And now I've officially forgotten it's Wednesday two weeks in a row. Sorry all!

Title: The Giles Thing Series
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Giles/Xander (secondary pairing Willow/Oz)
Categories: amnesia, angst, drama, family, humor, hurt/comfort, mystery, romance, time-travel, virgin, established relationship in later stories
Length: Super Epic (~127,000 words!)
Warnings: difficult navigation, white on black text, partner betrayal due to spell-caused amnesia, homophobia, fisticuffs, discussion of some BDSM topics, embarrassment squick

Author on LJ: drsquidlove
Author Website: The Lecherous Tentacles of Dr Squidlove

Review:
While Bronzing it one night, Xander finds his eyes drawn to a strange guy on the other side of the room who keeps giving him a rather surly stare back. Eventually he decides enough is enough and leaves for the night. Only mystery man doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo and follows him out, and traps him against the wall. And proceeds to make out with him. It’s not until after some seriously naughty touching that Xander realizes he’s making out with a much younger Giles.

First off, the length of this series is exactly what it should be. Sometimes the super epic fics tend to have a little filler or some unnecessary plot development, but this is just interesting twist after interesting turn. And the Xander-voice in this is just so spot-on. There are a few non-Americanisms that pop out at you, but even then it almost feels natural because of the relationship with Giles.

Although I love stories with a Xander/Giles relationship, it takes a lot to make me believe them, especially with Xander as young as he is in this series. This fic does an excellent job of making a believer out of me. The way Dr Squidlove writes a real relationship between the two, all set in the crazy hellmouth of Sunnydale, is so rational. The fact is, Xander first falls in like with a younger version of Giles, then makes the step to his own Giles, which is eminently believable.

Finally let’s mention the humor of this series. Although I’m not the biggest fan in the world of a couple of the really embarrassing scenes, the humor more than makes up for them. The boys themselves are really adorable, but everyone else’s reactions to them are just made of funny. Angel is only in this for maybe a hundred words all told, but he takes the cake for the comedic portion of this fic.

The Giles Thing

Here are links to the first two stories in single files with black on white font:
The Giles Thing
The Giles Thing II