Title: Knights Consort (12/?)
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: Just a little bad language.
Spoilers: Anything and everything.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: There's more to love than sexual attraction. In fact, sometimes, sexual attraction just gets in the way.
Author's Note: Nothing much to say here.
"I recognized the smell," Xander says quietly. "Love potions are never good, and, well, tracing the smell to your room, a guy comes to certain conclusions."
"Oh." Well, that explains why he came barging into my room with an axe.
"What the hell were you planning on doing with a love potion anyway, Kenn Doll?"
"I was planning on drinking it," I answer honestly, hugging my giant Snoopy.
He stares at me, clearly not sure if he heard correctly. "For God's sake, why?"
I look away. "Because of you, you doofus. I..." I trail off and take a moment to collect my wits. Bracing myself, I meet his gaze. "I love you, Xander."
There. I finally said it.
He stares at me, a thoroughly confused look on his face, and I'm pretty sure I know why.
"But... I thought you were into the fairer sex."
Yep. Called it.
"I was," I say simply. "I am."
"But-"
"That's the problem!" I snap at him. "I'm in love with you, but I'm not attracted to you! Magic can't mess with love, not really, but lust? Lust is easy."
"So you were planning on drugging yourself?!"
Okay, when he puts it that way, it does sound pretty bad.
"It wouldn't actually change how I feel about you," I argue stubbornly, "just how... I can... express how I feel."
Yeah, that sounded lame to me too.
He doesn't respond for a long moment.
"Would it help if I had a twin sister?"
No. "Yes."
And now I'm falling into that eye of his.
"Liar." I don't deny the accusation. "Would it be better if I was a girl?"
"...maybe," I admit, breaking eye contact again. "I figured you'd be too attached to your junk to-"
"I am. Very much with the junk attachment here. So that and the drugs are out. What's left?"
I wish he'd stop calling it drugs.
I shrug. "Mind whammy; probably wouldn't work, and who could we trust to do it? Siberia."
"'Siberia'? What's in Siberia?"
"Not you. Just... get away from you, but I can't just leave. You need someone watching your back."
"Excuse me? I need someone watching my back? What about-"
"You're so busy watching everyone else's, you forget to watch your own," I interrupt, giving him what my parents call my Mule Face, practically daring him to argue.
I can be stubborn too.
He gives me his own version of it, before shaking his head and chuckling. "God, Kenn Doll, I can't believe Will took the time to teach you her Resolve Face."
Huh? I blink. "Huh?"
He gives me a surprised look. Sometimes, with all he's seen, I wonder if anything truly surprises him anymore. I've seen him startled a lot, yes, even shocked, but rarely the naked surprise I see on his face now, like I've just hit him with something he not only never saw coming but never even considered possible.
What's that all about?
He shakes it off and changes the subject. "Tell me, Kenn Doll," he asks, "what would you have done if you drank this, and I'd said 'no'?"
I bite my lip and hug Snoopy tighter. It's a thought I've avoided thinking about, a possibility I've been dreading, but in the end... "At least then, I'd be back on familiar ground. You confuse me, Xander Harris. You make everything... complicated."
The room falls into silence at that point, neither of us really knowing what to say next.
Oh, screw it.
I reach over, grab his shirt, and pull his lips to mine.
