#spike/buffy

[layer-of-slayers]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer as tumblr text posts 28/?

[thoughtsofadame]

I've never seen enemies to lovers done nearly as well as Spike/Buffy

[moirindeclermont]

Men beyond the façade: Colin Bridgerton and William The Bloody (Spike)

TW: brief mention of SA;

Like many things, the idea for this post comes with a random thought… I was talking about Spike with a fandom friend who did not watch all Buffy, and we came up with the idea of a fic in which Colin is a Vampire and Pen is the Slayer, and as I was writing snippets of dialogue, I've catched myself writing in a very distinctive Spike voice.

“Everyone underestimates her. She was a woman, for starters. She was short and plump. Everyone underestimated her until they were about to be dead (or dead again) because of her stake. Not Colin Bridgerton. He was fascinated by Pen, by her vitality, her joy for life. Hell, even her fighting gave him a boner.”

That's when I've truly started thinking about it. Can these two characters, who are so vastly different in the perception of people, have a lot of traits in common, so much so that they actually can be almost the same? I've decided to talk about 3 main points: the persona or the façade they put on, their relationship with their SO and the importance of accountability.

Of course, this whole piece is based on my very personal interpretation of the characters. But even without a personal interpretation, some similarities are just… there for everyone to see.

But first, a bit of presentation, if you met only one half of the pair we are discussing. I do discuss some plot points but I'm trying not to get into too much detail. Anyway, this is your spoiler warning.

Colin Bridgerton is the 3rd son of a very important family during Regency time in London. His dad died when he was young, there was a brief engagement during the first season of the show which did end when people found out the future bride was already pregnant with another guy. After that, he decides to travel a bit, until after a kiss (and a summer without Pen's letters - his best friend) he realises he is in love with her and from that moment he becomes Colin “my wife” Bridgerton. He has gone bad. Just to tell you one thing, he interrupts a dance Pen is having with another suitor and proceeds to finger her on a carriage. The man is unhinged when it comes to Pen.

Spike, or William the Bloody, or William Pratt was an only son of a noble family during Victorian London. He was a poet but his creations didn't gain much success, earning him the nickname The Bloody because of the poor quality of his writing. He was sired by Drusilla, with whom he becomes involved for a good century, and the nickname gets reclaimed as an attribution to his violence. During his life he kills 2 slayers, until he arrives in Sunnydale. After events he falls in love with the current Slayer, Buffy, and he also becomes absolutely unhinged and pathetic about it.

But their similarities don't even begin with this. Both of them have this façade they use to be cool and accepted. Colin return in season 3 as a charming and fascinated man and everyone (except his best friend and some family) congratulates him about it. William literally uses Spike as a way to prove he has changed. He changes the look, the accent and builds this reputation of being the big bad. For both, the cracks in the façade are not a crack but a river in Egypt, because both of them take so much joy and purpose in being the providers. They slip into that role with such ease and familiarity that you can see it's just who they are at their core.

I've seen a post about Pen and Colin that says “when little Miss “I can do It by myself” meets Mr “I know you can but let me” and if that doest summarise the relationship Spike has with Buffy I do not know what else does.

They both have a dream about their Significant Other in which they depict a highly romantic scenario in which both confess their feelings, come on.

I've said before that Colin went to the Gomez Addams school of loving your wife, but Spike was also there.

They both can't absolutely function without their respective partners and while their relationship evolves in different ways it doesn't change who they are at their cores.

Now, I know you are thinking about Seeing Red, because yes I've talked about being pathetic but surely they can't be the same even under this aspect (for those who have not seen Buffy, Seeing Red is an episode in which Spike attempts to SA Buffy). And while, I do agree, Colin has not done something like that to Pen, I think he would definitely have done the same thing Spike did when he realised what he had done to Buffy. Because when he is confronted with his mistakes, Colin does take accountability and so does Spike. In a way that's vastly different, for obvious reasons, but they both do.

Yes, Colin and Pen are healthier than Spike and Buffy. Absolutely. But Colin and Pen is what Spike and Buffy can become after they both do the work on themselves and each other.

Yes, there are differences. One is a vampire, for starters. But the point I'm trying to make is that when you strip away the difference and put them in similar circumstances, their actions prove how similar they are.

How they both tried to put out a façade, but how quickly that fall when they were confronted with Love. How they both take pride in having a woman at their idea that's indipendent and strong. How they both truly see their partners entirely. How they both know when they fuck up and they don't stop at apologize but they do the work to get there.

If they met, you just know they would talk about their partners constantly.

(And if you're wondering about the sex, the only reason Colin and Pen didn't fuck a house down - yup that happens - it's because they physically can't. After all, they broke at least one piece of furniture.

And Colin and Pen won the title for freakiest couple in Mayfair. Even their respective kinks match pretty well in my opinion.)

Now, I don't think this was intentional at all. It's interesting though because it's not a common interpretation of the romantic interest at all. And maybe for Spike the intention was completely different behind the scenes (iykyk) but for Colin it is very intentional. But that is another story ..

Before conclusing this, let me just quote the two most beautiful declarations of love (one by Colin, and one by Spike) and think about what they're really saying… they are so much more similar than you might think.

Colin: “And now I simply cannot believe that a woman with such bravery loves me.How lucky I am to stand by your side and soak up even a little bit of your light. If my only purpose in life is to love a woman as great as you… then I will be a very fulfilled man, indeed.”

Spike: “When I say I love you, it's not because I want you. Or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you *are*. What you do. How you try... I've seen your kindness, and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand, with perfect clarity, exactly what you are... You're a *hell* of a woman... You're the One, Buffy.”

I'm curious, though, to hear your thoughts on this.

And if you're still here, regardless of what you think, thank you for being here 💓

[yoursummerfrost]

i think you'll stay

I really don't know what to tell you. Twenty-two months ago I started writing a silly little coffee shop AU where Buffy was a long-suffering barista at Giles' coffee shop and Spike William was the dorky customer she ran illegal latte experiments on and who definitely didn't have any weird secret hobbies or anything. Then it turned out that this fic was cursed and/or prophetic and I stopped being able to write for a year and a half. But now I'm back and I finished the motherfucker. Welcome to the Bean Box, bitch.

—

Rating: E

Word Count: ~75k

Pairing(s): Spike/Buffy, Buffy & Dawn

Summary: 

Buffy says, "No, but see, the thing is that good things look a lot like good things until you find out they're bad things, and I am really just full-up on bad things forever, thanks. Only lukewarm things for Buffy."

"That's the spirit, B!" Faith claps Buffy hard on the back, spilling some of William's coffee onto her shoes. "Let ole Willy warm ya up."

"Extremely not what I meant," says Buffy.

AKA: The one where Buffy works at a coffee shop and William is her favorite customer.

Read here on AO3!

[jamiemarsters]

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Pic of the Day: James Marsters & Sarah Michelle Gellar epitomising #slay... in this #Buffy Season 2 promo pic

@realjamesmarsters #JamesMarsters @sarahmgellar #SarahMichelleGellar #SMG #Spike #Spuffy #BuffytheVampireSlayer #BtVS @buffytvs #SpikeGiving #Dracula #Vibes #Wait #IsThatOffensive? #IFeelLikeSpikeWouldProbablyBeOffended #PoncyBuggerOwesHim11PoundsForOneThing #TeeHeeHee

[letteredlettered]

when Spike fell for Buffy

From the first moment you see him in S5, Spike comes across as being in love with Buffy. Marsters plays him that way and even the script begins to hint at it. Obviously, Spike does not realize he is in love with Buffy, but consider the episode Crush, wherein Drusilla claims that Spike had become interested in Buffy even in S2. The idea in S5 is that Spike has always had a romantic interest in Buffy, and you can see that from episode 5.01.

However, despite the many, many people who shipped it, I don't read Spike being in love with Buffy in any part of S4. Let's face it, Marsters has chemistry with literally everyone, but he just doesn't appear more attuned or attracted to Buffy than Giles or Xander or even Anya. Spike gets that interested look he gets whenever someone does unexpected, but he gets that way at Anya probably more than any other character in S4.

So why the sudden change between the end of S4 and beginning of S5? Why does Spike suddenly fall for Buffy?

The Doylist explanation is easy: the writers didn't intend for Spike to fall for Buffy when they wrote S4. They did intend it by the time they started writing S5. By 5.01, the writers were writing Spike with this in mind and Marsters was playing the part with this in mind. But what is the watsonian explanation?

From a watsonian standpoint, the difference between S4 and S5 is Dawn. Every single character we know has been altered, because of Dawn.

And what if Dawn is the reason Spike falls in love with Buffy? What if implanted memories of watching Buffy protect Dawn, watching Buffy care for Dawn, watching Buffy be a big sister allow Spike to see what he loves most in Buffy?

Spike is a caretaker--he cares for Dru when she's not well; he tries to care for Buffy. But he also has it bad for his proverbial familial elders. Dru is a mother/big sister figure as well as a lover; Angel is a father/big brother figure as well as a (at least that one time) lover. What if seeing the way that Buffy cares for her family, family who is younger and weaker and more helpless, family for whom she feels entirely responsible--opens up those kinds of feelings that Spike had for Dru? And what if the Season 2 that Dru remembers is a time in which Dawn existed, and Buffy sacrificed everything she was to protect Dawn from Angelus, and Spike saw that and it made him have more feelings for Buffy at that time than we ever see on screen, and that's why Dru knew what we didn't?

Tl;dr, everyone's probably already thought of this before: Dawn is the reason Spike loves Buffy.

[mblematic]

any of 1/2/9/20 you want to answer for any buffy ship 😈 spuffy? faith/buffy? cordelia/buffy? bangel??

OH MY GOD YES okay fuffy time!!

1 Who would be first to to bite down anc consume the flesh of the other, euphoric in the taste and the heft and the slide of the blood

FAITH obvs, buffy would be a wet blanket about that

2. who is the ant and who is the ophiocordyceps fungus?

oooohhhh could go either way, but I feel like (maybe controversial) faith is the hapless ant that buffy worms her way inside and controls via creepy psychic connection yeahhhhh as soon as I typed that out I was like. that's 1000 percent correct good job molly

9. did jesus want it? did julius caesar know it was coming? are the betrayed ever proud?

jesus (buffy) wanted to be a little betrayed by judas (faith), yes. but julius (buffy) did not see it coming. And the betrayed are SO proud, to a fault </3

20. Who buys the other flowers?🥰

this one is too sweet for both of them, cannot answer for Fuffy. For spike/buffy -> spike buys the flowers

(from this ask game)

[acekoomboom]

writer wip poll game

Rules: make a 24-hour poll with the names of your wips, let it run, then write one sentence for every vote the winner got

So I didn't get tagged for this, I just saw it and thought it looked really cool so I nominated myself. I just love fun stuff 😭 My WIPs are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Last of Us.

I pass this on to @the-portal-rule-book and @mcgnagallsarmy if you wanna hop in on the silliness :)

[hyperfocus-museum]

Author: EternallyEC Author’s Note: Crossposted to AO3, also under eternallyec

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Relationships: Spike/Buffy

Summary: Spuffy goodness written for Drabblemania! So far there are no plans for any of them to be connected, but I will make note of it if any of them end up tying in to each other.

[spikespeaches]

happy out for a walk bitch day to those who celebrate

[ratanarchist]

james marsters deliberately playing spike in a more sympathetic way to avoid his character being killed off after season 2 so he could keep his job is so funny. guy was literally scheming his way into job security by turning a throwaway villain into emo boy audience bait and it WORKED. gotta say i respect the grind

[layer-of-slayers]

jessica helen lopez, “poem for my beloved”

[douglasbradburyverne]

Buffy the Vampire Slayers (1997 to 2003), Behind the Scenes photos

[blueskiesandstarrynights]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5.05 | No Place Like Home

[yoursummerfrost]

give up what you love (don’t look back)

*rolls up late with Starbucks* what’s up everyone I started this fic [REDACTED] years ago and finally finished it! It’s a time loop fic with load-bearing motifs such as the ways in which grief arrests us in time, being haunted by the person you wish you still were, and coconut shampoo. 

—

Rating: E Word Count: ~20k Pairing(s): Spike/Buffy, Spike & Dawn Summary:  Buffy looks at his heart and begs, "Why can't you just leave me alone?" Spike cups her cheeks in both hands and kisses the crown of her head. "Maybe tomorrow, Slayer."

Or: Spike makes a wish on New Year's Eve. The stars listen.

Read here on AO3!

[jamiemarsters]

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Pic of the Day: James Marsters & Sarah Michelle Gellar being gorgeous cuties at the 2008 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Paleyfest

@realjamesmarsters #JamesMarsters @sarahmgellar #SarahMichelleGellar #SMG @buffytvs #Spike #Buffy #Spuffy #BuffytheVampireSlayer #BtVS #Paleyfest #Just #The #CUTEST