ficlet: one week [Buffy]
ficlet: one week (one thing that didn't happen to Willow Rosenberg)
by Raven
PG, gen, Buffy. For clubhopper15 and biascut.
It was Workout Week - or at least, they didn't have that on placards or anything and they didn't exactly call it that, but basically Buffy was down in the basement all the time with the Potentials, drilling, drilling, making them run before and after breakfast, and dividing them up so some played vampires and got to fight dirty and others played Slayers and got to fight dirtier, then switch, then again, and again.
So it was also the week they went shopping for shoes. Pretty shoes, Buffy said, pretty ones with little heels that you absolutely emphatically couldn't run in. The kind that would make Giles roll his eyes a lot. She found the perfect pair in the end - pink, with tiny bows on the edges and little leather frills - but then, as Willow heard her telling Giles, "the words 'prohibitively expensive' occasionally served a purpose'", did he know what she was saying? Willow could hear Giles rolling his eyes over the phone. It was sweet.
And it was the week the Powers That Be woke up from their million-year slumber and realised that well, actually, one girl in all the world to fight all the forces of evil was all okay, but it meant the one girl got a pretty raw deal. "Buffy," Giles was saying, on transatlantic speakerphone, "this is very serious. Very, very serious. Promise me you will not put this on your to-do list in the same category as bright fuschia espadrilles."
"Did you just - did he just use the word 'espadrilles'?" Buffy waved confused hands at Willow.
Willow nodded. "Yeah. I can check to see if he's been replaced by a demon, if you like."
"Both of you, listen to me," Giles said, sounding frustrated. "You especially, Willow, I have no faith in Buffy whatsoever. It's a... boon, shall we say. Something you want, granted by the Powers That Be. That's how it works."
"What?" Buffy said, suddenly. "A get-out-of-jail free card?"
"Yes," Giles said, patiently. "Call me when you've thought about it."
He had to go then - a tweed emergency, probably - and then there was the sound of an ominous crash from downstairs, and Xander shouting that it was all fine, they would get the bleeding stopped in a minute. Willow ran after Buffy to find the gauze - there was always something that needed bandaging, these days, even if the Potentials were mostly smart and didn't whine.
The pink kitten heels came at the end of the week, in a beautiful box with pink ruffled crepe lining it and more bows decorating the top. Buffy took them reverently out, and carried them into Willow's room. "Willow, look."
Willow looked, and looked at Buffy for a while, and then looked back at the shoes. "Buffy, did you...?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "I asked for shoes."
"I got them for her," Tara said, and smiled.
end.
NB. I can't take credit for the plot of this one, alas; Joss does claim this is how he would've done it, if Amber Benson had been available. I doubt it, but there you go.
by Raven
PG, gen, Buffy. For clubhopper15 and biascut.
It was Workout Week - or at least, they didn't have that on placards or anything and they didn't exactly call it that, but basically Buffy was down in the basement all the time with the Potentials, drilling, drilling, making them run before and after breakfast, and dividing them up so some played vampires and got to fight dirty and others played Slayers and got to fight dirtier, then switch, then again, and again.
So it was also the week they went shopping for shoes. Pretty shoes, Buffy said, pretty ones with little heels that you absolutely emphatically couldn't run in. The kind that would make Giles roll his eyes a lot. She found the perfect pair in the end - pink, with tiny bows on the edges and little leather frills - but then, as Willow heard her telling Giles, "the words 'prohibitively expensive' occasionally served a purpose'", did he know what she was saying? Willow could hear Giles rolling his eyes over the phone. It was sweet.
And it was the week the Powers That Be woke up from their million-year slumber and realised that well, actually, one girl in all the world to fight all the forces of evil was all okay, but it meant the one girl got a pretty raw deal. "Buffy," Giles was saying, on transatlantic speakerphone, "this is very serious. Very, very serious. Promise me you will not put this on your to-do list in the same category as bright fuschia espadrilles."
"Did you just - did he just use the word 'espadrilles'?" Buffy waved confused hands at Willow.
Willow nodded. "Yeah. I can check to see if he's been replaced by a demon, if you like."
"Both of you, listen to me," Giles said, sounding frustrated. "You especially, Willow, I have no faith in Buffy whatsoever. It's a... boon, shall we say. Something you want, granted by the Powers That Be. That's how it works."
"What?" Buffy said, suddenly. "A get-out-of-jail free card?"
"Yes," Giles said, patiently. "Call me when you've thought about it."
He had to go then - a tweed emergency, probably - and then there was the sound of an ominous crash from downstairs, and Xander shouting that it was all fine, they would get the bleeding stopped in a minute. Willow ran after Buffy to find the gauze - there was always something that needed bandaging, these days, even if the Potentials were mostly smart and didn't whine.
The pink kitten heels came at the end of the week, in a beautiful box with pink ruffled crepe lining it and more bows decorating the top. Buffy took them reverently out, and carried them into Willow's room. "Willow, look."
Willow looked, and looked at Buffy for a while, and then looked back at the shoes. "Buffy, did you...?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "I asked for shoes."
"I got them for her," Tara said, and smiled.
end.
NB. I can't take credit for the plot of this one, alas; Joss does claim this is how he would've done it, if Amber Benson had been available. I doubt it, but there you go.