Story of a Girl Loved By A Boy
Buffy Summers was a knockout. Both literally and figuratively in Xander Harris's case. That railing had hurt like a bitch, but for seven seconds she noticed him.
Seven years later, he still looked back on that moment with awe. If he had known then that this girl would turn his life upside down, would he have attempted talking to her?
Something told him that his pubescent body wouldn't have given two shits.
Her body, he later learned, was strong. Stronger than any he'd seen. And she moved like poetry, flowing into every movement. That stupid padded suit was worth it to see her in action. Usually when he was in the thick of battle alongside her, he was kinda busy trying to save his own ass. But training he loved to watch.
Tonight, he found her training on the balcony of the Maine hotel room. For once, Buffy didn't have five million new Slayers asking her questions. It was just her and the moon. The moon, for its small role in the entire experience, turned her skin into ivory. Tai chi was one of those Eastern things Xander would never understand. The movements and the moon made her look breathtaking and said breath was nowhere to be found in Xander's chest.
It all came down to this girl. The one who bitched for five straight years that she hated her destiny was now training other girls to accept theirs. When she leapt off Glory's tower, he felt his heart fail completely. Staring at her lifeless body, he couldn't believe it was her. Some cruel joke played by the universe: the lively Buffy Summers suddenly without that vitality, that life. It was one of those paradoxes that didn't have an explanation. How he had wished for life to return to her body. Even as the casket was lowered, he'd hoped that she would come out and pronounce the entire thing a huge prank.
He had gotten his wish. However, this new Buffy moved without life. Her screwing Spike just to feel had hurt Xander more than he let on to her. This awful creature, only centimeters above Angel on the "People Xander Hates" scale, had gotten closer to Buffy than he ever could. The guy had died to save Buffy. Xander had to grudgingly admit that he had something in common with a creature of the night, soul or no.
All this melted away in the moonlight, as he stood in the room watching the strongest woman in the world. In that moment, they weren't the Slayer and the Zeppo. Or Buffy the leader and Xander the sidekick. It was a girl and a boy who loved her with every bit of himself.