Pairing

Pairing 

Refers to the main characters featured in a romantic or sexual relationship within the story. May be het (m/f) or slash (m/m or f/f) or consist of multiple characters. Stories featuring pairings are distinguished from gen friendship fics with those same characters by the presence of the "/" between the names. Also, while by no means standard or definitive, pairing listings may indicate the 'top' or 'dominant' character first and the 'bottom' or 'submissive' character second around the "/" symbol. Gen fics which included the same characters in a purely platonic relationship will often, but not always, use a comma or the "&" symbol instead of the "/" to list the story's cast. Pairings can be indentified either by writing out the names of the characters (ex: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson), the initals or abbreviation of the characters names (ex: HG/SS or MSR or Wincest), or by employing the growing practice of 'name-smooshing' whereby parts of each character's name are mashed together to come up with a new portmanteau word to describe the pairing (ex: Sterek or McShep). Please note that if initials, abbreviations, or name-smooshing are used, readers not completely familiar with the fandom or its conventions may not be able to understand the pairing referenced