I know it's been a little bit but as aforementioned I'm at uni now (and ironically living the college life is exactly what's keeping me from writing this college au) Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Willow lay her head against the (same old) Mickey Mouse pillow at the head of Xander's bed, her head resting on his shoulder, looney tunes blaring from the TV. If Willow closed her eyes really tight she could imagine they were eight again, that Xander had produced his traditional stash of goodies from under the bed, life was simple, and lying on that bed right there was the only thing she had to do all day. She could pretend that her life hadn't become a messy ball of string you she had no hope of untying. She sighed, snuggling closer to Xander. At least she had one constant.
The answer machine cut through Willow's daydream.
"Hey Willow, hope you're there, I got your message, you're not getting out of our time together!" Buffy laughed through the crackling machine, reminding them that there were three of them now, another body to stand against the sun, "anyway, I'll be round in five, and you have no choice in this Xander." She grinned, the machine beeping, signalling the end of the message. Maybe two constants.
"Well I guess our sleepover for two has become for three." Xander grinned, "Do you think we'll all still fit?"
"Xander it's only been a year, and none of us have actually grown," Willow laughed, helping him to get the extra duvet out of the awning cupboard, still spawning the classic bugs bunny cover. "Xander these are the same sheets from when I used to stay here when I was five,"
"They've been washed," he laughed, "besides, y'know, tradition."
"Tradition's important," she said, smiling up at Xander as he took her hand and squeezed it. She let it go, returning to throwing the spare duvet over the corner, "Anya not here?"
"She doesn't actually live here you know," Xander said pointedly, and Willow only raised her eyebrows in response. "She's on a small trip with her pal, from the vengeance days."
"Ah-"Willow said, but that thought was interrupted by the swinging open of the basement door.
"Willow, Xander there you are!" Buffy said, her face beaming, and Willow could tell she was slightly drunk (or happy, as Buffy liked to point out when she had had a few drinks).
"See!" Xander pointed, "This is why I need a lock,"
Willow rolled her eyes, "So you had fun then? With Faith?"
"Yes! It was so nice!"
Xander looked behind her, "And where is she now?"
"She went clubbing, some old friends from when she did that internship, you know with the mayor?" She said, as she walked down the stairs.
Willow guessed 'internship' was easier to say than, that one time Faith went undercover with the mayor and pretended to be his personal assassin in order to get Intel and nearly got killed.
"And you didn't want to go?" Xander raised his eyebrows, "No Bronze action for Buffy?"
Buffy rolled her eyes, "I wanted to be with you guys, like old times, it's been foreeever." She grinned at Xander.
"That it has, that it has," Xander smiled,
"We have ice cream, friends on boxset, and the trusty bugs bunny duvet." Willow said, reaching out to hug Buffy, wrapping her arms around her and smelling her usual coconut shampoo.
"Classic," Buffy said, smiling, squeezing Willow a little tighter than usual, Buffy reaching her hands out, trying to pull Xander into one of their group hugs, all three of them falling onto the bed. Buffy laughed, looking down at both Will and Xander's pyjamas.
"I guess I'm overdressed," she said,
"Spare ones in the bottom drawer," Xander said, motioning towards the chest-of-drawers.
"Anya's?" Buffy said, raising her eyebrows,
"Actually they're Will's super old ones, but you're so tiny you should fit into them," Xander said, earning a stern look and a hit on the shoulder from Buffy (while Willow stifled a giggle with her left hand.)
The darkness enveloped them all, the three of them squished into the one fold-out double bed in Xander's basement, Buffy turned onto her side, her chin resting on her hand. The small lava lamp lit up the left side of Xander's face, as he stared up at the ceiling. Willow was in the middle, she was sat up her knees tucked under her chin as she played with a loose thread on her pyjamas.
"So what's she like?" Buffy said, her question setting a tiny spark in Willow's chest. It was much easier to confess things in the dark, much easier like this, the three of them tied together, traditional. She felt closer to her two best friends in moments like this than she ever did to anybody, time stopped in the middle on the night, it was theirs to conquer, to own, the three of them against the world. Words spilled and shared in the middle of the night did not take the same form as they would in the morning, in the morning they would be laced with barbed wire, harsh and cutting, but right now they were only words, wisps of silk that weaved themselves into the darkness. Buffy was excited to hear Willow's confession, (she may have squealed and uttered something along the lines of 'welcome to the team', making Willow blush harder than the time her mother had asked her whether she had lost her virginity to Xander.) and Willow had grinned, wondering why she hadn't told Buffy earlier, why she had let the orb of anxiety sit in her chest for so long.
"She's really nice," Willow smiled,
"Aww," Buffy grinned, "Our little Will has a crush." Willow batted her lightly on the arm,
"All growd up," Xander chimed in,
"Specifics?"
"She's erm blonde, she's in our year I'm pretty sure, I met her in the library in the middle of the night," Willow smiled, it felt so nice, to be able to just talk about it, this thing she'd had bottled up inside her for so long, to talk so freely, and to have people be happy about it, be interested in her. It was so nice to have all her cards on the table and to have people still love her, still care about her. Her skin was tinged with happiness. She wanted to bury her face in her sleeve.
"And how long?" Buffy said,
"How long what?"
"How long have you been seeing each other?"
Willow blushed dark red, which came up somewhat orange in the light of the lava lamp. "W-we aren't," she murmured, "it was just that once,"
"You haven't seen her since?" Buffy said, "Oh we have to rectify that, what's her name? We can look up all the records, see where she lives-"
"Whoah!" Xander laughed, "Calm down a second, you're first instinct is stalking?"
"It's not quite stalking," Buffy mumbled,
"I think Faith is rubbing off on you," Xander shook his head, lovingly, "I'm sure Willow has a plan," he said, turning to her,
"Something like that." Willow murmured, grinning.
And she wished she could stop time in that moment right there. A freeze frame. The three of them laughing and joking in the dark, having a sleepover like they did every other high-school weekend, a tradition that had fallen through the cracks when they'd gotten to college, that same old atmosphere. Willow felt happy. But inevitably, whenever you want time to go slow, that's exactly when it speeds up. Time acts weirdly, and it marches on.
It marched on, and Buffy explained in detail Faith's 'accident' with the spaghetti, how the waiter had ordered them to leave, how they'd laughed all the way home. The night progressed like that, stories and jokes and memories and an agreement to do this more often. And even though it would be four months before they did again, the tradition never would die completely. They were bonded forever, they were just evolving, becoming a new shadow of themselves, a new step. So that one day they could look back on these moment, the college years, with fond memories. So that one day the current versions of themselves could be just another in the echo chamber.
Come later that night both Buffy and Xander had fallen asleep, and Willow smiled as she watched both their chests rise and fall. Peaceful.
The gang were all awoken by Anya coming (not so gracefully) down the stairs, banging her head against one of the low-hanging beams.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, holding her head in her hands, "Oh, you're asleep," she said, as Buffy, Willow and Xander all looked at her, eyes barely open and hair tousled, (Buffy in particular looked not too happy, she was 100% not a morning person, then again Willow supposed 'night person' was part of the slayer job.)
"Not anymore, Ahn," Xander said, tucking up his legs and patting the space on the bed, gesturing Anya to sit down, "how was the trip?"
"Good," she said, proceeding to launch into a rather alarming story that involved her vengeance demon pal Hallie pausing time to let them catch the last train, laughing, easily a hundred percent more awake than anyone else in the room,
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Buffy said, rolling her eyes,
Anya laughed, "Goody-goody two shoes,"
"It's the job," Buffy grinned, throwing a pillow at Anya's head.
"Well I'd offer to make you all pancakes," Anya said, her eyes drifting over the three of them, "but I've not mastered cooking," she said, gesturing towards the large black stain on the wall.
"All's well, I think we have some things at home," Buffy said, yawning.
"Really you don't have to go," Xander said
"You have work in fifteen minutes, sweetie," Anya said, motioning towards the alarm,
"Oh god," Xander said, leaping out of bed, "I guess you do have to leave," he laughed,
"No problem, good luck!" Willow said, her and Buffy taking their bags to the bathroom to get changed,
"See you Xand, Ahn," Buffy said, "You're coming to the Scooby meeting later?"
"Course," Anya said, "See you there,"
Buffy and Willow waited half an hour in the cold at the bus stop, damn Sunnydale and its infrequent buses, and Willow had forgotten her student card so had to pay double, damn corporate America. When they got home they found Faith passed out face down on the floor still sporting the clothes from the night before, somebody had a good night, Buffy said as they both hauled her into Buffy's bed.
I'm fine, murmured a very tired Faith, just leave me, but they tucked her in anyway and left a glass of water by the bed, for later.
Buffy then climbed into Willow's bed for a 'quick nap' before their next class, (which would result in Willow desperately trying to shake her awake five minutes before their world geography lecture.)
Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review it means a lot! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, especially to anon cos I can't reply in person, I'll defo take ur feedback on board i didn't know i hadn't marked it as AU oops. Hope everyone has a good day!