Title: Purple Rain (The Story Formerly Known As "That Night")
Author: lilyme
Summary: Set in BtVS Season 3. Can changing one pivotal event be the beginning of something entirely unexpected? Or will things still turn out the same?
Pairing: A slayer and a Witch (OR - two people much more similar than expected)
Rating: PG-13 to R
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. No copyright infringement intended! Parts of dialogues taken from the episode "Enemies". No copyright infringement intended either ;)
Schedule: New schedule planny thing going on... more info after this chapter
Dedication: To the Buffyverse-characters and the people behind them (actors and writers)
A/N #1: I never really liked this chapter, but, oh, well, here it is :)
A/N #2: And I've never played this game myself, so... hehe... be gentle... :P
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN --- MIND GAMES
The following hours were spent with playing some of the typical teens-having-a-sleepover-games – Twenty Questions, Taboo and Trivial Pursuit, where they pitted slayers against Slayerettes and which resulted in a close win for the slayers, surprisingly…
Meanwhile, Joyce worked on some inventory lists in the kitchen, not letting herself be distracted by the kids in the living room.
Right now, they were playing Truth or Dare.
Already well into the game, it was Buffy's turn to quiz Xander, who, like most of them preferred the 'truth'-part of this game, and the blonde thought hard and finally came up with something that had been on her mind for a very long time. "Okay…is there really nothing that you remember about the time when you were possessed by a hyena?"
Faith scrunched her eyebrows in question and surprise, and earned a, "Don't ask," from Willow.
"Yeah, no, I don't remember a single thing…," Xander replied, hoping to sound convincing enough, "okay, I remember what you told me about the pig and that the other guys basically…," he noticed Buffy's disbelieving look, "…ate Principal…," he noticed the same look on Willow. He had accidentally spilled the beans in earlier talks and knew that this didn't go unnoticed by the girls. Sighing, he changed his statement, "Yes. Yes, I remember."
"This means, you also remember ambushing me in Herbert's room." Xander just nodded, awaiting further questions Buffy had in mind.
"Okay, my question…did you really mean what you were saying and…well, doing?" she finally asked him.
He knew that technically this question didn't count anymore, since Buffy had already had her one allowed question. But right now he didn't feel like dodging it, no matter how uncomfortable answering the question would make him.
Willow was surprised that Buffy of all people would address this subject. Faith had no idea what they were talking about; she didn't have Willow's advantage of having been filled in by Buffy after the event.
"Um…," he started, scratching his chin, "well, yes, I did. Though…I never would have expressed it that way in my normal state. You know that…right…?" he inquired, unsure about what exactly she wanted to hear.
Did she really want to hear that he was, or still is, interested in her? Or was this what she absolutely didn't want to hear?
But when she simply nodded her 'okay' and smiled, he sighed in relief.
Willow and Faith observed the situation curiously. Right now, the brunette didn't feel like asking them what had happened, though her imagination worked pretty good for her.
After a few moments, she nodded, encouraging him to choose the next victim.
"Um…Will, truth or dare?" he chose his best friend since kindergarten.
"Truth," the little redhead replied instantly. She rarely picked 'dare'; for her the 'truth' option always seemed to be the easier one. As long as it's not about recent developments, that is…I mean, not that I'm trying to hide 'me and Faith'…it's just that…Hey, why am I making excuses for myself…to myself…?
Xander's mind was rotating around a possible question, meanwhile. "Okay, how far have you gotten with Oz before you broke up?"
"Oh…," she started, and seeing Faith's curious expression, with raised eyebrows and everything, made her grin despite herself, "well…not that far, actually. We…he…," she looked at the expectant faces of her friends, "well, he always said that he wanted to wait till I was ready for more… but I never really had the courage to tell him that I actually was… you know… Except for that one time, maybe… so, we've never really done more than…"
"So, no more than kissing and light groping?" Faith asked, though she approximately knew how far the redheads had gotten. She still had trouble understanding what that guy had been thinking or not been thinking; simply looking at Willow made her all woozy. But on the other hand, she could also see how he didn't want to force her into doing something that she might not have been ready for.
"That… Yeah, that's about it," Willow replied, putting Faith's words into mental images. "Okay, I'm up. Buffy, truth or dare?"
"Truth," the blonde countered quickly.
"How many relationships have you had?"
When Buffy didn't answer for a longer period of time, but looked about pensively, Xander grinned, "That many, huh?"
"My exact thought," Faith chimed in and Willow nodded in agreement.
Buffy ignored her high-fiving friends. "No…just thinking about how exactly you define 'relationship'…," she pondered.
"Okay…How many guys have you had?" Faith changed the question for him and grinned mischievously, the provocative undertone intended.
"Ah, jeez," Buffy sighed exasperated and felt the other slayer's hand slapping her thigh. "Okay, relationships!" she stressed the word on purpose. "Let's see…well, there was Tyler when I was a sophomore, and that didn't even have Will and Oz dimensions," she compared it to what Willow had just told them. "Then…well, Owen…nah, don't think he counts. Neither Cam or Tom," she shuddered when she thought about them, especially the later one. "But Angel; I guess that was the first real thing."
"Mmm, you could say that!" Faith mumbled, chomping down on her popcorn. An admonishing redheaded witch's elbow in her side made her laugh.
"Anyway," Buffy ignored the little barney between the girls, "then there was Scott…"
Sleazebag! He so had it coming!
Jerk…though I liked him, I have to admit…
Only an idiot would dump a girl like her…
Oh, well, "and now there is Angel again, and that's about it," Buffy ended her explanations.
"As long as he keeps his parts to himself…," Faith gave her a look that was somewhere between warning and amusement. Warning – because she knew what would happen in that case; amusement – since she still wasn't over B and Soulboy and their X-rated movie adventure.
"We're working on that," Buffy replied and didn't even blush saying it. "Okay, my turn, Faithie," she said with a gleam in her eyes.
"Right, truth," the brunette nodded.
Buffy thought hard about what she could quiz her on…Gotta be something…oh, speaking of 'keeping one's parts to oneself'. "Have you ever had sex with a girl?" Buffy asked her fellow slayer. Right next to her, Xander didn't even try to keep a faint leer out of his expression upon hearing this.
"Yep," Faith replied without thinking twice. To her, this seemed to be an open secret, anyway. Willow knew about it, even though she had never explicitly told her – the reason for Willow's not-freaking upon hearing Buffy's question.
"Care to elaborate?" Xander prodded.
"Nope," she countered, answering as quickly as she had seconds ago. Reaching into the bowl of popcorn, she noticed Xander's disappointed look. "Just gonna say that it's different than with guys – in a good way," she offered and winked at her seven-minutes-sexual partner playfully. If he really wants to know…
Xander understood the side blow but ignored it; the other stuff was way more interesting. "So, you do this a lot?"
"Okay, first, we're not playing 20 questions anymore, buddy. And, second, it wasn't even your turn asking me," Faith grinned.
"Fine," the male brunette replied, already planning to… maybe… quiz Faith more on that matter the next chance he got. Or maybe not; he didn't wanna risk getting smacked.
"Hm…," Faith decided whom of her friends to pick next and turned toward her girlfriend, "Reddie!" she grinned, "Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Willow replied automatically, though she knew that Faith would never dare her to do anything embarrassing or nasty on purpose, she still preferred 'truth' – it was kind of a habit. She just hoped that the not embarrassing or nasty criterion would also apply to the 'truth' category.
Faith thought for a second, trying to come up with something that she didn't know yet. "Oh! Who was your first kiss?"
Willow relaxed instantly; this was an easy thing to answer. The others were surprised, though; they noticed that Faith seemed to cut the redhead some extra slack, since her questions were usually much more challenging. "Okay, the first real one was Oz," Willow started, though the first really really real one was you…, she smirked at Faith, thinking about the night that had started all this. The slayer understood the look. "But I think there was also something with Jonathan in kindergarten…," she thought hard, trying to remember the exact event. Shrugging, she finished "Guess it doesn't count, anyway."
"Wait. That short guy from school?" Faith grinned, just trying to imagine the two of them together. Xander had no imagining to do, being as how he had been there.
"Well, he wasn't that short, then…no, wait," Willow frowned." I mean, I was short too, but…you know what I mean…"
"Size didn't matter, huh?" Faith muttered, very dryly, joking. Xander almost spit out the gulp of coke he had just inhaled, while the other girls started laughing.
"Anyway, Will's up," Buffy announced.
"Okay, um…Xand, truth or dare?"
"Truth," the man replied.
Willow thought for a bit, and eventually came back to a topic that Buffy had addressed earlier, "If Buffy would let you kiss her right now, would you do it?"
Buffy pondered if Willow would have made him kiss her, if he had chosen 'dare' and was interested to hear Xander's answer.
Something clicked in Faith's head and thought that she had maybe finally understood what the others had been talking about earlier.
Since his attraction for her was an open secret… well, not even a 'secret', per se – since it was common knowledge – Xander felt no need to try to answer with anything but the truth.
"Yes, absolutely," he told them, with the comfortable knowledge in the back of his mind that it would never ever happen anyway.
He didn't really have the hots for her anymore; his mind was mainly on Anya lately. But still…if there was the really real impossible possibility that a kiss between them would happen, then, by golly, he would use his chance. That much he knew.
Buffy sat there, thinking. After a few seconds, she muttered a, "Ah, what the hell," grabbed Xander's face and put a brief and modest kiss square on his lips.
"There, better," she grinned and sat back, reassuming her original position.
Aiaijauwhoo…Xander's mind was stuck in a loop. He was staring ahead of him, suppressing the urge to feel his lips with his hand to make sure that this really had happened just now.
"You're up, Xan," he heard one of his girls saying, but for the love of…everything couldn't tell which one it was.
Yeah, 'his girls'. Now Buffy belonged to this club too, the unilateral kiss qualified her…at least, partly. Willow belonged to it just a little it more, leastwise back then, they both knew it was about to happen and both were prepared, despite knowing that what they were doing was wrong. And Faith…she probably belonged into her own club, anyway. Or should get a full member club card.
"I'm think you broke him, B," said brunette smirked, watching in-trance-Xander along with the other girls.
"Right. I'm…it's my... turn," he suddenly snapped out of it. "So…Faith."
"Truth," she replied instantly.
Still a little occupied with his 'his girls' thought, he had an interesting idea. "Oh …have you ever played strip poker…and lost?" he tried a little smirk, already preparing himself for Faith's comments and the possible images that this might create in his mind. Faith and girl-sex could come later; there was still time.
Faith grinned due to his imaginativeness. "Um…yes, I've played it several times," the brunette started. "Lost once. Well, at least, almost – I managed to keep two articles of clothing…," she winked.
Xander's mind raced, thinking about this and the two pieces of clothing. From his apocalyptic-nightishly encounter with her, he knew what she might…or rather, might not be talking about…
Wait, two? She normally doesn't wear…Does she mean – no, that would be only one piece…, Willow thought, her brain set to the same task as Xander's. Ah! Got it! ...No, wait…or, yeah. I mean, she usually wears those…but she could also mean…that…and one of those…, Willow nearly lost it over the sheer variety of possible combinations.
"But – word of advice," Faith continued, "never play that game with a horde of demons. Cuz you never know what exactly you'll get to see then. Most likely…things…you never thought about and can't ever forget for the rest of your life once you've seen them."
"Okay, no details, please," Buffy held up her hands in defense. God, girl, why do you play that with them and…well, why…?
"Fair enough," Faith agreed wholeheartedly. Willow and Xander simply looked on with a weirded-out expression, and thus her next victim was easily found. "Alright, B, truth or dare?"
"Uh…truth."
Hm, we should rename that game; call it 'truth or truth', maybe, Faith thought, remembering the last dozen questions. Not that she didn't have any more questions to ask the others…
"Okay, was it fun getting down and dirty with Soulboy?"
Faith had asked her that question once before and Buffy had dodged it, and therefore the blonde could see how the younger girl saw her big chance right now. "Okay…," she thought for a bit, looking for a possible way for not having to tell the truth, but Faith's stare showed her that this one would detect any lie concerning that subject. "Well, thinking about it about a year later…it wasn't really…pleasant," she stated, not sure if she had chosen the right word.
Three pairs of eyes looked at her, some expectantly, some mildly surprised, but all of them were awaiting further explanations.
"I mean, he was nice and gentle and everything…but also…I mean, until then I had never really noticed how cold he actually is – physically, I mean…and all of him. And that's mostly what I thought about during the entire process…unfortunately. Plus the outcome was…well, you know how it ended, so…not really sure, if I should call it fun…"
"So you wouldn't do it again, if he couldn't lose his soul over it?" Faith asked.
"I didn't say that…," Buffy contradicted with a grin. "I think we'd find a way to make it more…more…"
"'Pleasant'?" Xander offered, picking up her original wording.
"Uh-huh," the blonde replied, already thinking about how they could do that. But until now only heating blankets came to mind. "Oh, well, anyway, I'm up. Okay, Will, truth or dare?"
"Truth," Willow replied yet again.
"You know what? I mean, I've never played this game before, but…," Faith chimed in, "shouldn't we have a 'dare' in here at some point?"
"Fine…Dare," Willow changed her decision, already fretting what might come. She knew that she would most likely make Faith pay, if it was something bad.
Most likely the first chance she got; most likely right after her dare was over. Thinking about the possibilities she had, she almost didn't hear Buffy's dare. "…to kiss…Faith."
"Wait, sorry, what?" Willow squeaked.
"What?" Faith muttered at the same time. She had heard it all. 'I dare you to kiss Faith.' Looking at her girlfriend's shocked expression, she couldn't help but think that maybe she should have kept her blabber shut this time.
It was hard to tell, which of the lovers most qualified as the deer caught in headlights right now. But probably Willow just a little more than Faith. Consequently…"What did you just say?" Willow asked her blonde friend again, trying to figure out if she maybe – hopefully – heard wrong.
"Oh, you heard me," this one replied. "Kiss."
When Willow didn't move for a long time, and Faith sat beside her, looking almost as shocked as the redhead felt, Buffy continued, "Well, come on, guys, it's not that big a deal."
This didn't seem to help, since the girls still hadn't moved one millimeter.
Willow didn't know if she wanted to laugh or to cry, she could hardly handle this situation.
Faith knew more than her Will. She knew that she was in some serious trouble.
To make the matter even worse, Buffy invested herself in some advertising. Addressing Willow, she said, "I mean, just look at those lips – they were made for kissing," she nodded her head in Faith's direction.
Befuddled, the brunette took in Buffy's words, wondering about the girl's mental state and/or attracted-ness towards her… or sexuality even. And she wondered where the blonde's idea had suddenly come from. Maybe she and Will had acted a little too lover-y earlier tonight and had put funny thoughts into the blonde's head.
Xander watched the not-interaction between his two friends and decided to have his word in here as well. "Plus, I mean, Will's a pretty good kisser," he prompted Faith to act, since it didn't seem that Willow would be doing anything about it in the near future.
"It's not a big thing," Buffy stated again, rather not stating that she had just done the same with Xander and it didn't bother her.
At first, Faith wanted to yell at them, telling them that they had no idea what they were talking about. They had no idea, how much a kiss really meant to Will. It wasn't just a thing for her to do and then simply move on as if nothing had happened at all.
However, she decided to follow through with her second impulse. Just kiss the girl and end the torture for her. She felt that Willow couldn't handle the expectant stares from the others much longer.
She sat up on her heels and leaned over to Will.
Willow was startled out of her shocked state when she noticed Faith nearing her. She had an idea what Faith was intending to do, saw the softness in her eyes and the tentative movements.
Faith's eyes seemed to whisper, You don't have to, if you don't want to, honey; the warm hand on her arm was doing nothing more than holding it, maybe trying to calm her, maybe trying to provoke her into a little peck. Faith knew that this would be enough for the naughty blonde that was sitting three feet away, looking on.
But Willow simply…this was not how Willow had imagined their first kiss witnessed by the Scoobies to be like. The others, minus Faith, only saw this as a game; Willow however, didn't. And the comments from B and X weren't helping her any. This wasn't a 'no-big-deal'-game for her anymore.
She saw Faith's eyes, her lips, felt the stares of the others on them, felt the heated tension in the room and… this was it, she couldn't handle it.
She jumped up, bringing Faith to loose the hold on her arm.
With tears in her eyes, she whispered an, "I can't," and turned around to run up the stairs.
Faith sat. Her hand still in the position, in which she had been holding Willow's arm seconds before. Obviously, her mind wasn't yet processing what had just happened and was still happening.
All she knew was - this is not what she had expected to happen.
to be continued...