TITLE: Burgandy

AUTHOR: Ben Is Glory

RATING: PG-13

PAIRING: B/S

DISCLAIMER: As the lovely Miss Anna would say, ITSWEDEN. In her twisted little mind, that means 'it's Whedon.' But we love her muchly. Yeah, quite a few lines are actually his. 'Specially one of the best ones (T,D&F), so yay Joss. Also, the title belongs to Common Rotation. Yeah.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I was in DC last weekend, which explains the late-itiude of this chapter. Not a whole lot to say, really. Thank you to Anna and Alex for our little chat in free this afternoon. And to Alex's mom, for reasons I just won't say. She's had it *ahem*rough*ahem* these past couple of days. ::bursts out laughing::

FEEDBACK: Ohhhhh baby. (Translation: yes.)

***

Buffy waited, trying to be patient, as the phone rang. Pick up, Dawn. Pick up. After three rings, her cheery voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dawnie," she replied, happy to hear her sister more back to normal now.

"Hi, Buffy. What's up?"

"Nothing really." Liar. her brain told her. "What about you? How're you holding up?"

"I'm okay. My new friends are so cool. I can't wait 'til you come visit."

A pang hit Buffy in the stomach, but she shook it off and replied, "Yeah, me too."

"What's wrong?" her sister asked, noticing that something was up. There was a muffled response, and Dawn tried again. "What's wrong, Buffy?"

"I… I broke up with him." Her voice was barely audible.

"You broke up with Will?" The younger sister was practically screaming into the phone. Even though she had never met him, Dawn really liked Will. Mostly because he made Buffy so happy. "Why would you do that? Did he do something?"

"I don't know. No, he didn't do anything. It's just…" Her mind was racing, and she knew nobody would understand. "It wasn't working out for us right now. I can't explain it, Dawnie."

The brunette didn't know how to respond. She knew it was a mistake and that Buffy would eventually work everything out, but she felt so bad for Will. "Uh huh," she said. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you made the right decision."

I hope so. "Yeah, me too. Listen, I gotta run, but I wanted to check in." Suddenly getting uncomfortable with the conversation, Buffy wanted to hang up as soon as possible.

"Right. Always doing the big sister thing."

"Well, if I'm not the big sister, who's going to be?" she joked. "I'll talk to you real soon, okay, Dawn?"

"Definitely," the twelve-year-old assured her. "Love ya."

"You too. Bye." Buffy hung up the telephone and leaned back on her bed. I sure hope so.

***

"Buffy!" She was moving. What the hell? she thought. Kept getting jerked around. And who's calling me?

Willow continued shouting and shaking her friend. "Buffy! Wakey-wakey!"

Slowly coming out of sleep, the blonde slurred, "All right, all right. I'm up. Where are we so eager to get to this morning?"

"English class, remember? That place we go to every Wednesday morning so that we can graduate?"

Buffy groaned. "You couldn't just let me sleep? There were good dreams. Good dream-age, Wills!"

Her roommate picked up a pillow and hit her on the head. "Come on, Buff. We're gonna be late."

Pouting, she grumbled, "Fine. But George Clooney is upset to lose me, too."

Willow smiled. "I'm sure he'll find the courage to live on. Now scoot!"

Jumping out of bed, she gave the redhead a mock salute and was returned with a light slap on her ass.

"Get a move on, Soldier!" Willow told her. "No time to dilly-dally. We have to be at class in oh-nine-hundred hours. Move out."

Giggling, Buffy marched to her closet and began to get dressed. It had been a while since she'd laughed. It felt good.

***

The two girls ducked into class one minute before Mr. Giles started his lecture.

"I knew we'd get here on time," the blonde bragged. "This waking up early business is all hype."

Willow shot her friend a look as the two sat down in their usual seats.

Trying not to be obvious, Buffy looked around for Will. She found him sitting in the desk in the far corner at the front of the room. He was fidgeting around with some papers, and she figured he was trying to look busy.

Her friend caught on and let out a sigh. These two are just *meant* for each other. the redhead told herself.

***

As per usual, the professor turned the class over to his T.A. at the end for assignments and such. The students stood and began exiting like normal. Just as Buffy moved to leave, and at the same moment Will was coming up to talk to her, someone with dark hair stopped her dead in her tracks. "Hi. I'm Angel," he introduced himself.

"Yeah, I've seen you around," she nervously answered. "I'm Buffy." What's he want?

"I know." He gave her a half grin and looked down.

Will was about to explode with rage and jealousy, but he snorted at Angel's shyness, for lack of a better word. Poof. At least he was good for amusement.

"Well, actually, I was wondering if you wanted to do something with me sometime. Maybe hang at the Bronze on Saturday?"

There we go. Will was back to rage and jealousy. Say no, Buffy. Say no.

Say no! Buffy willed herself. You have to say no! And Will is standing right there! "Uh…" she stammered. Her head spun around, looking for Willow's help, but her roommate had already ducked out of the room to go look for Oz. "Um, er… okay." Wait, what?

Wait, what? The bleached blonde just stared on in horror as his ex accepted a date with bleeding Tall, Dark, and Forehead. He is quite the ogre, isn't he? A quick sneer and then return to disbelief.

Why the hell did I say that? Buffy thought frantically. I can't believe I just did that.

"Great," Angel said, completely oblivious to the puzzled expressions he was getting from both Buffy and Will, who he had failed to acknowledge all together. "I'll pick you up at seven."

Buffy turned quickly on her heel and scampered out of the room, not wanting to deal with what Will must be thinking now.

Will's first instinct was to run after her, but his better judgment decided against it. That proved to be a mistake. He turned his head back to face Angel just in time to catch the brunette raising his eyebrows and cocking his head, giving Will a wicked smirk. He walked out.

You're lucky I don't rip your bloody throat out, Nancy Boy. Through his murderous thoughts, one genuinely bright idea shone in Will's mind. He ran out of the classroom, leaving a very confused and very alone Giles.

The older man chuckled and gathered his things to depart.

***

Will spent his entire afternoon locked up in his bedroom. Everything had to be perfect, or it would never work. Putting on the finishing touches, he reached for the phone.

He grabbed the tiny piece of paper out of his wallet where he had scribbled a number down one night when he and Buffy had doubled with Willow and Oz. Dialed and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Oz. It's Will. I was wondering if you could help me with something."

-TBC-

***

A/n: Another chapter down, only a few more left. What's Will got up his sleeve? And did anybody see how viciously hot JM looks now? ;) Review and tell me what you think!