Buffy ,'Lessons'
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That was interesting for me, as somebody who's more "Slash? The hell?" than not.
As some one who's more "Slash? Duh." than not (for actually a host of carefully-reasoned intellectual reasons, but a different sort of reasons than W's, more meta and postmodern, really), that was really boring for me.
But. Ah. Not the point.
Beautiful and strange, didn't make me cry, but intriguing, yes.
How could it not make you cry? It made me cry at the past-future lines. Which I'm now wearing as a tagline.
sniffle
I am a delicate little thing.
I'm not always sure what will make me cry. Sometimes, these days, stupid Hallmark commercials make me cry. Sorry.
See, I think that you can be very firmly het and have one (or a few) person of the same sex that pings you. For me, Xander is straight, except where he likes to rub up against Spike. It makes perfect sense to me.
I htink Xander's feelings for Spike--before Season 7, at least--involve contempt for the vampirism, envy for the cooler-than-thou-ness, remembered hatred for all the people who mocked him and beat him up, and grudging pity for something which used to be strong but is now weakened. Xander's essentially a good guy, and Spike's helplessness would inspire both a desire to take advantage and a desire to protect. And maybe simple fascination about someone who still has the air of power and danger. Spike is leashed, but the leash could fail. Xander wonders how close he'll be when the leash finally goes, and will he have been throwing a rock in torment or trying to give comfort?
Dichotomies everywhere, lovely things.