I've found that when it comes to fandom, it's often safer to be a spectator in the back row, watching and listening to all the animated discussions that go on about all kinds of issues. That way, should one of the contenders manage to throw his opponent out of the ring, you won't be the unlucky one thrown. Of course sometimes -- only sometimes, mind you -- it's good to toss your hat into the ring and have a go at it.

One fandom topic that never seems to go out of style is the one on pairings. Like The Mary Sue, The Pairing Wars have produced their share of heavy casualties on both sides. It's lamentable that discussions of this sort too often degenerate into hostility between fans but, what can you do? Some people prefer to turn what can be a healthy and mature exercise into an out-of-control brawl where everyone loses.

As with the Relena issue, I find myself standing firmly in the middle of the pairing discussion. In other words, in my mind a Relena-Heero combination is just as plausible and acceptable as a Duo-Heero (to use just a couple of examples). And why shouldn't it? This is fan fiction after all, with an emphasis on "fan;" that part of the word which, in the heat of debate, most often gets overlooked.

We write fan fiction because we want to explore possibilities and themes that the show's original writer or writers didn't explore. We write because perhaps they've killed off a favorite character we love and whose death we are unwilling to accept. We write to find out what could have been. We write to try and answer the question "What if...?". But whatever reasons we have for writing fan fiction, the thing to remember is that by definition, the stories we fans write automatically fall outside the boundaries of the show -- regardless of how much we would love to adhere to canon and have everyone else rigidly fall in step. In other words, such storylines can never be truly labeled as "canon" because they didn't exist in the show in the first place.

To me at least, one of the great things about fandom and fan fiction is the sheer variety of stuff that's available to us. It's great to be presented with the offerings that other fans, in their enthusiasm, have created. Why settle for the generic and homogenous when you can have 31 or more flavors? And we certainly have plenty to choose from. Of course, I, like most people, draw the line at rape/humiliation, bestiality, and child abuse/molestation. I avoid fics that portray those behaviors; they're just not my cup of tea.

But to return to my earlier point, it saddens me to see fans trying to force restrictions on each other. If you want to see how a relationship between Duo and Heero at thirty years of age will turn out, then write about it. The same goes for writing a story where Heero and Relena get married and grow old together. Or maybe you want to hurl the entire cast of Big O into an alternate future due to a rip in the fabric of time. You have every right to flex your creative muscles and write that fic. The list is endless! A similar principle applies to those who find themselves avid readers but not writers: read what you like and avoid the ones you don't. But even then, why not give other pairings a look-see? Who knows, perhaps a well-written fan fic could change your outlook and open up even more avenues.

The way I see it, all we have in life is a one-way ticket. There are no refunds or exchanges. Wouldn't it be better to enjoy the ride rather than waste it entangled in pointless bickering?