You write so many different ships for Buffy and I love it! Would love to hear your favorite thing about writing for each ship. What do you enjoy about b/g, b/a, b/s and b/f?
Ooh, ty for the fun question!!
Buffy/Giles - I just love the taboo of the mentor-mentee relationship and the father-daughter vibes they have. The weird pseudo-incestuous vibes are a FEATURE, not a bug!!! She wants so badly for Giles to take care of her, and he is sooo reluctant to be her dad (because he knows that at the end of the day, he has to be Abraham and she has to be Isaac) but he also can't help himself wanting to protect her. He loves her and he cherishes her and he abandons her when she's suicidal because he can't stand to see her die again but he knows that that's what slayers do. Look how pretty the lamb bleeds for her shepherd, and look at the way he cries for her. Okay now take that tragedy and angst and make them psychosexual and weird about it. I want them to have an ill-advised affair when they're both at their lowest or most vulnerable and then never be able to look each other in the eyes again. I also do like more light-hearted B/G but it's still very much about leaning into the dirtybadwrong of "hot for teacher" for me, the age gap & experience gap are a lot of fun to play with
Buffy/Angel - Okay speaking of age gaps!! I love the tenderness between them, and how Angel is awkward and patient with Buffy as she experiences her first love. I adore seeing them be cute and exploratory togetherrrr it's cute! I ALSO. love the angst and bittersweetness of the whole star-crossed lovers shtick. And I like that she, as the slayer, was his original impetus for trying to do good in the world!! Creature of the night being tempted to the other side by a creature of Good... And I might get frowned at by diehard B/A shippers for saying this but just like the pseudo-incest of B/G, the predatory nature of this ship is a FEATURE not a bug!!! It's part of the appeal!!! As much as I like their cute moments, I also like the moments where their differences in age/maturity are major obstacles to their relationship, I like the bits of "oh no that should not be happening" sprinkled in, they make it interesting! When Angel is annoyed by his underage girlfriend's most childish traits, I eat that shit up.
Buffy/Spike - Enemies to lovers final boss... Once again, the predatory elements are sooo good. I love that their relationship is so underscored by implicit sexual violence from the jump (Spike calling out "here kitty kitty" to Buffy as he stalks her through the halls of her high school... ough), and that it's woven throughout their whole relationship. His obsession with her, his desire to kill her and fuck her, him breaking into her place to steal her underwear! And, crucially, that Buffy as a slayer is turned on by violence too, that slaying makes her "hungry and horny" just like a vampire! The parallels between them!! I will never understand the people who say that Seeing Red was out of character or that they choose to pretend it didn't happen; it's a culmination of every moment of their relationship leading up to it, sexual violence is a load-bearing piece of their dynamic. I love that Buffy initially goes to him out of a desire to feel something, and then it gradually morphs into a genuine understanding and enjoyment of their time together. I love the romance of him getting his soul for her!! In general I'm ambivalent about season 7 (it has its good moments!! and also. its not good moments.) but s6 Spuffy hits sooo hard. the self-loathing but also the freedom of being with someone who won't judge you for your desires because they have similar desires too!
Buffy/Faith - My favorite ship, my endgame. I love the whole concept of The Chosen Two—two people who are so completely different from each other and yet have this one specific and devastating thing in common that bonds them in a way that nobody else can understand. I love that Faith wants to be Buffy but doesn't think she's capable of it because she believes herself to be Fundamentally Bad, I love that Buffy wants to save Faith and Faith doesn't think she deserves to be saved (and also is too afraid of vulnerability to accept help, even when it's offered!!!), I love that Faith makes Buffy so intensely angry that she tries to murder her. I love that even when Buffy sort of hates Faith, she still loves her, and I love that Buffy is so repressed that she can't see what's in front of her face with regards to Faith and her feelings and her reasons for doing things (at least in season 3). By the end of the show Buffy is mature enough to see and understand Faith a bit better, and Faith has mellowed out with Angel's help, and I do think that Faith is Buffy's best possible match romantically because even though they're so different, they are also equals, if they could only just get past their personal hangups enough to figure that out.
