15 in '15 - OTPs Part One
Since 15 has always been my favorite number, I've decided to make a list of my 15 all-time favorite ships!
Top 15 Ships
15. Ty/Dawn
(The Almighty Johnsons)
This is one of those ships that hits that sweet spot of my fluff and angst loving heart. I was always really worried the writers would fuck them up because they started dating in Season 1 and as we know, canon pairs get a wrench thrown in after their honeymoon period, their drama gets repetitive, their chemisty gets stale, etc. With Ty/Dawn, I think the writing and actor chemistry just worked from beginning to end. It was such a well-done arc and I think that's because it was a sub-plot juggled in with all the other brothers' stories, as well as the tighter, shorter nature of the show. They were extremely sweet in the beginning and then I thought they were doomed, but thankfully the writers proved me wrong.
I also appreciate that, when Ty started getting overzealous in wanting to win Dawn back and reintroduce himself to her life when she had lost her memories of him, Mike told him to cut it out and Ty listened to him. Then, toward the end, when Dawn was having issues with rebuilding her relationship with Ty and he remembered everything, it was a lot for her to handle and Ty listened to her. That's what I love about their relationship. It was down to Earth and functional and although it had a ton of external drama, they worked through it together. Unlike other pairings in my Runner's Up list that got ripped apart because of the writers' desire for maximum manpain, we got to see Dawn's POV and how all the god stuff affected her. And she accepted it and knew Ty in the end. They were just really sweet and lovely and I realized toward the end of the series that they look like how York and Emily might look in real life :3 Also, naked baking is A++
Fic rec: Forget-Me-Not by brilligspoons
14. Thor/Jane
(MCU: Thor)
This ship is a case in which I didn't think much about them until after the fact. The first time I watched Thor, I had thought they were cute but kind of boring. Then, when I re-watched the movie, I was like OMG THEY ARE SO CUTE. I really dug Jane checking out Thor, Jane telling him "No that's not how we do things here," and instead of him pouting or getting angry, he's like "Okay."
I can see why people don't like them. They don't have a lot of dimensions and fall into the "Girl ~teaches~ Boy and he becomes good through her love." I disagree with the latter, but I do kinda have a thing for women teaching men how to behave. I love the combination of Jane's sciency ways and Thor's meathead do-goodery. They're opposites, but they learn more about each other, and I dig that sort of 'summer high school sweethearts' vibe they have. While they're still canon, I'd just like to bask in their sweetness and light. I love how Jane threw herself on Thor to protect him in The Dark World, and I love that in Age of Ultron, Thor was still dating Jane and said "[She's] better." Damn right she is!
Fic recs: Salt On Your Lips by Barkour, A Helping Hand by fuzzy-paint, Just Get In The Van by paxnirvana, and When Jane Pegged Thor by waldorph
13. Katniss/Gale
(The Hunger Games)
I have a bit of a masochistic streak in my shipping, and this proves it. I honestly didn't even really ship Katniss/Gale that much in the first book because we didn't really see them together. I didn't start shipping them until Catching Fire, and I'm not proud of it, but K/G has sort of become a spite pairing. The more people bash it, the more I love it. I love and hate the tragedy of them: love the tragedy that Collins took time to touch on in CF and the first half of MJ, but I also hate it because I think she did them, especially Katniss, dirty in the last third of the series. It's so painfully obvious that Collins rushed the last third of the book and, while I had been a fan of Katniss/Peeta too, their ending (and fandom) soured me on them a lot. But my love for K/G has only grown, because I've seen so much good meta on them as separate characters and their relationship.
It's not so much the idea of them as a couple that I find fascinating, but their partnership. They rebelled against the Capitol and were hunting partners first and foremost. They had developed this deep sense of trust within each other that I don't think we were ever really shown with Katniss/Peeta, and contrary to what many say about Gale leaving Katniss, it wasn't about him not getting into her pants. He realized they would never be able to go back to what they were before, not even as friends, and he left to spare her that pain of seeing him and, by proxy, Prim's death every day. I still think it was a load of horseshit that Collins demonized Gale at the last second to shove Katniss with Peeta (because you have to be isolated with your hubby and kids forever and always, apparently), and that "I'm having my edgy cake and eating its romantic fluff too" poor writing toward the end is why I see a lot of unfinished business between future Katniss and Gale. Collins shouldn't have been pressured to create a love triangle when she hadn't intended Gale to be a love interest, but she also shouldn't have written such a petty, hasty ending.
Anyway. To me, Katniss and Gale come from the same mold of a lot of my other pairings. They represent the 'could-haves' and 'maybes' that we don't see in canon. I understand why others don't like it, but this one sparks something in me, much like the rebellion and hope for freedom and change sparked something in Katniss and Gale.
Recs: none of us are going back by anythingbutgrey; THG Meta masterpost by onegreywaren, and The Bad In Each Other by audreyii_fic
12. Buffy/Angel
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel)
One of my forever pairs. I'm constantly surprised by how much I still ship them, to the extent of putting them on this list. I ship Buffy with other characters for different reasons (Spike, Faith, Riley in the beginning of their relationship) and I liked Angel with Cordelia even though I think that arc wasn't given half the respect it deserved. But Buffy/Angel is IT for me, in this fandom. THE OTP. Whereas Thor/Jane doesn't strike me as that Epic Forever Love, Buffy/Angel does. They're just made for each other.
Fun fact: I didn't like them together in the first two seasons. I had thought they were so fucking boring, and I still don't think Angel had an interesting personality until after he left Sunnydale. But. Something happened in S3, which is hands down my favorite thing Joss Whedon has ever done. I get why people prefer the S2 Angelus arc and I think that's the best writing he's done, but something about S3 just really spoke to me. Buffy/Angel was functional rather than boring, their stories seemed more interesting to me (starting when Angel came back and broke though his feral Hell-abused nature to hug Buffy), and B/A tapped into that bulletproof trope of hurt/comfort I love. When Angel left Buffy, I understood it, but I was surprisingly devastated for her. I believed her when she said Angel is the one person she'll love more than anything in this life. She loved him and she killed him. He loved her and he had to give up being with her to save her. They're so tragic and it hurts so good to ship them, lol. From what I hear, things got really shitty regarding the Angel/Buffy/Spike arc, so I'd like to think of B/A as how BtVS left them off: with a kiss and Buffy telling Angel she's not done baking yet, they maybe have a future together and Angel is fine with that because he's not getting any older. There's potential with them and a deep history, and I love the recurring theme of sacrifice between them. As much as they love each other, they know there are more important things like, oh, THE WORLD, and they will do whatever they can to help it, in their own ways. I'd like to think they ended up saving it together, and finally achieving their happy ending in more ways than one AYYOO
I don't have any recs for them either because I suck. Really though, their shows did such a good job with them, separately and together, that I rarely felt the need to read fic (to this day I've only read a handful of fics in both fandoms and that's enough for me.) Mostly I like looking at GIFs of them, re-watching their eps, and reading meta.
11. Parker/Hardison
(Leverage)
I shipped them from the minute I saw this scene. It's one of my favorite moments in any canon, ever. I watched this episode first and am so glad I did. It was fun to go back to the beginning and watch their relationship grow and change. They have the cutest banter and I love how Parker's flirty and sexually aggressive with Hardison at times, which takes him back, but he can dig it. Then, when he realizes she doesn't have much experience with romance and emotional relationships (which is why, overall, I'm okay with her jealousy in "The Double-Blind Job), he works with her and respects her comfort level. Their progression is slow and sweet and I just love them to pieces. I LOVE that moment in "The Grave Danger Job" when Parker can't hug Hardison even after she says his first name, and admits she needs him. She can't hug him and he understands it and still loves her. I love how she plays around with him and he's indignant, but ultimately okay with it. I love their moment in "The Ice Man Job" when they're stuck in that enclosed space and hold onto each other. One of the hottest things I've seen. I love their moment in the vent and when Parker assures Hardison that he's cool because he plays all those games online. Hardison knows she doesn't understand his hobby, but he loves that she tries to speak his language to help him. I love that moment at the high school reunion when they dance. I love their scenes with Hardy the frog robot and when Hardison helps Parker with the weights and when they dance among the strobe lights and I could go on forever, but I think it's pretty obvious how I feel about them. They're that fun, sweet, well-adjusted pair with the slow burn and everything comes together so perfectly for them in canon. Love them!
I actually don't have any recs for them, simply because canon handled them perfectly and I haven't really felt the need to check out Leverage fic anyway.
10. Sam/Mike
(Until Dawn)
Sam + Mike by darnpool
I was actually debating whether I should put this in the #11 or lower spot because this is a very new pairing for me. I only got into them and Until Dawn about a month ago. It's probably why I put them up so high, since I'm still in the MUST FIND ALL FIC AND GIFS AND OTP FEELS mode. I mean, I feel like that for all my ships, but this one especially so lately. They crept up on me as well, especially because unlike York/Emily, they're not supposed to be together. They're unlikely partners, first and foremost. But they're fighters, and much like my other pairings, that's why I love them. They don't start out all lovey-dovey. Sam actually seems like she kind of hated Mike at the beginning, with good reason because of what he did to Hannah. But I love that feeling of, after I finished watching Matt and Pat's excellent Let's Play of Until Dawn, I immediately wanted to go back to the beginning and catch all the Mike/Sam moments I had missed. I was initially interested in the middle of the game, when Sam and Mike meet up to then find Ashely and Chris, but it wasn't until Sam saved Mike (I love that she has to save him, either in the mines or at the Sanitorium), and after they both touched Beth's watch that I was like "Yep, that's it. I ship it." And it was the culmination of everything that made me ship them more and more: their sleuthing and mutual torment over what happened to Hannah, finding Josh and trying to help him, meeting up again at the cabin and then, the thing that topped it all off, Mike figuring out what to do and Sam nodding when he caught her eye. Wordless communication, slow-build teamwork, and mutual proctiveness? Sign me the FUCK up.
There's so much that can be done with them that I always get excited when I see a fic of them pop up. I ship my ships in different ways: some I can see having sex on every surface, others I prefer to just read or think about them hanging out. Sam/Mike falls into the second category, because I mostly like to think of them as rogue monster hunters, taking up where The Stranger left off. My headcanon is that after everything, all the shit finally caught up to Sam and she snapped, as we can see in her interview. I think Mike snapped too, but in a different way. They seem like they'd be the most well-adjusted ones because they saved everyone at the end - and Sam is especially so level-headed throughout the game - but I think they'd actually end up needing more help than all the others to re-adjust. And I can see them helping each other heal, because I think the events of the night brought them closer than ever before. Their social link meters can be maxed out for each other by the end, and I think that's deliberate. I love that Sam has to save Mike, but Mike saving Sam is optional. I love that at the end of the game, you can see Mike getting up to hold onto Sam's arm to check if she's okay. I love that if Mike dies saving Sam, she acknowledges it and that adds to her breaking down. I love how Mike and Sam worried about everyone and discussed how they were going to keep the others safe, like they were the parents of the group. They both had to grow up a lot in one night, and I like to think of them realizing that's how they can keep themselves from unraveling. Sam and Mike as monster hunters, road tripping Wolfie in the backseat, eating at cheap diners, Mike teasing Sam as she rolls her eyes at him, them checking up on Chris sometimes and sleeping back to back and then sleeping together for warmth - that's how I want to think of them after the game*. Although I was a little disappointed that they're not as popular as I thought they'd be, it looks like there's a solid fanbase for them and people are still writing fic. As it should be, for the Daring Duo :D
Fic Recs: Take Care by Kari_Kurofai (*gave me the post-game headcanon I mentioned above!) and After Dawn by heartsayshello95
09. Athena/Helo
(Battlestar Galactica)
get to know me meme by claudiablacks
I love them. I love that they're called The Fighting Agathons. LOOOOOOOVE THEM. I love them so fucking much that I don't care about how shitty the finale was, they got their happy ending so I'm okay with it. I literally kept thinking DON'T KILL THEM PLEASE DON'T LET THEM DI E OMG. I thought Helo was going to be a goner, but the fact that they lived and lived happily ever after with Hera was like a dream come true. They went through so much shit, separately and together, that they deserved their happy ending - Sharon especially. I appreciate how their arc focused mostly on her and that Helo would've been left for dead in the pilot, had the feedback not been so positive. This is a case in which I'm gonna be a huge hypocrite because fan favor lined up with mine: I saw a lot of depth and history between them in their scenes in the miniseries. And while I was gutted many times during their arc (when Helo first found out about Sharon being a Cylon, when he shot her, when she wanted to be away from him when they got back to the fleet, when they thought Hera died, when Athena had to watch another 8 have sex with Helo, when Helo had to kill Athena so she could get their daughter back), I also felt so much joy at their happy moments. I love their sweetness and "Gone to Hell and back together" theme and I'm just, they have everything I wanted in a pairing. To the 24 writers: THIS is what Tony/Michelle should've been. So yeah, even when BSG started sucking, just when I thought I was out, The Fighting Agathons pulled me back in!
Vid recs: Easy Silence by Josette Arnauld and The Stone by MyNameWasOutsourced. Here's an edit of their scenes.
08. Mohinder/Sylar
(Heroes)
Oh, these two. They're the reason I got back into fandom, and I still have a soft spot for them. I've written the most fic for them than any other pairing and I had a blast reading so much other Mylar fic. I'll never forget that summer between S1 and S2, when there was a ton of fic, meta, and picspams to see between them. I made a lot of new friends and had so much fun in the community. This pairing really shaped the way I wrote and how I thought about writing and pairings. Sendhil and Zach had chemistry that was out of this world and although I'm still bitter about how canon treated them, I will always think their scenes were some of the best in the series.
I didn't start shipping them until after S1. I had really only thought of them as excellent antagonists and "Parasite" was an immensely tense episode. I hated Sylar on my first watch and wanted Mohinder to git him gud. It wasn't until after I read a lot of posts on TWoP analyzing their relationship that I realized, yeah, this COULD be seen as sexual/romantic. I love the dynamics between them, that sense of potential, of Sylar seeing something in Mohinder that made him trust again and think about things other than killing people and stealing their powers. I love the issue of betrayal and that with Mohinder, we get a FUCK YEAH moment of him tying up Sylar, drugging him, and almost ending him. There's this deep-seated sense of tragedy between the two, of 'what-ifs' and 'might-haves' because in another world, they could have been friends and lovers. Sylar always respected Mohinder and despite his hatred, Mohinder was fascinated with Sylar. I love that in "Five Years Gone" we realize, at the end, that Sylar had made Mohinder his right-hand man and there was a deep history and bond between them in an alternate universe. Even with all that history, Mohinder fights for what is right and he rejects Sylar's new world order. Their scenes in "Powerless" made me excited about the show again, and I still mourn what could have been with the Virus plot. Mohinder was curious about Sylar's infection, and that The Company had done that to him. Despite everything Sylar had done, Mohinder realized there was something even more corrupted than Sylar. And Sylar definitely cared about Mohinder and what he thought of Sylar. They both got shafted in different ways, but there are just so many possibilies with them: cracky, romantic, tragic, antagonistic, angsty, etc. that this will always be one of my favorite pairings and reminder of my best time in fandom.
Fic recs: The Last Two Men by toestastegood, Soon, Love, Soon by cerebel, Behind Clouds, Sun Shines by brighteyed_jill, Smoke on the Horizon by gaiafaye, and Mohinderella by violet_anchovy :D
07. Snow White/Bigby Wolf
(The Wolf Among Us/Fables)
favorite videogame ships (in no particular order) ► Bigby Wolf and Snow White. by sheploou
Aaaand here's another videogame ship I've fallen head over heels for recently. Which is probably why it's so high up on the list, despite being my most recent ship.
If Sam and Mike is one of those ships I dig mostly for the understanding and partnership rather than romance and sex, Bigby/Snow is one of those pairings I can see going at it on every surface in a room - and then moving to the wall. I honestly was not expecting to ship them. I really wasn't. While watching ChristopherOdd's great LP (I seriously considered buying the game beforehand, but being broke and having a cheap laptop swayed my opinion lol), I was kind of like "Hmm, their relationship is interesting." And that was it. I appreciated that they worked on the case together and at that point, I was mostly intrigued by the notion that instead of having a little girl as your moral compass like in The Walking Dead, you have this disciplinarian and slightly aloof adult politician who, spoilers, doesn't even end up with you even if you're always nice to her and follow her every command. Snow says things that are a little 'off' to gauge your reaction, things like implying she liked the rooftop showdown fight because it reminds her of the old days, and at that point you CAN'T be her yes-man. The best you can say is "Where are you going with this..." I thought that was really cool. The game does nudge you most of the time to agree with her, but another really interesting part is when you can burn Greenleaf's tree because Snow decreed it, or you can spare the tree and give Greengrass a job. It's that kind of moral quandary and relationship study that I think brings this ship to a whole other level than simply "beauty and beast" or "Ice Queen who needs her heart thawed by a man/Bad Boy cured by a woman's love." I mean, it's definitely got those tropes too - though they're much more apparent in the Fables comics - but I really like the political aspect of it as well. I love that Snow is clearly freaking out because Ichabod was in love with her and used a Glamoured prostitue to be with her, so she lashed out at non-Glamoured Fables even though she knows they don't have the privileges that she does. She's real, she's flawed, she's lost - just like Bigby is - and she and Bigby have a history together. I could sense that even before having read any of the comics.
I tend to agree with a lot of people that their romance arc in the comics is... not as well-written as in the game. It's actually really fucking skeevy sometimes, like Bigby revealing he can smell Snow everywhere and can't get her out of his head. Paging Edward Cullen... Anyway, a small part of me digs their arc on an iddy level, but the game handles their relationship WAY better, and on a shallow note, Bigby is actually ruggedly handsome in the game rather than a weird lump of face with eyebrows and a mouth, like he is in the comics. I love TWAU for providing us with a preview of what's to come in the comics, and an even better build up of what the comics offer. I'm hoping we get a WAU S2 to get another cool non-Fables mystery, maybe introduce characters like Rose and Charming, and provide satisfying, non-creepy closure on Snow/Bigby, but I'm not holding my breath for it. And maybe no S2 would be a good thing, considering the second season of The Walking Dead Game.
Some more things I want to touch on with WAU!Bigby/Snow. I love their honesty, their care for each other, and their blatant awkwardness. I love that Bigby literally has the ability to rip out someone's throat, but he can also be very gentle with Snow. I mean, you can play him as a dick, but in the playthroughs I've seen, everyone tries to be consistenly nice to her, and she appreciates it. One of the things I do like about their comics canon selves is what I mentally transfer over to their game selves: Bigby really is trying to reform, not just because of Snow, but he did spare her when he was a wolf because of her fierceness - I actually really like Willingham's short story of them meeting and how Snow went from brandishing a sword at him to offering him a knife to become human - and she saw something in him to give him a job and bring him to the Mundy world. Meanwhile, Snow has been hurt and betrayed so much that she uses her icy demeanor as a defense mechanism, but despite that, she does care deeply for Bigby - she's just afraid of getting hurt again. Bigby's a hunk, but he's had a thing for Snow since forever, but he won't pressure her into anything, she is literally the only woman for him. They're a power couple and work well together. I enjoy their banter and that you can mix and match their comics and game canon and while it's kind of funny that I didn't start actively shipping them until after I finished watching the Let's Play, I'm glad I watched it. It's a great game and a great ship.
Recs: A Lair in the Flocked Leaves and The Sweetest of Words by derryday (dayari), how to handle a christmas gift from your boss by bravest, Einsam by wandererred, Wolf Sense by lovingcaptainswan, and Cliff's Edge by Maebmin
06. York/Emily
(Deadly Premonition)
Blonde woman, dark-haired guy. Partners. Us against the world. I'm... sensing a pattern here lol
Much like the game itself, York/Emily kind of crept up on me. It's janky as hell at first, very awkward and brusque, but by the time I was still trying to figure out whether I liked the game, I already saw some potential between them, during York's first side-quest with Emily. I didn't start shipping them until Emily drunkenly visited York, but intead of boning and going through the "I think I'm in love uwu" BS that befell Madison and Ethan in Heavy Rain, York and Emily did what Will They? Won't They? couples usually don't and HAD A CONVERSATION. They had some fun banter, York was standing on the other side of the room, and then suddenly Emily asked about Zach. And York answered her. York had never told anyone about Zach before. Then of course afterward, York had to ruin the moment with his socially inept ego. I was hooked. They went from tolerating each other's presence (Emily, of course, being a lot more patient than York) to getting to know each other, to York saving Emily, Emily saving York, and then York failing to save her. But it's okay, because she can save herself. I get that people think their relationship was too rushed, but maybe it's because I watched supergreatfriend's flawless Let's Play that I felt like we had enough time to breathe and let the pairing grow naturally. I fully bought that they both fell for each other, and that Emily was really the first person York realized he cared deeply about other than Zach. And Emily, I get the feeling that she's always felt like the odd woman out in Greenvale, but this weird rude dude comes in and she won't let him do get away with everything, but she's interested in him. She grounds him and he helps her with cooking and their tragedy was necessary for Zach to live his own life. I love that they got their happy ending, too. Quirky, cute, sweet, and literal gods of the forest. This is an OTP I will always cherish.
Fic recs: A Greenvale Christmas Tale by Oillet and The Kitchen Witch by Crimson Flame-Blue Rose
Onto my Top 5 OTPs! <3
Top 15 Ships
15. Ty/Dawn
(The Almighty Johnsons)
This is one of those ships that hits that sweet spot of my fluff and angst loving heart. I was always really worried the writers would fuck them up because they started dating in Season 1 and as we know, canon pairs get a wrench thrown in after their honeymoon period, their drama gets repetitive, their chemisty gets stale, etc. With Ty/Dawn, I think the writing and actor chemistry just worked from beginning to end. It was such a well-done arc and I think that's because it was a sub-plot juggled in with all the other brothers' stories, as well as the tighter, shorter nature of the show. They were extremely sweet in the beginning and then I thought they were doomed, but thankfully the writers proved me wrong.
I also appreciate that, when Ty started getting overzealous in wanting to win Dawn back and reintroduce himself to her life when she had lost her memories of him, Mike told him to cut it out and Ty listened to him. Then, toward the end, when Dawn was having issues with rebuilding her relationship with Ty and he remembered everything, it was a lot for her to handle and Ty listened to her. That's what I love about their relationship. It was down to Earth and functional and although it had a ton of external drama, they worked through it together. Unlike other pairings in my Runner's Up list that got ripped apart because of the writers' desire for maximum manpain, we got to see Dawn's POV and how all the god stuff affected her. And she accepted it and knew Ty in the end. They were just really sweet and lovely and I realized toward the end of the series that they look like how York and Emily might look in real life :3 Also, naked baking is A++
Fic rec: Forget-Me-Not by brilligspoons
14. Thor/Jane
(MCU: Thor)
This ship is a case in which I didn't think much about them until after the fact. The first time I watched Thor, I had thought they were cute but kind of boring. Then, when I re-watched the movie, I was like OMG THEY ARE SO CUTE. I really dug Jane checking out Thor, Jane telling him "No that's not how we do things here," and instead of him pouting or getting angry, he's like "Okay."
I can see why people don't like them. They don't have a lot of dimensions and fall into the "Girl ~teaches~ Boy and he becomes good through her love." I disagree with the latter, but I do kinda have a thing for women teaching men how to behave. I love the combination of Jane's sciency ways and Thor's meathead do-goodery. They're opposites, but they learn more about each other, and I dig that sort of 'summer high school sweethearts' vibe they have. While they're still canon, I'd just like to bask in their sweetness and light. I love how Jane threw herself on Thor to protect him in The Dark World, and I love that in Age of Ultron, Thor was still dating Jane and said "[She's] better." Damn right she is!
Fic recs: Salt On Your Lips by Barkour, A Helping Hand by fuzzy-paint, Just Get In The Van by paxnirvana, and When Jane Pegged Thor by waldorph
13. Katniss/Gale
(The Hunger Games)
I have a bit of a masochistic streak in my shipping, and this proves it. I honestly didn't even really ship Katniss/Gale that much in the first book because we didn't really see them together. I didn't start shipping them until Catching Fire, and I'm not proud of it, but K/G has sort of become a spite pairing. The more people bash it, the more I love it. I love and hate the tragedy of them: love the tragedy that Collins took time to touch on in CF and the first half of MJ, but I also hate it because I think she did them, especially Katniss, dirty in the last third of the series. It's so painfully obvious that Collins rushed the last third of the book and, while I had been a fan of Katniss/Peeta too, their ending (and fandom) soured me on them a lot. But my love for K/G has only grown, because I've seen so much good meta on them as separate characters and their relationship.
It's not so much the idea of them as a couple that I find fascinating, but their partnership. They rebelled against the Capitol and were hunting partners first and foremost. They had developed this deep sense of trust within each other that I don't think we were ever really shown with Katniss/Peeta, and contrary to what many say about Gale leaving Katniss, it wasn't about him not getting into her pants. He realized they would never be able to go back to what they were before, not even as friends, and he left to spare her that pain of seeing him and, by proxy, Prim's death every day. I still think it was a load of horseshit that Collins demonized Gale at the last second to shove Katniss with Peeta (because you have to be isolated with your hubby and kids forever and always, apparently), and that "I'm having my edgy cake and eating its romantic fluff too" poor writing toward the end is why I see a lot of unfinished business between future Katniss and Gale. Collins shouldn't have been pressured to create a love triangle when she hadn't intended Gale to be a love interest, but she also shouldn't have written such a petty, hasty ending.
Anyway. To me, Katniss and Gale come from the same mold of a lot of my other pairings. They represent the 'could-haves' and 'maybes' that we don't see in canon. I understand why others don't like it, but this one sparks something in me, much like the rebellion and hope for freedom and change sparked something in Katniss and Gale.
Recs: none of us are going back by anythingbutgrey; THG Meta masterpost by onegreywaren, and The Bad In Each Other by audreyii_fic
12. Buffy/Angel
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel)
One of my forever pairs. I'm constantly surprised by how much I still ship them, to the extent of putting them on this list. I ship Buffy with other characters for different reasons (Spike, Faith, Riley in the beginning of their relationship) and I liked Angel with Cordelia even though I think that arc wasn't given half the respect it deserved. But Buffy/Angel is IT for me, in this fandom. THE OTP. Whereas Thor/Jane doesn't strike me as that Epic Forever Love, Buffy/Angel does. They're just made for each other.
Fun fact: I didn't like them together in the first two seasons. I had thought they were so fucking boring, and I still don't think Angel had an interesting personality until after he left Sunnydale. But. Something happened in S3, which is hands down my favorite thing Joss Whedon has ever done. I get why people prefer the S2 Angelus arc and I think that's the best writing he's done, but something about S3 just really spoke to me. Buffy/Angel was functional rather than boring, their stories seemed more interesting to me (starting when Angel came back and broke though his feral Hell-abused nature to hug Buffy), and B/A tapped into that bulletproof trope of hurt/comfort I love. When Angel left Buffy, I understood it, but I was surprisingly devastated for her. I believed her when she said Angel is the one person she'll love more than anything in this life. She loved him and she killed him. He loved her and he had to give up being with her to save her. They're so tragic and it hurts so good to ship them, lol. From what I hear, things got really shitty regarding the Angel/Buffy/Spike arc, so I'd like to think of B/A as how BtVS left them off: with a kiss and Buffy telling Angel she's not done baking yet, they maybe have a future together and Angel is fine with that because he's not getting any older. There's potential with them and a deep history, and I love the recurring theme of sacrifice between them. As much as they love each other, they know there are more important things like, oh, THE WORLD, and they will do whatever they can to help it, in their own ways. I'd like to think they ended up saving it together, and finally achieving their happy ending in more ways than one AYYOO
I don't have any recs for them either because I suck. Really though, their shows did such a good job with them, separately and together, that I rarely felt the need to read fic (to this day I've only read a handful of fics in both fandoms and that's enough for me.) Mostly I like looking at GIFs of them, re-watching their eps, and reading meta.
11. Parker/Hardison
(Leverage)
I shipped them from the minute I saw this scene. It's one of my favorite moments in any canon, ever. I watched this episode first and am so glad I did. It was fun to go back to the beginning and watch their relationship grow and change. They have the cutest banter and I love how Parker's flirty and sexually aggressive with Hardison at times, which takes him back, but he can dig it. Then, when he realizes she doesn't have much experience with romance and emotional relationships (which is why, overall, I'm okay with her jealousy in "The Double-Blind Job), he works with her and respects her comfort level. Their progression is slow and sweet and I just love them to pieces. I LOVE that moment in "The Grave Danger Job" when Parker can't hug Hardison even after she says his first name, and admits she needs him. She can't hug him and he understands it and still loves her. I love how she plays around with him and he's indignant, but ultimately okay with it. I love their moment in "The Ice Man Job" when they're stuck in that enclosed space and hold onto each other. One of the hottest things I've seen. I love their moment in the vent and when Parker assures Hardison that he's cool because he plays all those games online. Hardison knows she doesn't understand his hobby, but he loves that she tries to speak his language to help him. I love that moment at the high school reunion when they dance. I love their scenes with Hardy the frog robot and when Hardison helps Parker with the weights and when they dance among the strobe lights and I could go on forever, but I think it's pretty obvious how I feel about them. They're that fun, sweet, well-adjusted pair with the slow burn and everything comes together so perfectly for them in canon. Love them!
I actually don't have any recs for them, simply because canon handled them perfectly and I haven't really felt the need to check out Leverage fic anyway.
10. Sam/Mike
(Until Dawn)
Sam + Mike by darnpool
I was actually debating whether I should put this in the #11 or lower spot because this is a very new pairing for me. I only got into them and Until Dawn about a month ago. It's probably why I put them up so high, since I'm still in the MUST FIND ALL FIC AND GIFS AND OTP FEELS mode. I mean, I feel like that for all my ships, but this one especially so lately. They crept up on me as well, especially because unlike York/Emily, they're not supposed to be together. They're unlikely partners, first and foremost. But they're fighters, and much like my other pairings, that's why I love them. They don't start out all lovey-dovey. Sam actually seems like she kind of hated Mike at the beginning, with good reason because of what he did to Hannah. But I love that feeling of, after I finished watching Matt and Pat's excellent Let's Play of Until Dawn, I immediately wanted to go back to the beginning and catch all the Mike/Sam moments I had missed. I was initially interested in the middle of the game, when Sam and Mike meet up to then find Ashely and Chris, but it wasn't until Sam saved Mike (I love that she has to save him, either in the mines or at the Sanitorium), and after they both touched Beth's watch that I was like "Yep, that's it. I ship it." And it was the culmination of everything that made me ship them more and more: their sleuthing and mutual torment over what happened to Hannah, finding Josh and trying to help him, meeting up again at the cabin and then, the thing that topped it all off, Mike figuring out what to do and Sam nodding when he caught her eye. Wordless communication, slow-build teamwork, and mutual proctiveness? Sign me the FUCK up.
There's so much that can be done with them that I always get excited when I see a fic of them pop up. I ship my ships in different ways: some I can see having sex on every surface, others I prefer to just read or think about them hanging out. Sam/Mike falls into the second category, because I mostly like to think of them as rogue monster hunters, taking up where The Stranger left off. My headcanon is that after everything, all the shit finally caught up to Sam and she snapped, as we can see in her interview. I think Mike snapped too, but in a different way. They seem like they'd be the most well-adjusted ones because they saved everyone at the end - and Sam is especially so level-headed throughout the game - but I think they'd actually end up needing more help than all the others to re-adjust. And I can see them helping each other heal, because I think the events of the night brought them closer than ever before. Their social link meters can be maxed out for each other by the end, and I think that's deliberate. I love that Sam has to save Mike, but Mike saving Sam is optional. I love that at the end of the game, you can see Mike getting up to hold onto Sam's arm to check if she's okay. I love that if Mike dies saving Sam, she acknowledges it and that adds to her breaking down. I love how Mike and Sam worried about everyone and discussed how they were going to keep the others safe, like they were the parents of the group. They both had to grow up a lot in one night, and I like to think of them realizing that's how they can keep themselves from unraveling. Sam and Mike as monster hunters, road tripping Wolfie in the backseat, eating at cheap diners, Mike teasing Sam as she rolls her eyes at him, them checking up on Chris sometimes and sleeping back to back and then sleeping together for warmth - that's how I want to think of them after the game*. Although I was a little disappointed that they're not as popular as I thought they'd be, it looks like there's a solid fanbase for them and people are still writing fic. As it should be, for the Daring Duo :D
Fic Recs: Take Care by Kari_Kurofai (*gave me the post-game headcanon I mentioned above!) and After Dawn by heartsayshello95
09. Athena/Helo
(Battlestar Galactica)
get to know me meme by claudiablacks
I love them. I love that they're called The Fighting Agathons. LOOOOOOOVE THEM. I love them so fucking much that I don't care about how shitty the finale was, they got their happy ending so I'm okay with it. I literally kept thinking DON'T KILL THEM PLEASE DON'T LET THEM DI E OMG. I thought Helo was going to be a goner, but the fact that they lived and lived happily ever after with Hera was like a dream come true. They went through so much shit, separately and together, that they deserved their happy ending - Sharon especially. I appreciate how their arc focused mostly on her and that Helo would've been left for dead in the pilot, had the feedback not been so positive. This is a case in which I'm gonna be a huge hypocrite because fan favor lined up with mine: I saw a lot of depth and history between them in their scenes in the miniseries. And while I was gutted many times during their arc (when Helo first found out about Sharon being a Cylon, when he shot her, when she wanted to be away from him when they got back to the fleet, when they thought Hera died, when Athena had to watch another 8 have sex with Helo, when Helo had to kill Athena so she could get their daughter back), I also felt so much joy at their happy moments. I love their sweetness and "Gone to Hell and back together" theme and I'm just, they have everything I wanted in a pairing. To the 24 writers: THIS is what Tony/Michelle should've been. So yeah, even when BSG started sucking, just when I thought I was out, The Fighting Agathons pulled me back in!
Vid recs: Easy Silence by Josette Arnauld and The Stone by MyNameWasOutsourced. Here's an edit of their scenes.
08. Mohinder/Sylar
(Heroes)
Oh, these two. They're the reason I got back into fandom, and I still have a soft spot for them. I've written the most fic for them than any other pairing and I had a blast reading so much other Mylar fic. I'll never forget that summer between S1 and S2, when there was a ton of fic, meta, and picspams to see between them. I made a lot of new friends and had so much fun in the community. This pairing really shaped the way I wrote and how I thought about writing and pairings. Sendhil and Zach had chemistry that was out of this world and although I'm still bitter about how canon treated them, I will always think their scenes were some of the best in the series.
I didn't start shipping them until after S1. I had really only thought of them as excellent antagonists and "Parasite" was an immensely tense episode. I hated Sylar on my first watch and wanted Mohinder to git him gud. It wasn't until after I read a lot of posts on TWoP analyzing their relationship that I realized, yeah, this COULD be seen as sexual/romantic. I love the dynamics between them, that sense of potential, of Sylar seeing something in Mohinder that made him trust again and think about things other than killing people and stealing their powers. I love the issue of betrayal and that with Mohinder, we get a FUCK YEAH moment of him tying up Sylar, drugging him, and almost ending him. There's this deep-seated sense of tragedy between the two, of 'what-ifs' and 'might-haves' because in another world, they could have been friends and lovers. Sylar always respected Mohinder and despite his hatred, Mohinder was fascinated with Sylar. I love that in "Five Years Gone" we realize, at the end, that Sylar had made Mohinder his right-hand man and there was a deep history and bond between them in an alternate universe. Even with all that history, Mohinder fights for what is right and he rejects Sylar's new world order. Their scenes in "Powerless" made me excited about the show again, and I still mourn what could have been with the Virus plot. Mohinder was curious about Sylar's infection, and that The Company had done that to him. Despite everything Sylar had done, Mohinder realized there was something even more corrupted than Sylar. And Sylar definitely cared about Mohinder and what he thought of Sylar. They both got shafted in different ways, but there are just so many possibilies with them: cracky, romantic, tragic, antagonistic, angsty, etc. that this will always be one of my favorite pairings and reminder of my best time in fandom.
Fic recs: The Last Two Men by toestastegood, Soon, Love, Soon by cerebel, Behind Clouds, Sun Shines by brighteyed_jill, Smoke on the Horizon by gaiafaye, and Mohinderella by violet_anchovy :D
07. Snow White/Bigby Wolf
(The Wolf Among Us/Fables)
favorite videogame ships (in no particular order) ► Bigby Wolf and Snow White. by sheploou
Aaaand here's another videogame ship I've fallen head over heels for recently. Which is probably why it's so high up on the list, despite being my most recent ship.
If Sam and Mike is one of those ships I dig mostly for the understanding and partnership rather than romance and sex, Bigby/Snow is one of those pairings I can see going at it on every surface in a room - and then moving to the wall. I honestly was not expecting to ship them. I really wasn't. While watching ChristopherOdd's great LP (I seriously considered buying the game beforehand, but being broke and having a cheap laptop swayed my opinion lol), I was kind of like "Hmm, their relationship is interesting." And that was it. I appreciated that they worked on the case together and at that point, I was mostly intrigued by the notion that instead of having a little girl as your moral compass like in The Walking Dead, you have this disciplinarian and slightly aloof adult politician who, spoilers, doesn't even end up with you even if you're always nice to her and follow her every command. Snow says things that are a little 'off' to gauge your reaction, things like implying she liked the rooftop showdown fight because it reminds her of the old days, and at that point you CAN'T be her yes-man. The best you can say is "Where are you going with this..." I thought that was really cool. The game does nudge you most of the time to agree with her, but another really interesting part is when you can burn Greenleaf's tree because Snow decreed it, or you can spare the tree and give Greengrass a job. It's that kind of moral quandary and relationship study that I think brings this ship to a whole other level than simply "beauty and beast" or "Ice Queen who needs her heart thawed by a man/Bad Boy cured by a woman's love." I mean, it's definitely got those tropes too - though they're much more apparent in the Fables comics - but I really like the political aspect of it as well. I love that Snow is clearly freaking out because Ichabod was in love with her and used a Glamoured prostitue to be with her, so she lashed out at non-Glamoured Fables even though she knows they don't have the privileges that she does. She's real, she's flawed, she's lost - just like Bigby is - and she and Bigby have a history together. I could sense that even before having read any of the comics.
I tend to agree with a lot of people that their romance arc in the comics is... not as well-written as in the game. It's actually really fucking skeevy sometimes, like Bigby revealing he can smell Snow everywhere and can't get her out of his head. Paging Edward Cullen... Anyway, a small part of me digs their arc on an iddy level, but the game handles their relationship WAY better, and on a shallow note, Bigby is actually ruggedly handsome in the game rather than a weird lump of face with eyebrows and a mouth, like he is in the comics. I love TWAU for providing us with a preview of what's to come in the comics, and an even better build up of what the comics offer. I'm hoping we get a WAU S2 to get another cool non-Fables mystery, maybe introduce characters like Rose and Charming, and provide satisfying, non-creepy closure on Snow/Bigby, but I'm not holding my breath for it. And maybe no S2 would be a good thing, considering the second season of The Walking Dead Game.
Some more things I want to touch on with WAU!Bigby/Snow. I love their honesty, their care for each other, and their blatant awkwardness. I love that Bigby literally has the ability to rip out someone's throat, but he can also be very gentle with Snow. I mean, you can play him as a dick, but in the playthroughs I've seen, everyone tries to be consistenly nice to her, and she appreciates it. One of the things I do like about their comics canon selves is what I mentally transfer over to their game selves: Bigby really is trying to reform, not just because of Snow, but he did spare her when he was a wolf because of her fierceness - I actually really like Willingham's short story of them meeting and how Snow went from brandishing a sword at him to offering him a knife to become human - and she saw something in him to give him a job and bring him to the Mundy world. Meanwhile, Snow has been hurt and betrayed so much that she uses her icy demeanor as a defense mechanism, but despite that, she does care deeply for Bigby - she's just afraid of getting hurt again. Bigby's a hunk, but he's had a thing for Snow since forever, but he won't pressure her into anything, she is literally the only woman for him. They're a power couple and work well together. I enjoy their banter and that you can mix and match their comics and game canon and while it's kind of funny that I didn't start actively shipping them until after I finished watching the Let's Play, I'm glad I watched it. It's a great game and a great ship.
Recs: A Lair in the Flocked Leaves and The Sweetest of Words by derryday (dayari), how to handle a christmas gift from your boss by bravest, Einsam by wandererred, Wolf Sense by lovingcaptainswan, and Cliff's Edge by Maebmin
06. York/Emily
(Deadly Premonition)
Blonde woman, dark-haired guy. Partners. Us against the world. I'm... sensing a pattern here lol
Much like the game itself, York/Emily kind of crept up on me. It's janky as hell at first, very awkward and brusque, but by the time I was still trying to figure out whether I liked the game, I already saw some potential between them, during York's first side-quest with Emily. I didn't start shipping them until Emily drunkenly visited York, but intead of boning and going through the "I think I'm in love uwu" BS that befell Madison and Ethan in Heavy Rain, York and Emily did what Will They? Won't They? couples usually don't and HAD A CONVERSATION. They had some fun banter, York was standing on the other side of the room, and then suddenly Emily asked about Zach. And York answered her. York had never told anyone about Zach before. Then of course afterward, York had to ruin the moment with his socially inept ego. I was hooked. They went from tolerating each other's presence (Emily, of course, being a lot more patient than York) to getting to know each other, to York saving Emily, Emily saving York, and then York failing to save her. But it's okay, because she can save herself. I get that people think their relationship was too rushed, but maybe it's because I watched supergreatfriend's flawless Let's Play that I felt like we had enough time to breathe and let the pairing grow naturally. I fully bought that they both fell for each other, and that Emily was really the first person York realized he cared deeply about other than Zach. And Emily, I get the feeling that she's always felt like the odd woman out in Greenvale, but this weird rude dude comes in and she won't let him do get away with everything, but she's interested in him. She grounds him and he helps her with cooking and their tragedy was necessary for Zach to live his own life. I love that they got their happy ending, too. Quirky, cute, sweet, and literal gods of the forest. This is an OTP I will always cherish.
Fic recs: A Greenvale Christmas Tale by Oillet and The Kitchen Witch by Crimson Flame-Blue Rose
Onto my Top 5 OTPs! <3