Alterous attraction is a form of tertiary attraction felt by a-spec individuals that is described as not being entirely platonic or romantic. It typically constitutes a level of emotional closeness usually more than what is considered normal for an entirely platonic relationship, but does not fall into what would be considered to be a romantic relationship.
Alterous attraction is very similar to queerplatonic attraction. The difference being that queerplatonic attraction is a more intense form of platonic attraction, while alterous attraction is neither platonic or romantic.
An alterous crush is known as a mesh, although the term is not widely used.
One who does not experience alterous attraction may identify as a-alterous or nonalterous.
Flag
The aqueerplatonic attractionlterous flag was made in 2016 by Tumblr user Alterous-Albatross. According to Alterous-Albatross "The yellow stands for platonic. The gray stands for the gray area between romantic and platonic attraction. Pink represents affection. Red represents romantic."[1] The red and yellow are muted to show that it is not entirely platonic or romantic.