Spike/Xander

Spike/Xander is the pairing of Spike and Xander Harris from the Buffyverse.
==Canon==
In canon, Xander and Spike have an antagonistic relationship, which started all the way back in season 2 episode "School Hard" when Angel offered Xander to Spike in order to trick the younger vampire. Xander has consistently disliked vampire characters on the show, but his mistrust of Spike was often well placed. Spike kidnapped Xander and Willow in season 3, in an attempt to force Willow to perform a love spell. 
In season 4, when Spike is chipped and unable to hurt humans, he briefly lives with Xander in the basement of Xanders' parent's house. Later on the seemingly mutual dislike was fueled even more after Spike slept with Xander's former fiancee Anya and after Spike's attempted rape on Buffy at the end of season six.
Spike and Xander briefly lived together again during season 7 after Spike won his soul back and subsequently went 'bug-shagging crazy' with guilt.
==Fandom==
There was a small portion of the Buffy fandom shipping Spike and Xander following the second season. However this was not a common or popular ship until season 4, when there was more interaction between the characters.Oz/Xander (BtVS) ship manifesto essay by gloss, Oct 2004, accessed 19 June 2019. Before the advent of S/X in s4, O/X was the dominant Xander-slash ship. For a time, S/X was believed to be the most popular slash pairing within the fandom. It may have been overtaken by Spangel which saw a resurgence during season 5 of Angel, however this is open to debate as the disparate nature of early online fandom makes it difficult to rank ships.The hot new thing by Wisteria contains discussion of the sudden rise in popularity of Spander during season 4 and debates about ship rankings. It is generally accepted that Spander was the most popular slash ship in the fandom, but there was uncertainty about where it placed in overall ship rankings. It is suggested that Spander was the second only to Spuffy, but this was contested by fans who pointed to other het pairings for Spike, including Spillow. This discussion took place before the airing of Angel's fifth and final series. On fanfiction website Ao3, Spander has consistently being the most popular slash pairing in the fandom, but Ao3, founded in 2008, did not exist at the height of Buffy fandom and is not an accurate reflection of the number of works in this pairing or fandom.Buffy the Vampire Slayer works on Ao3, archived link.
There is a lot of subtextual evidence to support a sexual relationship, or at least sexual attraction between these two. In the season 5 epiosde "Intervention", Xander describes Spike as "strong, mysterious and sort of compact", leading Buffy to say, "I am not having sex with Spike! But I'm starting to think that you might be!". Also, in the second episode of season 7, a guest character asks the Scoobies, "is there anyone here who hasn’t slept together?" and Spike and Xander share a look. 
Despite their antagonistic relationship and their limited interactions in canon, this ship has remained popular and works are still been produced. 
===Common Tropes===
*Xander was offered to Spike by Angel in the second season episode "School Hard," and although he never formally accepted, many fanfiction authors use this as a plot device – Xander as Sire's gift and Spike returning to take what was his. 
*Hyena!Xander - In season one episode "The Pack", Xander is possessed by a hyena spirit. This resulted in a lot of fics where the hyena spirit returns/never left and claims Spike as part of pack and/or mate.
* Basement fics - In season 4, a chipped Spike is kept tied up in Xander's basement apartment. This scenario was a jumping off point for many fics. The Spander Files even had a fanfiction category called the Basement of Doom.
* Post-Apocalyptic AU stories sometimes feature Slave Xander. In these works, Spike often acquires or rescues Xander.
* Time Travel - Spike or Xander can be sent back in time to relive canon events with knowledge of the future. Time Travel can also be used to introduce Xander to the human William Pratt before he becomes a vampire. 
* Post-Not Fade Away fics, set after the final episode of the Angel (TV) series.
* Vampire!Xander works can be canon divergent where Xander becomes a vampire, sometimes sired by Spike. Other fics were set in the canon Wishverse.
* Claiming - In fics where Spike and Xander are in a relationship, Spike may claim Xander as his consort.
* Trapped Together - Xander and Spike may be trapped in an alternate reality, or captured by the Initiative. Given their antagonistic relationship, many authors employ tropes that force these two to work together.
* Xander in Oxnard - Stories where Xander meets Spike over the summer holidays. 
* Magic Made Them Do It - There are many episode related fics where a spell gone wrong or a haunted house results in a sexual encounter between these two.
* Threesome fics often paired Spike and Xander with Angel or Anya Jenkins.
==Fannish Opinion==
==Notable Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
For a list of Spander fanfiction articles on Fanlore see Spander Fanfiction. 
* Post-Grad and Post-Grad II: On Holiday may be the first Spike/Xander stories written.comment by z_rayne in a slashphilosophy post by partly_bouncy, May 15, 2005: (March/April 1999 & April 1999)
* Sweet Revenge (link) by Jackson. Spike's well-laid plan to revenge himself on the Scoobies misfires. (2001)
* Repossession by Lazuli, an epic and widely recced Spander futurefic (2002 or earlier)
* Chocolate Hurricane by Cicirossi, "Xander has an unforeseen reaction to his favorite chocolate". A Magic Made Them Do It fic considered one of the best of its kind.
* Cues and Balls (archived link) Estepheia. Xander, Spike, the Bronze, a game of eight ball (2003)
* No Power on Earth by circe, a Xander in Oxnard story which provides more details on what Xander did on his summer vacation post- Season 3 (2003)
* Changes by Tabaqui, Xander's life changes when first Spike and then Oz move in with him (2003 - )
* Let's Talk About Sex by Estepheia, Unlife takes an interesting turn when Xander visits Spike with an unusual proposal (S/X/Anya, 2003)
*A Long Time by The Mad Poetess (2003 or earlier)
* Sandy Places Series by James Walkswithwind (2003 or earlier)
* Waffle House by Sajinn, (2004)
* It’s Just A Jump To The Left and it's sequal Late Night Double Feature by kimberly_a, Xander finds himself stuck in some kind of time loop with Spike (2004) 
* Sidelines by Anna S. Rewrite of season 4. If Xander had gone through the 'big gay change' instead of Willow. (2004)
* Beautiful Broken by LitGal. Canon Divergence AU. Six months after Xander disappeared, Spike finds the missing Sunnydale boy, who has changed greatly in his time away from the gang. A story of about recovery from the darkness and pain of torture.(2005)
* by sharkie335 (2010)
===Meta===
* Why Spike and Xander? A Comparison of Similarities by Djinanna
* Spike/Xander - How? Why? by Spuzz
* Spike/Xander: A Casual User's Guide by Wiseacress
* The AUness of it All is an essay by James Walkswithwind which uses S/X to discuss slash fiction and AUs. (2003)
* Spike and Xander Save the World by spuzz, a Spike/Xander ship manifesto, posted at LJ community ship_manifesto (2004)
* by yourlibrarian, 2016 (originally posted June 26, 2005)
===Fanvids===
* Spike/Xander || Laid by Sisabet and Drdrawn (2003)
===Fanart===
File:Spander-comfort.jpg|Spike and Xander by Caes-Doodles, 2010
=== Zines ===
* Twilight Time
==Links & Resources==
===Archives===
* The Spander Files - one of the biggest Spike/Xander specific archives
* The Spike/Xander page at All About Spike
* Spike and Xander's World of Fun, later renamed to Hidden Desires Midnight Kisses, a Xander/Spike slash archive
* Spike/Xander works on AO3
* S/X and Violence, the Spike/Xander Zone of the BtVS Writers' Guild
*Moist & Delicious (archived Link), the archive associated with NummyTreats
* Forever Young (archived link), a SPIKE/XANDER site that included fanfiction
===Communities & Mailing Lists===
* Bloodclaim (Link), a Spike/Xander LJ Community
* S/X, Lies, and Fiction was an early S/X mailing list linked to S/X and Violence
* NummyTreats, a Spike/Xander mailing list
== Notes & References ==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Slash Pairings Category:Buffyverse Relationships