Buffy the Vampire Slayer Preferences + imagines/one shots

Faith - Piercings

Faith and I are huddled under an umbrella, staring into the shop window I've made us stop at. 

"They're beautiful..." I whisper, "Don't you think they're beautiful?"

"Sure, they're cute. Why don't we gawk at them from inside, where it's, you know, dry ?"

"But I don't have my ears pierced." 

She turns to me with a look of surprise on her face. "You don't?"

I laugh, feeling heat prick up my neck. "No!"

"The amount of times I've seen those earlobes... bitten those earlobes..." (I give her a look), "Can't believe I didn't notice."

She tucks my wet hair behind my ears just to check. She shrugs. "Well, I know what we're doing tomorrow."

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A cloudless blue sky stretches above us as we wander into town, the rain from yesterday a forgotten memory. Faith has persuaded me to get my ears pierced at the local tattoo parlour that definitely doesn't intimidate me every time I walk past it. 

The shop is small, with wooden floors and walls, a colour scheme of grey and brown. It looks sleek and professional and too cool for the likes of me. 

"Hi!" Faith greets the woman behind the counter. She has a lip, nose and eyebrow piercing and fierce black ink trailing up and down both arms. Her name tag reads Crimson, followed by a little doodled skull. "Got an ear piercing and belly-button piercing booked? Under Lehane." 

The woman's serious, resting face morphs into a smile, looking at Faith, then me. "Sure, let me just..." She consults a giant book and crosses something off. "You're the only appointment booked today so I'll take care of it. Follow me."

When I don't move, Faith grabs my hand. "Hey."

"Hi." I say.

"You sure you still wanna do this?" 

I take a deep breath, focusing on her face. Her smile makes me feel a little safer. "Yeah."

She gently tugs on my arm, excitedly, before leading me to the back of the shop. 

"Who's first?" Crimson asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me. 

"Erm..." I say, trying to telepathically tell Faith that I don't want to go first. 

She gives me a small smile. "Wanna get it over with?"

It's not entirely a question because she pushes me down into the black, leather chair. 

"I presume this is the ear piercing." Crimson smiles reassuringly at me before choosing her supplies from a cabinet. She pulls out a little cleansing wipe and a black pen. That doesn't seem so scary.

Faith pulls up a chair next to me, putting her hand on my knee. I close my hand over hers, giving it a quick squeeze. 

Crimson cleans by earlobes, carefully draws two dots on them, and when she disappears out back to get her piercing gun, I start to sweat.

"I'm nervous." I tell Faith.

She leans in and gives me a peck on the lips. "I believe in you."

I blush, "What if I bleed everywhere and die?"

"Then I'll eat my hat." 

I whack her on the arm as she laughs before whispering, "I've seen you slay vampires, baby. You can take it. It'll just be like..." she pinches both my cheeks and I laugh, scrunching up my face.

When Crimson comes back, Faith instinctively pulls away from me. It used to make me feel embarrassed, but I know she's just being cautious. I bite my lip, but then return Crimson's warm smile.

"So, what made you want to get your ears pierced?" she asks me, positioning the gun to my ear.

I take a sharp intake of breath and Faith wordlessly takes my hand. "I saw these really cute -"

I stop abruptly when she pushes the needle into my ear without warning. 

"All done. Wasn't so bad, was it?" she winks at me and Faith smirks at how flustered I get. 

"Ha. Yeah." I manage to say, feeling slightly betrayed. When she pierces the other ear, she doesn't bother to distract me with conversation, but it doesn't matter. It actually didn't hurt. 

"So brave." Faith whispers to me.

"Shut up." I smile back. 

Crimson passes me a mirror and I admire the little silver studs that now decorate my ears.

"Right. Ms Lehane. Belly-button piercing, right? The chair's just behind there." she gestures to a black curtain, "A bit more privacy, but your girlfriend's welcome to sit with you. I'll be over in a second."

I get up from the chair and Faith smirks at me. "Are we that obvious?"

I smile, "I don't know, are we?" I flutter my eyelashes at her. 

Although it's a joke, she swallows hard. "Come here, you flirt."

We go through the curtain and Faith collapses into the chair, reclining it until she's laying down. 

I lean over her and plant a kiss on her lips. It's supposed to be a quick peck, but she pulls me in by my shirt. I jerk back when I hear Crimson's cheerful voice saying, "Knock knock."

Faith smirks and I just know I'm bright red. 

I watch in awe as Faith gets her belly-button pierced. She lets me hold her hand, although she doesn't need it, and I watch with fascination as Crimson threads a blue and silver charm through the skin. I listen for both of us when she explains how to care for our new piercings as they heal (because I know Faith isn't listening) and pout when she says I can't change my earrings for a few weeks. 

It's a little more cloudy when we walk home, the sun a little lower in the sky. Faith holds my hand as we walk down the street and I try not to worry about it. I'm glad the streets are quiet, and nobody bothers paying us any attention, which is good, because we're giggling and chatting in a way I presume would be very irritating to outsiders. 

Just as we're about to pass the shop with those fateful earrings, Faith swerves and pulls me into the shop. 

"Faith!"

She swoops up the earrings and spins over to the counter, smiling at a slightly bewildered shopkeeper. He pushes up his glasses before taking the cash she offers him and she's dragging me out of the shop again.

"You're so weird." I tell her and she just smiles happily to herself.