Unexpected Truths, Chapter 1

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fan Fiction

This is set sometime in season one. I just love the young Scoobies, what can I say.

A/N: So, it's been a while since I've written a fic in the Buffyverse (or any fics at all, for that matter). But it's nice to be back. I hope you all enjoy, and please forgive me if it's a little weak. Any and all comments are always appreciated!

Disclaimer: All names, characters, places, etc. belong to Joss Whedon and company. The story, however, is mine.

The final bell of the day rang, and the students of Sunnydale High came pouring out of their classrooms, eager to get started with their weekend.

"Our science homework sounds really interesting," Willow Rosenberg said, standing at her locker and carefully placing textbooks into her schoolbag. "I can't wait to do the corresponding experiment next week. I wonder if I'd be allowed to do a more in-depth experiment with similar principles. It would probably have to be at a different time, but-"

"Will, please, stop, before you give me a headache," Xander Harris interrupted. "The fact that you're still thinking about school a full thirty-two seconds after the bell has rung on a Friday is enough to make anybody sick."

Willow looked over at her best friend and huffed, and then began organizing some papers in her locker. Many of her school things had gotten a bit messy lately, due to the assisting Buffy and Giles with all things demonic, but now that she had a spare moment, some cleanup seemed in order. It made her a little uncomfortable to have any physical messes in her world.

Just another difference between Xander and me, Willow thought as she glanced back at her long-time best friend. He was looking straight past her, presumably watching for Buffy. Willow couldn't help but emit a small sigh as she turned back to her locker. She knew she didn't stand a chance with Xander. She knew it didn't even make sense that she liked him. But neither of those things changed the fact that she was head over heels.

Well, maybe I like him because it doesn't make sense. He's my opposite. I'm neat, he's messy. I'm driven, he's laidback. I'm smart, he's…well, he's not stupid, but…

"Buffy!" Xander exclaimed, breaking Willow out of her reverie.

"Hey Xander," Buffy Summers said as she walked up to her friends, giving Xander a not-so-subtle look of 'down, boy.' "Hey Will," she said, smiling in the redhead's direction.

Willow shut her locker and turned to face the blonde. "Hi Buffy," she replied, smiling back. The two shared a look, silently expressing their amusement over Xander's eagerness as only best friends can do.

"So ladies," Xander said, putting an arm around each girl and leading them towards the door, "what are we doing on this fine Friday evening?"

"Well Giles actually gave me a night off from Slayer duties, so I foresee a real hang out being a totally workable and necessary thing," Buffy answered.

"I'm down," Willow said as they exited the school. "But where are we going to go? The Bronze is closed this weekend, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Xander said. "Needs repairs, right? I heard it got trashed."

"Yeah, and for once the trashing did not occur while fighting to keep the streets of Sunnydale safe from the undead," Buffy replied, somewhat contrite and somewhat smug.

Willow giggled. "Nope, this time, it was just your regular old drunk people. Apparently they do almost as much damage as slayage does."

"Figures," Xander said, hopping down the steps. "The one time some monster doesn't ruin our fun, normal people swoop in and do it."

"Hey, no need to be Mr. Whinypants," Buffy said, following him with Willow close behind. "We can still have fun. How about you guys come over to my house tonight? I'm sure Mom will be ecstatic to see me doing a normal teenage thing with people she approves of."

Xander's face lit up as he said, "Your mom approves of me?" while Willow overlapped with, "That sounds great!"

Buffy laughed and replied, "Well Xander, my mom approves majorly of Willow, and I think she's just accepted that you guys are kind of a package deal."

"I-I wouldn't say we're a package deal," Willow jumped in. "I mean, we hang out a lot and stuff and we have for a really long time, but that's because, you know, we're best friends, and for a long time we have been. Best friends, I mean. Because we've always hung out and stuff, even when no one else hung out with us-"

Xander and Buffy stopped and stared at Willow, and it was only then that the redhead realized that she'd been babbling in a major way. Her eyes hit the pavement, and she could feel an extreme blush rising in her cheeks.

"That's all I meant by package deal, Will," Buffy said, unable to keep the laughter out of her tone. "I know! Why don't we have a sleepover? Junk food, bad movies, lots of laughs, late-night activities that don't involve vampire slayage?"

Willow's face brightened with a smile once again as she looked at her friend and said, "That would be really fun."

Xander's eyes grew wide as he scanned back and forth between the girls, his questioning clearly written all over his face. "Wait…so…I'm invited to the sleepover portion of the evening?"

"Of course, Xand!" Willow said, perhaps a little too eagerly.

"Duh," Buffy chimed in. "You're totally one of the girls, Xander."

"Oh goodie, one of the girls," he grumbled. "You know how much I love to hear that."

Buffy crossed her arms and looked at Xander condescendingly. "Well, being one of the girls allows you to join Willow and I on our sleepover adventure, so I wouldn't go bashing it too much."

"This is true, O Wise Buff-ster," Xander said, folding his hands and bowing slightly to Buffy as if she were his sensei. "Well, taking that into consideration, as long as you don't try to do my hair or paint my nails or anything, I guess I'm alright with being one of the girls. For tonight."

"Don't worry, Xander," Buffy replied. "I think we can probably resist. Wouldn't you say, Willow?" The blonde nudged the other girl with her elbow, and they shared a look and a laugh.

"Sometimes it worries me when you two do that," Xander mumbled, but when the girls turned to look at him, they paused for a moment, and then all three laughed together.

"So, why don't you guys come to my place after dinner?" Buffy said. "8:00 work for everybody?"

"Great," Willow said with a nod.

"8 PM, got it," Xander replied.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys then!" Buffy said.

Xander gave a sweeping bow to the girls and said, "Ladies, until we meet again."

After she and Buffy rolled their eyes one last time, Willow smiled and said, "See you both tonight," and with that, all three turned and headed towards their respective homes.