Fic: Make Up
Title: Make Up
Author: Fancyflautist
Setting: post-series
Rating: PG-13
A/N: I'm already committed to posting one fic a day up until Christmas on my own journal, so I figured I'd just post this one here for the event and link it on mine instead! This is lightly inspired by an Ariana Grande song called Make Up, and also the Buffyverse Bingo prompt "Seeing Red" which I wanted to take in a different direction than just writing around the episode.
Also there's an AO3 tag called "no beta we die like men" and I feel like that fits this situation. Please let me know any mistakes you find so I can correct 'em.
It took a while before they trusted each other enough to play these games often. After all, there had been so much real fighting and hurt in their past.
The first time she’d kept at a ridiculous argument just to watch him be angry it hadn’t quite ended with the sexfest that went from punishingly hard to intensely sweet the way she’d been expecting. Instead, his fears about their relationship made an appearance and led to her spending the night caring for him and reassuring him of her love.
The morning after, they lounged in the sunlight through the necro-tempered glass and they finally discussed what had happened the night before.
“I just don’t understand how, after we’ve worked so hard on this, you stayed brassed off and acted like that, Buffy.”
She tightened the grip of her arm across his waist and ducked her head down towards his chest in shame.
“I’m so sorry, Spike. I was… completely childish.”
“But, why, Buffy? What happened yesterday to set back our progress. I just want to understand, pet, please. Why that argument?”
Her heart rate shot up immediately.
“Please don’t hate me,” she pleaded.
He grabbed her chin and lifted it so she looked at him.
“Buffy, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything else in this world. I will never, ever hate you. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
She bit her lip before the words spilled out in a rush.
“I was actually invested at first, I promise. But then I started…” she did pause here for just a second, taking a deep breath, “having fun and it was all nostalgic and it didn’t hurt that you’re really sexy when you’re angry either. I figured I’d just make it up to you later or something I guess.”
She was breathing hard and blushing when she finished.
“You’re sayin’ that you kept up arguin’ with me just because you had fun and you thought we’d have a great make-up shag later?”
She kept avoiding his gaze, but nodded her head against his hand.
He couldn’t help it-- he barked out a laugh.
At her shocked and hurt look, he quickly responded.
“Pet, if you want to fight for funsies so we can shag it out later, I’m not gonna argue. But you’ve gotta let me know what you’re doing first instead of letting me think you’re really so mad at me.”
Her eyes flew to his.
“Wait, you don’t mind?”
“Buffy, my love, I fell for you while I was still fightin’ you. Of course I’m interested in sparring with you in a different setting. And I’m sure we’ll make it more than worth my while,” he finished with his signature leer.
“We have to figure out a way to make sure we’re both on the same page about what’s happening during one of these fights.”
“Maybe… whenever one of us is ready to compromise on the issue but doesn’t want to stop fighting, we say something like ‘you’re stupid,’ or sommat like that and go back into the argument.”
Buffy nodded her head slowly.
“I think that works… so we’re really going to do this?”
Her voice nearly shook in a mixture of excitement and anxiety.
“What do you mean, precious?”
“I mean, we’re going to argue with each other over stupid things just because it gets us hot and so we can have phenomenal make up sex marathons?”
“You’re always so opposed to the kinky things up until they’re getting you off, Slayer,” Spike observed with a snort.
“I’m not opposed! I was the one who did the thing in the first place.”
“Without being willing to admit what you were doing beforehand,” He said pointedly. “And you’re still scared, worried about what others might think. But honestly, sweetheart, this is probably on the more tame side of things we’ve done before.”
She heaved another sigh and sat up, turning to look at him.
“I’m not worried about what people would think, Spike. I’m worried that we’re still too fragile and the things we say during these fights might start to sink into the back of our minds.”
His face lit up in realization, and he sat up too and pulled her onto his lap. His expression was heartbreakingly gentle as swept a piece of hair from her face.
“Buffy, I trust you. It took me a while, but I do trust you. I went off my rocker today because I had no idea what was happening and assumed the worst, but most of that is my insecurity.
“Rocky starts turn into strong foundations, pet, and we’ve been through so much together. As long as we’re coming back together at night and communicating if we have a real problem, we’ll be just fine.”
She nodded with a sniffle. She hadn’t even realized there were tears welling in her eyes.
“I trust you too, I’m just worried about… god I’m worried about so much.”
“Why don’t we just give it a shot, okay, princess? If it doesn’t work for us we can stop.”
She nodded, and caught his lips in a kiss that distracted them until well after lunch.
~~~Sorry in a box, so when it pops, surprise surprise~~~
After the initial argument there were several hours of angry glances and things being moved around harder than they needed to be before Buffy followed him into the bedroom.
She watched from the door as he made himself comfortable, legs stretched out and sitting leaning back against the headboard.
Once he was settled, she moved onto the bed and crawled over to straddle him.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, her lip pouting out as she stared at him plaintively.
“Are you now?” He asked, careful to keep his tone even.
She nodded, continuing the puppy dog eyes.
“Well, I think maybe you ought to be punished for fighting me for so long.”
The low and sultry tone of his voice left no doubt as to what kind of punishment he meant.
“If you insist,” she said innocently, fluttering her eyelashes at him before maneuvering to bend her waist over his lap.
He wasted no time pushing the denim of her short skirt up and chuckled when he found her bare underneath. Of course she’d known exactly what she was doing in waiting to come to him.
“Ready for your spanking, Slayer?”
She nodded. After she happily accepted her punishment, Spike spent the rest of the night rewarding her for her apology.
~~~Cause the way you be screamin’ my name makes me wanna make love to you~~~
“God damnit, Buffy! I swear to god you drive me absolutely barmy. I don’t even know why I stopped trying to kill you sometimes.”
Buffy was still staring at him, but her mind had stopped processing anything after she heard him yell her name like that, all forceful. All at once any intent to draw the argument out was forgotten in favor of the flood of even more intense arousal that filled her.
Before either of them could blink she flew across the room and jumped on him, legs wrapping tight around his waist.
Without hesitation she dipped her mouth to his ear to whisper to him.
“Promise to scream my name like that again when you come?”
~~~At the end of the day, boy, you know that I’m ‘bout to wake up wit you~~~
“So, this is really really awkward, but I feel like I would be a bad friend if I didn’t talk to you about it.”
“What is it, Wills?”
It had been months since they started playing their little game, and they’d settled into a good rhythm of working together mixed with petty fights to spice things up. It wasn’t something they thought about anymore, so what she said next was a surprise.
The redhead stared at her hands as she spoke.
“I overheard you and Spike fighting the other day, and you called him stupid. And I just remember you learning from therapy that arguments don’t work when you make judgements against the other person, so I just thought I should check in, I guess?”
When Willow finally peeked out from her hair, she saw her best friend blushing profusely.
“I’m not judging you, I promise! I just--”
Buffy cut her off as she scrambled to be supportive.
“I know, I know. It’s just that there’s more to it and it’s kind of awkward.”
“What do you mean?”
“We use stupid as an insult as sort of a… It’s just a way to be like, ‘hey, from here on out the argument isn’t for realsies,’ you know?”
“So then why argue?”
Buffy blushed. “It’s just… a thing we do.”
“I mean, I guess so. I’d worry that it wasn’t healthy, but it IS you guys.”
“What does that mean?” Buffy asked, mildly offended.
Willow noted the tone of her voice and backpedaled. “I just mean that you’re a slayer and a vampire. Fighting is kind of part of the package with you two. It sort of makes sense that you’d make it into something safe and consensual.”
Buffy eyed her best friend wearily, but slowly nodded and deflated.
“How’s it been working for you?”
Buffy’s face turned even more crimson. “Really, really good, actually.”
Willow smiled knowingly.
“Kennedy and I used to fight a lot, just because we didn’t really work. I do remember that the making up always made it harder to remember all the horrible stuff that came before.”
Buffy giggled and nodded.
“Exactly! This one time… He was yelling at me, and the way he yelled my name, I just… I jumped him, right then and there.”
Willow laughed at her friend and raised her coffee cup towards her.
“You go girl!”
“Honestly, Willow, things are just so good with us, but neither of us are built for a quiet life. Since we’ve started doing this… everything in our life has just sort of clicked, you know?”
“I know. And as long as you’re happy, I’m all with the not-judge-y girl!”
“Thanks Wills, I appreciate it.”
~~~Love it when we make up~~~
That night, Buffy returned home to yelling about her being a stupid bint, and she had trouble holding her smile in. This worked for them, and they were truly happy. She had faith that they’d make it through anything to come their way.
Making up was just too good to resist.