How did I come up with this idea? Why did I write the fic? Where are my excuses for the decisions I made when writing?
Well, there are quite a few fics out there where Spike is older and rich and falls in love with girl-next-door Buffy. She, of course, resists him because their relationship would never work. But they get together at the end and have loving!fluffy!sex. Huh. If an older, richer guy wanted me when I was 16, I wouldn’t let anything get in the way, I can tell you that. So I wanted a fic where Buffy doesn’t push him away... at first.
I also love dark fics. A fluffy fic can always be dismissed, because most would never happen and it’s so light that you want to puke. A dark fic, when written well enough, makes you ask the question, “but why?” in a teeny, tiny voice. All you can think about is the injustice done to these characters, and how much they deserved it.
All the characters were pulled apart and roughly stitched back together in season six, so that’s where I took many of my characterisations from. Buffy can’t help but be with Spike and he’s so much in love with her that he doesn’t care. Seeing it on TV, I had to transfer it into an AU fic.
Other characters, like Joyce and Cordy, have similar personalities to those in the show. I was hesitant to have Joyce as Buffy’s mother, because she’s so different, but I never really liked her anyway so I left it. As you can tell, Sunday, Faith, Anya and Harmony were tacked on at the last minute because Buffy needed a clique. Scott, too. Angel and Riley were the obvious choices for Spike’s competition, and even if the fic doesn't go that way, they can go after other girls.
The Giles/Joyce is another afterthought. ‘Band Candy’ amused me so I added it in. Plus, Joyce had to have someone else. She couldn’t really be after Spike, because Spike had to know about her other lover. He had to be able to mention to Buffy that her mother was cheating on her father with someone, and who better than Hank and Rupert to be in that situation?
And I hate fics where a rich guy, either Angel or Spike, uses money to ‘buy’ Buffy’s love. Lavish gifts, expensive holidays, it’s all the same. It’s especially cringe-worthy if they buy her a whole outfit, then they guy ‘thinks’ how much better Buffy looks than they would have expected. And there’s often another girl, like Darla, who’s as rich as Angel or Spike and tries to take them away. But Buffy wins, of course.
So in this fic, Buffy’s the rich girl who doesn’t want to win. She’s figured out that life’s a game and she wants in on it. A desperate Spike is along for the ride.