#both my Stephens deserve much better than the playboy billionaire

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Hi!! Today I was wondering about the overwhelming prevalence of "shipping fics", particularly when those two characters are portrayed as close friends in canon (or at least they are said to be close friends in the narrative).

Close friends? No, they are romantically (and sexually) involved. Without fail. Because clearly that's the only way two people can be that close, or be so determined to help each other. (rolls eyes)

It bothers me that close friendships are never "just" friendships, whether it's male-female or between men or women. It also bothers me that two characters who share even a little or a lot of screentime are lumped together romantically. I'm thinking of ships like Stucky, SamxBucky, IronStrange, even Stony (before the whole CACW thing).

Why is shipping so prevalent?? What am I missing? (Sorry that it feels so very vent-y...)

Honey, you're sending this to someone who has never shipped before so... hell if I know! 😜😂

Seriously though, I think it's a combination of things. Romance has always been a huge part of the narrative so it makes sense that many fics will include that. I used to think I didn't like it but I realized eventually what I didn't enjoy was a story where the characters are not written to be anything more than each other's loved ones.

It's one of my pet peeves when it comes to Steve and Bucky, for instance. I don't ship them (although I do find Stucky super cute), but I hate it when they're paired up romantically and nothing else defines them. Everything Steve does is for Bucky, or everything Bucky does is for Steve. As if they're not fully developed, complex and wonderful characters on their own. I'm not a fan of it in fics but I despise it passionately in metas.

Then there's the amatonormativity angle that impregnates pretty much everything. All that "unless it's romantic, the relationship is not valuable" has done a lot of harm. So I'm not surprised that many people will see two characters who are friends in canon (like Steve and Natasha, Nat with Clint, Carol and Maria, Sam and Bucky) and want their bond to be stronger... so they pair them up.

PS1. Just to make this clear, I'm not saying I have an issue with people shipping or writing whatever they want. By all means, go ahead! There are tags to navigate through that and whoever doesn't like it has to curate their experience, it's not the job of the creators to do so. That is very clear.

PS2. You can vent in my inbox whenever you want, by the way. Free range, it's all yours! 😉

PS3. Don't get me started on the IronStrange or Stony ships. I might combust.