I'm with you here. I often use terms of endearment with my family and friends, and I call almost everyone 'hun', but seeing them in fanfic can sometimes be very...annoying, especially if it doesn't fit with how I view the characters.

We know per canon that Xander used pet names with both Cordy and Anya, but I have a very hard time picturing him calling either Angel or Spike 'baby' or 'honey', And it's not just men, because I can actually see him calling Riley 'honey'. I can't imagine him addressing Buffy or Faith by such names. Maybe it's a power thing? I'm strange, I know.

Those pet names are also weird to me when I see them in Wincest fics. I just don't see Sam or Dean calling each other 'baby' or 'honey' or 'sweetums' or what have you. It's just not them in my opinion.

I conclude that I hold a double-standard. I am allowed liberties that fictionalized versions of my favorite fictional people are not. *nods*

I firmly support this statement and plan to stitch it on a sampler, take a picture of it, and upload it into my profile so that all potential readers are aware that hypocrisy is perfectly acceptable in fanfiction, just in case they didn't already know.