Title: Famous Last Words
Author: JenNova
Relationship: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Word Count: 62,887
Published: 2012-09-15 to 2012-12-18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Extensive dubcon, Derek and Stiles with various OCs (see author's additional tags for more)
Summary: All you need to know about this series is that the doc is titled "The Sex Buddy Fic".
A series of 'made-them-do-its' which ended up telling a much bigger story.
Famous Last Words is the ultimate sex pollen/fuck-or-die fic. (A sentence I never imagined myself writing before I tripped and fell into the fandom life.) It’s a popular trope, for good reason, but jentnova turns the traditional setup on its head by writing a beautifully developed slow build relationship between Derek and Stiles. Although they have sex -- intense, scorchingly hot sex -- in each of the six sections, the focus throughout is on their friendship. It’s a story about two men falling in love, but, more importantly, it’s an exploration of a future where the pack is intact and Derek and Stiles have grown together as secure and confident adults.
The supernatural threats mainly serve as a backdrop, a part of life that the pack has learned to deal with over the years. Meanwhile, in those long gaps between wolfsbane/magic/potion/incubus-fueled sexual encounters, Stiles leverages his obsessive knowledge-gathering into a thriving career as a supernatural consultant, and Derek spends a significant amount of time working through his issues in therapy.
The hints of mutual attraction are present from the beginning, and it’s clear all along that they’re the loves of each other’s lives, as much as they push down the feelings and choose to ignore and deny them. Mates and destinies may not exist in precisely those terms, but sometimes there seems to be an inevitability in how people find one another. In other circumstances, this resistance to accepting their romantic potential could be frustrating to watch. In the careful development of this series, however, it’s just as crucial that the two of them engage in healthy relationships with other people as they learn who they are and what they truly mean to each other. The pacing feels utterly appropriate, with a natural progression from reluctant allies to best friends to lovers.
While their story is grounded in various dubcon scenarios, there’s a consent-heavy focus each time they have sex. Their first time, for example, is unexpectedly playful, with Derek determined to check in with Stiles every step of the way and to ensure that everything is as good for him as it could possibly be. Stiles, in turn, takes every opportunity to reassure Derek and demonstrate how determined he is to take care of him. Long before the language turns to love, they exchange declarations of mutual trust, forging an ironclad bond that carries them through college, breakups, faeries who are determined to steal Stiles away, shifts in pack dynamics, and pivotal arguments.
Derek spends years testing the edges of what it means to be happy, of what Stiles means to him. He acknowledges the early brushes of “what ifs” or “could have beens,” but he’s self-aware enough to recognize that their rough edges aren’t at a point where it would do either of them well to smash them together and see how they fit. They both need time to mature, to figure themselves out, and to let their friendship guide them in the right direction.
Therapy ends up being absolutely essential for Derek’s development and for his ability to believe that he deserves Stiles’s love. Also essential is Derek’s careful attention to truly letting Stiles live his life without begrudging his place in it, despite his urges to shelter him and keep him close. In jentnova’s words: "There's so much safety and trust in Stiles and Derek hates thinking about it, about what it means, but sometimes it's impossible not to. About how Derek can't ever lose him, can barely stand to share him with the rest of the world, and how much he needs him."
Stiles rewards this trust by remaining “the only person who keeps coming back because he wants to,” which “means more to Derek than he can tell him.” This is one of my favorite renditions of how Stiles as an adult would cement his place in the pack. He’s a little bit dark, with a twisted smile and an ability to shift from flirting to fighting in the space of seconds. Derek and the pack are his to protect, and his loyalty is unwavering in a way that Derek relies on more than he can ever express. With Stiles, though, who is able to search him out in his worst moments and offer his unfailing support, he doesn’t necessarily need to say it.
Famous Last Words is filled with achingly perfect lines, many of which would spoil the fic to quote out of context. In addition to those, one of my favorite elements of this fic is the Sunday morning tradition that Stiles begins and Derek insists on continuing. Its main intent is to keep the members of the pack in tune with one another. In the process, it solidifies Stiles’s and Derek’s domesticity. They spend every Sunday afternoon in this quiet, blissful setting - working beside each other, marathoning TV shows, finding peace in each others’ presence. This, for me, is the point where the two truly fall in love and begin the shift in their relationship, even if it takes much more time for them to say as much in words.
But, as always, Stiles eventually says it best:
“Nothing about us is normal,” Stiles allows, turning back to face the line. “That's why I like it.”
Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Additional Tags: Fantasizing, Pining, Kissing, Spoilers for 3.02
Summary: This thing he feels for Stiles, this constant edge of exasperation and reluctant amusement --- it’s affection.
As insights go, this should seem… bland. Minor. Something to be easily brushed off.
Derek is a fan of slow jazz after all. (Which means I have an image of him & Stiles dancing to a particular Sinatra version of Night & Day that I love. Oh dear.)
vangoghstars said:
Now I want all the fic where Derek teaches ANYONE to slowdance before a wedding/prom.
imshakingyourconfidencedaily said:
COTILLIANS> I NEED FIC WITH DEREK AND COTILLIANS
lucy-in-the-soup-with-croutons said:
I would pay good money to see Stiles twerking while Derek just wants to do a nice waltz.
GUYS I WANNA CRY because I've already been shoving references into various fics of mine that Derek knows how to ballroom dance
MY DREAMS
I WILL WRITE YOU COTILLION!FIC I SWEAR
(I know "slow dance" doesn't really mean "ballroom dance" but come on, EVERYONE can do that prom-date clutch-and-sway thing. Derek's definitely got some rhumba in his past.)
Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Additional Tags: 5 Times, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Wendigo, Vampires, Kidnapping, Humor, Minor Violence
Notes: This was written for JenTNova, because I cherish and adore her. The title is from the exceptionally goofy song 'The Ballad of Tom Jones' by Space and Cerys Matthews, because it came on my music shuffle and consequently inspired the fic.
Summary: Alternative title: 5 Times Stiles and Derek Advocated for One Another’s Death (and Each Time Acted the Opposite of Their Words)
