#I love my fellow sterek shippers for all of these

[thinking-destiel-thoughts]

I like that how Sterek shippers and writers somehow

1) unanimously adopted the term “Sourwolf” as a permanent nickname Stiles has for Derek

2) decided that “dude!” “don’t call me dude.” in some variation is utterly inevitable

3) agreed that Derek’s eyebrows talk on their own and that Stiles is usually the only one who speaks eyebrow

[poisonintopositivity]

Sterek Fics Collection

Hello everyone !

In this time of quarantine, I thought about all my fellow Sterek fans who may need their daily dose of Sterek goodness. I know how overwhelming it can be to try and find fics in this particular fandom because there are SO MANY out there.

So, in their honor, I’ve decided to share with you the Sterek Collections I’ve created since I started to read fics about these two wonderful boys.

Because I love these guys very much, I’ve selected the best of the best and organized the fics in 4 collections:

-          The “Cutie Pie” Collection – Mainly fluff and utter cuteness, because Stiles and Derek deserve some happiness for godsake!

-          The “Hot Damn!” Collection – You all know what I mean by “hot damn”. Here’s a sample of the hottest and most sensually beautiful Sterek fics out there. I’d like to warn everyone that I’m a hopeless romantic and that sex just of the sake of sex isn’t usually doing it for me. So, most of the fics on this list will be Porn With (A LOT OF) Feelings. Cause nothing is sexier than two people in love making love.

-          My Very Own Top 25 – This is THE List for me. Those fics own my heart and have invaded my soul. They are a MUST READ NOW kind of deal. If you haven’t read some of these, go right ahead, you won’t be disappointed.

-          A list of the best of the best fics out there – I usually rate the fics I’ve read with a “star” system and the fics in this collection have all rated 5 stars out of 5 stars. They are the fics that didn’t make it to my Top 25 but deserve all the love anyway.

Note: I update these collections regularly (because I’m still reading a shit-ton of Sterek fics) and apart from my Top 25, I’ll add new content.

So, if you’re intrested, go ahead guys and enjoy. There’s nothing better than reading about characters you love in these time of anxiety and stress. Take time to enjoy yourself and get away from the world.

Happy reading! 

Love from Lilas, a humble Sterek shipper.

I dedicate this post to @christinesficrecs, Queen of Sterek fics recs.

[alydoreen]

My favorite ships of the decade

1. Stydia

I’m a sucker for “you are my first love”-stories and this one really shaped my decade, considering we all suffered for 6 long years and fought everyone who devalued them. After the season finale of 6A i cried for like 2 weeks and tumblr went crazy. I really really love them still and forever. The trouble investigation team will live on forever in great fanfictions.

2. Reylo

If someone told me 2015 i would add canon Reylo to this thread, i wouldn’t have believed them even in my wildest dreams. But here we are, we got everything we wished for fellow Reylos, but at what cost.... I’m still devastated and just mildly surprised that this decade ends with me being in pain because of a ship. They were just perfect, beautiful, enemies to lovers excellence.

3. Newtmas

Ahh another tragic one, i see my problem. From the beginning on they cared so much for each other and i always thought their bond/friendship/love was very unique. They didn’t need a lot of words you know. Especially if you have read the books you cannot help but ship them.

4. Johnlock

I love my dads! As everyone knows Johnlock shares a very special bond. They have learned to trust each other over time. I also really liked how they just became better humans, or in Sherlock’s case a human at all, through one another and be true to themselves. And now they're just an old married couple.

5. Newtina

For once i don’t have to worry too much about my children, because we all know they will get married and have kids, but that doesn’t change the fact that their story is an emotional rollercoaster. Pure slow burn and mutual dumbassery. It’s rare nowadays that the obvious lovers of a trilogy get such a slow and careful build up. I cried during Salamander Eyes.

6. Sterek

Sooner or later in Teen Wolf you have to admit that these two “would make a pretty good pair” (Matt, season 2). And the fact that 147-pounds-of-pale-skin-and-fragile-bones-Stiles can make big Alpha Derek’s blood boil so much is just a shipper’s heaven.

7. Odesta

This is another strongly book influenced ship of mine. But the movie representation of this couple is also very fair and beautiful in my opinion. Finnick Odair has always been my favorite character in the Hunger Games and his steadfast love for Annie just gave him more depth and vulnerability. Why does everyone i love has to die again?

8. Bellarke

Bellarke is the perfect example for everyone sees it, everyone wants it, the directors tease us in every given emotional scene, but it won’t happen until the last season only to keep us watching. I’m still down to ride, because their chemistry is just incredible and i guess it has to be considering the fact that they’re married now.

9. Bughead

A classic trope of good girl meets (different) bad boy and everyone loves it. Sadly i kinda lost interest in Riverdale in the last months, but one day i will finish watching this series and if it’s just for these two cuties.

10. Nara

These two mark the very beginning of my shipping decade. Needless to say they didn’t get the ending I wished for, but then again the finale kinda has an open end. So Sara is waiting for Neal in Paris, you heard it here first.

[chcrrysprite]

why do you ship ste/rek? chemistry and whatever else aside, isn’t it immoral? derek is in his mid twenties at the beginning of the series and stiles is 16. stiles is a minor until s6 :/

i’m not entirely sure where i said that i currently ship sterek (i’m guessing that it was implied in one of my other answered asks about malia, where i mentioned previously reading sterek fanfic) but before i start, i want to make one thing clear: i kind of...don’t. 

i do think that stiles and derek can be a cute and unproblematic ship when it’s applied in two ways - a.) an alternate setting/universe, such as coffee shop au’s and those kinds of things, or b.) taking place during/after season 6b as a post canon, of-age pairing. that being said, i don’t really ship stiles and derek that much in other contexts. i completely understand where you’re coming from and i recognize that your valid concerns are very widely shared.

i don’t really know why exactly i shipped stiles and derek so much when i was first getting into the fandom, since i’ve moved onto other ships and i honestly forget a lot of what happened between them, but i’ll try my best to explain why i did from what i can infer. 

1. stiles and derek was a popular ship that a lot of fans really seemed to love, so when i started watching teen wolf, it was something that i was looking out for because i assumed it would be cool. 2. in the beginning, before characters like liam, theo, and malia were introduced, stiles and derek were my two favorites. i probably just liked the idea of them being together, especially because they were funny in their shared scenes. 3. i liked the idea of bi!stiles. 4. i wasn’t really thinking about the concerns and morals of their relationship that much.

i think it’s important to note that i think a lot of viewers were (and still are) confused by the actual canon ages of the characters in the show, since teen wolf writers have been known to have really dropped the ball on making the timeline make sense...like, at all. derek hale’s age was one of the worst examples of the timeline getting screwed up, leaving some people with the impression that derek was in his mid-twenties in the pilot episode when it was later implied that he was only nineteen in season one. the only real “confirmation” we got about derek’s age in the early episodes was scott or stiles saying something about derek “graduating a few years ago” from high school, which points more to him being nineteen than something like twenty-five when they first met him. 

now, that isn’t me trying to defend the season 1 shipping of stiles and derek, since either way, it’s underage - i just think that since a lot of people thought that derek was only around nineteen, the three-year age gap between them didn’t seem so intense, so they were willing to overlook it. i think that a lot of the shipping that went on around that time was fueled by the fact that a lot of people didn’t actually know how old any of the characters actually were, since all of the information was still to be discovered and everything was kind of open to interpretation.

so, anyway, that’s some of my reasoning for why i shipped sterek despite the issues with it - i just kind of...wasn’t thinking about it that seriously.

and since this is a controversial topic and one that divides a lot of the fandom, here’s the bottom line about sterek for me:

i think that it’s totally okay and unproblematic to like sterek when they are both of the age of consent and stiles is not portrayed as a minor. however, i also believe that content creators who have made questionable sterek content without knowing the full extent of the age gap and the concerns involved should not be attacked and accused of being p//dophiles or creeps when they genuinely did not understand the depth of the situation. (i’m by no means implying that this question is doing this to me - you’re totally fine!! i’m talking about the people who will relentlessly go after people with no respect or thought to their words at all.)

what i don’t think is okay is pretty logical: i think it’s creepy when people purposely seek out content that portrays stiles as a minor because the underage stiles fantasy is part of the appeal to them. i think it’s creepy when content creators purposely and knowingly create art and fic that has derek as an adult and stiles as a young teenager as part of the appeal, especially when it is extremely explicit and sexual in nature. i’m talking about the fics that have stiles playing some innocent child and derek playing a predatory older man. those are really concerning to me.

i really haven’t thought that much about sterek in years, so i’m honestly kind of glad that i got this question to clear up what i think about it now. i hope it makes sense to you. 

and just a reminder - I’M IN NO WAY TRYING TO BASH STEREK SHIPPERS who do it in a respectful, educated, non-purposely-creepy way. ship your ships and create your content, and be happy with what you do. i love my fellow writers. <3 

[sterek]

Hello!sorry to bother you, feel free to not answer this. I am a fellow fan who voted in your sterek pool and think you are amazing for doing it! Anyway i read #12 is your favourite sterek moment and i am so curious to know why if you want to talk about it!i just can't have enough sterek talking!have a lovely day/night and thanks for keeping the sterek light alive with your amazing work!

Thank you hon!

Okay so here’s the thing, I love the elevator scene on it’s own but if that scene had been separated from the other sterek scenes in the hospital sequence I probably would’ve chosen the dream scene as my favorite instead. So here’s why the elevator scene has won me over: because it’s the culmination of a whole episode of incredible sterek interactions.

The elevator scene happens at the beginning of episode 3x11, but before we reach that we have to go through my favorite sterek episode: 3x10.

Here’s all that happens in episode 10 in relation to sterek:

It starts with this powerful scene that also made it to the top 20 for good reason. At the beginning of this scene Derek is under the influence of Jennifer’s magic, nothing had broken him from it so far and Jennifer is at the peak of her powers (she has only 3 sacrifices left), but then one tear from Stiles and Derek breaks free, and he stops blindly believing Jennifer (and notice how his gaze holds Stiles’ even when he starts asking her about Stiles’ dad, it gives me shivers). Also not featured into this gifset is the fact that Derek turns on Jennifer when Scott throws the mistletoe, ready to kill her for what she did, but Stiles’ begs him to stop because they need Jennifer alive to find the sheriff and Derek let’s her go (imagine how hard it must have been for Derek to do that, to let another one of his abusers live);

When the merged twins attack in the hospital, Derek, Stiles and Scott run away, and Derek immediately notices Stiles is running behind and calls his name, and then runs to him when Stiles decides to take a go at the twins with his bat;

Derek lets Stiles yell at him without making a single comment on it because he knows Stiles is worried about his dad and needs to let his anger out (in normal circumstances Derek would talk back, he’s sassy and banter is a sterek thing, so this is the only reason Derek let it happen even tho what Stiles said was hurtful and unfair);

When Jennifer returns to them asking for protection, saying she can save Cora and tell them where the sheriff is, Derek runs towards Jennifer in anger and throws a table in Stiles’ way, which was really unnecessary and makes it seem like he was making sure Stiles doesn’t move towards her (and get himself in danger);

When Stiles grabs the defibrillator he asks Derek what he thinks of it as a weapon (his eyes are locked on Derek, he doesn’t swipe them around the room, so we know he wasn’t asking for the opinion of anyone else) and Derek is gentle in how he handles Stiles, again without any of the usual sass because he knows Stiles is in a vulnerable place, and makes sure Stiles doesn’t hurt himself by telling him to put down the equipment;

After they get Cora in the ambulance Stiles touches Derek’s arm, a gesture in apology and reassurance, most likely for the words he yelled at Derek earlier (here’s a reminder that at this point only one other person has apologized for wronging Derek, the bus driver in season 1 who was terrified and dying);

When Stiles touches Derek’s arm, Derek gets a lightbulb moment; an actual lightbulb lights up behind his head as he looks at Stiles. Jennifer calls for Derek and he goes but he gives Stiles a last glance.

So in this chaotic episode Stiles and Derek still manage to do all of this: care for each other, be there for each other, have illuminating moments about their relationship, show regret for hurting the other.

And then the culmination of all of this happens in the elevator scene. Both Scott and Stiles stop to stare at Derek lying inside the elevator, but here’s where they diverge: Scott leaves and doesn’t come back, Stiles leaves after Scott but he returns for Derek. And let’s be clear here, Scott and Stiles don’t have different stakes in this situation, they both have a parent stuck in the same place and facing the same thing, and actually Stiles’ dad has been gone longer, but Stiles refuses to accept Deucalion’s way and he refuses to leave Derek behind, just like he refused to let his first game stand in the way of him helping Derek, just like he almost drowned in the pool because he wouldn’t let go of Derek’s body.

He just can’t leave Derek.

There’s no gifset that can quite show the way Stiles screams “Derek! Derek, come on!”. I write it here and it doesn’t sound half as anguished as Stiles sounds in the episode. You gotta listen to him to really feel in your core the desperation in Stiles’ voice for Derek to wake up. This is not a shipper thing, this is the reality of how the scene is played. 

The scene is filmed from as many angles as they could fit into it, we get to see every reaction, every touch, from all perspectives.

We see Stiles try so hard to wake Derek and when he can’t he makes a fist, but he hesitates because he doesn’t want to hurt Derek, but nothing is working so he has to go for it.

We see Derek grab Stiles’ arm and stop him, see the first reaction he has to it which seems to be “you, too?”, the disappointment of having been wrong again about someone caring about him, about Stiles caring for him.

But then Stiles says in a rush, “we gotta get you out of here. police are coming right now, we need to get you the hell out of here!” and Derek looks incredulous, like Stiles just managed to spin his world upside down.

Because Stiles came back again, Stiles is desperate to get him to safety, Stiles cares about Derek, so much.

Then we get this:

And I just... I can’t even. Look at their hands, look at the look on Derek’s face, look at how gentle Stiles is.

And here’s the last reason I love this scene: I’ve read so much meta over the years and many people seem to agree that this is the moment Derek chose Stiles as his anchor. I know some people call the dream scene “the anchor scene”, and it is in a way, but I don’t believe it’s the scene where Derek chose Stiles as his anchor, it’s just the scene where Derek revealed it to us. Why? Because while Sterek have had their incredible moments throughout s1, s2 and s3a, nothing really compares to the absolute devotion Derek has for Stiles during 3b after he finds out Stiles is possessed.  In 3a we have a Derek filled with chaos, who gets easily magicked by a darach, and then all of the hospital sequence happens and at the end of 3a Derek leaves with Cora like he’s at peace with himself (because he found a new, better and improved anchor perhaps??) and when he comes back and finds Stiles is possessed he absolutely loses his sh*t, he stands with the argents, follows chris around because he knows he’s a threat to stiles (see this gifset), is the only one with bags under his eyes even tho he’s a freaking werewolf, goes around fixing stiles’ jeep, trying to figure out stiles’ messages via the chessboard, pretends to be buddy-buddies with the twins, looks like this when stiles is threatened, and is just a general mess. Because his anchor is in jeopardy? You decide, I have my opinion. ;)

Anyway, tldr: the hospital sequence absolutely owns me, and sterek is eternal!

[paintedrecs]

Since the tumblr purge is happening soon, I wanted to signal boost a “where to find me if my blog or all of tumblr disappears!” post.

AO3 (paintedrecs): Subscribe to my account if you want to keep up to date with my fics! I have a 12 Days of Sterek fic scheduled for December 20 (a collaboration with @inkforwordsart !), and I’m hoping to get back into the swing of writing & posting things more regularly. I’d like to work through my backlog of Sterek ideas, and hopefully start writing some Sheith (Voltron) AUs.

Pillowfort (paintedrecs): Unfortunately, they’ve closed the site to new users for the time being, since they’ve been flooded by folks fleeing tumblr and need to take time to build up their servers so they don’t crash from the heavy activity. You should still be able to view my blog or add me if you’re already on there. I don’t know yet how I’ll use it; I’ll probably start moving over some of my meta/fic posts and may try to build up some fandom communities (one of the site’s features) once it’s more stable and there are more active members on the site.

Dreamwidth (paintedrecs): I honestly have NO idea how to use this site, but I had a few people ask me to join. So I have an account there now; if you’re an active user, I guess friend me and tell me what I should do with it?

Twitter (paintedrecs): I’m far more active on twitter than any of these other sites, but it’s a muddle of all my interests, not separated out cleanly into different fandom blogs like I’ve done on tumblr. I’m also currently extremely devastated by what happened with Voltron’s final season, so I don’t blame you if you don’t want to follow me over there. 

(Remember how much it hurt when Sterek shippers were called “bizarre, weird, twisted,” when Derek & Stiles were forcibly kept apart on screen until Hoechlin left the show, when sudden love interests were thrown in, when we discovered that the showrunner resented us, and we had to pull away from canon to make our own safe, thriving fandom space for Sterek? This....somehow hurts even more, because I’d trusted the Voltron showrunners not to pull another Jeff Davis.)

Anyway, I’m not planning to delete any of my blogs, and I hope they’ll stick around and still be usable for a while. But I’ve cherished the fandom community I’ve built up over the years, and I’d be so sorry to lose contact with all of you. 

There’s also a Find Me Contact Sheet for Teen Wolf fandom, which I think is a great idea and another way to find your friends/creators/fellow fans if tumblr forces us apart.

[impossiblemonster]

My thoughts on the end of Teen Wolf

Well there you have it. Teen Wolf is finished it’s run forever. And while I’d like to say it finished on a high note, really, I’m feeling like it finished more like a college student cramming for their finals.

I started watching Teen Wolf just before Season 2 premiered. I literally binge-watched Season 1 in the span of a couple of nights and was addicted to the characters. I saw Sterek before I even knew it was a thing. I found Season 1 and 2 to be pretty well-written. I even enjoyed Season 3 despite a lot of criticism of Jeff Davis for killing off Boyd, Erica and Allison.

My problems with the show’s writing started in season 4 and honestly, I just stayed disappointed. The one show I used to watch while it aired, became something I streamed a few episodes at a time later on. It just didn’t do it for me anymore.

A lot of people were upset by the deaths we saw in season three; Boyd, Erica and Allison were tough pills to swallow. In my opinion, Boyd’s and Allison’s deaths at least furthered the plot and offered tremendous opportunities for character growth in the surviving members of the pack. Erica’s death was pointless, disappointing, and didn’t honor her character at all, but I suppose acted as realistic motivation to fight the alpha pack. By season four, we’d lost a ton of characters; Boyd, Erica, Jackson, Cora, Allison, Issac, Ethan, Aiden and Danny were all gone (and later, Derek just dropped off the face of the earth too). And Jeff Davis was scrambling for new material. I get it, actors and actresses grow out of parts and you have to find a way to write them out. Sometimes characters need to head in a certain direction. But 9 (10) characters?! From here on out, the writing was a complete disaster in my opinion. New characters were hastily introduced, while familiar characters wouldn’t appear for several episodes at a time. Relationships were developed out of nowhere and ended for no reason- versus the slow and steady developments of seasons past. Gaping plot holes were left. And the story lines were uninspiring and poorly constructed Overall the show felt distinctively and progressively sloppy from seasons 4-6.

This is where fandom did Teen Wolf a favor. Because the fandom was so large, a lot of people were jumping on board, even when the writing had taken a steep nose dive in terms of quality. In their own way (minus maybe Liam) each new character introduced seemed forced, almost as though they were bargain brands of various archetypes. From my perspective, newer members of the fandom grew attached to some of these characters, and were therefore more forgiving when it came to poor writing and characterization compared with seasons past.

Being a fan from earlier on in the show, I couldn’t help but feel like come season four, the writers simply didn’t bother to build on relationships from previous seasons, and this got to a point where the characters on the show began to exhibit the same apathy towards their fellow characters that the writers clearly had for them as a whole. To me, the characters just didn’t seem invested anymore, and this can be seen in the various clumsily strung together hook ups and break ups, friendships and shared experiences that were not fully explored or reflected upon later in the series. One can almost start watching in season four and see the show as something entirely new and different. Let me explain each of those points.

Full disclosure, I will always ship Sterek. There was a lot of unexplored potential there, and some of the best fics I’ve read in the fandom, feature this pairing as the central relationship. I think what was so captivating about it, was there was always a sense of what could have been happening off screen, and what many fans wanted to see on screen, but I digress, Davis never wanted to make this canon, but in order to keep fans, kept stringing many of us along with just enough to keep us wondering. But as the series progressed it seemed like Davis began to deliberately under-write the relationship, and in turn used this under-writing, to make half-assed relationships in its stead.

If I squinted hard enough, Malia and Stiles made sense having the shared experience of spending time in Eichen House. I don’t buy the whole kiss and make-up thing that happened at the end of the season after their fight. And then suddenly they… weren’t a thing anymore. And there was no awkward transition from relationship to friends as there would have been any other time. And don’t even get me started on Malia and Scott.

Lydia and Parrish should have happened, and yet the clear sexual tension and innuendo suddenly dropped off and went nowhere. So what was the point in the first place? Clearly this was a direction someone in the writer’s room wanted to go, but the powers that be (I’m looking at you Jeff) ended it in order to force Lydia and Stiles together by the series end.

I’m sorry to all you Stydia shippers out there, but I will never buy them as any more than really close friends. To me, it was clear when Stiles grew out of the puppy love/infatuation stage of his relationship with Lydia. They matured together and seemed to get to a place where they loved each other as friends and had their own separate relationships. Bringing them together felt clumsy and unbelievable– especially since their other existing relationships/budding relationships just seemed to dissolve without reason.

In terms of friendships, I’ve always found the response to loss shockingly cavalier. Just one example of this was when Stiles accidentally killed Donovan. He was totally shaken by this and there is no doubt it changed his character– and yet there are very few mentions about what he did while inhabited by the Nogitsune, and his actions and friendships continue on almost as though that period in his life never occurred, versus a disproportionate amount of angst over Donovan’s death. Next, very rarely do any of the characters grieve the loss of Erica, Boyd or Allison, and nobody ever seems to mention Isaac, Jackson, Danny, Derek, the twins anyone who isn’t around much anymore, in any detail. Yet these characters were important in previous seasons.

Finally there are the shared events and experiences the characters have gone through together. When in previous seasons this was drawn on to a degree, one of the weaknesses of post-season three Teen Wolf (I’d even give it season four) is that this past isn’t drawn on seemingly at all (or in all of the wrong ways) to bolster character growth OR drive the plot. It’s like nothing in the past mattered, and that has really weakened the characters in the show, and has ultimately led to what I consider a failure on the writer’s end.

Sure, the show brought back some fan favorites at the end, but everything seemed slapped together and contrived. There was closure, and yet it felt… artificial.

The good news is, as bittersweet as the series ending forever is, I’m kind of stoked. I have a million ideas buzzing around in my head in terms of fic ideas (including a total rewrite of things post season 3) and I know I can’t be the only writer who is relieved that they no longer have to worry about screwing up canon. Anything I’m working on now, I’m finishing, and I hope there are many other creators in the same boat that will see this fandom continue to thrive long after the show.

[destielblamscilesinfinity]

Fandoms

So, I'm not really in any fandoms. I am in subsets of fandoms. IE Jimberly shippers of Power Rangers. Mostly because I hate Tommy and am not shy about saying so. People get all butt hurt. And I'm like LA LA I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK IF YOU ARE. Ever since the Power Rangers fandom ruined fandoms for me, I'm only in the smaller areas of fandom. So basically my entire fandom life, which started when I was nine, has been spent mostly on the outskirts of fandom. Fandoms as a whole truly disgust me, so it really doesn't bother me too much. The glee fandom especially. They are truly ridiculous. I think I totally lost all of my respect for them in 2012 when someone called Will a pedophile, and as I was molested by one I didn't think it was the least bit funny. After that I was like fucks this shit, I'm sticking to my fellow shippers. And that has gotten even smaller now that I no longer ship Klaine. The only fandom that I ever considered myself a part of the fandom as a whole is the Law and Order SVU fandom. And that ended when Chris Meloni left, as much as I still loved most of the cast, I SO wanted it to get cancelled, sort of like a fuck you to Dick Wolf, who truly is a dick. No one try and argue with me about that, your argument will fall on deaf ears. If anyone has an issue with the way I see fandoms and the way I tend to say shit without caring who I piss off, then you can thank the Power Ranger, Once, and glee fandoms for it. Also the Friends fandom, they hate that I can't stand Monica and Ross and aren't shy about telling me to go die. Speaking of, I don't know why shipping has delved into you have to prove that you ship something. I'm not going to prove shit. I don't have to answer to anyone about what I ship. No one should have to, except maybe those who are obnoxious about their ship being canon and take to telling those who don't ship canonly that they're wrong. I should be able to ship Sciles for instance without having to prove why. I have never in my life expected someone to prove to me why they ship something. There are a lot of ships that I don't get, ie Sterek, but I don't go and tell the shippers to prove to me why they ship it, etc. And apparently the Supernatural fandom has the potential to be just as rude, as people were hating on me for shipping Destiel. Hate Destiel all you want, I don't care. But don't take to calling me names and telling me I tag my posts wrong because of it. I will tag my posts however I see fit and if someone has a problem I don't really give a flying fuck. Blame Jason David Frank's douchebag fans. They ruined it for everyone else. I have met only maybe a handful who weren't hateful to me. Literally. But as he is a douche himself it just stands to reason.

[nyxelestia]

As a fellow Sterek shipper, I'd love to know which are your favourite fics and what you adore the most about our boys!

One of my favorite things about Derek is probably the fact that he changes so much, and the fantastic contrast between the kind of person he tries to be, and the kind of person he actually is - the difference between the "Jerk" and the "Heart of Gold". In a way, the fact that he is such an asshole is also part of why I love him. (Which is also why I hate it when fandom erases this part of him. -_-) I also appreciate his survival-oriented mentality, and how that balances against his own, private desire to try and do the right thing, and do right by people he considers under his protection.

As for Stiles - well, as counterintuitive as this may sound to a lot of people, I do see a lot of myself in him. Specifically, things like the way he wants everyone in his life taken care of, but sucks at actually doing it, himself. The way he tries to protect everyone, but also sometimes fails or goes a little too far. His antisocial personality, and the deep well of love that it hides. (As a side note, part of the reason why I hate people denigrating his friendship with Scott is because most of my deepest friendships has boiled down to a similar "Smartass Slytherin and Heartwarming Hufflepuff" dynamic.)

These are my favorite Sterek fics:

(Though ironically enough, for a lot of them, I love them for very non-Sterek reasons.)

echo in the echoing wood by Kirinin - Stiles can't get rid of the nogitsune, so they fuse, instead.

Cross My Soul by @ecarian - Daemon fic, with lots of angst and fluff that centers really well on the worldbuilding/daemon-verse.

What You Can't See by @magess - Fantastic worldbuilding and a really great plot. Particularly fond of Allison's portrayal in this world, and how the darker elements of the plot are played around with.

See You on the Other Side by @damnitgreenberg - Also a fantastic plot, with wonderful worldbuilding. Weird as this may sound, I really enjoyed what total failwolves both Derek and Scott were - because they were both trying to do the right thing in their circumstances, but both had very limited information and capabilities. Some people may not consider this "real" Sterek because they never kiss or seem to have that much of a romantic attachment to each other, but to be honest, that's part why I love it. I've mentioned a lot of times that I really hate the idea (in both mainstream media and in fandom) that a relationship only matters or is only important if it is a romantic one, and even while this fic was probably going to set up for eventual Sterek, it flies in the face of that mentality. Also, I really love Jackson in this story - both his characterization, and the fact this fic addresses that he might have trouble coping with the kanima, his new lycanthropy, and basically everything we saw in the first two seasons.

The Nightmare of my Choice by @mirrorkill - Lots of supernatural worldbuilding, a fantastic plot, and it felt "real". The characters felt real - doing their best, but making mistakes; ALL OF THEM teasing each other and being playful with each other; some of them just flat out not liking each other, and that's okay because they still have each other's backs; and basically, I felt like I was reading about real people - the real characters from the show - instead of caricatures created to fill archetypes demanded by the plot. I especially love the friendship between the original power trio (Scott, Stiles, and Allison).

All's Fair in Orgasms and War by @bleep0bleep - Pornstar AU, that I think interacted really well with the characters' canon personalities, even as it eschewed their backgrounds. Like, Derek is presented as being a tough, manly pornstar on the outside and yet a romantic marshmallow on the inside, which I think is a really accurate pornstar context rendition of his canon self. Stiles is - with a lot of love - a very well-intentioned dick, who has some issues, but instead of letting them dominate him, he recognizes them and learns to work around them.

Derek Hale: Werewolf Cop by @thedeepmagic - You know how I often talk about relationships built on power and age differences need extra scrutiny, but that does not inherently/automatically make them a bad thing? And how Sterek needs a balance between acknowledging this, yet also naturally allowing growth between them as just two characters in their own right? This series hits that balance wonderfully.

Stars with "F", Ends with "U" by @meechwoods - Mostly, I like this for the way it characterizes a different take on sexual abuse than most of fandom will even acknowledge exists. I love that, to be quite blunt, Stiles and Derek enjoyed the sex they were having with their abusers, without it negating the abuse or exploitation that was happening. It's a really important message, and a reality that I wish fandom wouldn't work so hard to erase. I also love the way Derek and Stiles' relationship grew, from being allies to being friends to being something more than that.

Walking Into Darkness by @alenie - Adorable fic of Derek helping Stiles cope with the trauma of the nogitsune.

[sterek]

Hey, seeing as you're, like, the big authority on all things Sterek (love it that finally a fellow Sterek shipper has the URL), I wanted to ask if you have some recommendations on some blogs on hand. I've been out of the fandom for a while now, but I got sucked into it by fic and wanted to fill my thirst again, but I don't know which blogs are suited for that. So, if you know some, or if you've seen a recommendation list, I'd be super nice if you could hit me up with that? THANKS

Oh gosh, I am definitely not a big authority on anything, but I can rec you some blogs! Most of them aren’t exclusively sterek, but they’re all lovely people that will for sure fill your dash with sterek goodness :) 

(Note for my mutuals: I’m only listing people that are mostly sterek - grossly based on who I see the most on my tl and reblog from - so I’m sorry if I don’t mention you

@pale-silver-comb @scruffysterek @stilesandderek @demisexualhale @halekingsourwolf @haletostilinski @nothingbutsterek @blamethewolf @derekandstiles @sterek-stories @ryvetted4 @tl-hoechlin @redhoodedwolf @doctortay @sterekballs @oksanayork @ritarmandi @detectivesterek @thesparkandthewolf @thepsychicclam @stileshale @thesparkandtheking @appreciatederek @strictly-chaotic @snarkysourwolf @halesstiles ​@matildajones @chez-nana @dontgobrienmyheart @homemadesterekpie @acollectionofsterek @drgrlfriend @fandomslash @alphahel @thealphasspark @derekhles @howlingderek @dylan-robrien (who’s mostly hobrien but!)

I probably forgot a lot of people because that’s me for you, but I hope this is a good start? :)