#gentleshipping

From this meme:

When did I start shipping it?

2009, or somewhere around there. It’s been a LONG time.

My thoughts:

I think I’m the first one who actually wrote the ship? I know for sure I’m the one who gave it the official name on the shippers list—fun fact. I will say that I strongly prefer keeping both parties at consenting age/18+ if we go romantic routes, though.

Anyways. The ship happened because I didn’t like how Tristan and Duke always fought over Serenity (so, sure, we’ll pair her with the guy who beat up her brother at the back of a Denny’s at 3AM. Good job Kohaku). That isn’t to say I dislike Tristan/Serenity and Duke/Serenity; rather, I dislike that she was used as an object of contention, and it’s not my cup of joe.

Plus. Wouldn’t it be hilarious that Valon goes “and I oop” and steals the girl?

What makes me happy about them?

There’s a lot of good potential there, honestly. It’s also very versatile. Want them as platonic partners? Bam. Done. You want angst? Dish that right up. Want fluffy domestic things? Ta-daaa. The possibilities are endless.

In addition, there’s the added bonus of having Joey and Mai involved (and for all those angst writers out there, having ALL the undertones of the past relationships...).

Also, in all seriousness: I think it’s a cute ship. It has a lot of potential to be a really good slow burn; I can see them posing as a couple (Serenity to keep away unwanted suitors, Valon because he thinks it’s a hilarious idea), and then very slowly, over time, that shifts over from platonic to romantic.

What makes me sad about them:

Aside from them never meeting in canon and that this is a crack ship As I mentioned earlier, there’s a LOT of potential angst in this ship, and it’s not even what’s between them. It’s a lot to do with Joey, Mai, Valon, and the Orichalcos. I don’t see Serenity taking this very well, if at all, and I do know there’s a massive fallout once it’s all in the open.

Things done in fanfics that annoy me:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ there’s not many people who write it, sooo....the only things I can tell you is a) please no egregious slaughtering of characters, and b) I strongly prefer both parties being consenting/18+ ages before we get any romantic shenanigans involved ^^;;

Things I look for in fanfic:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ see above.

Who I’d be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other:

I’m comfortable with most other ships out there, and it’s to each their own honestly. As long as it’s healthy, I’m good.

My happily ever after for them:

I ship them with happiness and stability. They may not have a house and they may be in an apartment, and they’re both probably working (Valon as a mechanic/stunt driver, Serenity as a nurse). They may have their good days and their bad ones. But there’s never a shortage of love and care in that place, and you can tell even from a distance they care about each other.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon in their relationship?

They take turns, honestly XD

What’s their favorite nonsexual activity?

Between Valon traveling a lot and pulling weird hours as a stunt driver, and Serenity working, these two absolutely love their lazy days at home cuddled up on the sofa or in bed. That said, Serenity won’t say no to having Valon take them out on a motorcycle ride and fly along the road, either.

Send me a ship and a number, I’ll write them :7. Kissing

AHHHHHHHH ANOTHER FOR GENTLESHIPPING BLESS YOUR SOUL - !!!! Also still the same scenario where it’s older!Serenity and Valon and she’s in college studying to be a nurse and Valon’s a part-time racer/stunt driver.

Serenity tilts her head, pokes once at the green gooey mass with her fork, and flinches when it glides across her plate as one grotesque glob. Words entirely fail to express the amount of quiet horror building within her. “Valon…uhm…this looks good for…dessert?” she tries gamely. She has no clue what on earth is in front of her.

Valon’s face twists and he sighs, dropping his head into his hands “Don’ eat it, love.”

“No, no, Valon! It’s okay! I want to try the….pudding…?”

“It’s spaghetti,” Valon says gloomily, already taking her plate away.

Serenity represses the urge to gag, though she feels her face drain of color. She does not want to know how Valon managed to turn pasta into what’s best described as turquoise-colored gelatin. Raphael and Alister weren’t kidding - Valon can’t cook if his life depended on it.

“At least you’re getting better in the kitchen,” she says encouragingly, coming over to where Valon’s dumping out the saucepan (and she has to look away as the first of it starts sliding into the trashcan). “Last time we had to call the fire department.”

Valon only manages to muster a half-hearted smile as he sets the pot on the counter. “Woo,” he says dejectedly, running a hand through his fluffy bangs. “So much f’r your birthday dinner. Sorry, Ren.”

“We’ll order out,” she says soothingly, sliding under an arm to hug him. “You tried for me and that’s all that counts.”

Valon makes a noncommittal noise, still distraught at his failure in the kitchen. Serenity gives a small hum and looks up at him (not too far to look - Serenity is maybe mere centimeters shorter than him). “You know what you can give me?”

Valon blinks at her, a question in his eyes.

“Birthday kisses,” she points out. “I could definitely do with some birthday kisses.

The blue eyes spark and Valon’s mischievous grin returns in full force. “‘n’ I’ll ‘ave you know that while I’m rubbish at cookin’, I’m a damn good kisser,” he declares with pride, his voice suddenly cheerful.

Send me a ship and a number, I’ll write them : 5. Hugging

G-GENTLESHIPPING IT’S BEEN 84 YEARS SINCE ANYONE’S ASKED FOR THAT SHIP HOLY COW YESSSSSSSS - !!!! Also this is older!Serenity and Valon: they meet up when she’s in college studying for nursing and Valon’s part-time stunt double and motorcycle racer and SO MANY FEELS ABOUT THIS AHHHHH

There was a frustrated noise off to his left. Valon blinked, opened one eye sleepily, and then reached for a well-worn sofa cushion. Even as long of a day as he’d had on the set, he knew what that sound meant. “‘ere, love.”

Serenity threw her pencil across the room, snatched the pillow from Valon’s proffered hand, and without any further ado pressed it to her face and screamed.

If Serenity hadn’t done that almost a million times over the course of the semester, he might have been more concerned. “Tha’ bad?”

Another muffled yell. Serenity had definitely inherited the infamous temper of the Wheelers, though it didn’t readily show itself often.

“Wanna talk ‘bout it?” Valon stifled a yawn.

Serenity dropped the pillow and shot him a slightly manic look, face flushed and her bangs disheveled from being pressed into a pillow. Valon, not for the first time, wondered about the last time she had slept.

“The class final is two days away and there’s still so much to know,” she said, sounding feverish and breathless. The undercurrent of stress was very hard to miss. “There’s so much you need to know, even if it’s only the first semester, and I’ve got the basics down. It’s the medications, they’re awful and there’s so many and I need to know what the side effects of drugs like vasodilators and beta-blockers and antihistamines and diuretics and -and - benzodiazepines are, and - “

It was at times like this that Valon realized how much he strongly admired Serenity for choosing to become a nurse, if only because she made words like benzodiazepines sound so easy to pronounce. He also realized, with a flash of concern, that Serenity looked dangerously close to tears.

Well bugger that.

Valon stretched, reached over to where Serenity was sitting, and without any sort of warning hauled her up onto his lap and against his chest. “C’mere, love.”

Serenity squeaked, rant forgotten as his arms wrapped around her. She pushed against him once in protest before giving up, her arms folding between her and Valon. She must be really tired then - usually if she was in I-Am-Studying-Don’t-Touch-Me mode she would have put up more of a fight. Last time he’d inadvertently scared her and she’d punched him by accident.

“Ren, you’re done for tonight,” Valon said firmly once Serenity had stopped struggling. “I draw the line at you babblin’ gibberish at me. Just take a breather ‘n’ ‘ave a go at it tomorrow. If you don’ know it by now you aren’ gonna get it by beatin’ it over ‘n’ over into your skull. Maybe tha’ might work with your brother, but Wheeler’s a bit thick anyways so ‘e needs tha’ reinforcement.”

There was a shaky laugh mixed with an exasperated sigh as Serenity leaned more against him, the hair on top of her head tickling his chin. “Valon, you’re no different than Joey, you know.”

“I am so!” said Valon, feigning indignation. He was pleased to note that Serenity had fully relaxed in his arms. “I at least know where t’ pick my fights!”

“And that’s why you upended a bowl of potato salad over Joey’s head the last time you saw him. Because he put a smudge on your goggles.” Serenity’s voice held a shade of amusement and skepticism.

“Those are as sacred as the Holy Grail, Ren,” Valon said solemnly. “It’s one o’ them commandments, righ’ up there at the top somewhere: “Don’ go smooshin’ Valon’s goggles lest you be punished by God’s Potato Salad-y wrath’ or somethin’ like it.“

Serenity did not immediately reply to this, and Valon wondered if she was trying to think of a way to respond (or else was too exasperated by Valon’s comment). When the silence stretched on for more than a few minutes Valon craned his neck to try and look down. “Ren?”

Valon’s eyes landed on his now-fast-asleep girlfriend, her face pressed almost uncomfortably into his shirt, and his gaze softened. “Aw you poor love,” he murmured. He never had understood why anyone would willingly submit themselves to this much torture over school, but he did understand the fierce determination and passion that Serenity had for what she wanted to do.

He took a moment to carefully adjust her so that she was more comfortable (and also could breathe without drooling on him - that had happened once before) and reached for a blanket, wrapping it carefully around her before returning his arms to their posts around her.

Kawai Shizuka/Valon [Serenity Wheeler/Valon]

With the exception of “Come Together” (I did things a little differently there. They’re younger in that one and platonically dating for a short while, and then after a few months they both decide they’re better off being friends), I always headcanon that Serenity and Valon end up as a couple when she is in college - basically, when she’s anywhere between 18-22 years old.

The fact that Shizuka develops a crush on Varon (reciprocated or not?) will lead to a dispropotianlly huge fight between both her and her brother, and him and Mai: - Shizuka has finally come to the realization that her brother, while meaning well, tends to run her life sometimes, and that she will have to put her foot down eventually. Also, there is just „something off“ about the whole situation that no one feels the need to fill her in on, and that annoys her greatly. Basically, she gets tired of being shielded and protected all the time, when she has such a profound desire to be supportive herself. - The fact that Jounouchi reacts so strongly to Varon and Shizuka getting along is not really anything new (think Honda, think Otogi). However, at one point, he kinda lets slip that he thinks Varon would be a bad influence on his sister, because of his past, which leads Mai (mistrustful soul that she is) to believe, that Jounouchi hasn't forgiven HER the whole DOMA debacle, either. Also, she and Varon are friends and she doesn't like her friends being insulted. Honda, of all people (not being Mai's biggest fan in the world) will point out the hypocrisy in Jounouchi's stance, since HE got a second chance after his behaviour before/during season zero/the manga school arc.

Send me a ship + a word, and I'll tell you the first headcanon that comes to mind!

Fortuitshipping: mostly to make sure Rowen (and then Sylvie) never got tired of hearing the same story at night, there’s a bedtime story jar with book titles. Bonus #1 there’s one piece of paper titled “Blank” which means either Raphael or Ellie have to make one up, and Bonus #2 you better believe kiddos be climbing all over Papan to get comfy during story time.

Gentleshipping and Polarshipping: They kinda share one haha. Sometimes they all have a movie night in one house and this is often the stage for the Great Popcorn Wars. The first shot comes from Serenity nowhere, and then the next thing everyone knows there’s popcorn literally everywhere xD

“It could be worse.”

“Valon,” Serenity blinked at the mess in what was normally a fairly orderly kitchen, “I don’t think it really can.” She really didn’t know how he’d done it. Raphael and Alister had told her multiple times about the danger of letting Valon try a hand at cooking, but, to be honest, she’d thought it was all a little exaggerated. After all, the three of them had been friends for a long time, and it had seemed like teasing at the time! Really, she hadn’t believed a disaster like this could be possible (well, not counting everything her big brother and his friends got into, but that was a different story).

Except that now, every pot and pan in the safe house had somehow ended up overturned on the floor, and there were more food contents spilled out than she’d even known they’d owned. “What happened?”

“I don’ rightly know. I mean,” he scratched the back of his neck nervously, “I was just tryin’ t’ make you a nice dinner like in the movies ‘n’ all. I got the fellas outta the house, but then I got in ‘ere and I guess one thing led t’ another ‘n’…crap. Raph ‘n’ Alister’re gonna kill me, aren’t they? Those two blokes are always tellin’ me t’ stay outta the kitchen…” He groaned.

And, at that, Serenity couldn’t help but giggle.

“’Ey! What’re you laughin’ at?”

“Nothing.” She regained her composure as the laughs died down. “I just think it was sweet of you to try.” And she stretched up on her toes to giver him a quick peck on the lips.

“Hmm,” he mused, “if you’re gonna still love me like this, ‘m thinkin’ - should I do this kinda thing more often?”

“No, silly!” she smacked him lightly on the arm, to which he laughed. “Come on, let’s clean this up before your friends can find out what happened here.”