permanently blue (for you) [riley/buffy; riley/xander brohood]
title: Permanently Blue (For You)
rating: PG
fandom/pairing: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unrequited Riley/Buffy a la canon, with vague Riley/Xander bromance.
spoilers/warnings: S05E03, "The Replacement".
summary: For Xander and Buffy, it can just go away. Riley doesn't have that luxury.
words: 226
disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or "Bruises" by Chairlift.
a/n: Sobs because 1) Riley is super-unpopular; B) I actually liked Xander for ten seconds there when they were the Zeppo Twins and he had a real Bro; Quatro) how to put Rileycreys into words?
Xander’s nice about it, in the way that Xander doesn’t talk about it.
Riley figures it’s because they’re men (men, he can mentally hear Xander stress, in that way that makes Riley wonder if he’s actually serious and he just sounds that way sometimes, or if he’s making a big sarcastic joke of everything that goes over Riley’s head), and men don’t talk about their feelings like that. But he also figures that it’s just as likely that Xander doesn’t know what to say, so he avoids the subject.
Riley’s not certain that anyone would know what to say. For once, maybe Xander’s doing exactly what everyone would expect from a normal person.
He doesn’t bring it up to anybody else, for the same reason he doesn’t argue with Buffy when she lies and tells him that she loves him because of him - because Riley still knows, and hearing advice or platitudes or outright untruths from anyone isn’t going to make anything different.
It’s not comforting, anymore, to hear Buffy say sweet things about how she needs him. It doesn’t bring a smile to Riley’s face, doesn’t make it easier to kiss her when he knows that she’s just going through the motions.
It hurts, to not know if she realizes she’s lying yet, or not.
Riley wishes that he could just not-think about it, too.
rating: PG
fandom/pairing: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unrequited Riley/Buffy a la canon, with vague Riley/Xander bromance.
spoilers/warnings: S05E03, "The Replacement".
summary: For Xander and Buffy, it can just go away. Riley doesn't have that luxury.
words: 226
disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or "Bruises" by Chairlift.
a/n: Sobs because 1) Riley is super-unpopular; B) I actually liked Xander for ten seconds there when they were the Zeppo Twins and he had a real Bro; Quatro) how to put Rileycreys into words?
Xander’s nice about it, in the way that Xander doesn’t talk about it.
Riley figures it’s because they’re men (men, he can mentally hear Xander stress, in that way that makes Riley wonder if he’s actually serious and he just sounds that way sometimes, or if he’s making a big sarcastic joke of everything that goes over Riley’s head), and men don’t talk about their feelings like that. But he also figures that it’s just as likely that Xander doesn’t know what to say, so he avoids the subject.
Riley’s not certain that anyone would know what to say. For once, maybe Xander’s doing exactly what everyone would expect from a normal person.
He doesn’t bring it up to anybody else, for the same reason he doesn’t argue with Buffy when she lies and tells him that she loves him because of him - because Riley still knows, and hearing advice or platitudes or outright untruths from anyone isn’t going to make anything different.
It’s not comforting, anymore, to hear Buffy say sweet things about how she needs him. It doesn’t bring a smile to Riley’s face, doesn’t make it easier to kiss her when he knows that she’s just going through the motions.
It hurts, to not know if she realizes she’s lying yet, or not.
Riley wishes that he could just not-think about it, too.