Before you begin reading this story, there's something important you should know about it:
This is not a love story.
Prepare to be deceived by the words that you perceive. Any words that you read in this story could potentially be a lie, yet the lies that you'll read are the ones that make the story possible.
Tell me, do you believe in love, or is it just as fantastical as worlds where Queens ride dragons, orphans become wizards, or rubber boys become pirates? We've become so used to the fictional type of love that we place too many expectations on its true form. Unlike our one, the Greeks had multiple words for love so that it could be expressed better.
Agápe: an empathetic love towards humanity for those who love strangers, nature, and giving to them. Invert that, and you'll find a misanthrope who scorns the world along with the people who live in it. This along with philautia (self-love), are the rarest forms of love that I personally see in the world. You can call it what you want, but I see a world of people who are too afraid to love themselves, and thus are unable to find ways to love others, or the very world they live in. It's okay to love it. If it weren't here, then you wouldn't have the opportunity to find those that you love, whether they're friends or more.
Ludus: the playful and flirtatious love filled with infatuation. The crush you have that may or may not last for long, but you nevertheless enjoy. You don't truly think that it'll last forever, but the drug-like rush you feel around your crush is enough for you to fall into that familiar heart-racing hand-shaking pattern we're all too familiar with. It can lead to heartbreak after heartbreak, and for some, it can tear them to pieces. I know it has for me. It breaks us, yet we continue to chase love, even if we must take small breaks in-between. Maybe we all secretly desire pragma (a committed, passionate love) with another person that'll last for longer than one page in the story of our lives.
Eros. Lust. Sexual desire. Passion. You want more than to just be around them, or maybe there's a complete lack of romantic attraction. You want them physically, and this thought affects you when they're on your mind. You may desire a kiss, or a hug that morphs into something more… primal. This passion is what's kept our species alive, and there's nothing wrong with feeling what you may feel for someone. It's even better when they feel the same way.
Philautia: loving yourself. The Greeks had two versions of it, just as we do. There's the version where you as a person appreciate all the amazing things you offer to the world, then there's the selfish version where your self-love is so dangerous that it's akin to pleasure. This philautia can lead to narcissism, and it's the type that so many people are afraid of. Don't be afraid to love yourself in a world where self-hatred is the norm. Everyone nowadays wants to find that spark that makes them feel special compared to others, so what's wrong with letting your spark be the love you have for the person you see in your mirror?
Philia: an intimate yet authentic friendship. It's a genuine relationship where you want what's best for the other person. This type of love can be felt with your romantic partner as well, but it doesn't happen as often as the world wishes it would. Having both a best friend and a lover in one person seems like a dream to many, and it takes a long time to both find that person and make it to that point in your relationship. Even so, just having someone who cares about you deeply, whether romantic feelings are involved or not, can make the world just that much easier to live in.
Storge: the love you feel for your family, or the allegiance you feel to a place or organization. We've all seen those sports fans who would go to war for their team, or those people who give appreciation for the country or town that they're from. Who would've known that there was a word for that too? It's not romantic, nor do you feel a friendly bond with the entity you feel storge for, but you know when it's there. You hate when that team loses, and you feel happy when your home does something right. If you have people you call your family, there's that innate affection you have for them, along with pain if they do something akin to betrayal. Familiar people and places give you this feeling of love. It's comfort in its purest essence.
Pragma. Commitment. Respect for one another. It could be the flaky nature of dating in the modern era, but it's finally been proven that ghosts are real, but not in the way you may have imagined them as a ghost. These ghosts enter your life, giving you hope that despite the boundaries, the two of you will be together. You ignore the fact that they're already dead, along with other dangerous signs. When they finally move on to haunt another person or home, you berate yourself over the fact that you were willingly blind for that period of time. The ghost may have been in your life for minutes, days, or even months, but these ghosts are why so many people don't stay together, and why there are people who don't believe that they'll last long with another person.
Pragma is the kind of love that lasts until death. It may have started off as ludus, and after you grew to know them better, it morphed into philia, maybe with a hint of eros on the side. Days turned into months turned into endless jokes and memories together. The passion that once was settles into comfort and familiarity, and the storge you feel for your family and extended family now applies to your partner as well. Then finally, when all is said and done, you live the rest of your lives with the pragma you've been swimming in for who knows how long now.
This is not a love story.
This is a story about what love was, is, and could be.