Eight

"Fuck you, B!" Faith yelled jokingly and pushed Buffy away slightly. Buffy had just made a joke about Faith sleeping with every man she had ever come across after Dawn pointed out a very attractive young man across the street.

"Oh, you know it's true!" Buffy smiled back.

"Bullshit! It wasn't every man. Only the first one I saw once I'm riled up." Faith added quietly. "Besides..." She paused.

"Besides what?" Buffy asked, now curious.

"I... um... I don't..."

"Don't what?"

"I don't swing that way anymore." Faith said firmly as she stoode and started to walk away, not being able to look at Buffy.

"Wait... you mean...?"

"Yeah, I'm gay, okay?" Faith was used to having a certain image. The tough girl, badass, maybe a bit slutty, but she could pull slutty off. She was the one that turned every guy's head from L.A. to D.C. The gymnast, the martial artist, the Slayer. She pulled it all off, and she had worked hard to create that image. Being a lesbian was not part of that image.

"Um... right... I... didn't... I didn't expect that." Buffy stammered.

"Yeah. Didn't figure you would. It just kind of slipped out, okay? I didn't mean to bring it up, but it's too late, now you know." Faith glanced back at Buffy and saw her discomfort. Buffy squirmed under Faith's inspecting eyes.

"And that's why I never mentioned anything. I knew you'd get all twitchy around me, thinking every time I look at you, I'm picturing you naked, and it would make you uncomfortable, and you'd wig out on me. God, I hate girls! I mean, sure, I'm gay, but what I mean is, they're all so self-centered, and they automatically think that any time they're around a straight guy or a gay girl, they're automatically the center of attention and the guy or lesbian is thining about getting into their pants. Newsflash, guys! I'm gay, but I don't just go around picturing all of my friends naked!"

"What about me?" Buffy asked.

"What?"

"What about me? I didn't think you were... didn't even think about it. But now that you mention it... have you? Ever?"

"Have I what?"

"You know. You were just ranting about how you don't just picture every girl you see without clothes on. I wasn't wigging about that, and I'm still not, I'm just curious."

"You want to know if I've ever thought about you nude?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm not expecting you to, or that you ever had, I just wanna know."

"Would you be relieved or disappointed if I said no?"

"I don't know. You'll have to say no first."

"I can't."

"Why not? Because you're afraid of how I'll react?"

"No. Because... I just can't say no."

"You have some wierd kind of spell on you preventing yourself from saying no?"

"No! I mean... I don't want to lie to you."

It dawned on Buffy. "Oh. Then..."

"Yes, I've thought about you." Faith looked away. "Go ahead. Wig out."

"I'm not going to wig out."

"Then what was with the discomfort earlier, when I told you I'm gay?"

"Well... because, I don't want to screw up around you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I didn't know if you... liked me... I just didn't want to overstep or something. I mean, with all of the joking we've done in the past, acting kind of gay together as a joke with everyone else, I didn't know if..."

"If I took it all seriously?"

Buffy nodded.

"No, I knew it was all joking. Even when you started the jokes. No hard feelings, B."

"Well, that's not all."

"What else is there then?"

"Well... You've been honest with me, so I guess I should be honest with you. I just didn't want to slip up."

"Huh?"

"Well, when we were both straight, we could joke around like that all the time and no one would think anything about it if they knew us. But... now that... you... are gay, any joking like that'll make them think we're together or something."

"Well, first of all, would that be so bad? Is it so terrible to imagine us together? Second, they don't know I'm gay, only you do. As long as they don't know, no one's the wiser. And third, just because one of us is gay, and we joke aroud like that, doesn't mean we're together. You're straight, remember?"

"Well... that's the other thing... I'm..."

"Oh my god. You're gay, too?"

"No! But... I'm not exactly straight, either."

"Mind explaining?"

"I like guys. But... I like girls, too."

"Oh."

"See? Now you're wigging. It's kind of hard not to wig when you're learning something that huge about one of your friends. It kind of takes you by surprise, right?"

"Yeah. Guess you're right. Sorry, B."

They were silent for a while, until Faith broke the silence.

"So... We're... both into girls, huh?"

"Yeah. Guess so."

"Have you ever...?"

"Yes."

"You don't even-"

"Yes I do. You were going to ask if I've ever thought about you."

"So you have, then?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"A while. You?"

"Same. When was the last time?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Yeah."

"When you told me you were gay."

"Really? That long ago, huh?"

"What about you?"

"Oh, I don't have to picture myself naked. I can see that any time I want." Faith joked, trying to clear the air. "I'm kidding. Um... three times inthe last ten minutes."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When I told you I'm gay, then again when I said I don't just go around picturing girls naked, and again when you said you're... whatever you are."

"That could be taken the wrong way."

"But you know what I mean. Hemi-sexual, or what ever it's called."

"Hemi-sexual?"

"Yeah, you know. Two hemispheres, you like two different genders. Hemi-sexual."

"Hemi means half. Hemi-sexual would mean I only like half of a guy or girl. I think the word is bisexual."

"Oh. Okay."

"So... are we... like... into each other, then? Or just... you know... attracted by each other?"

"What?"

"I mean do we like like each other, or are we just the people who occasionally picture each other naked?"

"I don't know about you. But as for me... I... I think... I like you."

Buffy's heart skipped a beat, and she knew she felt very strongly about Faith. She wasn't simply attracted to Faith. Simple attraction could never hope to cover how she felt in that moment.

Time stood still and a million thoughts raced through her mind, yet she noticed none of them. She saw Faith, but she saw through her, as well. Faith's words 'I like you' didn't begin to describe her feelings for the blonde. Just meeting Buffy for the first time made her realise she was gay, and the more time she spent with her, her attraction to Buffy turned into friendship, friendship turned into desire, and desire turned into love.

Buffy was the only one who could actually affect Faith at all. She was in Faith's heart, embedded so deep within that nothing could get her out, not even whatever God exists, if He does. People made comments about Buffy. Some said she was a major bitch, or some slut, or a necrophiliac, or even that they'd like to fuck her, and Faith knocked every one of them out, and wanted to do more, but she was afraid she'd kill them if she actually gave in.

She saw Buffy with Angel, or Riley, or even Spike, and she was jealous of the guys, wished she could be in their place, but at the same time, was glad they did something for her, that they made her happy. She was happy just seeing Buffy happy, something she'd never been able to say about anyone else. Everyone else before she met Buffy was just a backscratcher, scratching Faith's itch. Since she met Buffy, everyone else was just a simulation, pretending they were her. Some were good, some were downright amazing in bed, and even if Buffy herself absolutely sucked, they still could never compare to the real Buffy. Not for Faith.

Buffy saw all of this and more in Faith, and she felt the same way, exactly, but she knew the raven-haired Slayer wasn't ready to say it, or even knew how to say it. So she settled for agreeing with Faith.

"I like you, too."

And they kissed.

They kissed for more than five minutes, softly, conveying everything they felt for each other with their lips.

"I'm... just going to go." Dawn said from where she sat on the couch, but neither Slayer heard her. "So I'm invisible." She sighed and walked away.