#mon semblable

[conscious-love]

I'll say I love you, which will lead, of course, to disappointment; but those words unsaid — poison every next moment. I will try to disappoint you better than anyone else has.

Mon Semblable

[threefiguresonyourheart]

A couple of caveats before I start! This is my biased view on canon and not intended to convince people about the validity/superiority of the ship or my favorite interpretation. People can ship Steter any damn way they want, but this is what drew me to the pair and why I’m still interested.

Thank you @yogi-bogey-box for posting your own thoughts on Steter and inviting other people to the conversation!

In 2012, I kept seeing Teen Wolf fics. I had no idea what Teen Wolf was about. All I knew were these facts:

It was a mostly unrelated adaptation of the film.

Sterek was inescapable.

At the time, I was incredibly absorbed in Game of Thrones and Hobbit fandoms, steeping myself in age difference filth and loving every moment. Then Sterek kept showing up on tumblr. Writers I followed for GoT or Hobbit also wrote for TW. I wound up reading Sterek and finding a lot of good fic. Some of it was exceptional, and yet. I found myself strangely wistful.

I knew myself. I wanted something more awful.

Before ever watching Season 1, I had spoiled myself. I knew about the ultimate moment: the parking garage. (You’ll tear The Bite is a Proposal meta away from my cold hands). When I finally gave in to Teen Wolf fandom, I was primed and ready to love Peter for being terrible.

The realization that Season 1 was a revenge arc excited me quite a lot. I love those kinds of stories. A man doesn’t live under the same sky as his enemy, so I accepted that Peter would need to break a few eggs to make his delicious vengeance omelet.

As the antagonist, I didn’t need Peter to be a good person or redeemable. I simply needed him to work against the protagonists and do some bad things—hopefully with style. I hoped for him to be villainous and frightening, for him to be the red-eyed monster. It was my dearest wish that I’d get to see him force the protags into desperate situations through a mixture of might and manipulation. (I also wished for him to be a competent plotter, but we can’t have everything).

Given my shipping history, I was fully prepared to welcome another age difference ship into my heart as a matter of course. The sky is blue. Water is wet. Mal will gravitate to the worst pairings in any given media property.

I didn’t expect to genuinely ship them above all others.

I wasn’t prepared for Peter’s clear interest in Stiles. You must be Stiles. Because you’re the clever one aren’t you? I like you, Stiles.

Defiance was no shock for this setup, but for Stiles to snark with and at Peter, someone who truly scared him, was delightful. They had remarkable chemistry in all of their scenes throughout the show. But the the way Peter touched Stiles? Somehow Peter touched Stiles with more intimacy than he’d mustered up for Melissa on their date, and for the show to focus on the sensuality of those scenes the way they did? Amazing.

It’s been done to death, so I won’t go into detail on the choreography of the lacrosse field or parking garage scenes. I won’t even cry about how Stiles was the only one given the opportunity to say no to the bite. However, I will point out that Teen Wolf used many conventions and tropes of the horror genre. The sexual overtones of the werewolf bite are undeniable.

Steter is many things to many people—even to me. I’m happy to read and write Peter and Stiles in different dynamics and situations. Sometimes my Peter isn’t even that awful! But if we’re talking about canon, then it always returns to Season 1 and the building blocks of Steter: Desire. Awareness. Defiance. (And look, the acronym is DAD! How can I resist?)

Bad jokes aside, that’s a powerful combination for any interpersonal dynamics. Peter wanted Stiles, they noticed each other far more than necessary for narrative purposes, and Stiles? He refused to give in to Peter’s desires… and since I’m a shipper, I believe that he refused to give in to his own desires, too.

When you have a self-interested character and thwarted desire, there are so many places to go—so many terrible places to go, and I love exploring them all. Peter doesn’t need a redemption arc to pair him with Stiles. For me, their interest in each other is nothing soft or sweet. It’s a struggle for advantage. It’s sharp and dangerous and, almost definitely, not healthy. They are mutually assured destruction, and that’s why I ship Steter.

I’ll borrow Stephen Dunn’s excellent poem, “Mon Semblable”, to help me sum up my favorite type of Steter:

I like things my way every chance I get. A limit doesn’t exist

when it comes to that. But please, don’t confuse what I say with honesty.

Isn’t honesty the open yawn the unimaginable love more than truth?

Anonymous among strangers I look for those with hidden wings,

and for scars that those who once had wings can’t hide.

Though I know it’s unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time.

Does this appeal to you, such slow disclosures, a lifetime perhaps

of almost knowing one another? I would hope you, too, would hold something back,

and that you’d always want whatever unequal share you had style enough to get.

Altruism is for those who can’t endure their desires. There’s a world

as ambiguous as a moan, a pleasure moan our earnest neighbors

might think a crime. It’s where we could live. I’ll say I love you,

which will lead, of course, to disappointment, but those words unsaid

poison every next moment. I will try to disappoint you better than anyone ever has.

[deactivatedmini]

Mon Semblable

“Anonymous among strangers I look for those with hidden wings,

and for scars that those who once had wings can’t hide.

Though I know it’s unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time.

Does this appeal to you, such slow disclosures, a lifetime perhaps

of almost knowing one another? I would hope you, too, would hold something back”

- Stephen Dunn

[100pitchersofhoney]

"Mon Semblable"

by Stephen Dunn

I like things my way every chance I get. A limit doesn’t exist when it comes to that. But please, don’t confuse what I say with honesty. Isn’t honesty the open yawn the unimaginable love more than truth? Anonymous among strangers I look for those with hidden wings, and for scars that those who once had wings can’t hide. Though I know it’s unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time. Does this appeal to you, such slow disclosures, a lifetime perhaps of almost knowing one another? I would hope you, too, would hold something back, and that you’d always want whatever unequal share you had style enough to get. Altruism is for those who can’t endure their desires. There’s a world as ambiguous as a moan, a pleasure moan our earnest neighbors might think a crime. It’s where we could live. I’ll say I love you, which will lead, of course, to disappointment, but those words unsaid poison every next moment. I will try to disappoint you better than anyone ever has.

[hush-syrup]

Though I know it’s unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time. Does this appeal to you, such slow disclosures, a lifetime perhaps of almost knowing one another?

From Mon Semblable by Stephen Dunn

[toomuchtact]

Mon Semblable Stephen Dunn No man has ever dared to describe himself as he truly is. —Camus I like things my way every chance I get. A limit doesn’t exist when it comes to that. But please, don’t confuse what I say with honesty. Isn’t honesty the open yawn the unimaginable love more than truth? Anonymous among strangers I look for those with hidden wings, and for scars that those who once had wings can’t hide. Though I know it’s unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time. Does this appeal to you, such slow disclosures, a lifetime perhaps of almost knowing one another? I would hope you, too, would hold something back, and that you’d always want whatever unequal share you had style enough to get. Altruism is for those who can’t endure their desires. There’s a world as ambiguous as a moan, a pleasure moan our earnest neighbors might think a crime. It’s where we could live. I’ll say I love you, which will lead, of course, to disappointment, but those words unsaid poison every next moment. I will try to disappoint you better than anyone ever has.

[werewolvestolovers]

"Mon Semblable", Stephen Dunn

I like things my way every chance I get. A limit doesn’t exist when it comes to that. But please, don’t confuse what I say with honesty. Isn’t honesty the open yawn the unimaginable love more than truth? Anonymous among strangers I look for those with hidden wings, and for scars that those who once had wings can’t hide. Though I know it’s unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time. Does this appeal to you, such slow disclosures, a lifetime perhaps of almost knowing one another? I would hope you, too, would hold something back, and that you’d always want whatever unequal share you had style enough to get. Altruism is for those who can’t endure their desires. There’s a world as ambiguous as a moan, a pleasure moan our earnest neighbors might think a crime. It’s where we could live. I’ll say I love you, which will lead, of course, to disappointment, but those words unsaid poison every next moment. I will try to disappoint you better than anyone ever has.