Don't worry about hairy talks, I've seen plenty fur fly in the Buffyverse so it doesn't scare me off. Every fandom has their kerfuffles - a side effect of fandom love.

When I said I didn't read X/A fic, it wasn't a steadfast rule. For a long time, I couldn't find any fic on X/A - but I didn't try that hard to find any because the show kept giving me what I wanted. That's not to say I don't enjoy the hell out of a well-written, well-characterized multi chapter story of one of the most fascinating aspects of that particular threesome. I like fic that doesn't try and 'fix' a certain aspect of something the writer didn't like, but ones that expands and builds what the show's already established. Yours did just that, and I adored it.
Also, except for Lunacy's fanfic reviews, I stayed away from the fandom for years and it wasn't until I had a dream about Ares last Feb. that I started to want X/A fic, and went looking for it. I guess enough time had passed that I could 'deal' with the ending - mostly by ignoring it. LOL!

I read through some of the threads you linked me to. They're fun and on the whole, everyone seems to want to take the mature approach to things, which is refreshing.

And now I find myself wanting a couple of X/A icons.