aisalynn: (moonlight)
aisalynn ([personal profile] aisalynn) wrote2009-02-12 09:18 pm
Entry tags:

Ficlet: Morning Routine (What a sucky title)

Title: Morning Routine
Fandom: BtVS
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Mentions of the scene from Seeing Red.
Disclaimer: I do not and am not pretending to own any of the characters mentioned in this story. I am not making money from this, just havng fun. Do not sue.

A/N: So, this was supposed to be an angsty little ficlet, but it got away from me and somehow became terribly fluffy.



They never shower together. Not anymore.

Not since that night in the bathroom in Sunnydale.

They used to, before that. In the crude shower in Spike’s crypt, whenever he managed to talk her into it, so he could worship her body with soap and cloth the way he wanted to with his hands. He had bought (or stolen) all of her favorite soaps and smell-good body washes and she would close her eyes at the feeling of his talented fingers massaging her scalp, leaning back against his firm chest--warm from the heat of the water--and pretend, for a moment, that she wasn’t there with a soulless demon.

She was ashamed, when she thought about that now.

They had tried it again, once. When he came to Rome with the news of the battle in LA and his--oh, yeah--not being dead. After the screaming and the fighting and the fists and the bruises and, finally, the tears, they’d spent many long hours (days?) in bed and when they finally managed to rip themselves away from the sheets they tumbled into the bathroom, kissing and groping and laughing like they never had before. They were clumsy in their passion for one another, knocking into the sink and scattering the small bottles of soap and makeup all over the floor, blindly reaching for the faucet in the shower. It was silly and fun and everything they’d never had before, everything she’d never let them have.

Until she tripped, landing hard on her back and pulling Spike and the shower curtain down with her.

It all changed then. There was cold tile beneath her and the pain in her back, Spike on top of her and suddenly it was too much, too much the same and she couldn’t help her frightened gasp or the way she tensed, her body readying itself to fight and fling him off of her. There was fear in her eyes and guilt and pain in his and she realized, as much as she liked to think they moved past everything, they really never faced this at all.

They spent the rest of the night facing it, sitting on the cool tile of the bathroom floor, surrounded by the fallen makeup products and soap and toothpaste tubes. There was no more laughter that night, and no more joint showers since.

A few years ago, she would have thought this was some sort of metaphor for their relationship: always dirty, never clean or something like that.

She didn’t think like that anymore.

Instead she thought of how they fought over who got to use the shower first (he always let her win and then pretended to pout about it, she always pretended not to notice), how he gave a rather unmanly shriek followed by an angry bellow every time she deliberately left the single knob of the faucet on cold before he got in, the way he sang loudly in the shower (she complained that the Ramones and the Sex Pistols were not what she wanted to hear first thing in the morning) and how he would come up behind her while she was brushing her teeth and spin her around, kissing her quickly despite the toothpaste simply because he knew it annoyed her.

It was funny, how it all seemed so normal, so domestic. It wasn’t anything she’d experienced before, and it wasn’t something she ever thought to. But here they were, sharing a bathroom before spending the day training the new Slayers and part of the night fighting evil--the Slayer and her demon lover.

She could smile at that now, and she couldn’t help but think that, god, they’ve come a long way. And they’d go further. Who knows, maybe they’d even shower together again, someday. And it wouldn’t be some metaphor about their relationship, or some big symbol about forgiveness or starting over or washing away the past or anything like that. It would just be something insignificant in a line of insignificant things that were really the most important things in the world.

And maybe a lot of fun, too.

rahirah: (Default)

[personal profile] rahirah 2009-02-13 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Love it. :)

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] rebcake.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
How refreshing, that sometimes a shower is just a shower! Love the care taking detail (left over from Dru?) of Spike washing her hair back when...and how that's not really necessary nowadays. Very nice, sweetie!

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup. Just a shower. That's what they're aiming for. *grins* As for the washing her hair thing...I can just see season six Spike tempting Buffy with an oh-so-innocent offer to wash her hair and then using it to start some naughty shower play time. ;)

Thanks for reading!

[identity profile] spygrrl76.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
One of the best stories dealing with the bathroom scene while simulanteously having Buffy and Spike move on, together, beyond it. You made it all work so well and so believably. :)

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, thank you! I'm glad you thought it was realistic.

[identity profile] missus-grace.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
Very nice snippet from a Spuffy future.

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Though, really I have no idea where this came from at all. This usually isn't how I imagine a Spuffy future. I usually like my Spufy a little more on the twisted side, I'm afraid.

[identity profile] xc-runner50.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 08:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oooooh That was good.

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.
ext_7259: (Default)

[identity profile] moscow-watcher.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Love it.
Sharp, dissecting and ultimately uplifting character study.

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Though when I started writing I didn't want it to be uplifting at all. It just somehow got away from me...

Thanks for reading, hun!
ext_7259: (Duster_by_awmp)

[identity profile] moscow-watcher.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't want it to be uplifting at all. It just somehow got away from me...

So typically Spuffy. ;-)

[identity profile] larabeckinsale.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 12:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Really wonderful work!

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[identity profile] beloved4always.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I liked this. Little insights into their domesticity are so enjoyable to me. thanks so much!

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

[identity profile] panda-pooka.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I think this is full of awesome. Very good!

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
*beams* Thank you!

[identity profile] louise39.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
In the future, they are together {{not forgetting their past}} just accepting their present life.

Oh, good job!

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup. I don't think it is possible to forget their past, especially as dramatic and crazy as it was. But I'd like to think they could move on from it.

Thanks for reading!
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (147 days)

[personal profile] deird1 2009-02-14 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
Aww...

This is just lovely.

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
*blushes* Thank you!

[identity profile] riccadonna.livejournal.com 2009-02-14 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
Very, very nice! Good to read that "normal" can be important and fun.

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha. Yup. Even if "normal" includes a nearly 130 year old vampire who came back from the dead. *grins*

Thanks for reading!

[identity profile] annegables.livejournal.com 2009-02-14 11:55 am (UTC)(link)
How realistic that that would have to be faced sooner or later. Thank you.

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for reading! And I tried to make it seem realistic, I'm glad you think it did. :)

[identity profile] treadingthedark.livejournal.com 2009-02-15 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Excellent. Thanks

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-02-16 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] merrymagic26.livejournal.com 2009-02-19 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
The simplicity and domesticity of this and how you made it so everyday made this piece beautiful. I really enjoyed it! :)

[identity profile] gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com 2009-03-17 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
This? Is purty. Me like. :)

[identity profile] aisalynn.livejournal.com 2009-03-17 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
*grins* Thank you! I'm glad you like it. :)

[identity profile] empresspatti.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Somehow I missed this first time out - it is WONDERFUL!
yourlibrarian: Angel and Lindsey (Default)

Here from buffyversetop5

[personal profile] yourlibrarian 2010-01-01 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
They never shower together. Not anymore.

Interesting idea for the fallout of that night.