CHAPTER SIX
Faith should have known better.
Last night they didn't go slaying with the noobs so they could all rest and recuperate, and yet today they were training them? If Faith took two seconds to think about that, she might not have been surprised when she walked into the training room to find it empty except for Buffy. But she didn't think, and so she was surprised. Or more like confused. She was still only half awake, after all. The fact that she can even form a fragment of a thought right now should really be considered some sort of accomplishment.
"Whoa. Am I early to class for once?" Faith asks, surprised, as she walks into the large rectangular room. Her sneakers squeaking slightly on the polished wood, reminding her of her high school gym in a way. Minus the fat, underachieving asshole of a teacher that she had. Faith figures she might be the underachieving asshole now, never doin' the normal thing cause of destiny and some other crap. But hey, at least she isn't fat. She'll take the points on that one.
Buffy looks up at her as she sweeps her blonde hair back into a ponytail. She leaves a few stray stands to frame her face, and Faith tries like hell not the stare because she's pretty sure that finding Buffy mesmerizing when she's only fixing her hair is probably a bit ridiculous. "I tried to rally together the troops, but there were only a handful able bodied enough to train. Guess we're going to have to wait a couple more days."
Faith took a step back towards the door hopefully, "So crashin' out is back on the agenda?"
"No, get in here," Buffy orders in that special little way of hers that makes Faith feel like she has no other option. Damnit, she shouldn't have asked; making a run for it probably would have yielded better results. But when given the option to run when it has anything to do with Buffy, she tends to find herself running towards her instead of away from her. Faith's beginning to think she has some sort of masochistic complex going on.
Faith sighs a bit and unzips her hoodie as she watches Buffy stretch. "So what? Are we training the few that can?" Really though, Faith doesn't know why she asks questions she already knows the answer to. Maybe she's just trying to prolong it, put it off, something. She really didn't feel like getting all sweaty; fuckin' down and dirty with Buffy this morning.
Well, in the way that—
"No," Buffy says as she stretches her arm across her chest, interrupting Faith's thoughts for a moment. Her eyes scan down Buffy's body, taking in every curve of every muscle. She's a bit like a panther, if Faith needed to pick an animal to describe her. Strong; agile. Beautiful. Buffy doesn't seem to notice her moment of appreciation though as she stretches her arm back behind her head. "Thought now would be a good time for us to map out a curriculum."
"A what now?" Faith asks after she's taken off her hoodie, eyebrow cocked as she takes her own rubber band off her wrist to tie her hair back off of her neck. "What is this? Slayers: A History?"
"No, Giles and Andrew are working on that," Buffy says seriously, which just makes Faith cock her eyebrow even further because she was fucking joking. "But we should go over what we're going to teach them, and when."
"We teach them how to kick undead ass," Faith says, like that in its self should have been plain as fuckin' day. "The end."
"Faith."
"B, this is stupid. You do what you do and I'll just go along with it, like always," Faith says, crossing her arms across her chest. She really didn't want to sit down and talk strategy. She was more of a doer than a planner. And yeah, maybe if she did think in terms of plans and strategies she'd come out on top more often. But does she look like she's got the patience for that? Hell No. It just is what it is.
"It's not stupid," Buffy said with a bit of a huff, rolling her neck back a little. Faith can hear a small crack before she shakes it out and steps back in a defensive stance. "We'll teach them blocking first. Be the offence; come at me."
"This is pointless; we already know how we spar together. We've tried to fuckin' kill each other; don't think we need the practice. Besides, the kids helped save the world. I think they can block fine."
"Fine isn't good enough, Faith," Buffy says seriously, and like she should have known that. "Come. At. Me."
But Faith doesn't want to just come at her. Not cause she doesn't like sparring with Buffy, but just cause of what it does to her. Being up close and personal with a sweaty out of breath Buffy does things to places she'd rather not admit, least of all to her. There's heat and there's passion and it gets to the point where it's either fight or fuck, and you can guess the one Faith tries to choose. So she just tries to play it off, act like it's stupid, fuckin' whatever she has to do to not get sucked into this hell hole of adrenaline and hormones.
"Nah, girlfriend. You have fun with... whatever. I'm just gonna—" Faith tries, stepping back with an amused look on her face and her hands up in surrender, just trying not to get herself in trouble by backing out. But Buffy was obviously having none of that, because before she can even finish her sentence, Buffy launched herself at her.
Well, apparently Faith is on the defense now. Typical.
"Fuck. Damnit!" Faith swears after she manages just barely to block Buffy's first punch. "B, seriously—"
"Come on, block me," Buffy taunts, and this time her punch did make it through Faiths' defenses, making her stumble back a couple steps. Faith rubs her jaw in annoyance and Buffy's smirking, looking like she enjoyed that a bit too much for just sparring. Great, cause this is really what she needed today.
"You don't give a shit about training. All you want to do is hit me this morning," Faith accuses, but this time she backs up just far enough to give herself room to deflect. She knows Buffy isn't going to stop until one of them is on the ground, and it ain't gonna be her. She's been on bottom for this bitch more times than she can count.
Buffy snorts a bit, "What gave you that idea?" But then she swings again. Faith's ready for it this time and blocks it cleanly, turning around in enough time to manage to get behind the blonde and slam her elbow between her shoulder blades. Buffy winces. "I said defensive!" she yells and she whips around to face her, rolling her back from the pain.
"You mean let you keep hitting me and I can do nothing about it?" Faith says, her eyes fired up and her muscles ready for a fight now. Her fists are up, her left foot back and planted to keep her ground. "I don't think so."
But there's a twinkle in Buffy's eye from that, almost like a challenge. "Aw, does Faithy think she can play with the big girls now?" she taunts, a little smirk on her face. They start circling each other slowly, never once letting their eyes leave each other. Dancing; like they always had. Taunting; because it's the only thing they know how to do.
"Please. You play with fire, you're about to get burned, sweetheart."
"Is that so?"
"Come at me and find out."
Buffy smirks, this sly little grin spreading across her face. She cocks her head and licks her bottom lip slightly before asking, her voice much lower than should ever be allowed, "And what if I said I wanted to get burned by you?" Her voice is dripping of sex and something much sweeter, using a tactic Faith didn't see coming from a mile off.
It makes Faith blink in shock from that unexpected sentence, and that hesitation was all Buffy needed. Once she managed to get Faith's hands where she needed them, one leg sweep was all it took to get the younger slayer flat on her back with Buffy pinning her down with a smirk of victory etched on her features. "And the winner is…" Buffy taunts, still keeping her grip locked on the girl's wrists. Her touch was like fire to the younger woman.
"You cheated."
"You should have never told me you had a weakness for women," Buffy says with a smirk as she gets up and holds out her hand to Faith. She laughs a bit, "Come on, let's go again."
Faith makes a sound of annoyance at being beaten but begrudgingly takes Buffy's hand and lets her help her up. "Never said it was a weakness," Faith retorts, her ego bruised more than her body. She stretches her arm across her chest to work out the kink she feels as she takes a step back. That really wasn't fair game right there.
"Maybe not, but I just proved it," Buffy says, and it annoys Faith that she apparently finds it amusing. She cocks her head to the side, and proceeds to fuck with her mental state all over again, "Or is it that you just have a weakness for me?"
Faith's brain stops, and as she tries to figure out something to say to that that doesn't sound like a defensive retort or a straight out lie, she lets her defenses down again. Her hesitation costs her, again, and within minutes she's flat against her back on the floor for the second time. "Stop doing that!" Faith yells, aggravated. Buffy just chuckles as she looks down at her.
"It's not my fault you're brain goes X rated in a matter of three seconds. You're just like a guy."
"Fuck off, will you? And get off of me while you're at it," Faith snaps in irritation, but Buffy doesn't move. She continues to pin her down, just screwing with her because apparently it's become her fun new game.
"What's the matter? Too close for comfort?" Buffy taunts. Faith swears she must have some evil in her because all of a sudden she's pressed, yeah, way too fuckin' close for comfort. The fact that Buffy thinks this is just amusing, innocent fun annoys her even more, and she's close to snapping. This isn't fuckin' funny anymore. "Thought you liked having boobs in your face."
"What did I say about getting burned?" Faith asks her, her own anger from the situation turning very much into adrenaline and hormones, just as she feared in the first place. But it's too late now, and Buffy's just asking for it. Faith's cocky arrogance arises and she smirks, lifting her head up enough to brush by Buffy's ear, "You couldn't handle playing with me, B. You'd be screaming before you even realized you'd touched the surface…" If Buffy wasn't going to play fair, then neither was she. Her voice was low and slick like molasses and she could practically feel the heat radiating off of Buffy and the lust dripping from her own words.
She also noticed when her little sentence temporarily stunned the older slayer, which was all Faith needed. Buffy was the one on her back so quickly it was almost like a blur, and the Buffy struggles underneath her as she screams, "Damnit! Faith!" It's Faith's turn to chuckle now. Who's the bitch now?
"Told you."
"Get off of me!"
"So what? You can torture me again? No thanks, think I'd rather be the one on top right now." Faith's hands were pinning Buffy's upper arms against the hard wood floor, her torso applying just enough weight to keep her there as long as she doesn't get distracted again. She can see Buffy getting all worked up at her anger from being bested, and her eyes flash.
"Messing with you constitutes as torture now?" Buffy asks, giving up on struggling since she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere unless she threw Faith off again. But Faith was prepared for it this time. Sort of. "Or do you really just want to fuck everything?"
"Eat me."
"You'd probably like that too much."
"Y'know, I probably would," Faith says, almost a snarl. She's fed up with this stupid game. Buffy isn't gonna make her break. She cracks a smirk and taunts back, "But seeing as you're the one who keeps bringing it up, I'm beginning to wonder a bit about you." Buffy's eyes go wide, and apparently Faith hit a sore spot.
A very sore spot.
"Fuck you, I bet you screw yourself at night thinking about me!" Buffy yells suddenly, and gets up enough adrenaline from her fury to knock Faith off of her, but only for a moment. Her hands connect with Faith's chest but Faith grabs her wrists, pinning her down heavily, her face inches from hers. "Slut," Buffy spits out at her. "You've always been obsessed with me."
"Oh go fuck yourself, you cocky bitch. Unlike you I get some when I need it, I wouldn't waste my time thinking about you."
Liar.
They're both breathing heavily, the passion from the anger humming across their skin like torture, and as they glare at each other they start to feel something that neither of them were expecting to feel in that moment. There's silence. Long silence that seems to stretch on forever and taunt both of them. Faith can feel her grip slacking, but Buffy doesn't move. She just lies there, seemingly letting Faith own her for a second. What was going on? This is the part you feared, Faith. The part when the line blurs and everything doesn't make sense. When things just run on feeling and fuck knows that never leads to anywhere good.
"Go to hell," Buffy says softly, her voice catching a bit in her throat as Faith's hands seem to have a mind of their own and slide down Buffy's forearms softly, almost agonizingly slow. Buffy seems almost scared, yet almost breathless with anticipation. Terrified but letting this play out. Whatever this was.
It's all a haze in Faith's head. The screaming, the fighting, the position they were in how the air in the room seemed to be heavy with the stench of lust. If she was thinking straight she would have gotten up, left. Fuck. Run the hell away. This doesn't make sense, any of it. They rip each other to bits and suddenly there's… fuck. What was this? Some kind of a spark. Some kind of… fuck, hell? Yeah, she was definitely in some kind of hell, but god did it make her feel powerful.
"Only if you're the one to take me there," Faith retorts, her voice soft as she looks down at the woman beneath her. Her heart is going so fast she's afraid it's going to burst out of her chest. It gets worse when Buffy sits up then, only a little, but enough for Faith to feel her breath on her lips. Her senses are practically screaming, the slayer connection is going haywire and it was almost like the world around them fell away. Nothing mattered but them.
"Why is it always about me?" Buffy asks quietly, curiously, and Faith notices a slight shake in her voice. But if she's scared she isn't backing down. If anything, she's getting closer. Faith looks down at Buffy's lips for a second, wishing she had the nerve to just take what was so close to her. But Buffy wasn't just some girl; she wasn't just some normal fucking person. She was… everything.
Faith was terrified to screw that up, so she doesn't answer her. She can barely even breathe right now with Buffy this close to her and all she can feel is the hum, everywhere, all over her skin. She knows they're too close, knows that the second one of them moves an inch their lips will be touching, and it's overwhelming. It's one of those perfect, fucked up moments that you have no idea if you should run away from or dive in head first.
But the moment didn't last long.
"Hey guys? What do you want me to do about the—HELLO." Kennedy stops in surprise as she sees the state of the two girls on the floor. Faith tears her eyes off of Buffy to look over in surprise at their unexpected witness, which gives Buffy enough of a chance to push Faith off of her… hard. Faith lands on the floor so suddenly that the breath gets knocked out of her from being basically thrown. She coughs once, annoyance written all over her face.
Well, that was one option. Fuck. She sighs and lies back on the floor, letting her head bang against the wood slightly for good measure. It just felt appropriate.
"Kennedy. Hi. We. Uh. Hi," Buffy starts, trying to get herself off of the floor. She brushes herself off. "Sparring," she explains, but Kennedy has an eyebrow cocked at her. Buffy coughs, just trying to let the moment get as far away from them as possible and changes the subject, "What do you want me to do about what?"
Kennedy narrows her eyes at her, flicks them over to Faith who's getting herself off the ground, then back to land on Buffy. But she doesn't say anything for a moment, and thankfully not about what she just maybe witnessed. "Willow's been channeling through the Scythe, trying to find some of the other Slayers who awoke in the general area. Do you want us to…?"
"How many did you find?" Buffy asks, back to business now. Faith wonders idly how she just does that. Switches everything off like that. Fuck knows she can't.
"Only a few. We can get them here within the day."
Buffy nods, her tongue pressed against her teeth as she thinks. "Alright, yeah. But. Hey. Make sure you bring Giles, he hates to miss out on doing 'The Chosen One' speech." She smirks a little, and so does Kennedy. One big joke. Ha, ha.
Faith rolls her eyes. She hated jokes right now.
"Alright. You two… well, have fun," she says in this way that makes it sound so completely dirty, and Buffy's eyes go wide. She's attempting to say something, sputtering, is more like it, until Kennedy's out the door. Finally she stops attempting to speak and just sets her jaw.
Silence.
"We were sparring," Buffy says evenly, after a moment, not even bothering to turn around to face Faith as she addresses her. Faith just raises an eyebrow as she leans against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. Defensive.
"Yeah. Got that much."
"That was it."
"Well what else would you call it?" Faith snaps back, angry that everything just fell apart when it was so close to perfect. Angry that Buffy wouldn't even look at her. Angry that she didn't just kiss her when she had the chance.
"We just. We…" Buffy stops, taking a breath. She still doesn't turn around; she's staring out the window. "We get that way. Us. We yell and we, I don't know. Work stuff out. So. Let's just leave it."
"Yeah, cause that was really healthy," Faith mutters under her breath.
"Look I'm just saying," Buffy defends, finally turning around to look at her. "That's happened a lot. Okay? Not in awhile, but it used to happen all the time. It's just how we get when we spar. It just is what it is and there's no reason to throw a parade over it."
Faith scoffs. What the hell was Buffy doing? Trying to be the bigger person? She really didn't like the tone of voice she was using, like she was trying to explain something to a child. Explain that the world just sucks and there's nothing anyone can do about it, that sort of thing. And yeah, okay, maybe things used to get heated when they were younger, but they never almost kissed.
Does it just get worse with age?
"It's just the connection we have," Buffy finishes, like that explained everything. Whatever.
"Bit fucked up that our connection wants us to…" Make out. But Faith didn't finish her sentence. She just shakes her head, annoyed, and gets herself up off the wall, crossing over to grab her hoodie. "Alright B, no parade. Gotcha."
"Faith."
But Faith doesn't turn around as she leaves, not wanting to look at her right now. "It's all good. Got places to be," Faith avoids. Then she's gone, away from all the craziness and the headaches and the confusion.
That's just how they got? What kind of ridiculous bullshit was that? Yeah, Buffy just admitted there was something. Sure, yay, what-the-fuck-ever. But… damnit. Watching her just try to rationalize it by spewing the first load of crap that came to her mind fucking… hurt. Maybe because she isn't sure if it's true or not. What if that is just how they got? What it has nothing to do with anything, and Faith's feelings for Buffy are completely separate from that entire fuckery?
One thing's for sure though: next time Buffy asks her to spar, she's gonna tell her to stick it up her ass. She didn't need this crap. Everything hurt enough as it is.
TBC…