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Description
Wow, how do I start? First, let me explain the title. I've never been prejudice against homosexuals, I even have some friends who are gay and bi, and I support gay rights. But I've never been a yaoi or yuri fan and I still wouldn't say I am. (If you don't know, yaoi and yuri refer to gay and lesbian content in anime and manga.) When I read a manga series, if I take a liking to a couple or see a potential romance between two characters, it's based more on personality. I don't hurry to try pairing up the two hot guys or girls. I'm not really a "slashing" type of fan. One could call me very old school in taste or a cannon fan; the main couple that the author writes about and pairs together is the couple that I cheer on. I boo at the competition if they're particularly mean, or find it nice that someone else has these special feelings for one out of the couple but hope they'll find their own guy or girl later on in the story. And once a couple has been established on my list of favorites if I grow to really like them together, you won't see either of the characters paired up with anybody else (only exception being if one of them dies) in my fanart and fanfiction, I'm into monogamy you could say. In most of the series I follow, more of the author intended couples, or couples I find have great potential, happen to be straight. So I'm no squealing rapid yaoi fan. So how did I end up with a favorite couple that's considered "yaoi?"

It was thanks to my gut's feelings believe it or not. I'm a big fan of One Piece by Eichiro Oda, yet I only knew some of the newer events thanks to spoilers among fans. Having a terribly slow internet connection and a lack of the large amounts of money, I had only seen the anime up to the very beginning of the Water Seven arc. Finally tired of waiting around to get my hands on the anime, I looked for the manga online and read to catch up. In the middle of the Water Seven/Enies Lobby arc, I stopped to ask my sister and friends for their opinion because something was bothering me. I didn't want it to come across as stereotyping, because in several ways he fits the stereotype, but my gut was bugging me and telling me that the new straw hat crew ally, Franky, was gay.

My sister and friends weren't sure how to answer, but they sure got a laugh at how worried I was that I was stereotyping. I want to be any thing but considered "shallow"; so I proceeded with caution, taking a look again at his information and personality. Now I don't know if you will understand this, but have you ever gotten gut feelings about people even when you've just met them and somehow your gut turns out to be right on track every time? It's happened to me over and over spotting certain types of people, even recognizing fellow anime fans before we ever discuss the topic.

I talked to some other One Piece fans who do believe that's how he is and they pointed out some good support for the argument. To put a long story short, I went with my gut feelings, that Franky is gay. It didn't really change how I looked at him since I had the feeling all along, but when I wondered if he had a lover it obviously had an impact.

While I was online shopping for doujinshi, I saw that Franky, who was becoming one of my new favorite characters, was regularly paired up with his childhood coworker/debate competition/annoyance/best friend, Iceburg. (Yeah, for those of you who don't know the characters, that's seriously his name. But hey, if there are characters named Shampoo and Trunks, why not name someone after a chunk of ice in the sea?) Best friends and rivals are common couples that fans love, so I wasn't too surprised to see that was their first choice. As Franky's fan, I would gladly cheer on whatever coupling he would fit into well, but I wasn't about to jump to conclusion that this was the best answer. If Iceburg was not into other guys, I'd say no to that pairing. I stopped to look at Iceburg like I looked at Franky before, trying understand what might imply that he'd be able to fall in love with Franky on that level instead of being more of a brother.

Well what do you know? I hadn't thought about Iceburg for a long time since I was slowly reading the manga and more wrapped up in figuring out how the CP 9 would be defeated and Robin could be saved. When I went back to look at Iceburg after so long, I realized I was getting something like the sort of feeling I did from Franky. I got the feeling that he was bisexual and could very well fall in love with Franky. I read the flashback story again a couple times and decided I concurred with the opinion of those yaoi fans and doujinshi artists. Franky and Iceburg could be a couple. For that matter, they were already suspiciously close to each other.

From there it took off thanks to more of my typical analyzing, and some silly fanatic enthusiasm. Talking about it with others and asking why they liked the couple, they had some generally nice things to say. Since I really like the characters, I was happy to say I was becoming another fan of the pairing, but I also started liking the pairing more because of their actual story. Now remember, by now I'm convinced such feelings existed- if you, the reader, never has been or ever will be, please don't take my opinions personally! And I also must note that I'm a bit of a romance-story addict at times, though I do get nauseated if things are ridiculously sappy...

If one looked at their story as a romance, it was one of those amusing sort of tales about a couple people who grow to admire each other, but spend so much time arguing that they can't tell that the other one feels the same way. This has to be one of my favorite storylines for pairings since it's so funny and you wonder when or for that matter, how they'll ever realize the truth. (In another favorite anime of mine, Detective Conan, a couple I like, Kazuha and Heiji are always arguing but are obviously in love. Those moments always crack me up. It's the same sort of concept.)

While some fans would jump up and down and say "That's an awesome story! We love it!" I would tell them to "Wait! There's more!" After some wild events and some bad trickery, Franky and Iceburg are torn apart. There's anger that has to settle down and a new challenge: to try forgiving. This other challenge was a big part of what impressed me and made me all the more enthusiastic to cheer them on. There are plenty of great stories about how two people fall in love, and maybe by the end of the story there might be a few hurdles (love rivals, distance, etc.) to jump over, so we get to watch and hope it turns out okay (and if the author was optimistic, things turn out alright and they live happily ever after). For these two though, the bumps in the road even after they're in love are overwhelming, and the idea that any one, whether a man and a woman or two of the same gender, could still find their way out of the maze of such difficulty is incredible. Their endurance is admirable, and that has to be one of the biggest reasons they became one of my favorite couples in all of anime.

So there you have it, an idea of how and why I ended up as a fan of the pairing. They've been added to that list of couples that I'll always be happy to talk to other fans about. I might have grown to like them for a different reason than most, and it's rather awkward talking to fellow fans and finding that practically nobody has the combination in taste (a big fan of this couple, then a fan of many straight vs. just a fan of one type), but I'm sure as fellow anime fans (and artists) you won't mind that I'm not exactly the same as you.

If you have the time, please read which more specific notes apply to you:

-"I don't think they make a good couple."- Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Please don't feel offended by what I've written; the point of this was mostly to explain to those who know me how I ended up a fan and to reach out to any who have had similar experiences. Let's just agree to disagree. (Please don't waste your time commenting just to tell me you don't like it and don't flame me.)

-"I'm your friend, but I don't like yaoi related or homosexual pairing stuff."- Don't worry about it! I'm not going to force you to like the pairing! Let's continue on being friends- it's not like I've changed into a completely different person- it's just one thing different between us. We don't have to ever talk about it unless you want to for some reason.

-"Will you being creating artwork/stories about the pairing?"- Yes. And it will go on deviant if it's good enough. If you don't like the pairing, don't worry, just skip past that stuff- I'll still be doing art with different subjects! And also keep in mind, even if one or both of the characters appear, it doesn't always mean the piece will have a romantic theme. So don't be so worried- you can sort out what you do and don't want to view easily. As for you fellow fans of the pairing, I'm sure you're already happy because there's way too little out there for this pair! Maybe I can help change that.

-"OMG! ANOTHER ICEBURGxFRANKY FAN! Let's be friends! Let's do an art swap for the couple! Do you take requests?! (any thing of that sort)"- Hey fellow FxI fan, I'd be happy to be your new buddy! If you want to do an art swap then talk to me- leave a comment or send a note so I'll see it, and I'll get back to you. I do take art requests when I don't have too many of them. You'll have to bug me and we'll see if I have too big a pile of art I owe other people. (Catch me at the right moment with a clever idea and I just might give in any way. Yes, I'm bad and do requests out of order based on how inspired I am.) Don't be afraid to contact me- I like meeting other fans.

-"Aren't Franky and Iceburg like adopted brothers though?"- My best guess is that most of you who thought of this are not fans of the couple. (I come in peace! So don't flame me for my opinions- I'm not forcing you to agree.) Maybe if they had met when they were younger or had ended up living with Tom at a younger age I would have viewed it more as a sibling love relationship, but by the time they first meet, both of them have had the experience of being raised by different families during most of their key developing childhood years, and it's more like two foster kids meeting. If Franky had started calling Iceburg "Nii-san" ("Brother") then I certainly wouldn't have seen it as a romance, but nothing of the sort happens. If you wonder, I do NOT like incest pairings.

-"Most people are only into the version of the couple when they're in their teens and twenties and not the funny looking older versions. What about you?"- I'm personally not nearly as disturbed as others are by the change to their appearances over the time lapse. In some ways Oda's strange (and awesome) style of art might have even drawn attention to features that became sort of silly looking, and I'll joke about it of course, but I'm just fine with art and stories about their later years. If you look through enough artists' adaptations of the characters in their own style, their changed features actually look much more natural. (Not that Franky will ever look entirely natural.) I find it sad actually, that people don't care for them as much when they're in their 30's.

-"Why don't you consider yourself a yaoi fan? Or for that matter, why do you not always refer to Franky and Iceburg as yaoi or slash when you talk about them?- Apparently there are a lot of strings attached to the title of "yaoi." If you call yourself a fan of it, people start assuming that you hate straight pairings for starters. Also, when you call a pairing slash or yaoi, many times people will assume that your motivations for liking it are purely "kinky" and without other reason. So they might not take it as seriously. As you've just read before, I'm not the type of person who likes putting people together only because "it's hot." If you'll understand, I hesitate to point to Franky and Iceburg and hollar "YAOI!" because the way I like them really isn't different from the way I like the straight couples I like. To me, the fact they're both guys isn't that big a deal.

-"Seme and uke? Who's who?"- My answer to that goes hand in hand with the previous question. I'm not so crazy about the strings attached to these titles. Plus, it's sort of weird seeing people obsess so much over the roles. I usually reply to this question by saying "I think they're equals."

Description
Wow, how do I start? First, let me explain the title. I've never been prejudice against homosexuals, I even have some friends who are gay and bi, and I support gay rights. But I've never been a yaoi or yuri fan and I still wouldn't say I am. (If you don't know, yaoi and yuri refer to gay and lesbian content in anime and manga.) When I read a manga series, if I take a liking to a couple or see a potential romance between two characters, it's based more on personality. I don't hurry to try pairing up the two hot guys or girls. I'm not really a "slashing" type of fan. One could call me very old school in taste or a cannon fan; the main couple that the author writes about and pairs together is the couple that I cheer on. I boo at the competition if they're particularly mean, or find it nice that someone else has these special feelings for one out of the couple but hope they'll find their own guy or girl later on in the story. And once a couple has been established on my list of favorites if I grow to really like them together, you won't see either of the characters paired up with anybody else (only exception being if one of them dies) in my fanart and fanfiction, I'm into monogamy you could say. In most of the series I follow, more of the author intended couples, or couples I find have great potential, happen to be straight. So I'm no squealing rapid yaoi fan. So how did I end up with a favorite couple that's considered "yaoi?"

It was thanks to my gut's feelings believe it or not. I'm a big fan of One Piece by Eichiro Oda, yet I only knew some of the newer events thanks to spoilers among fans. Having a terribly slow internet connection and a lack of the large amounts of money, I had only seen the anime up to the very beginning of the Water Seven arc. Finally tired of waiting around to get my hands on the anime, I looked for the manga online and read to catch up. In the middle of the Water Seven/Enies Lobby arc, I stopped to ask my sister and friends for their opinion because something was bothering me. I didn't want it to come across as stereotyping, because in several ways he fits the stereotype, but my gut was bugging me and telling me that the new straw hat crew ally, Franky, was gay.

My sister and friends weren't sure how to answer, but they sure got a laugh at how worried I was that I was stereotyping. I want to be any thing but considered "shallow"; so I proceeded with caution, taking a look again at his information and personality. Now I don't know if you will understand this, but have you ever gotten gut feelings about people even when you've just met them and somehow your gut turns out to be right on track every time? It's happened to me over and over spotting certain types of people, even recognizing fellow anime fans before we ever discuss the topic.

I talked to some other One Piece fans who do believe that's how he is and they pointed out some good support for the argument. To put a long story short, I went with my gut feelings, that Franky is gay. It didn't really change how I looked at him since I had the feeling all along, but when I wondered if he had a lover it obviously had an impact.

While I was online shopping for doujinshi, I saw that Franky, who was becoming one of my new favorite characters, was regularly paired up with his childhood coworker/debate competition/annoyance/best friend, Iceburg. (Yeah, for those of you who don't know the characters, that's seriously his name. But hey, if there are characters named Shampoo and Trunks, why not name someone after a chunk of ice in the sea?) Best friends and rivals are common couples that fans love, so I wasn't too surprised to see that was their first choice. As Franky's fan, I would gladly cheer on whatever coupling he would fit into well, but I wasn't about to jump to conclusion that this was the best answer. If Iceburg was not into other guys, I'd say no to that pairing. I stopped to look at Iceburg like I looked at Franky before, trying understand what might imply that he'd be able to fall in love with Franky on that level instead of being more of a brother.

Well what do you know? I hadn't thought about Iceburg for a long time since I was slowly reading the manga and more wrapped up in figuring out how the CP 9 would be defeated and Robin could be saved. When I went back to look at Iceburg after so long, I realized I was getting something like the sort of feeling I did from Franky. I got the feeling that he was bisexual and could very well fall in love with Franky. I read the flashback story again a couple times and decided I concurred with the opinion of those yaoi fans and doujinshi artists. Franky and Iceburg could be a couple. For that matter, they were already suspiciously close to each other.

From there it took off thanks to more of my typical analyzing, and some silly fanatic enthusiasm. Talking about it with others and asking why they liked the couple, they had some generally nice things to say. Since I really like the characters, I was happy to say I was becoming another fan of the pairing, but I also started liking the pairing more because of their actual story. Now remember, by now I'm convinced such feelings existed- if you, the reader, never has been or ever will be, please don't take my opinions personally! And I also must note that I'm a bit of a romance-story addict at times, though I do get nauseated if things are ridiculously sappy...

If one looked at their story as a romance, it was one of those amusing sort of tales about a couple people who grow to admire each other, but spend so much time arguing that they can't tell that the other one feels the same way. This has to be one of my favorite storylines for pairings since it's so funny and you wonder when or for that matter, how they'll ever realize the truth. (In another favorite anime of mine, Detective Conan, a couple I like, Kazuha and Heiji are always arguing but are obviously in love. Those moments always crack me up. It's the same sort of concept.)

While some fans would jump up and down and say "That's an awesome story! We love it!" I would tell them to "Wait! There's more!" After some wild events and some bad trickery, Franky and Iceburg are torn apart. There's anger that has to settle down and a new challenge: to try forgiving. This other challenge was a big part of what impressed me and made me all the more enthusiastic to cheer them on. There are plenty of great stories about how two people fall in love, and maybe by the end of the story there might be a few hurdles (love rivals, distance, etc.) to jump over, so we get to watch and hope it turns out okay (and if the author was optimistic, things turn out alright and they live happily ever after). For these two though, the bumps in the road even after they're in love are overwhelming, and the idea that any one, whether a man and a woman or two of the same gender, could still find their way out of the maze of such difficulty is incredible. Their endurance is admirable, and that has to be one of the biggest reasons they became one of my favorite couples in all of anime.

So there you have it, an idea of how and why I ended up as a fan of the pairing. They've been added to that list of couples that I'll always be happy to talk to other fans about. I might have grown to like them for a different reason than most, and it's rather awkward talking to fellow fans and finding that practically nobody has the combination in taste (a big fan of this couple, then a fan of many straight vs. just a fan of one type), but I'm sure as fellow anime fans (and artists) you won't mind that I'm not exactly the same as you.

If you have the time, please read which more specific notes apply to you:

-"I don't think they make a good couple."- Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Please don't feel offended by what I've written; the point of this was mostly to explain to those who know me how I ended up a fan and to reach out to any who have had similar experiences. Let's just agree to disagree. (Please don't waste your time commenting just to tell me you don't like it and don't flame me.)

-"I'm your friend, but I don't like yaoi related or homosexual pairing stuff."- Don't worry about it! I'm not going to force you to like the pairing! Let's continue on being friends- it's not like I've changed into a completely different person- it's just one thing different between us. We don't have to ever talk about it unless you want to for some reason.

-"Will you being creating artwork/stories about the pairing?"- Yes. And it will go on deviant if it's good enough. If you don't like the pairing, don't worry, just skip past that stuff- I'll still be doing art with different subjects! And also keep in mind, even if one or both of the characters appear, it doesn't always mean the piece will have a romantic theme. So don't be so worried- you can sort out what you do and don't want to view easily. As for you fellow fans of the pairing, I'm sure you're already happy because there's way too little out there for this pair! Maybe I can help change that.

-"OMG! ANOTHER ICEBURGxFRANKY FAN! Let's be friends! Let's do an art swap for the couple! Do you take requests?! (any thing of that sort)"- Hey fellow FxI fan, I'd be happy to be your new buddy! If you want to do an art swap then talk to me- leave a comment or send a note so I'll see it, and I'll get back to you. I do take art requests when I don't have too many of them. You'll have to bug me and we'll see if I have too big a pile of art I owe other people. (Catch me at the right moment with a clever idea and I just might give in any way. Yes, I'm bad and do requests out of order based on how inspired I am.) Don't be afraid to contact me- I like meeting other fans.

-"Aren't Franky and Iceburg like adopted brothers though?"- My best guess is that most of you who thought of this are not fans of the couple. (I come in peace! So don't flame me for my opinions- I'm not forcing you to agree.) Maybe if they had met when they were younger or had ended up living with Tom at a younger age I would have viewed it more as a sibling love relationship, but by the time they first meet, both of them have had the experience of being raised by different families during most of their key developing childhood years, and it's more like two foster kids meeting. If Franky had started calling Iceburg "Nii-san" ("Brother") then I certainly wouldn't have seen it as a romance, but nothing of the sort happens. If you wonder, I do NOT like incest pairings.

-"Most people are only into the version of the couple when they're in their teens and twenties and not the funny looking older versions. What about you?"- I'm personally not nearly as disturbed as others are by the change to their appearances over the time lapse. In some ways Oda's strange (and awesome) style of art might have even drawn attention to features that became sort of silly looking, and I'll joke about it of course, but I'm just fine with art and stories about their later years. If you look through enough artists' adaptations of the characters in their own style, their changed features actually look much more natural. (Not that Franky will ever look entirely natural.) I find it sad actually, that people don't care for them as much when they're in their 30's.

-"Why don't you consider yourself a yaoi fan? Or for that matter, why do you not always refer to Franky and Iceburg as yaoi or slash when you talk about them?- Apparently there are a lot of strings attached to the title of "yaoi." If you call yourself a fan of it, people start assuming that you hate straight pairings for starters. Also, when you call a pairing slash or yaoi, many times people will assume that your motivations for liking it are purely "kinky" and without other reason. So they might not take it as seriously. As you've just read before, I'm not the type of person who likes putting people together only because "it's hot." If you'll understand, I hesitate to point to Franky and Iceburg and hollar "YAOI!" because the way I like them really isn't different from the way I like the straight couples I like. To me, the fact they're both guys isn't that big a deal.

-"Seme and uke? Who's who?"- My answer to that goes hand in hand with the previous question. I'm not so crazy about the strings attached to these titles. Plus, it's sort of weird seeing people obsess so much over the roles. I usually reply to this question by saying "I think they're equals."