie)

bi (#bi!urie)

gay (#gay!urie)

#Tooru Mutsuki -

ace-spike (#acespike!mutsuki)

lithromantic (#lithro!mutsuki)

trans (#trans!mutsuki)

gay (#gay!mutsuki)

#Saiko Yonebayashi -

aro (#aro!saiko)

ace (#ace!saiko)

aro-ace (#aroace!saiko)

oriented aro-ace (#orientedaroace!saiko)

oriented lesbian aro-ace (#orientedlesbian!saiko)

lesbian (#lesbian!saiko)

#Ching-Li Hsiao -

lesbian (#lesbian!hsiao)

#Donato Porpora -

aro (#aro!donato)

ace (#ace!donato)

aro-ace (#aroace!donato)

oriented aro-ace (#orientedaroace!donato)

#Rize Kamishiro -

aro (#aro!rize)

allo-aro (#alloaro!rize)

aro lesbian (#arolesbian!rize)

lesbian (#lesbian!rize)

#Itsuki Marude -

aro (#aro!marude)

aro-ace (#aroace!marude)

allo-aro (#alloaro!marude)

gay aro (#arogay!marude)

gay (#gay!marude)

#Hairu Ihei -

recipromantic (#recipro!hairu)

aceflux (#aceflux!hairu)

allo-aro (#alloaro!hairu)

angled aroace (#angledaroace!hairu)

ace (#ace!hairu)

lesbian (#lesbian!hairu)

#Juuzou Suzuya -

aro (#aro!juuzou)

ace (#ace!juuzou)

aro-ace (#aroace!juuzou)

nebularomantic (#nebularo!juuzou)

demiromantic (#demiro!juuzou)

demisexual (#demiace!juuzou)

demi-aroace (#demiaroace!juuzou)

bi (#bi!juuzou)

#Koutarou Amon -

aro (#aro!amon)

ace (#ace!amon)

aro-ace (#aroace!amon)

allo-aro (#alloaro!amon)

grey-asexual (#greyace!amon)

neu aro (#neuaro!amon)

arohaze (#arohaze!amon)

#Akira Mado -

aro (#aro!akira)

ace (#ace!akira)

aroace (#aroace!akira)

demiromantic (#demiro!akira)

aceflux (#aceflux!akira)

lesbian (#lesbian!akira)

demisexual (#demiace!akira)

#Seidou Takizawa -

bi (#bi!seidou)

#Shuu Tsukiyama -

aro (#aro!tsukiyama)

ace (#ace!tsukiyama)

aroace (#aroace!tsukiyama)

angled aroace (#angledaroace!tsukiyama)

quoiromantic (#quoiro!tsukiyama)

quoisexual (#quoiace!tsukiyama)

quoi aroace (#quoiaroace!tsukiyama)

greyromantic (#greyro!tsukiyama)

demiplatonic (#demiplatonic!tsukiyama)

aplatonic (#aplatonic!tsukiyama)

pan (#pan!tsukiyama)

polyamorous (#polyam!tsukiyama)

Hide - #Hideyoshi Nagachika -

aro (#aro!hide)

ace (#ace!hide)

aro-ace (#aroace!hide)

allo-aro (#alloaro!hide)

lithromantic(#lithro!hide)

frayromantic (#frayro!hide)

demisexual (#demiace!hide)

aroflux (#aroflux!hide)

quoiromantic (#quoiro!hide)

demiromantic (#demiro!hide)

greyplatonic (#greyplatonic!hide)

aplatonic (#aplatonic!hide)

bi (#bi!hide)

pan (#pan!hide)

gay (#gay!hide)

trans (#trans!hide)

polyamorous (#polyam!hide)

#Ken Kaneki -

aro (#aro!kaneki)

ace (#ace!kaneki)

aro-ace (#aroace!kaneki)

allo-ace (#alloace!kaneki)

allo-aro (#alloaro!kaneki)

aceflux (#aceflux!kaneki)

demisexual (#demiace!kaneki)

demiromantic (#demiaro!kaneki)

greyromantic (greyro!kaneki)

nebularomantic (nebularo!kaneki)

gay aro (#arogay!kaneki)

aplatonic (#aplatonic!kaneki)

trans (#trans!kaneki)

genderfluid (#genderfluid!kaneki)

transmasculine (#transmasc!kaneki)

transfeminine (#transfem!kaneki)

trans man (#transman!kaneki)

trans woman (#transwoman!kaneki)

bi (#bi!kaneki)

gay (#gay!kaneki)

polyamorous (#polyam!kaneki)

#Touka Kirishima -

aro (#aro!touka)

allo-aro (#alloaro!touka)

aro bi (#arobi!touka)

cupioromantic (#cupioro!touka)

ace (#ace!touka)

grey-asexual (#greyace!touka)

bi ace (#biace!touka)

bi!touka

polyamorous (#polyam!touka)

#Oneshot!Kaneki -

aro (#aro!oneshotkaneki)

ace (#ace!oneshotkaneki)

allo-aro (#alloaro!oneshotkaneki)

gay aro (#arogay!oneshotkaneki)

requies-romantic (#requiesromantic!oneshotkaneki)

gay (#gay!oneshotkaneki)

#Oneshot!Touka -

aro (#aro!oneshottouka)

allo-aro (#alloaro!oneshottouka)

aro bi (#arobi!oneshottouka)

bi (#bi!oneshottouka)