saucefactory:

What are Sterek shippers made of? Other than sugar and spice and all things nice? And snips and snails and puppy-dog tails?

:D?

This is a public answer to a very pertinent question, answered publicly, because it’s pertinent!

LOL I MAKE SO MUCH SENSE LOL. TAUTOLOGIES WUT.

paintballassassins asked you:

Hi, I thought your post about Sterek becoming canon was interesting. I’m pretty passive about the ship, but I’m really confused about why the fandom is so obsessed with it. When I watched the show I didn’t pick up on any subtext that made me think that Stiles and Derek were together or pining for each other or what have you. If their relationship gets explored in season three, then great, but as of where the show is now, could you explain to me why everyone is so obsessed with Sterek?

I’m really, really happy that you’re thinking about Sterek now, even if you didn’t initially pick up on it! :D!

I LOVE YOU FOR GIVING THIS SHIP A CHANCE. <33333333333

As for why so many of us are obsessed with Sterek…

See, it’s… um. Well, it’s true that as far as we know, Stiles and Derek are not pining for each other visibly, nor are they canonically together (yet), but shipping is based on something far more fundamental - chemistry. When fans pick up on the potential for a smokin’ hot relationship that is at the same time emotionally deep and gratifying on levels beyond the physical, they (including me!) go nuts about it.

If you can withstand my irrepressible capslocking, you might be interested in my take on this interview in which Jeff Davis, the writer of Teen Wolf, openly admits to the fact that: a) Derek and Stiles have chemistry; b) Stiles is bisexual; and c) compares Derek/Stiles to Mulder/Scully, a ship that became canon after several seasons of nothing but chemistry (chemistry that Jeff admitted Stiles and Derek have - in spades).

There are also several blatant parallels between the Scott/Allison and Stiles/Derek dynamic, on the show, and that is entirely canonical. As in, we ain’t makin’ that shit up. (There is, for example, a legendary scene that overlaps the sequences of Scott saving Allison’s life with Derek saving Stiles’s life, which has to have been a deliberate directorial choice.) And since Scott/Allison is a canonical romance, those repeated parallels with Stiles/Derek set many fannish hearts aflutter.

There is also the fact that Stiles and Derek are repeatedly thrown together, even in improbable situations, and rouse patterns of behavior in each other that no one else does. (Read this essay for a look at Derek’s chemistry with Stiles from this shipper’s perspective. Keep in mind that there are tons of other equally valid perspectives on this ship! There are as many kinds of Sterek shippers as there are kisses, lol. Yes, there’s that many of us. Blooming like flowers in the sun. :D)

In fact, here are most of my essays on Sterek, the reading of which should give you a pretty good idea of where the Sterek chemistry comes from:

• Orange and Blue: An exploration of Derek and Stiles as complementary colors, using Johannes Itten’s color theory.
• A Better Man: A semi-essay (okay, mostly just squee) about what Stiles means to Derek.
• Trust and Touch: An essay on Derek, Stiles and the mating instinct.
• Fanon to Canon: Charting an epic journey. (You’ve already read this one.)

And here are some of my other favorite essays/manifestos, written variously by breenwolf, thistleraven, suaine, thisissounprofessional, thebrotherswinchester and dylanobreean. THESE LOVELY FOLKS WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO STRIP, PAINT ‘STEREK’ ON YOUR TORSO AND DANCE NAKED IN THE STREETS.

So, yeah. There’s definitely something special between Derek and Stiles - a unique brand of chemistry, even if it hasn’t (so far) blossomed into a full-fledged romantic relationship. I believe that it probably will, not only because the massive fanbase is largely pro-Sterek and is gleefully accepting of gay characters (such as Danny, who the fandom uniformly loves), but because Jeff knows it, voluntarily consults Sterek fanart, repeatedly says that he’s open to gay sex/relationships on the show and says shit like this during an interview about Sterek:

“I know certain reasons are the humor and the actors’ chemistry together. And I know the actors themselves enjoy the scenes together,” Jeff explains of Stiles and Derek’s popularity. “There’s always a lot of fun to be had with characters who seemingly despise each other and then have to work together to survive. In a funny way, that’s how a lot of romantic comedies begin. The two leads always start out absolutely hating each other until they find their common ground.” [x]

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, JEFF. STOP MAKING US SO HAPPY. WE MIGHT DIE FROM IT. ADFKALSDJFDLSKD.

Additionally, the network itself (MTV) has bribed fans with Sterek BY SHOOTING A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO IN WHICH THE STARS PLAYING STILES AND DEREK WERE ALL OVER EACH OTHER - ON A SHIP, has shown Sterek fanart on television, released ‘Sterek’ bloopers, gone to fucking battle with Entertainment Weekly over their denial of Sterek on an online shipping poll, repeatedly made Sterek hints, and has held a fanfiction contest in which Sterek entries were not only accepted, but encouraged, and won several commendations in the same contest.

Then, there’s the fact that Tyler Hoechlin, the furry baby-boo that plays Derek, reached out to hold hands with Dylan O’Brien (the cutie that plays Stiles) while saying that Sterek had a 50% chance of becoming canon.

What other American show has been that supportive of its primary slash pairing?

NO OTHER SHOW, THAT’S WHAT.

Yeah. We’ve got reason for hopin’. :D

So, even if you don’t see Sterek now, I’m pretty sure you’ll be seeing it, soon. Becoming canon, that is. Heh. Heh, heh. Heh, heh, heh. Heh, heh, heh, heh.

I LOVE YOUR BRAIN SO MUCH I WISH I COULD LIVE INSIDE OF YOUR MIND TBH

saucefactory:

AN EXCERPT FROM A STORY I AM WRITING IN WHICH DEREK IS A SEX GOD. AS IN, AN ACTUAL GOD. OF SEX. WITH A TEMPLE, AND EVERYTHING. AND A YEARLY SACRIFICIAL VIRGIN THAT WILL ‘SERVE’ HIM FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE GOD FINDS HIS DESTINED MATE.

GUESS WHO THIS YEAR’S VIRGIN IS?

YEAH.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” says Stiles, clutching his last scrap of clothing to himself. “I can bathe myself, thanks. By which I mean, no thanks.”

“As the Offering wishes,” murmurs the red-robed girl kneeling at his feet. Which, um, would be hot, normally, but this whole being-a-sacrificial-virgin-to-a-sex-god thing is about as far from normal as it’s possible to get, and Stiles doesn’t plan to let more people touch him than he absolutely has to. It irks him that the girl - Erica, as she’d introduced herself - seems to know exactly what he’s thinking, because her dark, amused eyes flit up to meet his before she gets up and bows again.

“What’s he like?” Stiles asks, abruptly, before she leaves. “You, um, you were the Offering last year, weren’t you?”

“Two years ago,” she replies.

Stiles gapes. “But - didn’t you - go back? To your village?”

She shrugs, her lovely blond hair in loose curls around her shoulders. Damn, if the god has had offerings like her, he mightn’t even be able to get it up with Stiles. Unless spindly, awkward boys with moles in weird places are his type. Which, yeah, no. “I chose not to return.”

“You chose to say here?” Stiles looks around himself at the golden arches and the scarlet curtains - and yeah, there’s an appeal to that kind of thing, but… it can’t be better than being with your own family, right? Especially since this is pretty much a sex temple. Where the devotees have sex with each other, and the Offerings have sex with their god. It’s not a brothel - Stiles knows that it’s a holy place - but he still can’t square ‘sex’ with ‘ritual’ in his mind, for some reason. Maybe he’s just too sentimental. He keeps thinking of sex as something between two people that love each other, not… this. Which is ironic, because he’s the one that volunteered to be the Offering, this year.

“I didn’t have anything to go back to.” Erica’s voice is suddenly hard, brooking no further questioning.

“So, uh, you… he still…does stuff? With you?”

“No, of course not. He’s had another Offering, after me, and that one did go home.”

“The one right before me?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re allowed to stay here? Even though you’re not - ”

“I’m here as a servant of my Lord,” she says, and whoa, Stiles can totally hear the capital L.

WHAT IS MY BRAIN DOING? I DON’T EVEN KNOW.

I HOPE THAT WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS ACTUALLY FINISHING THIS STORY BECAUSE HOLY SHIT THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED AND NEVER KNEW I WANTED UNTIL NOW BUT NOW THAT I KNOW ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS HOW MUCH I WANT THIS STORY OKAY

ak;ngfkh!!!

Not gonna lie. If Saucery wants me, I’m all hers lol

saucefactory:

STAHP MAKING ME LOOK THROUGH ALL YOUR STEREK-RELATED QUOTES AND HYPERVENTILATING WHILE STUFFING MY FIST INTO MY MOUTH AND SQUEALING AT A FREQUENCY AUDIBLE ONLY TO BATS

STAHP

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE

WHAT ARE YOU DOING

WHAT

OKAY, SO HERE ARE THE THINGS YOU’VE SAID THAT MAKE ME FERVENTLY PROPHESY HALLUCINATE ABOUT STEREK BECOMING CANON.

WHEN A REPORTER ASKED YOU WHAT YOU THOUGHT WORKED BEST IN SEASON 1 THAT YOU WANTED TO CARRY FORTH INTO SEASON 2, THE FIRST THING YOU MENTIONED WAS STEREK.

INTERVIEWER: After you finished the first season, were there things that you felt worked the best that you wanted to carry over into Season 2?

JEFF: Yes, certain things, like the relationships. Once you see those relationships start working, you write to them. I knew that Derek and Stiles were just magic. [x]

O RLY JEFF. RLY.

THE RELATIONSHIPS. CHIEF AMONG WHICH IS STEREK. JUST LIKE STILES AND DEREK ARE AT THE TOP OF YOUR LIST OF GREAT PAIRINGS, RIGHT?

JEFF: When you start to see certain things working, you write towards them, and we definitely did that.  We actually started out, in the writer’s room, with a heading that said, “Great pairings,” and at the top of that was Derek and Stiles. [x]

SON OF A -

FINE. FINE.

SO, LIKE, WHILE YOU RICKROLL US IN REVERSE BY MAKING US THINK YOU HAD NO IDEA ABOUT STEREK DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOU YOURSELF CLASSIFIED THEM AS A “RELATIONSHIP” AND A “PAIRING” EVEN PRIOR TO SEASON 2, YOU CAN CONTINUE TO SNICKER TO YOURSELF ABOUT THE HOLY HELL YOUR DEVOTED STEREK FANS HAVE RAISED, ALL IN THE NAME OF MAKING STEREK CANON, WHILE YOU WERE HEADING IN THAT DIRECTION, ANYWAY. ALL YOUR INTERVIEWS HINT AT IT. DAMN YOU. DAMN YOU, SIR. YOU DASTARDLY DEMIGOD.

I KNOW I’VE TALKED ABOUT THESE QUOTES AD INFINITUM BEFORE, BUT THERE IS ALWAYS MORE INFINITY TO AD INFINITUM IN, DON’T YOU THINK? THAT’S HOW INFINITY WORKS. GODDAMN.

AND LET US KNOT FORGET - I MEAN NOT FORGET, SORRY - THAT YOU SAID YOU COULD BE “PERSUADED” TO MAKE STEREK CANON “IF ENOUGH FANS DEMANDED IT”.

ALL RIGHT. SO YOU COULD BE PERSUADED. IF ENOUGH FANS DEMANDED IT.

IS THIS ENOUGH FANS, SIR?

NO? HOW ABOUT THIS? IS THIS ENOUGH FANS?

NO? NOT SATISFIED WITH JUST A VOCAL FANDOM OF MORE THAN 300,000 SHIPPING STEREK? HOW ABOUT HAVING ACTUAL FUCKING TV CHANNELS SHIPPING STEREK?

HOW ABOUT HAVING STEREK MENTIONED ON NATIONAL TV?

NO? NOT ENOUGH FANS? HOW ABOUT HAVING STEREK MENTIONED ON REPUTED INTERNATIONAL NEWS OUTLETS SUCH AS UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL? I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, EVEN NEWSIES ARE SHIPPING STEREK, NOW.

IS THAT ENOUGH STEREK FANS, SIR?

ARE YOU PERSUADED, YET?

ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT HOW TO MAKE STEREK CANON, YET?

I JUST -

I GIVE UP.

I AM SO DONE.

EVERYONE NEEDS THIS IN THEIR BLOG!

5. top 10 favorite blogs

(In no particular order, and I’m missing a lot of good blogs)

indecent-drawer (I’m obsessed with their #McCallHale AU)
ladyw1nter (gurl we need to work on something to get you on my bffs list, js. Also your meta gives me all the feels.) 
the-faro-fixer (amazing writing skills you can’t miss.)
pembroke (their art gives me so much life. You have no idea.)
n3vh33r4 (Can you be in both 5 and 6, kthnx?)
saucefactory (I mean, duh! Obligatory TW related blog to follow) 
teenwolf (totes serious here. wut? :|)
-wondersmith (I want to buy prints of all their art)
gonethroughhale (this person understands my hoechlin feels) 
sharkieboo (I wish I had half their talent, tbh)

6. your tumblr bffs

(In no particular order. Just people I usually talk to and love!)

kedreeva
falbet
jagkwouldyouturnmeonsuaine
tylerfucklin
generek
redridinghoodandthesourwolf
laurasatin
niablackcat
sterekdestiel
hoechlinsex

9. how many people do you follow: Currently following 153 blogs!

saucefactory:

Derek’s only been back in Beacon Hills for a few months, and he’s already starving. There was a reason he’d moved to New York, after all - the very air throbs with lust, there, smog-thick and heavy, particularly in certain… districts. But here, it’s all clean-washed air, again, the ordinary spice of teenage lust and the odd middle-aged housewife with unfulfilled fantasies. All unremarkable. Unsatisfying.

He has a significant number of the town’s youngsters on tap. Quite devoted. Boyd, Erica, Danny and Isaac are his regulars - his bread and butter, as it were - but he continues to rove the nightclubs, now and then, for something a little different.

And still, he’s starving.

It makes no sense. Mathematically, he’s got his bases covered. He’s got a harem of willing humans to draw on, large enough that he won’t deplete any of their life-forces to the point of causing death or terminal illness. (The odd case of pallor and lethargy still occurs, but, well. Needs must.) He is, technically, eating his fill.

But he’s still unsatisfied.

It’s like there’s this scent, hovering at the edges of the places he haunts, and occasionally, he finds it clinging to Danny or Isaac or Erica, as though they’ve had a faint, accidental brush with something. Something that seems -

It’s so -

“Concentrate, Derek,” Erica chides him, before sliding her red lips down his cock.

He tangles his fingers in her flame-pale hair; tugs her gently upward. “Forget that.”

She looks at him like he’s insane. “Forget it? It’s your dick, Derek, not somebody else’s.”

His arousal is beyond the point; it hardly even feels like arousal, anymore. “Get up here,” and this time, she follows his directions. Good girl. “Sit on my face.”

“You wanna eat me out? Again? But what about - “

“Forget it,” he repeats, and cups her ass as she straddles his shoulders and lowers herself. Yes. He closes his eyes and goes to town on her, lapping and licking, until she’s quivering and mewling and her fingernails dig into his shoulders. She’s wet, then wetter, then squirting, and he swallows every drop, feeling the roiling hunger in his belly settle a little.

Only a little.

That scent - 

“Who did you meet, today?” he asks, when she falls to the side, panting, and stares up at him with hazy eyes.

“Huh?”

“Give me a run-down. Of anyone you had physical contact with.”

“But you’re still hard. Aren’t you - “

“Forget. It.”

“Are you jealous?” Erica raises herself onto her elbows, and smirks. “Is that what this is about? You wanna know who touched me?”

“That isn’t it, and you know it.”

A flicker of hurt crosses her face. “I don’t know, okay? It’s not like I keep track of every random person that brushes past me at school.” At the look on his face, though, she hesitates. “I could… try? To keep track? If it means something.”

“It means something,” he says, but doesn’t elaborate, because it’s not like he knows what it means, either.

*

ASDFDFLKDJFDLD I’M STILL WORKING ON THIS.

I DON’T KNOW IF 1001CRANES REMEMBERS BUT WE HAD ONCE TALKED ABOUT INCUBUS!DEREK. AND, YEAH. I WISH I KNEW HOW TO MAKE GIF-SETS, ‘CAUSE I’D HAVE MADE ONE FOR HER, BUT INSTEAD, ALL I CAN DO IS WRITE HER A STORY.

IN WHICH DEREK CAN GET INTO ANYONE’S PANTS BECAUSE HE’S LITERALLY IRRESISTIBLE, BUT TO HIM, SEX HAS BECOME SORT OF BORING BECAUSE IT’S LIKE EATING THE SAME MEAL EVERY DAY, Y’KNOW? I MEAN, SEX IS EATING MEALS. FOR HIM. BECAUSE HE’S AN INCUBUS. AND HE NEEDS TO CONSUME PEOPLE’S, UH, ‘ESSENCES’ TO SURVIVE.

BUT WHEN HE GOES BACK TO BEACON HILLS FOR HIS FIVE-YEARLY ‘GROUNDING’ (A RITUAL IN WHICH INCUBI MUST RETURN TO THEIR BIRTHING-PLACE FOR A YEAR, TO REPLENISH THEIR POWERS), HE FINDS HIMSELF BIZARRELY UNSATISFIED. NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE HE FUCKS.

TURNS OUT, DEREK’S FIXATED ON THE SCENT OF THIS ANNOYING KID, A VIRGIN, WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE THE SHERIFF’S SON. GREAT. AND HE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO, FOR SOME MYSTERIOUS REASON, SEEMS IMMUNE TO DEREK’S CHARMS - SO DEREK CAN’T JUST SCRATCH THIS ITCH AND FORGET ABOUT IT.

OF COURSE, AS LAURA (YES, LAURA IS ALIVE IN THIS ‘VERSE!) TELLS HIM ON THE PHONE, IT’S BECAUSE STILES IS HIS MATE. IT’S RARE ENOUGH FOR AN INCUBUS TO FIND A TRUE MATE - IT ONLY HAPPENS ONCE EVERY FEW GENERATIONS - BUT WHEN IT DOES, CONSUMING THE ESSENCES OF OTHERS WILL STILL LEAVE THE INCUBUS FEELING STARVED.

SO, BASICALLY, DEREK HAS TO FIND A WAY TO GET STILES TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM, AND STAY WITH HIM - FOR LIFE - BUT STILES DOESN’T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH SOMEONE THAT’S FUCKED HIS WAY ACROSS TOWN AND HAS SLEPT WITH ALMOST EVERYONE STILES KNOWS. AND SOMEONE WHO’LL PROBABLY END UP FUCKING OTHER PEOPLE, EVEN AFTER THEY DO GET TOGETHER, IF STILES EVER FALLS SICK OR IS FAR AWAY OR IS UNABLE TO PUT OUT. THAT’S GUARANTEED CHEATING, RIGHT THERE, EVEN IF DEREK MIGHT INSIST THAT IT’S NOT CHEATING, IT’S SUSTENANCE. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PREFERRED MEAL (STILES) AND EMERGENCY RATIONS (EVERYONE ELSE).

JUST. SEX AS FOOD? IS NOT SOMETHING STILES CAN WRAP HIS HEAD AROUND. HE LOVES BOTH SEX AND FOOD (ALTHOUGH HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRIOR IS ENTIRELY THEORETICAL), BUT THIS IS JUST WEIRD, OKAY? ALL HE WANTS IS A NICE, HEALTHY, LOVING RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE WHOSE IDEA OF BREAKFAST IN BED ISN’T ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, BREAKFAST IN BED. AND THEN LUNCH IN THE BACKROOM OF A CAFE WITH SOME RANDOM WAITRESS, OR SOMETHING.

TROUBLE IS, DEREK IS SUCH A CONVINCING PINER, ALL PALE-FACED AND DRAWN, WITH DARK SMUDGES UNDER HIS EYES. DAMN, HE LOOKS MALNOURISHED, OR LIKE A JUNKIE IN DESPERATE NEED OF A HIT.

BUT THAT’S - THAT’S NOT WHAT STILES WANTS FROM A RELATIONSHIP. HE KNOWS THAT DEREK DOESN’T EVEN LIKE HIM, NOT REALLY, AND THAT WHAT HE WANTS FROM STILES IS BASICALLY WHAT A DRUG ADDICT WANTS FROM A PUSHER. THAT’S… THAT’S SICK. AND STILES IS NOT GOING TO DO THAT.

…OR IS HE?

This made me think of Richelle Mead’s Succubus series so much!!! OMG YOU HAVE TO WRITE THIS!! ALSO UH- I WANT TO MAKE THIS GIFSET NOW. SHIT. LOL

saucefactory:

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that Stiles is theonly person, in canon, that we have seen Derek physically leaning on? Depending on?

Derek is bigger than Stiles. Stronger than Stiles. Taller. Older. More muscular.

And yet, when Derek is reduced to vulnerability, this spazzy, skinny kid is the one that’s there to pick him up. To support his body. To keep him from falling; from dying; from drowning.

Read More

Stiles is the one, for Derek.

The only one.

The beating heart, the tender core, the truth beyond truths.

The one he can count on.

The one he can trust.

His mate.

And that, Jeff Davis, is your context for making Sterek canon.

Right there.

^^^^^^  ^^^^^^

Blogs I wish I could marry and that everyone else should follow stat:

• chestnut-nest
• sourhale
• sterekdestiel
• sterekblog
• derekhale
• derekstilinski
• saucefactory
• gm-milk
• sterekloverxoxo

saucefactory:

So, I came across this lovely fanvid (by paquim) today:

And it reminded me of all that lovely meta about the colors orange and blue that was going around the fandom, a couple weeks ago. You know, about how Stiles trying to tell Lydia about two colors not apparently going together at first but actually being perfect for each other was a deliberate pro-Sterek choice, on the behalf of the art department (and, by extension, Jeff Davis), given that those were the exact same colors Derek tried out in Stiles’s bedroom, the colors on Stiles’s shirt, that were, for a brief period of time, against Derek’s skin. (And people say we’re imagining the gayness. WE’RE NOT, OKAY.)

It was also the only time in canon that Derek ever really wore colors, rather than his usual funereal leather-and-denim combo of midnight-on-black. Because god forbid that angsty supernatural beings dress up cheerily! (Unless their future boyfriends are bullying them into trying on colorful T-shirts in order to bribe understandably appreciative hacker-friends!)

If colors mirror emotions and bright colors equal bright emotions, then that time was also the only time in canon that Derek’s emotions were bright. Different from his usual tormented doom-and-gloom, wracked with loss and self-hatred and soul-deep, paralyzing guilt. And fear. So much fear. Fear of being hurt, again. Fear of being betrayed. Fear of inadvertently betraying others, they way he’d unknowingly betrayed his pack (to Kate). All very dark emotions. Reflected in the dark colors of his clothing. His car. His home. His very mien, down to the ever-darkening stormcloud of his perpetually-lowered brow.

Only in Stiles’s presence did the colors surrounding (and signifying) Derek’s internal state brighten up. Prefaced, significantly, by a literal (and metaphorical) stripping. A baring of psychological (as well as physical) skin. All of a sudden, Derek wasn’t just pitch-black shadows and haunted, midnight blues. He became a clashing combination of orange-and-blue, desire and wistfulness, heat and coolness, youth and the (necessarily tempering) hand of experience. Instinct and logic. Eagerness and doubt. Happiness and sadness. Derek was at odds with himself, because of his own desire for another person, because of this startling onset of a persistent warmth, a mostly-forgotten warmth, from those days when he was still able to feel.

A crack in the long-dark ice.

The cracking open of his very heart.

All in a very playful scene, but oh, the things that scene implies.

Read More

YOU. ARE. KILLING. ME.

reliand:

Emerald Orbs Is Not An Insult: ladyw1nter: fanaddict: MTV SHIPS STEREK.

saucefactory:

ladyw1nter:

fanaddict: MTV SHIPS STEREK.

fannishtalk:

qhuinn:

saucefactory:

I will forever thank Entertainment Weekly for helping to make Sterek canon. Just like we had to thank Matt, even though he was a villain. He did help Stiles and Derek get together.

Like EW is…

LOLWUT OMG YOU GUIZE!

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TOOK MY CRACK AS SERIOUS META! LOLOLOL.

BUT LEMME TRY TO BE SRS, TOO.

AHEM.

OKAY.

*clears throat*

Okay.

:D

So! I don’t actually think we need to worry about the actors, at all. I WUVS THEM. They’re both so accepting!

We all know that Jeff has brought up Dylan’s gay fans with him (as a precursor to making Stiles canonically bisexual), and has had Dylan respond positively to it; in fact, Tyler Hoechlin was the one who told reporters about that, so he was obviously part of the conversation, too. Wonder why? ;)

I’m not worried about Tyler, at all. Tyler, who could’ve easily played the 50/50 thing differently at Comic-Con (see above video) if he was truly uncomfortable with it. Not only did he just giggle when Sterek was brought up (no sign of discomfiture, at all! Well, maybe he blushed!), but he instigated the hand-holding. He didn’t have to do that. A man truly uncomfortable with playing a gay character on-screen wouldn’t encourage fans by doing that, nor would he, on his own, bring up the possibility that there’s a 50/50 chance of the slash pairing becoming canon. He wouldn’t want to raise fans’ expectations and therefore the pressure on himself to play that role, would he?

That, and he did agree to the whole Sterek on-a-ship-pun-intended video. He could’ve easily turned that down; we’d never even have known it was brought up.

ASDLFJDFLKSDJFSDFD. WHAT EVEN IS THAT VIDEO. I STILL CANNOT GET OVER IT. Is that a video shot by actors who’re uncomfortable with the gay? No, it is not. They’re not even playing characters, here; they’re being themselves. Jesus Christ. And, yes, they’re being dorky and amused about it, but they’re also obviously not bothered by it. At all. They wouldn’t have agreed to do it, otherwise. Let alone to do it so… enthusiastically. Um.

Time and again, both actors (Dylan O’Brien and Tyler Hoechlin) were given opportunities to turn away from the gay. But they didn’t. They could have. Every other popular American show in recent years has. Like Supernatural, for example. No other cast has been so actively on-board with using slash to promote the show. No other cast has been so comfortable with it.

And it’s not just Tyler and Dylan. The rest of the cast is very supportive, too! Starting with Colton Haynes, the official captain of the Sterek ship (who fist-pumps when it’s brought up), all the way to Holland Roden (who says that the cast talks about ‘Sterek’ often enough that if the word were used in a drinking game, the entire cast would be utterly smashed in the space of one night), to Crystal Reed (who grins widely whenever it’s mentioned, and says Stiles and Derek are “utterly amazing” have “a good relationship”) to Tyler Posey (who reads fan fiction for kicks, even “the naughty stuff”), to Keahu and Stephen, both of whom are admitted Sterek shippers and have spoken about Sterek during live chats or on their personal Tumblr pages. And then there’s Dylan, of course, who’s tweeted about a Sterek fanvid, and Tyler Hoechlin, who reaches out to hold hands with Dylan in support of the Sterek ship.

I think part of the reason people expect the actors to be freaking out about the gay is because that’s all we’ve seen from other television casts, so far. But this cast is different. Wildly different. Gloriously different. As you can see.

The biggest sign of this is that I never seriously expected Destiel to become canon, no matter how hard I shipped it, nor do I expect Johnlock to ever become canon. It’s not like I’m crazily optimistic about all my ships. Just this one.

THIS IS THE ONLY SHIP THAT I THINK WILL ACTUALLY SAIL.

This is the only pairing that I feel has a real shot at becoming canon.

And it’s because of this eager, friendly atmosphere of fan engagement and utter acceptance, from the cast to the network to the executive producer. They have all repeatedly and consistently made decisions that increase the likelihood of Sterek, from the deliberate choice of shooting the ship video to MTV’s equally deliberate choice of editing out that stray joke Tyler made about Sterek having “no love connection,” to their most recent reaction to the EW kerfuffle.

MTV, especially, had NO NEED to come forward and tell EW that Sterek might happen next season. (“There’s always next season.”) What was that? That wasn’t necessary. That wasn’t something the fans demanded, or even remotely expected. We were happy enough that Jeff was standing up for us and making digs at EW. We certainly didn’t expect THE GODDAMN NETWORK to climb aboard the Sterek ship! But it did! Asdlfjadslfjdklfsjldk!

These aren’t accidents, people. Especially that last incident with MTV weighing in on the Sterek side of the EW debate. These are command decisions made by groups of professionals at the highest levels, who decide that taking certain steps would be in the best commercial interests of the show and the network. That’s a lotta oomph, right there. There’s nothing light-hearted or coincidental about it, although it looks that way. Everything that goes out into the public sphere is carefully considered by network executives. And right now? Sterek is being carefully considered - and is being given the green light. One heck of a green light. A green light so bright, it can be seen from space. Discovery is probably trundling along on Mars, squinting up at that mysterious green light emanating like a beacon from the surface of the earth.

…Ahem.

I think that all of this points to Sterek becoming canon. At no point have either the network or Jeff Davis or any of the cast members taken any action that isn’t pro-Sterek. I think this tells us something. Something very, very important. And very, very happy-making. :D

If Sterek is left by the wayside (which I don’t think it will be; it’s brought too much success to the show and to the network that hosts the show), it won’t be because anyone’s afraid of ‘playing gay’ or ‘writing gay’. If even actors who began their careers many years ago managed to succeed after playing gay characters (say, River Phoenix or Leonardo DiCaprio or Joseph Gordon-Levitt), then actors today don’t have to worry as long as they’ve got real talent. Which Dylan and Tyler do. So.

In fact, the pivotal role in Tom Hanks’ career was his role as a gay man - in the movie Philadelphia, way back in 1993. ALMOST TWENTY YEARS AGO, PEOPLE. That role defined and showcased Hanks’ acting ability. IN FACT, IT WON HIM AN OSCAR. AN OSCAR! His first ever Oscar! AND A GOLDEN GLOBE!

And guess which cast member of Teen Wolf Tom Hanks is the mentor of, acting-wise?

THAT’S RIGHT. TYLER HOECHLIN.

Tyler Hoechlin, who was a child actor alongside Hanks in Road to Perdition.

Y’all can see where I’m going with this, can’t you?

Tyler isn’t going to be afraid of a gay role. His childhood mentor played a gay role and only ever got lauded for it. More than just lauded for it; it won him the biggest accolades in the acting industry. Can’t do better than an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Damn.

Having his reputation, uh, ‘besmirched’ by a gay role is the least of Tyler’s concerns. I’m sure it doesn’t even register on his radar, beyond a brief blip of consideration or a short conversation with his agent. And clearly, his agent approved of the shipping video in which Dylan kissed Tyler’s finger, so. The agent can’t be that anti-gay, either, or they could’ve put a stop to it with minimum controversy, before the video was ever shot. In fact, it would’ve been easier to put a stop to it, then, without the scrutiny that the actors now have, because now, the fans goddamn well expect some Sterek. We were promised a payout if we won the TCA for the show, which we did. It was implicitly promised in the set-up of the video, and explicitly promised by Tyler, later, who said there would be “much more” Sterek interaction in season 3.

If either the actor (Tyler) or the agent had any trouble with escalating things, they would never have gone forward with the ship video, in the first place. Or with the hand-holding at the Comic-Con panel. Or with the 50/50 statement. The pattern so far has been pro-gay, not anti-gay.

Why? Because Sterek will only help Tyler’s career. If anything, adding depth to Derek’s character - the emotional conflict of falling in love, after all that pain, after all that hurt, after all that loss - the moral conflict of falling for a teen, despite his own troubled past - that will only allow Hoechlin to show off more of his acting skills, not less. For Derek to show more expressions than are currently in his arsenal of Broody Scowls 101 would be awesome for him, as a character, and for Hoechlin, as an actor. Being muscular and tormented would no longer be it, for him, in this role. He’d be able to do so much more with it, things that other producers and casting directors are on the lookout for, when they’re searching for people with acting ability.

Basically, for Tyler, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.

And his background - with Tom Hanks, specifically - has to have completely gotten rid of any concept, in his mind, that a gay role can be damaging to an actor’s career. He can’t possibly believe that, not after his primary mentor is the guy who won an Oscar for playing a gay character. The same guy that is also a vocal supporter of gay rights, going so far as to speak out stridently against Proposition 8 and in favor of gay marriage, fearless of any media backlash. This is Tom Hanks, ladies and gentlemen. A class act from start to finish.

With people like this in his life and among his major influences, Hoechlin isn’t going to be a hold-out. Not because of the gay, anyway. Far from it.

And I’m not just being, um, blindly optimistic when I say that; this is my informed opinion after decades of being an attentive fan of television and the media industry as a whole.

The time is right for a slash pairing to become canon. And Teen Wolf? Is the perfect crucible. The magical cauldron. The crystal goblet. THE HOLY GRAIL.

But, despite the cast and the network being pro-Sterek, Jeff might want to take things slow, because of storytelling concerns. At this point, I sincerely believe that he’s considering making Sterek canon, but (like he said in a recent interview), there is a certain delight in teasing the fans with a slow build, only to have the characters become ‘official’ near the end. Or several seasons in. Like Mulder and Scully, his favorite pairing ever. WHO DID BECOME CANON, JUST SAYING. But it took ‘em a while to get there.

The fact that Jeff brought up Mulder and Scully in an interview about Sterek, and labeled himself a Mulder/Scully shipper, says a lot about where his intentions are, as regards to Sterek. Again, he didn’t need to give that interview, nor did he have to bring up Mulder/Scully, nor did he have to say any of the wonderful things he said. These were all deliberate choices he made, choices that are all pro-Sterek, not anti-Sterek. Even if he’d never said any of those things in the interview - even if he’d never spoken of shipping, at all - we’d have been plenty thrilled with what he’s already given us, so far, by saying that he could be “persuaded” to make Sterek canon. He didn’t have to go even further than that. It was his choice to amp things up with that interview. His. Not ours.

Thus, I think that Jeff will go the ‘slow build’ route, the Mulder/Scully route, and we’ll continue to get more and more Sterek interaction as we head toward eventual canonization. For Jeff, the issues are creative, not political. Or social. Or whatever. He isn’t in it to change things in Hollywood; he isn’t in it to keep up heteronormative appearances, either. He’s just there to tell a good story. To entertain his fans. To make us feel emotions, and after seeing the richness of the emotions Sterek has inspired in us, there is no way that Jeff, as a writer, will be immune to that. None. There is no way he won’t be moved, thrilled and incredibly touched, just like any other writer would be, to see people responding positively to his work - to people going happily nuts about it, and getting so emotionally involved that they keymash like crazy, pull other people into watching his show and then promise to leave flowers and/or cookies at his door.

Writers write for their audiences. That’s the whole point. Jeff is a writer; how we react to his story is of paramount importance to him. And after seeing that the Sterek subplot has engendered such powerful, joyful reactions from his viewers, there is no way he won’t be tempted to build on that.

He’ll be tempted to make Sterek canon.

Inevitably.

Gradually.

In a way that is plausible for the characters and has a maximum payoff in terms of audience excitement.

Can you guess what that means, people?

Yeah. In EW-speak, it means an actual will-they-or-won’t-they pairing, not just something abstract and up in the air. It means the actual, textual development of a relationship toward canonical romance. It means a Mulder/Scully scenario, where the audience is on the edge of their seats not because they’re wondering if the two characters will get together, but when.

That, fellow fans, is where we’re headed.

And it’s not just helpless squee, on my part. This is what my rational brain is telling me is happening. This is the sum total of everything else that has happened thus far, from the Teen Choice Awards to the ship video to the cast interviews to MTV’s involvement to Jeff’s statement that he could be persuaded, were enough fans to demand it.

Our job?

Is to demand it.

And it’s not rude to do so. It’s not weird. It’s our job. We’re fans. We’re supposed to be emotionally invested in our show; heck, Jeff wants us to be. That’s what gives him maximum gratification, as a writer. It’s the creative equivalent of an orgasm. (Lol.) So what we’ve got to do is make sure he knows how emotionally invested Sterek makes us in his story, and we’ve gotta do it in a pleasant, positive and consistent way, especially now, while season 3 is being written.

I honestly think that this is the first slash pairing I’ve ever been a fan of that could actually become canon. That is poised to become canon. And that’s why I go utterly insane so frequently, with the all-caps and the, uh. The general squeeage. It’s because I can’t contain myself. It’s because I’m so excited, so thrilled, so happy to see it finally happening.

It’s a shipper’s dream come true!

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