Man, I'm just gonna be real: some of those fics hit the spot, and others feel like they're missing the core of what makes that void dynamic work. It's not just about Stiles being empty; it's about the reader being the thing that either fills that void or learns to live within it without trying to 'fix' him. The ones that get me are where the reader has their own damage, not in a mirroring way, but something jagged that fits against his smooth nothingness in a weirdly comfortable way. Like, they're not completing each other in a sappy sense—more like two negatives making a stranger, more interesting positive.
A lot of writers lean too hard into the angsty caretaker trope, and it loses the unsettling edge that makes 'void' Stiles compelling in the first place. When the reader character immediately understands and pities him, it rings false. The connection should feel uneasy, charged, maybe even a little frightening at first. Does the reader find his calm disturbing? Are they intrigued by the lack of reaction? That friction is where the real depth starts, not in instant comfort. Honestly, the best one I've read recently had the reader accidentally making him feel a flicker of annoyance, and that tiny crack in the void was more intimate than any confession of love.