CRED BREENWOLF

so, i’ve been getting a lot of really great questions recently in light of some of the teen wolf posts that i’ve been making. i get a pretty wide variety of things to answer, but i think it’s about time i sat down and created a detailed, well-organized (hah ok we’ll see) post in response to the question that i’ve been getting asked most frequently:

why do i ship sterek?

so, let’s go! let’s talk about why i ship sterek.

note: the post that follows is 100% about the characters of stiles stilinski and derek hale. inside of this post you will NOT find debate about the possibility of this couple becoming canon, analysis of things cast/crew members of teen wolf have said, or attacks/discreditings of other ships on the show. it’s all very character-centric, and i’ve tried very hard to make it a post that’s friendly even to people who don’t ship sterek!

note the second: I’D TELL YOU THAT THIS POST IS LONG BUT YOU’LL JUST UNDERESTIMATE HOW LONG IT IS AND CLICK ON IT ANYWAY AND THEN YOU’LL SEE HOW LONG IT ACTUALLY IS AND CRY

alright, so in the name of organization, let me present to you some of the topics that i’ll be addressing:

histories and feelings of guilt

complementing character traits

relationship evolution thus far

miscellaneous tidbits

my personal crowning sterek moment

so i guess without further ado, let’s get this show on the road bros:

histories and feelings of guilt

you did tell her about me, didn’t you? the truth about the fire? or did you? did you tell anybody? oh, sweetie. that’s just a lot of guilt to keep buried! it’s not all your fault: you got tricked by a pretty face. it happens! handsome young werewolf mistakenly falls in love with a super hot girl who comes from a family that kills werewolves. - kate argent (1x11, formality)

it’s you. it’s all you. you know, every day i saw her lyin’ in that hospital slowly dying. i thought: how the hell am i supposed to raise this stupid kid on my own? this hyperactive little bastard who keeps ruining my life! it’s all you. it’s you stiles. you killed your mother— you hear me? you killed her. and now, you’re killin’ me. - sheriff stilinski [in the form of something like stiles’s worst fear] (2x09, party guessed)

okay, so let’s start with the heavy shit here. stiles and derek have a very, very common ground to stand on: the loss of loved ones. derek lost his entire family in a fire that his lover plotted, and stiles watched his mother slowly burn away. now, we’re not totally sure what the circumstances of stiles’s mother’s death are, but the quote i’ve listed above from 2x09 does a damned good job of showing us that stiles has been carrying some serious guilt for her passing. and kate, in the quote i have before that, even says “that’s just a lot of guilt to keep buried.”

now, these things on their own are kind of insignificant. just because you’ve lost a loved one and are harboring guilt over the lost doesn’t mean that you’re destined to be with someone who’s going through the same thing. but there’s something particularly unique to both derek and stiles’s pain: they’re not telling anyone about it.

for derek, that’s not really a surprise. he doesn’t have anyone to tell. in season two, derek has his betas, but they don’t have a family type bond. it’s all very survival-based, and there’s certainly not a lot (any?) of sitting around talking about his half-buried traumas. but stiles? stiles has scott. scott and stiles are best friends— they do everything together and talk about everything together and can’t stay mad at each other over anything.

so why did scott never know that stiles had panic attacks until 1x08 (lunatic)?

in fact, scott doesn’t seem to get a lot out of stiles’s feelings of guilt ever. look at 2x08 (raving), where stiles finds out that his dad got sacked. scott knows something’s wrong when stiles is silent the whole ride to the warehouse, but when he asks stiles about it, stiles brushes it off like it’s nothing. like he’s used to brushing stuff like that off.

stiles and derek are both choosing to internalize their grieving and their guilt, which is making it worse.

but, frankly, the other people in this verse don’t— CAN’T— understand that. there’s a lot to be said about the family structures of the beacon hills brigade (see a very brief post i made about this here), but derek and stiles aren’t going to find anyone else in the beacon hills brigade who understands the exact sort of stuff that they’re going through. at the end of the day, though, they don’t want to talk about it. if stiles wanted to talk about it, he’d have turned to scott. instead, he’s choosing to internalize it.

eventually, stiles’s mother’s death is going to come to light. that’s inevitable.

as for the hale house fire— stiles was already the person who figured out that kate was responsible. he has all of the tools in his hands to connect the dots and ask the magic question: how did kate pull that off? the second he starts asking that question? he’s going to find answers.

so what happens if stiles looks at derek and says “that’s not your fault. you had no way of stopping her from doing that. she would have done that with or without you.”

and what happens if derek turns around and says “your mom’s death isn’t your fault. she would have died even if your parents hadn’t been splitting their paychecks to get your ADHD medication.“

i mean, clearly it wouldn’t happen like that because that’d just be sloppy. what i’m getting at here is that these characters have the opportunity to not have to talk about their own issues. instead, they can look at each other’s stupid, pent up guilt and self-loathing. and when they call each other out on it? maybe it strikes a chord inside of them. maybe they stop and ask:

why is it okay for him to stop feeling guilty, but it’s not okay for me to stop feeling guilty?

and there’s a wealth of potential in that connection that they have— there’s a treasure of a gift right in front of them: the ability to heal themselves by trying to heal each other. i’ve said before that i think stiles’s love for lydia is tied to a psychological need to “hold on” to things that stiles had before his mother died (see that post here), and i think derek is 100% incapable of entering into a relationship before he forgives himself and sheds that guilt that he’s carried all this time.

so, i think these characters have the potential to heal each other. but just because they help each other out doesn’t mean that they’re soulmates. there’s gotta be more than that— something else.

complementing character traits

let’s go over a list of things that stiles and derek have in common first:

the ability to prioritize

a dry/sarcastic sense of humor

the desire to protect scott

not quite “good” guys

AN ABILITY TO PRIORITIZE is something that pulls stiles away from scott. where scott is falling over himself left and right trying to get the girl and win the lacrosse game and be some sort of hero, stiles knows what comes first: making sure no one gets dead. and derek either recognizes that attribute in stiles as early as 1x02 (second chance at first line) OR he does something completely out of character and takes a risk that stiles will do what has to be done (in layman’s terms: he trusted TRUSTED that stiles would do the right thing even if he wasn’t predisposed to being good at prioritizing). either way, i’m pleased. stiles and derek are established early on as sort of the protectors of scott— the two people standing between scott and the ever-present possibility of someone getting seriously hurt or killed because of scott’s new furry problem. derek is darker and more enigmatic than stiles, but once you get to the end of the first season, you see that he and stiles really did just want scott to not be a killing machine.

A DRY/SARCASTIC SENSE OF HUMOR okay so this might be way off base, but i think that sharing a sense of humor is one of those things that just… has to happen. you don’t take a character that’s as naturally gifted with comedic timing and give him a partner that’s dull as nails or who can’t take a joke to save their life. at first, derek comes off as brooding and dark and no-sense-of-humor-to-be-found— but it’s there. it’s just really, really, really, really dry— and sometimes hidden by a bit of a snarl.

are you okay? what, except for the agonizing pain? i’m guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health. - scott, derek, and stiles 1x04 (wolfsbane)

derek’s sense of humor is my favorite. it’s so understated— and it actually complements stiles’s really well in my opinion. stiles is really obviously funny in that “he always has something smart to say” sort of way. derek? when derek’s being funny, you really can’t tell if he’s being funny or if he’s actually being an asshole. it’s so subtle that you’re playing a guessing game with it 9/10 times. and then there’s a few times where he’s honestly not intending to be funny— he just is. i don’t think stiles ever has that problem. stiles is the funny guy. being funny is a defense mechanism. derek’s best defense is his offense, so when he’s being smart/funny? that’s him just having fun. and i LOVE IT. and it’s why they feed off of each other so well— derek isn’t the colorful comedian that stiles is, so he and stiles aren’t competing for funny zingers or whatever. but it still makes for fantastic witty banter.

A DESIRE TO PROTECT SCOTT i touched on this briefly in the point about prioritizing, so i’ll be quick. derek and stiles have always been working together— even when they weren’t working together— to make sure scott didn’t get hurt. the most perfect/wonderful/amazing moment of this for me was at the end of 2x08 (raving) when stiles had the pleasure of watching derek start to FREAK OUT because he couldn’t get past the moutain ash barrier to save scott from dying. long story short, stiles parted the ashes, derek saved scott, and, after that? well, let’s just say two episodes later stiles wasn’t flinching and freaking out and crying about being paralyzed on top of derek. through their mutual desire to protect scott, they’ve been brought closer together.

NOT QUITE “GOOD” GUYS okay this is kind of a tricky bullet point but i’m gonna do my best to explain what i mean by this. stiles and derek both have a certain understanding: if it’s killing dozens of people, that bitch needs to be taken down. now, stiles drew the line at lydia— he wouldn’t hurt lydia. but the second that the kanima was confirmed as jackson? well, funny how he didn’t mind the idea of killing the kanima then. derek, who didn’t have an emotional attachment to lydia, was on board the kill-the-kanima train from day one. i think that derek and stiles are both unhindered by a need to protect EVERYONE. stiles has three people he’d burn the entire world down to protect (his dad, scott, and lydia), and derek? well, he wants to protect his pack, but there’s no relationship that he has that he would absolutely-under-no-circumstances forsake (yet). i personally believe that these things reflect a similarity in character for these two. they’ll both go really, really damn far to do the right thing. killing a high schooler is a small crime for them compared to letting that high schooler turn into a psychopathic killing machine every night. this is further developed in stiles by his lack of grief over matt’s death, which is revealed in 2x11 (battlefield).

and now for the things that these two differ in that actually complement one another:

personality

personality

personality

PERSONALITY is really the only thing that matters here. as i’ve argued thus far, stiles and derek are similar in history and, in my opinion, point of view on the serious shit. they prioritize properly and they want to protect scott and they both have this dry sense of humor that works really well. and yet, when you stand them side by side, you’re looking at two completely different characters. why?

derek is a werewolf of few words. he hides everything from everyone— even if he doesn’t know anything about anything, he’s hiding the fact that he doesn’t know anything about anything from everyone who seriously needs to know. derek does not know how to trust people. possible explanations for this:

the woman he loved burned his entire family to the ground

OBVIOUSLY THAT’S JUST SPECULATION I COULD BE WRONG HERE.

i get the feeling that derek was a wary guy when he was young, and that sort of level of betrayal just set that side of him loose and now he’s closing doors in everybody’s faces. stiles? stiles hasnt really been characterized as having trust issues. as a result, stiles has let people in super close to his heart. he has loved in so many different ways: love for his father, love for scott, love for lydia. he might be a boy with few friends, but the three relationships he’s got going for him he pulls SO MUCH from. stiles’s love is as strong as his loyalty, because that’s where stiles’s loyalty comes from. he is all heart and home, and you see that as he takes on a sort of mothering role to these people several times (over his father’s food choices and scott’s love drama and lydia’s crying).

and what is derek lacking? heart and home kind of sums it up. i won’t say that derek is heartless, but i think it’s gone so unrecognized, so malnourished for so long that it’s like the cliche: three sizes too small. even if derek faces the guilt that he’s harboring and puts it to rest, teaching himself how to love and trust again is going to be a really, really long process. in fact, i’d argue that the person derek falls in love with has to sneak up on him. it has to be so slow and so steady that derek doesn’t have time to push that person away or freak out or second guess. he’s literally going to have to wake up one morning and say:

holy shit - derek when he wakes up and realizes he loves someone for the first time (?x??, ????)

and i think that the person that’s best equipped to do that— and actually kind of already is?— is stiles.

more on that in a minute, but i wanna touch on what derek brings to stiles. derek is solid, grounded, experienced. he’s smart enough to keep up with stiles, and to stiles derek is a physical representation of the supernatural world that stiles straddles. scott doesn’t fill that role because he comes from a time before stiles knew about all of this stuff. if scott was cured of his lycanthropy episode 3x01, we would still have a story because we would know that derek is still out there struggling. i think derek— and this supernatural world— gives stiles purpose and vision. we hear about stiles’s ADHD more than we see it, and i think that’s because 90% of the time were seeing stiles do problem solving for the sour pack kids.

i think derek and derek’s world both have the ability to focus stiles. stiles, who has probably struggled with issues of inferiority/insecurity/worthlessness through puberty and into adolescence is valuable and necessary in this world. stiles himself is almost like a tool for survival. and, though he may hate it and it may tear him apart sometimes, i think it’s also exactly what he needs. even if scott were cured and could turn his back on the werewolves, stiles wouldn’t be able to forget or ignore it. he’d be drawn back into it because it’s something that made him matter (think about 2x08 [raving] when he had to be the spark). and, like i said, derek is a physical representation of all of that.

now, back to that whole:

the person that’s best equipped to do that— and actually kind of already is?— is stiles

business.

relationship evolution thus far

i’d like to take this time to direct everyone to this extremely important (though heartbreaking) post. i think it’s the responsibility of every sterek shipper to read that and really let it soak in. because i want you all to be aware of everything said there. take it in. cry about it. and then let me tell you why, if jeff davis is convinced to make sterek canon, the story has actually started writing itself. even if the intent wasn’t romantic, jeff davis has already started creating a bond between these two characters. now, only time (and fan input!) will tell if that bond will ever be romantic (fingers crossed!)

i’m a big fan of fanfiction, but there’s one thing that i can’t help but say people are getting wrong time and time and time again in this fandom:

derek has not been physically aggressive towards stiles since season one

he’s threatened— jokingly and in the midst of witty banter— to punch stiles in the face (and stiles has told allison to aim for derek’s head with her crossbow), but sterek violence has been down 100% in season two. also down in season two for sterek:

stiles saying derek scares him

death threats

hateful glares

general i’m-better-than-you vibes

actually blackmailing into helping (“because you need me”)*

*note: derek in s1 blackmails stiles and scott into doing things he wants with the “because you need me” lines. AAAAAND it works. every time. however, he says it again in 2x04 because he really believes that he has to do explain why stiles is holding him up. (because it’s easier to believe than than stiles actually not wanting him to die, which makes my heart hurt poor dEREK.) stiles, in turn, is so offended that derek thinks stiles is holding his ass up because he needs him to fight off a monster like some stupid damsel in distress that he drops derek’s ass like bitch that’s right learn your lesson fool. please note the distinction.

things that are up for sterek in season two (generally applying to 2x02, 2x04, and 2x10 — shape shifted, abomination, and fury):

saving one another’s asses

witty banter ✿‿✿

problem solving

the word “trust”

and honestly? that’s all the result of the game of dominance they played in season one. the shoving and the jacket-straightening and the threats and the testing one another lead up to this: the ideas of hey this person isn’t useless. hey this person has something to offer. hey i don’t want this person dead.

the best moment for relationship evolution for sterek in season two came from 2x10 (fury) when

stiles didn’t freak out/panic over being paralyzed on top of derek (which he totally would have if this were season 1 because derek scared him) and

stiles and derek calmly problem solving next to each other and sharing information as they tried to come up with a way to overpower matt and the kanima (all of which came first over witty banter and sassiness because, again, p r i o r i t i e s)

there’s something to be said about trust here— that still needs to be developed. but they’re to the point of treating one another as equals and working together to get shit done. and it’s fabulous. and it’s not just character growth: it’s relationship development. jeff davis might not have intended it to be romantic— and that’s okay. because it’s not romantic yet. they’re just learning to trust each other. but it’s important because derek is choosing to trust stiles. he doesn’t feel like he’s “supposed” to or that he “has” to. he’s choosing to do it because stiles has proved that, in small doses, he’s earned some of that.

casual reminder that, as far as we know, stiles is the only person derek’s told about this “the universe always balances itself out” stuff. because, you know, that’s not going to come up ever again.

miscellaneous tidbits

who’s a better yoda?

in episode 1x06 (heart monitor), stiles really drives home a sense of competition with derek. his goal is to be the person who helps scott ground himself and figure out his anchor before letting derek get his hands on him. this is particularly significant because i think it solidifies this idea of stiles wanting to assert himself— to be seen as an equal or better than. stiles doesn’t trust derek, but he wants his respect. and he wants it to the point that he stops ignoring scott (though he doesn’t immediately forgive him) and becomes scott’s “yoda.” he doesn’t even try and hide the competitive edge: “i’ll be a much better yoda than derek.”

the gps ordeal

when derek is captured by the argents in 1x10 (co-captain), he takes scott’s phone with him because he knows there’s gps in it. let’s examine what derek was relying on when he did that:

that scott would realize his phone was missing

that scott would come to the conclusion that derek took his phone and it wasn’t just lost

that scott would understand why derek took his phone

that scott could understand that derek knew he’d be captured not killed

that scott would remember his phone has gps

that scott would track derek down and find him

which, i mean, i love scott and i know that he’s a smart guy (2x12 master plan totally solidified that, after all), but he’s kind of a slow burn smart guy. he’s good with plans. but scott isn’t really clever. he’s not QUICK. and derek’s smart. at some point in the first 10 episodes of season one, i’m pretty sure derek caught on to scott’s modus operandi: allison. and it’s not like derek’s ignorant to the fact that scott doesn’t like him. and scott— as i’ve mentioned— does NOT prioritize well. if he doesn’t like derek, he’s not going to make saving derek a priority until it’s clear that he has to (which he does with a HOWL late in 1x12 [code breaker]). so, why would derek expect scott to do all of the things i’ve mentioned above?

it would have been a way smarter plan if derek knew someone who could prioritize, think on his feet, and think clearly were at his disposal. oh, wait.

so this is just a casual reminder that derek was counting on stiles’s talents and wits and personality as early as 1x10. and stiles totally followed through and was 100% capable of understanding derek’s motives. excuse me while i

✿‿✿

the “abomination”

i’m just going to leave this right here because it’s the most open expression that derek hale has shown in two seasons of teen wolf— including when he was being tortured, taunted about his dead family, and abandoned by his betas.

and i’d really, really like to draw attention to the LONG pause that comes before this. it’s not like a breath, guys. it’s like several heartbeats’ worth of silence. go back and watch it. it’s like you can see derek trying to figure out what stiles means by saying that word, by making that differentiation between “werewolves” and “abominations.” like he doesn’t trust it.

obligatory reminder that derek once loved a human and she burned his whole family to the ground because she and hers thought werewolves were abominations

and then he just gives this

heartbreaking

little

nod

casual reminder that these are all things that the editing team and director decided to present us with

casually asking WHY

not papa stilinski you bitch!

and my final miscellaneous tidbit before moving onto the last part of this GIANT POST THAT NONE OF YOU REALLY SHOULD STILL BE READING (i’m crying if you are though i just want you to know that thank you so much for bearing with me).

in episode 2x10 (fury), derek is paralyzed in the police station. he’s vulnerable, and he knowsgerard is after him. he also has a pretty good idea that he can’t kill the kanima when it’s in kanima form (he says “we can’t seem to kill it either” at the beginning of 2x09 [party guessed]). so, what derek should do when the argents show up in a fury of smoke and gunfire is very simple: GET THE FUCK OUT BRO.

but he doesn’t get the fuck out bro. do you know what he does?

he confronts the kanima when it goes towards papa stilinski and mama mccall. we already know that the kanima is no longer working for vengeance— now it’s just killing whomever matt wants it to kill. so what does derek do? he begins to fight it off, away from an unconscious papa stilinski and a very-much-conscious mama mccall. he is not only risking his life IMMEDIATELY because gerard is closing in, he’s also risking his life in the long term should mama mccall decide she doesn’t like the idea of werewolves after all. but he fights anyway. he tries to lure the kanima away from the shadows, first, but when that doesn’t work he outright fights it.

derek might not have anyone that he would personally lay down his life for, but he didn’t hesitate to do it for the people that stiles and scott care MOST about.

as far as a relationship goes, that’s something that would be so important to stiles. having someone in his life that would be willing to lay down his life to protect his father? this is stiles, who has lost a parent and spends every day terrified he’s going to lose another. and not only that, but derek’s also shown that he’s willing to lay his life down for scott (again: 2x08 [raving] being the best example of this). that’s 2/3 for “stiles’s most important people.”

i think that kind of speaks for itself. moving on to the best part of this whole thing:

my crowning sterek moment

my crowning otp moment for sterek comes from the infamous 1x09 (wolf’s bane). you know this episode: derek shoves stiles against the wall, stiles rises up and pushes back, they straighten each other’s jackets; derek takes off his shirt a bunch of times as stiles waves him around like candy for danny (baby why aren’t you a regular i am cry); then we get some witty banter, some physical aggression laughs, and then derek rushes to stiles’s defense when it’s revealed that peter is the alpha DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN.

great episode. really, it’s great. hats off to jonathon roessler, the writer of this doozy.

but there’s really only three things that i take from this scene:

derek was in the room with stiles the whole time that he heard stiles’s dad saying “i’m proud of you” and “i’m gonna be at the game.” he was on the other side of the wall, presumably on high-alert in case stiles’s dad decided to check out what his son was hiding in his bedroom. so derek sat there, listening to a dad tell his son “i’m so proud of you.”

and then derek was in the car when he watched stiles make the decision— though he didn’t say it out loud— to miss the match that his dad was so proud to see.

remember when i said that in 2x04 derek gives stiles the most open/raw look that he’s ever shown in all of teen wolf history s1 and s2?

HAHAHAHA HERE’S THAT MOTHERFUCKER AGAIN. it’s a different angle, but his jaw is slightly slack, his head is tilted to the site ever-so-slightly, and there’s that same i’m trying to figure you out kid feeling that we get. and what does the crew do here? they hold this expression for a few heartbeats too long. like this kid has just confused the fuck out of him. it takes derek all of five seconds to:

register that stiles is making this sacrifice

that stiles is smart enough to know he has to make this sacrifice

that stiles is something to be considered

keep in mind that not even two full episodes later, derek’s trusting stiles to understand all of derek’s motives and come and find him in the basement of the home where his human ex-lover burnt his entire family to the ground

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