19 years ago today we were given aaron hotchner <3

Hi! Not bothering me at all—it's so exciting that you're writing a book with an ace lead!! And also kudos to you for actually doing the research and reaching out to the community!

Unfortunately I'm not the ideal person to talk to when it comes to crushes since I'm also pretty aromantic, but I can sort of talk about how I form connections with people (maybe they were crushes? no idea).

For me, it's like a 2 part thing.

The first thing that happens is I feel a really cool vibe from someone. Something about their personality or their energy or the way they carry themselves really intrigues me and makes me want to get to know them. It's kind of like in a crowded room they stand out more than everyone else. I start paying closer attention to them, what they say, what they laugh at, etc. I'll also start to go out of my way to be around them or interact with them. This can be an immediate feeling that I get from someone or it can take a couple weeks but it usually happens pretty quick.

After this initial stage, the feeling will either die off into a standard friendship or it'll "ramp up" into step two. This is when I realize that I really want to be around them, but like almost in a selfish way. Like I crave one-on-one time with them, in a crowded room they're like the only person that really matters, I get jealous of anyone who gets to spend time with them and just think "Omg they're so lucky they get to hang out with them 😩." And in general it's just like I can never get tired of them. Everything they say is 1000x more interesting simply because they said it. It's just a whole thing lol.

This is also when I start to crave emotional intimacy with the person. I start trusting them with more parts of myself, we have deeper conversations, etc.

But for me, it never has anything to do with physicality. What they look like pretty much never factors in, I never think about kissing or anything like that. It's all emotional/based on energy.

Essentially the driving question is: "How much do we resonate with each other?"