I especially love that there are echoes of the scene in Listening to Fear where Buffy is crying about her mother while doing the dishes - this scene feels like a reversal of that, fond remembrance and simple chores as therapy.

And I'm glad that a fondness for Joyce is something the two of them can share (unlike Bangel fanfic, where Joyce is the enemy to be overcome or to be wooed to Angel's cause, or simply not mentioned at all.)

Lovely story, and you communicate the difficulties of that period so well for both characters with your usual simplicity - so much is said in what isn't said, in the spaces between: "They’re so careful around each other these days, so tentative."

What else could they be, given the circumstances? As everyone notes time and again in convos and meta, this isn't real life, this is a Slayer and Vampire, it's fantasy; well that's the thing isn't it as far as the characters are concerned? Both rebels, both rule-breakers, but that means there are no maps to this uncharted territory they must traverse.

The more I think about this story the more I realize that this isn't really "fluff" at all, it's quite poignant; there's melancholy and hope mixed up with one another.

ETA: so what do the cat eyes have to do with this fic, anyway?