Live A Little
author: Lucinda
rating: pg 13
pairing: Faith/Bill Weasley
sequel to Take A Chance
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters from Buffy/Angel or to any characters from the Harry Potter books.
distribution: TNL, Twisting the Hellmouth, Paula, anyone else just ask.
notes: probably AU-ish for Faith, set roughly season 3 A:tS/s7 BtVS, post book 4 HP, not in England.
Faith wasn't quite certain what to think of Bill Weasley. He was nicely muscled, with a good face, not really handsome, but a face full of emotion, full of expression. A face that said he was real, that he was the sort of person dropped into life to make his own way, maybe with help, but without any grand destiny laid around his neck. She'd learned how to spot a great destiny, learned from the Watchers, learned from the Mayor who'd become the father she'd never had, learned from her time spent around Angel. Grand destiny sucked.
Bill didn't have a grand destiny. He didn't have any sacred callings or grand redemptive quests. He wasn't trying to gain vast and considerable domination over the world, which had gotten Dick killed. He was just... a guy, trying to make it in the world.
Despite being just a normal seeming guy, there was something about Bill that stood out, set him apart from all the other guys she'd known. He looked at her like a person. Not like a sex object, or like some destined warrior, but... she didn't know how else to describe it. He looked at her like she was special, not for some destiny, but just because she was herself. Special because she was Faith.
It fascinated her and terrified her all at once, and it made her wish with this peculiar blend of wistfulness, regret, and desperate confusion that she'd had a guiding female influence when she was younger. Her watcher didn't count, that had all been about killing bad things, and proper fighting, not about feelings and relationships. She knew all about sex, and people wanting to use her to get something, but... that wasn't what Bill was after. She didn't know what Bill wanted, other than apparently to see her, to learn about her. How was she supposed to deal with that? Especially when he had a nice accent and nice muscles.
She'd agreed to meet him for coffee, thinking even as she agreed that it was probably a foolish thing. The way things had gone in the past pointed to this ending badly, with the best case looking like she would have to hide half of what she was and sneaking around at night to go slay down to the bad range of him panicking, trying to get her put in a mental institution, or back in jail. Or maybe he would get this bizarre macho manly thing and try to go fight the vampires and demons and get himself mauled to death. So, why had she said she'd meet him? Why was she sitting here right now, nervous and hoping that he'd really meant that he'd be here? Fretting about the time like a nervous teenager waiting for her first date?
"Faith... sorry that I'm late, there was a problem with this manager..." Bill's hair was falling out of his ponytail, and his earring gleamed in the weak sunlight, his shirt untucked as he came across the floor. He smiled at her, an expression filled with hope, and happiness, and admiration.
That was why she'd agreed to meet him. That smile, the way he looked at her. Even if only for a while, she wanted someone to be glad to see her. "Not a problem, I've had a few prickly situations with work in the past."
"Glad you're okay with that. So... what do you do for a living, Faith?" Bill was smiling at her, even as he tried to put himself together more presentably. Something Faith thought entirely unnecessary, the man looked delicious just the way he was.
Ouch, tricky question for her. It shouldn't be, and for most people, it wouldn't be touchy. But she was the Slayer, how could she explain that? "I do a lot of various things. Some volunteer work in neighborhood defense and clean up, and there's this detective agency that I have a part time job with. It's called Angel Investigations." Glancing at him, she gave a slow smile over her mug, licking the frothy foam from the top suggestively. "So, what do you do for a living?"
"I work for a bank. Mostly... well, Gringotts deals with antiques sometimes, and then they need someone to help make them a bit more presentable, careful cleaning, some filing... I got sent here to handle what's supposed to be a simple pickup, but the people over here seem to have their heads stuck..." Bill paused, as if remembering the idea of polite language. "Well, it's not going very fast."
"Gringotts? Is that German?" She knew that name sounded familiar. Hadn't Dick had something to do with them? Not his regular money, but some of those funny artifacts that he'd gotten a hold of? Maybe Bill wasn't quite as normal as she'd thought...
Bill had this oddly deep thoughtful feel to him as he stirred some sugar into the coffee, some intensely powerful dark brew that was strong enough to wake the dead. It also tasted a lot better than Cordy's coffee did. "I think... it was originally German, but it's expanded. The branch I was hired at is in London. Sometimes they can be a bit old fashioned."
"Dick... he was sort of my dad, or as close as I had, he had an account there... except that he called it a vault. It was left to me in his will... Sometimes I wonder if there's anything there, you know? I didn't even think banks now days used keys." Faith could feel the memories pressing at her, of Dick, of her time on the dark side of morality, of her near death at the hands of Buffy.
There was something odd in Bill's eyes as he looked at her. "Most banks don't. What... what did your dad do?"
Faith felt as if she'd somehow wandered to the edge of something. If she retreated, things would remain the same. If she went forwards, everything would change somehow. What to do, what to do... She'd always been one to live life to the fullest, to take risks and chances. Time to live a little more. Or at least, to see how things would go.
"He was a mayor. But.. he had an interest in the supernatural, and he collected a lot of old books. Things about magic, and monsters, and enchanted objects."
With a small smile, Bill reached out, his hand resting over hers. "That's not so strange. I'm sorry he's gone, you... you sound like you really cared. I'm here if you want to talk about... anything. Or if you just want to spend time not being alone."
Faith leaned over, her eyes looking into his the whole time. "Maybe I want to live a little."
Their lips met, teasing, tasting, a hesitant exploration of each other. He tasted like coffee and confidence, and she found herself wanting far more than a few friendly kisses over coffee. She wanted to take him back home with her, to find out how nice those muscles were, how flexible he was. To find out what it took to crack his calm. He was temptation, and she had already fallen once.
"So... does that mean we're dating now?" His voice was a bit strained, as if he was having difficulty focusing his thoughts.
"Absolutely." She leaned forward, kissing him again. This was going to be fun.
end Live A Little.
author: Lucinda
rating: pg 13
pairing: Faith/Bill Weasley
sequel to Take A Chance
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters from Buffy/Angel or to any characters from the Harry Potter books.
distribution: TNL, Twisting the Hellmouth, Paula, anyone else just ask.
notes: probably AU-ish for Faith, set roughly season 3 A:tS/s7 BtVS, post book 4 HP, not in England.
Faith wasn't quite certain what to think of Bill Weasley. He was nicely muscled, with a good face, not really handsome, but a face full of emotion, full of expression. A face that said he was real, that he was the sort of person dropped into life to make his own way, maybe with help, but without any grand destiny laid around his neck. She'd learned how to spot a great destiny, learned from the Watchers, learned from the Mayor who'd become the father she'd never had, learned from her time spent around Angel. Grand destiny sucked.
Bill didn't have a grand destiny. He didn't have any sacred callings or grand redemptive quests. He wasn't trying to gain vast and considerable domination over the world, which had gotten Dick killed. He was just... a guy, trying to make it in the world.
Despite being just a normal seeming guy, there was something about Bill that stood out, set him apart from all the other guys she'd known. He looked at her like a person. Not like a sex object, or like some destined warrior, but... she didn't know how else to describe it. He looked at her like she was special, not for some destiny, but just because she was herself. Special because she was Faith.
It fascinated her and terrified her all at once, and it made her wish with this peculiar blend of wistfulness, regret, and desperate confusion that she'd had a guiding female influence when she was younger. Her watcher didn't count, that had all been about killing bad things, and proper fighting, not about feelings and relationships. She knew all about sex, and people wanting to use her to get something, but... that wasn't what Bill was after. She didn't know what Bill wanted, other than apparently to see her, to learn about her. How was she supposed to deal with that? Especially when he had a nice accent and nice muscles.
She'd agreed to meet him for coffee, thinking even as she agreed that it was probably a foolish thing. The way things had gone in the past pointed to this ending badly, with the best case looking like she would have to hide half of what she was and sneaking around at night to go slay down to the bad range of him panicking, trying to get her put in a mental institution, or back in jail. Or maybe he would get this bizarre macho manly thing and try to go fight the vampires and demons and get himself mauled to death. So, why had she said she'd meet him? Why was she sitting here right now, nervous and hoping that he'd really meant that he'd be here? Fretting about the time like a nervous teenager waiting for her first date?
"Faith... sorry that I'm late, there was a problem with this manager..." Bill's hair was falling out of his ponytail, and his earring gleamed in the weak sunlight, his shirt untucked as he came across the floor. He smiled at her, an expression filled with hope, and happiness, and admiration.
That was why she'd agreed to meet him. That smile, the way he looked at her. Even if only for a while, she wanted someone to be glad to see her. "Not a problem, I've had a few prickly situations with work in the past."
"Glad you're okay with that. So... what do you do for a living, Faith?" Bill was smiling at her, even as he tried to put himself together more presentably. Something Faith thought entirely unnecessary, the man looked delicious just the way he was.
Ouch, tricky question for her. It shouldn't be, and for most people, it wouldn't be touchy. But she was the Slayer, how could she explain that? "I do a lot of various things. Some volunteer work in neighborhood defense and clean up, and there's this detective agency that I have a part time job with. It's called Angel Investigations." Glancing at him, she gave a slow smile over her mug, licking the frothy foam from the top suggestively. "So, what do you do for a living?"
"I work for a bank. Mostly... well, Gringotts deals with antiques sometimes, and then they need someone to help make them a bit more presentable, careful cleaning, some filing... I got sent here to handle what's supposed to be a simple pickup, but the people over here seem to have their heads stuck..." Bill paused, as if remembering the idea of polite language. "Well, it's not going very fast."
"Gringotts? Is that German?" She knew that name sounded familiar. Hadn't Dick had something to do with them? Not his regular money, but some of those funny artifacts that he'd gotten a hold of? Maybe Bill wasn't quite as normal as she'd thought...
Bill had this oddly deep thoughtful feel to him as he stirred some sugar into the coffee, some intensely powerful dark brew that was strong enough to wake the dead. It also tasted a lot better than Cordy's coffee did. "I think... it was originally German, but it's expanded. The branch I was hired at is in London. Sometimes they can be a bit old fashioned."
"Dick... he was sort of my dad, or as close as I had, he had an account there... except that he called it a vault. It was left to me in his will... Sometimes I wonder if there's anything there, you know? I didn't even think banks now days used keys." Faith could feel the memories pressing at her, of Dick, of her time on the dark side of morality, of her near death at the hands of Buffy.
There was something odd in Bill's eyes as he looked at her. "Most banks don't. What... what did your dad do?"
Faith felt as if she'd somehow wandered to the edge of something. If she retreated, things would remain the same. If she went forwards, everything would change somehow. What to do, what to do... She'd always been one to live life to the fullest, to take risks and chances. Time to live a little more. Or at least, to see how things would go.
"He was a mayor. But.. he had an interest in the supernatural, and he collected a lot of old books. Things about magic, and monsters, and enchanted objects."
With a small smile, Bill reached out, his hand resting over hers. "That's not so strange. I'm sorry he's gone, you... you sound like you really cared. I'm here if you want to talk about... anything. Or if you just want to spend time not being alone."
Faith leaned over, her eyes looking into his the whole time. "Maybe I want to live a little."
Their lips met, teasing, tasting, a hesitant exploration of each other. He tasted like coffee and confidence, and she found herself wanting far more than a few friendly kisses over coffee. She wanted to take him back home with her, to find out how nice those muscles were, how flexible he was. To find out what it took to crack his calm. He was temptation, and she had already fallen once.
"So... does that mean we're dating now?" His voice was a bit strained, as if he was having difficulty focusing his thoughts.
"Absolutely." She leaned forward, kissing him again. This was going to be fun.
end Live A Little.