i have never understood the rivalry and antagonism as a basis for shipping thing

geejaysmith:

You know maybe the reason a certain stripe of people see two dudes whose entire character dynamic is constant antagonism and immediately make them the most popular ship in the fandom is because they were raised on media where constant antagonism is treated as the basis of sexual tension for het couples. You know, the “theyre picking on you because they like you” train of thought? and probably they either never learned to tell the difference or they’re willing to excuse it if it’s in the name of an m/m ship