Pairing discussions

[Starling]

I was wondering about the reasons people like or dislike particular pairings. I get how some of them got started but not necessarily why they're as popular as they are, or on the opposite end, why they're not as popular as other pairings. Here are a bunch to start off.

Spoiler: Het

Vincent/Yuffie

Aerith/Sephiroth

Tseng/Elena

Zack/Cissnei

Spoiler: Yaoi

Cloud/Seph

Cloud/Zack

Cloud/Vincent

Sephiroth/Genesis

Angeal/Genesis

Angeal/Zack

Hojo/Vincent

Spoiler: Threesomes and more

Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud

Angeal/Sephiroth/Genesis

Angeal/Genesis/Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud

 

[Soakette]

To me Reno/Rude are the most important yaoi pairing. If it isnt obvious already, they are both extremely sexy, they are best friends who work well together, therefore there is no reason why they wouldn't have chemistry in the bedroom.

Vincent/yuffie bugs me. I love Vincent and I am not a huge fan of Yuffie, but she is underage (in the OG) so it kinda creeps me out. Plus she is annoying as fuck.

Tseng/Elena, absolutely beautiful! Nothing like having hot sex with your boss.

Which are the pairings that you dont quite understand? Maybe some people who ship them can give you their insight.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Het

Vincent/Yuffie
Both being optional characters means they have a lot in common. Like.... Seriously, I think it's the old "opposites attract" thing. An awful lot of fic writers embrace the idea that Yuffie's youth and vitality can teach Vincent to love and love again, and at the same time his age and his rather lugubrious personality can help steady her. Also it's cool that there's this huge age difference only not really. And of course when she eventually grows old and dies and he's still twenty-one on the outside, that's tragically ironic. But it's okay: their love is eternal. Also sometimes Yuffie has to get married for dynastic reasons, and that's when Vincent turns out to be of noble Wutaian blood on his mother's side.
Et cetera....

Aerith/Sephiroth
They teach each other what it means to be human.

Tseng/Elena
He's her boss. She's his rookie. Fire the canon! Man that's hot.
Plus,

Spoiler

this:

Zack/Cissnei
This is a save-Zack-from-Aerith pairing. Cissnei is tragic because she never told him she loved him. If only he'd realised! But fanfic can fix that.



Yaoi

Cloud/Seph
I'd have to be Sigmund Freud to explain this one. Hate is just another way to say "I love you", I guess. Anyway, Cloud keeps coming back for more penetration by Sephiroth's mighty weapon. He must like it or something.

Cloud/Zack
Because nobody can be friends without having sex. Male friendship is a myth; we know you're all gay for each other really.

Cloud/Vincent
I got nothing.

Sephiroth/Genesis
"Friendly" rivals. This one's kind of a mash-up of Cloud/Sephiroth and Cloud/Zack.

Angeal/Genesis
See Cloud/Zack.

Angeal/Zack
The same as Tseng/Elena, but with added poignancy due to Major Character Death and The Passing of the Torch.

Hojo/Vincent
When No means Yes.


Threesomes and more
Okay, a lot of of these are basically just re-enactments of the Junon Cannon cutscene from Crisis Core, but using their penises instead of their swords. It's possible that there exists a SOLDIER threesome fic in which the well-written sex is an integral element of the intricate plotting and the astute character development. But I haven't read it.

Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud
There's no wound so deep, no betrayal so cruel, that a romp together in bed cannot heal it.

Angeal/Sephiroth/Genesis
See Zack/Cloud above

Angeal/Genesis/Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud
Now you're just being greedy.

 

[Soakette]

Vincent/Yuffie
he's still twenty-one on the outside

I swear he is 27?

Zack/Cissnei
This is a save-Zack-from-Aerith pairing. Cissnei is tragic because she never told him she loved him. If only he'd realised! But fanfic can fix that.

I didnt even see this on the list. Totally love this pairing. Although Lic you made me have a hard on for Reno/Cissnei.

Hojo/Vincent
When No means Yes

This made me laugh. Thanks.

 

[jazzflower92]

Aerith/Sephiroth- Why does it appeal to so many people? I know some were very delighted when they found out that the two were originally written to be former lovers in earlier drafts. Some think that she would complimented a Pre-Evil Sephiroth and help him defrost as a person. Not to mention how people see there are actually similarities between each other that could make them connect on a personal level. Not to mention the fact that Sephiroth did know Aerith's father, Gast before he died. That little tidbit I always found odd that the spinoffs never fully explored or went into detail about. I think its because there is also a duality with each other that appeals to people.

 

[Celes Chere]

My male/male OTP in FFVII is definitely Cloud x Zack, on the female side of things Aerith x Tifa obviously. Everyone knows I adore Cloud x Tifa and Zack x Aerith on the het side of things.

@Starling -
Going off the pairings on your list! Aerith and Sephiroth... even if she had met Sephiroth before he lost his mind I just don't see it happening or working. Tseng/Aerith however is a different story, I find them really endearing. Zack/Cissnei I was never a big fan of either because during that whole time he was really focused on Aerith? And their personalities ended up clashing in the end so I never really saw it working as much as I like both of their characters. I always shipped Cissnei with that other Turk dude from Before Crisis... I think his name was Katana?

I'm not into threesome type deals so I can't really go into that, but pairings I can't get into usually involve ones that are too brotherly/family oriented (Reno/Rude for instance or Angeal/Zack). Or crack shipping in FFVII isn't really appealing to me though it is in other fandoms idk. I can't get behind like Cloud x Vincent because it doesn't make sense to me ?

I think pairings need more to them than just simple interactions to appeal to me. Or they need to have really strong chemistry which varies from each person's pov of the ship... so yeah~!

 

[jazzflower92]

Hojo/Vincent- Brain Bleach. Hojo the guy who basically ruined Vincent's life and is the cause for most of the bad things that happens in the game. I think Vincent would vomit over the idea that people would ship him with that horrid excuse for a human being. Although there is a small fanbase that tries to paint Hojo as sympathetic even though there is nothing that supports that interpretation in canon.

 

[Starling]

Vincent/yuffie bugs me. I love Vincent and I am not a huge fan of Yuffie, but she is underage (in the OG) so it kinda creeps me out. Plus she is annoying as fuck.

Deciding whether or not the age gap is too big in a pairing when one of them is either immortal or doesn't age at the same rate can be tricky.

Which are the pairings that you don't quite understand? Maybe some people who ship them can give you their insight.

AGSZC is the one I have the most trouble understanding (Next to Hojo/Vincent, which apparently a thing too). I mostly want to better understand what other people find appealing or unappealing about various ships in general. I was originally going to list about 29 before bringing it down to 14.

Several things bother me about Cloud/Seph. Since most depictions happen around CC, that puts Seph at about 25 and Cloud around 16. If you apply the half your age + 7 rule and round up the decimals, the youngest person a 25 year old can date without it probably being weird (not accounting for the whole underage thing) is 20. There's an age difference of 9 years between them. What adds to this is that if you use the source placing Cloud's mom's age at 33 during this time, that makes her 8 years older than Sephiroth. Apply the half your age + 7 rule to her and you get 24. this means that strictly looking at their ages, it's more feasible (but still really weird) to ship Seph with Cloud's mom than it is to ship him with Cloud.

Aerith/Sephiroth
They teach each other what it means to be human.

I don't think I'm ever gonna get past the fact that Sephiroth kills Aerith in the OG.

@Jazzflower: I recall an early draft making them siblings too.

Angeal/Genesis/Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud
Now you're just being greedy.

My thoughts exactly but I've been seeing a lot of it lately. Was just 2 or 3 at a time not enough? To ship that many characters with each other at once boggles me from a story writing perspective.

@Noctis I think Cloud and Vincent have a few things in common that allow me to wrap my head around a fairly close friendship between the two. I you can envision a friendship between two characters then all you seem to need is a pair of shipping goggles.

As for carck pairings, I once stumbled upon Sephiroth/Cactuar.

 

[Lord Kesharq]

what the hell have i walked into in this thread !

 

[Lord Kesharq]

i just became mentally unstable after reading though this xD! where is the warning in the title!

 

[Starling]

What warning would be needed? I started this thread to discuss pairings within the compilation, which is why I named it pairing discussions. If anything else was needed it's not like I've ever made a thread here before. Besides, anything involving fanfiction and shipping is bound to be at least slightly insane.

 

[Serah Farron]

Besides Cloud/Aeris, my top OTPs are Aeris/Tifa, Cloud/Zack. Not gonna lie Vincent/Yuffie is a big favourite of mine too. I sorta shipped them in original game but DoC (despite the pile of crap that game is) made me ship them more. I loved their interactions. I can't really explain why either? Idk if it's the age gap or opposite attracts. Or both. But they're really appealing and I love them.

As for the ones listed, I really like Zack/Cissnei. Their interactions in CC was good, plus well I hated how they handled Zackaerith in the game anyway (besides the fact I hate that pairing), for multiple reasons I won't get into. So Zack/Cissnei was super cute and very refreshing, but nothing beats good 'ol Clack

Also Tseng/Elena, YES. Perfect. I ship them quite a lot. I also hardcore ship Reno/Elena (my first Turk OTP tbh), and Rude/Elena. Hell I ship her with all the turks. I also ship Rude/Cissnei, Reno/Cissnei. Maybe even Tseng/Cissnei. Don't really know why, I just always loved the Turks and well can't help shipping them all. I use to ship reno/rude pretty hard when I was younger.

I don't get AeriSeph at all and never will. Yeah, I know about the drafts they had about them but even still. In canon he kills her and there's... no coming back from that, so I don't really understand it

There isn't any really OT3s that I ship from 7. Well maybe some Turks actually... I use to anyway.
and I never liked zack/seph/cloud omg for a number of reasons. AND DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT HOJO/VINCENT OR HOJO/SEPH. WHY.

There needs to be more f/f crackships though. I love Cissnei/Aerith, Cissnei/Tifa too... Cissnei/Elena... dang.

 

[Celes Chere]

Deciding whether or not the age gap is too big in a pairing when one of them is either immortal or doesn't age at the same rate can be tricky.

I agree? I ship Yuffie and Vincent, but not really in the OG. I think they have a more platonic relationship then. But DoC is what really got me interested in that pairing? Idk, Vincent doesn't HAVE the body of an extremely older man so it never really grossed me out. And I'm the kind of person that is REALLY picky when it comes to age differences. There are many ships I can't like because it involves underaged sexual situations. I think when it's with a character who isn't exactly human/doesn't age/etc it really depends. If Vincent looked like a 10 year old or something nah I couldn't ship that. If he looked extremely old I couldn't get into it either. But he looks like a 20-something adult.

I think Cloud and Vincent have a few things in common that allow me to wrap my head around a fairly close friendship between the two. I you can envision a friendship between two characters then all you seem to need is a pair of shipping goggles.

eeeyeeeah but it takes more than just a close friendship or having a few things in common for me to ship something. They had like... one talk in AC/ACC and I'm not sure of any other time they exactly 'bonded'. Not to say they aren't close but I just can't see it? Maybe it's because it seems out of character for the both of them. IDK we all have our different reasons for shipping things u v u

 

[jazzflower92]

For one fanfiction they managed to pull off pairing Sephiroth and Cissnei together. The writer says the reason why she paired them was because she wanted to see how a person raised to be a SOLDIER and a person raised to be a trained assassin could become a couple. Of course this is an AU where Sephiroth didn't cause Nibelheim Incident but it was Genesis instead. They are not strangled by the red string but slowly developed into a believable romantic pairing. It is a case of cannot spit it out, everyone can see it, and unresolved sexual tension combined together.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6595872/1/Final-Fantasy-VII-Another-Side

 

[Starling]

AND DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT HOJO/VINCENT OR HOJO/SEPH. WHY.

Anything involving Hojo getting laid warrants brain bleach. I think it's one of the reasons the headcanon that Vincent is Sephiroth's real father is so popular. I think Hojo/Jenova is a thing too.

There needs to be more f/f crackships though.

I don't know much about the Yuri ships, especially since I've never encountered them. You named more Yuri pairings than I could think of.

eeeyeeeah but it takes more than just a close friendship or having a few things in common for me to ship something. They had like... one talk in AC/ACC and I'm not sure of any other time they exactly 'bonded'. Not to say they aren't close but I just can't see it? Maybe it's because it seems out of character for the both of them. IDK we all have our different reasons for shipping things u v u

True but that's all you need if you have the shipping goggle strapped on tight enough.

Now elaborating on their similarities; for one they were both experimented on by Hojo and had some guilt issues. They can empathize with each other regarding that in a way only personal experience with a similar situation can allow. I got a sense of some of that from their conversation in ACC. I can imagine Cloud being among the first members of AVALANCHE Vincent might warm up to. When I imagine a hypothetical scenario where Cloud gets married, I often imagine Vincent as the best man. That pretty much sums up why I can imagine them being close friends. Now, escalate that and apply the whole Zack/Cloud friendship into Clack pairing and I can wrap my head around a romantic portrayal of the two even if it's not my OTP. Hold the sap and I can probably ship it.

@Jazzflower I haven't read that fic yet but it's caught my eye on multiple occasions. I'll have to get to it sometime.

 

[jazzflower92]

Hojo/Jenova, some reason I could see it as very plausible because of how insane Hojo is.

I think Hojo would regard Jenova as Sephiroth's true mother while thinking that Lucrecia as just a surrogate. Think about it Jenova seems to be the personification of his obsession with science and love for destruction. I think he would be creepy enough to lust after a virus like alien being who wiped an entire civilization 2000 years ago. Although I do somewhat subscribe to the theory that Jenova was actually a corrupted goddess that was once like Minvera or her planet's version of Omega or Chaos. If Jenova was as powerful as she was when she first landed on the planet I believe she would have coerced Hojo into helping her and he would have gladly obliged in assisting her in dooming the planet.

 

[Starling]

I remember you mentioning that about 3 times on the headcanon thread. While I have no issue with the headcanon itself, hearing it repeatedly can get tiresome. I think you also used defiantly in a context where the word you meant seemed to be definitely but I need to reread that thread and throw one of my headcanons into the bunch.

Back to shipping: Is Weiss/Nero a thing? Who does Rosso get paired with?

 

[Clement Rage]

I see Rosso/Vincent a fair bit. Weiss/Nero happens too, because you cant possibly want to save a life without being in love, right?

Hojo is evil, sure, but he's not motivated by doing things because they're evil. He's mostly rational. He sides with Sephiroth, not JENOVA, because he's proud that Sephy has managed to trump science. He probably wouldnt have helped JENOVA otherwise. He might not interfere with the destruction of the planet, but he wouldn't bring it about for no reason.

Aeris/Tifa is pretty popular.

Tseng/Aerith however is a different story

Cause nothing says love like stalking and kidnapping, huh?

The only pairings I pay much heed to in FF7 are Tseng/Elena and Cloud/Tifa.
Dont really have reasons behind it, considering that the sole indication is that he asked her to dinner once and then got stabbed.

Shelke/Vincent, while I don't like it, I find it believable, in a screwed up way. Shes been implanted with the memories of his ex, that will credibly screw up her feelings.

And while Lucy/Vince probably wouldn't work long term, it was cute while it lasted.

I don't really like Turk and SOLDIER romances generally, because come on, if there's that much UST between the operatives they'd never get anything done.

Interestingly, Ive never seen Heidegger/Scarlet shipped, despite how closely they work together and their common interests in things like crushing their enemies and evil laughter.

Most pairings amount to simply 'they look hot together', I think

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I remember you mentioning that about 3 times on the headcanon thread. While I have no issue with the headcanon itself, hearing it repeatedly can get tiresome. I think you also used defiantly in a context where the word you meant seemed to be definitely but I need to reread that thread and throw one of my headcanons into the bunch.

Back to shipping: Is Weiss/Nero a thing? Who does Rosso get paired with?

While I find your threads interesting, Starling, it puts me off when a fairly new member such as yourself starts publicly putting down someone who is a longstanding member of this forum for a) mentioning a headcanon relevant to a topic you raised; what does it matter that she has referred to the same headcanon on other threads; and b) a common typo. There was no call for you to comment on either of these things. You would have done better to keep your thoughts to yourself. Jazzflower is one of the most imaginative thread-starters on this forum. Don't alienate her - or me.

 

[Keveh Kins]

Barret doesn't get enough love, romantically or otherwise, when it comes to fanfiction. More often than not he's either black stereotype Barret or incompetent angry dumbass Barret who shouts and shoots his gun over the most trivial things. He's almost always single, or maybe I'm just reading the wrong fics.

I'd love to see more of his relationship with his wife explored in fic though. His wife as a character would suffer the Genesis-effect to the max, insofar as there's so little known about her you can pretty much morph her character into any shape you want.

But yeah, the world needs better Barret fics and more love for the guy. The man's a sweetheart.

I've seen Cid and Vincent paired up a fair bit, think it stems from that Gold Saucer scene in the OG where Vincent says something like "Hey, let's go to bed" to Cid or something similar. And they were clearly very friendly in D.O.C. Never much bought post-experimentation Vincent as a lover for anyone though, I like to think he's either been rendered asexual by Hojo as a sort of failsafe device to stop him creating other shapeshifter types, or else Vincent just wouldn't get involved in a relationship because he'd find it too risky.

In canon it's pretty much because "Lucrecia....*looks off into the distance*"

 

[Starling]

I see Rosso/Vincent a fair bit. Weiss/Nero happens too, because you cant possibly want to save a life without being in love, right?

Rosso/Vincent: Nothing expresses love quite like putting an arm through someone's chest huh? For Weiss/Nero, I guess incest doesn't stop the shipping does it? Not like they're full siblings anyway.

Hojo is evil, sure, but he's not motivated by doing things because they're evil. He's mostly rational. He sides with Sephiroth, not JENOVA, because he's proud that Sephy has managed to trump science. He probably wouldnt have helped JENOVA otherwise. He might not interfere with the destruction of the planet, but he wouldn't bring it about for no reason.

I wouldn't say Hojo was proud of Sephiroth so much as trying to take his (very unethical) research to its logical extreme, especially if he had a hand in the Nibelheim incident before he arrived for cleanup. He seems to view what Sephiroth does as the results of his research, as the one who made Sephiroth the way he is.

Aeris/Tifa is pretty popular.

Spoiler: All I can think of regarding that ship is this pic.

Shelke/Vincent, while I don't like it, I find it believable, in a screwed up way. Shes been implanted with the memories of his ex, that will credibly screw up her feelings.

I agree but the fact that she's physically 8 makes it look like pedophilia, even if they designed her to look older than that.

I don't really like Turk and SOLDIER romances generally, because come on, if there's that much UST between the operatives they'd never get anything done.

I somehow hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it. I'm usually caught up by the difference in ranking and some of them being underage to consider that they wouldn't get any work done if they kept chasing each other like that. I think that's what bothers me most about Angeal/Zack honestly.

While I find your threads interesting, Starling, it puts me off when a fairly new member such as yourself starts publicly putting down someone who is a longstanding member of this forum for a) mentioning a headcanon relevant to a topic you raised; what does it matter that she has referred to the same headcanon on other threads; and b) a common typo. There was no call for you to comment on either of these things. You would have done better to keep your thoughts to yourself. Jazzflower is one of the most imaginative thread-starters on this forum. Don't alienate her - or me.

I wasn't putting her down, I like the headcanon actually. I admit I probably should've said it somewhere more appropriate or not at all though. If it bothers people and sounds like bashing, then I apologize for bringing it up. To be honest I mostly brought up the typo because I've seen it floating around the forums for a while and some typos just bug me. Alienating anyone wasn't my intention.

Barret doesn't get enough love, romantically or otherwise, when it comes to fanfiction. More often than not he's either black stereotype Barret or incompetent angry dumbass Barret who shouts and shoots his gun over the most trivial things. He's almost always single, or maybe I'm just reading the wrong fics.

I'd love to see more of his relationship with his wife explored in fic though. His wife as a character would suffer the Genesis-effect to the max, insofar as there's so little known about her you can pretty much morph her character into any shape you want.

But yeah, the world needs better Barret fics and more love for the guy. The man's a sweetheart.

I agree. Maybe there's a fic about him and Myrna before Corel burned down.

People seem to like doing that with Kunsel quite a bit.

I've seen Cid and Vincent paired up a fair bit, think it stems from that Gold Saucer scene in the OG where Vincent says something like "Hey, let's go to bed" to Cid or something similar. And they were clearly very friendly in D.O.C. Never much bought post-experimentation Vincent as a lover for anyone though, I like to think he's either been rendered asexual by Hojo as a sort of failsafe device to stop him creating other shapeshifter types, or else Vincent just wouldn't get involved in a relationship because he'd find it too risky.

I love how Cid/Vincent is based on deliberate misinterpretation of a line of dialog, since I recall Vincent saying "Lets go to our rooms" rather than "Lets go to our room." I personally think it'd take at least the OG before Vincent to be up for some romance with anyone but otherwise Valenwind can be a great pairing. I wish the stuff I found for it wasn't quite so sappy though. I've seen some interesting stuff involving Chaos, either as some kind of threesome or Chaos/Vincent. It's not like the game really gave much information about the nature of Vincent's transformations and it's as feasible to give them individual personalities as doing so with summons.

 

[Celes Chere]

Cause nothing says love like stalking and kidnapping, huh?

I was more going for the fact that he genuinely cared about her and watched over her. Zack trusted Tseng enough to ask him to watch over her. Naturally complications arose later on in their lives but Aerith still cared about him. She says as much when she sees him terribly injured - she cares enough to cry over him.

sO YEAH

 

[Clement Rage]

I wouldn't say Hojo was proud of Sephiroth so much as trying to take his (very unethical) research to its logical extreme, especially if he had a hand in the Nibelheim incident before he arrived for cleanup. He seems to view what Sephiroth does as the results of his research, as the one who made Sephiroth the way he is.

I don't think so. Consider his dialogue.

Hojo: Go beyond the powers of science... Before your presence, Science is powerless. I hate it, but I'll concede to it.

He's aware that it's not his science that caused this, and isn't exactly pleased, but is willing to admit it. He expressly acknowledges that his research is not responsible for what Sephiroth has become.

Maybe there's a fic about him and Myrna before Corel burned down.

Well, there's this, if it counts.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3799056/1/Room-and-Pillar

I somehow hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it. I'm usually caught up by the difference in ranking and some of them being underage to consider that they wouldn't get any work done if they kept chasing each other like that.

Well, yes, that too.

 

[Skan]

There's already a bit too much snideness in this thread for me, so just things I like:

Aerith/Zack, because diabetes and tragedy.

Angeal/Genesis, because hilarity and tragedy. Bonus points if it actually makes sense in the context of CC. Super-bonus points if it is totally unrequited and one-sided.

Barret/Tifa, I think? Possibly? This one's new for me, but I read a rather good story the other day: http://archiveofourown.org/works/244895

Cissnei/Zack would be such a thing for me, if Aerith/Zack weren't so cute. (And now that I think about it, Cissnei/Cloud might be kiiiiinda cute. I need to put more thought into that.)

Cloud/Genesis, post-ACC. Because Sinnatious. Also because there are only three characters I could see potentially working with Cloud post-ACC, and Genesis is, in fact, one of them.

Vincent/Yuffie, post-OGC (prob. post DoC too if I decided to accept the existence of that game). Because it's one of the few pairings where both characters can very clearly grow from the experience. And because Guardian1, who wrote the most bitch-ass OGC!Yuffie in fandom.

I will read almost everything that looks decent though, minus incest pairings and some triggery things. Otherwise, you end up missing out on a ton of really damn good writing!

 

[Starling]

I don't think so. Consider his dialogue.

Hojo: Go beyond the powers of science... Before your presence, Science is powerless. I hate it, but I'll concede to it.

He's aware that it's not his science that caused this, and isn't exactly pleased, but is willing to admit it. He expressly acknowledges that his research is not responsible for what Sephiroth has become.

I see your point.

Cissnei/Zack would be such a thing for me, if Aerith/Zack weren't so cute. (And now that I think about it, Cissnei/Cloud might be kiiiiinda cute. I need to put more thought into that.)

I kinda want to see a Cissnei/Cloud fic now.