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alt title(s): Slash 
Grace: Tedd said if I was Superman, he'd be Batman.
Justin: And you're dating. I think I've read that fan fiction.
The other reason you should use protection when reading Fan Fic (see Fanwank).
The most common definition has Slash as a Fan Fic that pairs two (or more) characters of the same sex (a manifestation of Fan Yay).
There are a few other definitions around:
—-
- Originally, the term "Slash" was more specific, referring only to sexually explicit homoerotic Fan Fic (even more specifically, to male homosexual experiences). For some, to qualify as "Slash", a work must still be sexually explicit.
- Some people think that fanfics about characters who are gay (or bi) and already paired with each others in the canon do not count as Slash, that only uncanonical homosexual pairings qualify.
- More rarely, it is used to mean fics about any pairing that is not found in canon, be they heterosexual or homosexual.
Bottom line: Slash fic is about romantic entanglements among the characters.
The term "FemSlash", "FemmeSlash" or "Saffic" are often used for lesbian pairings specifically.
Slash is generally also used to pair up Heterosexual Life Partners. Of course, some canonical works, especially Boys Love and Blue Bishonen Ghetto, invite such reading by playing the ambiguity for all its worth.
In addition to the "obvious" pairings, it is also common to (sexually) pair characters who are nemeses in the source material, in Fan Fic's own version of Slap Slap Kiss, Foe Yay and The Masochism Tango.
Some Fanfics are so low in erotic and romantic content that although it focuses on the relationship between two samesex characters, it's not obvious if it's slash or not. They're closer to Ho Yay themselves. Such fics are often called PreSlash or slash if-you-squint.
Most Slash Fic authors have historically been women, and heterosexual women in majority. This could stem from the fact that the traditional Slash subjects are overwhelmingly male-dominated: if you want to write Fan Fic in the style of a romance novel, and you don't want to use a ditzy Green Skinned Space Babe, you're pretty much going to have to pair two men, or invent a Mary Sue. Then again, some slashers say that they just find two men together to be hot, just like men like watching Lesbian porn.
If the author has much exposure to Japanese Boys Love at all, expect characters to be noticeably shoehorned into dominant seme and submissive uke roles.
According to the Other Wiki , the origin of the term predates the World Wide Web, going back to 1960s fanfic writers, specifically those interested in Star Trek, who wrote "Kirk/Spock" fiction, pronounced "Kirk Slash Spock". In some communities, the ordering of the names is used to indicate a power relationship.
Series with plenty of Ho Yay will naturally result in plenty of Slash Fic between the characters in question, but for some reason will also encourage a wide variety of other pairings (including the crack-induced kind). Perhaps the writers decide the obvious couple has become too easy a target?
See also Lemon, PWP, Everyone Is Gay, Yaoi Guys, Yaoi Fangirl and Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls. See IKEA Erotica for what tends to happen when the girls in question are unfamiliar with having sex. Not to be confused with fics about the guitarist from Guns 'n' Roses (although I'm sure there's some overlap).
Incidentally, in Great Britain, "taking a slash" is a slightly coarse way of describing urination, so the innocent Brit who's never heard of the concept is likely to be even more squicked at the term...
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Ranma 1/2 is unique in that since the title character has two forms - one of each gender - poor Ranma has been cast in Slash Fics with almost every single cast member. Including his official heterosexual love interest.
- Simon/Viral. Both pre- and post-Time Skip. Oh god no.
- How the hell did this page get this far with out the mention of Naruto? Naruto and Sasuke share a Canon kiss on screen, however, it wasn't voluntary (which fangirls refuse to believe) and they were both gagging in disgust afterwards. Kishimoto has came on the record it was a joke scene, saying 'never have rivals kissed before'. Sasu/Naru is
practically the Official Couple considered the Official Couple by a few people, mostly fangirls. Not to mention all of the other various slash pairings.
- Practically the entire realm of Death Note fanfic/art centres around this trope.
- Well, yeah, with the whole L and Light being chained to each other for months, they were practically begging for it.
- Not to mention that L's heavy surveillance of Light can also be interpreted as a case of Stalker With a Crush.
- The fact that Misa, Light's girlfriend, does not have much of a personality outside of her love for Light also contributes. Light also makes it pretty clear to Ryuk that he has absolutely no romantic interest in her.
- Pick any CLAMP series. Pick two characters. They have been Slashed. Current popular flavours are Kurogane and Fai of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Doumeki and Watanuki of xxxholic, and the never-ending shipping of Yukito and Touya of Cardcaptor Sakura fame.
- At the rate Bishonen characters in Katekyo Hitman Reborn is increasing, fanfic writers will soon run out of numbers and alphabet to denote the number of possible pairings availiable.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion is almost plagued with Kaworu/Shinji fics, though the shower room scene definitely has slashy overtones and the dating sim tie-in game had this option.
- This troper has also seen — to her dismay — Gendo Ikari/Kozo Fuyutsuki fic, which is a "What subtext? Where?" pairing, since both guys were involved with Yui on some level (Gendo was married to her and destroyed the world to get her back; Fuyutsuki was her mentor and carried a torch for her for over fifteen years).
- Fullmetal Alchemist fandom is full of this. Mostly Roy/Ed.
- Sailor Moon is known for its fandom putting together any two female characters, even though the series has two canon lesbians already.
Comic Books
- X-Men. Ohsoverymuch. Wolverine, Gambit, and Iceman are far and away the three biggest sluts on the team, if the fics are to be believed. But you could probably play the Heroes dartboard game with any of guys on the team. Even the villains get to ride quite a bit, namely the "sexier" ones like Sabretooth and Magneto, though I'm sure Apocalypse joined the party at least once.
- Captain America/Iron Man Which has a community on lj and a archive called Tales of suspense
Film
- Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Maul was inexplicably popular right after Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was released, because chopping in half the guy who's just killed your friend and mentor is a perfectly healthy basis for a relationship.
- To be fair, the main Obi-Wan/Maul site back in the day was meant to be very tongue-in-cheek.
- The main slash pairings for the prequel are still Obi-Wan Kenobi/Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker.
- It continues into the OT with Luke/Han and Luke/Wedge. In the Expanded Universe: Corran and Wedge. Corran and Luke. Corran and Kyp Luke and Kyp. Any combination of the guys Jaina has dated. Expect their wives to be Yaoi Fangirls in any Star Wars slash, a clear example of Author Appeal. On the yuri side of things, Mara/Mirax is surprisingly popular, as is Exile/Traya.
- Post-Casino Royale, there is a lot of James Bond/Le Chiffre out there, and about as much Bond/Villiers (say it with me now... Mannypenny.) Not as much as, say, Harry Potter or something, but probably more than your average Bond film. Maybe it's the knotted rope scene. Wince.
Literature
- Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson.
- The most popular Harry Potter slash pairings are Harry/Draco Malfoy, Remus Lupin/Sirius Black (puppy love, slashers often call themselves puppyshippers), Snape/Harry (talk about Slap Slap Kiss) and Snape/Remus Lupin. The Squickiest ones are such as Harry/Voldemort, James/Harry, Draco/Lucius Malfoy, Snape/Ginny, the infamous "twincest," Dumbledore/Harry...
- Frodo/Sam in The Lord Of The Rings. Some will argue the overtones were there in the novels, though the movies certainly didn't help.
- Even the Nostalgia Critic ships Frodo and Sam! Or at least agrees with it. Somewhat. Probably for the sake of comedy. (Watch his Harry Potter Book Seven Release video. He asks 'Gandalf' about it.)
- Same goes for Aragorn/Legolas, or Gimli/Legolas. And to a lesser degree, every combination of male characters.
- Oh, there are definite overtones for Gimli/Legolas in the novel.
- Only to modern perverted audiences. Tolkien would probably have had a heart attack if he found out.
- Aziraphale/Crowley of Good Omens. Hardly surprising, considering the canon Ho Yay and the "forbidden love" appeal of an angel and demon loving each other. More surprisingly, fandom portrayal seems to be evenly split between subtle UST that toes the gen/slash line and full-blown slash.
- Really? I don't know where you're reading, but I see the full blown as pretty dominant. It's just usually immediately following lots of UST.
- The early stage of GO fandom (before 2005) apparently contained less smut than new Yaoi Fangirls expected, to the point that some complained (though it may have been because they anticipated Harry Potter-esque amounts of slash in a fandom that's just a blip on the radar compared to that one). It wasn't until the GO Exchange and Switchythings LiveJournal communities were created that the porn reached "acceptable" levels. Or So I Heard.
- Narnia, for want of 'human' companions for its main characters, tends to have a decent bit of this in the fanfic sections. Tends to be incest as well, which doesn't really seem a whole lot better than bestiality with perfectly decent, talking animals (at least not to this troper), but there we go.
- Even though it has a smaller following then most pairings, Arthur/Ford is surprisingly popular within the fandom(And some of it's not that bad).
Live Action TV
- The "classic" - some might say definitive — Slash pairing is Kirk/Spock (from Star Trek The Original Series). It has been suggested that the term "slash" came from the slash (the "/") between Kirk and Spock.
- So would their Portmanteau Couple Name be "Spirk" or...
- Interestingly, among Star Trek slash writers, the most common Slash pairing is Garak/Bashir, from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. This could be because the ground is more fertile - the actors and writers played up the Ho Yay possibilities, and at least one of the actors is on record as having asked that the relationship be shown in canon, in 1995.
- There's also Mc Coy/Spock, probably the second most popular slash pairing in the Star Trek The Original Series fandom.
- StargateSG-1 fanfic has lots: Sam/Janet, Jack/Daniel, Sam/Vala, Jack/Teal'c, Teal'c/Daniel, and many more.
- Stargate Atlantis has a lot too: McKay/Sheppard is predominant, but there's plenty of Ronon/Sheppard, McKay/Zelenka, Teyla/Weir, and the list goes on. The show has not been shy about providing plenty of slashfic fodder.
- Blake/Avon, from Blakes Seven.
- Clark Kent/Lex Luthor, in the teenage Superman series Smallville.
- The Doctor/The Master. This is almost explicit with the newest version.
- See also: The Doctor / Any Male Companion (with the possible exclusion of Adric), with Captain Jack being the current favourite. The fact that the Doctor has had more female than male companions, however, means that the slashers have to take what they can get here.
- 'Any male companion', period. This Troper's seen Four/Adric, Five/Adric, and, oddly, more than one Nine/Adric fic.
- House/Wilson slash is easily one of the most popular pairings for House MD fanfic. While the subtext is often for humourous effect and frequently Lampshaded, it might be intentional, too: Katie Jacobs, executive producer, once stated that there are equal chances of House ending up with Cuddy, Cameron, or Wilson.
- And then there was this poll◊ posted on the Fox website. With those numbers, maybe not just the fangirls want to see it. ;)
- Here's a game to try at home. Print out the names of all of the male characters, no matter how obscure, from Heroes, put them all on the wall and throw two darts at it. Using this method, try to find a pair somebody doesn't ship.
- Hiro/Ando is canon, what are you talking about?
- Mal/Jayne of Firefly seem to catch an inordinate amount of attention; probably has something to do with all that power struggle going on for control of the ship.
- Simon/Jayne is also popular, and is not helped by all of the deliberate subtext the writers and actors put in. (This Tropers first response, after finishing the series and reporting back to the friends who had turned him on to it, was: "So, am I the only one who got the impression that Jayne was gay for Simon." I was not.)
- And on the female side, there's also River/Kaylee and Inara/Kaylee.
- Jon/Stephen on The Daily Show. The amount of deliberate Ho Yay in the source material has not lessened the number of fics on this pairing, but it has encouraged fics on just about every other pairing possible.
- Just to further prove that there's porn of EVERYTHING somewhere on the net, there is apparently Slash Fiction of British improvisation Panel Show Mock The Week involving Frankie Boyle and Hugh Dennis. Boyle brings it up on the show as well as giving a quick description of Slash Fiction in general.
- Slash writers of The X Files fan fiction like various combos of Mulder, Skinner, and Krycek (including throwing all three together, with Doggett occasionally getting shuffled into the mix somewhere). There's also a not-insignificant amount of Scully/Reyes.
- Gilmore Girls: Rory/Paris.
- Merlin. Just... Merlin.
- Star Trek Voyager was fertile ground for this given Captain Janeway's touch-feely body language — it was said that Janeway only had to give her famous Gooey Look in the vague direction of a bulkhead and there'd be a dozen Janeway/Bulkhead fanfics the next day — coupled with the failure of the Powers That Be to join her up with anybody despite them all being trapped alone in the Delta Quadrant (and when they did hook up the captain after six years it wasn't with a crewmember but a hologram). Then a blatant Ms Fanservice joins the crew in the shapely shape of Seven of Nine, whose ongoing mother/daughter relationship was open to interpretation by lesbian fans...
- Some of them, such as this J/7 shipper (which is also a crossover with Buffy The Vampire Slayer) make the idea work.
- C'mon, if you can't see the love in Admiral Janeway's eyes at "Endgame" when she sees Seven, you must be blind. Also, it only takes Seven's name mention to crack the 'self-righteousnes' of the Captain. To the hell with the Temporal Prime Directive!
- The eponymous Captain Scarlet was paired up so often (and so badly) with his partner Blue that the webmaster of the leading CS website put a ban on slashfics.
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer fanfic has plenty of slash, but has the added complication of a canonical lesbian couple (Willow/Tara). Other popular pairings include Willow/Buffy (based on the characters being extremely close), Buffy/Faith (based on the Slayer bond and significant subtext in season 3), and Spike/Angel (based on both actors being extremely hot).
- Somehow, this troper is aware that it's canon (not merely fanon) that Spike/Angel happened at least once. As (I think) Whedon put it, they were horny vampires with no morals who happened to be around each other a lot. These things happen.
- There is Scrubs slashfic out there too. JD/Cox is the most common pairing. And the most mentally scarring.
- Jeeves And Wooster has the obvious but indomitable Bertie/Jeeves, an extremely rare breed of pairing because of the actors who play them. Let's just say that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are very okay with shipping themselves...
- For some odd reason, in the result-of-quarreling absence of Jeeves, Bertie is often slashed (and threesomed with Jeeves in some fics) with his Long Island poet friend Rocky Todd, who only makes two appearances, instead of his much-recurring friend Bingo Little.
- Bodie and Doyle from The Professionals — two handsome, athletic men running around in tight jeans, with a Girl Of The Week attitude towards women as opposed to their intimate friendship forged in battle...it's been a slash favourite for years.
Other
- For every prominent historical figure, there exists at least one historian who will insist that he or she was gay. There are no exceptions.
- Expect this to kick in full-throttle if said historical figure was a touch neurotic, body-shy, or not into much of anyone. Possible solutions? A. They're in the closet. B. They're in the closet. C. They're in the closet.
- But then again, it's hard to imagine being gay before the 1980's without being neurotic, body shy, and not into much of anyone.
- That many fans of Wicked are also "Gelphie" supporters shouldn't surprise you, seeing as the musical (and the novel to a lesser extent) invests so much in Glinda and Elphaba's friendship and closeness. What may surprise you is that there's also a subgroup of fans who are huge "Chenzel" supporters - that is, fans who like to romantically pair Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, the actresses who originally portrayed those characters on Broadway. Despite the fact that both women are heterosexual and Idina Menzel has been happily married to actor Taye Diggs since they met on Rent.
Video Games
- The writers of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney and sequels left themselves wide open for this one. Phoenix/Edgeworth is considered virtually canon by many fans, but there's also random dart-throwing going on here too.
- This troper also notes that Franziska/Adrian seems also to be considered virtually canon.
- We're not even going to get into Mia/Lana...
- Falco x Fox or Wolf x Fox. Take your pick.
- There's a fair bit in Sonic fandom, with Sonadow being probably the most popular slash pairing. Knuxadow, Knuxonic, and Sontails are all prevalent, too.
- Too many in Metal Gear Solid to count, including Snake/Otacon.
Western Animation
- Transformers fandom has been rife with Megatron/Starscream (often portrayed as abusive or repressed) pretty much since the beginning. The Enemy Mine nature of Megatron and Optimus Prime's relationship also lends itself to slash.
- Then Transformers Animated came along and now you'll be hard pressed to find a fic featuring both Prowl and Lockdown in the same scene that isn't slash.
- And G1 Jazz/Prowl is practically fanon.
- Practically any two characters in Kim Possible, even key villain Shego with Ron's naked mole rat Rufus, but most of all Kim/Shego, which has generated enough writing to develop its own cliches, parodied in this fic.
- South Park - there is some Gen Fic, but most of the time...
- The most popular couples are: Stan/Kyle, Cartman/Kyle and Craig/Tweek (pictured above).
- Not to mention that Craig and Tweek interact only in one episode and they are forced by their classmates.
- Just look around Daria fandom, and you'll find some... interesting slashfic ('Ragged Denim') and saffic ('Night of the Storm', The Winters Of Those Gone Before'). Take brain bleach along for the ride. You have been warned.
Web Comics
Web Original
- Homestar Runner Strong Bad Email #188, fan club, has both Strong Sad writing Strong Bad Fan Fic and Strong Bad writing Strong Sad Fan Fiction (because he has plenty of time to say both syllables). Both of them include a hastily interrupted scene where they get slashed with Homestar Runner, Strong Sad having Strong Bad put on a bonnet and give Homestar a deep tissue massage, Strong Bad just having Homestar walk in "naked as a jaybird" and suggestively ask Strong Sad for Twizzlers. Naturally, you can't type in "Homestar Runner fanfic" on Google without some slash showing up. Just don't try it on deviantART, unless you enjoy your eyes melting out of your skull.
- In-universe fans of Survival Of The Fittest are apparently fond of these types of fanfic (heck, this kind of fanfic in general. then again... In fact, it was the reading of a particularly disturbing Uriel Hunter/Jacob Starr fic (accidentally broadcast on the PA system to the students on the island) that got three of Danya's terrorists thrown into the game themselves.
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