I *cannot stand* finding a fic that looks interesting, has a cool premise, it's tagged as Gen, maybe it's part of a series that's in-progress and the rest are tagged as Gen too. So you start reading, and the writer drops a couple of hints here and there that maybe Stiles is bi. Ok, no problem, ignore the alarm bells ringing in my head, maybe they're just a bi Stiles truther. And overall the writing quality is good and the plot is engaging so I can ignore it. But then as the fic (or the series) goes on it becomes clear that the alarm bells are getting louder, especially as Stiles' friendship with Derek grows. Maybe there are lingering glances, or blushing when he's in the room, or explicit thoughts about how hot he is, and the references become more and more frequent. And Stiles' characterisation, which started out so well, seems to transform from loyal, prickly asshole into 'pack mom' sassy bamf. The pining for Derek becomes a central concern (if not to the plot, at least to Stiles' inner monologue) and it becomes clear that this is very much a pre-sterek fic, not Gen as the tags would have you believe. And, fine, I get that writers might not want to add a tag that spoils part of the story, particularly if later fics do go on to make the relationship part of the story. But Jesus effing Christ this has happened so many times and it is so incredibly annoying when a good story that you've spent hours getting into (and want to see play out!!) starts introducing sterek into the narrative and just completely kills my interest. In fact, not only kills my interest but actively repels me.
And I would say, ok this particular story is not going in a direction I like, I'll just stop reading and get over it, but this exact scenario has happened So Many Times and I really just cannot stand that goddamn crackship and how pervasive it is in the TW fandom and how it completely changes Stiles' characterisation every. single. time.
Anyway, this was very rambling and I apologise if I offended anyone - particularly any fic writers or other fandom content producers - I will try to tag it appropriately, but it felt good to type that out.
