crack_van | Going Soft by sublimatedangel (R)

Oh, RL, why do you have to get in the way of fandom? I'll be posting a couple catch-up recs that I really wanted to do last week.

Fandom: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Length: 3,117 words
Author on LJ:

sublimatedangel or

sinandcinnamon
Author Website: Fic is at the

sinandcinnamon journal
Why this must be read:

One of the things that irritates me in fic is this need so many of us have to make the characters physically perfect. In Season 6, Xander gained a little weight, and it was commented upon in the series. In fic, many authors writing during or shortly after this time period make it clear that Xander dropped the weight and buffed up, as if he has to be a trim, muscular specimen of manhood to be at all desirable. This short and sweet fic takes place during Xander's chubby phase, and Spike's attraction is far from diminished by Xander's extra padding.

There is a single use of "nummy" as a nickname, but I think it's forgivable. :o)

It wasn't that Spike had anything against sleeping with men. And it wasn't that he couldn't see the attraction, because he could well appreciate the aesthetics of the male form. It's just that he loved women, loved the way they were in bed, giving of themselves and accepting him in. He'd had a handful of encounters with men, strangers with hard bodies and harder eyes, and while there was something satisfying about the rough dirty desperation of those back alley encounters, they just didn't compare to the lush langour of bedding the fairer sex.

Go. Read. Love. Tell the author.

Going Soft