FINALLY GETTING AROUND TO THIS @kingesstropolis! 😀 Sorry that took so long.
This was initially for a “Send me a ship and I will explain why I do or don’t ship it“ meme. If anyone else wants to send ships, feel free. ^_^
1. Courfeyrac/Combeferre
OMG, I SHIP IT. EXPEDITED, WORLDWIDE AND POSSIBLY INTO OUTER SPACE. *_*
As for why… that’s a harder question to answer? I think it boils down to the fact that I’m a sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope. And that actually brings me around to the fact that that makes NO SENSE for me whatsoever. Because I’m aro and ace af, so you’d think I’d be far more invested in friends who stay friends (a la Garcia and Morgan in Criminal Minds) than in ones who become lovers? And that’s something that’s baffled me for a while, actually, until now when I forced myself to sit down and think about it. (So, thanks for that! ;D)
Anyway, I think the point is… I don’t really understand romance. I don’t understand romantic attraction. I don’t understand why romance is AT ALL APPEALING. I really, really don’t. But in a friends-to-lovers situation, it’s two people who are such close friends that the transition to lovers doesn’t really involve much transition. They’re still best friends. They’re just best friends who do this other thing, too. And being friends with someone is something I DO understand. It gives me an understanding and an investment in that relationship in a way that straight up “we’re just suddenly in love via lightning bolt attraction” never will. This is a dynamic I understand, even if there are sexytimes thrown in, too. ^_^
2. Bahorel/Jehan
OMG, MY LOVELY POETRY SMASH BOYS, HELLO, YES, I SHIP YOU. ^_____^
In this case, it’s all about a fascination with opposites, TBH, both within the characters themselves and between the two of them. Because Bahorel is a rough and tumble brawler. He’s tearing up paving stones and starting revolutions and screw the law school, yeah? But he’s also a flaneur. He’s a dandy who likes good clothes (and is knowledgeable about them), and loves nothing more than to loaf around Paris and enjoy the finer things in life–cafes, theatre, and so on.
Then you have Jehan. Jehan, who writes poetry, likes cats, and loves nothing more than to lay in a field of flowers and stare at clouds. He buries his head in his studies and dresses badly. He’s a sweet, gentle, loving soul and a Romantic… but he has his moments when “his voice was ordinarily delicate, but suddenly grew manly.” And he’s a shade softer than Combeferre, who is a DUAL-PISTOL WIELDING BADASS. Not to mention the bravery he shows at the barricade, because THERE’S NO REASON TO TALK ABOUT THAT, RIGHT, BECAUSE EVERYBODY LIVES.
*coughs* So you have these two people who are, in themselves, polar opposites, and are also polar opposites of each other and I love trying to figure out how they’d meet in the middle of that. ^_^
eirenical17 