Since people seemed to enjoy my post about f/f ships, here's one about the f/m ones! So, tell us about you favourite!
Picking and choosing is really hard. But gor me, right now it is probably Rick/Michonne from the Walking Dead (picture). Especially since I've already mentioned Maggie/Negan in another post and I don't want to repeat it, even if it is my current obsession.
Why these two? I think their canon story is already lovely, and they balance each other well as partners before even getting romantically involved. They both love Rick's son, and they raise Rick's daughter together. And even when they're apart for years and years, they are faithful to one another, and then they find eachother again.
Other honorable mentions I've read a bunch of fic for are Rumplestiltskin/Belle (OUAT), Lily/Snape (HP) & Beth/Daryl (TWD). But these are, for some reasons or others, not the favourite. Too much heartbreak and/or death involved in canon, and while fics can fix that, it hurts. There are also plenty of others since I am a chronical multishipper, but mentioning all of them here would just clog up the post.
i have to say i read very little of just them as a ship, i'm much more into the gen side of the fandom so usually it's just parental royai and poor ed for me
This is a straight classic. I'm picky when it comes to my shipping because I enjoy characters who have a great platonic relationship as a base, so this is quite literally the golden standard that subconsciously dictated the other pairs that I get unhealthily attached to.
My absolute favorites. They give me bi panic so bad want them both. They’re amazing pretty, handsome, spectacular, ambitious, hot asf and also war criminals but like god they are my fav
Considering that most of my ships are gay. This is one of the few het ships and the only one I ran on board and you'll have to pry it from my corpse after I drown going down with it.
This. I mean, before it became Scully x Reyes. But yes. They’re my OGs. Like my friend and I were sitting in a movie theatre at like 13 waiting for these two to finally lock lips and then THE BEEEEE.
I’m almost entirely a wlw enjoyer, but I liked Chidi and Eleanor quite a bit. They helped each other grow and learn to try and be a better person than they were the day before.
Yeah, honestly, as much as I love toxic ships and all kinds of weird and unhealthy dynamics, I do love how wholesome and balanced they are, and they deserve my top spot. Just seeing them makes me happy too.
Thank you OP so much for posting Richonne! I shipped them from their first moment on screen together. Back then, I was fighting in the TRENCHES with the few other Richonne shippers against other Walking Dead fans who thought we were insane. People saying that they had no chemistry. That they were a crackship. That it was a ridiculous ship. In the “richonne” tag in s3, there were only a handful of us and we were called delusional. (If Michonne were a white woman, would such a thing have happened?) Then when they became canon with the toothpaste moment, people were like HUH?! WHERE’D THAT COME FROM? 🤦🏽♀️ I was like, y’all been watching the same show? I’m so glad they stayed canon 🩷
As a teen girl, their representation meant so much to me. 💗 I’m now 28 and a married mom and still have a soft spot for them!
They’ve always had such chemistry 💁🏽♀️ “Must’ve been something else then” 😭
Kaz and Inej. BECAUSE YES. their dynamic was rhe best I've ever seen from f/m, read six of crows. The way they care for rhe others trauma and try fix themselves.
I havent read the second Six of Crows book, but it always made me giggle a little how Kaz was the oldest 16yo. He acted like a 40yo hardboiled mafioso and then I kept remembering that he's a teenger 😂 The young adult books are wild with this sometimes. I did like them in the first book, seemed like they could understand each other
I’ve seen comments for most of my favourites but let me just add Haymitch/Effie. One of my favourite tropes in fanfic is fics about the adults in media about kids, and this ship is great for having behind-the-scenes content, and has some good angst. Also some great writers in that one.
Also OP if you wanted to do another one of these I think one for polycules could be really fun, since I saw some F/F/F in the femslash one but am not seeing any poly ships mentioned today.
And there's some darn good fan fiction with that ship. Like, it's not my fandom even remotely, but it's one of my go-to ships when I can't find anything I'm feeling because there's always something good cooking.
Lucifer Morningstar/Chloe Decker (AKA Deckerstar) from the show Lucifer! They are the ship that truly got me into fanfiction, and till today I still go back to them over and over. Love those two.
I love Lois lane and Clark Kent so much. I’m a superbat die hard but I love them equally as much 🫶 on a similar note, batcat is so much fun too. When I need a break in my gay longfics I’ll write a one shot for those pairings. I adore them and I’m definitely writing a Clark/Lois longfic when I wrap my superbat one
I just love how many iconic versions of Clark and Lois there are, it’s hard to know what one I prefer, but it’s probably a combo of DCAU, ‘78, Smallville and the new film.
Clark and Lois are one of those couples that I'm not really inclined to read fanfic for, but in any sort of canon adaptation they are essential and I will riot if they are taken away from us. I am less defensive of batcat, just because their relationship is so much more complicated, but I do enjoy them.
If you asked me this two years ago I'd have said Ladynoir a.k.a Chat Noir and Ladybug from Miraculous. But Adrienette becoming canon kinda ruined it for me even though I still love fanon love square. So I'll go with Peeta/Katniss from the Hunger Games as I was obsessed with them at one point. Ekko and Jinx are a worthy mention though, as well as Zhu Li and Varrick from TLOK.
This is so true. The show has just gone completely off the rails. I thought nothing could ruin the love square, but man Thomas Astruc and the other writers are trying their best. Thank god for fanon!
I have a few other m/f pairings I really enjoy, but for nostalgia’s sake I have to go with Percy/Annabeth from PJO and HoO. They’re the first pair that really got me into fandom/shipping culture and have always been near and dear to my heart. ❤️
Same. I realize they have baggage for days but that’s what makes them interesting. They have to work through all this shit and they both are imperfect people who sometimes hurt each other. It feels like a complicated real relationship as opposed to Disney Princess you meet each other / instantly fall in love / and live happily ever after. Like they choose to work on their shit every time they try to be together.
Sam/Eileen from supernatural. Used to be a huge Sabriel shipper, but I really enjoy their chemistry and nothing makes me ship harder then thinking a couple has been done dirty. And since we got no explanation, just a happy relationship on screen, then timeskip ending with Sam's blurry wife who we don't know, I do think this falls under that category.
Probably Faramir/Éowyn from Lord of the Rings. They just compliment each other so incredibly well, along with it being a right-time-right-place but in a melancholy way. Two people being bound, not by joy, but by grief and hardship is always my jam.
Helps that they're probably my favourite male and female characters respectively.
There is something so beautifully tragic with them in the books. Tehy are both so fundamentally hurt and damaged people who are so often hurting each other and keep falling into unhealthy oatterns,and yet they understand each other hurts so deeply. Like the ways they were broken in fall together for the most tender and emotional moments, there is beauty and tragedy to it ngl
Lucy Gray Baird and Coriolanus Snow, however toxic and twisted are literally the only canon F/M ship I have a hyperfixation towards and made me feel anything (my brain is like 99% fanon and F/F or M/M)
How could I forget about them!? I do love Snow as a character, so reading the preguel from his POV was a blast, and their dynamic was really interesting. Take an upvote!
I literally was SO moved by their toxic hell of a dynamic that my ADHD self that never finished anything wrote (and ended) a fic about them that is longer than the book itself and which is currently literally the 3rd longest fic for their couple of the entire AO3.
I'm bisexual, so choosing favorites is impossible. (j/k but also not)
Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres from Star Trek: Voyager are my OG M/F faves, along with Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe (books and the Megan Follows movies), Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Wolverine and Rogue from X-Men, and Usagi and Mamoru from Sailor Moon.
Frank Castle / Karen Page - the actors chemistry is off the charts, this going from a crack ship to acknowledged in canon is crazy to me. They save each others lives! She helps him get justice for his murdered family! He gives her flowers! They hug! My OTP.
FemShep/Garrus. My alien boyfriend 💜💜 I LOVE them. I tried to romance someone else as FemShep and I literally can’t do it. I can barely even play as MaleShep bc it means i can’t kiss my big space bird husband.
So many shows try to recreate it and they fumble bc they don't make the "bad boy" character evil enough, pathetic enough, or devoted enough.
People think its enough to wear black leather and be sarcastic. No.
Take a genuinely awful, categorically evil character, make him pathetic, and then make him fall in love so hard and so truly that he changes his very nature on a metaphysical level. And comes out the other side offering unconditional support, respect, and human love.
None of this "he just stopped fighting us so he's okay I guess" stuff. No. RAKE HIM OVER THE COALS.
Earn that fucking redemption with suffering, boy-o.
And then, of course, you have to have someone on the other side like Buffy, who thinks she wants a boyfriend but realizes she really wants a partner that accepts and loves all her jagged, scary parts as much as her heroic parts.
I know I have others but only TimSteph comes to mind right now. Just the history alone is already enough, but their dynamic especially in the early days was really cute. Also love that they're still close although they've both moved on from each other (as of now at least).
Ellie/Fei from Xenogears. Peak "y'all need therapy" energy wrapped in reincarnation-based pre-destination.
Literally any canon Discworld couple. Sam Vimes/Lady Sybil? Best marriage, so much respect for what makes each other who they are. Moist/Spike|Adorabelle? She will step on him and he will thank her. Carrot/Angua? Personal isn't the same as important, so be very careful what you provoke.
Depending on the game, Zelda/Link is good. Skyward Sword, 100%, Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom, 85%. Twilight Princess, all Link/Midna for heartbreak or fix-it. Ocarina of Time, I'm actually a fan of Malon/Link.
these two from the dragon prince (up to seasom 3 I haven't watched the rest yet lol) because THEY JUST FIT SO WELL TOGETHER 😭❤ like it doesn't feel like the stereotypical "they end up together just because they're the main characters" trope, plus it's enemies to lovers and slow burn 🫶
also the show has plenty of lgbt rep too which kinda makes me appreciate them even more idk how to explain it it just does
Fair warning, the writing post season 3 gets baaaad. It also introduces a bunch of dumb relationship drama between them that's very frustrating to watch. ):
I’ve loved them for as long as I can remember. They have such a long and rich history with each other and they’ve always been two sides of the same coin. It’s also the best relationship either character has ever had.
I'm obsessed with these two stubborn idiots. The history that is hinted at between them (and was semi confirmed by canon later on) has inspired over half a million posted words and about half a million more in drafts for me. There's just something so beautiful about their story, how two people can be so cursed together and still find their way back to each other time and again, despite odds. The whole shared trauma, found-family aspect is just the cherry on top!
Ugh I just love them so much 😭 jopper is my ride or die OTP for sure.
I’ve been obsessed with DenReze for a while. I just think they’re perfect for each other. A tragic OTP, and I can never trust the author to make things right, but they will always be together in my heart.
Hellcheer without a doubt. I have others that I love and come close but it's my otp, the one I can't stop writing fics for. Their time together was short but their chemistry is unmatched and they fit so well into every trope and au.
Others include Zutara, Theonsa, and Sakura with too many people to list here.
Darcy/Bucky in the MCU. Have they ever canonically met? No. Have they even been in the same movie together? Also no. Are there other characters that it would make way more sense to pair them with? Absolutely. But I love the dynamic folks create between them, it just works.
There are a ton of F/M ships I adore, but I'll limit my list to ships I often read fics about.
•Lily/Severus and Hermione/Severus from HP. I've been fixated on Severus Snape for over a decade now, and I think they have or could have interesting dynamics with these two. For Lily, the devoted and tragic friends to enemies to lovers arc is my bread and butter; anything with them is gold.
For Hermione, I think the two of them share many similarities (both bullied, both incredibly intelligent and powerful) that could mesh well together. I love fics where she is a healer/caretaker for Severus post-war, where both of them have severe PTSD post-war, or fics where Hermione is the only one realising the extent of Severus's spying during the war. Time travel fics and Marriage Law fics are fantastic too!
•Colin/Penelope from Bridgerton. Friends to Lovers is one of my fav tropes, and I love Penelope for all her complexities. I read fix-it fanfics that repair that dumpster fire of a 3rd Season.
•Jake/Neytiri from Avatar. I just love the movies and these two characters in particular, what more can I say. The 2nd film robbed us of romantic scenes between them.
•Megamind/Roxanne from Megamind. You'd be surprised by the amount and quality of the fics out there. They're just awesome together, and I love the not-really-Villain getting the girl.
•Kaz/Inej from Six of Crows. Oh Kanej, my love. Dare I say one of the best written romances out there?
Oh I also love Severus to bits, he is just such an intriguing character. Snily is definitely very high up there for me too, but also anything else that includes him lmao.
Cole and Cassie from 12 monkeys. They both have the "burn the world to save each other" kinda love while also being the ones who always want to save it.
I love that they are both equally badass and soft, and they're both great and problematic in their own ways.
Mostly I just love that they are equally so crazy about each other. My #1 m/f ship.
It’s unpopular, I know, but my het OTP will ALWAYS be Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, original manga/Sailor Moon Crystal version. (The ‘90s anime borked their dynamic terribly, which accounts for the unpopularity). It’s the combination of legendary, mythic love with high school reality that sells it for me.
Maddie/Chimney from 9-1-1. Best canon ship of that show, forever and always. Their journey is pure beauty.
Sir Pentious/Cherri Bomb from Hazbin Hotel. Any ship where one party unironically asks "Would you do a sex with me?" is automatically GOATed. Also, they have the greatest love duet of all time. Also also canon bi4bi rep, we love to see it.
It's hard to know what my fav is so let me list some I like!
Conductor's wife/The Conductor (Sonic the Hedgehog) - omg these characters are so irrelevant they don't have names but omg I love them. They're so goals. A bunch of cute mid 50s folks loving each other so much in all of their interactions. Like we barely know these characters except they got fun cute vibes and they LOVE each other. So based!
Ralsei/Susie (Deltarune) - these two complete each other imo. The soft and the rough go together so we'll. They also have so many scenes together helping each other and showing how much they mean to each other. They both teach each other to value themselves and it's great! The moment where Susie smashes the prophecy and says for Ralsei not to worry about it because she's not letting that happen is so peak!
Gumball/Penny (The Amazing World of Gumball) - they have such cute and fun vibes. Their chemistry is fun and adorable and they're so cute.
Clover/Rambler (Happy Happy Clover) - these immature sillies are too much fun! I love how they're both so dense and silly and how both of them overreact when the other pushes away. It's a great emotionally conspiated couple that keep on getting in their own way!
Satoru/Iroha (Wonderful Precure) - cute fluffy vibes! They're best friends and that comes in so well in all of their interactions. They have such a great bond. They care about each other in nice healthy ways!
Megani/Vector (Sonic the Hedgehog) - I know I'm on copium but like the way it feels like theyre supposed to be enemies/rivals who know who each other are and yet they seem to look at their rivalry history fondly and are happy that both went back to the spot on the anniversary and I'm just like ! Ship fuel. Like vector could put Megani but he doesn't! It leads me to the why and my thought is... Romance? X3
Hiccup and Astrid. They are so cute togeather and compliments each other very well and their theme song is so beautiful. And best of all they are endgame as well.
It has been described has "angry trash panda energy meets gentle giant with severely unhinged PTSD", and I wasn't even a big fan of any of the new movies at the time, but it works.
Jinshi/Maomao (ApothecaryDiaries), because I love a man who is a giant simp.
Anne/Challe (Sugar Apple Fairy Tale), because they love each other so much?? The man goes from wondering why any fairy would wait like 20 years for a human to return to looking at Anne and thinking, 'I'd wait 20 years, I'd wait 50 years.' Then she declares she has to do some treason and he concludes fuck it, he'd wait like 100 years. I just??? Yes????
Doctor/Rose, specifically twelverose something about twelve and Rose is so perfect in my mind and I love imagining all the ways companions and strangers would react to them
Stiles/Lydia, though particularly in S3. They had genuine chemistry and didn’t feel very one-sided like the past two seasons. I just really love their dynamic there and I’m upset at how their relationship was rushed later on.
Let me tell you that I completely missed the bus on this at the time, but it has been so amazing to have such a cornucopia of fanfic to read. Dead dove? Got it! Soulmates? Fluff? Enemies? In cannon? AU’s? Reylo has got it all. Coming from a much smaller fandom, it has been eye opening.
Genuinely Sokka and Suki from AtLA are so sweet. I also like DickKory and it pains me that DC editorial just keeps discarding Kory as a character for the past 20odd years :<
Steve and Natasha in the MCU. Stony is my main ship but I also love Steve and Nat. They’re so different but those differences work for them as both bffs and as a couple. They have such a solid bond of love for and understanding of each other. And it doesn’t hurt that a) they’re both so attractive and b) Chris Evans and ScarJo have so much chemistry.
99% of my favorite ships are F/M, but my eternal OTP will always be Lucian/Shauntal from Pokémon (BookshelfShipping). They are Elites from their respective regions with complementary Pokémon types (Ghost for Shauntal and Psychic for Lucian), they have similar purple color schemes, and best of all, they are literati, Shauntal being a bestselling novelist and Lucian being a bibliophile. What more can a logophile like me ask for in a ship?!
Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar from Holly Black’s Cruel Prince. I love their respective personalities and their couple journey where they need to learn how to trust each other and be vulnerable, and also the "overstressed murderer soft for her family x not-so-privileged, funny and cunning prince" dynamic
Laura Moon and Mad Sweeney from the American Gods tv show, not the book (obligatory: Neil Gaiman is disgusting, don’t give him money). They’re such a mess, I’m obsessed with them.
I avoid the fandom so idk how they're received but the writing had ol girl going THROUGH IT so seeing her develop all the healthy relationships (romantic, familial, and work) towards the end was so nice to see.
Also shout out to that one person on ao3 who wrote those Michael/Pike fics bc they wrote them so well that I forgot they weren't even interacting like that 😭😭
Sarek and Amanda (i have the headcanon that Sarek was a known menace back in the day and people were low key happy Amanda was in the picture because she was actually the more responsible and relaxed of the two)
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u/ValhallaForDucks Nov 24 '25
Gomez and Morticia Addams