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[graculus]

fannish5: What are your five favorite relationships and why?

For me, this question is trickier than it might otherwise appear. Because I've never particularly been into OTPs that much, in any fandom - I tend to have a favourite character and then fish around for whoever I think might deserve them/be interesting enough to read or write about with them/doesn't physically repulse me. I find it easier to say what draws me about the best examples of those relationships being written, because then I can go 'see! see!' and do the dork dance. ;)


1. Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo. Illya should be at his snarky best, competent and intelligent and able to snap Napoleon's neck like a twig if he gets vexed enough with him. (Of course, I've been smitten with IK for about 30 years now, so I recognise I may be a little biased where he's concerned.) Napoleon should be human, not perfect, recognising Illya's competence and working *with* him rather than thinking he needs to protect his partner from the universe. There should be snark and pretence and never too much sharing of emotions. There should not be kittens and puppies or sappiness of any kind, because that really isn't what I love about those two and it just doesn't work for me.

2. Ezra/any of the seven except JD. Ezra should be sarcastic and self-protecting, not weep and wail because he stubbed his toe so his big strong lovemuppet has to kiss it better. Ezra should be competent and self-reliant, because competence (which he has in spades, if you'll pardon the pun) is sexy. Ezra should mess things up but not automatically think everyone hates him and he has to leave because he's such a screw-up who doesn't deserve to be loved! Gah. Whoever his lucky partner is should not treat Ezra like he's either a fragile flower or a potential screw-up who doesn't deserve him.

3. Aubrey/Maturin. Another long-standing love of mine, now shared by millions because of that movie. ;) I make no bones about the fact that Stephen Maturin is one of my favourite characters in literature, proving once again that intelligence is sexy even if the package containing it isn't all that pretty (in the books, at least). He's complex, mysterious, mercurial, yet he and Aubrey (who seems to be his polar opposite in so many ways) strike up a deep friendship that defies explanation from a not-particularly-promising start.

4. Daniel/Teal'c. My favourite relationship on SG, but there isn't enough well-written fic for this pairing out there that doesn't either perform character assassination on Daniel or ignore the difficulties both characters had to overcome. Here we have friends where one was directly responsible (or would at least hold himself responsible, since nobody guilts like Teal'c) for the fact that Sha're is a host in the first place, then later kills her to save Daniel's life. They shouldn't be friends, they should barely trust one another, but it's clear from very early on in the show that they do.

5. This place gets to be filled by a variety of relationships, depending on the day of the week, the phases of the moon and the ambient temperature, chief among them being Artemus Gordon/James West (tv series, not movie), Fraser/Ray K, Archie Goodwin/Nero Wolfe, Nick/Greg, Peter Venkman/Egon Spengler, Snape/various non-Malfoys, Mulder/Krycek, Vic/Mac, Dan/Casey, Bud White/Ed Exley. What do they all have in common? If it's well-written and doesn't perform character assassination, I'll probably read it... ;)

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[graculus.livejournal.com]

Boo and indeed hiss! :(