Chocolatey Goodness

Fanfiction
Title:	Chocolatey Goodness
Author(s):	Mad Poetess
Date(s):	2000-2001
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Relationship(s):
External Links:
jbx.com (Wayback Machine), AO3 series
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Chocolatey Goodness is a Spike/Xander story by Mad Poetess.

It is likely a WIP.

Author's Notes

So... Chocolatey Goodness...

Xander. Spike. Chocolate. One neurotic human with dark eyes and no self-esteem, one psychotic vampire with bleached hair and no self-control, falling in love. And lust. And possibly vats of chocolate sauce... It's okay to laugh. It's meant to be funny. (Sometimes.)

Begins in the summer between Seasons 4 and 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Seasons 1 and 2 of Angel, the Series. Hopefully will catch up with Season 5, albeit an AU S5, obviously.

Warnings

Warnings:

Contains M/M romance and explicit descriptions of erotic acts. The individual parts are rated, even though the whole thing is NC-17 on principle, if that makes any sense. Meaning, I guess, if you're old enough to read NC-17 stuff, but don't particularly want to, you can skip those parts. God help you on figuring out the plot, though.

Went on Hiatus in 2002

Feb, 2002

Hey, all. For those who've been following Chocolatey Goodness, either on nummytreats or at the website, you've probably noticed there hasn't been an update since October [2001].

This doesn't mean I haven't been working on it. On the contrary, it means I've been working on it, and working on it... and opening up the file and trashing half of what I've written and starting over in a new POV... and closing the file and avoiding it for days and feeling guilty for writing on anything else... And just generally making myself crazy(er).

So, there it sits. Chapter 17-F is the last posted one. It's going to be the last published one, for a while. Yes, the plotline isn't wrapped up. Yes, there are questions still unanswered. Yes, I fully intend to finish chapter 17. To reveal what the bad guy (tm) was up to, and let Spike and Xander get on with figuring out what dolts they've been. And yes, I have tentative plans for the rest of the series. But as of now, it's on indefinite hiatus.

That doesn't mean it will never be finished -- it means, I don't know when it'll be finished. Don't know when I'll be able to write on it again with a clear head -- but I do know that once I say this, it won't be hanging over me. I won't be hating something I love, because I feel obligated to write on it, and it's not working. Because I feel guilty for working on anything else. I'm putting it aside for a while. Formally, officially putting it aside, instead of just telling people I'm working on it, and showing them snippets, and never posting anything. I'm hoping that will make it easier, both to work on other things, and to pick CG up again, when it feels right -- because there won't be this huge pressure that, yes, is probably all in my head, that I *must* finish CG before I can do anything else.

It's a story that I care about, and I don't want it to become something I hate, because I'm having so many problems with it. So, for a while, I'm letting go. I realize that may be frustrating for anyone trying to follow it, and I'm sorry for that; I know how annoying it is for me, when I'm reading a series and the story just suddenly stops, and I don't know how long I'll have to wait for more. I'm glad that you liked it enough to have hung in this long, if you did. There'll be more - I intend for there to be more. I just don't know when, and I think it would do the story and anyone who likes it a disservice to try to push something out when it really isn't ready. If I'm not happy with it, I have no intention of posting it; why would I suggest that anyone read something I don't like, myself?

That's really all I had to say, I think. CG will still be up at its site, and when there's something new, I'll post it to the same places it's been posted to before: nummytreats, my site, ff.net. Thanks for your patience, and the kind words I've had from so many people while I've been writing this series. I'm *still* writing the series -- I'm just finally officially admitting that I'm not writing it right *now*.

cheers, Amy

Reactions and Reviews

Spike/Xander. Set during the summer between S4 and S5. Spike is living in the Harris basement with Xander, and things get complicated when sex... and love... enter the picture.

Why you should read this: Because Mad Poetess is a mad genius? Seriously. She is an extremely talented writer with an eye for detail and an amazing ear for Xander's voice. If you ever wanted to get inside Xander's head and see what he was thinking, this is the fic for you. And in addition to great Xander, you also get great Spike, other characters that sound like themselves, great smut, and a killer sense of humor. What more could a S/X fan ask for?

This is one of the few fics that manages to be, very effectively, both heart-wrenchingly sad and sublimely silly. For me, the laugh out loud moments outnumber the, "I'm about to cry." moments, but only just barely. It's AU to us now. It begins in the summer between Season 4 of Buffy (S1 Angel) and Season 5 of Buffy (S2 Angel). It assumes canon prior to that, but bears not the slightest resemblance after that point. It also brings together characters from both series. This is the story that brought me to Spike/Xander, still my favorite pairing. It's got good characterization and an unusually complex relationship based plot. There are a number of nicely created original characters who are mostly peripheral to the plot. While Xander and Spike are the focus, my favorites are Tara and Giles, and Cordelia manages to come pretty close. They are perfectly in character but just more, somehow. They're vibrant and alive, and I love them.

A story could have been made of nothing more than Spike's difficult and supremely dysfunctional relationship with Angel, but its better this way, interwoven with his new, sweeter, and only slightly less dysfunctional relationship with Xander. Willow is trying hard to restore her friendship with Xander to what it once was, and having some real issues with the idea that they've both changed. Tara is a calm, secure voice of reason. She's perceptive and sensitive, and I adore her. Giles is sarcastic and often grumpy, but his love for Buffy and her friends is always evident to one who cares to look. Angel is constantly struggling with the impulses of the demon while denying to the world that they exist. Cordelia is brash and often shallow, but she cares about her friends and the world at large. They are all just perfect.

I sincerely hope that one day this will be finished, but even if it never is, I won't regret it. It's been too much fun to regret. I also urge you to check out the rest of her Buffyverse fic. It's fabulous stuff.

This is Spike/Xander. that's really all I have to say about it, because it is absolutely typical Spike/Xander, atypically well-written.

I made a quick dive into Buffy Fandom again, and came up with this gem of a story: Chocolatey Goodness by the Mad Poetess. The story is still in progress, and written by chapters, but for once I don't care. This is waaay to good to pass just because it's a WIP. The characterizations are spot on, it's hilarious, it's touching and it's hot. X/S