What Are Common Character Pairings In General Hospital Fan Fiction?

My feed is full of ‘Sprina’ right now. The fandom for them is incredibly prolific, pumping out new chapters almost daily. It’s all slow-burn, will-they-won’t-they, and Cassadine-family-drama angst. Before that, it was ‘JaSam’ for years. The common pairings just seem to follow wherever the current romantic tension is on the show, with a heavy dose of nostalgia for the classic ones that had better writing.

The pairings that show up most often tend to mirror the show’s history of tangled relationships. You’ll see a ton of ‘JaSam’—Jason Morgan and Sam McCall. Their on-again, off-again dynamic over the years left a lot of unresolved threads, so writers love to put them in alternate scenarios where they finally get their quiet life or face some new, impossible threat together. Same goes for ‘Liason,’ Elizabeth Webber and Jason Morgan; that pairing has a fiercely loyal subset of fans who write fix-its for every time the show tore them apart.

Beyond the obvious Jason-centric ones, ‘Lulu and Dante’ still get a lot of love, especially stories set before the character recasts and exits. There’s a nostalgic, grounded quality to their early years that people like to revisit. And you can’t ignore the classic supercouples like ‘Luke and Laura,’ though those stories often feel more like period pieces now. Lately, I’ve noticed a surge in ‘Sprina’—Spencer Cassadine and Trina Robinson—fics, which makes sense given their current prominence on the show. The younger generation’s fanfiction tends to be more active on platforms like Tumblr and AO3, full of modern AU takes like college meet-cutes or coffee shop scenarios.

A less common but fascinating niche is exploring rivalries or friendships as potential pairings, like Carly and Elizabeth, or even delving into past connections like ‘Frisco and Felicia.’ It’s not always romantic; sometimes the focus is on complex platonic bonds that the show only hints at. The sheer volume of history means there’s always a forgotten connection someone is eager to dust off and reimagine.

Common pairings? Look at what’s currently airing. ‘Chillow’—Chase and Willow—generated a lot of material during their forbidden romance phase, though it’s tapered off since they became a stable couple on-screen. ‘Jarly’ or variations with Jason and Carly have a steady presence, often exploring their foundational, messy friendship as something more. I’m personally tired of seeing the same five couples recycled. I wish there was more for characters like Ava Jerome; her potential pairing with Nicholas Cassadine had a dark, intriguing vibe that was cut short, and I’ve sought out the few fics that run with that idea.

It also depends heavily on the platform. On FanFiction.net, you’ll find a lot of older, canon-compliant stories for established supercouples. Over on Archive of Our Own, the tags are dominated by the newer, younger characters and a much higher percentage of Alternate Universe stories, where pairings like Spencer and Trina get placed in high school or fantasy settings. The definition of ‘common’ shifts depending on where you look. I sometimes browse by the ‘General Hospital’ tag sorted by kudos just to see what’s resonating currently, and it’s rarely the same list year to year.

Sonny and Brenda. Always Sonny and Brenda for me. I know the show moved on decades ago, but in fanfiction, that intensity never really faded. The chemistry was just different—raw and operatic in a way that later pairings didn’t quite capture. A lot of those stories are set in the 90s, full of mob drama and grand gestures. You also see a surprising amount for Nikolas and Emily, which was my comfort pairing for years. Their tragic ending left so much room for ‘what if’ stories where she never died, or they reunite in some alternate universe. The archives for those are like a time capsule.