Matt Engarde and Juan Corrida for the ship meme
When I started shipping it if I did:
It's not a primary ship for me, but I do think it's fun to muse on! Probaby pretty early on in knowing the both of them, with the whole rivals thing. Rivalries just make such juicy ship content.
My thoughts:
Sticking with canon, clearly things wouldn't have worked out between them considering one killed the other, but it's fun to imagine the rivalry dynamic and potentially complicated feelings between the two of them, and in fanfiction there's a world of possibilities to explore with alternate routes and character interpretation. The ship definitely has a lot of fun potential.
What makes me happy about them:
Thinking about two dumb idiot petty young adult children having a legit rivalry they both take ridiculously seriously is definitely funny as fuck, they're both assholes in their own way and it's extremely fun exploring the dynamic, especially considering the extremely strong feelings they have towards one another, and how they'd likely struggle to express any feelings that aren't negative towards eachother.
What makes me sad about them:
WELL.... Juan DOES canonically die because their rivalry thing went too far, sO, not exactly a happy ending for the ship.
Things done in fanfic that annoys me:
Hmm... haven't read a lot of Juan x Matt fanfic tbh! Probably my biggest pet peeve would be the characters being written ooc? If some people wrote Juan as a perfect angel who did no wrong that would definitely be an annoyance, because, that boy is 100% lowkey a dick too.
Things I look for in fanfic:
I'd probably most enjoy fics exploring their rivalry! More lighthearted ones just exploring their dumb childish petty behaviors. God, a theatre school rivalry fic would be good. High school au,
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:
Not Celeste, because neither of them deserve her.
Matt with either Souta or Simon Blackquill (either Simon, and I won't apologize, this is what happens when you spend too much time talking about prison dynamics with a friend you end up with ships that Barely Anyone Even Knows), and Juan.... hmmm. Not sure about Juan! Haven't explored him very much. Who would be a good partner for Juan? HmmmMM...
My happily ever after for them:
Dude, if they could refrain from strangling one another and actually grow and develop into respectful rivals that would be astounding. Still competetive, of course, but more playful about it and realizing that the success of the other doesnt mean the failure of the self, and just in general chilling the fuck out. Then they could have some fun with it and be proper dating rivals.
Who is the big spoon/little spoon:
An Immovable Object Meets An Unstoppable Force (I feel like Matt would probably win and push to be the big spoon, but if they ever moved past Pure Prickly Rivalry and Matt got more vulnerable, he'd enjoy being the little spoon, if he can ever put his pride to the side for a bit)
What's their favorite non-sexual activity?
Lmao, pranks. Fucking with eachother. Arguing about petty and meaningless things.