f/f pairings in media

[hyojungss]

✧ @/likewaterising · Mar 6
i like two very opposite kinds of f/f narratives LOL
1. best friends afraid to ruin the friendship because they want romance (2yeon, soljiwan)
2. two people who can't stand each other because they're different but similar in ways that are really important to them (binho, 01z)

lucina / severa
fire emblem awakening (n3ds, 2012)
type 2

the first f/f pairing i can remember that really stole my heart, so it makes so much sense that they represent one-sided antagonism, jealousy, admiration, parallelism and loyalty. it's also funny because they have no supports in the base game of fe13, and their canonical interactions come from DLC (future past 3, hot spring scramble). because of this part of their dynamic is fanon but it's very good.

lucina is the lord's daughter who leads the charge to go back in time to save the world. severa is the daughter of a pegasus knight with a long-standing, one-sided love for the lord. severa is stubborn, feisty and insecure about always being compared to her perfect mom whereas lucina is very serious because she has so many burdens but she has a silly side. it's really fun because they compliment each other so well. lucina never 'hates' severa and severa can push lucina away but they hold so much respect for each other. also severa is a shopaholic and lucina has no fashion sense isn't that so cute!!!! the best part from the major dlc (future past 3) is when severa tells lucina to go, stays back to fight and says "i can still protect you" T___T the parallels between lucina/severa and chrom/cordelia are too good except idc about chrom and cordelia but severa's loyalty to lucina is just incredible. lucina lord knighting severa pegasus knight T___T 3 pages of tumblr fanart for u


princess bubblegum / marceline
adventure time (cartoon network, 2010-2018)
type 2

ok yeah i know "everyone likes bubbline" but still. i love how subtly their dynamic is implied and grows throughout the show as well as their focused episodes (sky witch, stakes, varmints) i just think like each of them are such fun, developed characters in their own right. they're so hotheaded but it's so cute how at the very beginning pb catches marceline's shirt and those shining eyes looking at her *___* the history... the antagonism... the banter... the stubbornness... the way they can't make up because they have such different priorities and they're so different and they don't know how to communicate with each other ♡ the way that marceline thinks the shirt isn't important to pb but she wears it all the time as pajamas T_____T and the way that pb gave it up for something that was really important to marcy... and how they learn to remember how much they trust each other and enjoy spending time together.

pb entj queen with a glaring need to always be prepared and in control and marcy always getting hurt because pb's so uptight but at the end of the day through all that teasing, button pushing and misunderstanding the way that the words they say mean so much to each other!!! "you think i'm nice?" / "you know i care about you." / "i'm crazy tired, marceline. i think i have been for a long time." and the way that you can see their reactions to each other in the most subtle animation even if they're not spoken, and pb trusting marcy to wake her up and marcy letting her sleeppppp

It's like I'm not even a person, am I?

I'm just your problem

But I shouldn't have to be the one that makes up with you

So... why do I want to?

Why do I want to...

yoon sol / seo jiwan
nevertheless, (JTBC, 2021)
type 1

i know everyone likes soljiwan too but like they are exactly the most perfect best friends to lovers story ever... and the only pairing on this main list not laden with antagonism LOL and like i am not even really an exes to lovers trope enjoyer (what bubbline is) nor really someone that wants to have longstanding misunderstandings with someone before we like each other (heerim) and frankly i find cutesy fluff stories (post-get-together soljiwan and bubbline) so boring but i think all these things are reflective of and simply magnifying traits that i think make up a good r/s ♡ at the end of the day all of these pairings have communication issues but like not in an annoying way. To Me.

soljiwan actual best friends and sol trying to act cool and uncaring when jiwan goes on dates with guys, and when jiwan compliments her or shows affection to her because it actually means so much to her. and she can't let it show and ruin the friendship!! sol "never hanging out with guys"... jiwan also not wanting to help set sol up... everyone knowing the way to get sol to come to something is for jiwan to be there... "i thought i knew everyone you knew" / "you don't" the need for them to have their own lives omg. because they have always liked each other [as friends] so much that their interests have been tied to each other and if they don't try to develop their own individuality they're never going to be able to handle the loss of that closeness when the other 'inevitably' ends up in a relationship with a guy. jiwan seeing the movie as romantic while the guy she was meeting saw it as friendship only TT i just love these subtle things that really characterize soljiwan as looking for subtext and meaning, not just surface level attraction. the "we don't hang out as much anymore" as a result of those diverging paths T___T and jiwan being jealous that sol didn't tell her about something so important (study abroad) whereas people less close to sol knew. "you never tell me the important things about yourself"... because jiwan wants to be trusted and she wants to know everything about sol.... jiwan getting nervous when sol talks about other people's relationships and sol's hand is on hers.. sol saying "i didn't want to leave" while looking at jiwan

it's just the whole.... do i care too much.... "don't call me your best friend if you won't tell me anything" and misinterpreting doing anything with anyone else as not caring about you anymore (crying emoji) and of course at the end of the day, having known each other for so long and enjoyed spending time with each other, jiwan drunk begging sol not to like anyone else because sol is her favorite person and she only wants sol to like her, and sol protecting herself by choosing not to believe this means jiwan actually loves her in that way. the crazy amount of defense mechanisms, jiwan testing the waters by pretending she doesn't remember anything so she can gauge how sol feels about what she said T___T and sol does make it sound like a bad thing jiwan did but that's "because if you did that with no meaning, you're hurting me" T__________T it's not bad if she means it for real T_____T "i'm sorry for liking you" YOU GUYS THIS CLIP IS MAKING ME CRY AGAIN FOR REAL their dialogue is seriously so well written and their dynamic as it plays out in the ensemble drama is soooooo good like they never would have gotten together without the way that they see other people interact with them you know... it's all about those layered realizations... "i did confess to them... because my desires kept growing."

it's still insane how this pairing exists in the same drama as the horrible main love triangle. no sense at all


na heedo / ko yurim
twenty-five twenty-one (tvN, 2022)
type 2

PREFACED BY SAYING I ONLY WATCHED THROUGH EPISODE 9. skimmed through this thread

okay this one is insane because unlike bubbline and soljiwan in which you can not have an opinion on the unrivaled side ships by not talking about them, heerim being part of a main implied triangle means i can first-hand judge your view of nuance based on your unfavored characters. by this i mean there is a reason every girl who watched 2521 and did not gaf about baek yijin (example yves LOL) is looked at carefully! but if you don't like yurim i don't respect your opinion on this show. it's just like, yes yurim is written as a stubborn whiny girl at first but you people are not seeing the nuances!!

r: like i have irls who i talk to about our ideal types who would also please our parents though my heart is a lot less in it about actually believing that would be best than it used 2 be
r: those friends were go yurim antis though so you see
s: go yurim antis explains everything

i think liking heerim over baekdo or yurim/jiwoong is such a reflection of nuance vs genericism. actually i respect it if you like nam joohyuk because my issue with baekdo is just the weirdness of the high schooler/graduate thing but my issue with jiwoong is he's so basic and i can't stand pairings where the guy just is "nice" to the isolated girl for no reason and she likes him just because she doesn't have to think or feel judged when she's with him?? he doesn't KNOW yurim like heedo does. this is the bare minimum.

literally heerim has the physical and mental intimacy of sports rivalry + the emotional open intimacy of anonymous internet chatroom friendship what more could you want.

EP6, NA HEE DO
I can read you like a book the moment you stand in front of me. What can I do? Your upper body leans forward when you're thinking of attacking. Your back foot is behind when you're about to retreat, and your hands are down when you have a lot on your mind. You're an open book! But can you read me? Can you?

✧ @/likewaterising · Mar 6
also the fact that heedo and yurim kept their (gender/age/social status) identities from each other online but were able to form this deep cherished connection where only they understood the other and would always be there for each other despite everything is So

✧ @/likewaterising · Mar 6
and another thing i would say i'm sorry for not being able to stop talking about this drama but i'm not. The fact that heedo and yurim hate each other but they actually DON'T, the least romantic things in the world are the most romantic etc is what i'm missing from rps

and i think something common to wlw is they value being known and understood more than anything... like something i would never want is to be "loved" for the surface level image of who i am and that's why the deep-rooted similarities between heedo and yurim are so powerful, but at the same time their personalities again are complementary - heedo the brave and rebellious helping yurim break out of her boundaries and yurim grounding her while still playing along with any of her jokes... i truly CANNOT tell if they meant to write heerim so well that their chemistry was actually romantic and had to cop out to keep the general audience or if it was an accident. either way it's actually maddening. the way that yurim runs away when she realizes the friend she cherishes so dearly and dressed up to meet for the first time is someone she's afraid of (see later episode confession) because she's been a lifelong rival and actually challenges her and sees her vulnerabilities. like it's the first time she saw heedo in that way and couldn't handle it (= analogous to seeing one of your friends in a romantic light for the first time). the levels you guys.

✧ @/likewaterising · Mar 6
also the setup of heedo's character would be really good if they did want to explore multiple love lines because they already established that she hasn't had a lot of experience and actively seeks it out/will try new things (example A: her two week pet name relationship)

honestly it didn't have to be yijin OR yurim it really should have been an exploration of both. but anyway it's fine i am just going to pretend none of this happened. every baekdo fan hates the ending but i do too because yurim ended up with basic boy!!! there will always be heerim tiktok edits ♡


honorable mentions

• edelgard / f!byleth (fire emblem three houses, 2019) for that ending cutscene of crimson flower
• hilda / marianne (fire emblem three houses, 2019) because they are each other's exception
• binnie / jiho (oh my girl rps) see post
• nayeon / jeongyeon (twice rps) because my goal includes you. game over.
• oda nana / suzumoto miyu (keyakizaka46 rps) because of the insane narrative where mon has liked dani forever but dani is so obtuse/doesn't care/likes pon and is girl crush material because she always does nice things for girls without realizing what it does to them. and mon has and never will let go.