#this applied to platonic love too ^^

[thegoldencontracts]

Do you think Azul is capable of falling in love? I mean, the way he sees love as transactions and weakness to be exploited makes me question this thought.

Oh my god anon I'm so happy you asked about the transaction thing because I have SO many thoughts...

Can Azul Love?

This is just a quick analysis my brain spurred off into.

First there's this scenario I made specifically about this concept - Azul Falls In Love And Can't Handle It (Just wanted to link it instead of repeating everything in this post)

But even in other fics, I love exploring that concept! Because - to me, at least - love isn't always a choice. It becomes a choice later on. That sounds confusing but allow me to clarify.

There are two types of feelings commonly known as "love" that I'm referring to - Infatuation, and love. These two have nothing to do with age, or even a person's maturity level. Infatuation is the first part of a relationship or a pre-relationship stage, where every interaction gives you butterflies, you feel like you're on fire every second you spend, and all that good stuff.

Love is a choice you make. You're not getting butterflies anymore. You are choosing to build a life with someone, to be there for them even without the boost of infatuation.

Infatuation can come and go - it's pretty short-lived, in all honesty. Love, on the other hand, is stable and much longer-lasting when requited. You care deeply about a person, in spite of all their flaws or weaknesses.

Very few people can't feel infatuated - even Aromantic people can end up experiencing the same thing, just from a platonic angle, where you really admire someone to the point of glossing over their flaws.

Azul is no exception. He can get infatuated with someone too. He's not immune, and god, he hates it. Seeing you gives him butterflies, he wants to do everything in his power to make you happy, but why? This isn't supposed to be how he acts!

Love is a separate matter. Love requires a level of emotional maturity that - let's face it - not many Night Raven students have. Azul would have to care for you in spite of your flaws and choose to invest his time into a relationship with you despite potential losses like time for his business. He'll have to choose you despite the lack of chemicals in his brain encouraging him to do so. And, in his current state, I'm not quite sure if Azul is capable of that.

But the thing is, Azul isn't stagnant. It may not seem like it, but he is gradually growing. And he's definitely capable of love - even if it isn't romantic - just look at the way he talks about his family! I meant it when I said I wasn't sure. Though there's a chance he might not be able to make that choice, there's a chance he can, too.

And hopefully, when the time comes, and Azul and whoever his partner is are a good way in their relationship, and the chemicals finally wear off, he can make that choice.

[hnbka]

i think the reason i hate childhood best friends to lovers but not when theyre mlm/wlw is because when its a het ship, people expect them to date as children/teens, so most of the movie/show/book is denying romantic feelings, rather than expanding on the once thought to be only platonic feelings in mlm/wlw ships

[isan0rt]

See, here's the thing about Dedue and the non-Dimitri members of the Faerghus Four. They're not his friends. Ashe and Mercedes are his friends, Annette is debatable, but Ingrid, Felix, and Sylvain he is not even looking to be friends with.

They're his in-laws. In-laws that, at least in the Academy phase, he doesn't even particularly like.

Like, if not for Dimitri, he would absolutely not talk to those people. He's making nice with them because they're the closest thing Dimitri has to family that's not actively trying to murder either of them, and they're important to Faerghus so Dimitri has to have a relationship with them no matter what, and it's important to Dimitri that they and Dedue at least kind of get along with each other as much as possible.

But Dedue isn't trying to be friends with them! Dedue is like, I'll go to the family holiday party because it's important to you but if Felix starts talking shit or Ingrid says something racist then I'm not going to be the one to deal with that. They're your relatives and I'll be nice but that's your problem. He's not looking to be close with them, he just wants to have a halfway decent relationship with them for Dimitri's sake and like no more than that.

And they improve a lot in their supports, especially after the time skip, especially in Three Hopes, but like. The relationship there is still fundamentally in-laws. It's just a graduation from "shitty in-laws I'm putting up with" to "in-laws I've come around on and can have a decent-to-good time with." Depending on what supports you get they can even graduate to "in-laws I actively like and admire." But like. He's still hanging out with them because they hang out with Dimitri. He's not hanging out with them for their own sakes.

Dimitri has one important familial relationship with them and another vitally, crucially important relationship with Dedue. Both are fascinating to explore and I love to explore them. But they're completely different relationships.

Like they're not all a big five-person friend group, Dimitri is in the position of having to like. Try and keep the peace between his extended family in all but name who he still loves, and the person who has been the most important person to him for his entire teens so far. Even if Dimitri were tired of his friends' shit personally he can't just stop talking to them, they're the future leaders of their houses, the only houses that are all in behind House Blaiddyd and not fomenting assassinations. He HAS to maintain a good relationship with them for Faerghus.

Dedue gets this. He'll play nice with them. He knows Dimitri also needs them on his side if he's ever going to restore Duscur, but he doesn't have to like them. He'll save their asses on the battlefield for Dimitri but he's going to go hang out with Mercedes and Ashe after.

[squuote]

saying I ship them is not enough, I need to carefully and intricately explain exactly how their dynamic works and what they mean to each other and how they rely on the other in a detailed fashion that encapsulates exactly how their relationship effects me as a person. I need to put their relationship in a way that is more than just ‘I think they should kiss’ because kissing is gross and I think they should fight each other and fight for each other instead as an act of love. And because there’s so many ways to love, defining it through only a small selection of actions does it no justice. I need to explain the ways they care for the other, especially the parts that are never spoken. The intricacies of love as a concept that aren’t bound to a simple romance will be spilled once I get my damn hands on it

[big-urchin-energy]

always bugs me when people go like. wildly out of their way to no romo steve and robin's relationship. like. we all get it, we all know it's platonic (with a capital p) but some people seem like. actively worried that steve saying i love you to robin or robin calling them soulmates is going to be read as romantic? like we all make fun of straight people being like haha i love you dude- no homo! and yet everyone is doing it with stobin?

you don't have to be like ooh steve and robin are platonic soulmates! they love* each other (*as friends)! they're platonic with a capital p! you have just say steve and robin love one another, that they're soulmates (if you insist) without tripping over yourself to make sure some weirdo doesn't think you ship them. it's so exhausting to feel as though people have to diminish their relationship or call attention to how ~weird~ it is for a man and a woman to be friends, by specifying that it's not romantic, because we all know! we all know it's platonic!

steve and robin have established IN CANON that there are no romantic feelings between them, that they both understand and accept this, and while other people might not get it, they don't care. they only have to specify to people because the other characters cannot fathom a reason they wouldn't be dating, but steve and robin know, so steve and robin do not have to justify their feelings to themselves, and likewise, we as the audience also know and understand this, so we as the audience do not need to justify that within ourselves either!

it's not weird to tell your friends you love them! like what are we trying to achieve here by saying you *have* to specify you mean it platonically every time? romantic love is not the default, even between a man and a woman, no one is out here reading your fic and getting to a bit where steve is like 'i love robin' and going onto a rage because you didn't go "platonically! it's platonic! obviously i mean it as friends and not as romantic partners!" you shouldn't need to do that! do you fucking go to your friends and go "hey i love you but not in a romantic way" every time? do you go "oh yeah me and my friend? totally platonic. no romantic feelings here between me and my friend"?? i mean maybe but it just screams a lack of trust and understanding idk

go tell your friends you love them but like. be normal about it. because it's not weird to love your friends. jesus.

[harukapologist]

I saw @/moibakadesu sharing a milgram ships tier list, so I thought I'd share my own :3

conclusion: Haruka should be friends with everyone. Also Futa does not kiss girls

Fun fact, even though 0301 is my OTP now, the first ship I took a liking to when I got into milgram was 0703

I left out ships I don't have any particular feelings about. (I think it's obvious who are my favorite characters lol)

[sing-me-under]

*stands at the top of a stage with a megaphone *

LET BATMAN HAVE FRIENDS.

[groovygrub]

love is so worth it love is so worth it love is so worth it love is always fucking worth it. i know you don't believe me and you have every goddamn right to feel that way (i did too, that fractal of me will always always exist) but holy fuck love is worth it. i promise. i promise. please try to believe me until you can find someone who will definitively prove it to you

[wawataka]

i love looking at my old cringe fics that were basically projections of myself with the hindsight i have now and it’s so obvious i was agender/aroace

[catsinplatoniclove]

do you ever just love someone so much you bite your phone :33

[pinchbees]

wizards are really missing the opportunity to gift each other those roses encased in a sphere. orb of i love you ponder upon how much I care

[found-wings]

Gods, you ever listen to a song that reminds you of a duo so badly but. the song is fucking romantic based and you don’t see the duo as romantic because RAAAH ME WHEN!!!!

For The Dancing And The Dreaming my beloved, giving me so many good vibes for so many sillies where it‘s like. THEY ARE BESTIES THAT‘D DO ANYTHING TOGETHER AND CHOOSE EACH OTHER FIRST, FUCK THE WORLD, ITS THEM AGAINST THE WORLD!!!

They love each other so much in all the ways they can find, in ways that are different from each other and yet lead back to the other, they’d do anything for the other to keep them safe & sound, hold each other close to hide them from the world

I am so normal about this

ALSO THIS SONG FOR ANY SILLIES REUNITING???

[radioactivejinx]

@ellameloetta

@hoshibait

@hangryyeena

@bloodbagcutesy2112

[angeltism]

ah to be a hopeless romantic kyute girl (. . . enby boy thing)

[countlessrealities]

Hey Mabel when Kaban does inevitably come to visit you in your world what do you say to setting her up on a date with a human? You must know someone right? And the park guide would probably be interested in other humans wouldn’t she?

Unprompted asks || Always accepting !

Excitement lights up Mabel's face at the question. The mere thought of finding her friend someone she could like obviously fills her with oh-so-many thoughts and plans. After all, Kaban is so nice, smart and resourceful. Everyone should feel proud of calling her their friends or romantic partner.

She herself sure as hell is.

"Of course I would! If that's what she wants, of course," she answers, without hesitation. If there's one thing she never had and never will have doubts on is making her loved ones happy. "If she wants to date, I'll find her someone she could like! I mean, we never spoke about it, so I'd have to investigate first, but you can bet that I'll find someone for her!"

Male, female, neither, and anything in-between. Human or not. Mabel has fun playing matchmaker, both for herself and for others.

"Have you met her? Kaban is amazing! I can't think of a single reason why someone wouldn't want to date her! I would!"

The girl puffs out her chest a little at the statement, obviously proud of her claim.

"But if she doesn't want to date romantically, I'll set her up for friends dates too!" She goes on, her excitement never fading. "Starting with my bro-bro, of course! I want all my friends to know and like Dipper. And I want him to know and like all my friends!"

Is she being a little too demanding? A little too optimistic? Perhaps, but that has been her specialty for a long time. She doesn't see the glass half full as often as she used to nowadays, but she still believes that a positive attitude is the right way to face life.

"In any case, whatever she likes and wants, you can bet that she will get to know more humans! And that's a promise!"

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Tbf canon did forcibly remove Norman and Emma from the trio for roughly two years </3 Not to detract from the point you're making though.

Also feel like @thedoodlenoodlesuniverse's trio dynamics graph is still fairly accurate (original deleted, reblog here)

Eternally grateful I've never come across jealous/spiteful Norman and Ray fighting over Emma, or jealous/spiteful Emma and Ray fighting over Norman.

(although I do subscribe to the headcanon of Norman having a pang of jealousy over how much time RE got to spend together before their reunion in the Paradise Hideout with how he tends to navigate extremes at that age, but it’s of a very specific variety. Seeing how close the Grace Field escapees have become during their near two years out in demon world and how that shared trauma brought them together could be a mixed bag for him, with the aching reminder that he wasn’t there with them, didn’t share those memories with them after a lifetime of being together, and the initial flare of jealously turns into shame over thinking it in the first place when 1) he’s mad at not being able to have been there with them‚ not at them, 2) how selfish it is to still want that when they already went through his death once and now will have to go through that a second time, and 3) he spent so long isolated and effectively helpless in his immediate circumstances while at Lambda and suffered for no justifiable reason that it manifests in a festering internal rage, which heartbreakingly can never be given a satisfactory answer…so basically banana_slug_army’s Interwoven lol)

full score trio 😔