I like (POTATO)waffles :P

it's flanker (right) x delinquent (left). from Roblox Games. flanker's from typical colors 2 (based off tf2, he's equivalent to scout) and delinquent's from arsenal (ball knowledge!!! (common.)), but they both appear in each other's games (delinquent as a developer-exclusive class in tc2 and flanker as a skin in arsenal) so it isn't technically a crossover + the games are canonically connected anyway. also note that tc2 was first created by the studio that made arsenal but ownership was handed over to another studio at some point, however both studios share some devs (namely midnightkrystal who is like. the arbiter of their lore)

i'm not really knowledgeable about tc2 since my only involvement with the game has been playing it 3 or 4 times so i don't really have much to say about its lore (but since it's a tf2 knockoff it shares similarities there with the backstory and stuff). i know arsenal has some lore with the (now deceased) extra gamemodes and quest shit but in general it's lacking. the game wasn't created with lore in mind, moreso just created to be a gun game. like delinquent was just the first character skin and it isn't any deeper than that. i just mention this because due to the lack of everything these two technically never actually interact in-universe so their dynamic is based off a lot of guesswork and tweets/messages/etc that canonically insinuate there's something going on. for example:

source

source (i don't actually know where this is from since it's not my screenshot. tc2 server? deleted qna channel in the arsenal server?)

anyway that's... all the canon stuff i have to work with. I Know It's Barely Anything But Stay With Me Here there's extra details i am yet to mention. now let's pick this apart.

flanker canonically has a cocky personality. people don't like him. he's an egotistical mf. we can surmise that he's envious (?) of delinquent's popularity (?) (as the arsenal mascot and poster boy of... good aim i guess?) and from the tweet conclude that he hates him over that. they also bear stark resemblance to each other with their backwards caps and EXACT SAME hair and are easily mistakable as the other. delinquent also has similar stats to flanker in tc2, and in arsenal there was a short period where delinquent had flanker's hurt sounds too. so their similarity could be another reason or at least an extension of the reason why he hates delinquent.

and speaking of delinquent. he's canonically clueless, fanonically quiet kid. so idk. i feel like his feelings would lean more towards annoyed dislike rather than full hatred because he doesn't actually have a reason to hate flanker besides the fact that he (f) keeps bothering him (d) because of his (f) own feelings.

why ship them then if they literally just hate each other, you ask?

well. the tweet could've just been "Flanker canonically hates delinquent" and that would've been the end of it (i mean. not like i would be so easily dissuaded from ever shipping them if that were to be the case, perhaps?). but no, there's the specific addition of "But will help him if he has to". this exception to flanker's hatred was important enough to mention, meaning there is some circumstance where, despite being jealous of delinquent's popularity and feeling threatened over how he (d) threatens his (f) individuality, flanker will help him.

but this raises multiple questions. firstly, what circumstances? and secondly, why bother? if he hates the guy, he should commit to it. why is there a situation where he'd momentarily take it back?

this is where the shipping part comes in, i feel like. this whole uncertainty around what could possibly lead to these two helping each other when the feeling of dislike is obviously mutual. there's something there between them that can only be picked apart by putting them in hypothetical situations together and seeing how it pans out. there's this one post somewhere that goes like "he wouldn't say that, but what situation could we put him in that would make him say that?" shipping them is trying to find the situation. numerous situations, even. and like. come on. who doesn't like a homoerotic rivalry.

sort of tangential but here's some additional thoughts or kinda headcanon stuff. imo in-universe they're never "actually" "together" and in reality i never want them to be. i much prefer them stewing in confusion and doubt and hatred where their true feelings are never communicated with each other because it's a far more interesting dynamic that feels genuine rather than one where they're loving boyfriends. like that just feels so ooc and forced. all of my AUs about them centre on the uncertainty between them, it's the potential for something that haunts the story throughout but never gets resolved. like see this part from a wip fic of mine

Sometimes I wonder if I let my assumptions get the better of me before I actually got to learn anything about you. I mean, we don’t even actually know each other at all, really. We haven’t ever even properly talked. Maybe if we had the first time we met, this would all be completely different. Maybe you’d have said something that would’ve made me understand.

THIS kind of shit is the fucking sauce in their dynamic. The Potential For Something That Is Never Recognised. they can beat each other up about it they can kill each other about it they can fuck each other about it they can pass by each other silently about it. but the Exception to the Hatred is never acknowledged by either of them. they will sit in uncertainty forever because they're too far gone now to do anything about it. this, too, can be shipping :)

and i guess i wouldn't be talking about headcanons without mentioning my headcanons for them individually? to me delinquent is a gay trans man and has been since like. since i remembered he existed. so this headcanon was not in response to their dynamic (!). and flanker to me is a (conflicted) straight guy. i feel like in-universe he sort of has a whole toxic masculinity thing going on vaguely based on his personality so it would mesh Nicely with the unresolved uncertainty between them. i feel like delinquent making flanker realise or reconsider shit and making him feel extremely conflicted about everything is very tasteful.

in conclusion flanklinquent are two guys one that hates the other one that dislikes the other because he's being hated but in a way the guy that hates the other guy maybe actually doesn't but this has happened for so long they can't go back on it. just homoerotic rivalry type shit. enemies to Something type shit. maybe. who knows.