(no subject)

[doyle]

anonymous_di asked, and I must do. My OTPs, and why.


I got into a semantic argument with myself, first of all, over what constitutes a one true pairing. The 'one' bit's out of the window, of course, since this list has five pairings on it. Then there was much juggling of "well, do I really like this pairing better than that one? I love this one to read, but this one was wonderful for the subtexty bits on the show, and I've always liked writing how x and y interact..."

It's all very complicated. I've had Spike and Illyria bantering in my head for at least two weeks, for instance, and I think they would be a very interesting couple - and I also have little interest in reading fic about them. Meanwhile, Wes/Faith on the show? UST coming off the screen. Yet I don't want to read or write about them. Strange.

Buffy/Spike

Bit of a dichotomy over this one. On the one hand, seeing OMWF first of all undoubtably biased me, and I went through a scary psycho shipper phase, and I'm all for the notion that she really did mean the Chosen "I love you". On the other hand, I was against Buffy ending up with either Angel or Spike in canon. Fic? Fic's fine. She can be with Angel, Spike, both of them, Giles, Xander... I wish she was with Gunn or Riley more, but that could just be me.

I think so much has been said about these two that there's no way I can add to it. And I think B/A's more epic, certainly, especially the high school years stuff, and season 6's my least favourite of them all, but - these two get me. Can't understand why, but they do. (They also reduce me to a twelve-year-old. thecount_ha says that one night when we were both quite drunk, we sang all of Once More With Feeling to the DVD. Then I watched the kiss at the end of Tabula Rasa twice and cried, which is shaming but entirely possible.)

Wesley/Lilah

Well, to begin with, there's the chemistry. There's a scene in Ground State that's my desert island Angel scene. If I'm ever shipwrecked (brief intermission while I hum the theme from Gilligan's Island) and for some reason the whimsical island gods want to give me one scene on loop, that's the one. Just. Wes and Lilah on the floor. There's a belt, and she's talking about being Connor's Mrs. Robinson, which is a threesome fic crying out to be written.

Anyway, I was talking about something, what was it... chemistry. And, cliche as it is, falling in love with somebody despite yourself, "I wasn't thinking about you when you were here" to their last scene in the office, that shot of Wes holding the burning contract and Lilah behind him, not even reaching out to touch him; dude, wait, they're Spike and Buffy, aren't they? Sort of. I bet everybody got that except me...

I love Lilah just hugging him after the rain of fire, and "it's not always about holding hands", and the fact that Lilah didn't repent her evil evil ways and become a shining beacon of goodness. It seems odd that I haven't read much fic for this pairing. Maybe it's because there's no feeling of incompleteness (at least until Home, when there's the aborted attempt at burning the contract and we never see Lilah again and Wesley moves right along to Fred). I think I loved every moment they were onscreen together. I really want to watch season 4 now, but it's nearly 2 and I have more mindless blather to write.

Dawn/Tara

Most people are squicked by the potential mother/daughterness of this. I'm not, needless to say. They make me want to say silly things about creating this peace and stillness between them. In my perfect world, Tara skipped town after Tabula Rasa, and a few years later she's working in an occult bookshop in this little university town, and Dawn walks through the door.

Angel/Nina

I did an essay on this one. Nina fascinates me as much as she irritates most people (much like Kennedy, though she got much less screen time.) She's so ordinary and so not, and her relationship with Angel has this potential to be passionate and quiet at the same time, and she's never going to be his One True Love and Reason For Being, and I like that. It's such an antithesis to the sturm und drang relationships with Buffy and Darla and Cordelia, and much though I love those three pairings, the break is nice. And I'd find it amusing and ironic if she *did* end up with him for the long haul, just because it's so unlikely.

Angel/Nina turns up in some Spuffy fics as a convenient way to get rid of B/A, and however bad the fic, however transparent the author's agenda, it makes me aw. Because I am a sucker.

Willow/Kennedy

I think I'm in a very small minority on this one: Kennedy's my girl in all her bratty glory. The Killer in Me is one of my favourite episodes. The scene in Touched is beyond hot.

Kennedy's the rebound girl, and she's the opposite of Oz and Tara. I've heard plenty of people saying she's not Willow's type at all, but there are ways in which she sometimes reminds me of Xander - funny and strong and fiercely defending - and Willow loved Xander first.

Like Angel and Nina, I think we only get to see these two at the beginning of things, where they're not in love yet but they could be, someday. They might break up ten minutes after the cameras stop rolling in Chosen, or they might be together in twenty years. Besides, if Willow tried to wipe Kennedy's memory, I have some faith that she'd say "screw you, me and Dawn are eloping to Tijuana", as I wanted Tara to do.

And the ones that were left out due to space and time issues: Gunn/Wes, Angel/Spike, Connor/Wesley, Angel/Cordelia, Angel/Darla, Giles/Anya, Fred/Willow, Giles/Ethan, Buffy/Cordelia, Buffy/Riley, Riley/Xander, Buffy/Giles, Oz/Xander, Dawn/practically everyone...