this might be long, but its a complicated topic so i can't really, shorten it down.
technically,,, you can put aromantic characters in romantic relationships. /technically/
but if you do, you gotta make sure it's for the right reasons and done, in the right way. like, make sure romance isn't treated as being of higher value than non-romantic (including like, not treating romance as more interesting/more fun). and that aromanticism is treated with respect and being of value, in and of itself. which means not, tokenizing aros, or forgetting/ignoring aros who don't want romance, or treating romo aros as being alloromantic-light.
the uh "don't (romantically) ship aro characters" is really more of like. a reaction to alloromantics just, being really dumb about aromantic rep.
like, the very few aro characters we have in media are shown as being aro through being disinterested in romance or partnering as a whole. so it's, disingenuous to show these aros in romantic relationships. (and for some of them, being in a relationship as a whole.)
but these are your ocs not pre-existing characters.
if you want to put them in a romantic relationship, go for it, just make sure you write it accurately. and make sure you're not doing it because you find non-romantic relationships less interesting to explore.
although also honestly, make sure you protray queerplatonic relationships accurately and not just because you find partnering characters more interesting than non-partnering characters
!!! this is all said really well. /g
