omg anon i know!! it's so upsetting, i wish they interacted more with each other, esp on stage!! but at least we know from the interactions behind the scenes that they ARE close and clearly love each other so much. i wish their ao3 tag was updated more frequently too 😭😭 but so few people ship neulmaet - they really are a rare pair.

hmm i think the pajama live was definitely the turning point for me. the two of them were sooo cute there - yesss to maet leaning on neul's shoulder, but also the two of them drawing each other on the balloons was adorableee.

maet really is just so shippable - he's this ball of sunshine and everyone adores him so it's so easy to be a maet haremist a;lsdjfa;lsd

it's probably a mix of both to be honest. because if it was just him knowing that the general public like it more when he's with gunwook and taerae, we wouldn't see him shy away from mattbin moments on stage as much as he does. in a lot of the mattbin moments, it's always bin reaching out for matt or doing something crazy with him (like the proposal like wtf bin a;dlkfjas;).

"i stand by my theory that mattbins relationship is kinda different from the ones with the other members in the sense that they got close OFF camera while with the others it was ON camera. so it might be that with the members they're just used to sharing stuff with the fans from the beginning and with the two of them they just keep most things to themselves bc that's how it has always been."

ohhhh i can see this actually. we know that a lot has happened between them pre-debut and we've only just gotten a few anecdotes that barely scratch the surface, so maybe it's not that they don't want to (or can't) drop the lore live but they're not used to having their story on full display like that. and i think your point about what they like to talk about with fans falls in line with how we know what we know about their past bc for the most part, we've only been able to get stuff out of bin whereas, like you said, matt likes to focus more on his current hobbies/singing.

"my wish for them is just to not feel awkward or bad about interacting and to share as much as they like (hopefully a lot but that's selfish me talking)"

i wish for this so much anon, and i really do hope that this is already the case but well, we've seen how wk1 moves...

"i thought i was safe with sungseok during the beginning of bp" this is so real!! you would think that they'd still be a popular ship considering their story, but it just wasn't meant to be... i'm so sorry that you're stuck having to fight for your ship again. i know how frustrating it can be, but i hope all the mattbin moments are worth it at the end!!

you're right about mattbin bringing us so much joy though. their moments are always so sweet to see and i can't help but root for their, and the rest of the jebes', happiness. as for the parts of zeroseville that we would live without a;slkfja;sdf we just have to keep muting and blocking to survive.

"Although, a lot better now the way subfandoms used to treat Matthew especially Hanbin's, Mattbin will never be a government ship or more than a rare pair because Matthew won't share moments and rarely initiates anything."

unfortunately anon, i completely agree. we see it all the time with the way that it's always bin initiating their moments on stage. matt is ALWAYS shying away and it makes me so sad because it just goes to show that he knows that there are large subfandoms that don't like it when he interacts with bin. we just have to be grateful that bin is making a conscious effort to do so!

"I think he found his safe place with Gunwook and Taerae interactions because their subfandoms don't attack him at the same rate"

this is so true, and it's clear that he adores them and loves spending time with them too so it really is a win, win there. i just hate how the disdain for mattbin has bled into how matt carries himself around bin in front of fans.

"Mattbin even if not romantic has such a rare and sweet backstory and current story that is not appreciated. It could literally be a documentary"

I AGREE. it's what makes me want their lore live so badly. because if you really think about it, they didn't know each other for that long during cube era and yet, they became so attached to each other that bin didn't want matt to leave without one final chance together. it's just so beautiful.

"We see a small fraction of their lives and will truly never know."

BUT ALSO THIS!!! SO MUCH THIS!!! at the end of the day, we don't know these guys! we hope that, at the very least, we know they're good people, but they're definitely keeping a lot of themselves to themselves and for good reason.

i did see that!!!! a;sdfja;sd i LOVEEE the concept of maknae hanbin so much. that guy really needs a fucking break and i think in another universe, he would've made the most adorable maknae of an idol group - silly, goofy, able to express all his loserisms without fear of wk1 reprimanding him. like!!!! it's giving maknae who gets whatever he wants hehe

ahhhh i really love the "he who casts stones" universe so much!! but even in that world, hanbin is still older than matt despite being the maknae but!! if hanbin was the maknae and matt was the hyung... i think the dynamic would be sooo interesting!!

hmmm i think my favorite trope by far is yearning ad;fsdja. it's based into all of my favorite ships. i think i also gravitate a lot towards canon compliant when it comes to sungseok bc of how rich their history is. in general though, i like college aus because of that first taste of freedom the characters tend to get and you can play around with how they act when they're finally on their own for the first time. i don't really explore a lot of darker themes. i don't know how could i would be at that... but i would like to try my hand at it one day!