#btvs au

And the thing is that Maddie and Tommy became friends in freshman year because she saved his life from a vamped cheerleader, and he keeps her from being harassed by the others because he's literally the Coolest Hottest Football Star in school. He disapproved of Doug but Maddie was stubborn about it, saying she liked being "just a girl" with Doug (who knows Maddie is very strong and uses that to get her to "behave more like other girls").

Tommy's lab partner Chim likes Maddie but he also knows not to force the issue. Karen is basically gonna be valedictorian, everyone knows that, and Hen finds her annoying (that means Hen can't stop thinking about her), and Tommy loses $20 to Chim when Hen and Karen finally kiss in one of the life-threatening encounters

Tommy gets to know Maddie's younger brother back when he was just a kid, so he always sees Evan as a kid. Over the holidays between Tommy's junior and senior year, Maddie ran away after her boyfriend Doug tried to kill her (and he wasn't even a vampire, just evil) and she had to kill him in self defense, and the Buckleys basically fell apart; Evan went away with his parents until the school year began and he comes back as a freshman but Maddie is still missing. Evan gets picked on for being Murdering Maddie's brother and Tommy takes Evan under his wing, lets Evan hang with him and even trains Evan well enough to play football so he can keep an eye on the kid.

Except feelings grow and they do end up dating in secret. Evan's first kiss and his first time having sex are with Tommy, and Tommy feels guilty because he hasn't come out to anyone and he doesn't want to, because if he does he's gonna lose his vice-captaincy and maybe a football scholarship.

But then football captain Larry comes out, and Tommy realizes that maybe he can come out too, but before he does, Maddie comes back and she disapproves of Evan being involved in the slaying biz. Days before graduation it all comes to a head and Tommy and Maddie clash about it. Then the big secret is revealed and Maddie's too shocked by it and the Buckleys are so furious, they threaten to call the police on Tommy to accuse him of sexual assault on their son, and Tommy runs away from Sunnydale via enlistment in the army after the big battle.

ᴛᴏ ꜰᴜʀᴛʜᴇʀ ᴘʀᴏᴄʀᴀꜱᴛɪɴᴀᴛᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ, ɪ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴍᴏᴏᴅʙᴏᴀʀᴅꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ʟᴏʟ

ʟᴇɪᴀ ꜱ. ɴᴀʙᴇʀʀɪᴇ

ʟᴜᴋᴇ ʙ. ꜱᴋʏᴡᴀʟᴋᴇʀ

ʜᴀɴ ᴊ. ꜱᴏʟᴏ

ᴍᴀʀᴀ-ᴊᴀᴅᴇ ᴇ. ᴘᴀʟᴘᴀᴛɪɴᴇ

ᴀᴍɪʟʏɴ ᴊ. ʜᴏʟᴅᴏ

ʟᴀɴᴅᴏ ᴘ. ᴄᴀʟʀɪꜱꜱɪᴀɴ

ᴊʏɴ ᴋ. ᴇʀꜱᴏ

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

it also, hilariously enough, keeps the Master as the easiest bait on the Hellmouth because vampires are constantly trying to curry favor by trying to set him free and now the Master is stuck in his damp little cave listening to the nightly staking of every sycophant in the area, complete with quippy one liners even he has to admit can be pretty funny.

of course this situation ends up getting wild when Spike arrives with Drusilla in tow to heal her and check out what the hell is going on with his great great grandsire. and he sees this little blonde girl absolutely whaling on like six vampires at once and making easy work of the lot. and Spike's eyes light up, because this is no newbie, this is a true Slayer. and he doesn't want to lay some easy trap, no no, he needs something special for her. he wants dance again.

Buffy still fights against the forces of darkness but, since she's not the only slayer anymore, she's allowed to take breaks and not deal with every apocalypse by herself. She also gets paid monthly, along with all the new slayers.

Dawn went to study abroad and is now head of the new and reformed watchers council, where she works with Giles and Andrew delivering missions to the different slayers.

Also Dawn came out as a lesbian during college, and Tara was the first person she told.

Buffy and Spike are together, taking things slow and talking every step of the way (think their relationship in season 10 and 11, that's the only thing i can accept as canon from the mess that were the comics).

Spike works along with Buffy, they patrol together, and he still meets up with Clem for kitten poker (although he can't bear to eat the kittens when he wins)

Faith and Buffy have become really good friends, they're the only ones who know what being a slayer was before when there was only one, and they've bonded over their experiences and now get together quite often for coffee. Faith also works as a slayer so sometimes they go on missions together.

Tara and Willow live in a lovely cottage in the countryside and still help out on the fight whenever needed. Most of the time they sell potions and spells-in-a-bottle to the slayers.

Oz transitioned and now she and her new girlfriend are invited over to Willow and Tara's house every week for dinner and board games.

Anya now runs her own magic shop in L.A. She's going on dates but is mostly enjoying her independence. She's still in touch with the scooby gang but she has also made new friends in L.A.

Season 4 and 5 of Angel never happened so Cordelia, Fred and Wesley are alive and still working for Angel Investigations along with Gunn and Lorne.

Angel got to raise Connor since he was a baby with the help of his team, and Connor grew up surrounded by love

Cordelia and Anya reunite in L.A. and get together for drinks quite often to bitch about life for a few hours.

Harmony is thriving. So is drusilla.

ilya as spike. this is just nonnegotiable to me

however. stay with me. shane as riley—the prodigy of a macho hierarchical organization who thrives on routine and has bodily autonomy issues

continuing that thread, rose is buffy, who dated shane after her last romance with a vampire fell through but she still breaks up with him bc he’s gay (and because he’ll keep the other annoying vampire distracted)

so who was this vampire ex? why, the first of the hr cast to be vamped, marleau

svetlana is drusilla but more as in how she’s defined by her relationship with ilya/spike, just because the angel-drusilla story and dynamic doesn’t map onto marleau and her

sasha shares the drusilla role in that he rolls up sometimes, causes chaos and then leaves

hayden is one of shane’s initiate buddies who defects with him, but slots into a xander-type support role afterwards

in honor of jackie le fay posting she’s the willow of the group, up to the reader whether she and pike end up together or end up being comphet before getting together with svetlana

scott & kip… i’m honestly at a loss. is one a watcher? a reluctant vampire? an ex vengeance demon?

Either Amy or Kennedy would be good as Sarah. If it’s Amy you’d have to give her more to do in the story - maybe expand on her dark desire for Willow. Maybe she even encourages Willow to use the One Wish Willow (a product name that has extra meaning in this story!) having heard that they really work because she wants Willow to see that Tara will never be what she needs even if Tara loved her more than anything else in the fucking world. Kennedy I think would fit a role more in line with canon Sarah - a little bratty, definitely not a girl’s girl when it comes to her shallow friendship with Tara - and deeply focused on her own goals while barely paying attention to those around her except Willow who she’s into.

I can see Xander as Ian - the friend who cares but never more than he cares about his own base desires, who sees what’s happening to Tara is wrong but is mainly just put off. However, I cannot see Tara hooking up with a man ever so I’d rather fill Ian’s role with Anya for maximum dyke drama. Think about it, see my vision: Blunt, straightforward, slightly self absorbed Anya who’s been casually hooking up with Tara for years sees that she’s not herself - sees that something is wrong - but doesn’t want it to infringe on her life. Maybe she’s even dating Xander who doesn’t know about the hook ups with Tara in this story for an additional layer of why she’s not willing to step up more for Tara - she doesn’t want to raise suspicion.

Ethan of course should be the shopkeeper at the store with the One Wish Willows. Maybe Giles could play the role of the man on the customer support line who pushes Willow to hear Tara’s tortured screams & emphasizes that she needs to take responsibility before Willow of course hangs up.

If you wanted to flesh this story out & give it more of its own magic & originality other characters like Buffy, Spike, Faith, Cordelia, Oz etc could play additional roles in the friend group & it would be super interesting to see how each different person reacted to the changes in Tara. Maybe Wish!Tara kills people who ask her too many questions or try to help her emphasizing how doomed she’s always been, even if people in her life did care.