#aro bolin

[f-loys]

Aro-spec Avatar headcanons

Atla

Katara: I headcanon Katara as aromantic, possibly grey or demiromantic, but mainly I see her as aro. Katara first confused her attraction to Aang as romantic, but then later realizes that she really just wanted to be friends with him. She is still really close to Aang, but just in a less romantic way.

Zuko: Zuko is greyromantic, and is sometimes attracted to guys. When he was younger everyone kept acting like he and Mai were going to be a couple, acting so certain that Zuko just went along with it when he returned to the fire nation after his banishment. But he knew he never saw Mai- or any girl for that matter- In that way. After the series I like to think that Zuko and Mai broke up when Zuko realized that he wasn’t that into romance, and the only times he was, it was with guys.

Lok

Bolin: Bolin is one of the arospecs who can sometimes feel romantic affection at first, but then it fades away (I know there’s a label for this I just forgot what it was). Bolin blamed his lack of interest in romance on his previous relationship with Eska, and while he did have trust issues, that wasn’t the whole case, which he figured out after falling for Opal and losing the attraction later on. When Opal and Bolin make amends in season 4 Bolin decides to admit his true feelings and finds that Opal has a similar situation. They decide to platonically date each other (something like a QPR).

Opal: Opal likes the idea of romance, but can’t feel it for herself. After meeting Bolin she thought she had finally “unlocked” romantic feelings, only realizing that she wasn’t sure she liked him in that way after giving her “crush” on Bolin more thought. She was still angry at Bolin for joining Kuvira in season 4, but her feelings were even more complicated because she might not even like Bolin like that in the first place. After Bolin confesses his lack of romantic feelings for Opal (when they’re on good terms again) it becomes clear to Opal that she never was in love with Bolin, and it can be that way. Like I’ve said before, they start platonically dating.

Mako: Mako isn’t that big on romance, and although there is the Mako/Korra/Asami love triangle in seasons 1&2, he really only dated them because he thought he had to have romantic feelings for some woman. Mako’s fake crushes on Korra and Asami kept switching between being in love with one of them and having gotten over the other; and because Mako had no true feelings for either of them, it was easy to do so. A good amount of time after finally breaking up with Korra and not dating anyone, Mako noticed how much better he felt without a romantic partner, later coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t ever in love with Korra or Asami, and that falling in love wasn’t probably going to happen for him.

[f-loys]

Broken

685 words

(Platonic Bopal)

Tw: Internalized Arophobia and Amatonormativity

Bolin didn’t get why he couldn’t stay in love. Yeah, he had the falling for someone part down… but when it came to actually staying with the person… It's like once they asked for a real relationship, he couldn’t provide the feelings that were there a minute or even a second ago.

Maybe it was the fear setting in from a past toxic relationship, maybe it was a mix of that and an issue with a lack of commitment. But he had liked Opal, and she liked him back. Those feelings from last year were real. They Were. They’ve dissolved into thin air by now it seems; Bolin had no more desire to date her.

It was far too late to go back to liking her anyway, at least after what he had said. She was free to go right back to hating him; finally getting your relationship back to only have the other tell you it’s over? That he was lying about his feelings? He might as well move away from Republic City just so he doesn’t have to face the embarrassment of how poorly he handled that situation.

His internal ramblings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps, accompanied by a greeting in Opal’s voice.

Bolin could feel his heartbeat speed up to unhealthy levels. How convenient of her to decide to address it the moment that he was stressing about it so much; Of course, there wasn’t a time where his horrible confession wasn’t plaguing his mind.

“Oh, hi…” He uttered, barely raising his voice above a whisper.

There was an awkward silence between their hellos, leaving room for more anxiety to seep into his thoughts. What-if hypotheticals flooded his head, drowning him in bad ending results.

“So… I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday.”

Bolin froze in place.

This is it, this is the moment where she says she hates you and she says your a freak for not being able to keep your romantic feelings, this is where she calls you out for not getting over Eska, this is where she decides to part ways because everyone should be able to love… and you’re just a heartless, selfish, broken person who could never be that important to anyone but your family, at least not in the right way. This is where she says…

“I think I have a similar problem.”

“... what?”

Opal looked away from making eye contact before continuing, to save her from her own embarrassment.

“I used to love the idea of getting in a romantic relationship with someone special… And when I met you I thought you would be that person for me. I thought I was in love with you like that, but after thinking about it, I don’t know anymore. I feel like somethings wrong with me.”

He was shocked, and although staring in surprise wasn’t probably the politest reaction, it got his feelings across.

Noticing Bolin’s reaction, she quickly apologized; “I’m sorry if you took that the wrong way, I don’t mean you're not special to me or I don’t care about you anymore, I just don’t like you in a romantic way I guess. I’m sorry.”

He couldn’t believe it. She felt this way too all along? Maybe being without a date or without wanting one wasn’t the worst thing after all.

“No, it's fine. I think I understand what you mean. Believe me, I know what it’s like to feel like you’re broken. I felt like I was some heartless freak for not wanting to really be with anyone. And I still love you, I sorta want to still be more than regular friends, but I don’t want to be dating you, if that makes sense.”

There was a quick pause in the conversation before she asked, “Do you think we can be?”

“More than regular friends? Why not? We can be a couple but still be platonic. Or at least I think that’s possible…”

“If it’s not a possibility then we can make it one. If we’re supposedly two broken freaks, at least we can be two broken freaks together.”