Ice Cream

Distribution: Anywhere that wants it, can have it.  Just lmk where you're taking it.
Classification: Fluff, smoochie-fic
Rating: G

“Xander!” Willow exclaimed in protest.

“You’re Amish.  You can’t fight back, ‘cause you’re Amish!” Xander quoted, waving his ice cream cone around.

Willow sighed and listened to him finish quoting the scene from one of their favorite movies.  “Witness,” she said indulgently when he was done.  She wrinkled her nose.  “My nose is cold,” she complained.

“Let me get that for ya,” Xander offered, stretching his face towards hers, his lips parting and his tongue beginning to dart out.

“Xander!” she giggled, pushing him away.

“Sorry, I can’t help myself.  Your nose looks so tasty.”  He pulled back with a grin and started to wipe the ice cream off of her nose with a tissue.  Xander’s gentle ministrations caused her heart to quicken its beat.  Willow gazed into his eyes, startled at the softness she saw reflected there.  The smile slowly slid off his face, to be replaced by an intensely tender gaze.  She smiled a little, unsure of what was going through his mind.  It looked so much like he wanted to kiss her, and the hope flared to life within her.  The way he was gazing at her, the movement of his hand to curl in her hair, the way he swallowed just before his lips started to descend. . .

Xander didn’t understand what was happening, all that he knew was that he had to be close to her.  Willow’s hand rested lightly on his chest, her fingers curled over the top of his shoulder, but the gentle touch seared through his clothing to burn his skin.  His hand was on her hip, and her lips were getting closer to his.  He hesitated for a moment, struggling to find a reason why he shouldn’t kiss his best friend, and he lost the battle.

They continued to move closer until their lips were pressed lightly together.  Xander’s hand wrapped into her hair, tightening the red strands around his fingers and pulling her head closer to him, crushing her lips beneath his.  “Willow,” he breathed against her lips, before sliding his tongue inside her warm mouth and meeting hers.  They stayed that way for a brief moment, their tongues in gentle combat and unable to break away from each other.

Willow shuddered with pleasure as Xander slowly pulled back.  It had finally happened.  She had been waiting six years for Xander to kiss her like that.  But the look in his eyes. . .  She didn’t have a clue what he was thinking.  Was he regretting it?  Did he think she was a brazen slut for throwing herself at him like that?. . .  Did he want more?

“God, Wills,” he whispered, unable to think of anything else but that incredible kiss.  He didn’t understand what was happening.  This was Willow, his best bud forever.  She wasn’t. . .  She wasn’t Buffy.  And he loved Buffy.  Didn’t he?  He shook his head, confused at the turn his thoughts were taking.  But as he watched her eyes, the hope and the joy luminous in their emerald green depths, he felt himself being drawn back to her.  “Wills,” he repeated before his lips captured hers once more.  This time he slowly pulled her down off the wall and held her suspended in the air, her small form pressed tightly to his body, her hands wrapped around his neck, demanding more from the kiss than he was giving.  Xander kissed her hungrily, his emotions in a tailspin.  He wanted her so badly. . .  He finally broke the contact and lowered Willow until her feet were firmly on solid ground.  His own knees felt weak, however, and he leaned against the wall for support.

“Xander.”  He heard her whisper his name and he looked up at her.  “Why?”

“I don’t know, Wills,” he whispered back.  He ran one hand through his hair and took one of hers with the other one.  Unconsciously he interlaced his fingers with hers, completely aware of the heat between them in even such a simple gesture.  “I don’t know why I’m finally seeing you.  That kiss. . .  That kiss was incredible.  It was amazing.  It was one of those ones that make the birds sing and the bells ring.  You know?”  She nodded, the joy in her heart swelling at his revelation.  “But, Wills, it’s *you*.”  Her face fell at what she considered an insult, and he hurried to reassure her.  “No, Wills, it’s not like I can’t like you because of who you are.  It’s just, you’re my best friend.  You’re *Willow*.  And that means more than just some teenage groping.  I don’t think of you like a girlfriend, but you’re more important to me than any girlfriend ever could be.  You know what I’m saying?”

She nodded again, the tears overflowing at his sweet words.  “But, Xand,” she began, her voice quiet and unsure.  “You can have both.”  Willow took a deep breath, hardly able to believe her daring, but she said the words anyway.  “You’ve been my best friend for twelve years.  I’ve loved you for at least the last six.  And that never changed even through all the fights we’ve had, all the separations.  We’re still as devoted to each other as we ever were.  Why can’t this just be a new experience for us?  It doesn’t have to change our friendship.  In fact, it might strengthen it.”  She looked at him, fearful of what she might find in his velvet-brown eyes.  She needn’t have been; he was doing the gaze again.

“Do you mind if I kiss you again, Willow?” he breathed, before his lips were on hers once more.

“Not at all,” she whispered once they’d broken apart.  She smiled and they leaned in until their foreheads were touching.  “So what do we do now?” she asked, her lips a breath away from his.

“Kiss again?” Xander suggested impishly.  Willow stuck her tongue out at him and managed to lick his lips in the process.

“I mean, where do we go from here?” she questioned, drawing back from him.  He was still holding tightly to her hand, and she brought their joined hands closer to her, rubbing her other thumb over his knuckles.  “Are we dating?  Good friends who occasionally like to kiss?  Or do we forget it and move on with our lives?”

Xander’s breath caught at her last suggestion.  “Do you *want* to forget it, Will?” he asked uncertainly.

“No.”  She shook her head adamantly, the long red tresses flying and catching the side of Xander’s face.  “I’ve been waiting six years for you to kiss me; I’m not likely to forget it, or *want* to forget it, anytime soon,” she confessed.  Xander grinned at her admission.

“I don’t want to, either,” he told her, and her smile could have lit up Times Square with its luminosity.  “I just don’t know what to do here.  I don’t want to rush things, but I don’t know if I can keep away from you now that I know how much I care,” he allowed.

“Well, we can take it slow,” she offered.  “It’s not like we have to be an immediate couple.  We can just go along with what we feel when we feel it.”

“I don’t think I’m ever going to *stop* feeling, Wills,” he argued, and she brightened.  “I care about you too much to ruin this, whatever it is that we have.  I’m not willing to take a chance on losing you.”

“Who ever said you were going to lose me?  You won’t be able to get rid of me, even if you tried.  You haven’t been able to yet,” she teased playfully.

“Good, ‘cause I don’t ever want to,” he growled, pulling her back to him for another kiss.  Willow melted under his attention and clung to him with the love that she’d had to deny for six years.  But as Xander’s hand smoothed over her hair and down her back, as his lips and tongue wreaked havoc on her mouth and her senses, she knew she wouldn’t have to worry about denying it ever again.

“I love you, Xander,” she murmured, curling up into his loving embrace.

“I know you do, Wills,” he murmured back, kissing the top of her head.  His arms tightened around her slender body.  “And I finally know that I love you, too.”

 The End