Walking On Sunshine
"Don't you feel as if we should be fighting for our lives right now?" asked Buffy. The high summer temperatures had distorted the view of Lisbon from Buffy's balcony, she had come to Portugal several years previously to oversee a group of young slayers. However the new slayers had proven themselves adept at handling the local demon population unsupervised, and Buffy had found herself in a state of semi-retirement.
This summer the extreme temperatures seemed to have lulled even the local vampires into a state of lethargy, and with Willow's three day vacation extending into a three month stay Buffy had found her semi-retirement turning into a full retirement. Days were spent soaking up the sun and the two friends spent the hot summer nights drinking cocktails of various colours and potencies.
"Why do you feel like we should be fighting, getting bored of the quiet life already?" Willow teased, the two women had moved their seats close together and they were using the same stool as a footrest. Buffy was watching Willow rub high factor suntan lotion onto her pale thighs; Buffy had never had to use sun protection. No matter how much sun she got it turned straight into a deep, even tan; she presumed it was a slayer thing.
"It's June," Buffy observed, "That was when everything world-endy used to happen, the master, the giant snake, Sunnydale going Boom. June is second only to Buffy birthdays for bad things being bound to happen."
"If Xander were here he'd be mad that you'd jinxed our summer off. But being a woman of science, and also magic, and not superstitious like a certain one eyed watcher I'm not worried."
Buffy smiled at the mention of Xander, she missed him a lot. But she was really enjoying spending quality girl time with Willow alone; they hadn't really done that since high school. Sometimes Buffy felt like she, Willow and Xander had been so close for such a long time that she'd internalised aspects of them. She certainly seemed to be channelling Xander recently, his bad jokes and his superstition, and especially his general perviness. All summer long Buffy had found herself increasingly watching Willow. In fact she was doing it now, watching a bead of sweat mosey from Will's temple down the side of her face past damp red locks, and down to the curve where her neck met her shoulder, there it was swept away by Willow's fingers, which were now massaging suntan lotion into her neck and shoulder.
Buffy thought that perhaps she was suffering from heatstroke, perhaps she had drank one to many sangrias since being here, it might be the result of the inevitable June evil. Or maybe, just maybe, she had become a new, more open-minded Buffy since the burden of being the Chosen One had been lifted. Unfortunately New Open-Minded Buffy had become so distracted by her own thoughts that she'd missed all of what Willow had just said.
"Sorry Will, what was that?"
"I was asking if you wanted to go out tonight, it's too hot to sleep in the Apartment. I usually just wind up awake, sweaty and stinky."
'Bad Brain, Don't go there,' Buffy silently commanded while answering Willow aloud, "You're not seeing Rosa tonight?" Buffy knew she had reacted weirdly when Will first came out to her, but that had been shock. Rather than being less upset as time went by Buffy had found herself getting increasingly annoyed when Willow dated, well, anyone. She had gradually been forced to admit that it wasn't some kind of internalised homophobia and it wasn't envy because she herself hardly dated anymore (there were only so many vampires, vampire junkies and guys whose name started with 'The' that a girl could date before she had to admit it was a lost cause,) it was simple jealousy which was the reason she didn't like Willow dating.
"No, that's...very over. I didn't really like her that much, it was just that she chased me a bit and..." Willow trailed off, trying to complete an acrobatic feat by applying suntan cream to her own back.
"Here let me," Buffy hopped up, and grabbed the bottle out of Willow's hands.
"It's okay, really."
"No, you'll miss bits, then you'll have a huge red mark down your back and everyone will know you're a tourist," Buffy rubbed the cool lotion onto her palms and spread it over the backs of Willow's shoulders.
"I have red hair and green eyes, I think people already know I'm a tour- Ah, Buff, that feels nice." Buffy had given up on the productive distribution of sun protection and was lazily massaging Willow's shoulders.
"So what went wrong with Rosa?" Buffy asked, attempting to keep the glee out of her voice. Her hands slipped down just under the neckline of Willow's top. Willow leaned back into the touch, Buffy's cool hands feeling delicious on her overheated skin.
"The usual."
"She was a vampire?"
"That's your usual, Buffy, not mine. I just shouldn't get seriously involved with people I've just met. I should have learned that lesson with Kennedy."
"So maybe," Buffy whispered, she slid her hands further inside Willow's white top, her fingers kneading Willow's spine. Sliding her hands up the length of Willow's back she focused on caressing the base of her neck, "What you need is someone who's known you a long time, someone who knows how smart," Buffy leaned down and softly kissed the top of Willow's head, "how sweet," the blonde leaned down further and brushed her lips against Willow's cheek, "and how fantastically sexy you are." Buffy placed another kiss on the corner of Willow's mouth. Buffy tilted at an angle, tilting her head so she could kiss Willow properly.
Willow jerked, her nose collided violently with Buffy's, causing both women to yelp and cover their faces.
"Have you got heatstroke or something?" questioned Willow nasally.
Buffy toyed with the idea of letting it go, of taking the escape route she was being offered, then rejected it. "If it's heatstroke, then I've had it for a few weeks now."
Willow stood up to face Buffy, removing her hand from her still throbbing nose she leaned forward, Buffy's hand dropped away from her face. Willow leaned in, "So, maybe we don't go out tonight after all?"
For her answer Buffy touched her lips to Willow's. Willow raised her arms, her hands floated in midair for a moment as she tried to decide what to do with them, she settled on placing one on Buffy's neck and the other on the blondes cheek. Buffy's hands settled on Willow's hips and her lips parted experimentally.
That's when the phone rang. Both women wrenched round in shock.
"Wait right here, I'll get it," Buffy walked back into the apartment to answer the infernal phone. Leaving Willow to contemplate what had just happened. Buffy had kissed her. Buffy. Best friend. Slayer. Gorgeous blonde. On/off crush. Had kissed her. Willow. Perpetual computer geek in her mind, and it had been good.
"Uh, Will?" Buffy was leaning in the doorway, cradling the phone between her cheek and her shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Remember what I said about June, and bad things happening. Well, it's June and a huge slime demon is about to rise up under the city and absorb everything between here and Barcelona."
"I think that qualifies as a bad thing."