This is so perfect. I fell in love with W/X when I started watching Buffy back in 1997 and to this day (even though I don't participate in fandom in any way) memories of their relationship make me choke up a bit. It's almost as if they were as big a part of my high school life as my REAL relationships were, and the ending of season six made me sob. This essay gets everything right. I've never read W/X fic but I think I'm going to check some out. I'm all wibbly now.