paporomantic

I used to have this fear a lot when I first realised I was lithro, but the more time I spend out, the more I'm developing a mentality of "I don't owe you anything" and "you're the one who misinterpreted my actions as romantic." It's a bit like the myth of the friendzone in regards to men getting rejected by women. There's no romozone for alloromantics getting rejected by aros. Aros don't owe romantic people anything, and if romantic people get offended because we don't want to be with them--that's their problem. We're not responsible for their feelings.

I cannot speak from experience, I have only met one other ace in my life, and while she is romo, it wasn;t something that came up, as she is my mother.
I guess I kind of think of us aro aces as like the ultimate 'gay best friend'. Since I started being openly out friends treat me differently in a good way, regardless of their gender and attractions, they treat me as off limits, and not jealous or uncomfortable, so they can feel free to talk about partners and attractions with me, and confide in me. I don't think romo aces, if they are nice people, would be any different. 
The other thing I wanna say is I have some experience in being desperate for relationships, in my case friendship. Partly due to simple geography and circumstance my options were limited, My options were even more limited by the fact I am autistic, and I had serious and visible mental health issues, (although I didn;t know it) I was nonbinary, and experiencing a different puberty from allos. Children were not exactly lining up to be my friends. To say I was desperate is an understatement. 

However, because I had been hurt for being different, I had standards designed to protect me and keep me happy. Firstly, I had to actually like them, secondly and more important, they had to WANT to be my friend. Trying to be friends with someone who doesn;t want you is agony. 
I don't see why the same rules wouldn;t apply romantically, they should have learned, maybe better than most, that persuing a romantic relationship from someone that doesn;t want one would hurt them too much. 
I dunno, that's my theory anyway

I've met a couple of romantic aces from tumblr but we haven't gotten close enough for it to be a problem. Though after talking to them a bit it seems that pursuing romantic relationships isn't usually on their radar because navigating the sexual element is too much effort.

I also agree with @Ace-TheTimelordsCompanion that since coming out to my friends, they confide in me about crushes (especially my bi friend) and it's all very detached and easy