#aroace mk

He is proud AND happy!

so. aroace mk + dragonfruit. but they are also always a trio

someone assumes theyre a romantic throuple and mk and mei are like "ew what no thats my best friend" only leaving people with more questions

qpr traffic light trio/chimera like

first off, lmk doesn't assign anyone ages because they generally want people to see them how they want to (which is especially useful for kids I think, because an 8 year old relating to young adults is great but without stating ages that could alienate anyone by accident) though Mei is designed to be ~23 according to a design note and if you do the math, MK is at least 20 due to needing to be 18 to drive in China plus that he's worked at least 2 years, presumably as a delivery boy

I generally see Mei and MK as in their 20s anyway without the math, but I think that part of Why it really adds something for me is like

I also see MK as aro after 1x05 happened where he's pretty clearly romance repulsed, I feel like it was less about what if it was Mei and more about romance in general since he's never shown explicitly romantic feelings for anyone else either

and as an arospec person- I really like the idea of someone in their 20s being aro because so often aspec identities get infantilized or not taken seriously if a character is younger, but having a young adult with a job who parties who isn't into romance is just really nice

MK is firmly aroace in my head. Aro is specifically relevant here

I could see Red Son getting a crush on him and even Red Son trying to drop hints about it/getting to the point of going like "well he's an oblivious idiot I have to spell EVERYTHING out huh" and just coming forward with his feelings

and MK is like woah. No thank you

because he's just Nope to romance with anyone

but the interesting thing to me would be to have MK, post S4, sit around and think about it because it's the same reaction he had to Mei who he also cares about and spends all the time he can around and has a strong, intense relationship with, but now it isn't just Mei it's, oh he doesn't think he could like anyone like that

broken monkey stone flashback

and I could see him wondering if something is just Wrong with him the way he thinks everything else has been this is like another drop in the bucket

but ofc there is nothing wrong with being aro

there is nothing wrong with not desiring explicitly romantic relationships (I do see him as Mei and Red Son's platonic life partner)

and there is nothing wrong with generally being romance repulsed, and a fic where he digs into it and realizes he Is aro and how it impacts his view of relationships while simultaneously he gets reassurance about his identity and feels loved and valued just the way he is platonically to others, with just as permanent of a place in their lives, would like be a hit for me personally to read, as an arospec person myself. this is all self indulgent and cathartic before anything else