Did you ever have a period when you were younger where you thought you were into someone but weren’t? Or entered a romantic relationship for misguided reasons?
I was thinking cause both me and my qpp had periods where we pursued people in a romantic way (or convinced ourselves we were into someone) just kind of because that’s what expected of people
The fan fiction discussion reminded me of it because fan fiction was part of what put the idea of romance on a pedestal for me. I loved fics where they were basically just special cohabiting best friends (like contrived mutual commitment + fluff which is framed as romance?) and for a long time thought it was the “romantic” part of that which attracted me (because I didn’t know about any other options)
I’m capable of romantic attraction (I just don’t like it being directed at me), so for me it more took the form of “I should like this,” but my qpp is aromantic and had more of an “I should be into people” vibe
(P.S. sorry if I sent this twice! The mobile browser version of Tumblr was bugging out)
(No worries, I only got it once! Sorry myself for the late reply!)
I had a period in middle school where I pretended to be romantically into someone picked completely at random so people would leave me alone. It lasted less than an hour because it didn't make people leave me alone and it just made everything more absurd for me altogether.
I was a real bookworm as a kid, so think I also had a time in childhood where I thought maybe I was fictoromantic (without knowing the term cus it didn't even exist yet, but y'know), but that was also short-lived. I think at that time I was really starting to feel myself as an aspiring writer and artist and I wanted to channel such feelings into writing and never quite got there. So it is.
I never tried to pretend, to myself or otherwise, any time again after that one time in middle school. To be fair, I then realized asexuality was a thing and that was what I was at 14, and to my young brain that meant "aromantic" too, and although I've learned since then that those are two separate things... Yeah nah I'm definitely both and definitely on the repulsed side, so I didn't have to question myself for that long, which I'm grateful for.
But yeah. Because romance is typically pushed so front and center as the only option from all sides, I think our experience in that sense is a fairly common one for aspecs TwT
