Other People's Sandboxes

Title: N is for Never
Fandom/Characters: Buffyverse, Spike & Giles
Rating: G
Words: 200

--


The night was raw and damp, unseasonably cold for southern California. It reminded Spike far too much of London, a feeling he despised even as a small part of him yearned for it.

The house glowed invitingly in the fog and he only hesitated a moment before knocking. Giles opened the door and regarded the vampire thoughtfully. "What do you want?" he eventually asked.

Spike had the grace to look sheepish. "Could I trouble you for a cuppa?"

Giles blinked in surprise and then peered out into the night. "Rather nasty out there isn't? A pot of tea would hit the spot, I suppose." A smirk appeared briefly on his lip and he turned towards the kitchen.

"Er, mate?" Spike called after him.

"Oh very well, come in," Giles called over his shoulder.

Ten minutes later, Spike was sprawled out on the couch, communing with a cup of tea. He took a sip and his eyes closed in pleasure.

"This is the real stuff, ain't it?"

"Imported straight from Twinings. The shipping is horrific, but it is far superior to the dreck they sell over here."

"I am never drinking Liptons again," Spike said blissfully, and Giles chuckled in agreement.

Title: To Exist
Character(s): Dawn, Connor
Rating: PG
Word Count: 240
Prompt: After Hours
Written the daily theme of “Movie Titles” on comment_fic.
----

They weren’t supposed to exist, neither of them. So of course that meant that they went out of their way to live. It became a game, to see which one of them could sneak out first. Sometimes it was Dawn, using every skill she had learned from her Slayer sister, to make it past the inevitable guard (“receptionist” - as if) at the front desk. Sometimes it was Connor, although he denied ever cheating.

Then they would run to the darkest, skivviest clubs in LA and stand in line just like any other normal couple. Well, any other normal couple who knew which things that went bump in the night to be afraid of and which could safely be ignored.

And once they got in, they danced, the Girl Who Didn’t Exist and the Boy Who Shouldn’t Exist, Dawn in her too-short skirt and too-tight top, long hair hanging heavily down to her waist, and Connor, betraying his parentage in his black leather pants and black shirt with the first three buttons undone.

They danced to verify their existence, every movement, every thrust a challenge to a universe that said they shouldn’t exist. In the comfort of the dark, home to both of them, they danced and loved and danced some more, knowing that when daylight came, they would each go back to their curious half-life, existing but not. And each of them hoped that someday they would simply be.

Title: Correct Pronunciation: An Object Lesson
Author: VelvetMouse
Fandom/Characters: BtVS; all scoobies
Word Count: 497
Warnings: none
Summary: Humans aren't the only ones who sometimes botch a spell.
Notes: Written for the sbomg Mini Challenge 01
-----
( Correct Pronunciation )

Fandom: Eddings (Belgariad/Mallorean)/Buffy crossover
Characters: Garion & Wesley
--

It was one of those conversations that could have only taken place after too little sleep and too much alcohol.

"If you could go back in time and tell yourself anything, what would it be?" Wesley asked as he slumped back on one of the beat up couches in the lounge. He was rumpled and beat up, a far cry from his usual immaculate presentation.

Garion gave him a sharp look, but Wes held up one hand. "No, no," he amended hastily, "I haven't found a way to actually do that. It was more in the nature of a hypothetical question."

"Oh, okay," Garion said, relaxing back into his own seat. "Don't scare me like that. Grandfather has forbidden me from mucking around with time until I'm at least 5000, and given how mad he got when I started playing with the weather, I don't even want to think about the lecture I would get if I didn't listen."

Both men shuddered at the thought. Being on the receiving end of one of Belgarath's blistering lectures was not something either one wanted to experience again.

"I think," Garion said slowly, taking another sip of his drink, "that I would tell myself not to be such a whiny little boy. That chosen family is more important than anything, that Aunt Pol and Grandfather will love me no matter what, and that most of all, Life. Is. Not. Fair." He punctuated each word with a tap on the chair, causing his drink to slosh. "And so I need to stop complaining about it and just deal with it."

Wesley chuckled. "Amen."

"What 'bout you?"

"To get over myself, get the pole out of my arse, and open my eyes. That life cannot be lived in books and reality is far more exciting than any historical chronicle. Oh, and never, ever to get romantically involved with a demon."

Whatever Garion might have replied was cut off by a siren sounding through the room. Both men groaned.

"Can't it be someone else's turn to save the multi-verse?" Garion muttered.

"You'd think they'd give us a few moment's peace. Not fair," Wesley agreed.

"Duty calls," Garion sighed and placed a hand on each of their foreheads. A brief surge of Will, and the two men were sobered up.

Wesley suddenly grinned as he reholstered his weapons. "But I don't waaaaaannnnnaaaaa," he whined.

"It's not faaaaiiiiiirrrrrrr," Garion whined back as he shouldered Irongrip's sword.

"Do we haaavvveee to?" they asked in unison as they went to meet up with the rest of the team.

Your remix's title: To Boldly Go (The ff.net Remix)
Characters or pairing: Dawn
Rating: PG
Warnings and/or spoilers: None except for Dawn's dirty little mind.
Original Fic: "The Next Generation", by kindkit
----
( Buffy the Vampire Slayer: To Boldly Go (The ff.net Remix), for kindkit )