Daily December #1: OTPs & Me

[topaz119]

endeni asked: What makes a couple an OTP for me? In terms of chemistry, how they treat each other, what makes a couple stand out from a regular relationship?

I don't usually think about this sort of stuff—I just start reading and look up months later to realize I have 103 bookmarks* for the same couple. So, I'm kind of working this out as I type…

Basic OTP conditions include:

Both sides of the relationship have to be functional on their own** (no 'my life is not worth living without you' couples.) The relationship just makes life better.

Both partners in the relationship have to give something to the other. (Han snarks and yells at Leia like she's not a princess—but he never forgets that she is (and he never doesn't come back for her); Leia never actually gives up on Han's better instincts, even when she's dressing him down for pretending like he doesn't have them. Jack gets Daniel out of his head and theories and into reality; Daniel uses his not inconsiderable brain to keep Jack alive. Hardison is willing to wait for Parker; Parker is never going to leave Hardison (and Eliot takes care of them both, while completely missing how they've closed ranks around him.) Sam and Dean give everything, both ways. Danny is an automatic family for Steve; Steve's laser focus never wavers from Danny even when they're screaming at each other. Coulson is the stability Clint never had; Clint is an electrical storm that keeps life from being boring. Natasha always comes back for Clint; Clint trusted her in the first place. Etc.)

I do like a bit of age difference (Kirk/Pike, Clint/Coulson, Darcy/Clint, JDM/JP(JA), Han/Leia, Venetia/Damerel.) This is undoubtedly because I imprinted on Gothic romances when I was still in elementary school.

I have to be able to look at the characters in question and see the potential for a happy/hopeful ending. I don't really do tragic love, or toxic relationships (but people in less than perfect lives helping each other to make things better punch maaaaaany buttons.)

All that's sort of generic, though. Any number of couples fit those criteria—and I am not sure there's a commonality in how the favored couples get their added spark. In some cases, it's the media writers/creators themselves (Vicky Bliss/John Smythe, Eden/Cruz, Han/Leia, Venetia/Damerel—okay, maybe in the case of Han/Leia, I have to credit the editors who took out all of what GL presumably thought of as romance (see the horror show of Padme/Anakin for what happens when GL wants to write a romance, ack) and left only the bare bones.) In other cases, there's a fic writer or two who have gotten in there and made me sit up and fall in love (Jack/Daniel, Mulder/Krycek, Sam/Dean, Clint/Coulson.) And other times, I haven't gotten to OTP levels of love until I'm writing them myself (Kirk/Pike, holy cow did that Big Bang turn on the stars in my eyes; Steve/Danny, though I have never written so early in canon in my long and varied fannish life.)

And now that I've rambled on for so long, the answer is: I don't know that I have an actual answer, but it was fun to dig through it all!


*actual number of Clint/Coulson bookmarks I have on AO3 (out of 210 total MCU bookmarks.)

**Winchester brothers excepted, because they are codependent whether there is wincest or not.