Chapter Forty-Seven
"First Date"
A/N Took a week off because my gf came down to visit me, what a week that was. Anyway so I'm back now, this is just a little scene I've added to first date because the rest of it would be the same, something I came up with a very long while ago, been in my notes to do for ages so excited to finally write it. Xx.
Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 2003
"So, tell me what happened Xand." Willow said lightly as they sat together - cramped at the bottom of the stairs. Everyone else was asleep, it'd been a long day - one of Willow's first couple since she'd come back to the house, her and Tara had assimilated themselves back into life within the slayer circle. Everyone was asleep, after Giles had yelled at them for being childish everyone had seemingly retreated into their beds and gone to sleep - which left Xander and Willow talking. Willow kinda thought it was funny how far they'd come but still were often left together in the sleeping nights. She remembered back in high school when he was just Xander - dumb ol' cute, 'completely in love with him' Xander, and here they still were all those years later. You see he wanted to be friends with the girl who broke the yellow crayon.
But Willow saw how conflicted he was - with Anya around all the time, so maybe he hadn't told her everything that'd happened in private between them but Willow had magical powers. She could see there was something residual between them - tension between them that was undeniable - she could feel it. "What?" He replied. Xander was looking at her with tired, palpable curiosity.
"Well, I know there was something, you and Anya, you still love her right?" At first he'd thought she was asking him about his date with the girl from the hardware store (or rather demon from the hardware store) but he was sketchy on the details. Then he thought of Willow's words and pondered - he knew he loved her, he'd never denied it, that was just in him. Xander and Anya, they were a pair, they go together - no matter how weird or demony she was, Xander knew he wanted her back, but he'd screwed it up so much she would never take him back. Maybe if they survived this - this apocalypse would prove to him that he could make it work. He glanced over to where she was sleeping on the couch - arm flailed over the edge of the cushion, drool dripping down her chin as she snored quietly. A fact to which she heavily admitted too - said it was a sign of a good night's sleep (another demon thing.)
"Yes Will, of course I still love her, I want her back more than anything, but I can't, can I? I broke her heart, she doesn't want me anymore, I'm just the schmuck who left her." He looked down then, staring at his feet waiting for Willow to agree and tell him he was useless. Somehow he knew she wouldn't - because she was Willow, his best friend.
"I think you can only love her. The rest is just collateral. It gets in the way, relationship debris. When Tara left last year, she said she never stopped loving me for a second, it was the magic, it got in the way of that love. You left Anya because you felt something was wrong, when she came back and you told her you still loved her. You meant it." Willow replied seriously, Xander could always see the love her and Tara had for each other, it was written into their eyes. And now the lovelorn look struck on his face gave him sympathy as she grasped his shoulder in love and encouragement as she ascended the stairs to her room on the right - well, left then right.
Xander felt the warmth left on his shirted skin by a friend's touch and let his gazed drift once again over to the blonde asleep on the sinking couch. She'd shuffled slightly in her sleep but her gait was the same, only now she was smiling and mumbling about something. Maybe it was a dream, but she was happy, somewhere in there she looked happy for even just a second. He had two choices - to love her or leave her happy. He couldn't decide just yet, it wasn't his time. So he leant down over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead before strolling calmly out of the room, when it was their chance to talk he would, but it wasn't now. Now there was a war to fight. A war to win. And they would. Win I mean.