headcanons for aro keith?
he doesn’t really Get romantic attraction
“What does it even mean????” “Well… you know.” “No, Lance, I don’t!!!!!”
Cue everyone pitching in helpfully what they think romantic means and Keith just not being able to fathom any of it.
Before that discussion he never really had the vocabulary to understand aromanticism so he just assumed it was another aspect of his difficulty relating to people (he still does, sort of)
He’d sort of resigned himself to a future alone but in his heart of hearts he’s always wanted to find a few friends to spend his life with
Basically he’s had a giant family shaped hole in his heart for as long as he can remember
Shiro was the first person to help fill that hole and Keith will love him forever for it, but at the same time, he still craves that kind of connection with people his own age
He doesn’t really know about queerplatonic relationships, nor would he be looking for one at this point in his life if he did
He’s still just figuring out how to navigate friendships without pushing people away, he doesn’t trust that he’d be able to handle a relationship level of commitment to one person and not quiznak it up.
An alien flirts with him once on a mission and his reaction is the most skittish and confused any of the paladins have ever seen from him
He literally blurts out “what do you want from me???” and spends the next minute facepalming in shame behind Hunk while Allura apologizes profusely for him.
They found a bunch of old Altean movies in the castle and whenever they watch romcoms Keith is just sitting there in disbelief at the irrational things people do for love
(“You’ve done plenty of irrational things for different reasons,” they remind him.)
(“That’s besides the point!!!”)
The only love he’s ever really wanted out of life is that of friends and family
He finally has a group of people he feels comfortable calling his friends, but he wouldn’t originally have called them family the same way he does Shiro
He realizes it in the little things:
how he loves to hear Pidge laugh
how he always feels safer on missions with Allura by his side
how whenever he’s having issues he can go talk to Coran
how Hunk makes a habit of bringing snacks and water to the training room because Keith is terrible at maintaining a proper food-exercise balance and nearly passed out that one time
or how he and Lance want to kill each other most of the time but they’d probably die for each other too, and really, isn’t that what being siblings is all about?
and he’s still a little insecure in these feelings and sometimes he still feels separate from the group, but he’s sort of started to realize that he has a chance here to have the kind of love he’s always needed in his life – and maybe, if he’s lucky, he’ll actually get to keep it.
in conclusion, aro keith is fantastic and exactly my kind of jam and i’m so happy this is the first thing i was asked to make headcanons for
thank you for coming to my tedtalk