buffyversetop5 | Five Fics That Helped Me Accept Angel

I took my time with Angel when I entered the Buffyverse. I didn't really want much to do with him. There was too much about him, for me, not to like. Layers of unlikeableness. Eventually, though, I came to realize that each layer was something of a scar. I mean, the guy has been around forever. He's bound to have amassed a few. And each scar had the potential to tell a story. These writings opened me to Angel, and I'm so grateful they did.

As Dark Things Are Loved
By

redbrickrose
Angel/Nina, Angel/Buffy
PG
This fic made me feel so full. Often I enjoy fics that make me feel hollow. Typically if they don't, it feels like there's not enough to them for me. This fic, though, managed to leave me feeling so full and even and hopeful, and still pulled on, engaged.

Off Route 17
By

clawofcat
Buffy/Angel
R
This feels like such important background when it comes to informing the spuffy relationship. I'm not even sure how to explain how perfectly it fits for me. I don't think i've ever read a fic before and just adopted it as canon, but my head does that with this, without even trying.

Ten Things that Pull Apart and One Thing that Holds Together
By

tkp
Angel/Buffy
PG13
There have been multiple instances of tkp's writing that keep me up at night doing the brain-spin. And I'd forgo fancy coffee and running the a/c in my car all summer to save up for a tkp "how to write fantastic fic" seminar were one offered in my area. I get dry-mouthed-stunned after reading this because the characterization is so pitch-perfect that it breaks my heart right open.

His Body a Boat
By

romanyg
Spike/Angel
NC17
This is so genius. It's almost like a magic trick, like I got to the end and blinked many times and wanted to ask how it'd been done, how it'd been put together. i have deep admiration for this author and this piece.

All Ways
By

kita0610
Hard R
Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Spike, Spike/Angel, Buffy/Spike/Angel
This piece of writing awes me. Stuns me. Brings me to tears. There's no suitable summery, really, and it's no doubt well-read, but I couldn't make an Angel list without it. It's one of the most important pieces of Buffyverse writing I've come across.