Comments: still really likeable despite every tropey conflict (jealousy, evil exes, betting beginning, keeping secrets for other's own good, parental disapproval) photographer!buffy & drag racer!spike all happens in 2 months over the summer

Comments: tragic. buffy has painful mangled scars on her back. has pushed everyone away. spike can't kill her once he sees them and they keep sleeping together. she believes him when he says he isn't killing. she's making a choice to trust. random kindly vampire. she feels more herself and goes back to her friends. joyce catches buffy and spike and there's a big intervention. everyone tells buffy she's wrong and she has to choose. spike reveals he's still killing. then buffy kills herself and spike's invitation has been revoked

Comments: yes this is officially the PERFECT high school fic. perfect perfect perfect save this forever

Comments: HOLY WOW this story so sweet and tender and deep with it's feelings. lovely writing. does the thing tv does where it really captures place and time with the stream and strawberries and summer. this felt like a story about people, not characters. all their feelings felt and behaviors understood in a way that made so much sense. She didn’t bother to respond, just met his lips as she sank her fingers in to the soft strands of hair and pulled him down to meet her, their bodies intertwining in the grass as the water continued to rush by, and the crickets kept chirping. But for her, the earth had shrunk down and stopped on its axis to that one tiny place, with him. It covered more than some of her swimsuits, but the intimate curtain of rain falling around them shielded them from the world, making the way she’d bared herself to him so much more revealing. Buffy stared morosely at her can of Budweiser. She’d been nursing this one drink for so long, it ought to be toddling by now. Her own voice was low, sultry, needy, and he responded, dipping his head, imprinting the vulnerable flesh of her neck with the clever tattoo of his tongue as it traced words against her throat. She took it and slowly sipped the burnished liquid. She could feel warm tendrils curling in her belly, enhancing the almost hyper relaxation running through her veins, a mix of contentment and arousal that swirled together in an inseparable blend. She lay back, closing her eyes and letting the world spin. He pulled her into an embrace and his kiss was reverent, soft and sensual. It was a benediction, a closure of their time apart, and prelude to their future.

Comments: good stuff. 1 week spring break, she won't give him her phone number so they email 5 years. he's back as her boss for 1 week, leaves and comes back. parker blackmail. dawns a brat but cares a bit buffy's scared and witholdy. spike doesn't think through his needs or consequences. this was great. perfect and tropey. good sex

Comments: i loved this meandering story. it felt realistic where there was lots bubbling but it didn't always erupt on the protagonists (angel didn't touch buffy, no climactic consequences for her weight loss, drusilla's realization doesn't impact william). Same with sex...didn't see her first time,nor every time. just 1-2 scenes here and there. some things go well and some things done, but it's scattered, not dumping...sort of slice of life more than a traditional story? skates 4 years, olympic silver, plane crash, hospital with surgeon william, dr drusilla, angel's charges, finding william a clinic somewhere

Comments: solid hs fic. apart from beginning doubts, buffy and spike have no plot-driving conflicts. sometimes they disagree, but otherwise they are completely trustworthy and supportive and honest communicators. it's a lot of life that gets in the way. their good relationship is romantic. ends when buffy gives birth. drusilla is around, but has no other purpose but to show spike is committed to buffy but still a good community members.