It's the important questions that concern me.

[doyle]

A question for Spike/Xander fans: connorbeast and I were debating this, and since we've only read maybe a dozen S/X fics between us we thought we should ask the experts...

[Poll #427979]

See, I say it's Spike, CB says it's Xander, and we don't know. So if I've left out an obvious option or you have something to add, reply in the comments...

Comments

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Barring a few of the more extreme bdsm Master/pet type stories, it's really pretty even, I think. Not just in terms of an equal amount of topping stories for each guy, but also most S/X that's not a one-shot/PWP tends to switch positions within the same story, as well.

[moireach.livejournal.com]

I've also seen quite a few NC-17 fics with no actual, er, penetration, or at least not by a cock. So I don't know how to class those at all, hee!

[gloss]

I once had a really protracted argument with someone about this - her position was that Spike would only "let" Xander fuck him if it was part of a whole self-punishment thing. Or something.

I dunno. Most stuff I used to read had Spike on top, which might say more about slash's overemphasis on penetration than anything else.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I've actually read quite a few slash S/X slash stories where there's no actual penetration, but I think almost all of them were written pre-"Chosen."

I tend to see as many slash stories with Spike topping as well as Xander, or at least it seems to be in my unscientific survey.

[bandgeek.livejournal.com]

Here's my rather simple solution for my (non-statistical) feeling that Spike tops more often.

Nearly half of the stories out there are "first-time" fics -- not that I can blame us for loving them. :) On the whole, Spike is characterized as the more experienced partner, and tends to initiate Xander into the more sensitive aspects of m/m. Usually, Xander isn't the one to take the initiative and penetrate Spike first. If they switch off in the story, Xander is almost unfailingly the second top.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

:lightbulb: Ah, that makes sense!

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

{Returning late to the scene of the crime, because eliade linked back to the post}

That ratio might be affected by the chip, at least pre-season 7, though. One of the more popular takes on who topped first while Spike had the chip, was that Xander did, because Spike was too afraid of setting off the chip if he caused Xander any pain. So though they'd usually eventually end up switching off, there were a lot of stories where that didn't happen until they figured out a way around the chip, and Xander's first time was Spike volunteering to be the bottom.

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Heh. Or I could've scrolled down a whole inch to see that entrenous already said that.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Here's a fun little variant to add to the study -- if the fic is written during the period in which Spike is still chipped, and the author decides to make Spike being chipped a central issue, Xander almost without fail tops first. The story in that case usually emphasizes that of course Spike would top first, but he can't because of the migrane factor.

But getting Spike to a state from which he can top usually takes on priority as a problem that must be solved. Sometimes there's a solution devised so that Spike can penetrate Xander without too much pain (and I think I could fill several sheets of paper even if I only listed the most common solutions to this issue) or, and this turns up more often, actual chip removal/neutralizing followed quickly by Spike topping Xander, and both of them saying something along the lines of "Finally!" and "About time!"

So, yeah. It's fascinating to see the answers you're getting.

Scholarly addendum

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about this last night, because I answered "50/50" and then went through a list of fics in my mind, and the inventory was looking much more like "Xander usually tops". Then I thought I'd check through my list of recs at the S'cubie board, but of course that would be a biased sample, representing only fics which are well written, and relatively original. Which, please believe me, much Spander is not. And the work, not to mention the exposure to toxic levels of cliches and really bad sentence structure, involved in studying an unbiased sample is more than I can contemplate without my head exploding.

Although it would have the advantage of preventing me from doing what I'm actually supposed to be doing.

Then I thought "But Spike usually tops when it's non-con PWP, so maybe that's what people are seeking out ." (I'm an anthropologist, my opinion of humans is not artificially high) But then today there's 268 words that calls itself a drabble this morning, noncon, PWP-ish, and Xander tops.

So, I'm saying either people are finding fics that I'm not, or they're so wedded to the idea that Spike is the ultimate top that they're misinterpreting the data.

Julia, a question probably not answerable without sacrifice

Re: Scholarly addendum

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

But then today there's 268 words that calls itself a drabble this morning, noncon, PWP-ish, and Xander tops.

And of course I create this wonderful example of sentence structure myself.

Julia, mortal and fallible

[eliade.livejournal.com]

I wish I had an answer to this. My gut feeling--I could be wrong--is that in the first wave of S/X, Spike mostly topped, and more recently that this is turning around. I think for myself I disproportionately have Xander top and likewise for all the unwritten stories floating around in my head with other partners. I like the idea of Spike as a bottom, I guess; he's called himself "love's bitch" and I tend to extrapolate from that because it fits my, um, kinks. But on the other hand I can and do easily see it going the other way in any relationship; I just imagine him more often on the bottom.

And perhaps now we know more about my brain than was good to know. *g*

[liliaeth]

I have to say 50/50, even though I personally prefer Spike as sub. Cause he was never a dom on the show, and we can see in almost every relationship he's had on the show (aside of Harmony) that he was the submissive. Seeing him as the dom, just feels ... wrong.