Title: Like Looking in a Mirror

Author: Evil_Little_Dog

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: This is a derivative work, and, as such, I make absolutely no money writing this. Darn the luck.

Summary: Buffy and Steve may have too much in common.

Notes:
Time period is post-Winter Soldier for Cap, and post-Chosen for BtVS. Just go with it. :D


He was tall, and blond, with cheekbones sharp enough to cut the air (but not as sharp as someone else's she once knew). And he was cute, in an incredibly wholesome, not-quite-Riley-clone kind of way. Buffy hoped he wasn't part of some evil military experiment, too, but she wasn't about to ask, not while he was still buying the beers. Not. That she was drinking. (Much.)

"So, what brings you to sunny C.A., Steve?" she asked.

"I hopped on my bike, and wound up here." He gave her a sidelong smile. "After some...really crazy things in New York, and...other places."

"Mm." Buffy knew all about crazy things in other places. She sipped at her beer. She'd noticed some lingering bruises from what looked like a truly spectacular battle. Another thing she knew all about. "Crazy things can make you crazy."

"I got into a fight with the man who used to be my best friend. I thought he was going to kill me."

Buffy turned on her bar stool, her eyebrows bobbing up. "Do tell."

"I didn't really want to fight him." Steve offered her a sheepish smile.

"No, it's hard to fight someone you've cared about."

His expression changed minutely, and he gave Buffy a longer look. She gave him a bland smile in return. "You've had experience with that sort of thing?"

Buffy nodded, her smile turning bittersweet as she picked up her beer. "Oh, yeah. The stories I could tell. The books I could write, if. You know. I could write about the things I can't really talk about."

Steve tapped his glass against Buffy's. "To best friends, and fights to the death."

She raised her glass in return. "Here, here."


~end~