#queerships

✧ Or: How fictional couples destroyed my sanity, and I am grateful for it.

If there’s one thing that has made me laugh, cry, freak out, and question all my life choices, it’s my intense and emotionally draining relationship with certain ships. They’re not just fictional couples. They’re transcendent experiences.

They are the ones that: ⟶ Made me binge-read 300,000 words of fanfiction like it was my soul’s thesis. ⟶ Turned mere two-second eye contact into an epic romance. ⟶ Forced me to create theories worthy of an academic dissertation just to prove it was real. ⟶ Threw me into online battles where I defended my ship like a lawyer with no degree but plenty of conviction.

I have experienced the pain of shipping a couple that only existed in subtext, I have celebrated insignificant scenes as if they were grand declarations of love, and I have fooled myself into thinking, “This time, it’s going to happen” (spoiler: it didn’t).

And even though I know this is an emotional rollercoaster with no brakes, I’m still here. Because the truth is, there’s nothing more addictive than watching two characters who were made for each other meet, challenge each other, and (maybe) fall in love.

So, welcome to my favorite collective delusion. Here is my love letter (and pure suffering) to the ships that defined my existence.

☞ Prepare for: intense fangirling, emotional analysis, an unhealthy amount of involvement with fictional couples, and, of course, the eternal debate: "Did they know?" (Yes, they knew).

✦ If you’ve ever sold your soul for a ship, buckle up – this sentimental journey has no return ticket.

Alec Lightwood x Magnus Bane (Malec – Shadowhunters)

☙ Or: "When an immortal warlock and a Shadowhunter rewrote LGBTQ+ representation on TV."

If there’s one couple that didn’t just deliver an iconic romance but also changed the game for LGBTQ+ representation on TV, it’s Malec. They weren’t just an engaging ship within Shadowhunters – they were a milestone. Every scene, every glance, every moment of growth was a masterpiece of chemistry, emotion, and pure perfection. And what happened? I fell headfirst into this ship, and now there’s no way out.

☙ But why did this ship completely destroy me?

✦ Alec Lightwood’s journey: He starts the series completely repressed, deep in the closet, and about to marry out of duty. A perfect combo for an emotionally devastating character arc. And guess what? That’s exactly what happened.

✦ Magnus Bane’s grand entrance: Magnus arrives as a force of nature, powerful, confident, with a sharp smile and the gaze of someone who’s seen it all. Basically, he looks at Alec and says: "Sweetheart, no one here is dumb." And that’s it. Alec starts realizing that maybe hiding his sexuality is a bigger problem than he thought.

✦ THE WEDDING KISS: A moment so iconic that even non-shippers had to stand up and applaud. ⤷ Alec, about to say an emotionless “I do.” ⤷ Magnus arrives. ⤷ Absolute silence in the church. ⤷ KISS. ⤷ The universe explodes, my sanity vanishes, and Alec PUBLICLY chooses Magnus.

✦ A real relationship, with real challenges: Malec wasn’t just thrown on-screen to tick a representation box. They faced prejudice, internal conflicts, and deep dilemmas. Magnus is immortal, Alec is a Shadowhunter with a short and dangerous life. This added an insane level of drama and complexity because ETERNAL LOVE ISN’T AS SIMPLE AS IT SEEMS.

✦ Alec’s INSANE growth: He started as a rigid, fearful guy who avoided his feelings at all costs. He ended as a strong, determined leader, willing to fight against everyone for what he believes in – including his love for Magnus.

☙ But, of course, the show didn’t always handle Malec with the grandeur they deserved... and that’s where the fandom comes in!

If there’s a ship blessed by the gods of fanfiction, it’s Malec.

⇢ A sci-fi AU where Magnus is a legendary hacker and Alec a secret agent? On the shelf. ⇢ A royal alternate universe filled with political intrigue and eternal love oaths? Take it. ⇢ A 100-chapter slow burn where they spend 90% of the time exchanging intense glances and denying their feelings? Good luck escaping that rabbit hole.

The fandom never fails.

✦ Fangirling level: 💜💜💜💜💜 (Five hearts because I still haven’t recovered and don’t want to.)

Hannibal Lecter x Will Graham (Hannigram – Hannibal)

☙ Or: "If love means psychological manipulation and cooking human flesh for your beloved, then Hannigram is the most romantic couple in fiction."

Hannigram isn’t just a ship; it’s an intense psychological experience, a study in obsession, and definitive proof that true love transcends laws, morality, and the basic need for non-human cuisine.

If you started Hannibal thinking you’d watch a simple game of cat and mouse between a serial killer and an FBI investigator, at some point, you realized you were rooting for their relationship. And that moment was, officially, the point of no return.

☙ Iconic moments? You bet.

✦ Hannibal obsessively cooking for Will, even when Will suspected that the menu included a rather… exotic ingredient. ⤷ "If you love someone, cook for them," they say. Hannibal took this to a cosmic level.

✦ Will having metaphorical, homoerotic dreams but insisting it was just ‘psychological manipulation.’ ⤷ Buddy, please, accept your reality. You’re already emotionally married to this man.

✦ The final cliff scene. ⤷ A bloody embrace, a shared murder, and a dramatic fall into the ocean. ⤷ Shakespeare? Never wrote anything this intense.

✦ Will having countless opportunities to kill Hannibal but never going through with it. ⤷ Every episode, the FBI: "Will, please, just shoot him already." ⤷ Will: "But what if... we have an intimate moment first?"

☙ And when the show ended? The fandom took control.

If TV didn’t deliver the happy ending this couple clearly didn’t deserve, but we wanted, the fandom grabbed the wheel and drove way too far.

⇢ Modern AUs where Hannibal is an eccentric chef and Will a tired cop (as if that’s not almost canon). ⇢ Fanfics where they live happily as refined murder husbands, raising dogs and planning suspicious dinners. ⇢ 200k-word longfics exploring every single nuance of their twisted minds.

⤷ "But does the ship really need all this?" ⤷ The ship: YES. IT DOES.

✦ Fangirling level: 🍷🔪🔪🔪🔪 (Four knives and a fancy wine because this ship is pure luxury, tension, and cannibalism.)

Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian (WangXian – Mo Dao Zu Shi)

☙ Or: "The art of suffering for 16 years for love and still making it worth it in the end."

If there’s a ship that redefines the concept of destined, eternal, and unwavering love, it’s WangXian.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are literally soulmates—but not in an easy, fluffy way. No. They had to defy rules, traditions, entire clans, and even death itself to finally be together.

And in the end? Every second of suffering was worth it.

☙ Why did this ship destroy me?

✦ Lan Wangji fell in love at first sight. ⤷ Instantly, without warning, without wanting to, and with no way back. ⤷ Wei Wuxian showed up with that mischievous smile, chaotic energy at maximum, and that was it. Lan Wangji, who had never allowed himself to feel anything, felt everything all at once.

✦ Wei Wuxian spent his teenage years flirting without realizing it. ⤷ And Lan Wangji? Just standing there, gripping his sword and his self-control, suffering in silence. ⤷ "Lan Zhan, why are you always following me?" ⤷ Buddy… BUDDY…

✦ Wei Wuxian died, and Lan Wangji spent 16 YEARS in absolute mourning. ⤷ He refused to move on. He spent 16 years trapped in a ghost love, believing he would never see Wei Wuxian again. ⤷ Only for him to be the first one to recognize him when he returned.

✦ When Wei Wuxian finally came back, Lan Wangji abandoned everything to stand by his side. ⤷ He ignored the judgments, the looks, the rules. Nothing else mattered. ⤷ Because after losing Wei Wuxian once, he wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

✦ MUSIC. ⤷ They communicate through a melody only the two of them understand. ⤷ If staring deeply into each other’s eyes wasn’t enough, they just had to have their own theme song.

☙ The fandom? A full-on cult. If there’s a ship that inspires fanarts, fanfics, and collective meltdowns like no other, it’s WangXian.

⇢ Modern AUs where Lan Wangji is a serious CEO and Wei Wuxian is a sassy journalist? We got them. ⇢ Fanfics rewriting the 16 years of suffering, because NO ONE deserves to suffer that much? Also got them. ⇢ 10,000-word emotional analyses on how their song is the most romantic thing in fiction? Absolutely.

✦ Fangirling level: 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 (Five magical harps because this ship is pure melody.)

Sherlock Holmes x John Watson (Johnlock – Sherlock)

☙ Or: "Two British bachelors living together, solving crimes, and pretending they’re just friends."

If there’s a ship that grabbed the fandom by the throat, sent everyone spiraling, and left behind an existential void that only 200k-word fanfics can fill, it’s Johnlock.

BBC gave us a Sherlock and Watson with explosive chemistry, subtext-loaded dialogues, and stares that could fuel a 50-chapter slow burn. They had it all—tension, tragedy, redemption, devotion, pain—and yet, we had to sit there and watch the script pretend it was just "friendship."

But we know the truth.

☙ Why did this ship destroy me?

✦ Sherlock literally jumped off a building to protect John. ⤷ Let’s go over this again: this man looked at the one person who truly mattered, said goodbye, and jumped. ⤷ And the worst part? He watched John grieve, because he couldn’t risk him being in danger. ⤷ Anyone else would have just disappeared, but Sherlock had to see John, had to make sure he was okay. ⤷ This isn’t just love. This is tragic, classic-literature-worthy love.

✦ "John Watson, you have been the best thing in my life." ⤷ The man who despises feelings, who says love is a weakness, who avoids emotional connections at all costs… ⤷ …suddenly drops this emotionally charged line and expects the fandom to just move on? ⤷ That wasn’t just a confession. That was a last-ditch effort to show John how much he meant to him. ⤷ And John’s response? Silence. As if he was absorbing the weight of what was just said.

✦ THE WEDDING. ⤷ Nothing was more painful than watching Sherlock, clearly in love, clearly devastated, standing there at John’s wedding. ⤷ When he started his speech, the entire world realized those could have been his wedding vows. ⤷ The speech was so emotional, so loaded with meaning, even Mary noticed what was happening. ⤷ But the most defining moment? When John said he didn’t know who could put up with him… ⤷ And Sherlock, for the first time, had no answer. Because he knew. He was the answer.

✦ The stares. ⤷ No one—absolutely no one—stares at their “best friend” the way Sherlock and John look at each other. ⤷ These stares are loaded with meaning, with unspoken words, with "I would die for you, and you know it." ⤷ Every single scene has at least five seconds of dramatic tension, where the camera focuses on one face, then the other, as if the world has stopped. ⤷ I’ve seen canon couples stare at each other with less intensity than these two.

✦ Homoerotic subtext in every scene. ⤷ If there were an award for the most subtext-heavy ship in history, Johnlock would win by a landslide. ⤷ We’re not talking about hints. We’re talking about entire scenes structured as if Sherlock and John were a couple—without ever saying it outright. ⤷ John constantly saying, "I’m not gay," but never denying that Sherlock could be an exception. ⤷ Sherlock being indifferent to the entire world, but feeling, reacting, and suffering whenever John is involved. ⤷ There was so much subtext the fandom started treating the ship as inevitable, as if it was only a matter of time before the show made it canon.

☙ And the fandom? This is where things get insane.

⇢ Sherlock-level conspiracy theories. The fandom crafted in-depth analyses, video essays, and full-on theories to prove Johnlock was real, including the legendary "The Lost Special" theory, where the BBC supposedly filmed a secret episode confirming the ship.

⇢ Fanfiction: the only absolute truth. When the show failed, the fandom took control. There are 200k-word fanfics exploring every emotional nuance of their relationship—from alternate universes to stories where Sherlock never died and John never married.

⇢ The alternate timeline where Johnlock happened. In the heart of the fandom, Sherlock and John ended up together, happy, solving crimes, and adopting a dog. And no one can convince me otherwise.

✦ Fangirling level: 📖📖📖📖📖 (Five books because the real ending only exists in fanfics.)

Derek Hale x Stiles Stilinski (Sterek – Teen Wolf)

☙ Or: "The big bad wolf and the sarcastic boy who never admitted what they really felt."

If there’s one ship that the fandom built with their own hands and turned into a phenomenon bigger than the actual show, it’s Sterek.

Teen Wolf may have ignored, underestimated, and even tried to erase this couple, but fans took every glance, every touch, every tension-filled argument, and turned it into a fanfiction empire.

The chemistry was undeniable. The dynamic was perfect. The chaos was real.

☙ Why did this ship destroy me?

✦ Stiles and Derek literally CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM EACH OTHER. ⤷ If one is in danger, the other magically appears to save them. ⤷ Derek could be living in the forest or missing, but if Stiles blinks in distress, he's there.

✦ The "grumpy and traumatized guy" x "chaotic and talkative guy" dynamic never fails. ⤷ Stiles is pure sarcasm and chaotic energy. ⤷ Derek is a walking bad mood with a tragic past. ⤷ The perfect balance of "I'll annoy you until you laugh" and "I'll protect you even if I won’t admit it."

✦ Derek grabbing Stiles by the collar, staring intensely, as if about to kiss him right there. ⤷ EVERYONE saw that scene. ⤷ EVERYONE felt the tension. ⤷ The only thing that stopped that kiss was the script (and MTV’s fear of making us happy).

✦ Stiles is always worried about Derek, even when he shouldn’t be. ⤷ Derek could be an invincible werewolf, but Stiles always found a way to step in and take care of him. ⤷ "Derek, are you okay?" – Stiles, a powerless human, trying to save a super-strong Alpha.

✦ Derek being Stiles' reluctant, involuntary protector, like a grumpy werewolf husband. ⤷ "I'm not your babysitter, Stiles." ⤷ Two minutes later: Derek shows up to save him for the thousandth time.

✦ Ridiculous chemistry—even the actors admitted it. ⤷ Dylan O'Brien and Tyler Hoechlin knew what they were doing. ⤷ The fandom knew it. ⤷ Everyone knew it.

☙ And the fandom?

⇢ Wrote fanfics so well-developed they could be full seasons of the show. ⇢ Took random scenes and turned them into pure romantic tension. ⇢ Made Sterek the biggest ship in Teen Wolf, EVEN without being canon.

Teen Wolf may be over, but Sterek lives on forever in the fandom’s heart.

✦ Fangirling level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (Five flames because this ship set the internet on fire.)

✦ Honorable Mentions (because I can’t control myself) ✦

The obsession has no limits, and neither does my ability to get attached to ships. So, before I start rereading fanfics for the thousandth time, here are some ships that deserve to be exalted, analyzed, and discussed like academic studies.

🔥 Sanji x Zoro (ZoSan – One Piece) 🏴‍☠️ "A lovers’ quarrel disguised as rivalry."

• They tease each other so much that even non-shippers notice. • The "I hate you, but if someone touches you, I’ll kill them" energy never fails. • Sexual tension disguised as sword fights. • The way they always know where the other is. • Constant bickering that’s actually just disguised respect.

Conclusion? They argue like an old married couple, and the fandom KNOWS IT.

😇 Crowley x Aziraphale (Ineffable Husbands – Good Omens) ☁️ "Millennia of romantic tension and longing looks."

• Crowley going through literal hell for Aziraphale. • The fandom realized the truth before the characters did. • They are so married they forgot to make it official. • "We’re not friends. We’re something more." – Oh, but that line hurt. • Crowley pretending to be cynical while clearly willing to die for that soft angel.

Romance and suffering levels? Absurd.

🎸 Geralt x Jaskier (The Witcher) 🧙 "Bard and Witcher – the definition of married without knowing it."

• Jaskier writing desperate love songs about Geralt. • "Toss a coin to your Witcher" = translation: "I love you, you ungrateful idiot." • The "married for years, but one of them hasn’t realized it yet" energy. • Geralt grumbling while clearly caring about Jaskier. • The fandom has decided: Geralt can run all he wants, but he belongs to Jaskier.

Andrew: Did u just call me satan?

Neil:

A note for FtF artists and beta readers.

If you have any questions about the matching selection form, story selection/ships, please feel to ask--here or through the official FtF email. We're doing our best to match you with your choices, but we're still looking for artists. Don't hesitate to reach out!

A quick reminder for writers participating in the Finish-the-Fic Challenge.

Summaries of your fics are due today. You don't have to include your endings. Just a brief overview of your stories for artists and betas so we can match you.

Once matched, the general outline of your story to completion with two new scenes should be sent to your artists by February 25th.

TELL ME YOUR FAV QUEER SHIPS THAT NEVER GOT TO BE OR GOT A DAMN BAN ENDING

Queerian (QLQ): queer loving queer; one who celebrates queer love; queercentered relationship(s), between queer individuals (queership/s).