How Freddoy's writing facilitates a Queerplatonic interpretation
Freddoy (Freddy x Joy) is a very interesting ship to me because, in canon, they are portrayed both romantically and non-romantically, making it very easy to interpret them as queerplatonic.
(Disclaimer: I'm sure we all know this, but just in case: QPRs are very varied, just like any other type of relationship. I'm not saying every QPRs has to look like what I describe here. I'm also not saying that their relationship can't be anything other than a QPR. This is simply how I interpret them! peace and love)
Let me explain. In their very first interaction, Fred is out and about, and he stumbles upon Joy singing. The song seems to have a reaction on him, and he falls inside the classroom. He panics, blushing, and lets Freddy take control. When Freddy takes control of the body he threatens Fred, unaware where he is, and Joy calls him rude, thinking he’s talking to her. Freddy doesn’t know what’s happening, he’s under the impression Fred has hurt Joy, so he apologizes profusely. Joy tells him he’s weird and funny and tells him to go to the nurse’s office (since Fred fell to the ground and hit his head). Freddy celebrates that nothing bad happened while Fred was out.
Now. There is nothing romantic in the Freddoy interaction. In comparison, Fred very clearly likes Joy romantically. He blushes, the FNAFHS way of showing a character likes another, and when he listened to her sing she had the ethereal colored background (the “shoujo effect”) that shows a character has a crush.
Neither Freddy nor Joy blush for each other here. Freddy gets nervous, but not because he’s being shy. He’s nervous because he has no idea what's going on and is under the impression Fred did something bad and he has to fix it. Joy is not interested in Freddy in an outwardly romantic way. She doesn't say he’s cute or any of the sort. She just says he’s weird, for his hectic and illogical actions, and that he’s funny, for apologizing over something that didn’t happen. Their interaction is, in every way, platonic.
And yet, we get this. A shoujo effect.
You may notice it’s yellow, but the colors make no difference. We have seen many canon ships use yellow for the shoujo effect, such as Goldica and Freddami.
This, then, would entail that there is something going on between them. Some sort of “spark”. It's especially interesting that both of them are in frame, this is not one character admiring the other’s beauty, like in most shoujo effects, both of them are under the effect (yes, both are also in frame in the Freddami one, but Cami is clearly not paying attention to Freddy, while in the Freddoy one they are talking. We don't know for sure whose POV we're seeing). Both of them like each other in some way, and this attraction is not merely physical. Hell, the lack of emphasis on the body (which many FNAFHS shoujo effects have, doing a pan-up of the character) makes me think it's not physical at all. It is an alternative, closer to platonic, form of attraction.
(This doesn't mean there is no physical attraction, Freddy was clearly attracted to Joy while she was singing, but this physical attraction didn't seem to become a crush, since it's not present in this interaction, and it doesn't happen again)
Furthermore, Edd00 included Freddoy as a possible ship option in the ending question. You may notice that these are all girls Fred flirted with, not Freddy, but it’s his name in there. In fact, Joy is the only person in here that Freddy talked to and Fred did not. Fred already had his own name, so I believe that at that moment, Edd00 thought that a ship with Fred had to include Freddy in some capacity. Still, whether or not Fred would be involved, it's interesting that Freddy x Joy was very much an option for a romantic relationship, despite their lack of obvious romantic attraction.
This makes an interesting contrast to me. They don't seem to have a crush on eachother, but they do have a shoujo effect, there is SOME attraction of sorts between them, they like each other in some way, despite the lack of blushes and usual FNAFHS crush writing. And they were a completely plausible option for a ship. They could potentially get into a romantic relationship in canon. A relationship based on a form of attraction that is not romantic, looks platonic, but has some special “spark.”
Another interesting point is Freddy’s reaction to Fred’s crush on Joy. In the special of “What would you do if you had superpowers”, Freddy sees Fred swoon over Joy and encourages him to go talk to her. But the way he phrases it is interesting. He says, and I quote, “¿Por qué no nos acercamos a hablarle?”: Why don't WE go talk to her? He includes himself in this, like he will also talk to her, win her over and have a relationship with her.
This may seem small, being that they have the same body and most people can't differentiate them, it makes sense that Freddy would include himself in Fred’s relationship. Except that that's not how Freddy acts at all! When Fred and him were interested in Cami, he was very adamant that Cami was going to be the one HE talked to, even saying “this one's mine.” He even mentioned that they have “some rules, respect them” as if Fred offering Cami “his” seat was breaking a rule.
Since at the end of S1 it seemed like Freddy agreed to Fred flirting with as many girls he wanted to, it doesn’t seem like he is breaking any rule we know of. Perhaps these rules are ones they established offscreen, and they include not messing in each other’s love lives. Specifically, they cannot flirt or talk to someone the other is interested in.
And Freddy, up until that point, took no interest in the girls Fred would flirt with, simply being annoyed at the situations Fred's flirting put him through.
So, what changed? What makes Joy different? Fred has a genuine crush on her, he doesn’t just flirt with her, he's genuinely interested. This, of course, would lead to Freddy being more supportive of this bond over the others. But I don't think it ends there. If he was just supportive, why say he’s going to talk to her too? Why break his own rules he’s so adamant on keeping, of not talking to the girl the other likes? Well, because he likes her! He doesn't just want to see Fred with someone he genuinely likes, he also wants to meet Joy. But, still, it’s not romantic attraction. He is not "possessive" over Joy like he is over Cami, whom he has a crush on. He supports Fred talking to Joy. What’s more, he doesn’t act like he does with Cami. He doesn't blush, doesn’t get shy or paralyzed, doesn’t refuse to acknowledge his feelings. Instead, he tells Fred they, both of them, should talk to Joy. He acknowledges his interest in getting to know her and is proactive, masking it as support for Fred.
With this, I think I can rest my case that Freddy likes Joy in a queerplatonic way.
But now, what about Joy? Well, like I said, The shoujo effect in the Freddoy meeting had both of them, so she also felt this “spark” and queerplatonic attraction. She also thinks positively of Freddy, saying he’s weird but funny and entrusting him with Golden. She clearly sees him as a reliable guy.
We don’t see Joy feel romantic attraction explicitly. The most we see is her blushing with Meg and in the discarded Joysagi drawing.
The Joysagi drawing gives us the insight that, like all other characters, her romantic attraction is shown with a blush. With Meg, we see something interesting. In her ficha Joy is said to be straight, so she shouldn’t technically like Meg, and yet she blushes for her, the universal FNAFHS sign of a crush, that we know applies to her because of the discarded Joysagi sketch. I think, if we stick to canon, that this would entail some sort of alterous or queerplatonic attraction. Blush implies attraction inherently in the series, while Joy isn’t supposed to feel romantic attraction to a girl. So, this is the best explanation for that. Why do I bring it up? Because it means we know Joy experiences alternative forms of attraction, that aren’t strictly romantic or platonic. So, by this logic, we can assume it’s possible for her to feel that way for Freddy. She doesn’t blush with him, but like I've explained, there’s an implication of them being attracted to each other and possibly becoming partners. It’s possible that no blush was used specifically to differentiate the romantic attraction she could theoretically feel for a guy from a queerplatonic or alterous one.
That’s all I have. Freddy and Joy were paradoxically written as romantic and non-romantic at the same time, leaving a queerplatonic interpretation to flourish. They interact platonically, but have a shoujo effect and canon could support them dating. Freddy is interested in her so much he would break his own rules of not messing with Fred’s crush, but doesn’t like her romantically like he likes Cami. Joy can be interpreted to experience alternative attraction for her friend, and thus we can assume this is the type of attraction she feels for Freddy.
they are cute!!!! cutie pies!!! they are aromantic queerplatonic partners TO ME (Submitted by anonymous).
Propaganda for Eaktrap:
These two are just the "two bros chilling in a hot tub" vine except they're not five feet apart because Eak has no sense of personal space and can't go two seconds without grabbing Towntrap. Gay.
❥ See You Again ➸ Freddoy #FNAFHS - ღ Capítulo 2 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/UiNb/wcPm7cNNbI No entiendo que fue lo qué pasó. Todo iba tan bien. Teníamos una linda amistad. Confiábamos él uno al otro. Estábamos ahí para lo que sea. Estábamos comenzando nuestra relación. Y... De la nada... Me dejaste. Me abandonaste sin siquiera dar una explicación. Dime, ¿Que hice mal? Solo... Solo te pido... Volverte a ver...
