you know my heart, anon <3

1. cbx: this could be a whole ask in and of itself because i have Thoughts about each "angle"/ship, and i'm happy to elaborate should another land in my inbox just for them. but fundamentally, i see jongdae as the nucleus of cbx, as baekhyun and minseok are both much, much closer to him than to each other (but this distance is closing with inb100 and comes with its own benefits, like objective honesty). ironically, though, i've found that most existing cbx fic tends to centre xiubaek, because of the "rift" between baekchenists and xiuchenists LOL.

2. subaekchen: i love this trio, because they have TEETH. it's one where authors can get mean, as my friend sophie often wonderfully does in her work. i've always been drawn to them for personal reasons (they're my fave three members), but it especially exploded during exist era - where i saw junmyeon as the other mediator for baekchen during their divorce. i like subaek as a ship that lets me get cerebral in a way i find would be ooc for jongdae LOL. baekhyun is bitey but also... gentle with? considerate of? junmyeon in how he prods him to eat well and loosen up. he looks up to junmyeon for leadership and career advice, especially back during the era of superm. they are keenly and objectively aware of each other's flaws. meanwhile, jongdae is... quite rough with junmyeon, in his handsy hyung worship that may or may not be wanted. he also used to support junmyeon in Keeping the Peace on-camera and steering social interactions where they needed to go, even if it was a little boring. (this has since obviously been complicated by chengate.) more recently though, jongdae clung to junmyeon immediately after his military discharge, hinting to his role in supporting jongdae's return to exo activities. to me, they always invoke that image of the wolf, sheepdog and lamb in how baekchen both care for junmyeon? all three are insane and dysfunctional <3 i love them.

3. baekxingdae: less in vogue now, but i had a phase with these three once... there's something hugely compelling about how jongdae and baekhyun have their own History with yixing that i tend to read through the lens of nostalgia, transience, conflict (xingdae), and self-destructive ambition (baekxing). overall just very, very sexy and sad.

4. chanbaekchen: not one i read often because i find that jongdae tends to get marginalised as an add-on to chanbaek (which i'm very guilty of doing for all triangles here, icl). it does track, though, because prior to 2019, the extent of chanchen's "relationship" pretty much was... mutual friends with baekhyun LMAO. my preferred jongdae-centric read, however, is to contrast baekchen and chanchen, especially the trajectories of their relationships? the former are pre-debut best buds who have since come into conflict that i cannot stfu about, while the latter could not stand each other at first (or rather, jongdae couldn't LOL) but have since come together after discovering how much they have in common as "twin flames". all because of that one ladder s3 episode. baekchen are often paired AND pitted against each other (even as they try to avoid it) as main singers, almost like destiny. meanwhile, chanchen are complementary; they already share music credits together, and in chen fm, chanyeol was pushing jongdae to do musical genres outside his comfort zone - even offering to write a song for him! predictably, this triangulation especially popped off during chengate.

5. baekchenstar: MY FAVE OF ALL TIME. i alluded to it in "before the cock crows" but this trio drives me up the wall LOL because of the meta implications. hanbyul and baekhyun have a lot in common, as they're both shrewd, sharp-tongued, excellent networkers and, importantly, incredibly fond of jongdae (with frequent hints they both privately spend time with him in a personal capacity off-camera. that's catnip to me.). the difference is that hanbyul is able to inhabit that role of singer hyung for jongdae that baekhyun cannot. further sparking my interest is the interlaced way they all work together behind-the-scenes: hanbyul is close to voicetuning, who baekhyun goes to for vocal coaching, and a member of monotree, who loveeee writing for jongdae. he regularly attends and supports and promotes baekchen's solo schedules. he made a promise to visit and sing with jongdae in the military. he was vocal director for a bunch of baekhyun and exo songs, and dueted with jongdae on a single. i have very little doubt he'll somehow be involved for their next solo albums, hehehe.

as a last note, love triangles are shat on constantly in fandom, and i do love when they are overcome through poly like everyone else, but i hold a special spot in my heart for when they force protagonists to reflect, agonise, then make a choice between two different parts of themselves/life directions as embodied by their love interests. it lends itself well to character studies, i think!