Title: When We Last Met
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Xander/Graham
Categories: Romance, Slash, AU
Length: Long (23,860 words)
Warnings: None

Author on LJ: zortified
Author Website: Gila's Cave

Author's Summary: Xander likes Graham. Graham likes Xander. They live on a Hellmouth. Ergo, things won't be that easy.
Set in season four and assumes Anya went her merry way after Prom.

Review:
It's hard work reccing my old favourite Buffy stories. Either they've disappeared into the ether, or are hiding behind LJ friends locks, or someone got there first. Fortunately James Walkswithwind (aka Zort) is one of the hardy perennials of fandom, still writing in various different fandoms all these years later.

There aren't that many Xander/Graham stories out there, and this is an absolute delight. It is set very early in an alternate season 4, before the Initiative have been formally introduced to the Slayer. Buffy and Riley are dating, which logically must be how Xander comes to know Graham. Logically. And if there are things about Graham that Xander can't have known that way, it must be his imagination. So Xander falls for Graham, and vice versa, with more than a little help from Willow, Buffy and Riley. And then the fun really starts.

The central twist here has become a bit of a cliche in Buffy crossover fanfic, but it was fresh and new when I met it here. It is well thought out, well carried through, beautifully characterised, and just generally a pleasure to read. Re-reading it for this review, I was struck again by how good it is, even after all this time. So many of the stories I used to love haven't lasted well as my taste has improved, but When We Last Met still has all the wonderful dialogue (and, joy of joys, accurate Anglicisms) that I remembered.

Go. Read.

When We Last Met