Xander-Shaped Love (Season 6 and 7)

[sosa lola]

Xander-Shaped Love written by crazydiamondsue

crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com/120122.html

I love that Xander’s reaction to Willow’s newly honed telepathy is, “I know, I know, I don't have to talk when I answer you. But I saw The Fury, and that way lies spooky carnival death.”

I love that Xander is wearing a #13 t-shirt and Willow is wearing a #11 t-shirt during the big “Bring her back alive!” convo at Xander’s apartment. I love that there were lots of fan theories about what it meant. I love that it’s random.

I love the intense conversation between Willow and Xander about being Buffy back. I love Xander’s hesitance. I love that they’re just now discussing the realities of it, considering they’re right on the cusp of doing it.

I love that Giles and Xander offer each other awkward handshakes as Giles prepares to go back to England, and then both give into a warm hug.

I love that Xander attempts to grill both Willow and Tara on the intensity of the resurrection spell, and all things he and the others weren’t told about it. I love that I wish he’d kept grilling.

I love how horrified Xander is when he realizes that the resurrection spell worked, and they had left Buffy right where they put her – in her grave.

I love that in an episode so fraught with angst and wank fodder as Bargaining 2, Xander can still make me laugh myself silly with a line like, “I happen to be a very powerful man-witch myself.”

I love that Xander offers just-back-from-the-dead Buffy pizza.

I love that the Xander, Anya and Spike scene at the tree tears me up inside. I love all the feeling manifested on both Spike and Xander’s faces after Xander’s line, “Look me in the eyes, and tell me when you saw Buffy alive, that wasn't the happiest moment of your entire existence.”

I love the Willow, Buffy and Xander hug at the end of After Life. I love the juxtaposition of Xander’s peaceful face and Buffy’s conflicted one.

I love that Xander’s called to mediate Dawn and Anya’s ‘Spiderman doesn’t charge’ argument. I love that his call is, “Action is his reward.”

I love Xander and Anya’s “flying buttress of support” argument over announcing their engagement. I love that Anya accuses Xander of confusing her with his, “fancy talk and, and lips.”

Could I love pig-tailed Buffy and tool-belted Xander in their matching yellow hard-hats more? No.

I love Pirate Xander.

I love that Charlie’s Angels dressed Anya’s dance of capitalist superiority causes Xander to announce their engagement.

I love Xander’s nervous conversations with both Buffy and Giles regarding his future married life. I also, randomly, love Xander, Anya and Willow dancing as the party winds down. I love that it always gets Nikka Costa’s “Everybody Got Their Something,” stuck in my head for hours.

I love Xander’s Magnolia, “Respect the cruller. And tame the donut!” shout-out.

I love the smash cut from Under Your Spell to Xander’s speculation that Tara and Willow aren’t even working, and his innuendo filled, “Oh yeah,” to Giles’ assertion that they’re probably making every effort.

I love every second of “I’ll Never Tell,” (especially the skeezy cheeses) but I really love the follow up conversation with Giles later, especially the, “Work with me, British man. Give me an axe and show me where to point it,” line.

I love Xander’s horrified expression to learn that they pulled Buffy out of Heavaaaan.

I love that, with OMWF being the episode that took BtVS from a cool show into an obsession for me, I thought it was really cool that Xander had summoned Sweet to “get a happy ending.” I love that I never once considered the people who died from the burning and dancing due to Xander’s actions until I read about in fandom. I love that, due to my vast love of both musicals and Xander, I try to rationalize it.

I love Xander’s attempt at prayer of multiple faiths as the vampires attack.

I love that Xander interrupts Invisible Buffy and Spike’s “exercising..naked.” I really love the, “You know, kidding aside, Spike ... you really should get a girlfriend,” line.

I love Xander’s excited, “Ooh!” reaction to Willow’s statement that the Trio’s lair included pictures of the Vulcan woman on "Enterprise,” and then his immediate cover of, “Nerds!”

I love Xander and Anya swing dancing. I love that it causes Xander to pull a jive muscle.

I love the handmade weapons chest Xander gives Buffy for her 21st birthday. I love that it has a CD holder.

I love Xander and Anya’s nervous pre-wedding chip eating. I love the, “Cool Ranch?” “Cajun Fiesta,” exchange.

I love that Xander and Anya are hiding in their bathroom from their families pre-wedding. I love that they have matching monogrammed pink towels.

I love that Buffy slayer-strengths Xander into his cummerbund. I love that the Harrises are Episcopalian.

I love the shot of Xander’s face as the door closes behind him at the cheap motel after walking out of the wedding. I love that that’s all I can say about “Hells Bells,” because even after all this time, it hurts me.

I love the Spike and Xander “King of the Big Exit” – “Willie Wanna Bite” showdown in Normal Again. I really love the outtakes from it.

I love Xander and Spike’s demon recon after the Trio created demon that causes Buffy to doubt her reality. I love Xander’s, “I altered his reality,” line.

I love that in Xander’s anger over what he terms, “That's not Proactive Guy - That's Sit-Around-And ... Watch-The-Rest-of-Your-Life-To-Turn-To-Crap Guy,” post-“Hells Bells” Anya angst – he kicks the gnome in Buffy’s yard. (That’s a weird Sue gnome thing. I open to the fact that it’s just me.)

I love that, while I know there could be angst over the Xander-Goes-To-Axe-Spike-in-Reaction-to-the-Spike’n’Anya-Table-Sex scene, I’m distracted by the fact that the stake in Xander’s back pocket totally ruins the lines of his jacket and makes his butt look like Puffy-Xander butt.

I love how much this scene from Seeing Red hurts me:
BUFFY
Xander, what I do with my personal life is none of your business.
XANDER
It used to be.

I love the chick at the yet-again-remodeled Bronze hitting on Xander. I love his wandering “Chicken of the Sea” fish metaphor. I love his homage to “I like the quiet.”

I love that Xander tells Warren: “See now, I think it's the daddy thing that's throwing her. 'Cause incest, not that sexy.” (Dude…are you reading your fic?!)

I love that Xander can read (or at least recognize) Klingon.

I love that Xander reveals to Buffy that he was more hurt than she didn’t tell him about her relationship with Spike, rather than the fact of the relationship itself. I love his, “How did we get here?” line. I love their hug in her garden.

I love Xander’s pain filled, “Christ, Will,” when Willow finally explains that Warren shot Tara, and that she’s dead. I love that just reading the freaking *transcript* of that episode is killing me.

I love Xander’s cynicism about the police handling Warren, mirroring his feelings about Joyce’s doctors in The Body. I love, even though it hurts beyond the typing of it, his line to Buffy, “I just ... I've had blood on my hands all day. Blood from people I love.”

Is it wrong that I love that Xander steals a police car? For the greater good, right?

I love Xander’s reaction to Evil-Willow-surfing-the-semi off Jonathan’s “She packed her own lunches and wore floods and was always... just Willow,” – “Just Willow.”

I love Xander’s, “You've never had any tiny bit of sex, have you?” almost more than Andrew’s, “And we've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa-burgers, and not one of you bunch has the midichlorians to stop her.”

Okay, okay – I know people have serious Season 6 issues, but I can’t help but loving Xander in the last three episodes – from the “heart” to referring to Evil-Willow as “Wiccapalooza.”

I love Xander on the run with Dawn, Jonathan, and Andrew, trying to kick open the door of crypt and saying, “Ow.” I love that, according to the DVD commentary, NB adlibbed the “Ows.”

I…love the Klingman’s Bluff scene. I love that all of the scenes leading up to it – Xander feeling that he can’t help, that he caused everything, Dawn suggesting that Spike would have stood and fought, Xander stating that he can’t even run away well – leads up to this. I love the yellow crayon thing for what it is – a reminder of how far they’ve come together. And I love that this makes my lip quiver: “Yeah, I get that. It's just, where else am I gonna go? You've been my best friend my whole life. World gonna end ... where else would I want to be?” And is there anything more beautiful than Xander holding Willow as she sobs and her hair fades back to red?

I love suit-Xander! Driving Dawn to school Xander! Only-one-with-a-real-job-Xander!

I love Xander’s answer, “Good thinking, except... this is the gang,” to Dawn’s suggestion that he and Buffy round up the gang.

I love the Spike and Xander look to Nancy’s, “Is there anyone here that hasn't slept together?”

I love Xander telling Anya that sooner or later his leaving her at the altar fails to excuse all of her choices.

I love that Xander has often repeated the “yellow crayon - my mouth saved the world” bit to Buffy and Dawn.

I love how offended Xander is at Spike calling him the Slayer’s “boy.”

I love Xander’s hammer-and-nail “power, control” analogy for Willow learning to control her magic.

I love that Xander takes Willow to see Tara’s grave.

I love all of the Buffy and Xander time in early Season 7.

I love Xander’s reaction to the fact that Willow wrote melodramatic love poems. I love her, “I’m over you now, sweetie,” response.

I love Xander’s, “I'm a strong, successful male who is giddy at the thought of all the women I will no doubt be dating in the near future,” and Buffy’s reply of, “Strong, successful males say ‘giddy’?”

[Wait – can I just break in say how much the, “Hit him with fruits and various meats!” line during the marauding troll scene makes me laugh?]

I love Buffy and Xander looking for Anya’s spider demon thingy from “Or a copycat spider demon!” to “Aw, it's sticky!” to “This isn't springy high-flying fun.”

I love the confrontation between Xander and Buffy (with Willow) after Buffy announces that she has to kill Anya. I love that’s there no right answer and that six years of prior canon have layered this argument with so much subtext and shades of grey. But I really love this:
XANDER
You think we haven't seen all this before? The part where you just cut us all out. Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law. If you knew what I felt—
BUFFY
I killed Angel! Do you even remember that? I would have given up everything I had to be with— I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this life. And I put a sword through his heart because I had to.
WILLOW
And that all worked out okay.

I love that Xander gave us “crazy flakes” – the breakfast cereal of the emotionally schizophrenic.

I love Xander following Anya after D’Hoffryn takes away her powers and kills Halfrek. I love that he tells her that “they” don’t matter right now, but that she shouldn’t be alone. I love his responsive to her self-stated clinginess: “Well, speaking as a clingee— I kinda didn't mind.”

I love The Odd Couple: Xander and Spike, Part Two. I love that, until Buffy discovers that Spike is under the control of the first, they appear to get along okay. (Wet towels on the floor aside.)

I love that Xander tells Buffy not to be too hasty about immediately negating the possibility of a replacement cheerleading uniform for the one Dawn shreds.

I love Xander and Willow’s post-“Daddy likes!” horror at discovering they were both checking out Dawn.

I know there were a lot of people who hated this scene, but Xander telling Buffy, “Now get off the boy, Buffy. We're going home,” takes me to all kinds of fun places.

I love the shot of Spike and Xander showing up the door of RJ’s brother’s house. I love the utter “doofus” buddy cop vibe.

I love Xander and Spike’s complicated “plan” to retrieve RJ’s jacket. I love them running hell bent down the street with it.

I love that after Dawn, Buffy, Willow and Anya express remorse for the RJ debacle, Xander states, “True. You fell for a mystical, ancient curse. Who hasn't made that mistake seven, eight times?”

I love that I’m irritated that Xander isn’t in Conversations With Dead People. I love the Xander-meets-Jesse-as-First scenarios I’ve read in fic, as well as the ones in my head.

I love Xander’s, “Why would a vampire lie about who sired him?” line. I love the meta-y “You were my sire! My Yoda!” things it makes me think.

I love Anya telling Xander as she Spike-sits that if he vamps her, she’s gonna bite Xander’s ass. I love that Xander sexy-grins, “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

I love that Xander’s response to Anya’s let's-stab-Spike-in-the-chest, “you’ve always been part of the ‘Spike is evil’ faction" is, “I've got a house to put back together.”

I love Xander and Anya’s “Good cop, bad cop,” routine with Andrew. I love their reactions off of each other as she accidentally hits Xander. I love Xander’s line, “He's primed. I'll be pumping him in no time.” I love that, in the outtakes, NB can’t say it without giggling.

I love that Xander calls Buffy at work to complain that the potentials are peeking in on him in the shower.

Random, but I love that Dawn worries that the Bringers saw the Potential-finding spell and Xander says, “Saw the spell? Dawn, they can't see flashcards. Big ones.”

I love that Andrew begins “a new hope” hyperbole about Dawn’s possible potential status and Xander says, “Say Skywalker, and I smack ya.”

I love Xander’s speech to Dawn in Potential. Honorable mention for the, “Hell, I could fit Oz in my shaving kit,” but I love this:
“They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary.”

I love that Xander had Aquaman underoos.

I love that Xander’s response to being a demon-chick magnet is a “gay me up” request including Scott Bakula naked. I love that Buffy asks, “What if you just start attracting male demons?”

I love that when Buffy asks Anya why she’s there if she’s not Buffy’s friend and Anya replies, “I provide much-needed... sarcasm,” Xander rejoins, “Um, that would kinda be my job, actually.” I love that Xander immediately turns that around and defends Anya to Buffy.

I love Andrew calls Xander the “heart of the slaying machine” and Xander grins and ducks his head.

I love Xander and Anya’s, “I still love you. I always will. I just don't know if that means anything for us anymore…I'm not gonna find anyone out there like you, am I?” conversation. I love that Andrew rewinds and re-watches it and rewinds and re-watches it…

I love Xander and Anya’s “one more time” sex in the basement. I love that Xander says, “It's too bad Buffy took Spike's chains down, huh?”

I love that, in the commentary for Dirty Girls, NB and Drew Goddard have *is 12* giggles over the title.

I love that I know that Caridad and Colleen, the two Potentials from Xander’s “dirty girls” dream, are Dania Ramirez from X-MEN: Last Stand and Rachel Bilson from The OC. I love that his “house full of potential slayers” reality is a backed-up toilet.

I love all of the “eyes” statements scattered throughout S7, especially Xander’s battle tip to the Potentials: “And here's a handy rule: don't go for the flashy tentacles just because they're waving 'em about trying to get attention. Go for the center— brains, heart, eyes. Everything's got eyes.” (And I love that Dawn reminds him, “Except Bringers.”)

I love Xander’s ‘trust Buffy’ speech, “I've been through more battles with Buffy than you all can ever imagine. She's stopped everything that's ever come up against her. She's laid down her life—literally—to protect the people around her. This girl has died two times, and she's still standing. You're scared? That's smart. You got questions? You should. But you doubt her motives, you think Buffy's all about the kill, then you take the little bus to battle. I've seen her heart, and this time—not literally. And I'm telling you, right now, she cares more about your lives than you will ever know. You gotta trust her. She's earned it.” I love that it makes Dawn *and* Andrew cry.

I love that, two years and god-knows viewings later, Caleb gouging Xander’s eye still hits me hard. Oh, and I’m really glad I didn’t watch the series first run so that I didn’t have to see it in the “previouslies” for every subsequent ep through Chosen.

I love the Willow and Xander hospital scene, as he makes parrot and Jaws 3-D jokes. I love that Willow can’t, I love Xander’s broken, “Oh, Willow, please don’t,” at her tears.

I love that Faith tells Kennedy that any time Anya goes on about Xander, she just reminds her that she had him first.

I love that I can’t even discuss the “I'm trying to see your point here, Buff... but I guess it must be a little bit to my left...” scene coherently without…hand gestures and…spittle. I’ve got issues. Um, I love that Dawn holds Xander’s hand?

I love Xander and Anya’s ice-cream-sharing, “groaning and moaning” jealousy. I love the kitchen floor sex.

I love Xander and Buffy’s conversation about his leaving with Dawn. I love Buffy’s line, “You're my strength, Xander. You're the reason I made it this far. I trust you with my life.” I love that Xander tells her, “Besides, if you die, I'll just bring you back to life. That's what I do.”

I love, “Hey, party in my eye socket and everyone's invited.” I love the follow-up line, “Sometimes I shouldn't say words.”

I love that Xander is the last one Buffy breaks from as they separate into the high school corridors in Chosen. I love that he squeezes her hand.

I love the amount of emotion Xander expresses with, “That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing.”

I love that I wish Xander’s last line had been his, “We saved the world,” and not that Gap, Starbucks thing that followed.

I love that Andrew mentions in AtS “Damage” that Xander’s in Africa.

I love that there’s Xander-in-Africa fic, whether it’s grown-up Xander facing his demons (literal and otherwise) or a Xander who’s half-blind, half-crazy and totally hyena.

I love that there’s Xander-as-Watcher future fic. I love that there’s Xander-Beyond-the-Mission fic.

I love that there’s future fic that hooks up Xander/Buffy, Xander/Willow, Xander/Faith, Xander/Spike, Xander/Giles…I love that the possibilities are endless. Whether he has a patch, a glass eye, a mystical eye or even a seer’s third-eye (‘cause he’s the one who sees) – I love that he goes on.

So I might love Xander. Little bit.

[The Girl In Question]

I love how this list makes me want to watch my favorite and least favorite Buffy episodes :3

[sosa lola]

Hee, this list is amazing.

[Jaz ♀♀]

And I love that this makes my lip quiver: “Yeah, I get that. It's just, where else am I gonna go? You've been my best friend my whole life. World gonna end ... where else would I want to be?” And is there anything more beautiful than Xander holding Willow as she sobs and her hair fades back to red?

i cried like a baby when i first saw that scene and it still brings tears to my eyes when i re-watch it....great scene.

you have an awesome list sosa lola!

[sosa lola]

You're welcome! Sue made lots of fans happy with her lovely list