BtVS Ficlet: Like A Gentleman
Title: Like A Gentleman
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy, Angel, Giles.
Rating: PG
Setting: Mid-Season Two, after Retile Boy.
Summary: Buffy has had boyfriends before, but Angel is in a class of his own.
Word Count: 750
Written For: Challenge 153: Chivalry at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters.
Being a reasonably attractive teenage girl, Buffy had been out with a few boys before she and her mother had moved to Sunnydale from L.A., so she wasn’t a complete novice at the dating game, but right from the start Angel was different, and not just because he happened to be a vampire with a soul. Always before, Buffy had dated boys her own age, or at most a year or two older, but even leaving out the fact that Angel was a couple of hundred years her senior, he looked and acted more mature than any boy she’d ever known; he was a man rather than a teenaged boy with raging hormones.
That maturity made a huge difference to the way he treated her; he didn’t try to grope her in dimly lit corners, he didn’t get annoyed and dump her the way one old boyfriend had when she wouldn’t ‘put out’ as he so charmlessly termed her refusal to go further with him than kissing. Angel was… a gentleman, and when she was with him, she felt like a woman rather than a naive seventeen-year-old girl.
Maybe it was because Angel had been born back when chivalry was alive and well, and being a gentleman was expected of any man with any degree of breeding, but he treated her with respect, opened doors for her, held out her chair, even gave her his jacket when she was cold. Literally gave it to her; she still had it tucked away in her bedroom closet because when she’d tried to give it back, he’d told her it looked better on her anyway. Now that was the way to treat a lady. Along with the silver cross, it was one of the first things he’d ever given her, and she cherished it.
Unlike past boyfriends, he showered her with compliments, and not simply as a means of trying to get her into bed with him. He wasn’t the kind of man to push, perfectly willing to take their relationship at her pace, never demanding more than she was ready to give, even though he made no secret of how much he desired her. Self-control, that’s what it was; something her previous boyfriends no doubt considered a waste of time. It made her wonder what she’d seen in them. Sure, they’d been cute, but looks weren’t everything, and anyway, Angel was far better looking.
He was protective too. It didn’t matter that she was the Slayer and easily as strong as him despite her lack of height and deceptively slender body. He still worried for her, looked out for her, and would defend her against any attacker; he’d proven that more than a dozen times already, but it wasn’t because he considered her weak or incapable. She knew he admired her for her strength and her fighting skills as much as for the way she looked and the kind of person she was. It was more that he was perfectly willing to sacrifice himself for her sake so that she might live to fight another day. He was her champion, and if he could fight in her place, save her having to, then he would. Besides, she suspected he enjoyed fighting the good fight alongside her as much as she relished battling evil with him at her side or watching her back. They made a great team: the Slayer and her creature of the night boyfriend, together against all odds.
Ordinary human teenage boys just couldn’t compare; they seemed silly and childish to her now. Even college boys were still painfully immature, Buffy was sure they wouldn’t know true chivalry if it bit them. Take those idiots who were spending their time drugging girls and feeding them to a snake demon. They sure picked the wrong human sacrifice.
She smiled up at Angel, thanking him as he helped her into her coat and held the library door open for her like a gentleman, following her through; even when they were just going out on patrol he was the dictionary definition of gallant. Despite his British stuffiness, Giles could learn a thing or two from Angel about how to treat a lady.
Walking beside Angel, being seen with him, made Buffy feel both taller and more grown up than she really was. She didn’t know what the future held for them, they came from such different worlds, but she loved him and he loved her. Surely there was nothing they couldn’t face together.
The End
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy, Angel, Giles.
Rating: PG
Setting: Mid-Season Two, after Retile Boy.
Summary: Buffy has had boyfriends before, but Angel is in a class of his own.
Word Count: 750
Written For: Challenge 153: Chivalry at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters.
Being a reasonably attractive teenage girl, Buffy had been out with a few boys before she and her mother had moved to Sunnydale from L.A., so she wasn’t a complete novice at the dating game, but right from the start Angel was different, and not just because he happened to be a vampire with a soul. Always before, Buffy had dated boys her own age, or at most a year or two older, but even leaving out the fact that Angel was a couple of hundred years her senior, he looked and acted more mature than any boy she’d ever known; he was a man rather than a teenaged boy with raging hormones.
That maturity made a huge difference to the way he treated her; he didn’t try to grope her in dimly lit corners, he didn’t get annoyed and dump her the way one old boyfriend had when she wouldn’t ‘put out’ as he so charmlessly termed her refusal to go further with him than kissing. Angel was… a gentleman, and when she was with him, she felt like a woman rather than a naive seventeen-year-old girl.
Maybe it was because Angel had been born back when chivalry was alive and well, and being a gentleman was expected of any man with any degree of breeding, but he treated her with respect, opened doors for her, held out her chair, even gave her his jacket when she was cold. Literally gave it to her; she still had it tucked away in her bedroom closet because when she’d tried to give it back, he’d told her it looked better on her anyway. Now that was the way to treat a lady. Along with the silver cross, it was one of the first things he’d ever given her, and she cherished it.
Unlike past boyfriends, he showered her with compliments, and not simply as a means of trying to get her into bed with him. He wasn’t the kind of man to push, perfectly willing to take their relationship at her pace, never demanding more than she was ready to give, even though he made no secret of how much he desired her. Self-control, that’s what it was; something her previous boyfriends no doubt considered a waste of time. It made her wonder what she’d seen in them. Sure, they’d been cute, but looks weren’t everything, and anyway, Angel was far better looking.
He was protective too. It didn’t matter that she was the Slayer and easily as strong as him despite her lack of height and deceptively slender body. He still worried for her, looked out for her, and would defend her against any attacker; he’d proven that more than a dozen times already, but it wasn’t because he considered her weak or incapable. She knew he admired her for her strength and her fighting skills as much as for the way she looked and the kind of person she was. It was more that he was perfectly willing to sacrifice himself for her sake so that she might live to fight another day. He was her champion, and if he could fight in her place, save her having to, then he would. Besides, she suspected he enjoyed fighting the good fight alongside her as much as she relished battling evil with him at her side or watching her back. They made a great team: the Slayer and her creature of the night boyfriend, together against all odds.
Ordinary human teenage boys just couldn’t compare; they seemed silly and childish to her now. Even college boys were still painfully immature, Buffy was sure they wouldn’t know true chivalry if it bit them. Take those idiots who were spending their time drugging girls and feeding them to a snake demon. They sure picked the wrong human sacrifice.
She smiled up at Angel, thanking him as he helped her into her coat and held the library door open for her like a gentleman, following her through; even when they were just going out on patrol he was the dictionary definition of gallant. Despite his British stuffiness, Giles could learn a thing or two from Angel about how to treat a lady.
Walking beside Angel, being seen with him, made Buffy feel both taller and more grown up than she really was. She didn’t know what the future held for them, they came from such different worlds, but she loved him and he loved her. Surely there was nothing they couldn’t face together.
The End