Your Surrender: Chapter 8
Title: Your Surremder
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Season 4 AU
Synopsis: Giles has landed a job teaching at UC Sunnydale after defeating the Mayor and Buffy ends up, unknowingly, taking Giles' class. Surely all this extra time together won't affect their relationship, right?
It had taken a few weeks, but Buffy finally felt as if she could be in the same room as Giles and not have the urge to run and hide. Which was fine with her because she never really liked the fact that she felt that she had to run away- she knew she had never been the type of person to just run away from things, with the except of the summer before her senior year in high school.
In the few weeks since their one night stand, the Slayer had been on a total of six dates with Riley. She was only going on these dates because Giles had insisted she expand her social interactions beyond the Scoobies. Buffy had found Riley to be a nice enough guy, he was sweet and funny in a way she found cute. But every time a date had ended, she couldn’t help but feel bad- there she was going on dates with a guy who wanted to be her boyfriend, and she didn’t really want a relationship with him. Even though Riley was fully aware of all that, she still felt bad. And that’s exactly what had just told Giles when he asked her how things had been going with Riley.
“Then perhaps you should consider a real relationship with him, and not just a series of casual dates.” Giles suggested as he carried their empty mugs to the kitchen, placing them in the sink.
“I don’t want a relationship, Giles.” She moved to sit on one of the stools on the other side of the breakfast bar. “Were you not listening to anything I had just said?”
“Buffy for as long I have known you, you’ve always wanted a relationship.” He chuckled when she gave him a look.
“I meant I don’t want one with Riley,” she explained.
“Why not?” he asked, turning around to face her. “From what you tell me, he sounds like the perfect boyfriend for you.”
“He’s not the guy I wanna date,” was all she said as she watched her finger trace a random pattern on the surface of the breakfast bar. “And…there may be someone else.”
“And this other person…” he crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for her to explain.
Buffy closed her eyes and she mentally berated herself for saying that out loud. Silence settled over them as she thought about the best way to dance around this subject.
“There’s really nothing to say,” she shrugged as she looked at him. “He’s probably my forever guy.”
“Any particular reason you’re not with him then?”
“He has no idea how I feel about him. It doesn’t matter though, because even if he did he wouldn’t…I don’t think he would ever try to have something more than friendship with me.” She whispered, looking down for a brief moment as she tried to compose herself. “It’s probably best that he doesn’t know anyways. If he did, I think that would be the end of our friendship.”
“Now why do you say that?” Giles asked.
“Because it would wig him out, and I think I would make things awkward.” She gave him a small smile as she shrugged. “But again, doesn’t matter because it’s not like he’ll ever know.”
“What makes you say this mysterious person is your…forever guy?”
“At the risk of sounding corny, he’s my other half. He just…he gets me, Giles. And he…” she trailed off before giving him a sheepish look. “I’m gonna stop because I’ll just go on about him and the important part that you need to take away from what I’m not saying is that he’s a great guy.”
“And how does he feel about you?”
“I’m just a friend,” she refocused her gaze away from Giles.
There was a pause in the conversation as Giles studied the Slayer, waiting for her to get her composure. As the minutes passed, the ex-Watcher realized Buffy had nothing else to say.
“I say give Riley a real chance, Buffy.” He gave her an encouraging smile when her eyes snapped back to him, wide in shock. “Clearly whoever this bloke is isn’t worth your time. If he is just going to let you wait around for whenever he decides you’re worthy of being his girlfriend, he doesn’t deserve you Buffy.”
“I can’t do that, Giles. It wouldn’t be fair to Riley,” at his raised eyebrow, she gave him a shrug. “I’d leave Riley for this other guy in a heartbeat.”
“Which further proves my point that this…prick doesn’t deserve you,” it was Buffy’s turn to raise a questioning eyebrow. “He doesn’t feel the same way about you that you feel about him, yes? Yet he has no problems doing just enough to keep you waiting around for him,”
“Giles, he doesn’t…” Buffy started, stopping short when Giles slightly raised his left.
“He may not know that you have feelings for him, but men have a tendency to do things to keep beautiful women like you in their back pockets. So to speak.” He finished, moving to lean on the breakfast bar. “Why wait around for someone who only sees you as a friend when you have someone who wants to be more than that?”
After giving her a soft smile, Giles made his way back into the living room. Buffy just continued to sit on the stool, her eyes staring at the surface of the breakfast bar. She willed her tears to not fall, she wouldn’t allow herself to cry with Giles right behind, before she went to sit on the couch.
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Buffy looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, a smile coming to her face when she saw Riley standing next to her. They were at the Bronze at Willow’s suggestion of doing a triple date, although the other two couples were currently dancing to whatever band had taken the stage.
“Thanks,” Buffy took the offered cup from Riley. “Sorry I haven’t been much of a date tonight, Riley.”
“It’s fine, Buffy.” He assured her, giving her his usual boyish grin. “You’ve got things you’re dealing with. Speaking of which, how’s that situation with your friend? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I was just wondering.”
“It’s the same as it has been,” she sighed before taking a sip of her drink. “But we got pass the awkwardness. So that’s of the good,”
He just nodded his head. “As your friend, I’m glad and I hope things work out for you two. But as the guy who also likes you, I’m kinda hoping that he doesn’t realize what he has.”
Buffy just giggled before changing the topic. Although she winced slightly as she asked him how it felt to be grading the class’s papers with midterms approaching rather quickly. When he just gave her a smirk and laughed, Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Obviously you aren’t really good with date conversation,” he chuckled, finishing the contents in his cup.
“You aren’t either,” she pointed out, laughing at the look he gave her. “I don’t think it’s normal to bring up the guy you’re trying to win me from.”
“Right,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was hoping that I could come off like I go on dates enough to be able to talk to a girl.”
They made small talk, the conversation taking a break when Riley had gotten Buffy on to the dance floor. Despite the mood her earlier conversation with Giles had put her in, she was actually enjoying her night out with her friends. And for a brief moment, Buffy admitted to herself that if she didn’t have feelings for Giles that a relationship with Riley wouldn’t be so bad. But that wasn’t the case, and wouldn’t be the case for a long while.
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Buffy and Riley were back at their table an hour later, laughing at the looks Xander was receiving for his dancing while Anya was slowly putting a little more distance between her and her embarrassing boyfriend. Buffy shook her head, thinking that the world had to be ending if Xander was being the embarrassing one in that relationship. And from the looks on Willow and Oz’s faces, they had a similar thought.
“So, having fun?” Riley’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
“Surprisingly, yeah. I am.” She answered, sharing a smile with him. “You?”
“Yeah, I am. But I’m not as surprised as you are.” Riley followed her gaze, tilting his head when he noticed she was staring at an older man- and if he wasn’t mistaken, it was one of the History professors. “You know him?”
“What? Yeah,” Buffy shook her head, directing her attention back to Riley. “He’s a friend of mine. Nice guy,”
“Seems like he’s kinda a sleazebag. Hanging out here, probably trying to pick up some girl to sleep with.” He muttered before looking back at Buffy.
“He’s not like that, Riley.” She opened her mouth to continue to defend her ex-Watcher, but stopped herself when she saw Riley looking at something in his hand under the table.
“I hate to do this, but I gotta go.” Riley gave her an apologetic smile as he started walking away. “Something came up. But I’ll see you later?”
“Bye, Riley.” Buffy smiled, blushing slightly when he placed a kiss on her cheek.
When Willow gave her a questioning look, Buffy just shook her head and gave her a small smile. She idly twirled her plastic cup as she watched her friends dance. It may have been boring, but it kept her from watching Giles leave with another person. But that only lasted for a few minutes and her eyes were searching for him. She let out a sad sigh when she didn’t find him.
“Seems like everyone is gonna get lucky, but me.” She muttered as she went back to twirling the plastic cup.
“I thought you would be here with Riley,” Giles said as he leaned against the table next to Buffy, giving her a slight smile. “After all, Xander did say this was a triple date.”
“Something came up and he had to bail,” Buffy replied, returning his smile. “What about you? Why are you here? Not to be rude, because I know that sounded rude and I wasn’t trying to be.”
“I needed to get out of my flat for a while,” he answered before grabbing her hand and gently pulling her toward the dance floor as the band played a slower song.
“What are you doing, Giles?” Buffy laughed as he placed her right hand on his left shoulder, his left hand resting lightly on her hip while his other hand held hers.
“This is a supposed to be a triple date, yes?” when she nodded he gave her a smile. “Seems you and me are in need of a date at the moment.”
“I’m sure you can find a ‘date’ in here, if you wanted to.” She pointed out.
“I could, but I noticed that you were all on your own.” Giles muttered as he held her closer. “I figured the band would be playing a ballad soon enough, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t step in as a replacement date?”
They both shared a smile as they continued dancing.
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Season 4 AU
Synopsis: Giles has landed a job teaching at UC Sunnydale after defeating the Mayor and Buffy ends up, unknowingly, taking Giles' class. Surely all this extra time together won't affect their relationship, right?
It had taken a few weeks, but Buffy finally felt as if she could be in the same room as Giles and not have the urge to run and hide. Which was fine with her because she never really liked the fact that she felt that she had to run away- she knew she had never been the type of person to just run away from things, with the except of the summer before her senior year in high school.
In the few weeks since their one night stand, the Slayer had been on a total of six dates with Riley. She was only going on these dates because Giles had insisted she expand her social interactions beyond the Scoobies. Buffy had found Riley to be a nice enough guy, he was sweet and funny in a way she found cute. But every time a date had ended, she couldn’t help but feel bad- there she was going on dates with a guy who wanted to be her boyfriend, and she didn’t really want a relationship with him. Even though Riley was fully aware of all that, she still felt bad. And that’s exactly what had just told Giles when he asked her how things had been going with Riley.
“Then perhaps you should consider a real relationship with him, and not just a series of casual dates.” Giles suggested as he carried their empty mugs to the kitchen, placing them in the sink.
“I don’t want a relationship, Giles.” She moved to sit on one of the stools on the other side of the breakfast bar. “Were you not listening to anything I had just said?”
“Buffy for as long I have known you, you’ve always wanted a relationship.” He chuckled when she gave him a look.
“I meant I don’t want one with Riley,” she explained.
“Why not?” he asked, turning around to face her. “From what you tell me, he sounds like the perfect boyfriend for you.”
“He’s not the guy I wanna date,” was all she said as she watched her finger trace a random pattern on the surface of the breakfast bar. “And…there may be someone else.”
“And this other person…” he crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for her to explain.
Buffy closed her eyes and she mentally berated herself for saying that out loud. Silence settled over them as she thought about the best way to dance around this subject.
“There’s really nothing to say,” she shrugged as she looked at him. “He’s probably my forever guy.”
“Any particular reason you’re not with him then?”
“He has no idea how I feel about him. It doesn’t matter though, because even if he did he wouldn’t…I don’t think he would ever try to have something more than friendship with me.” She whispered, looking down for a brief moment as she tried to compose herself. “It’s probably best that he doesn’t know anyways. If he did, I think that would be the end of our friendship.”
“Now why do you say that?” Giles asked.
“Because it would wig him out, and I think I would make things awkward.” She gave him a small smile as she shrugged. “But again, doesn’t matter because it’s not like he’ll ever know.”
“What makes you say this mysterious person is your…forever guy?”
“At the risk of sounding corny, he’s my other half. He just…he gets me, Giles. And he…” she trailed off before giving him a sheepish look. “I’m gonna stop because I’ll just go on about him and the important part that you need to take away from what I’m not saying is that he’s a great guy.”
“And how does he feel about you?”
“I’m just a friend,” she refocused her gaze away from Giles.
There was a pause in the conversation as Giles studied the Slayer, waiting for her to get her composure. As the minutes passed, the ex-Watcher realized Buffy had nothing else to say.
“I say give Riley a real chance, Buffy.” He gave her an encouraging smile when her eyes snapped back to him, wide in shock. “Clearly whoever this bloke is isn’t worth your time. If he is just going to let you wait around for whenever he decides you’re worthy of being his girlfriend, he doesn’t deserve you Buffy.”
“I can’t do that, Giles. It wouldn’t be fair to Riley,” at his raised eyebrow, she gave him a shrug. “I’d leave Riley for this other guy in a heartbeat.”
“Which further proves my point that this…prick doesn’t deserve you,” it was Buffy’s turn to raise a questioning eyebrow. “He doesn’t feel the same way about you that you feel about him, yes? Yet he has no problems doing just enough to keep you waiting around for him,”
“Giles, he doesn’t…” Buffy started, stopping short when Giles slightly raised his left.
“He may not know that you have feelings for him, but men have a tendency to do things to keep beautiful women like you in their back pockets. So to speak.” He finished, moving to lean on the breakfast bar. “Why wait around for someone who only sees you as a friend when you have someone who wants to be more than that?”
After giving her a soft smile, Giles made his way back into the living room. Buffy just continued to sit on the stool, her eyes staring at the surface of the breakfast bar. She willed her tears to not fall, she wouldn’t allow herself to cry with Giles right behind, before she went to sit on the couch.
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Buffy looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, a smile coming to her face when she saw Riley standing next to her. They were at the Bronze at Willow’s suggestion of doing a triple date, although the other two couples were currently dancing to whatever band had taken the stage.
“Thanks,” Buffy took the offered cup from Riley. “Sorry I haven’t been much of a date tonight, Riley.”
“It’s fine, Buffy.” He assured her, giving her his usual boyish grin. “You’ve got things you’re dealing with. Speaking of which, how’s that situation with your friend? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I was just wondering.”
“It’s the same as it has been,” she sighed before taking a sip of her drink. “But we got pass the awkwardness. So that’s of the good,”
He just nodded his head. “As your friend, I’m glad and I hope things work out for you two. But as the guy who also likes you, I’m kinda hoping that he doesn’t realize what he has.”
Buffy just giggled before changing the topic. Although she winced slightly as she asked him how it felt to be grading the class’s papers with midterms approaching rather quickly. When he just gave her a smirk and laughed, Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Obviously you aren’t really good with date conversation,” he chuckled, finishing the contents in his cup.
“You aren’t either,” she pointed out, laughing at the look he gave her. “I don’t think it’s normal to bring up the guy you’re trying to win me from.”
“Right,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was hoping that I could come off like I go on dates enough to be able to talk to a girl.”
They made small talk, the conversation taking a break when Riley had gotten Buffy on to the dance floor. Despite the mood her earlier conversation with Giles had put her in, she was actually enjoying her night out with her friends. And for a brief moment, Buffy admitted to herself that if she didn’t have feelings for Giles that a relationship with Riley wouldn’t be so bad. But that wasn’t the case, and wouldn’t be the case for a long while.
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Buffy and Riley were back at their table an hour later, laughing at the looks Xander was receiving for his dancing while Anya was slowly putting a little more distance between her and her embarrassing boyfriend. Buffy shook her head, thinking that the world had to be ending if Xander was being the embarrassing one in that relationship. And from the looks on Willow and Oz’s faces, they had a similar thought.
“So, having fun?” Riley’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
“Surprisingly, yeah. I am.” She answered, sharing a smile with him. “You?”
“Yeah, I am. But I’m not as surprised as you are.” Riley followed her gaze, tilting his head when he noticed she was staring at an older man- and if he wasn’t mistaken, it was one of the History professors. “You know him?”
“What? Yeah,” Buffy shook her head, directing her attention back to Riley. “He’s a friend of mine. Nice guy,”
“Seems like he’s kinda a sleazebag. Hanging out here, probably trying to pick up some girl to sleep with.” He muttered before looking back at Buffy.
“He’s not like that, Riley.” She opened her mouth to continue to defend her ex-Watcher, but stopped herself when she saw Riley looking at something in his hand under the table.
“I hate to do this, but I gotta go.” Riley gave her an apologetic smile as he started walking away. “Something came up. But I’ll see you later?”
“Bye, Riley.” Buffy smiled, blushing slightly when he placed a kiss on her cheek.
When Willow gave her a questioning look, Buffy just shook her head and gave her a small smile. She idly twirled her plastic cup as she watched her friends dance. It may have been boring, but it kept her from watching Giles leave with another person. But that only lasted for a few minutes and her eyes were searching for him. She let out a sad sigh when she didn’t find him.
“Seems like everyone is gonna get lucky, but me.” She muttered as she went back to twirling the plastic cup.
“I thought you would be here with Riley,” Giles said as he leaned against the table next to Buffy, giving her a slight smile. “After all, Xander did say this was a triple date.”
“Something came up and he had to bail,” Buffy replied, returning his smile. “What about you? Why are you here? Not to be rude, because I know that sounded rude and I wasn’t trying to be.”
“I needed to get out of my flat for a while,” he answered before grabbing her hand and gently pulling her toward the dance floor as the band played a slower song.
“What are you doing, Giles?” Buffy laughed as he placed her right hand on his left shoulder, his left hand resting lightly on her hip while his other hand held hers.
“This is a supposed to be a triple date, yes?” when she nodded he gave her a smile. “Seems you and me are in need of a date at the moment.”
“I’m sure you can find a ‘date’ in here, if you wanted to.” She pointed out.
“I could, but I noticed that you were all on your own.” Giles muttered as he held her closer. “I figured the band would be playing a ballad soon enough, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t step in as a replacement date?”
They both shared a smile as they continued dancing.