Day 05 - The pairing with the least chemistry?
Oh, gosh, there are so many. Again, I'm not sure what question this is actually asking, so I'll try to cover as much as possible:
1. What pairing, no-holds barred creativity, do you think has the least chemistry?
2. What pairing, that you've read or personally seen, do you think has the least chemistry?
Because I just answered a question about chemistry previously, I'm going to define what "not having chemistry" means to me. A lot of fanfiction is flash fiction, a type of story that isn't in typical novel or even short-story increments. It's not very often that you have stories that are autonomous from beginning to end in the way that a novel is - partially because of the nature of fanfiction to borrow already established characters. That is important to note. I don't think that chemistry has to do with how compatible the characters are - You can give characters similar backgrounds.
To me, chemistry has to do with two things: How the person reading views the characters, and how complex a story would have to be to set two characters up to be together. The former is self-explanatory. Anyone can say that a pairing doesn't have any chemistry just because they don't view any of the characters involved. So far as the latter, I'll attempt to explain:
To handle the First Question: Answering this question borders on lunacy, if we're trying to head the question off by instead coming up with a pairing that has absolutely no grounds for chemistry, but I'm going to do my best to answer it anyway. I do not think that Priest Saimun (Shimon) x Pandora (Arkana) would have ANY CHEMISTRY AT ALL. That's not even, like, a legit pairing. It's not even on the list. I don't think that I should have to explain why. I mean, there are crazier pairings, and probably some that rival the one I've mentioned in terms of not having any chemistry - but I think I'm going to this one.
Now, Onto the Second!: Well, in all honesty although I've read a lot of stories about a lot of different pairings, I can't really say that any specific pairing itself jumped out at me for having the least amount of chemistry outside of just being poorly written. However, since I'm coming out the pocket of my own experience, I suppose I'll go with Sugoroku (Solomon) x Yami.
I once read a drabble themed on this pairing. Don't get me wrong - it was awesome, and there was chemistry. However, it was not the type of chemistry that most people expect in a fic with a pairing listed. The chemistry lay in Yami's familiarity with Shimon in the past, having to deal with interacting with a man who looked and acted just like an old confidant of his but did not have the same memories and was certainly not the same person. It was hinted at that there were a few romantic engagements that left Sugoroku feeling guilty and confused.
It was SO. GOOD.
That being said, this awkward, one-sided chemistry (with Yami being the initiator most of the time) is probably the most lacking in chemistry I've ever read. And, since it is the only fic of this pairing that I've ever read, there are no other fics to competitively raise or lower the average for the amount of chemistry cumulatively exhibited by this pairing.
I realize that this sounds strange, considering that I participate regularly in a contest whose goal is to write fics for rare pairings. However, it's important to note that we have a ridiculous amount of entries in the beginning - and thusly, even if there are a few platonic pairings (which I honestly feel are against the rules in the first place, but that's another discussion) there are still usually a few that attempt to create actual romantic chemistry.