Freaky Things
Angel's PoV
Angel wasn't entirely sure how he'd ended up going out to dinner with Buffy on this random Wednesday night.
However… though he knew the two of them were trying to cool down their relationship in some regards, because of the curse, he definitely wasn't complaining. Any time with Buffy would always be a god sent to him. And his girlfriend had just landed her best modeling gig, so he was more than happy to celebrate her success. (1)
Trying to eat at said restaurant, though, was another thing entirely. But Angel had eaten drumsticks for Buffy during their Renaissance Fair date not that long ago, so he figured he could stomach Chinese food, too.
"Does this red dress make me look sophisticated, Angel?" Buffy asked now, bringing the vampire's attention back to the present, where Buffy sat across from him in one of the loveliest and classiest red-orange dresses he'd ever seen. The cut of it was just above her breasts—though it did tie at her neck, for some puzzling reason Angel couldn't figure out—and the top of the dress was almost skin tight against Buffy, whereas at the waist it flared out like a princess dress.
Buffy was wearing matching ballet slippers to go along with her dress. And her makeup also matched it rather well, and was somewhere between being too schoolgirl and Lady of the Evening. Her hair was piled atop her head like she was going to Homecoming or Prom; and as much as Angel hated to admit it, he loved seeing her neck. And he appreciated that the black jean jacket that she was wearing, because it was surprisingly chilly for a California evening, still allowed him to see said neck.
"I mean, I don't want to look like I'm trying to be seductress here, but I do want to look like I'm not a kid, of course. And I'm hoping that this is one of the right outfits to wear for that, since they're letting me choose some of my own clothes to model now."
Angel chose to ignore her "seductress" comment, and just what it could mean for them if he thought about it too much (that was, Buffy could end up seducing him, and no good could come from that at all), and rather grinned at his beautiful date and told her the simple truth. "You look beautiful, Buffy." And boy, did she ever. For better or for worse, red had always been one of Angel's favorite colors.
"So, we're on a date here, Angel," Buffy beamed, after she'd taken a bite of her Chinese Noodle Soup. "Let's make it like one. I-I'd like to believe I know a lot about you, but tell me something about you that I don't. Maybe that you haven't told anyone else?"
Angel hated that his first thought, in seeing Buffy eat that red soup, was that it almost looked like she was drinking blood. And for one thing, it of course made him wish that his own meal here was that… but even worse, it made the demon within him rise up for just a second and dream about Siring Buffy.
Thankfully, it was just for a second—and Angel was easily able to push it back down—but he hated that it had happened at all. Blinking his eyes shut once and then opening them as fast as he could—to try and give himself a moment, but hopefully moving so fast that Buffy hadn't noticed anything amiss—he tried to focus on her question. "Are you looking for me to tell you what kind of cookie I'd be and why?" Angel joked.
That had apparently caught Buffy by surprise, because she laughed—and how Angel wished he could bottle the sound and save it for a rainy day—before shaking her head and saying, "Uhh… no. But I guess if you want to start with something like that, who am I to judge? Please: the floor's yours, Angel."
"Uhh… Mustard spice cookies?" Angel tried. "Because-this is going to be a somewhat cliché answer, I guess-even though I can't really taste food, of course, these cookies are supposed to be sweet and spicy, or something like that. And I'd like to believe I have both of those qualities to me," Angel said, now somewhat awkwardly playing with the fried rice that was in his orange chicken dish.
For a moment, Buffy just looked at him, and Angel was terribly afraid he'd said something wrong. Buffy, after all, didn't know the recipe was made with whole-grained mustard instead of, say, French's mustard. And though both were still pretty gross to him, he would have moreso understood Buffy's surprised look if she saw him putting the latter into a cookie batter he was making.
But finally, Buffy seemed to calm herself, and she just shook her head in amazement. "Okay, that was an amazing answer, Angel, both for the cookie question and the 'something I don't know about you' one. I'm assuming since you don't eat, to even know that cookie exists-which I didn't-you used to work at a restaurant?"
"Put the lovely girl on Jeopardy," Angel flattered his date, as he played with his food even more. Why hadn't he gotten what Buffy had ordered? At least then he could have pretended it was blood. "You would be correct. Now you tell me something I don't know about you, Buffy."
For a moment, Buffy seemed stumped by that… and it didn't escape Angel's notice that it was now her turn to fidget, as she folded and unfolded the napkin on her lap a couple of times. "Okay. Here's one," the Slayer finally settled on. Even though I used to be all girly before I was Called—and thankfully still get to retain some of that—even though I loved pink, it was never my favorite color. Purple was… Is. A sort of blue-ish shade of it.
"And speaking of… and you might not get how these thoughts connected in my head, but hey: so many people don't seem to get that, right? I guess I'll just add you to the list, if that happens… I actually like training with Giles: working out or fighting as the Slayer in general, I guess. Even when I end up all black and blue. And it's made me realize that if I could, I wouldn't mind eventually becoming someone's physical instructor or something like that. But who am I kidding? I'll never have the chance. I'm a Slay Gal for life."
If he could have in that moment, Angel would have told Buffy that even though he hadn't known that Buffy's favorite color was indigo, now that she had said that, it made a lot of sense, as he had seen her wear it a couple of times.
He also would have told her that if it was her dream now to be a fitness instructor, he would make damn certain that that happened for her.
But before he could open his mouth to say anything, Buffy was suddenly being attacked by a vampire, who had been sitting behind them the whole time! The vamp must have heard Buffy commenting that she was "Slay Girl" and then realized she was the Slayer.
The gray-haired vampire, who looked like he had modeled himself off of what he believed Beethoven must have looked like, growled and lunged for Buffy's throat. Angel longed to go to her side and protect her… but he found that he couldn't?!
And looking down then, and taking a better sniff of his chicken, it finally became clear to Angel one of the reasons why he'd been less interested in this human food than usual: of all the humanity! Who put garlic on orange chicken?!
Fortunately, Buffy didn't need his help: she pulled a stake out of her jacket and dated the vamp before he had even touched her. Then, for the most part, she sat down like nothing had happened—and no one in the restaurant had seemed to notice anything, either—but her eyes were wild.
"Honey, I think I just remembered why you and I can't have normal dates," Buffy said sadly. And though she didn't say it, Angel knew what she'd really meant to say there: "dates in general," as now the entire truth they'd been denying tonight was coming back to both of them, including the curse.
But Angel wasn't having that. And biting his lip, he reached across the table and took Buffy's hand. "No, Buffy. Screw that. We're celebrating you tonight, and you deserve to have a nice evening."
His girl smiled sweetly and blushed at that, clearly pacified. "Okay, but you not getting up to help me like you normally would was weird, and reads spell or something leading to an apocalypse to me. So if anything else happens here tonight-" It was in the middle of her statement, that Buffy looked down and noticed the same thing that Angel just had. "Angel, there's garlic on your meat!"
"Yeah, I also just noticed that, sweetheart. That's why I got all swoony and couldn't dust that vamp for you." And he would have, too. That bastard had ruined this date he'd made for Buffy's modeling dream coming true. He would have danced on his ashes if he could have.
"Well, here. Trade dishes with me. I like orange chicken. And Chinese Noodle Soup is red soup and probably more up your alley, anyway. Really, what were you thinking when you ordered tonight, Angel?" Buffy giggled.
And, for the moment, it seemed like their date was back on. It was almost enough to make Angel thank a God he wasn't sure he believed in anymore.
"…I don't know," he admitted, looking deeply into Buffy's eyes, as he tried to figure himself out. "I guess… you had just landed something amazing in the human world today, and I wanted to be right there with you: not looking like I was a vampire drinking blood." And though Angel knew the dish Buffy had given him wasn't that, and he was touched by her gesture, as stupid as it was, he now found himself disgusted that he would have to be eating it, instead of what he'd ordered. His nature was letting itself known yet again.
"Angel," Buffy groaned, before she tried a gentler approach and put a hand on his cheek. "Remember when I told you you're the one freaky thing in my world that makes sense to me? I meant it. And I'd rather have you as you are here with me now, than anyone else. You tried to fight that vamp for me. The people I worked with today would have screamed and run away. So try and remember that, okay?"
"Okay," Angel allowed, as he smirked at the love of his life. "As long as you let yourself be the 'freak' among Slayers, and try to be the fitness trainer you want to be."
At first, Buffy gave Angel a look for that—as if he'd asked her to complete the most impossible task in the world—but then she softened and gave him the most show-stopping smile, before kissing him.
And Angel found himself very much pleased with his negotiating skills.
"Deal."
Author's Note: Buffy does some modeling in the classic Buffy comics;) And Angel does, in fact, eat drumsticks while on a date with Buffy (at a Rennaissance Fair) in the tie-in book "Child of the Hunt."
I hope you all maybe liked this. I know I had fun writing it! I actually wasn't sure I'd get this done for the marathon, as I'm doing NaNoWriMo now, but I'm certainly glad I did:D
It was actually seeing some anti stuff for Bangel that inspired me to do so. LOL. Nothing like turning a negative into a positive, imo.
