Foe Yay Shipping

So there's these two guys, right? And they spend 95% of their time thinking about each other, what the other one's planning or doing, and whenever they converse their dialogue is incredibly emotionally charged. Fortunately, there's a nice family-friendly explanation: they're arch-enemies, right? Right...

This audience reaction trope happens when fans insist that subtextual marks of sexual tension actually mean that the arch-enemies really love each other, and watch the rest of the show with that assumption.

In Shipping Fan Fiction, they might write alternate universe plots that end in Dating Catwoman resolution. If the antagonist's one-sided crush is already canonically admitted, in these Fan Fics, the protagonist might realize that Stalking Is Love, and reciprocate the feelings.

Compare to Belligerent Sexual Tension, where there's actual romantic tension between the characters.

Examples of Foe Yay Shipping include:

Anime & Manga

• Pick a Shonen protagonist. Any Shonen protagonist. It's pretty much guaranteed that there will be tons of Slash Fic about him (or less frequently, her) and his (or her) arch-nemesis.

Comic Books

• Considering the prevalence of Dating Catwoman in Superhero comics, it's unsurprising that the fans like their Foe Yay Shipping so much. Batman/Catwoman , Batman/The Joker and Professor Xavier/Magneto are probably the most famous examples.

Literature

• Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape from Harry Potter are both frequently shipped with Harry and/or Hermione.
• Many people in the Twilight Hatedom ship Bella/Tyler's van.

Live-Action TV

• The already established Superman/LexLuthor ship got a huge fandom boost from the Smallville television series.
• One of the biggest Once Upon a Time fanbases is dedicated to Swan Queen, A.K.A. the Foe Yay relationship of the Evil Queen, Regina, and the savior, Emma.

Web Original

• RWBY has several examples:
  • Due to their repeated encounters, it became commonplace to ship protagonist Ruby Rose with Starter Villain Roman Torchwick.
  • Despite Cardin Winchester only being relevant for two episodes of the first volume and Jaune Arc more or less forgetting about him and his bullying afterwards, pairing the two was popular for a while.
  • Cinder Fall/Pyrrha Nikos gained some traction after volume three, due to their intense battle and Cinder still remembering the final question Pyrrha asked her before her death.
  • Due to them coming to blows multiple times, Tyrian Callows/Qrow Branwen gained a small fanbase.