And Faith would act tough and mumble about how bikes are lame, and constantly fight with Buffy over who gets to steer, and be secretly overjoyed that she finally had that bike she's wanted since she was a kid.

And now the evening update - rereading this I realized it isn't so funny and in fact it makes me want to cry a little bit. DAMN. It's really painful - like the story you wrote about the shop employee who gave Buffy the coat no charge, and it seems warm and fuzzy until the reader considers the context of S6? Like that. Which is - nifty.