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l_jade, who wins for the most specific prompt ever ;) ~850 words. Sorry, but I had to turn New York into LA, and imbue it with the necessary amount of screwed-up-ness that is the Buffy/Angel dynamic. Also, mild spoilers for "Angel: After the Fall" in that it takes place sometime after LA has been resurrected back out of Hell.
----------------
When Buffy returns from Rome, Angel's only just managed to wrest Los Angeles County out of the upper jaws of Hell, and he's in a sour mood. He doesn't know why she's picked now to look him up, but he figures it has little to do with him, and everything to do with her, as usual. At various times in his life he's been an expert at pain, torture and misery. But he has no idea why he still drops everything and heads off to meet her at an airport bar when she calls.
"Hey," she says plainly when he shows up. She's perched on a high backless chair, one red-leather clad foot hooked on the bottom rung, spinning herself back and forth a few degrees like a metronome. A matching red leather bag swings from her shoulder.
"Hey," he says back.
She smiles, perky as ever, but her heart is beating fast and he can tell she's nervous. "I wanted to stop by. Well, not at the office-- Giles insisted on neutral ground."
She's being less than truthful about something. Angel raises an eyebrow. "You're here on business?"
"No, not at all. That's not what I meant. I just thought--" She trails off, her eyes passing over the bar's paneled walls. "You want to get out of here?"
He's not sure he does, but they end up walking down main street in the tourist section of Redondo Beach in the early evening. Angel is half listening to Buffy, but mostly he's reacquanting himself with the resurrected town; in Hell, Redondo had been sacked and burned by a succubus and a pack of fire demons, right off the bat. It made for an interesting set of brothels. Now, of course, it's like none of the past four months ever happened. It's not the first time this has happened to him, but the result is still unsettling.
When he turns his attention back to Buffy, she's talking about the Big Breakup with the Immortal. Despite her super Slayer powers, she is as unaware of LA's recent otherworldly travels as the rest of the world. Angel doesn't tell her anything. He'd tell himself it's for her own good but he knows it's something darker. After everything, Buffy still has so much power over him, and the demon throttled by his soul still knows how to sulk, and how to take potshots at regaining control, even if he's the only one who knows it.
When they pass a familiar ice cream shop, it becomes a private game. Because Angel recognizes it, but Buffy doesn't. It's from another one of those aborted lives that only he remembers-- a much more idyllic one, where fate had decided to deal him one day of humanity, and give them both a taste of what could have been, before snatching it back.
He slows down, realizing that Buffy is Buffy in any timeline, and this is her kind of place. She plays right into his hands.
"Wait, let's stop," she says. "Frozen goodness is calling to me."
He's even feeling cocky enough to suggest the cookie dough ice cream. He remembers waxing poetic to Buffy about it as they sat outside under the sun, a hundred yards and a lifetime from here.
"Yeah, that's your favorite anyway," Buffy says offhand, and the sick little game, such as it was, comes to a screeching halt.
"What?" he asks. In four months of Hell in LA, he'd never been blindsided that hard.
Buffy looks at him in confusion, and he can already see the snatch of a memory fading in her eyes. "I remember... um... why do I remember that?"
She looks stricken, and even if Angel needed to breathe, he wouldn't be able to. Buffy puts a hand to her mouth, and in that split second, Angel remembers every single reason why he would live and die for her.
"Great," she says. "Now on top of everything else, I'm blurting out my more embarrassing fantasies. I swear, I have no idea where that came from."
Angel laughs. He's surprised to find it's genuine. "Why'd you really come here?" he asks her. "Giles has no idea you're here, does he?"
"I'm only here until tomorrow," she answers. "I'm sorry. Giles didn't want Wolfram and Hart to know, but we're moving to Scotland with a contingent of Slayers. It's all hush-hush. But I couldn't just go-- I mean, I needed you to know where I was going to be."
She hands him a slip of paper. A new cell number, and a printout of an overseas address with "honest-to-god CASTLE" written in the margins in her hasty scrawl. It's more than a simple connection, more than a peace offering. They both know how much they need it.
"Thanks," he says as they start down the sidewalk again, leaving the cafe behind.
"So, what's new?" Buffy asks.
Angel smiles, folding the paper into quarters and tucking it away in a pocket. "You wouldn't believe the weather we've been having..."
They'll never be perfect, hell, they'll most likely never be anything at all. All they have now is one moment after another, and so it's only the moments that matter.
------------------
prompt was: Buffy/Angel They'll meet 5 years in the future in an ice-cream cafe in New York. Angel asks for Cookie-dough choc chip ice cream because he said he loves it and Buffy said : "I remember,...um... why do I remember that ???" (in "I Will Remember You" the day was re-started so Buffy forgets)
l_jade, who wins for the most specific prompt ever ;) ~850 words. Sorry, but I had to turn New York into LA, and imbue it with the necessary amount of screwed-up-ness that is the Buffy/Angel dynamic. Also, mild spoilers for "Angel: After the Fall" in that it takes place sometime after LA has been resurrected back out of Hell.----------------
When Buffy returns from Rome, Angel's only just managed to wrest Los Angeles County out of the upper jaws of Hell, and he's in a sour mood. He doesn't know why she's picked now to look him up, but he figures it has little to do with him, and everything to do with her, as usual. At various times in his life he's been an expert at pain, torture and misery. But he has no idea why he still drops everything and heads off to meet her at an airport bar when she calls.
"Hey," she says plainly when he shows up. She's perched on a high backless chair, one red-leather clad foot hooked on the bottom rung, spinning herself back and forth a few degrees like a metronome. A matching red leather bag swings from her shoulder.
"Hey," he says back.
She smiles, perky as ever, but her heart is beating fast and he can tell she's nervous. "I wanted to stop by. Well, not at the office-- Giles insisted on neutral ground."
She's being less than truthful about something. Angel raises an eyebrow. "You're here on business?"
"No, not at all. That's not what I meant. I just thought--" She trails off, her eyes passing over the bar's paneled walls. "You want to get out of here?"
He's not sure he does, but they end up walking down main street in the tourist section of Redondo Beach in the early evening. Angel is half listening to Buffy, but mostly he's reacquanting himself with the resurrected town; in Hell, Redondo had been sacked and burned by a succubus and a pack of fire demons, right off the bat. It made for an interesting set of brothels. Now, of course, it's like none of the past four months ever happened. It's not the first time this has happened to him, but the result is still unsettling.
When he turns his attention back to Buffy, she's talking about the Big Breakup with the Immortal. Despite her super Slayer powers, she is as unaware of LA's recent otherworldly travels as the rest of the world. Angel doesn't tell her anything. He'd tell himself it's for her own good but he knows it's something darker. After everything, Buffy still has so much power over him, and the demon throttled by his soul still knows how to sulk, and how to take potshots at regaining control, even if he's the only one who knows it.
When they pass a familiar ice cream shop, it becomes a private game. Because Angel recognizes it, but Buffy doesn't. It's from another one of those aborted lives that only he remembers-- a much more idyllic one, where fate had decided to deal him one day of humanity, and give them both a taste of what could have been, before snatching it back.
He slows down, realizing that Buffy is Buffy in any timeline, and this is her kind of place. She plays right into his hands.
"Wait, let's stop," she says. "Frozen goodness is calling to me."
He's even feeling cocky enough to suggest the cookie dough ice cream. He remembers waxing poetic to Buffy about it as they sat outside under the sun, a hundred yards and a lifetime from here.
"Yeah, that's your favorite anyway," Buffy says offhand, and the sick little game, such as it was, comes to a screeching halt.
"What?" he asks. In four months of Hell in LA, he'd never been blindsided that hard.
Buffy looks at him in confusion, and he can already see the snatch of a memory fading in her eyes. "I remember... um... why do I remember that?"
She looks stricken, and even if Angel needed to breathe, he wouldn't be able to. Buffy puts a hand to her mouth, and in that split second, Angel remembers every single reason why he would live and die for her.
"Great," she says. "Now on top of everything else, I'm blurting out my more embarrassing fantasies. I swear, I have no idea where that came from."
Angel laughs. He's surprised to find it's genuine. "Why'd you really come here?" he asks her. "Giles has no idea you're here, does he?"
"I'm only here until tomorrow," she answers. "I'm sorry. Giles didn't want Wolfram and Hart to know, but we're moving to Scotland with a contingent of Slayers. It's all hush-hush. But I couldn't just go-- I mean, I needed you to know where I was going to be."
She hands him a slip of paper. A new cell number, and a printout of an overseas address with "honest-to-god CASTLE" written in the margins in her hasty scrawl. It's more than a simple connection, more than a peace offering. They both know how much they need it.
"Thanks," he says as they start down the sidewalk again, leaving the cafe behind.
"So, what's new?" Buffy asks.
Angel smiles, folding the paper into quarters and tucking it away in a pocket. "You wouldn't believe the weather we've been having..."
They'll never be perfect, hell, they'll most likely never be anything at all. All they have now is one moment after another, and so it's only the moments that matter.
------------------
prompt was: Buffy/Angel They'll meet 5 years in the future in an ice-cream cafe in New York. Angel asks for Cookie-dough choc chip ice cream because he said he loves it and Buffy said : "I remember,...um... why do I remember that ???" (in "I Will Remember You" the day was re-started so Buffy forgets)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 05:00 am (UTC)Excuse the icon, that's the only Angel-verse icon that I have in my 6-icons collection *blush* but Buffy/Angel always makes me sad anyway, cause their happiness is so hard to achieve.
Thank you again.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 01:08 pm (UTC)(And hey, you've got one more Angel-verse icon than I do. Closest I've got is Firefly.)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 01:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 07:48 pm (UTC)