Much Ado About Nothing
Xander would know her voice anywhere. An eternal complaint about the unfairness of the world. The occasional growl when something upset her. The ever-present harshness that let everyone know that she was above them.
Willow was soft words warming him, but Cordelia... She never backed away from his own grating tongue. They fenced with words. They looked for the weakness that would most hurt, that perfect insult. God forbid they repeated themselves, it meant automatic defeat.
They were masters in their game, this boxing match nobody dared interrupt. A decade-long battle of wits.
It took one kiss to end it.
Othello
The foreign hands around hers. Those thin fingers playing with her flaming hair. Blushes and content smiles. Her giddy bounce to meet him.
Xander was happy for her.
His voice a whisper against her ear. The purple spot where her neck met a white, petal-soft shoulder. Black polish comfortably set against her bright clothes and going up her leg almost imperceptibly with each day.
Xander could handle it.
Her eagerness for that first dance in that stranger's arms. The light in her eyes when she mentioned him. The lips that would touch him.
The lips that would touch him.
Snap!
Taming of the Shrew
Today should be special. He'd made reservations, sworn his friends not to interrupt and planned the perfect day.
This wasn't it.
She'd just jumped out of bed in the morning, gave him a quick kiss and left for work despite his protests. She certainly wasn't supposed to insist that 'paper' hadn't existed in her time and that this... thing would make him happier anyway.
That he could forgive. But her taking the romance out of this night? No way.
"Tonight we do it my way, Ahn."
Somehow, Xander wasn't surprised to hear her laugh before his back hit the mattress.