My Top 5 2005 Fave Spike/Xander fics
Jan. 1st, 2006 11:52 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
buffyversetop5OTP's are hard, even when you don't claim to have "one." What's the line? "I could no more choose a single star from the heavens"? A bit poetic for my taste, but yes. This was hard. This should be Top 20 faves with the option of 17 honorable mentions...
February 17, 2005
Why Spike Can Be Submissive (As Told By Buffy, Willow and Giles) by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladycat777
Rating: PG-13 to R-ish for themes
Chapters: One-shot
WHY: Indeterminate future-fic. All things considered, I'm not a big fan of meta. Nothing against the practice itself, I just tend to be so generously all-encompassing (heh) that I'm prone to nod along with disparate points of view and think, "Yes, I agree with that." However...work your meta into fic? I'll be your huckleberry. This is a bit of meta-y fic focusing on the submissiveness of Spike, as observed and discussed by Willow, Giles and Buffy in respect to a Spike/Xander relationship (er, hence the title.) Lovely characterization and dialogue and she makes her point quite well. Plus, any time the un-crowned Queen of Porn writes a multi-character, talky fic, I'm there.
April 20, 2005
Without Price bywinterlive
Rating: R
Chapters: 2, COMPELETED
WHY: BtVS Season Seven fic written in the style ofeliade (Anna S). There's a mood to this fic. It's hard to put a name to, actually. It is in the spirit of eliade, ("Sidelines," "Subtleties," et al) but Winter's voice comes through clearly, as well as the basic elements of Spike and Xander that make those of us who gravitate to that pairing breathe a universal, "Yes...that's it." This is everything about them that works and every reason why it shouldn't and is ultimately a 'ship that passes, collides and shatters in the night. (Oh, and I mocked poetic. Ahem.) There's nothing domestic here, and everything doesn't get tied up with a slashy bow at the end, but the ride is brilliant.
May 1, 2005 - September 14, 2005
Wilderness byreremouse
Rating: NC-17
Chapters: 10, COMPLETED
WHY: Post "Chosen" - Spike discovers that Africa played with Xander, and it played a bit too hard. Xander's made a bargain that changes everything and Spike's left to deal with the fall-out. This is a pretty angsty story, quite a bit of hurt/comfort and huge consequences, but one of the things that makesreremouse one of my favorite writers is that, much like ME, she balances the angst with the funny. She writes an incredibly complex Spike, as well - everything is there from the vampire to the bumbling hero to the tears of a clown. He's got layers, dammit - and she lays them all out for the reader.
August 10, 2005 - August 29, 2005
The Assistant bywitling
Rating:witling doesn't have a rating listed, and even though the sex scenes aren't terribly explicit, I'll still list it R to NC-17 for slash and violence that scared the beejesus out of me.
Chapters: 15, COMPLETED
WHY: AtS Season 5 AU. I'd actually considered this for my favorite things of 2005 list, but my lists ran amok and I placed it here instead, even though for all intents and purposes it isn't actually a Spander fic, per se. Oh, the pairing is central to the story, but it's also a story of Wesley and an ensemble horror story - truly not your daddy's shipper fic. This fic is dark, and those who know me know I'm weenie of the highest order, but the violence definitely isn't gratuitous, and every plot turn is earned. And did I mention Angelus? Because there were Angelus moments that canon barely hinted at - I reached levels of trying to toss the laptop into the freezer in a fearful "Friends" homage.
November 16, 2005
They Tell Me It Rained bysavoytruffle
Rating: NC-17
Chapters: 8, COMPLETED
WHY: Post-"Chosen", Africa-centric Xander story, set in Los Angeles.savoytruffle, it almost goes without saying, is one of my all-time favorite Spike/Xander writers. A lot of the reasoning behind that is her talent for writing both of them as "guys." They feel like the canon characters - Xander isn't too needy, Spike isn't too manipulative. Yet when she puts them together, there's a charge between the characters that makes me doubt my canon knowledge. This is a chance meeting story, the characters at different places in their lives and there's no attempt to gloss over those changes or re-write their past. The fact that they both know that they can't go back and rewrite anything or undo those changes makes the moments they have all the more rich. Oh, and I love the title beyond the telling of it.</lj-cut
February 17, 2005
Why Spike Can Be Submissive (As Told By Buffy, Willow and Giles) by
ladycat777Rating: PG-13 to R-ish for themes
Chapters: One-shot
WHY: Indeterminate future-fic. All things considered, I'm not a big fan of meta. Nothing against the practice itself, I just tend to be so generously all-encompassing (heh) that I'm prone to nod along with disparate points of view and think, "Yes, I agree with that." However...work your meta into fic? I'll be your huckleberry. This is a bit of meta-y fic focusing on the submissiveness of Spike, as observed and discussed by Willow, Giles and Buffy in respect to a Spike/Xander relationship (er, hence the title.) Lovely characterization and dialogue and she makes her point quite well. Plus, any time the un-crowned Queen of Porn writes a multi-character, talky fic, I'm there.
April 20, 2005
Without Price by
winterliveRating: R
Chapters: 2, COMPELETED
WHY: BtVS Season Seven fic written in the style of
eliade (Anna S). There's a mood to this fic. It's hard to put a name to, actually. It is in the spirit of eliade, ("Sidelines," "Subtleties," et al) but Winter's voice comes through clearly, as well as the basic elements of Spike and Xander that make those of us who gravitate to that pairing breathe a universal, "Yes...that's it." This is everything about them that works and every reason why it shouldn't and is ultimately a 'ship that passes, collides and shatters in the night. (Oh, and I mocked poetic. Ahem.) There's nothing domestic here, and everything doesn't get tied up with a slashy bow at the end, but the ride is brilliant.May 1, 2005 - September 14, 2005
Wilderness by
reremouseRating: NC-17
Chapters: 10, COMPLETED
WHY: Post "Chosen" - Spike discovers that Africa played with Xander, and it played a bit too hard. Xander's made a bargain that changes everything and Spike's left to deal with the fall-out. This is a pretty angsty story, quite a bit of hurt/comfort and huge consequences, but one of the things that makes
reremouse one of my favorite writers is that, much like ME, she balances the angst with the funny. She writes an incredibly complex Spike, as well - everything is there from the vampire to the bumbling hero to the tears of a clown. He's got layers, dammit - and she lays them all out for the reader. August 10, 2005 - August 29, 2005
The Assistant by
witlingRating:
witling doesn't have a rating listed, and even though the sex scenes aren't terribly explicit, I'll still list it R to NC-17 for slash and violence that scared the beejesus out of me.Chapters: 15, COMPLETED
WHY: AtS Season 5 AU. I'd actually considered this for my favorite things of 2005 list, but my lists ran amok and I placed it here instead, even though for all intents and purposes it isn't actually a Spander fic, per se. Oh, the pairing is central to the story, but it's also a story of Wesley and an ensemble horror story - truly not your daddy's shipper fic. This fic is dark, and those who know me know I'm weenie of the highest order, but the violence definitely isn't gratuitous, and every plot turn is earned. And did I mention Angelus? Because there were Angelus moments that canon barely hinted at - I reached levels of trying to toss the laptop into the freezer in a fearful "Friends" homage.
November 16, 2005
They Tell Me It Rained by
savoytruffleRating: NC-17
Chapters: 8, COMPLETED
WHY: Post-"Chosen", Africa-centric Xander story, set in Los Angeles.
savoytruffle, it almost goes without saying, is one of my all-time favorite Spike/Xander writers. A lot of the reasoning behind that is her talent for writing both of them as "guys." They feel like the canon characters - Xander isn't too needy, Spike isn't too manipulative. Yet when she puts them together, there's a charge between the characters that makes me doubt my canon knowledge. This is a chance meeting story, the characters at different places in their lives and there's no attempt to gloss over those changes or re-write their past. The fact that they both know that they can't go back and rewrite anything or undo those changes makes the moments they have all the more rich. Oh, and I love the title beyond the telling of it.</lj-cut
