Title: Persuasion
Author: Vesica
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em and have no rights to 'em. Just playing in other people's sandboxes. I promise to put everything back like I found it.
Summary: How far would Faith go to kill a story? Freddy Iverson is about to find out.
Author's Note: Written for the LJ community Buffyverse1000 and their quest to get 1000 drabbles featuring 1000 unique Buffyverse and crossover pairings.
Faith loved this bar – dim, dank and out of the way. That and the fact they never carded. She took a large swig of beer. God, it felt good to get away from the goody-two shoes Scoobies. She was proud of herself for not strangling Willow as she went on and on about whatever class was popping her cherry this week and Xander, mooning over Cordy like that was gonna happen. And Buffy – Faith was surprised she didn't actually have sunshine shooting out her ass.
Looking down the bar, she saw a skinny dark haired kid scribbling away in a notebook, occasionally looking around furtively. She had seen him in here a few times before but the writing was new. Never one to exercise patience when instant gratification was possible, Faith picked up her beer and moved to a stool right next to him. He looked up, alarmed, as she slid the notebook around so she could read it.
Skimming she caught 'underage drinking' and 'illegal activities'. She frowned. "You a nark?" she growled.
"No, no," the boy explained hastily.
"Then what's with the note-taking?"
He looked around to make sure no one was watching them. "I'm undercover. I'm writing an expose for the school paper," he whispered loudly.
"An expose? As in the cops will take one read and close this place down?"
Hell, no. She needed this place. Where else was she supposed to get some space?
She shook her head. "I don't think you really want to do that."
"No, I do. This is just the sort of exclusive I need to make editor. It's going to be great."
"I don't think you understand. You aren't going to publish this," she said, sliding the notebook away from him.
Bad move. His face turned red and he spluttered loudly. "You can't stop me. Freedom of the press!! Take my notes; I can write it from memory."
"Hey, let's just calm down. Okay?" Faith made shushing motions at him. If any of the regulars heard him, they gave no sign of it. "You want to be editor?"
He glared at her. "Yeah," he responded sullenly, looking at his notebook.
Faith let her voice relax, deepening to a purr. Time for plan B. "Well, surely there are other things you want too….Things you want more than publishing this article?"
His eyes went wide as he felt her hand inching up his leg.
"You seem real smart. There are other articles you could write, to become editor, besides this one…right?"
"Uh – yeah, I guess."
She leaned closer, giving him a great look straight down her shirt. "Maybe I could make it worth your while. I would be really grateful if you just forgot about this place. What do you say, um…?"
His eyes never left her breasts. "Freddy. Freddy Iverson."
"Well, Freddy, can you think of anything that I could do to make it up to you?"
He tore his eyes away from her chest and she saw a look in his eyes that told her she had him. Boys are so easy she thought. Eh, it was a small price to pay to be able to have a nice drink in peace every now and again, she thought as they headed for the door.