Spying
DISCLAIMERS: I don’t own the Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters, but if I did, man I’d have some fun. All right reserved by Kuzui, Sandollar, Joss Whedon, and Mutant Enemy. The story itself is copyright 2001 Kimyoo Films.
NOTES: I’ve referenced or mentioned Sid Caesar, Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town one of Troma’s true masterpieces and since it’s Troma, you know it’s bad, but good bad, James Bond, “Sway” which was part of an earlier fiction I wrote, a wonderful Stevie Nicks song called “Gold and Braid”, and Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. If you want to make a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster, there are many different recipes out there. Go to http://www.h2g2.com and search for “pan-galactic gargleblaster” in the Guide and a whole bunch of them pop up. Just don’t drink and drive or else I’ll smack you around quite a bit and make sure you don’t like it.
And, yes, I know, I’m messing up the canon, shifting things about to make it work. If it bothers you too much, and I wouldn’t blame you, just think of my stories as eerily familiar alternate universes. =)
This is a bit of a follow-up to my song fic entitled Sway.
RATING: PG-13, I guess. Certainly not R or NC-17. If you don’t like gay chicks, don’t read this. Thank you.
ARCHIVING: Other than for personal use, if you want it, e-mail me, okeday?
“Spying” by Magenta the_AURYN@angelfire.com
copyright 2001 Kimyoo Films
~~~~~
Buffy found herself at the receiving end of another in a long line of unwanted advances that night, this most recent one from a pasty, balding man in his late fifties...if his lies were to be believed. She was too tired to come up with one of her remarkable quips to get him away from her and so he droned on believing that since she hadn’t sent him away, she must be interested.
*What was I thinking when I asked Tara and Will to go out tonight?* she asked herself as she looked up into the mirror behind the bar and saw the two witches in question dancing. *Ahh...yeah, that’s why... Curious Slayer spies on her best friend and her best friend’s girlfriend.*
“And so I said, ‘Well, who were you expecting? Sid Caesar?!’ ” the troll quipped, his laugh sounding like a donkey with allergies.
Buffy laughed politely then rolled her eyes when he looked away to adjust his comb-over. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but a few more minutes of this and she would end up torturing him to death. *Then again, he’d probably like it...*
Out on the dance floor, Willow covertly glanced at her best friend who was being hit on by some old guy. She then looked into Tara’s shining cerulean eyes. The blonde smiled in understanding.
“She might kill us,” Tara whispered.
“I hardly think she’d be mad at us for getting her away from King Troll over there, besides, she might have us bronzed,” the redhead smiled. “You feel it, too, don’t you?”
The blonde nodded her head. “What do you want to do about it?”
“First, we’ll get her away from Don Juan Senior, then we’ll go back to the room for a discussion...she needs to talk, Tara. She needs to figure out why she wants to spy on us. We know why, but she might not...”
Grasping hands, the two witches made their way off the dance floor and to the bar, just in time. As soon as the Slayer turned to send the troll away, Willow pressed herself against Buffy’s back and Tara grabbed her battle calloused hands.
“Are you ever going to join us?” the red head purred, wrapping her arms around Buffy’s waist.
Tara stuck her bottom lip out in a mock pout. “We miss you...” With a quick glance at her girlfriend, the blonde dragged Buffy out onto the dance floor.
“I’ll, uh, wait right here...” the troll said, uneasy.
“Don’t bother. She’s coming home with us,” Willow tossed over her shoulder. Since most of the regular patrons of the Bronze thought the three girls were together anyway, the Wiccan’s comment went mostly unnoticed.
Buffy, meanwhile, was sure her face was as red as Willow’s hair and as warm as Tara’s hands, but she was too speechless, and too curious about where this was leading, to try and stop it. They went out to the middle of the dance floor and Tara turned towards the Slayer, that trademark half-smile on her lips as she stepped closer to Buffy and Willow, who was still behind her best friend.
The witches’ eyes met and they smiled in their silent conversation as they began to dance with the petrified Chosen One. Willow’s arms, which were still wrapped around Buffy’s midsection, reached out and received Tara’s hands and she pulled her in, surrounding the Slayer. Leaning up, the red head brought her mouth close to Buffy’s ear. “It’s okay. Relax.”
She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to join in, to dance with these two sensual, captivating women and let it all out to see how the feelings fit her, but she was frozen. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
A few more moments passed as Willow and Tara danced with each other with Buffy between them, the Slayer standing still, very conscious of the heat within her and surrounding her. *Okay, think of, uh, chemistry...no, not chemistry. Physics. Every action as an equal and opposite reaction. Oh, no, that’s not a good thought either...Jesus, Buffy, get your mind off of, uh ,THEM, and on to something else. Cool down. Breathe.*
Buffy gasped when she felt Tara and Willow both press close into her. The blonde witch leaned over the Slayer’s shoulder to whisper into her girlfriend’s ear, “I think she’s ready.”
The red head nodded and the two of them grabbed Buffy’s hands and walked out of the Bronze, many leering eyes watching them. The troll sighed in disappointment, then found another unwilling target to fire upon.
“W-What’s going on?” asked Buffy as the cool night air hit her heated skin, jarring the words back into her mind.
“You’ll find out when we get back to the room,” Willow said, her smile pleasantly enigmatic. The red head looked at Tara and the two of them smiled at Buffy’s deer-in-the-headlights expression.
*****
Willow opened the door to the dorm room she shared with Tara and lit a few candles, anything brighter would be blinding after a night in the Bronze. Buffy became uneasy and shifted her weight from foot to foot as she stood by the door.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?” she said, trying to make a hasty exit, but soft, strong hands she now knew to be Tara’s gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the room. She guided Buffy to a chair Willow set up facing the bed, then the two witches sat on the edge facing the Slayer. Tara pulled Willow’s hand into her lap and held it with both of her own.
“We need to talk, Buffy,” the red head started. “We know why you’ve been so anxious to go to the Bronze with us lately and instead of you being all James Bond about it, we think you should talk to us.”
Tara nodded. “It might help.”
Buffy was sure her cheeks were burning the red of Rudolph’s nose as she replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about...”
“We know you’re curious. Please don’t try to get out of this, Buffy. Let’s talk.”
Rubbing her neck with her right hand, the Slayer sighed. “Yes, okay, I’m curious about you two. I’m sorry for being a perv...”
Tara giggled as Willow replied, “Don’t be sorry and you’re not a perv. You’re just curious. So...ask.”
“I don’t need to ask what it feels like...” she started.
“Why not? I mean, isn’t that why you’re curious?” the blonde Wiccan asked.
“No...I know what kissing another girl is like-” Buffy noticed when Willow’s eyes went wide, meaning she already picked up on the Faith vibe, but ignored her, “-but...I mean...God. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Willow sighed in understanding. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Buffy.”
“Sure there is... Remember the night at the Bronze you two were dancing to that ‘Sway Me’ song?” The witches, blushing furiously, looked at each other briefly then looked at the Slayer, nodding. “I don’t know what it was exactly, but I watched you two dancing and I...felt...something.”
“That could mean a lot of things, like a vamp or the flu...” Willow pointed out.
Buffy smiled briefly before she turned her gaze to a spectacularly boring piece of the floor by her feet. “If it were the Spidey Sense, believe me, you’d have known...no, I felt something...for you.”
There was a thick silence in the room after the Slayer clarified her statement.
“Maybe I should wait in the tv room,” Tara suggested, breaking the silence. “I don’t want to intrude and maybe it’d be easier for you to talk without me here.”
As the blonde stood to leave, Buffy put a hand on her arm, stopping her. “No, Tara. This concerns you, too. I have feelings for both of you...”
Now it was Tara’s turn to look like the deer in the headlights as what Buffy said registered in her mind. Willow looked at her girlfriend’s wide-eyed shock and said, “Geez, Buffy...I think you broke her...”
“N-No, I’m o-o-okay,” the blonde said, her stammer back with a vengeance, “I j-just d-don’t know w-what to s-say...”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” the Slayer chastised herself, her shoulders slumping forward.
“No! It’s good that you did! We’ve known for a while that something’s been bothering you, but you’ve never said anything. Tara figured out you were curious the last time we went to the Bronze together and you had that Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster.” Buffy blanched, remembering pieces of that night.
“Anya seemed to enjoy herself,” Tara supplied.
Willow nodded and added, “And you know Xander did.”
Again, there was silence. Tara squeezed Willow’s hand and looked into her eyes. The red-head frowned a little and was promptly reassured by the look in the slate blue eyes in front of her, the centre of her entire world.
“Since this seems to be Confession Night,” Willow said, turning to look deeply in the Slayer’s eyes, “I think you need to know that I had the biggest crush on you for a long time.”
“Really?” Buffy asked, incredulous. She looked at Tara and instead of getting the evil ‘die, bitch, die’ look she expected, she received a nod of affirmation and a genuine, sweet, beautiful smile.
The Slayer frowned in confusion for a moment. “Tara, why aren’t you trying to kill me or something?”
Tara grinned and looked at Willow before she responded, “I trust Willow with everything I am. I love Willow more than anyone could love a fellow human being...that and I’ve known about it for ages.”
“You have?”
Willow nodded. “I told her everything the night Oz left...again... You know how I get. I started babbling and ended up telling her like my entire life story, EVERYthing, and fell asleep here.”
Buffy sat back in the chair and pondered the night for a moment. Then she turned a narrowed gaze onto Tara. “Okay, so I’ve told you both my secret, Willow’s told US both HER secret...do you have anything for Confession Night, Tara?”
The blonde looked at Willow and Buffy and, sensing she was cornered, replied, “Well, I, uh...Willow’s known for a while that I think you’re highly lust after-able, Buffy, but - and I’m probably the first person to say this - but, now that I have Willow I don‘t WANT you want you. Sorry.”
The red head giggled. “Yeah. No pulsing, throbbing threesomes of sexy lesbian goodness, but you can sleep over if you want. Things have been a little broken up on the best friend front with Riley and Parker and, well, everything and...I miss you, Buffy.”
“Yeah! Come over and sleep with us!” When it hit the blonde how wonderfully bad that sounded, Tara blushed and ducked her head, hiding her face behind gold and braid. Buffy and Willow reached out to her simultaneously and pushed soft blonde hair behind her ears.
“Why don’t we go back to my room. Empty second bed and all,” the Slayer suggested. The witches nodded and Buffy stood, running a calloused hand gently along both Tara and Willow’s cheeks, then walked out. “Meet ya there.”
“Will things be okay?” Tara asked as they stood to get their pajamas and things for the sleep-over.
“Yeah. If she hadn’t gotten it out now, bad things would have happened. Compromising positions and kisses and hormones and stuff. It‘s a good thing she got it out of her system,” Willow replied.
The blonde frowned. “Then how did you survive so long?”
“I’m not as rash as Buffy is...for obvious reasons. Besides, I was able to survive having only severe crushes for most of my life...what was one more, regardless of how complicated?” the red haired Wiccan asked rhetorically. “I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted, now. You and Buffy. Not in that way, well you in that way Buffy in my best friend way, but you know what I mean...”
They dressed in their pajamas in comfortable silence punctuated by loving looks and smiles.
When they finished, and had a single duffle bag filled with their clothes for the next day, Willow and Tara kissed, then walked out the door.
“Would you want to? I mean, y’know...?” Tara asked, curious.
The red head regarded her girlfriend. “What? You mean...? Ohh...uh, no. No thank you. I don’t want to share you.”
As they walked that much closer to Stevenson Hall, Willow looked at Tara again and asked, “Why? Would you?”
“Huh? Uh, no...geez. I don‘t want to share you like that, either,” Tara smiled and brushed her arm against Willow’s. The touch was innocent, but was exactly what the red haired Wiccan needed to feel right then.
Willow opened the door to Stevenson Hall and let Tara in first, then they headed to the room she used to share with Buffy.
*****
“That had to have been one of the all-time worst movies ever,” Willow said as the credits rolled on Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town.
“I know, wasn’t it awesome?!” Buffy smiled.
“Totally!” Tara agreed, settling behind her girlfriend on her old bed. She pulled her close and nuzzled fiery red hair. Willow turned and looked at the blonde, speaking volumes in silent minutes as Buffy stood to turn off the tv and return the movie to its box. With a smile, Tara broke the gaze and looked at the Slayer.
“Buffy...?”
The Chosen One looked up at the blonde witch, who beckoned her to their bed. Willow scooted back and patted the space in front of her, lifting their blankets to let Buffy crawl in. The Slayer turned unsure eyes to her guests, whose expressions were open, loving and inviting. They weren’t looking for sex or romance, just connection, love and friendship. As Buffy smiled and crawled into bed with them, she realized that she’d never felt more normal than when she was around her friends.
The red head wrapped her arm around the Slayer’s midsection, her hand captured by Buffy‘s, pulling her in close and the blonde draped an arm over her girlfriend to rest on the Chosen One’s waist.
“Good night.”
~~~~~~~~FiN~~~~~~~~
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