#i dont thiiiiink this will show up in the ship tag??

[snickerdoodlles]

Tell us ur annoyedTP thots on macauchay 💕

(x) lol macauchay, my behated anNOyedTP 😂 i will try to keep this short and mild, but honestly i have a LOT of steam built up on this duo and this will probably just come off as rant-y. macauchay should be charming, but my dislike for the ship really boils down to three things;

one, i'm unfortunately just flat out predisposed to not liking them. the first interaction i had with this duo was a handful of shippers who were deliberately rude and obnoxious in tagging their macauchay fics with kimchay, often combined with summaries/tags that went like "see my manifesto on why kimchay sucks/macauchay is better" (paraphrased), so my first reaction to this ship was "what a bunch of assholes". fandom's love of hating on Kim did not help this issue, as a lot of macauchay shipping is based on hating Kim and i Do Not Like seeing Kim hate (strike 2). this is probably an unfair association to have with the ship in general, but its there now and i just don't generally see the point in trying to dig through enough macauchay content to try to get rid of it

my third resentment towards macauchay is how people just generally...presume that Chay and Macau have to have a good relationship. they never once interact in canon, and frankly they have more reason to hate each other than they do to like each other, but fandom's default assumptions is that they are best friends, will immediately become best friends, or the other is their only option for a best friend. this is so ingrained in fandom conscience that i have gotten multiple comments on multiple stories that interject Macau into my stuff as Chay's best friend, even though he's never actually mentioned or even hinted at in most of my stories (*i don't actually mind this, please don't think i'm upset if you've done this on one of my stories! i like people having fun in my comments, i just mean to point out how much people take this fandom friendship as a given instead of headcanon). i resent this sort of presumption because my fic interests are smashing unlikely characters together to see how their relationship might develop, and i feel cheated that macauchay stories (or stories with them in general) never bother to show how Macau and Chay became friends or even why they work as friends. it's always an afterthought of an afterthought and all around just comes off as extremely lazy

which brings me to the ultimate reason why i Don't Like This Ship--Macau and Chay deserve better. i'm terribly fond of both characters, and i automatically dislike stories that make Macau a convenient fix to Chay's issues, or use him as a lazy catalyst to getting Kim and Chay back together, or treat any friendship/relationship that might've grown between them as a given trope instead of something that the story needs to develop. i have less than zero interest in any story that makes Macau a second place trophy, whether that's as Chay's rebound off Kim or a substitute for Chay's friends in canon, and i have even less interest in the OOCness of Chay 'settling' for something when Chay's core characterization is recklessly pursuing what he wants regardless of consequence

which is really disappointing! there's a lot of potential when it comes to Macau and Chay! they both have so many reasons to resent each other--Vegas was responsible for both of Chay's kidnappings. Porsche stole Vegas's birthright, which Vegas and Macau might've hated but it kept them safe. Vegas has tried to kill Porsche multiple times, just to hurt Kinn. Macau doesn't see what Chay has to complain about, when Korn's weird obsession is protecting him and Porsche but Vegas got six bullets in his gut for it. Chay was ripped out of and cut off from his previous life, but he has four people and their guards looking out for him. Macau's has maybe 1.5 people looking out for him now. but, ultimately, they're both just two scared kids who love their brothers more than anything else in the world and are trapped in the same extremely shitty situation.

and that right there is a delightful fucking mess ripe for drama! personally, there's added irony of how Macau and Chay would resent Porsche and Vegas for the same reasons Vegas and Porsche would grow closer as friends over (what can they say? they just like each other). Macau and Chay don't have the context to understand the other, and frankly they're entitled to just being pissed about how much the mafia sucks and how much it's ruined their lives. it would take special circumstances to knock Chay and Macau out of their "fuck those assholes" predispositions, and i would love to read more stories that explored those themes.

but people just......don't. which is fine, people don't have to be interested in the same stuff i'm interested in. but there's this overhanging and mildly aggressive assumption in fandom that Macau and Chay have to be #TotalBesties, even though there's zero canon context for it, and my reaction to any headcanon being forced down my throat is "fuck off" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯