Who I am...

Faith hadn’t been there long. Maybe a week, week and a half. She hadn’t really kept track, especially as it had taken a good week or so to get another manager at her motel, in which she hadn’t had to pay for the room. Buffy and she would patrol together at night, of course, but once she’d learned her way around, it hadn’t been for long periods of time, despite the blonde trying too hard to make chit-chat with her.

“Nice place. Do you ever catch kids doing the diddy out here?” Faith smirked and gestured the graveyard, waggling her eyebrows yet again. Buffy had become somewhat used to the movements and such, so she didn’t even blush this time.

“No. There’s a smooch spot up by the woods. That’s usually where kids go.” She smirked and looked around for any signs of undead.

“Yeah? Bet you and Scott have been up there kickin’ the gearshift.” She grinned playfully, trying to hide the curiosity in her eyes.

Buffy gave her a look, completely oblivious to Faith’s curious eyes, and shook her head. “Hardly. We’ve only been on a few dates.”

Faith smirked even more. “But you like him. And when you think about him, you get that,” she paused to inhale deeply, “good, low-down tickle, right?”

“Yeah, I guess, but…” Buffy smiled wryly for a moment before she caught what Faith actually meant, and the smile turned even more wry, the blond eying her. “How low…”

“You tell me, B.” and Faith’s smile turned into a broad, shit-eating grin, and her eyes sparkled.

“How about not, F.” Buffy rolls her eyes, but a blush comes to her cheeks and she looks away. “But he is… nice, and he’s funny.”

“And a total muffin.” Faith adds in, wondering why she was coming up with a few ways to trap said muffin in an oven.

“Blueberry. With the crunchies on top.” Buffy sighs, her smile broad again as she spins the stake in her hand. “But my most favorite thing so far, is that he doesn’t seem to be any kind of Hell Beast.”

“B, all men are beasts.” Faith shrugged casually, knowing full well that Buffy had been referring to her ex-lover vampire, supposedly still trapped in hell. Had he come back yet? Was Buffy keeping that from her already? That happening would only prove, once and for all, that the pendant was real, the real thing.

“Wow, okay, I was hoping not to get that cynical until I was at least forty.”

Faith had to take a second to get back to where the conversation had been, tossing away thoughts of Angel and her future self. “B, it’s not cynical. It’s realistic. Every guy from… Manimal down to Mr. I-love-the-English-patient has beast in him. And I don’t care how sensitive they act. They’re all just in it for the chase.” Everyone is. Faith looked at Buffy, noting how the blonde seemed to be silently agreeing with that small nodding to her head.

~

Buffy looked at Willow with brows raised. “I don’t think that’s true, that every guy is only in it for the chase.”

As she turned to look at Scott approaching enthusiastically, she had to smile slightly and admit her own hope. “Well, it does seem like an awful generalization.”

“Hey,” he gave her a goofy smile and a wave, and Willow shot Oz a knowing grin. “That’s basically what I stopped you for. Hey.”

“Oh, okay. Hey.” Buffy smiled back and moved a step closer. Watching as his two friends, Debbie and Pete, approached. The couple was adorable, and made Buffy smile to watch as they came up, Pete’s arm draped across Debbie’s shoulders, the girl holding a small bouquet of flowers.

Oz nodded at them, an arm around Willow himself, and offered a small smile and greeting. “How do, Debbie?”

“Hi Oz. Hey, you’re not doing jazz band this year?” Debbie asked, leaning into her boyfriend and smiling curiously.

“Oh, can’t take the pressure. It’s not the music that’s hard, it’s the marching.” He shrugged, his tone casual as usual. Willow felt him tense though, and she, and likely Buffy if she was paying attention, knew it was most likely for furry reasons.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at him, then frowned in confusion and looked between them. “Wait a minute, we have a marching jazz band?”

Oz didn’t even miss a beat, though Debbie giggled a little. “Yeah, but, you know, since the best jazz is improvisational, we’d be going off in all directions, banging into floats. Scary.”

Willow smiled at her boyfriend proudly, then at everyone else. “He’s just being Oz.”

“Pretty much full time.”

Buffy blushed a little and spotted Debbie’s flowers again, changing the subject. “Oh, those are pretty flowers.”

“Thanks. Pete brought them for me.” She smelled the flowers as emphasis, eyes sparkling, and Willow gushed a bit.

Pete shrugged, a little embarrassed. “Yeah. Well, I- I’m sure Scott does that kind of stuff for you too, Buffy.”

“Oh, well, we’re not up to flowers.” Scott said absently, then a look of panic comes to his face as he turns to Buffy. “Are we? Up to flowers? Did I miss flowers?”

Buffy chuckled a little, nudging him gently with her shoulder. “No. We’re pre-posy. It’s five-by-five.” Willow looked at her strangely, but she ignored it as Scott nodded, relieved. Instead, Buffy reached for Scott’s watch. “What time is it? Oh, I have to go see Mr. Platt today.”

“The school counselor?” Debbie asked, shuddering. “Platt creeps me out. I would totally quit going, but I’m flunking senior bio, and my teacher says I have success issues.”

“I just get to convince him that I’m Little Miss Stable so I can stay in school. No big.” Buffy reached to grab her bag from the ground.

“Senior bio? I kinda aced that final.” Oz observed, getting a look from Willow. He already knew what she was going to say, or something to the effect. The fact that he aced it by showing up to class. Raising his brows at Debbie, he continued before his girlfriend got the chance. “You want my notes, they’re yours.”

“Wow, thanks! That’d be great!” Debbie grinned, nodding, and Buffy kissed Scott goodbye quickly before waving to the others and rushing off to her appointment. After a quick goodbye, Oz and Willow moved off too, as the bell began to ring.

TBC

Ooookay, so I was prodded off of my ass to write the next chap, and here goes. Thanks for the reviews, I love you all... and I've already got the next chapter started, let's hope I can finish it.