#udanniversary

It may not be canon but it’s why I’m here. I def had no interest in anything outside of already established canon when I was playing the game, happily riding along the Chris/Ash ship and the mess that was the Jess/Mike/Emily/Matt train. It wasn’t until multiple heart stopping scares, drugging, punches, gun full of blanks, a board to the face, gratuitous gore that I checked the relationships as I played as either and had seen theirs had gone way up for each of them. Like, really??? I raised an eyebrow. Maybe there was something here.

I’m going to sound like I’m just repeating Curls’ post(curse her earlier timezone) but for real it’s got a lot of my favorite things. Cheesy nicknames, specific sense of humor, deeper understanding of one another, the goofy blond and the sarcastic brunet, childhood friends??? One of my favorite types of fanfics to read are people who can weave it in and out of canon, placing their writing like puzzle pieces, and the Climbing Class dynamic still fits very tragically especially if you keep on the canon Ashley. Which I love.

I’ve read some of the best fanfic in a long while and it drove me to finally start creating content for fandom again since I was so invested in these two and wanted to...I dunno, give back I guess? So being stuck on these dweebs and making some good friends and fandom interaction definitely kept me here in the long run. It’s definitely a chain of reaction of things but without that epiphany UD probably would have been a very passing interest that i might’ve made minimal jokes to and moved on, and my side blogs never would’ve existed until maybe Persona came out and I started pumping out art but even then I shared most of my early P5 work on my main and not these ^^;

So, these two,,I love these two with my whole heart. Aside from these two being my favorite characters in the game, their relationship ticks off pretty much every check for what romances I’m a sucker for. There’s mutual teasing, support, angst, and the forbidden best friend’s brother trope.

From the beginning-ish of the game, the two of them share some cheesy banter. I will never get over Josh’s cocky proposal of helping her get into the bath, and her notorious “hardy har”. They crack jokes at one another on their way to the basement, and I adore that sort of casual chemistry. Their relationship is the type where Sam rolls her eyes enduringly before Josh can even crack a dumb joke. It’ll never be confirmed, but I think that the two of them love this playful aspect of their relationship. Being able to just say complete cheese with someone else is just something I adore.

Not only do Sam and Josh tease each other, but they tease and encourage Ash and Chris to hook up. Love the thought of it so much, because they’re such hypocrites. The irony is *mwah*.

 One of the biggest aspects of any relationship I’ve seen regarding Josh has been support. Whether it be Sam, Josh, Chris, or Ash, all of them offer him some bit of support during the loss of his sister and his personal descent into madness. One of the scenes that sticks most with me, and really got me to ship the two of them, was when Josh stopped Sam to talk before entering the basement. Of course, the choice to comfort and console him is optional, but regardless, it’s one that is present for her. I’ve never not selected it when playing, because I just love hearing her genuine concern for him.

One of my favorite tropes for them, and probably my most guilty pleasure, is the angst between them. From Sam thinking that Josh is dead, to the reveal of him being the Psycho, their relationship is ridden with angst. Of course if you saw one of your best friends get sawed in half, you’d have an extremely emotional response, and Sam is no exception for that. Aside from this, Josh notably struggles to knock her out if he manages to catch up with her, saying he’s sorry for doing this.

Before it’s actually revealed that he’s the killer, Sam is the one who collects the most clues to piece together Josh’s identity as the killer, and hearing the dialogue exchanged between them when discovering this just pains me. 

"You're crying out for help, Josh... Come on, you wanted to get caught, didn't you?"

"Oh sure. I'm totally just crying out for help. 'Help me! Oh help me! Help help...'"

It’s just such a heart wrenching scene, and makes me wish that in another universe, he would have reached out for the help he needed. Sam seemingly knows that he was struggling, given her interview in the end, specifically her whole “I thought we had a connection” speech. It gives me chills every time because of how broken she feels, being betrayed by someone she trusted and truly thought she knew. Regardless of her relationship with Josh, she will always mention this connection, and this just makes my heart melt. This, coupled with the fact that Sam insists that the authorities return to the mines to mine can insinuate that she wants them to find the Wend*gos as well as Josh or his remains. Just the fact that it ends on this note draws me to creating closure via roleplays, finding art, or reading fanfics.

I’m pretty sure this prompt was supposed to be about canon romances, and sure, I can get on board with that. I’m a fan of a few ships, some canon and some not. However, it would be very remiss of me not to focus on this particular ship when it’s the one that dragged me into this fandom in the first place.

I am a simple person. I like simple things. This is one of them.

It ticks all my boxes. Childhood best friends? Yes. Sunshine blonde and troubled brunette? Yus. Dorks? I mean, come on. I’m weak for dumb bro interactions and nicknames so I couldn’t resist falling for it. This ship is my waving hand in a bear trap: I see it, and I’ve gotta investigate.

It was also the first non-canon ship that stuck out for me. There are just so many moments that click. In the prologue, they’re passed out together, and as @joshuawashua pointed out, you can see how close they are and how they influence each other. Then there’s Chris waxing lyrical to Sam about how they met when they’re riding in the cable car, telling it like you’d tell your grandkids. The interaction with them breaking into the lodge warms my heart. There’s more after the Psycho reveal too. Chris doesn’t seem angry, not yet, but sad and disappointed instead. He’s close enough to know Josh is on meds, a fact that only his sisters seem to know about (correct me if I’m wrong?) Then there’s the SHED scene (I’m starting to realise that I’m a little too obsessed with the shed). There are SO many feelings there. And then, despite all that anger and hurt, Chris runs back out into the night to save Josh? Holy shit, Chris’ survivor interview?? It’s all so tragic. There are moments that, for me at least, say a lot without having to be explicitly spelled out. Sure, there’s the Ashley pep talk, but for this ship, I figure Josh wanted to make Chris the hero in his movie, the romantic lead. And the sad thing is he kinda does at his own expense. However, if canon is absolute law in your eyes or that explanation doesn’t float your boat, I’m open to this explanation as well:

Getting back to the boys: for Chris and Josh, there are moments to interpret and dots to connect, granted. But isn’t that what shipping is? Also, despite all the in-game stuff I mentioned, I will happily ignore canon so characters can be happy. ‘Cause fuck canon sometimes, you know?