#rarepair problems

My favorite thing about fandom in general is how many different interpretations exist for one thing. When comes to characters it is especially interesting because these different perspectives often come from the differences in the people who have those perspectives. Many things contribute to a person's point of view and that is endlessly fascinating to me.

So, when someone shares their favorite ship and why they like it, it makes me happier than you know. Mainly because I can see a part of their thought process. If you give me any reason you like a ship, I will 100% respect it, why?

Because you took the time out of your day to express your love for something. You were willing to share your perspective, fanart, fanfics and headcanons all for people to see simply because you love this ship so much. I'm sure you made countless people think about your ship and contemplate new interpretations of these characters that they might've never even considered.

Sometimes you might even be able to explain the reason why you like what you like but that's okay. The fact that you were even willing to share this in the first place is often enough for me to respect the ship even if a reason is never given.

Of course, for most of the popular ships, I can find fanworks rather easily. I don't really like most of them, but I love that 'sharing of ideas' that all fanworks have so I am largely fine with it.

Another ship I like (SonicBoom) is a bit smaller, but I am still fine with it. There is only around like 500 fics compared to thousands if not millions of MHA works on Ao3. I am still fine with that. SonicBoom also has a small following on Tumblr so I can still interact with that sharing of ideas.

I even have a close friend who likes this ship as well, we get together every now and then to talk. Ever since we both found out about this ship, we mention it in our conversations. Talking with them about SonicBoom is really a delight. Every day that we meet up and talk about this silly little ship it fills me with enough joy to last me the whole week.

BloodOranges is different. Only 23 fics in total. After using ao3's system to filter things in order to curate my experience, only 6 fics show up. If you subtract the fic I made for them (Thoughts at Midnight), it is 5. I can barely find any art of them or people talking about them.

That in part is what makes this ship hard to talk about. Lack of fanworks, which is to be expected considering the two people I have shipped. Well- it's less of 'lack of fanworks' and more of lack of seeing multiple perspectives.

Every once in a while, I am reminded of the lack of fanworks that exist. This doesn't bring me down too much. I love BloodOranges after all and will probably be making fanworks for it until the end of time. However, it still makes me slightly down in the mouth.

For all the fellow rarepair shippers out there who might be having a similar struggle, keep doing what you are doing. Your work will make a difference and will make someone happy.