Hello! If it’s not too much to ask of you can you please explain to me the difference between being asexual and being aromantic?
Asexual refers to sexual attraction. Aromantic refers to romantic attraction. Basically, wanting someone physically versus having romantic feelings for someone.
Generally speaking, an ace person will not look at someone else and think of them in a sexual way or have sexual feelings for them. An aro person will not develop crushes or romantic feelings.
You can be asexual and not aromantic, aro and not ace, both, or neither.
Edit: oof, sorry, I meant to save this as a draft but posted it instead
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting and reblogging several informative posts and resources. Hopefully they'll help clarify more.
This drabble’s for the @fandomacefest, prompt 1: coming out.
RWBY Drabble
Featuring: Ruby/Penny, asexual Ruby
Decadent dark chocolate ice cream, ringed by sliced strawberries and topped with spirals of whipped cream, filled the plastic bowl presented to Ruby. Artificially smooth fingers, unbothered by the treat’s coldness seeping through the thin container, set the dessert on the table.
Ruby’s silver gaze sparkled with delight. Grabbing the spoon, she stabbed into the ice cream and shoveled some into her mouth. She savored the icy, delicious assault on her taste buds and barely remembered to swallow before saying “’is sooo good, thank you Penny!” She then continued devouring.
Penny smiled and took the seat across from her girlfriend. “You’re welcome! I heard you hadn’t had the ice cream here in a while, and today is the optimal temperature to eat some.”
Spring was beginning to blend into summer. It was pleasantly warm out on the restaurant’s patio, and Penny had suggested they come here before the busy hours. They were alone other than the occasional passersby who mostly stuck to the sidewalk a little distance away.
Within minutes Ruby finished the treat and, ignoring the slight brain freeze pounding in her head, sat back with a contented sigh.
Penny giggled.
Grinning, the shorter girl turned her attention to the other. “What?”
“You have chocolate on your face,” she said, pointing to the corner of her own mouth.
Ruby wiped it off with the back of her hand. “Thanks for taking me out here. So, I remember you said there was something you wanted to talk to me about. What is it?”
“Yes.” Placing her hands in her lap, Penny continued. “I’ve been thinking about our relationship recently, and I’ve talked with my father quite a lot. I know there’s something I haven’t been able to give you yet with the parts that I have.”
“You haven’t? But you’ve got everything I could ever want.” Ruby pushed aside the empty bowl and rested her arms on the table. “Good hands for holding, pretty eyes, the insides that keep you ticking…”
Penny’s smile widened, and her expression conveyed such happiness that Ruby braced for an abrupt embrace—she loved her hugs, but sometimes she squeezed a little too hard when she was excited. To her surprise, however, no tackle-hugs came as Penny remained in her seat.
“Oh, you’re so wonderful too Ruby! And that’s why I want to tell you what I’m thinking about doing,” the redhead explained with delight.
“Okay. What is it?”
“Getting modifications that will allow me to experience intercourse with you.”
Surprised, Ruby inhaled so sharply she choked on her own spit. She coughed unceremoniously a few times and beat on her chest, but when she noticed her concerned girlfriend start to stand up she waved a dismissive hand.
“I-I’m…I’m fine,” she insisted, and then she took a few more deep breaths to give her more time to think on her next words. The stirrings of panic tightened her chest. She had not been planning on having this talk today—well, she never actually planned it at all because she kept putting it off, but that was besides the point. Maybe she could change the subject? Ah, no; as tempting as that was, it would be rude. Penny must have been thinking on this for a while.
Even though it was sudden, this was a good opportunity to reveal her sexuality. Or at least that’s what she told herself so she wouldn’t back out and started too deeply on what her girlfriend’s reaction would be.
Ruby knew she should have told the other when they were dating. Yet she hadn’t been able to work up the courage to do it, and, to be fair, she had never thought Penny could engage in sex.
Grateful for the redhead’s patience, she rubbed the back of her neck. “I have something to tell you. I don’t really…like, or, well…haha, it sure is hot today, isn’t it?” She pulled at the collar of her dress and desperately prayed that the heat blooming across her face wasn’t too noticeable.
“The temperature hasn’t changed from earlier, when we agreed it was an optimal time for an outing,” Penny answered slowly. Mouth an uncertain line, she leaned forward. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Ruby swallowed down the lump in her throat. Just go for it, Ruby! The encouragement sounded suspiciously like Yang in her head, and she clung onto the support. She could do this.
“Yeah, I am. I’m really happy for you Penny; I’m glad that you can have stuff like that, and if you’re curious about it and want to try it, I’ll support you. But I don’t know if I can do it with you. I’m not interested in sex; it’s kind of icky, to be honest. So…I think I’m asexual.” Her attempted false smile fell into a guilty grimace. She looked down at the table. “I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Ruby,” Penny murmured. The chair scraped against concrete as she stood, and her deceivingly light footsteps made little sound as she walked over to the other and enveloped her in a hug.
Shifting into the embrace, the shorter girl rested her head on the redhead’s shoulder.
“Don’t feel bad. I’m happy you told me. We’ve never talked about sex before, so I should have mentioned my interest earlier as well. Even if I do get the modifications, please don’t try to make yourself do something you don’t want. What we have is more than enough.” Penny reassured.
Relief washed over the huntress like a massive wave cooling burning sands. She wrapped her arms around the other and gently squeezed. “Really?”
“Yes.” She pulled away and smiled brightly down at her. “Of course! I love you, and that hasn’t changed a bit.“
Ruby returned the smile, reached up, and pecked her cheek. “I love you so much, too.”
Written for Aspec Fest Prompt 2: “Trope Inversion/Subversion” 2.1k (Ao3)
It had taken a lot to get them to this point.
For once, the world wasn’t ending. No one had made a clone out of either of them, and there was no civil war or time travel involved.
For once, it could just be Peter and Wade.
Working together.
And it wasn’t an emergency.
Which was weird but Peter wasn’t complaining.
“Pass me the guac, Petey-Pie?”
And that was another new thing: Deadpool knew his name.
“You know I almost miss ‘Baby Boy,’” Peter said, lightly tossing the cup of guacamole to where Deadpool sat three feet away.
Wade grinned. His mask was pulled up past his nose and there was a mess of cheese and salsa covering his face from where he’d been messily eating his burrito. “Ask and ye shall receive, Baby Boy! You know I love sweet-talkin’ you.”
Peter grimaced. “I take it back. Call me something else.”
“Daddy?”
“Oh my God .”
Wade laughed and Peter cracked a grin along with him.
Wade was in New York more often than not these days. He stayed close for Ellie and for the Avengers and – though Peter was reluctant to admit it – for himself.
Having Deadpool in the area made a lot of people nervous, but not if Spider-Man was there to reign him in. He didn’t kill people anymore: he’d lost the taste for killing after Hydra Cap.
“That’s just shitty writing!” he’d said. “I can’t believe they’d do that to me.”
Peter didn’t know what that meant or who ‘they’ were but he could definitely believe someone would do that to Wade.
In any case – that’s how he’d started doing patrols with him. When Deadpool first came for keeps, Peter wanted to keep an eye on him. And then it was just nice having someone to watch his back. And then he actually started to like Wade.
And now they were eating dinner together on random rooftops in Manhattan at least three times a week. They’d been through so much (“We’ve got our own joint comic series, Spidey! You can’t tell me we’re not friends.”) and Peter had gotten so tired of living with this secret, he’d given in and told Wade his name. He told Wade his name, his face, and his whole tragic backstory. He spared a lot of details – MJ, where Aunt May lived; just the stuff he had to be careful about – but Deadpool was now one of three people alive who knew his secret identity.
What a bizarre life Peter led.
“Do I have anything on my face?”
Peter glanced over. The addition of the guacamole had only made Wade’s food-on-face situation worse.
“Cancer,” Peter said instead.
Wade howled with laughter.
“I’m so pissed.” Wade gasped for breath. “That was the most stone-cold thing I’ve ever heard you say but, if I told someone, no one would ever believe me.”
Peter smirked. “I’m counting on it. I’ve got a reputation to maintain.”
“You sick son of a very nice lady.” But he was still laughing. Peter had to bite his lip to keep from laughing with him.
They finished their dinner in bites between quips and had to pause to laugh more than a few times.
They were finishing up when Peter’s Spidey-sense alerted him to some activity further east. Without warning, he shot one web at Wade and another at a building across the street and then leapt off the roof.
Having Wade dangling like that threw off Peter’s center of gravity but he had fun yanking him along like a broken yoyo. It was only after he’d almost collided with the third streetlight that Peter yanked him in and let Wade clutch onto his back.
Wade was breathing hard as he scrambled for purchase on Peter’s ribs. “That was awesome. Can we do it again?”
Peter laughed. “Maybe later. Right now: bad guys.”
It was quick work – just some skinheads harassing a young lesbian couple outside of a gay bar – but it was harsh and dirty enough that Peter was still buzzing a little even after he’d got the ladies in a cab and left the webbed assholes to rot.
He said as much when he got Wade and himself to the nearest rooftop.
Wade shrugged. “Wanna make-out?”
Peter snorted, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot.”
Wade held his hands up. “I’m just sayin’! Endorphins running high. Lonely rooftop. We’ve both read enough fanfiction to know where this is going.”
“Enough what?”
“Okay, I’ve read enough fanfiction to know where this is going.”
Peter laughed again but there was a definite edge to it.
Wade picked up on it, like he picked up on so many things. He lifted up the bottom of the mask. “Is it this?”
Peter was tempted to make a joke about the mess of food that was still all over his face but he knew what Wade meant.
“There’s nothing wrong with a little texture,” he told Wade, half-joking, half-honest.
Wade grinned, yanking the mask off completely. Peter liked being able to see the humor in his eyes instead of just in his teeth. “So what’s the problem?”
Peter shrugged, bringing a hand up to cup his elbow, awkwardly. “I just like you, Wade.”
“I like you too!” Wade grinned more. “Kiss my face!”
Peter laughed, shaking his head again. “No, I mean I like you and I like working with you and being your friend, but I’m not going to have sex with you.”
Wade nodded one, quickly. “Got it: no sex. Can we still make out?”
Peter snorted.
“I might try and negotiate a butt-touch,” Wade continued, “but you had to know that was coming.”
Peter lifted his mask to run a hand over his face, trying to hide a smile. “You’re such an idiot. Why are you like this?”
“Look at him!” Wade bounced forward a little to grab Peter’s shoulders. “Look at my handsome boy! With his handsome mouth! That I still wanna make out with!”
Peter shoved him, but in a more playful way than he intended. Wade just bounced back.
Peter pushed him again.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything!” Wade insisted, ducking Peter’s arm again. “I just wanna kiss you a lot! No romo.”
Peter stopped, his arms suspended in where he’d been coming back at Wade with a mock shove. “No what? ”
“No romo!” Wade said, taking advantage of Peter’s distraction and launching himself at him. Peter was strong enough that it didn’t knock him over but he was smaller than Wade which complicated the situation some. “It’s like no-romance. Like I wanna make-out and do not-sex things (but also sex things if you want) but it’s not romantic. I lost romance in the war.”
Peter sighed, resigning himself to holding Wade, and shifted Wade around so they were face to face, Wade’s legs wrapped around his waist, Peter’s hands on his hips. “What do you mean you lost romance in the war? You’re not romantic?”
Wade kept his arms wrapped around Peter’s neck for balance. He looked pleased as punch to be there. “No, I’m hella romantic. I can wine and dine you fo’ days . I’m just a romantic. I don’t feel romantic love.”
Peter had no idea what his expression was doing, but based on Wade’s impatient huff it must not have been good.
“Come on, science-guy: ‘a’ as in the prefix loaned from the Greek, where it means ‘not,’ ‘without,’ or ‘lacking.’ The author lifted that straight from dictionary.com!”
Peter blinked. “Okay?”
“So along with being a moral and a social, I am also a romantic. I don’t have morals, a social life, or romantic attraction.”
Peter blinked again. “So it’s like asexual but the other way?”
Wade lifted his hands up in victory and Peter had to take a firmer grip on his back to keep him upright. “You got it! And you even know what asexual means! Oh good, the author did not want to deal with that.”
“Wait.” Peter shook his head. “ You know what asexual means?”
“Duh.” Wade put his hands back around Peter’s neck, his gloved fingers playing with the edge of Peter’s mask. “I am your most wokest friend, Petey. Even not counting all the meta-shit going on – ya boy’s got levels.”
Peter sighed, Wade wasn’t wrong. Well he may have been wrong about the meta thing (Peter had no idea what that even meant) but the one thing that could be said for Deadpool was that he had more levels than anyone had given him credit for. It had taken him by surprise the first time he’d worked with Deadpool and the depth of those levels took him by surprise every time they’ve worked together since.
He already knew. Peter wouldn’t have to explain it to him.
Peter reached up to take his mask off completely, letting it fall into Wade’s lap. His grin was radiant.
“There he is,” he said softly, bringing his hands up to cup Peter’s face.
Peter smiled softly back but his eyebrows were all confusion. “Did you know, then? About me?”
Wade wiggled, his hands going back around Peter’s neck. “Know what?”
“That I’m–” he swallowed. He’d never said it out loud before. He’d known for a while – it had just never come up before now. But still… “That I’m asexual.”
Wade’s eyes widened. “Oh, Baby Boy, no! I had no clue! Not saying I’m surprised but I didn’t assume or anything.”
Peter nodded, looking down. He didn’t really know how the other superheroes talked about him. He knew he was kind of suspicious, not getting close with anyone. Not really dating since he and MJ split. Not hooking up or talking about a significant other…
The secret identity helped. No one knew anything about him in the first place, let alone whether he was dating. And most people didn’t know what asexuality was, so they couldn’t very well assume it of him.
But Wade knew what it was. And Wade knew him. And Wade hadn’t guessed. So Peter was probably fine.
“Well I am,” Peter told him, awkwardly. “Asexual.”
“Okay,” Wade responded, easily. “So where were we on the making out front?”
Peter snorted shaking his head and looking up at Wade with exasperation. “What do you mean where are we?” He reached up with one hand to wipe the food from Wade’s face. “I don’t want to have sex and you don’t want to date. We’re nowhere.”
Wade rolled his eyes so dramatically he almost rolled right off of Peter’s hold. “Oh my god Peter, did you do any reading when you had this big ace awakening? You don’t need either of those things to make out. You’re totally allowed to make out with whoever you want as long as you have open and honest communication.”
At this, Wade unwound his legs and put them on the ground, stepping away from Peter. Peter, for his part, instinctively tried to hold onto Wade, but let him step away as soon as he realized what he was doing, grabbing instead for the mask that Deadpool had let fall.
Wade cleared his throat in a serious sort of way. Well, as serious as Wade ever got.
“I, Wade Wilson, am pansexual aromantic. I am very interested in making out with you at present, and very interested in feeling up on your fine ass, always, but will take what you can give me and we can remain the bestest of buddies with nothing weird later. How do you plead?”
Peter shook his head again but he was grinning. The more he thought about it, the more he liked this idea. And the fact that Wade wasn’t taking anything too seriously definitely helped.
Peter had been afraid of this conversation for a while . But if Wade could take it like this, maybe there was hope for Peter in the future. To find a real partner.
Meanwhile, though…
“I, Peter Parker, am asexual biromantic, and would be willing to make out with you also. Because it’s been a while and I like you.”
Wade grinned and stepped forward. Peter held up a hand.
“I am still going to be dating, probably, so we can make out sometimes but only if I’m single. Cool?”
“Fuck yeah,” Wade punched the air. “Can I touch your butt?”
Peter laughed. “Yeah, sure.”
“Hot damn! Come here, boy!”
Peter hopped up on Wade this time, wrapping his legs around Wade’s waist so Wade could take big handfuls of his ass. Wade practically screamed in triumph before Peter swallowed his scream in a kiss.
hey this fest is an amazing idea!! :D I'd love to participate but I'm not sure I could actually manage something longer than 5k since I struggle with writing "longer" things (longer by my standards at least)... so do the fics HAVE to be more than 5k?
Nope, absolutely not! We welcome all participants and anything that they're willing and able to contribute.
Any contributions are great contributions for representation, and fandom works are supposed to be for fun. If you're stressing and struggling to get it done, that's not fun.
What is it?: a multifandom festival to celebrate and showcase aspec characters!
Who can participate?: anyone! Even if you're not aspec, this is about representing and bringing attention to aspec characters.
What content can be created?: any content you want for any characters that you see as aspec! Writing, art, digital edits, and fanmixes dedicated to your favorite canon or hc characters
The format: there will be a total of three prompts will be posted two weeks apart. that gives you two weeks to find inspiration, plan, and create! All writing will go into a collection on AO3, and everything else will be reblogged.
there won’t be any maximums or minimums, and you don’t have to create for all three prompts if you feel like focusing all of your energy on one piece, or if you don’t find inspiration in one of the prompts. this festival is about having fun and representing aspec characters!
When: the first prompt will be posted at midnight eastern time on Monday, May 7th. the second will be posted on May 21st. the third will be posted on June 4th. (that gives us about a week and a half to boost this so that everyone sees it!)
in the meantime: don’t forget to join the discord! even if you’re on the fence about participating (or are a firm no on participating), come hang out and talk about your favorite aspec characters and hcs! if you are participating (or want to), there’s a space for help with your writing and/or art
write about your character coming out of the closet as aspec.
Maybe they’re coming out to a friend, a family member, or someone they’re romantically or sexually interested in.
Alternative Prompt
Prompt Two: Trope Inversion/Subversion!
take those tropes that fandom knows and loves, and turn them on their head. bed sharing that doesn’t end in sex, soulmate marks for QPP, hurt/comfort that doesn’t end in a romantic overture, huddling for warmth that doesn’t lead awkward places (because there is no sexual tension)
Alternative Prompt
Prompt Three: Total AU!
Take your favorite characters and put them in a different universe, whatever your fancy. Maybe you like a magical or non-magical AU, a coffeeshop AU, or a highschool or college AU. You could even try a historical/modern day AU or a hitmen/spies AU.
Alternative Prompt
First submission is due June 4th - this has changed, so take note
all alternative prompts courtesy of the wonderful @ace-fic2017, who you can find on facebook here
as always, here’s a link to the discord. There’s a spot to help brainstorm for the prompts, but mainly it’s for talking about aspec characters, or just hanging out with a cool group of aspec folks.
the ask box is always open if i haven’t been clear enough about something (very likely, i’m really sorry that this is kinda turning into a mess), or you have questions, or anything :)
