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Post by Davey Callaghan on Jul 6, 2010 2:06:16 GMT -8
Angel had been around for a long time and he wasn't at all naive to what someone did when they were trying to dig for information. He knew that what happened with Faith had a bit effect on Buffy and he hated that it had. He wished that it could have been handled differently. Where Faith was concerned, the vampire—ex vampire—didn't think she was past saving. She was human, after all, and he thought that given the chance she could be redeemed. After all, if he could be in some small way, so could she. But, right now, that was unimportant and he didn't think of her in any way like he did Buffy. She thinks I'm an idiot. She thinks I'm stupid and she doesn't trust me... He thought unable to control his thoughts. "Buffy, if there's something on your mind, tell me. I can't read your thoughts." He said, in his own way just wanting her to come out with the question.
As soon as he passed through the doors of the school and back into the sun again, he stopped and stared at the sky. California was never so good. The sun was bright, and he caught himself squinting up at the sky. There was almost a childlike wonder to it. It had been so long since he could do this and he literally stopped on the path to relish in it. "Look at that, not on fire." He commented, and it was a huge deal for him. It felt like a dream... So much like a dream that he was scared he'd randomly open his eyes hungry for blood.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 2:30:39 GMT -8
Buffy's cheeks went red as she heard his thought. "It's not like that," she said quietly. They stepped outside, and she looked up at Angel. "No, not burning at all. Look, Angel, there's something I need to tell you. And, please, don't get mad....I-" she stopped as she saw the look on his face. With a sigh, she said, "I'm ditching school today. So let's go to the donut shop." She couldn't do it. She had taken one look at Angel and couldn't tell him. He might think the wrong thing, he might even accuse her of spying on him if she told him she saw how close he and Faith were that night. So, instead, she acted like ditching school was what she was going to tell him.
Buffy looked away as soon as she said it. Angel was good at reading her, too good, actually. She knew that if he looked in her eyes, he could tell that she was lying. So, instead of looking at him, she looked both ways before leading him across the street. "You're going to love these donuts, Angel," she assured him as she walked towards the donut shop. After all, what person didn't like donuts?
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Post by Davey Callaghan on Jul 6, 2010 2:46:30 GMT -8
Since Buffy had walked out with him, he was under the assumption that she was skipping school already. Not surprised, he looked at her, with a look of disbelief. She was lying to him. Both of them were adept at reading each other and while they could evade the other occasionally, it wasn't a common occurrence. That can't be it... Angel shook his head, "It's something else, Buffy, tell me. You can talk to me about anything, you know that, don't you?" He asked, and hoped she did understand that. He looked away from the sun to look straight at her when he said it. There was no way he was going to let her think that he didn't feel that way and as far as he was concerned, Buffy was a lot more important than him being human right then. As the two crossed the street though, he followed, letting her lead him where she thought was appropriate.
"I'm sure I will," he smiled faintly and he didn't doubt her choice in food. He knew what doughnuts should taste like and he had eaten one before, although it didn't satisfy him at all when he was a vampire. It was just something to do. The taste of human food was pretty bland, and unless he was eating something that tasted terrible, it was difficult to really taste it. He discovered that he could distinctly taste bad coffee and things that were off. But blood had the strongest flavour, it was the one thing that could satisfy, but not now. Now, he thought he could eat anything. He was hungry and years of being unable to taste were catching up to his newly human body.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 3:06:50 GMT -8
Buffy looked at the ground, inwardly cursing his ability to tell that she was lying. Why did he have to be so good at it? She entered the shop and silently took a place in line before looking up at him. "Ok. The night before you acted like you lost your soul...I went over to your place, and I saw you with her." Her tone was not hurt or anger. It was jealous.
Jealousy was not a feeling she was strangers to. No, she was very familiar with it. She had gotten jealous when Cordelia tried to make the moves on him. And when she saw him with Drusilla for the first time, she had felt it even more strongly. "You just looked so...comfortably close with her, So when you kissed her in front of me--" it had hurt. Buffy knew it was acting, but it still bothered her. She didn't want it to, but she couldn't help it.
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Post by Davey Callaghan on Jul 6, 2010 3:29:33 GMT -8
Angel stopped when they reached the other side of the street and turned to her. Why didn't she say anything before? Why did she wait? Angel was sure it had something to do with how he might react or her own need to hide the jealousy, but he would much rather hear about it. "Buffy," he reached for her hands. "What you saw, was nothing. I thought she needed my help, I could understand... Girls like Faith, Buffy, they aren't my type. I'm over them. Been over them for a long time. I love you, and you're the only one I've ever loved. Faith didn't change that, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to see that," and by that, he meant all of it. He never meant to make her suffer or to hurt her even in the smallest. Angel never loved anyone the way he loved Buffy and to know that he hurt her even a little bit hurt him as much.
"When I kissed her, it was part of the act, it didn't mean anything." He wanted to assure her that there was nothing between him and Faith. And there never would be. He understood the whole jealousy thing, after all it wasn't something that he hadn't experienced himself. When it came to Buffy, his jealousy was hyper-aware and easy to call upon.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 14:01:14 GMT -8
Hearing his thoughts made her feel guilty. Willow had told her to talk to him. Why didn't she listen? Her friend was smart. She didn't have alot of experience with boyfriends, but she was still smart. She had a level head and she had known exactly what Buffy should do. And Buffy had completely ignored her advice. Angel said her name and took her hands, and Buffy stared down at them. She couldn't look up at him, not yet, anyways. "Still sucked," she muttered when he said that the kiss meant nothing. Buffy wanted to scoff at her own embittered voice.
Finally, she looked up at him. "I'm sorry. It just looked like you enj-" she shook her head, not finishing the sentence. "I should have known better." Even Willow knew better. She had told her he wouldn't do that. Faith would so do that. She's the go-to girl for that. But Angel, Buffy. Angel would never do that. Buffy sighed. "Wow, insecure much?" She never noticed it before now. She had always been so confident around him. But when it came to competition, Buffy kind of lost her cool.
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Post by Andre Simpson on Jul 6, 2010 14:21:12 GMT -8
"I know," Angel was sure that it had. In her position, he wouldn't react different. Even with two-hundred plus years of living, Angel wouldn't react with less jealousy. It did his age no justice when jealousy clouded him. And Angel never knew himself to be a very jealous individual, not until he met Buffy and then all bets were off. He might have been over emphasizing his maturity, however, because history reminded him that there had been plenty of times where he showed his jealousy when Darla was concerned. Especially if the names the Master or the Immortal were mentioned in the same context as his blonde sire. Angel didn't like to think of himself as petty and with anyone except for Buffy, he wasn't. If he saw her lock lips with someone else, it would pierce hard even if he knew it was fake.
"I didn't. I only enjoy kissing you," he promised, please believe me, his thoughts followed up, and not because he was afraid that it wasn't true. No, because it was true. He wanted her to believe because it was the only truth he had. To emphasize, he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "That's over now... Are we still good?" He asked, hopefully. He didn't want to lose her over that entire act.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 15:51:17 GMT -8
Buffy slowly smiled. "I do. I do believe you," she assured him. As their lips touched, she smiled bigger and kissed him back. When he pulled away, though, she pouted. In response to whether or not they were good, she said, "mmm. Not quite," the tone was teasing as she pulled him in for another kiss. Her mind was completely fixed on him, until she heard "kids today. Kissing on the street" and pulled away. Looking up in his eyes, she said, "come on. Let's get you some breakfast."
As she got to the counter and pulled out her wallet, though, she quickly grew overwhelmed with the amount of voices she heard. "Oh god," she whimpered and held her hands against her ears, trying to get them to stop. She couldn't hear what the person behind the counter was saying. She couldn't hear anything but a sea of voices. Her heart pounded almost as hard as her head did. Finally, she handed Angel her wallet so he could get food and ran out. She slipped in an alley beside the shop and sat against the wall, covering her head. "Please stop," she whimpered. She wished she could control it.
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Post by Andre Simpson on Jul 6, 2010 16:35:13 GMT -8
What would I do without you? Angel thought as they kissed, content in that moment. Even though she had just been jealous moments before, he felt so comfortable with her. His love for Buffy couldn't be compared to anything else he had ever known. And right now, he was just relishing in that, and in the sun above them. There was something about being able to kiss her in the sun that made it feel even more remarkable. When she mentioned food, he nodded and followed her inside. He wasn't thinking a lot on what she might be going through with all of the thoughts around them, but when Buffy suddenly handed him the wallet and ran out, he followed without hesitation. Did she really expect him to stand there and wait and try and get food when something was wrong? He rushed after her, finding her in the alley.
"Buffy, what's wrong?" His voice was laced with concern as he crouched down in front of her, grabbing at her hands. He wanted to help her; needed to be able to help in some way. He couldn't imagine what it was like to have thoughts being picked up on constantly. Hopefully Giles would figure out a way to rectify it.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 16:53:01 GMT -8
Buffy's hands shook as he took them. "It hurts," she whimpered. Her head was too small to contain everything she was hearing. She closed her eyes tightly before looking up at him. "Go get food." She insisted. How could he help her if his body was weak from not eating? She pushed on him and tried to stand up. "Go on! Get food so we can go somewhere quieter." That's all Buffy wanted right now--quiet.
She felt sick. She could hear thoughts from every direction. She had no idea how far away the people even were. Buffy winced as she heard an angry thought and looked up at him. "Is it too late to trade in for a tail?" she asked weakly. The fun had quickly vanished, if it was even there to begin with. If anything could defeat the slayer, this was definitely it.
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Post by Andre Simpson on Jul 6, 2010 17:07:31 GMT -8
"No, food can wait, I'm not that hungry," he lied at the end, he was that hungry but it could wait until he dealt with Buffy. It wasn't going to hurt to wait longer. Buffy was more important to him and Angel was too stubborn to walk away to get food. He could easily take her somewhere quieter and leave to get food and swiftly return to her. He didn't need to get it while she sat and suffered in an alley. "Come on, let's get you somewhere alone," when she stood, he put his arm around her, not letting himself get pushed away. He wasn't going to be brushed off that easily. She was a lot more important than his stomach. While he knew it didn't help his strength any to miss out on food, it wasn't like starving a vampire. He wasn't going to get so hungry that he started craving every healthy neck that walked by. The thought of that actually helped curb his hunger a bit.
"Giles'll figure out how to fix it in no time," if anyone could figure it out, it would be the Watcher. Of course, Angel would have liked to be right behind the attempts to finish off the telepathy. He would do anything he could to help. It hadn't struck Angel yet that helping the way he always did might not be his strong point anymore. He had realized the high points of being human, but the strength and the ability to take the nastiest wounds and survive were part of being a vampire that he didn't even realize he had lost yet. He hadn't had to test himself.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 17:26:59 GMT -8
Buffy didn't have the strength to keep pushing on him, so finally she relented and rested her head on his shoulder. "The mansion..." she whispered the suggestion. She knew that once away from all of the voices, she would be okay. Buffy stopped talking, because she could barely hear herself speak anyways. Her whole body felt weak. Instead, she closed her eyes and walked with him.
At least it wasn't night. Buffy had a duty to go find vampires at night. And once she felt better, Buffy still planned to do it. She was the slayer, after all. But she couldn't help but think that if only Faith was still on her side, she could patrol for her. Buffy missed the other slayer. She was always mouthy and a little rebellious. But the two worked well together. They had even been synchronizing their fights.
Giles'll figure out how to fix it in no time. She hoped so. Buffy put all of her faith and trust into Giles. She didn't even think about Wesley. She didn't know if the other man knew what was happening to her, nor did she care. He could just go back to England for all she cared. Giles was the one she wanted.
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Post by Andre Simpson on Jul 6, 2010 17:52:52 GMT -8
Angel's arm coiled around her to keep her steady as they walked. He didn't argue with her choice, knowing it would be silent there. Well, silent aside from him. He led her down the street, trying to take the quickest route possible. He didn't want her to expend more energy than she had to. Giles had better find a cure for this. If he didn't, Angel was going to do it himself. He couldn't stand to watch her suffer that way and it was already well known that he would do anything to protect her. It wasn't a short walk to Crawford Street, but given Sunnydale wasn't large to begin with, it wasn't intolerable. Normally, he would have led her to the lounge to rest on the couch, but he led her deeper into the mansion, to the room that he almost forgot about in the weeks he spent feral and crazy. Back then, he was sticking to particular rooms and sleeping in corners on the ground. But, he did have a bedroom and he led her into it, towards his bed. "Lay down, you're weak." He coaxed softly. He was worried about her, and that was apparent just by the look in his eyes and the tender way that he led her there.
He hated to think that he might be making it worse with every thought that passed through his brain. He didn't want to make it harder on her. He wanted to keep her in silence, though it was near impossible. There were still people outside and all over the town. He didn't know how far of a reach she had, but the vampire was sure that it had to be an unbearable amount filling her head. And there was nothing he could do about it. He was helpless to what was going on.
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Post by elexa on Jul 6, 2010 18:10:17 GMT -8
The voices seemed to get further and further away, and by the time they were inside, they had silenced altogether. Buffy lifted her head as he continued to lead her deeper still and into the bedroom. "I'm fine, Angel, I promise," Her voice stayed soft as she sat on the bed and looked up at him. Anything he thought could still be heard, but one voice was so much better than hundreds of voices. Especially his. She could never want to be away from his voice. And now that she was away from the hectic streets with the deafening roar of people's thoughts, she could focus on her boyfriend. Her cute, human boyfriend...who, on the one day he wouldn't be killed by it, was still inside and out of the sun.
Buffy looked down, thinking about that. "I'm sorry, Angel." She spoke up, but didn't explain further at first. Instead, she stood up and folded her arms. "You're human...and you're still stuck inside." She finished her statement as she walked over to the window. Her fingers traced her fingers along the curtain before looking back to Angel.
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Post by Andre Simpson on Jul 6, 2010 18:27:54 GMT -8
At the apology Angel's brow furrowed with confusion. He didn't know what he had done to warrant it. She didn't need to apologize to him. But, as she explained why, he shook his head and followed her over to the window. "I'd rather be with you, in here, than outside." It wasn't a lie either, or even a half-truth to make her feel better. As much as he liked the sun, he didn't mind being inside. He spent most of his time inside as it was. Although, it wasn't every day he could go out in the sun. And who knows how long it'll last... The thought bothered him as it followed up the rest of it. He still didn't know how long he was going to be this way. For all he knew it was temporary and while he wasn't upset about being inside during the one day he had humanity, he feared getting their hopes up that he could be normal. He wanted to be human; there was no other vampire in the world, he was sure, that wanted humanity, but Angel wanted it.
Even if he was only human for a short time, he would much rather be at Buffy's side than rushing out into the daylight. He didn't think she needed to be alone; not now. Although, with her ability to hear thoughts, he actually envisioned that she probably wanted to be alone. While he didn't think he had anything to hide from her, he didn't like the idea that she could get into his head. He wasn't the most talkative, and to have his thoughts heard without any control was kind of unnerving, but he was keeping himself from thinking too hard on it.
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