!important! : thoughts which might save the world

[extemporally]

Yesterday I was talking to nova33 about why she loves Johnny/Evan, and there was this exchange:

unlurkster: yessss. I approve of this.
OH OH
you know what?? I would like for this to be, like, an actually fake war
where they're just-kidding-no-really, and when they meet to hook up they have teasing hatesex that isn't really hatesex, only sometimes the boundaries between what they meant and didn't mean are
nova33: Yes!
OR
unlurkster: kind of blurred to even themselves
nova33: It really is just a weird sort of sexual tension. Like...they don't really like each other - so they're not terribly fond when they actually do get together - but all the shit they say to the press is just an extended form of pigtail-pulling.
So when they see each other it's genuine anger - "You implied I was gay!" "You said I was untalented!" - but it's all sort of a game.
Yes????
unlurkster: oh mannnn yes! it's just a lot of weirdness crackling between them, sexually, and they don't know what they mean and what they don't mean
YES YES YES. let's have a BRAIN TWIN HI-FIVE, c'mon

And right there I guess is the kind of Johnny/Evan dynamic that's my favourite, the codependency and the frustration and the need. I mean, I can buy a whole bunch of different readings of their relationship (and so can Johnny & Evan! look at how spectacularly retconned their rivalry is!), but this I think is the definitive one that punches me in the gut and makes me believe, before I remember that Johnny/Stéphane is my OTP (tin-fucking-hat, you guys). I don't know, I find this the most exciting part of entering a fandom, getting to know who the hell these people are and who you ship and why you ship them ("they're pretty" is still a reason, fyi), and also basically thinking about it a whole bunch and also having really intense conversations about it, um.

So, anyway! Why do you ship what you ship, dudes? COME TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS.

Comments

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Bob and Brian, because of the history and the way they both have a tendency to do stupid shit (and so clearly need someone to patch them up/yell at them/etc.). I don't know, I can get into any pairing if it's well built up, but those two, I adore them, oh. There's a reason the first story I wrote in bandom was about them; there's a reason why I keep coming back, why they're so easy to write.

[nova33.livejournal.com]

I think people on our flists must be getting sick of us talking about each other all the time, seriously.

You can't ask thinky questions like this that I can't answer because we've already discussed them! That takes all the fun out of it! (And actually, I think what you asked me was why I didn't ship your OTP. Which - well. WHY DON'T YOU SHIP MINE, GOD?)

[melonsplash.livejournal.com]

With Johnny/Evan, I don't even like RPF. But with these two I can't help it - they're just begging to be shipped. I justify it by saying that figure skating is more like performance than any other sport, that, like Johnny says during Vancouver, that they're portraying characters when they're on the ice. So much of what we know about them is really a persona, so it's okay to ship their personas - characters - together. So enough about my completely in vain internal justification - why them? Uhm... I guess because they're so much more interesting than the other common ships in the fandom, because of their rivalry dynamic. Because Johnny plays up his persona with his shove-massive-things-in-me-smirks and because it's so easy to be swept away by what everyone else is shipping with their analyses and their fics. Guh, I don't know. I'm new to this fandom and still learning.

I have a question for you - why is Johnny/Stéphane your OTP? I thought I loved J/S more than J/E, but I seem to have forgotten J/S in the recent drama...

[harriet-vane.livejournal.com]

Johnny and Evan are both desperately in need of love and support, and that is A+ bulletproof kink material for me. Johnny has his family and a really good sense of self, but basically every minute of his professional life is a struggle. Evan has respect and the gold medal and sponsors, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around to tell him to take a nap, already, or to take a day off when he's got a concussion. Plus there's the whole Johnny is artistic/Evan is athletic rivalry since childhood. The idea that each one of them has what the other wants, desperately, and both of them have this sort of giant gaping lack... Oh man. It's PERFECT for my id.

Although, the fic I really, really, really, really, really want, which I think is sort of what you were talking about yesterday, is this: Evan and Stéphane realize they are both kind of pining for Johnny and for whatever reason instead of doing anything about it they start hooking up, and then it turns into a ~relationship~ and then Johnny finds out, and is kind of destroyed by it, and then the three of them end up in the weirdest, most neurotic (yet huggy!) polyamorous relationship ever.

(I will totally read Johnny/Stéphane, because it is adorable, but my whole thing is WHO IS SAD AND HOW CAN HE GET CUDDLES, so it doesn't work as well for me.)

[goshemily.livejournal.com]

Okay I would totally read that. SO fast would I read that.

Also, Brendon/Ryan because of the push-pull dynamic of singing someone else's words and the anger there and the hand-holding. Also, to me they're the prettiest.

[aurora]

oh mannnn yes! it's just a lot of weirdness crackling between them, sexually, and they don't know what they mean and what they don't mean
CLEARLY SOMEONE NEEDS TO WRITE THAT. CLEARLY. :D

("they're pretty" is still a reason, fyi)
Oh thank God! Seriously, though, I'm still trying to figure out how the hell I wound up in FS fandom, let alone why I ship Johnny/Evan (and Johnny/Stéphane, but to a lesser extent). The antagonistic tension is definitely a big factor for the former pairing, the adorable cuteness and desire for them to actually work out a pairs routine is what drew me to the latter. (OT3 FTW.)

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

AHHHHH these are my favorite talks, I love this post so much!!! This is kind of a weird fandom for me because I've never really been deeply into RPF before, because I need some kind of narrative framework to hang stuff on to really get into a fandom, I guess? I generally find it really difficult to get character voices from interviews. But then Be Good Johnny Weir totally provides the narrative and there's a lot of canon for certain other skaters, and there are ships that totally work for me, so here I am.

I can do a little Johnny/Evan, pretty much for the reasons mentioned, because their relationship history is so hilarously confusing. But it's not really my dynamic of choice, mostly because what I most want from fic (and from stories in general) isn't these gigantic emotional turn-arounds where people go from hate (or strong dislike) to love, just because that kind of anger makes me uncomfortable in a lot of ways and it's just not something I'm super-interested in. I like it in some situations, particularly in stuff that's really well-written that sells me on it, but it's not what I'm drawn to.

My favorite stuff to read is funny friendship pairings, because I love affection and jokes and I adore subtle relationship confusion, where people aren't quite sure of their feelings, and where the main obstacles in the story are trust and figuring out what the fuck they want from each other. Johnny/Stephane works ridiculously well for me on that front. I like good-natured teasing, and like you mentioned, I love people with years of history. I love people who know each other, and get other because on some level they're very similar, and who maybe fight and tease and banter but do it in a way without underlying malice. I like pairings where the people involved enjoy being together, it's like my crack.