{btvs} Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Title: Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Author: aaronlisa
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing/Characters: Faith Lehane/Robin Wood
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Prompts: Written for 2x5obsessions for the prompt of “when everything’s made to be broken.”
Notes: Set after Season Seven with what could be considered a brief reference to the Season Eight comics.
Summary: Faith and Robin break up.
Word Count: 626
She takes a sip of the hot black coffee before setting down the white mug on the Formica tabletop. She had been trying to avoid this moment for as long as possible but now it is here and she can’t really avoid it any longer. Still she toys with her mug, wiping off the red smudge from her lipstick, adjusting it so that it sits in a specific way until Robin’s hand stops her own.
“Faith.” His voice is gentle yet demanding and the noises from the diner fade away until it’s just the two of them.
Everything that she had wanted to say flees her mind and she stares up at him blankly, her heart already shattered into a thousand pieces. There’s nothing that they can say that will make this any easier on either of them.
“Don’t worry, I understand. It’s not you but it’s me,” Faith sarcastically says.
“Faith, it’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like?”
Robin signs before looking down at his hands. Faith gulps down more of the coffee, uncaring that the bitter hot liquid burns her throat and tongue as it goes down.
“We’ve grown apart since Sunnydale,” Robin finally says.
“Bullshit,” Faith exclaims, causing an elderly couple to give her a dirty look that she ignores.
“Please Faith, don’t make t his any harder than it has to be.”
“Maybe if you were honest with me then I wouldn’t be making this hard on you.”
“Fine Faith, it is you. You’re ruthless and hard. Too ruthless, too hard and it’s rubbing off on some of the Slayers and I can’t afford for them to be as reckless as you are. It’s bad enough that you have a death wish but I’m trying to keep these girls alive.”
Faith gives a bitter laugh in response. Even after all of these years, Robin doesn’t understand what being a Slayer is all about. She doesn’t have a death wish, nor do the Slayers in his charge. They dance with death every night, it’s their gift, and they need to be fearless, to not second-guess themselves in the middle of a fight in order to survive. Even Buffy has that same streak of recklessness in her, Robin’s just too blind to see it for what it is.
“Fine,” Faith finally replies, “I get it.”
“I don’t think that you do. I love you Faith but every night, I’m terrified that you’re not going to come back home.”
The unspoken words of just like my mother hang on the end of Robin’s sentence and her anger dissipates. Faith doesn’t know how to respond instead she wraps her hands around her mug.
“I don’t know what to say,” Faith finally admits. “But I’m a Slayer, it’s always going to be a risk. Just like with any of your Slayers. One dawn, you’re gonna learn that they’re not always going to come back home alive.”
“I know that Faith but I don’t want to be waiting for you like that. It’s tearing me up every single time you go out there.”
Faith looks down at the worn Formica tabletop. She wonders what she’ll do now. She can’t stay in Cleveland, how Robin feels about her will still be there even if they become strictly Watcher and Slayer. She’s pretty certain that he still loves her just like she knows that she still loves him. Faith sighs and looks up at him.
“I’ll call Buffy tomorrow, find out where they need a Slayer,” Faith tells him.
“You don’t need to do that,” Robin says.
“Yeah I do, it’ll make things easier.”
She stands up and throws a few crumpled bills down on the table. The night is still young and she’s a Slayer.
“Goodbye Robin.”
((END))
Author: aaronlisa
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing/Characters: Faith Lehane/Robin Wood
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Prompts: Written for 2x5obsessions for the prompt of “when everything’s made to be broken.”
Notes: Set after Season Seven with what could be considered a brief reference to the Season Eight comics.
Summary: Faith and Robin break up.
Word Count: 626
She takes a sip of the hot black coffee before setting down the white mug on the Formica tabletop. She had been trying to avoid this moment for as long as possible but now it is here and she can’t really avoid it any longer. Still she toys with her mug, wiping off the red smudge from her lipstick, adjusting it so that it sits in a specific way until Robin’s hand stops her own.
“Faith.” His voice is gentle yet demanding and the noises from the diner fade away until it’s just the two of them.
Everything that she had wanted to say flees her mind and she stares up at him blankly, her heart already shattered into a thousand pieces. There’s nothing that they can say that will make this any easier on either of them.
“Don’t worry, I understand. It’s not you but it’s me,” Faith sarcastically says.
“Faith, it’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like?”
Robin signs before looking down at his hands. Faith gulps down more of the coffee, uncaring that the bitter hot liquid burns her throat and tongue as it goes down.
“We’ve grown apart since Sunnydale,” Robin finally says.
“Bullshit,” Faith exclaims, causing an elderly couple to give her a dirty look that she ignores.
“Please Faith, don’t make t his any harder than it has to be.”
“Maybe if you were honest with me then I wouldn’t be making this hard on you.”
“Fine Faith, it is you. You’re ruthless and hard. Too ruthless, too hard and it’s rubbing off on some of the Slayers and I can’t afford for them to be as reckless as you are. It’s bad enough that you have a death wish but I’m trying to keep these girls alive.”
Faith gives a bitter laugh in response. Even after all of these years, Robin doesn’t understand what being a Slayer is all about. She doesn’t have a death wish, nor do the Slayers in his charge. They dance with death every night, it’s their gift, and they need to be fearless, to not second-guess themselves in the middle of a fight in order to survive. Even Buffy has that same streak of recklessness in her, Robin’s just too blind to see it for what it is.
“Fine,” Faith finally replies, “I get it.”
“I don’t think that you do. I love you Faith but every night, I’m terrified that you’re not going to come back home.”
The unspoken words of just like my mother hang on the end of Robin’s sentence and her anger dissipates. Faith doesn’t know how to respond instead she wraps her hands around her mug.
“I don’t know what to say,” Faith finally admits. “But I’m a Slayer, it’s always going to be a risk. Just like with any of your Slayers. One dawn, you’re gonna learn that they’re not always going to come back home alive.”
“I know that Faith but I don’t want to be waiting for you like that. It’s tearing me up every single time you go out there.”
Faith looks down at the worn Formica tabletop. She wonders what she’ll do now. She can’t stay in Cleveland, how Robin feels about her will still be there even if they become strictly Watcher and Slayer. She’s pretty certain that he still loves her just like she knows that she still loves him. Faith sighs and looks up at him.
“I’ll call Buffy tomorrow, find out where they need a Slayer,” Faith tells him.
“You don’t need to do that,” Robin says.
“Yeah I do, it’ll make things easier.”
She stands up and throws a few crumpled bills down on the table. The night is still young and she’s a Slayer.
“Goodbye Robin.”
((END))