[Reviews - 499]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 5224 times

- Text Size +



Banner by Alissa.


Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay-so I'm a little nervous about this one. I've tried to hint about some of this, so I don't think it should come as a big shock, but...let me know if you're still with me and if you still love my William. And YES, there is still some angst to come, but I'll intersperse it with smutty goodness if you are all good little kiddies and review :P
Sunnydale, California 2002

“Buffy, are you even paying attention?”

“Uh huh.” She continued to twirl one of her pigtails and stare out the window.

“Buffy.”

Sighing heavily, she threw her head back dramatically. “Will,” she drew out his name into two somewhat whiny syllables. “It’s too hot to do math.”

“I think it would have to be a whole lot hotter for your teacher to cancel your math test.” He grinned.

Buffy gave him a calculating look. “Like how much hotter?”

He laughed easily. “A lot hotter than it is going to get over the next few days. Besides, you have air conditioning. It’s not at all too hot in here.”

Her arms flopped on to the table, quickly followed by her entire upper body. “Exactly. We should be outside…swimming. Don’t you want to go in the pool?”

“We should really…” He stopped, knowing that it was a lost cause. “Fine, but you’re going to have to study on your own tomorrow.”

Buffy rewarded him with a beaming smile and bounced out of her chair. “I totally will. I’m gonna get my suit on.” She quickly headed toward the stairs, yelling over her shoulder. “Hurry up and change!”

William diligently organized the materials he’d been using to help Buffy study, packing his own stuff and neatly stacking hers. He quickly wrote down the topics and pages that she should focus on the next day and left the note clipped to the top of her Hello Kitty folder.

He worried that they hadn’t gotten enough accomplished. It wasn’t, he thought, that Buffy wasn’t smart. He knew that she was, but he also knew that she had a difficult time sitting still. It was a challenge that seemed to be affecting her grades of late. William considered it his duty to help her get them back up. Also, he acknowledged, if she didn’t she would be grounded and then he’d never get to see her.

When he finished, he grabbed his other backpack and headed towards the guest room to change. He folded the clothes that he was wearing as he took them off and soon stood before the full length mirror near the door wearing only his swimming trunks and a pair of sandals. He scowled. His head, he decided, was clearly too large for his body. In fact, his recent growth spurt had left him feeling that nearly every bone in his body was too large for the skin covering it and thus appeared ready to poke through at any moment. He had studied the appearances of boys at school that girls considered attractive and he knew that he had none of their attributes. He shook his head at the futility of his situation.

After a moment, he headed outside to find Buffy by the pool.
“I got you green.” She held a Popsicle in each hand. Angling the still paper-covered one towards him, she wiggled it playfully.

He took it with a smile. Green was his favorite. “Thank you.”

Smiling, Buffy took another lick of her own cherry red Popsicle. It was already melting, the juice dripping onto her fingers. She giggled and switched hands, bringing each finger to her mouth for a quick suck.

William tried to open the paper covering his Popsicle, but he couldn’t stop watching her mouth, the juice darkened lips and small pink tongue licking and suckling alternately on her fingers and the sticky, sweet treat. The unfortunate, but inevitable, response came quickly.

Mumbling an excuse, he hurried back to the guest room, slamming the door shut behind him and leaning against it. He fought the urge to cry and denied the urge to do anything else. He didn’t want to be a pervert. He was certain that he was. He slumped against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor with his head bent down and resting against his knees.

Buffy followed William into the house and watched with widened eyes as he darted in to the guest room and closed the door. She waited for a few seconds, expecting him to come right back out. He didn’t. She shrugged, walked over and turned the door knob.

“Don’t!” He pressed his weight against the door and squeezed his eyes shut against his impending doom.
“Will? What’s going on? Lemme come in.”

“No…umm…not now. Ok? I have to…umm…”

“What are you doing?” She frowned and shook her head. William was acting too weird lately. He’d always been a bit odd, though she’d known him for a long time before she’d realized it. It wasn’t until her other friends had met him, that she’d even thought about it. The truth was that she was used to his normal sort of unusual behavior. It, and he, didn’t seem odd to her. He was Will. He was her best friend. This though, she thought with frustration, is just too weird. “Will?”

“Buffy?” Joyce stood in the hall looking at her daughter with a confused expression. “Honey, what’s going on? I thought you two were going to go swimming.”

“That’s what I thought too. But Will is like hiding or something. Maybe he’s sick again.” She turned back towards the door. “Will?, she called out, knocking several times on the door. “Are you puking?”

Joyce reached over and cupped her daughter’s hand, pulling it away from the door. “William? Dear, are you feeling all right?”

“I’m…I’m fine. I just remembered something though. I need to go home. Could you please call my mum? She’ll come pick me up.”

“Don’t be silly, William. I’ll drive you home. Buffy can go change and we’ll…”

“No! That’s…I mean…my mum said to call her, so…” He rolled his eyes at the words he was about to say. “It would be disrespectful. Thank…thank you for offering.”

“Uh huh.” Joyce shook her head and sighed. “I’ll go give her a call.” She knew it was an excuse and a lame one at that, but she suspected that he had his reasons. She gave her daughter a quick speculative glance. She was still a kid. She stood there in a swimsuit dotted with red Popsicle stains without a drop of self-consciousness. Joyce gave the guest room door a final questioning glance and walked away.

Oxford, England 2008

“You’re really not going to let me drive?”

William laughed heartily. “Sorry pet. I value both of our lives too much for that.”

She pouted. “But I really want to try driving on the other side of the street.”

“From what I’ve heard, you’ve already given that a shot back in the states.”

Buffy glared. “You talk to my mother way too much. It’s freaky and…and lame. You are supposed to be my best friend.” She pouted again.

William watched her with a grin and shook his head. “I’ll let you help navigate.” He offered her the pages he’d printed from Google map.

She took them quickly. “Fine. But I plan to add detours if I see any signs for good shopping.”

Chuckling, he rolled his eyes. “There are plenty of shops in London. Let’s just try to get there, yeah?” He opened her door and walked around to get in the driver’s seat.

Joining him in the care, she gave him a quizzical look. “Really? You’ll take me shopping?”

Smirking, he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Oh I’ll take you all right.”

Buffy waited until he was finished to roll her eyes and swat at his shoulder. “When did you become this guy?”

He stilled. Keeping his gaze at the front window, he tried for a casual tone. “How do you mean?”

Shrugging, she considered her words. “You’re…different.”

“I’m older.”

She laughed. “It’s more than that. You’re…” She shrugged again. “I guess you’re just happy here.”

He glanced at her, but couldn’t read her expression.
Sighing, he wondered how he should answer her. “I am…content, here. It’s comfortable, but…”

Buffy turned to him suddenly. “Are you ever coming home?”

“I…”

“I mean, it just seems like you are happier here than you were in California.”

“Buffy, that’s not…I miss home. You. My Mum. It’s just simple here. For me, it’s simple. Uni is a small world, so I know my…role, I guess. I see the same people, I know what is expected of me and what to expect of them.” He shrugged and exhaled loudly.

She smiled. “You never did like surprises.”

He frowned. “It’s not that exactly. Certainly you are always surprising me and I love you. It’s more that I…” He sighed.

When he didn’t say anything for a few moments, she quietly urged him to continue. “Will?”

“I like to know what people want from me. I worry that I’ll disappoint them or embarrass myself and…I think that most people are born knowing how to deal with people, how to read them and how to make friends. I wasn’t, Buffy. I…”

“You were shy.”

He laughed. “Thanks, pet. But it’s more than shy. I…I…” He sighed heavily. This was not a discussion that he wanted to have. He wanted to charm her. He wanted her to see him in a new light. He didn’t want to remind her that he was still that weird kid with no friends his own age and need to straighten everything to perfect right angles. He didn’t want to tell her that he took a pill everyday just to help with the anxiety that came from having to talk in front of a class of undergrads. “I had to see a therapist. After Dru, I was a mess. I always had tendencies, yeah, but I was a mess then. It helped. I’m better now.” He quickly peeked at her out of the corner of his eyes. She looked angry.

“Well of course you did, she was awful.” She shook her head sadly. “I wish you’d have told me, Will. I wish I could have helped. I…”

“You did.” He said quickly. “You didn’t know it maybe, but you always helped.”

She smiled prettily. “You were never really shy with me.”

He nodded. “No. You’ve always been special.”

She reached over, squeezed his hand and mercifully changed the subject.

They passed the next hour of the drive, chatting easily about music and Buffy’s friends back home. More precisely, Buffy chatted and William focused on lowering his heart rate and convincing himself that she hadn’t seemed too disturbed by their talk.

Always antsy during long drives, Buffy frequently shifted position. When she pulled her legs up to sit “Indian Style” her short denim skirt slid high up her thighs and William almost groaned.

He grinned instead. “What color?”

She furrowed her brow. “What?”

Smirking, he cast his eyes suggestively at her lap. “Your panties, luv. What color?”

“Will!”

Chuckling, he pressed forward. “Come on then, a skirt that short is designed to make a man wonder about the scanties he can almost see.” He smirked at her playfully.

Blushing slightly, she nodded towards the street. “Shouldn’t you be focusing on driving?”

“I’m really quite brilliant. Multitasking presents me with little challenge.”

“I see.” She nodded with exaggerated solemnity.

He tucked his tongue behind his teeth and gestured again at her lap. “What color, kitten?”

She grinned and turned to meet his gaze head on. “Who says I’m wearing any panties at all, William?”

His jaw dropped. The car swerved swiftly towards the next lane causing a nearby driver to honk their horn in warning.
The noise startled William’s focus back on to the road. He quickly brought the car back in line. After a few moments, he laughed. “Nicely done, luv. ”

Joining him in giggles, she nodded. “Now who is brilliant?”

“I am?”

She poked him playfully. “You will acknowledge my brilliance, William.”

He widened his eyes at the implied threat behind her mischievously bossy tone and words. An image of Buffy dressed dominatrix style and threatening to make him see the error of his ways came crashing into the forefront of his thoughts. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and began counting the minutes until they’d arrive at his Uncle’s flat.


Chapter End Notes:
It occurs to me that some people may be startled by his saying that he loves her. I figured that I'd clarify that after being friends for so long the occasional acknowledgment of love wouldn't be unusual for them. :D
Please remember to review. Also-go vote at the Spuffy Awards, voting is almost up. http://spuffyawards.jaded-paradise.net/index.php
This story isn't up for any Spuffy Awards this round, but one of my others is up for a few. :) Not that I'm suggesting you should vote for me. ;) :P



You must login (register) to review.