Why do We Ship?

I’m going to start by saying I’m okay with someone having a preference for a non-canon couple.  Heck, there’s lots of times when most of the audience agrees that the wrong people got together, and I’m not innocent of such opinions either. This isn’t about arguing who needs to hook up with who, but why do we, the reader, like what we do, and why it’s such a contentious issue between fans who like the same work.

But this doesn’t come from literature but from hanging out with my coworkers when t...