Hi, I'm Allison. I've been reading and writing fanfiction since 2006, and I can say that I thoroughly enjoy it.

Now that I've chiseled my little niche in the internet, let me speak more about fanfiction specifically. I think it's one of the greatest literary inventions of all times. I think its potential to be investigatory, opinionated, and provocative is extraordinary. It can be both free-form and very structured. It can be intellectually stimulated and it can be crack. Fanfiction is wonderful because it gives you a set of parameters but you choose how to move from there. Because, seriously, if something exists, there's probably fanfiction written for it.

The internet is not for porn, it's for fanfiction.

And I do realize the contradictory nature of that statement.

Now, I warn you, I'm quite the shipper. I take my ships seriously. So seriously that I've assembled a list of my favorite pairings and htmled and written about the OTPs. So here they are. You are welcome to disagree. OTPs are in bold.

Harry Potter, Ron/Draco, Harry/Luna, Dumbledore/Grindelwald

Ron/Draco. Understandably, this pairing is lesser known and not nearly as popular as the king ships (Drarry, Snarry, RLxSB). Yet the fact that I went looking for non-romantic fics during a time when I didn’t understand what slash was is, I think, a testament to the preexisting connection between the two. I just wanted to read fic about them fighting it out. And Draco does pick on everyone, the trio in particular, but Hermione and Harry usually opt to ignore him unless it’s their time of month or something. But then there’s Ron, who constantly needs restraint to keep him from punching the living daylights out of him. It’s also horrifically sweet that Draco composed an entire song to do with Ron purely to spite him. I think that if anyone puts that much thought and that much time into hating someone, it calls for more passion than mere dislike or distaste.

Now that I’ve more or less grown out of this ship, I see the unlikelihood of its occurring, but I can still argue that the relationship that the fandom has created for them is both amusing and poetic. Not only are they direct opposites of each other, single child vs. many siblings, wealthy vs. poor, fire vs. ice, but they have very complementary personalities. Draco is dry, sarcastic, and bratty while Ron is genuine and hot-headed. They make a wonderful team, whether canonical or not.

Harry/Luna. I am very, very surprised that Harry/Luna did not end up being canon. I sort of see where J.K. Rowling was going with Harry/Ginny, but that had more to do with the growth of Ginny has a person. She started out shy and heavily overshadowed by her brothers, she had a very endearing crush on Harry when she was 10, and now after six years she’s grown into a fiercely independent, intelligent, talented woman who Harry is somehow unconditionally in love with. I think that’s a great message for shy girls everywhere, but in the end that’s not what Harry needs spiritually and emotionally.

There are several moments in which Harry and Luna are the only ones who understand each other. For example, Slughorn’s party invitation, seeing the threstrals, Luna looking for her lost things, and every one of those moments felt so much more personal than any moment he’s had with Ginny. Harry is your average teenage boy, he complains about teachers and schoolwork, he enjoys sports, he cracks jokes, but he’s also heavily disturbed, very lonely, almost always misunderstood or isolated, and very, very afraid. Ginny only caters to one side of him. Luna sees him and understands him. She’s so bizarre because she can always see what others cannot. That’s what makes her a Ravenclaw, after all. She knows what it’s like to be ignored by peers, even hated and mocked by them. She knows death, unlike many of their peers. And she’s a completely delightful person.

My favorite moment of all of them was when the trio visited Luna’s house and Harry saw the painting she had done on her bedroom ceiling, of the word friends she had painted over and over again. And if I remember correctly, Harry felt a rush of affection for her. It was a beautiful moment where Harry realized the effect they had on Luna and how strongly she cherished them. I really, really wish they had ended up together. And I think Ginny would have gone well with Neville, no lie.

Inuyasha, Inuyasha/Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha/Kouga

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang/Zuko, Aang/Toph

Aang/Zuko. I think, if this relationship were canonical, Zuko would rely on Aang a lot more than Aang would rely on Zuko. First, Zuko spent three years of his life searching aimlessly for the Avatar, an invisible force that promised to bring him home. There was a desperation to his travels and his training, all geared toward fighting and capturing the Avatar. When he actually met Aang, he became even more obsessed and also a little insulted that a 12-year-old boy could best him so frequently. He became so possessive, but in a self-interested way, over Aang that he kidnapped him so as to keep anyone from capturing him but himself. Later, even when he promised his uncle that they would lead a normal life in Ba Sing Se, the Avatar lingered on his mind.

Finally, Zuko realized he was on the wrong path, and sought Aang out to join him instead. Now I can argue that, since the beginning, Aang has been his reason to live. Melodramatic, I know, but true. Aang was the object behind his drive and passion. When Zuko’s bending was in question, it was because before he was full of anger and hate, which fueled him to catch the Avatar. Now, he passion became helping Aang, and his fire-bending returned. Aang was always the ticket to his honor, both in pursuit of him and in helping him. Because of all this, Zuko’s very existence relies heavily on Aang, though purely in a non-romantic way.

I think if anyone introduced romantic possibility into this relationship, it would be Aang. He seemed to sympathize with Zuko early on, commenting on their situation after the Blue Spirit and wondering if they could’ve been friends. Sokka and Katara would only ever see him as Fire Nation at this point, even later when Zuko helps Katara exact her revenge she still doesn’t treat him so kindly, but Aang is always the first to see him as a person. And when Zuko appeared at the Western Air Temple, there was a distinct difference between talking to the group and talking to Aang.

I am going to end this pairing analysis with the firm belief that the episode Firebending Masters was the gayest episode to date. And yes, they were on a date. They went riding on Appa and on walks and complimented each other and danced together several times. It was a fucking date.

DBSK, Yunho/Jaejoong

Big Bang, G-Dragon/TOP

Spartacus, Agron/Nasir, Spartacus/Ilithyia, Glaber/Ilithyia, Batiatus/Lucretia

Batiatus/Lucretia. There is something I love about two villains in love. Their beautiful relationship made the villains so much more tangible and real, because though they were perverse, ambitious, ruthless, we could not argue that they were heartless and cold. There was genuine warmth behind them that spoke of not only of early passions but the closeness and intimacy that only years together could make.

Killing Batiatus but bringing Lucretia back in the second season was the worst kind of punishment for her. She represented a truly strong Roman woman because though she was attached to her husband and what he owned, though she was actually owned by him, but that was alright because she wanted it that way. And she would fight alongside him and fight for him. I don’t want to get too much into the sexism, but Batiatus fucked many female slaves with Lucretia in the room, she even enjoyed it, but Lucretia had to keep her affair with Crixus in secret. This unbalance was natural of Roman society, but Batiatus loved his wife so much that he pretended not to notice. But back on topic, now that her husband is gone, she has nothing left to live for. I don’t think that makes her weak, I think that makes her a Roman woman who desperately loves her husband.

The idea of a baby shared between them is interesting. For whatever reason, Batiatus and Lucretia could not have one together. And Lucretia may have been temporarily in lust with Crixus, but her initial motivation had been to get pregnant. Her obsession with Ilithyia fed off the promise of the child growing within her. I think Lucretia thinks she’s failed her husband. The fact that she’s willing to fuck a gladiator, and then kill a household to throw herself and someone else’s baby off a cliff in order to get that baby to her husband is a clear testament to her insanity. But once again, they are two villains in love. Their relationship is not going to be sweet and innocent, it’s going to be revolting and disturbing, but it’s still going to be deep and passionate.

Sherlock, Sherlock/John

Supernatural, Dean/Castiel

The two OTPs above need no explanation whatsoever. Because. They. Just. Are.

Batman, Batman/Joker

Legend of Korra, Amon/Korra, Tenzin/Lin

Gay marriage:

1) Being gay is not natural. People always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, liposuction and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans...

Re-post this if you believe in legalizing gay marriage

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