20 Romantic “Ship” Dynamics to Use for Friendships and Sibling Relationships Instead

Hey everyone! So as everyone knows, February is usually associated with love and romance, due to Valentine’s Day. And in writing, love is very important. In fact, romance is the biggest genre out there.

However, there is more to love than just romantic love. In fact, some of the best “love” stories can be about the platonic love between friends, or the familial love of siblings. So today’s post is going to be to try and help people write more friendships and sibling relationships rather than romantic relationships. Romance in novels is in abundance, but good friendships and sibling relationships are more scarce. However, these two relationships can be almost if not AS satisfying as their romantic counterparts, and often the dynamics between a romantic couple (known as “ships”) can be used for non-romantic relationships as well.

This is also one of my favorite posts I’ve written for this year, so I hope it helps you! And without further ado, here are 20 ship dynamics which can be used for writing friendships and sibling relationships instead.

Ship Dynamic #1: Rival x Rival

The classic rivals to lovers trope often uses this ship dynamic, but it can also be used for friendships and even sibling relationships. Maybe Character A really wants to be accepted by their sibling, Character B, and Character B really wants to have a good relationship with A, but they always end up challenging and rivaling each other. Or maybe they’re a pair of wannabe friends, and eventually through the course of their rivalry realize they have become friends. One of my favorite concepts of this is taking the typical fairy tale genre, having a prince and villain fight over the princess (being rivals) and then at the end, realize neither of them are interested in the princess, but just wanted to become friends with each other and she was their point of contact or something. There are many ideas for this dynamic!

Ship Dynamic #2: Jerk With a Soft Spot x The Soft Spot

This dynamic would work wonderfully for both siblings and friends. Maybe Character A (Jerk With a Soft Spot) is still a jerk to Character B (the Soft Spot) but B works around A’s behavior and/or A always ends up doing what B wants anyway. Or maybe A is only ever kind to B, so everyone always wants B around if they have to confront or talk to A since B is a softening influence on A. The possibilities are endless!

Ship Dynamic #3: Kuudere x Tsundere

Kuudere and Tsundere are both Japanese words describing a person. Kuudere means someone who shows little emotion and generally stays calm in stressful situations. Tsundere means someone who initially is very harsh, but starts softening and warming over time. This would be a very good friendship duo, as the readers could see the Tsundere gradually warming up to the Kuudere and the Kuudere beginning to show more emotion as their friendship grows.

Ship Dynamic #4: Sacrifices Too Much x Sacrifices Too Little

I can see both sibling and friend duos working for this dynamic. Maybe Character A overworks themselves for others, and Character B has to get them to get some rest. Or Character A has to force Character B to help out another friend, and they both teach each other their strengths and learn from their weaknesses.

Ship Dynamic #5: Being Teased x Teaser

Somehow I feel like this one would be a better sibling dynamic rather than friend, especially since teasing younger siblings is a common sibling trait. A unique spin could be a younger sibling teasing the older, however!

Ship Dynamic #6: Popular Kid x Popular Kid

This would probably be more common as a friendship dynamic though it would be neat as a sibling one too. The two most popular kids at school, or maybe two princes/princesses from other nations meet and become best friends despite their popularity status. Or they could be siblings and both popular and actually not trying to one-up the other. Or maybe they’re actually trying to make their sibling/friend more popular than themselves?

Ship Dynamic #7: Excited Puppy x Tired but Will Do Anything for Excited Puppy

This is one of my favorites to use for sibling dynamics, where the younger sibling is the hyper, excited innocent smol and the older one is tired but loves the younger one so much they’d give their life for them if necessary. My main story series’ inciting incident actually is built around this sibling dynamic. It can also be used for friends, but clearly I’m biased toward siblings.

Ship Dynamic #8: Rage x Deliberate Shameless Flirt

Now this one sounds like it would be hard to change from a romantic one, but really, it would be super cute as a sibling dynamic. How? Sibling B, the deliberate, shameless flirt, always embarrasses Sibling A, the Rage, when B flirts with others. So A always yells at B after they flirt with someone and embarrassed them. Alternatively, B flirts with people who A knows are bad company so A goes and rages on those bad people to keep them away from B. Even more, maybe B flirts on A’s behalf (meaning telling someone ALL about A and how cool he/she is in a flirty way) and A gets angry at B for doing that. A friend could also do this, but siblings would be adorable in this dynamic.

Ship Dynamic #9: Annoyed x Annoying

Again, another one that could work either way but would probably work better as siblings. I can see a pair of siblings who always annoy each other, but who know they have each other’s backs where it counts. Or maybe they don’t at first, but soon learn how much they mean to each other, and their annoying of each other is one of the ways they show each other they care.

Ship Dynamic #10: Eccentric Reckless Cutie x Chill Enabler

A perfect friendship and sibling dynamic, the Eccentric Reckless Cutie can either be a friend or sibling who is just so adorable, Character B (Chill Enabler) can only sit back and watch or even go along with their crazy antics. Maybe A throws a spontaneous party, so B just sighs and cleans up afterwards while A crashes on the couch. Or A wants to do a wild science experiment so B buys them the materials to do it. It’s another fun dynamic that can be used in multiple ways.

Ship Dynamic #11: Big Chaotic x Small Calm

Another pretty common ship dynamic, the tall and the smol, and it would work for both siblings or friends. Generally I like smol and chaotic little siblings, but it would be cute to see the younger and/or smaller friend or sibling as the calming voice of reason for the older and/or larger Character A. Or maybe they keep A from beating up people who insult or bully them.

Ship Dynamic #12: “I’m Scared” x “I’m Not”

Similar to #11, this would be perfect for both friends and siblings, with B (“I’m Not”) always dragging the more skeptical and anxious A (“I’m Scared”) into trouble, and A being B’s sole voice of reason (and maybe even reason for still being alive). A obviously could be more of the doctor, taking care of B after B does something that gets them hurt, and could either be a shy, sweet friend or maybe even a sarcastic “you deserved that now let me bandage you up” sibling. Lots of possibilities!

Ship Dynamic #13: Huge Fan x Huge Nerd

This would be awesome as a friendship dynamic! Character B (Huge Nerd) is famous as some sort of personality (probably a sports player, singer, actor, model etc) but is either really shy in real life or has very strange, nerdy hobbies (like a model who is super interested in reptiles) and meets Character A (Huge Fan) and they become friends, maybe based off a common interest in the nerdy hobby or something of the sort.

Ship Dynamic #14: Jerk A x Jerk B (Who Only Have Each Other)

This one I can see for either siblings or friends, but siblings would be cute in my opinion. Maybe a common childhood caused them to grow up with certain behaviors which make others look at them as jerks. Maybe they’re both secretly super heroes and so they act like jerks as their alter-egos to have people avoid them for once in their life. Or maybe a couple of friends act that way to others to hide a secret project they’re working on. There are so many possibilities!

Ship Dynamic #15: Bold Optimist x Reclusive Pessimist

This is a classic Happy Character and Depressed Character. This would be another cute sibling dynamic, as Character A (the Bold Optimist) could be the little sibling who always manages to brighten up the older, depressed sibling. This is one of my all-time favorite sibling dynamics, and I even like this dynamic with parent/guardian and child pairs. It could work for friends too, though I’m biased toward siblings on this one.

Ship Dynamic #16: Tired Parent Friend x Other Tired Parent Friend

These two would work as siblings or friends. Maybe a couple friends get together to chill from all their other needy friends or little siblings/babysitting charges, or a couple of siblings decide to create a business out of counseling other friends. Again, lots of possibilities!

Ship Dynamic #17: “They Probably Hate Me” x Deeply and Passionately in Love but Terrible At Showing It

Again, this one seems like it would be hard to translate over into a friendship or sibling relationship, but is quite easy. Just change the concept of love from romantic love to platonic or familial love. Siblings would be especially cute in this dynamic, as perhaps A believes the B hates them, but B really adores A but struggles with showing it. Or with friends, maybe B really wants to be friends with A, but shows it in a way that makes A think they hate them. I would love to see this one in action!

Ship Dynamic #18: Famous/Royalty/Rich x Dirty Gremlin Who Lives in the Woods

Basically you’ve got the cultured character and the uncultured one, or the people pleaser and the self confident, or the status-quo keeper and the rebel. This would probably have to be friends, though it could also be done as siblings, if one ran away/grew up separately from the other. In one of my stories, I did a friendship similar to this trope, where my MC was nobility, and his best friend a peasant rebel. There is lots to play with in this dynamic.

Ship Dynamic #19: Pair of Walking Disasters Who Can’t Function Without Each Other At This Point

This would be a perfect twin dynamic! Both characters being quirky, but balancing each other’s quirks out, being each other’s best bud and always having each other’s back. Imagine their lives falling apart if/when one goes on a vacation (or, for a comedy, the store) without the other. You could even have a whole story set around this dynamic–maybe one of the pair goes missing, so the other sets off to find them, and tries to keep themselves together the best they can (or has a bunch of friends trying to keep them together until they find their twin/sibling). I would totally love to see a story set around that!

Ship Dynamic #20: Non-Human Learning about Human Relationships x Too Busy to Deal With This

This would obviously have to be a friendship dynamic, but would be perfect for a fantasy or sci-fi story with fantastical creatures. The Human, B, can reluctantly show A the loops of the human world, and eventually just accept the fact that they’re friends. Or maybe A wants to show B their world and culture and drags them into all sorts of scrapes. Either way, it would be a fun and quirky friendship!

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There are tons more of these out there, many, if not all, of which you can use for platonic and familial relationships as well, but these 20 ship dynamics I noticed seemed especially full of potential. I myself may use some of these eventually to develop my own characters’ friendships and sibling-relationships.

Do you have any ship dynamics to add to this list? What is your favorite? Do you have a sibling relationship or friendship in your writing? Will you use any of these? Have you used any of these for romance? What is your favorite friendship or sibling relationship you’ve read/watched? Let me know in the comments below! ~ Kay Adelin