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Loving to Hate You
or, how to write Lindsey and Angel as Enemies.
by Angel Negra of L/A.
Writing Lindsey and Angel as enemies isn't all that hard. It's all about timing, give and take, and large amounts of childish fighting.
The main thing about Lindsey and Angel is that their timing is always off. One is usually taking things personally, while the other is going through an indifferent faze. Which is probably a good thing or they'd both be dead by now. Let me explain.
Back when Lindsey and Angel first met in 'City of...', their timing was pretty much on. Angel saw Lindsey as some annoying little gnat, nothing to be bothered with. Lindsey saw Angel as just another simple problem to deal with; set up a quick meeting and all is taken care of. Which is why we hardly saw Lindsey. This was pretty boring.
Then, Angel starts making a serious nuisance of himself and by the time 'Five by Five' rolls around, Lindsey is taking Angel's interference very personally. This cumulates into Faith first becoming an assassin to her incarceration. With some hellish problems for Angel along the way.
In 'Blind Date' we see Lindsey trying to help some kids and he ends up seeing just how little Angel seems to think of him. For reasons all his own, Lindsey returns to Wolfram & Hart afterwards with a shiny, new 'I don't give a fuck about him' attitude towards Angel. Of course, this ends up with Angel feeling more than a little insulted that Lindsey went back to the firm.
In 'To Shanshu in LA', we're shown why it's such a good thing that Lindsey and Angel never have their timing on. Lindsey attacks Angel's friends, destroys Angel's office and generally makes himself an evil nuisance. His speech at the end is all about who's got the bigger stones. He's rubbing Angel's nose in what happened. Which, of course, Angel takes very personally. This results in Angel retaliating by cutting off Lindsey's hand. This is the closest they've gotten to being personal and pissy at the same time. Had Lindsey actually managed to burn the scroll completely...
Season 2, and Angel is back to forgetting Lindsey exists. Lindsey, on the other hand, feels quite differently. He beings to implement the 'drive Angel insane' plan by sending Darla after Angel. This results in all manner of lovely behavior. From Angel firing his staff, to playing 'string the one-handed lawyer up by his neck', to sleeping with Darla. Angel is starting to take all this very personally right at about the time Lindsey starts to give a fuck about Darla and Darla alone.
This is best noticed in 'Blood Money'. Angel is hell bent on destroying Wolfram & Hart any way possible, while Lindsey pretty much says that not everything is about Angel. But by the time 'Reprise' rolls around, it's Lindsey who's taking everything personally, while Angel just doesn't care anymore.
By 'Dead End' neither of our boys are all that hot about being enemies and bicker more like lovers than anything else. Lindsey was probably just jealous that Angel strung up someone who wasn't Lindsey. And Angel was probably just jealous of Lindsey's musical talent. But, moving on past this writer's hopeful fantasies, even in 'Dead End' Lindsey was taking things more personally than Angel. Well, he was trying like hell to take all that bickering and history personally. Of course, by then Lindsey was so tired of W&H's insanity that he was pretty much taking everything personally.
But, the best thing to remember when writing Lindsey and Angel as enemies is to keep in mind where your fic fits into canon. These two fight like two little boys knocking down each others block towers. Angel fights the good fight, and screws over Lindsey and his firm, knocking over Lindsey's nice little tower of blocks. That's all done and Angel thinks nothing more of it. But Lindsey's all pissy that his blocks are all over the floor, so he goes over to Angel's block tower and knocks it over. That's all done and he thinks no more of it. But Angel's all pissy that his blocks are all over the floor, so he goes over to Lindsey's block tower, and you get the point.
Keep in mind, they may look all grown-up, they may sometimes sound all grown-up, but lock them in a room with a bunch of blocks and they're suddenly two four year olds knocking each other's towers over the floor. The sad thing about that last sentence is that it wouldn't be totally out of character, taking the analogy too far or not.
The only reason they haven't killed each other yet is the timing. If they're
both indifferent at the same time, nothing happens. Proof is both the large
gap of Lindsey between 'City Of...' and 'Five by Five', also partially why no
Lindsey since 'Dead End'. When they're pissy, it's one reacting to the other.
Had they ever gotten pissy at the exact same time, I doubt L.A. would have survived
to tell the tale.