Derek Hale makes poor decisions re: bridges, fire.

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Sometimes it's really tempting to go back and make a log of every time Derek Hale burns a bridge by accident. And I say "burn" but I mean more "dramatically blow up and then salt the ground under". I'd actually forgotten that in season 1 he kidnapped Dr. Deaton and, you know, kind of tortured him a bit to try to make him turn into a werewolf. For completely internally consistent reasons that should have saved lives except that Derek was wrong and instead alienated someone who could have helped him and put everyone in worse danger. SOME MORE. (Note that Scott was not exactly a bulwark of good choices here either but for serious Derek punched Scott's boss a lot.)

(And Derek walks into the examination room in 1x06 without the mountain ash stopping him! After that, when Peter comes back, the mountain ash stops him! Dr. Deaton installed it specifically to protect his place of work against Derek, who he apparently thought might be a serious danger to him and Scott, based on, you know, Derek kidnapping and torturing him. I can't believe I forgot that this happened until I rewatched the episode this weekend.)

Given what Derek put Dr. Deaton through, I think what Dr. Deaton said to him was actually pretty gentle. Derek Hale is such a walking avalanche of bad decisions, man.

Insert usual note here about how I find his flailing incapacity not to alienate everyone in the world to be a basically sympathetic problem so long as he gets held accountable for his actions so that he can do better in the future.

... I am writing like ten thousand words in a document I've titled Derek Hale Had a Happy Werewolf Childhood, too, so this is not just pro forma not-hating-him. I have named his mother Marjorie, which I think is a nice name for a werewolf.

Comments

also hello btw

[some_stars]

Oh wow, that's so--I forgot that too! I mean, granted the entire first season is a blur to me because I watched it all in one day, but jeez. To be fair, I suspect the show mostly forgot it too when writing their recent interaction. But still.

I, too, am ridiculously in love with Derek as long as his many failures and flaws are recognized and not explained away because manpain and his precious face. So I'm kind of allergic to like half of fandom? And I rarely express this love in public for fear people will think I mean the other kind. But I love him. A LOT.

Re: also hello btw

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Haha, yeah, I thought I was watching this show ironically for the first two days of the three days it took me to watch S1, and I keep having to go back and re-watch things that I totally missed that turn out to really have had consequences and be part of characterization arcs. /o\ WAY TO SNEAK UP ON ME TEEN WOLF. I have to warn you though that I tend to think that Teen Wolf is doing things, if not deftly, at least usually on purpose. I, I um, I think Teen Wolf is actually really good, secretly, but it's trying to hide it behind rippling abs.

I, too, am ridiculously in love with Derek as long as his many failures and flaws are recognized and not explained away because manpain and his precious face.

Haha, yeah, I have written SEVERAL apologetic screeds on how I like Derek the OTHER way. This makes me curious what your ships are, btw. I ship everything except, it turns out, fanon Stiles.

oh my god this got long

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I can respect that! I keep having moments where I think "this is really good!" and then everything seems to be dropped for a different direction? But also, I'm not good at TV, and I respect the love of others.

I ship...a lot of things? My big, heart-seizing, oh-god-these-feelings OTP is Scott/Stiles (and I have pretty intense OT3 feelings with Allison, too), which leaves me pretty shit out of luck fic-wise. But I get it out of my system by constantly emailing my friend who I made watch this show and who also ships it. I also now love Scott/Isaac A LOT, and I don't exactly ship Jackson/Danny but I am VERY INTERESTED in their friendship. Also Allison/Lydia, which I talked myself into by writing it. Also Erica/Isaac, and Erica/Lydia, and Boyd/Erica/Isaac because I love the horrible wolfchildren. Like, I was recently tossing around a Hunger Games AU inspired by a neat gifset someone made, and I decided that I needed Boyd to be the Katniss role, and Erica to be his Gale, and Isaac to be his Peeta. That is how I want them to be.

I don't really ship Derek with any of the kids, but I friendship/packship everyone on the show with him and each other. I just love his strong but incompetent feelings for all the teen wolves, like I'd enjoy fic where he's kind of in love with Scott but it's not really sexual. Or where he really wanted Boyd to be his lieutenant, because he really *liked* Boyd. Or where his feelings about Erica's sexuality can basically be summed up as "oh, dear," but every so often she'll remind him of Laura--Laura right after the fire, when she was so angry and out of control and the only thing that kept her from basically being Erica was that she needed to be strong for Derek, but she still went out some nights and when she came home he had to hold her for a while before either of them could sleep. And he keeps getting the urge to hold Erica like that, even though she'd literally try to kill him if he did. Also similar stuff with Isaac but we got a nice moment of that on the show.

On the other hand, sometimes I feel like Derek's development is so arrested at the moment of Kate and the fire that it makes sense for him to be romantically and sexually attracted to teens who are the same age he was. But I'd need that fic to be pretty messed up. Also, I can't lie, I would read almost any fic with D/s elements, even just slight ones, where Derek was submissive, even if it was pairing him with a 16 year old. I just cannot for one second buy him as this big dominant confident controlling top. LOOK AT HIM. ...also I ship Jackson/his sexual terror, because Colton Haynes is REALLY GOOD at that. And Danny/all the boys.

Re: oh my god this got long

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Haha yeah see I ship Derek/Mistakes, so my most powerful Derek ship is actually a one-sided Derek/Scott in which Derek desperately needs Scott to come be his werewolf redemption but Scott is also making a good call in staying well clear of him. Oh, wait, I call that my season 2 version of canon. I would totally ship Derek/any of them in a messed up way, or in futurefic. I'd also happily ship Derek with any of the actual grownups, which just makes me think I'm getting old :D

OH MAN see the story I most want to read and feel least qualified to write is about Stiles and Allison's angle of the Scott/Stiles/Allison OT3. I want there to be, like, an adventure and they have to rescue each other and they gain respect for each other's unique brand of competence and mutual appreciation of, basically, their painfully-Gryffindor mutual gentleman friend Scott. And sleep in each other's arms, seriously, I am no good at writing adventure plots and this makes me sad because no one else seems eager to write me this story. I am generally all over people being friends whose friendships comfortably acknowledge the possibility of romance and may or may not cross over the line, so at this point most of my bookmarks are Danny-Jackson friendship stories, or stories where Stiles and Scott made out once and then never did again but also it is a part of the story of their friendship.

Re: oh my god this got long

[some_stars]

One-sided Derek/Scott where Scott makes good decisions! I am totally adopting this OTP. I would like to ship Derek with the grownups, come to think of it. Maybe with the Sheriff (who really needs a first name), or with Deaton. I kind of super hate the Argents, unfortunately, so Derek/Chris Argent would not be my thing, although I can see where one could get there. But like, a 40,000 word plotty fic taking place over several months where Derek and Stilinski have to work together on stuff, and Derek grows up some, and they develop a tentative mutual respect, and...yeah.

Or fic where Derek develops a thing for Deaton because he's a connection to his family, and also because he bosses Derek around and doesn't take his shit, and at first Deaton is not touching that shit with a ten foot pole, but very gradually--as Derek starts taking more of his advice, and maybe reminding Deaton more and more of whatever Hale family member he used to be in love with--things develop.

I literally threw my arms up in the air with joy when I read your second paragraph, so, uh, yeah. I agree with this desire. On all counts, including that I am ALSO no good at plotty stories and weep for fandom's apparent uninterest in this stuff.

Re: oh my god this got long

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But like, a 40,000 word plotty fic taking place over several months where Derek and Stilinski have to work together on stuff, and Derek grows up some, and they develop a tentative mutual respect, and...yeah.

::cough:: You might have described something that I'm tentatively cowriting. I too have my Argent Issues (though I have been pathetically in love with Allison since I started watching, and am holding off until after tonight to make a firm decision about whether this state of things continues), but I do like me a redeemable bad guy.

I am normally so amazingly bad at television myself that I'm more of a fan of the fandom, and like whatever it is fandom wants to write, so getting so invested in a canon and wanting fic people aren't writing is a new experience for me. It's pretty informative! And makes me feel bad for everyone who hated the OTP in my last fandom...

Maybe I can get some sort of Allison-based plot out of whatever happens tonight where she and Stiles can have adventures :/ I had at least the first page of something two weeks ago, but it's been jossed now.

Re: oh my god this got long

[some_stars]

Oh, I didn't mean I hate Allison! I love Allison. A LOT. I just hate all her family members (although my Kate hatred is really more about how much I hate the narrative position she's placed in; I mostly enjoy her). And omg, I am very very very excited to hear that you're writing that story! I seem to have talked myself into genuinely shipping this now, what /o\

Yeah, I've had two things jossed by this fandom already. It keeps seeming to head in a direction, and I start to write fic, and then: nope. I hope you can get some Allison fic going though! Especially with Stiles and adventures :D

Re: oh my god this got long

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Oh, I figured you didn't, I have seen your journal :D it's just that her problems are definitely Argent problems, they really paint themselves into a corner on many issues.

uh, teen wolf makes me tl;dr a lot. Hi! It's good to see you around the internet, I know we've crossed fandoms before.

Re: oh my god this got long

[some_stars]

We've definitely both been in New Who at the same time, because you wrote one of my favorite Amy/Rory/Eleven stories. And probably other shows; fandom is tiny and cyclic. *g* Nice to make your re-acquaintance! As you can see, I also have tl;dr problems when explaining my ~feelings.~