( after a long while waiting (avoiding is okay when buffy does it because she's profession at making mistakes, but why would giles? he's not allowed to ignore her, not allowed to act like he wants to. he's giles, he's her β ), )
( there are throngs to her discomfort, number one being that she now has to live in a world where giles knows what she looks like naked. which is. something. the back half of it is even worse, though, and so bad she can't even parse it out just yet β whatever sticky feelings she has leftover from that month, if this is just her now, if there's always been some kind of necessary pull dragging her towards giles, or if she's just ...Β attention starved. paternally bankrupt. lonely. if it'll all go away with enough distance. )
i just need a little time. like a week. i don't want you to be gone when i'm ready to talk about it, but i get it if you don't want to be around me. join the club.
[ It's a strange feeling, a sour mixture of shame and relief. He discovers in the moment he reads her text that he just wants her to be okay, even if it means letting go for a little while. Even if it means that she decides she doesn't want anything to do with him. He can't leave -- but he can let her go. At least he's had practice with that. ]
( buffy never really likes promises from other people, because they always seem like such an open door to disappointment. then again, this is giles. he hasn't managed to get sick of her yet, unless moving to england really was about escaping her. so. that's okay. giles can make her promises, because )
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do you want to?
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No. But I don't want you to be uncomfortable.
[ I love -- ]
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i just need a little time. like a week.
i don't want you to be gone when i'm ready to talk about it, but i get it if you don't want to be around me. join the club.
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All right. I'm not going anywhere, I promise.
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okay. i trust you.
( somethings are unchangeable. )
talk soon. i promise.