I

I'm Not Watching a Vampire Movie, Angel!

SPOILER WARNING: Innocence be damned--it never happened.
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNING: Nothing too bad, a little Buffy and Angel kissing but I see nothing wrong with that.
SUMMARY: I think the title really says it all, Angel and Buffy rent a movie together. It's yet another fluff piece that's a sequel to "Slayers, Shoes and Loss of Sanity--A Vampire's Suffering." I began writing this way back in June, but with a few revisions it became like a sequel. Go figure.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Buffy, Angel, Xander or Willow. I wish that I owned Angel but what can you do? They all are the property of Joss.

"I am not watching a vampire movie, Angel!" Buffy said shortly, her arms crossed as she stared at her creature of the night boyfriend beside her. "I want a nice night with you, just us, watching a movie, maybe with a bowl of popcorn. The last thing I need to watch is a vampire flick." the slayer said, Angel sighed and put the box that contained the film back on the Blockbuster shelf.

"'Interview With The Vampire' is a really good movie though." the immortal protested as he shoved his hands in his leather jacket's pockets, putting on a pouty expression that made Buffy either want to kiss him or stake him, depending on when he chose to use it.

"The entire idea of watching a movie is to have an escape from real life. What escape from real life would we get if we were to watch a vampire movie?" Buffy asked, attempting to appeal to Angel's sensibilities.

"Well, you do have a point there. Life in Sunnydale is stranger than fiction, isn't it?" he asked with a small grin.

"Exactly my point. Let's just get out of the horror section. I flat out refuse to watch a movie with a vampire or any other demon tonight." Buffy said resolutely. "I know, we can watch a comedy!" Buffy said, physically dragging Angel by the hand to the comedy section of the video rental store. "How about this one?" she asked, picking up a box.

"I think not. I don't like comedies. Tell me, Buffy, since you know me pretty well, do I seem the type that would like a Jim Carrey movie?" Angel asked, pointing to himself with his index finger. Buffy glanced over the vamp, noting his expression, his demeanor, and of course his species before shaking her head slightly. Angel gave a triumphant smile as she set the box down and looked around once again.

"Fine...." Buffy mumbled under her breath as the duo walked around to the drama aisle. "Oh, great, the drama section. Maybe we can rent a really depressing movie that will just add to your brooding." the slayer said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. The vamp just chose to ignore her as he picked up a box.

"'The Crying Game?'" he suggested.

"Have you seen that movie, Angel?" Buffy asked, Angel shook his head once in response. She leaned over and whispered in his ear, as she did his eyes widened slightly. "And *that* is the secret to the 'Crying Game.'" she said with a smile as she gauged her boyfriends reaction. He didn't seem disturbed, just a little annoyed that she had given it away.

"Really? Okay, well now that you've told me the ending I guess we can move on." he said, setting the box down on it's designated section of the shelf and shifting his attention to another row of films. "'Full Metal Jacket?'" the immortal suggested, glancing at his girlfriend for her response. The grimace on her pretty face said it all.

"Oh, *there's* a real date movie. You haven't had a date in a long time, have you?" Buffy asked with an arched eyebrow, he looked down, his somewhat hurt expression telling her that at any moment he would start brooding. "I didn't mean it like that, Honey, it's just that, well, it's not the kind of movie you usually watch with your girlfriend, okay?"

"I guess you have a point there. Fine, your turn to pick one." he stated, giving a hand motion to all the movies in front of her.

She went down the aisle and after a few seconds of looking she picked up a film and then returned to Angel's side. He glanced at the title and then back at her. "I am *not* sitting through the 'English Patient' again! I hated that movie! It never ended! Believe me, immortality is too short to watch that movie again." he stated firmly.

"I guess you're right." Buffy responded before putting it back. As she was returning the movie to it's designated place on the rack Angel had managed to wander into the foreign film section of the video store.

He had just picked up a film when his slayer girlfriend approached from behind, her hands on her hips in determination. "We are not, repeat, not going to watch a movie where I have to read subtitles." Buffy said without hesitation, Angel glanced over at her and sighed. "I hate subtitles, you're always too busy reading them that you never see what's going on in the movie."

"But most American movies these days are awful. The French actually make really good movies sometimes...." Angel protested but was silenced by a glare from his girlfriend. "Fine..." he whispered as he set the box down and made his way out of the foreign section, being followed by Buffy. "Okay," he said as they wandered into the cult films section. "'Reservoir Dogs?'"

"Again with the date movie thing, Angel. There are certain rules when choosing a date movie, and "No Tarantino films" is way up there on the list." the slayer stated, Angel just rolled his eyes and continued down the aisle.

"Look, we have to find a movie we can both agree on or this isn't going to work, right?" he asked, the Chosen One nodded.

"Right. But I think it may take all of your immortality and then some for us to actually find said film." Buffy replied quickly, "Can't we just go see 'Titanic' again?" the slayer asked, looking up into her sweetheart's eyes. "I like that movie."

"So you can sob uncontrollably once again? We've seen that movie five times and every time I end up with this big wet spot on my shoulder where you've been crying. I don't know how you can claim that it's such a great movie when you spend a portion of it crying so hard you aren't even looking at the screen. I have nothing against sad movies, but I don't want to see *that * particular tear jerker again. Besides, I think you have a thing for that guy...." Angel said, a touch of jealousy flaming up in his dark eyes. Buffy merely scoffed as she touched his pale cheek.

"Aww, you're way cuter than he is. He couldn't touch you with a fifty foot pole, Honey." she said before planting a soft kiss on his lips as a reassurance of her devotion to him. Once they broke the kiss, the couple continued down the aisle in search of the perfect date movie.

Their search brought them to the action movie section. "No way." Buffy stated before the duo evacuated the aisle in favor of a more appropriate section; the romantic comedy. But again, in that section the couple was doomed to failure. They spent a great deal of time looking over the titles, neither finding one they were interested in proposing to the other.

"How about this one?" Angel suggested, pointing to a film finally. Just as he spoke he saw Willow and Xander approaching from the corner of his eye. "Willow and Xander, two o'clock." Angel whispered to the slayer, she looked up and with a smile greeted her two friends.

"Well, well, well, what are you and 'Dead Man Walking' doing here?" Xander asked, glancing at the vampire briefly.

"Gee, Xander, it's a video store, I'll give you three guesses." the immortal grumbled, Xander merely chose to glare at the vampire rather than respond.

"Looking for a movie to watch tonight for our nice quiet evening together. What about you two?" Buffy inquired, switching her gaze to Willow who merely shrugged slightly.

"Xander and I were just at my house and we decided to rent a movie to watch tonight since there was nothing on television." the Net Girl responded, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of the vampire and the slayer together. "Have you found a movie yet?"

"No, we keep on arguing over what to watch." the chosen one replied. "I don't think there was a movie filmed that a vampire and a vampire slayer would both want to see. We have pretty different tastes." Buffy replied with a shrug as she watched Xander wander into the action films section. Within a few seconds he had picked out a film.

"Got one!" he called to the other slayerette, holding up a box in his hand. "Rambo II!" he called, the slayer and the vampire both looked at Willow. She smiled slightly and held up her hands.

"What can I say? I humor him. Maybe someday he'll figure out that I don't like guy movies. Okay, that was overly optimistic of me, wasn't it? Well, anyway, I hope you two find a movie. Have fun." Willow said as she parted ways with the slayer and vampire, following Xander to the counter so he could rent the action bloodfest film.

After the pair had departed from the store Angel and Buffy simply looked at each other for a moment. "You know, I'm beginning to think we're never going to find a movie." Buffy said with a sigh. "Maybe we should just rent two movies, one you want and one I want." Buffy suggested.

"That can be our last resort since I know you won't like what I rent and odds are I won't like your film choice either, if our experiences so far are indication. There are a few more aisles we haven't looked at yet so hope isn't completely lost. We haven't looked at new releases yet." Angel answered, and so with that the pair made their way over to the section specifically reserved for films which had been recently released onto home video.

"You know, maybe we're in the wrong section. Maybe we should be looking in the old movies section...." Angel began but was cut off by his girlfriend.

"I know you used to watch movies without color but I didn't. I like color in my movies, personally, my mom is the one that likes all those black and white movies." Buffy said with a grimace, Angel gave a slight nod.

"Okay, no black and white movies, got it. We'll stick to the new stuff." Angel replied.

"Hey, did you see Scream 2?" Buffy inquired, Angel gave a slight nod.

"Yes. I was bored one night when we were avoiding each other and I went to see it. Actually, I lost interest in it once the pretty girl died and I ended up falling asleep." Angel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He noticed a strange look in Buffy's eyes. "She reminded me of you, that's why I thought she was pretty." Angel said, hoping to cover up his faux pas. Buffy seemed content with that answer and continued down the aisle.

After a few long minutes of searching Buffy stated, "This is truly hopeless." Angel was beginning to be inclined to believe her. "Maybe we should just go and watch TV." she said as one of the employees who had been stocking shelves made his way over to them.

"Are you looking for a date movie?" the employee asked, the duo nodded in unison. He pulled a box off of one of the shelves and handed it to them. "Here." he said with a grin before walking away. Once he was gone the couple looked down at the title.

"'Ghost?'" they both asked at the same time, exchanging glances.

"I've never seen it." Angel said with a shrug.

"Me neither. Maybe we should trust his judgment and just go with it, seeing as we can't seem to agree on one ourselves." Buffy proposed, Angel couldn't help but agree. "And if we don't like it we can come back and complain to him." Buffy said as she and her creature of the night boyfriend walked up to the register and put the movie on the counter.

Once Angel paid for the rental the pair quickly stopped at a grocery store on the way home in order to pick up a box of microwave popcorn and a few other 'movie treats' for Buffy before returning to her house.

With Buffy's mother being out of town for the week the couple had the run of the house. They would have watched the film at Angel's apartment except for two problems; he lacked a VCR and he lacked a microwave for the popcorn, which was a must for Buffy to have during a movie.

After microwaving the popcorn (an experience which happened to include introducing Angel to the wonderful world of microwave popcorn technology) the pair was ready to sit down and watch the film foisted upon them by the Blockbuster employee. Once the lights were off and the couple was comfy on the living room couch Buffy pressed play on the VCR remote.

The customary two hours or so of the movie passed quickly and by the end Angel found himself comforting a crying Buffy who had been brought to tears by the ending. While Angel had gotten a little choked up despite his attempts not to be, Buffy's cheeks were being stained with a steady flow of tears. "Maybe we should have gone to 'Titanic' again." Angel whispered as he attempted to clear the tears from her eyes with his hand.

"I really liked this movie..." Buffy said in midst of her tears before burying her head in Angel's shoulder. He kissed her hair softly and sighed, as much as a vampire can sigh anyway. "This was a total date movie." Angel looked down at the slayer who was still in his arms; her head resting on his shoulder and her arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. "I was thinking," she said as she cleared the last of her tears away. "maybe we could buy you a VCR so we can watch movies at your place."

"I think I'd rather go see that damn movie about the sinking boat again." Angel grumbled under his breath at the thought of having to endure another shopping trip.

The End