An AU of School Hard where Spike gives in to temptation at the Bronze.
Categories: Season 2, Alternate Universe, Episode Rewrite, Song Fic
Characters: Buffy, Spike, Drusilla
Genres: Angst, Fighting, Romance
Warnings: (Click Here To Reveal) Adult Language, Buffy/Other (Temp), Spike/Other (Temp)
Completed: Yes Chapters: 12
Word count: 15,315 Hit Count: 3,907 ePub Downloads: 15
Published: 05/07/23 Updated: 05/21/23
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The eagle-eyed will spot that Spike references a famous line from Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,/Or what's a heaven for?"
Because of the nature of when the story happens, there's some inevitable Bangel and Sprusilla. Bangel will be as minimal as possible, Sprusilla leading into Spuffy is the point of the story.
with many thanks to the following people for various contributions:
nikkilou Sunalso maryperk bewildered DarkVoid116 medievalchic - special shoutout to Sunalso for being a wonderful beta for the whole thing; it takes a village...
You all rock
Any remaining imperfections are, of course, all on me.
Calling it a song fic is stretching the definition, but it does reference/was semi inspired-by the song playing in the Bronze the first time Spike encounters Buffy, Stupid Thing by Nickel. If you haven't listened to the words of that song, well... you should. FORESHADOWING AHOY!
1. Temptation - Spike by flootzavut - Likes: 7 Comments: 12 Word Count: 2,580 Hit Count: 460 Published: 05/07/23
As written, the first chapter was intended to replace the Bronze scene in canon without necessarily changing the rest of the episode, and it stands alone nicely as a oneshot, so you can read it as a canon insert, or you can read the whole story and have it more or less replace the canon episode.
2. Disappointment - Buffy by flootzavut - Likes: 4 Comments: 7 Word Count: 1,282 Hit Count: 350 Published: 05/08/23
3. Bad Dog - Spike by flootzavut - Likes: 2 Comments: 6 Word Count: 1,022 Hit Count: 358 Published: 05/09/23
4. Major Suckage - Buffy by flootzavut - Likes: 3 Comments: 4 Word Count: 802 Hit Count: 336 Published: 05/10/23
5. Impatience - Spike by flootzavut - Likes: 3 Comments: 0 Word Count: 700 Hit Count: 322 Published: 05/11/23
6. Intermezzo - Dru by flootzavut - Likes: 2 Comments: 0 Word Count: 580 Hit Count: 322 Published: 05/12/23
7. Thinky Thoughts - Buffy by flootzavut - Likes: 1 Comments: 0 Word Count: 1,303 Hit Count: 275 Published: 05/16/23
8. Anticipation - Spike by flootzavut - Likes: 2 Comments: 2 Word Count: 1,358 Hit Count: 313 Published: 05/17/23
9. Awkward - Buffy by flootzavut - Likes: 5 Comments: 4 Word Count: 1,432 Hit Count: 314 Published: 05/18/23
I mess with the timeline a little in this chapter.
10. Victory - Spike by flootzavut - Likes: 3 Comments: 3 Word Count: 1,601 Hit Count: 276 Published: 05/19/23
11. Defeat - Buffy by flootzavut - Likes: 5 Comments: 6 Word Count: 1,441 Hit Count: 306 Published: 05/20/23
12. Chapter 12 by flootzavut - Likes: 4 Comments: 5 Word Count: 1,214 Hit Count: 275 Published: 05/21/23