Title: Dancing Around Love (5/13)
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link. Plus, archived at http://fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=62966
Rating: I'm gonna go say R for semi-explicit sex.
Spoilers: Up to Older and Far Away.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: What if Buffy wasn't the only one with an illicit affair?
Author's Note: Okay, so we've got major T/Xness, along with some W/X, W/T, and the A/X demanded by the time setting. I'm not fond of A/X. You have been warned. Also, due to popular demand, I'm throwing in some B/X to go along with all that. ^_^'
* * *
Xander sighed and leaned back on the bed. *Things would be _so_ much easier if I could just fall in love with _one_ woman at a time,* he thought sourly.
He closed his eyes and thought back, drifting through the mists of time.
He recalled one particularly fond memory. Willow, covered in mud and grinning broadly at him after a rather muddy splash fight. They had been seven at the time. He smiled.
He wasn't in denial about his feelings for her anymore. He hadn't been since he first told her... since she called out for Oz. True, after the Fluke, he'd buried them beneath the tentative friendship they'd had to build up again, but they had never gone away.
She was his Willow. Always was, always would be.
His mind drifted again, settling on a much more recent memory. In the Bronze, right after he came back to Sunnydale. Buffy looked so fragile, so scared.
It was a side of her he'd only briefly glimpsed once before, right after he'd staked Teresa. Despite her strength, she had a vulnerability that called out to him, and even with all her burdens, she just kept on going.
Just as Willow would always be _his_ Willow, Buffy would always be his hero.
His thoughts shifted a few months further back, to the memory of a certain dark-haired girl giving him one of her rare smiles. Cordy had been willing to give up her social status and rule over her clique to be with him.
His smile faded. He'd betrayed her, just like he betrayed everyone else.
But he didn't let himself dwell on that. Not yet, not now. Instead, he focused his thoughts on Anya. His relationship with the ex-demoness had been pretty... turbulent. She wasn't quite a nympho -- he'd read up on that and was firmly convinced that he wouldn't survive a relationship with a _real_ nymphomaniac -- but she certainly enjoyed the pleasures of the bed, just as much as he did.
He'd seen her grow over the years from a vicious, man-hating demon to a still-tactless, money-loving capitalist. It swelled his heart to think that he might have had a hand in that as he remembered her ridiculous but heartfelt Dance of Capitalistic Superiority.
Before his mind could continue to the inevitable thoughts of how he had betrayed her, he let it wander to thoughts about the woman he had most recently fallen in love with. His smile returned as he locked onto a particular memory of Tara laughing under the sun. She had been responding to one of his jokes at the beach party they had just before Dracula came to town. Out in the sun, in the middle of nature, away from the city... she looked so at home there. At ease.
Tara was different from the others. In a lot of ways, she reminded him of the Willow he had grown up with, the shy, stuttering, stammering, and babbling best friend he'd first fallen in love with. But that was far from all of it. Tara had a huge heart. He couldn't think of anyone else he knew who was as compassionate and gentle as Tara.
And she was a demon in the sack. Figuratively speaking, that is. Some of the things they'd done still made him blush when he thought about them.
He let out another sigh and opened his eyes, staring at the blank ceiling. "This isn't gonna get any easier, is it?" he asked any divine power who might be listening.
He got no answer.
* * *
Willow was doodling aimlessly in her notebook. Try as she might, she couldn't pay attention to the professor.
Tara's revelation before she left after Buffy's birthday party was driving her up the wall. Ever since then, she'd been obsessing over it, wondering what could have been if she'd stayed with Xander after the Fluke.
Wondering if, perhaps, she wasn't as gay as she had thought.
She shook her head. *I've got to stop dwelling on this!* she thought angrily. Sure, she was upset when she learned that Xander and Tara were moving in together, but that didn't mean they were getting married or anything.
After all, before all this began, she'd lived with Tara, and Xander had lived with Anya. That in itself was proof enough that there wasn't any real guarantee that Xander and Tara would stay together.
*But do I want them to?* she wondered. *And if they broke up, which one would I want to be with?*
She still had no answer to that.
"Miss Rosenberg?"
She blinked and looked up, "Huh?"
"Class is over, Miss Rosenberg. You can go home now."
"Oh!" she blushed. "Sorry."
The professor shook his head patiently, then said, "Whatever it is that's bothering you, Miss Rosenberg, I suggest you sort it out quickly. You have a lot of potential, but I won't have slackers in _my_ class."
She nodded furiously, "Yes, sir."
*How could this get any more complicated?* she wondered.
* * *
Buffy moaned into her lover's lips, "Mmm... Xander..."
Spike jerked his head back so fast, he banged his head on a low-hanging branch. "_What_?!" he demanded, pulling away from her and rubbing the back of his head.
"Huh?" she blinked at him dazedly through her disheveled hair. "Spike? Wha-?"
"You called out for... for _Captain_ _Bricklayer_!" he accused, hurt and more than a little angry. He was the Big Bad, not some lapdog body double for Working Boy!
She hesitated a moment before shaking her head belatedly, "Nuh uh."
He looked her over carefully, then nodded as sudden understanding struck. "I'll be seein' you, Slayer," he said, turning and stalking away.
*Cast another love spell, will you?* he thought darkly. *Takin' my Dru for one night wasn't enough for you, eh? You won't be making that mistake a third time...*
Left behind, Buffy straightened her clothing and picked up the bag of meatless Doublemeat burgers. Shooting one last scowl in the direction Spike had left, she headed inside.
* * *
"I still don't get it," Dawn shook her head. "Why? I mean, since when were those two a-a couple?" She and her sister were cleaning up after dinner.
"I don't really know," Buffy replied. "Pretty much, I think it's 'cause Xander's a weenie controlled by his weenie, and Tara needed something she knew was real, which he gave her."
"Well, I still think he's better off without Anya, but... Willow..."
"I know," Buffy nodded. "I just wish there was some way I could help get her back together with Tara again somehow." *Leaving Xander free... NO! Stop it! Bad Buffy! Baaad Buffy!*
"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "They were so perfect for each other."
"I wonder how Anya's handling this," Buffy mused.
* * *
"Hello, Anyanka."
She looked up. She had been rearranging things in the apartment to fill up the spaces left empty by Xander's departure. "D'Hoffryn," she greeted her old boss. "What are you doing here? I thought I'd already sent the invitation cancellations."
He nodded, "You did. I wanted to see if you were okay."
"I'm fine," she bit out.
"Are you really?" he probed carefully. "Does it not hurt?"
"Oh, it does," Anya nodded, "but I'm coping."
He examined at her for a moment, then nodded agreeably, "Perhaps you have learned the lesson humanity was meant to teach you."
"What?" she looked at him quizzically.
"I denied restoring your powers before because you had forgotten the meaning behind your job. Now, you remember. Perhaps it's time you returned to what you do best."
She stared at him, uncertainty etched on her face.
* * *
Author's Postscript:
Mwahahahaha! The plot thickens.
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link. Plus, archived at http://fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=62966
Rating: I'm gonna go say R for semi-explicit sex.
Spoilers: Up to Older and Far Away.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: What if Buffy wasn't the only one with an illicit affair?
Author's Note: Okay, so we've got major T/Xness, along with some W/X, W/T, and the A/X demanded by the time setting. I'm not fond of A/X. You have been warned. Also, due to popular demand, I'm throwing in some B/X to go along with all that. ^_^'
* * *
Xander sighed and leaned back on the bed. *Things would be _so_ much easier if I could just fall in love with _one_ woman at a time,* he thought sourly.
He closed his eyes and thought back, drifting through the mists of time.
He recalled one particularly fond memory. Willow, covered in mud and grinning broadly at him after a rather muddy splash fight. They had been seven at the time. He smiled.
He wasn't in denial about his feelings for her anymore. He hadn't been since he first told her... since she called out for Oz. True, after the Fluke, he'd buried them beneath the tentative friendship they'd had to build up again, but they had never gone away.
She was his Willow. Always was, always would be.
His mind drifted again, settling on a much more recent memory. In the Bronze, right after he came back to Sunnydale. Buffy looked so fragile, so scared.
It was a side of her he'd only briefly glimpsed once before, right after he'd staked Teresa. Despite her strength, she had a vulnerability that called out to him, and even with all her burdens, she just kept on going.
Just as Willow would always be _his_ Willow, Buffy would always be his hero.
His thoughts shifted a few months further back, to the memory of a certain dark-haired girl giving him one of her rare smiles. Cordy had been willing to give up her social status and rule over her clique to be with him.
His smile faded. He'd betrayed her, just like he betrayed everyone else.
But he didn't let himself dwell on that. Not yet, not now. Instead, he focused his thoughts on Anya. His relationship with the ex-demoness had been pretty... turbulent. She wasn't quite a nympho -- he'd read up on that and was firmly convinced that he wouldn't survive a relationship with a _real_ nymphomaniac -- but she certainly enjoyed the pleasures of the bed, just as much as he did.
He'd seen her grow over the years from a vicious, man-hating demon to a still-tactless, money-loving capitalist. It swelled his heart to think that he might have had a hand in that as he remembered her ridiculous but heartfelt Dance of Capitalistic Superiority.
Before his mind could continue to the inevitable thoughts of how he had betrayed her, he let it wander to thoughts about the woman he had most recently fallen in love with. His smile returned as he locked onto a particular memory of Tara laughing under the sun. She had been responding to one of his jokes at the beach party they had just before Dracula came to town. Out in the sun, in the middle of nature, away from the city... she looked so at home there. At ease.
Tara was different from the others. In a lot of ways, she reminded him of the Willow he had grown up with, the shy, stuttering, stammering, and babbling best friend he'd first fallen in love with. But that was far from all of it. Tara had a huge heart. He couldn't think of anyone else he knew who was as compassionate and gentle as Tara.
And she was a demon in the sack. Figuratively speaking, that is. Some of the things they'd done still made him blush when he thought about them.
He let out another sigh and opened his eyes, staring at the blank ceiling. "This isn't gonna get any easier, is it?" he asked any divine power who might be listening.
He got no answer.
* * *
Willow was doodling aimlessly in her notebook. Try as she might, she couldn't pay attention to the professor.
Tara's revelation before she left after Buffy's birthday party was driving her up the wall. Ever since then, she'd been obsessing over it, wondering what could have been if she'd stayed with Xander after the Fluke.
Wondering if, perhaps, she wasn't as gay as she had thought.
She shook her head. *I've got to stop dwelling on this!* she thought angrily. Sure, she was upset when she learned that Xander and Tara were moving in together, but that didn't mean they were getting married or anything.
After all, before all this began, she'd lived with Tara, and Xander had lived with Anya. That in itself was proof enough that there wasn't any real guarantee that Xander and Tara would stay together.
*But do I want them to?* she wondered. *And if they broke up, which one would I want to be with?*
She still had no answer to that.
"Miss Rosenberg?"
She blinked and looked up, "Huh?"
"Class is over, Miss Rosenberg. You can go home now."
"Oh!" she blushed. "Sorry."
The professor shook his head patiently, then said, "Whatever it is that's bothering you, Miss Rosenberg, I suggest you sort it out quickly. You have a lot of potential, but I won't have slackers in _my_ class."
She nodded furiously, "Yes, sir."
*How could this get any more complicated?* she wondered.
* * *
Buffy moaned into her lover's lips, "Mmm... Xander..."
Spike jerked his head back so fast, he banged his head on a low-hanging branch. "_What_?!" he demanded, pulling away from her and rubbing the back of his head.
"Huh?" she blinked at him dazedly through her disheveled hair. "Spike? Wha-?"
"You called out for... for _Captain_ _Bricklayer_!" he accused, hurt and more than a little angry. He was the Big Bad, not some lapdog body double for Working Boy!
She hesitated a moment before shaking her head belatedly, "Nuh uh."
He looked her over carefully, then nodded as sudden understanding struck. "I'll be seein' you, Slayer," he said, turning and stalking away.
*Cast another love spell, will you?* he thought darkly. *Takin' my Dru for one night wasn't enough for you, eh? You won't be making that mistake a third time...*
Left behind, Buffy straightened her clothing and picked up the bag of meatless Doublemeat burgers. Shooting one last scowl in the direction Spike had left, she headed inside.
* * *
"I still don't get it," Dawn shook her head. "Why? I mean, since when were those two a-a couple?" She and her sister were cleaning up after dinner.
"I don't really know," Buffy replied. "Pretty much, I think it's 'cause Xander's a weenie controlled by his weenie, and Tara needed something she knew was real, which he gave her."
"Well, I still think he's better off without Anya, but... Willow..."
"I know," Buffy nodded. "I just wish there was some way I could help get her back together with Tara again somehow." *Leaving Xander free... NO! Stop it! Bad Buffy! Baaad Buffy!*
"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "They were so perfect for each other."
"I wonder how Anya's handling this," Buffy mused.
* * *
"Hello, Anyanka."
She looked up. She had been rearranging things in the apartment to fill up the spaces left empty by Xander's departure. "D'Hoffryn," she greeted her old boss. "What are you doing here? I thought I'd already sent the invitation cancellations."
He nodded, "You did. I wanted to see if you were okay."
"I'm fine," she bit out.
"Are you really?" he probed carefully. "Does it not hurt?"
"Oh, it does," Anya nodded, "but I'm coping."
He examined at her for a moment, then nodded agreeably, "Perhaps you have learned the lesson humanity was meant to teach you."
"What?" she looked at him quizzically.
"I denied restoring your powers before because you had forgotten the meaning behind your job. Now, you remember. Perhaps it's time you returned to what you do best."
She stared at him, uncertainty etched on her face.
* * *
Author's Postscript:
Mwahahahaha! The plot thickens.