Now, Veronica might have been the queen of “I told you so”, but she was pretty sure Buffy saw this coming too. Hell, she’d bet it was half the reason Buffy’d planned it.
They had both agreed that this wasn’t a date, good though those kisses were – and they were really good – neither girl was about to redefine their lifestyles for the sake of frivolous titles and clarified pronouns. They were Buffy and Veronica, and that’s what they’d be to each other. They hadn’t been ‘dating’ before now and there had been kisses, Veronica reminded herself, so that didn’t mean there couldn’t be kissing if this wasn’t a date – right?
So when Buffy answered the door in that shirt and those jeans, Veronica knew the answer.
A couple of shy smiles to start off with, followed by an opening question as to where Faith and Willow were off to (the implied “when do you expect them back?” hidden in there too), and soon the two blondes were settled on the couch, appropriate, safe, non-date distance apart to watch their movies. Once the first movie started, things got a lot less tense on the couch.
They laughed about the bad guys’ quest to steal a sacred Buddha head, how much he reminded them of Jimbo’s hunting buddy Ned from South Park, and their inability to pronounce any of the main characters names – so they started giving them new ones. Veronica had thought everything was going well until one of the fight sequences started… Then she noticed Buffy fidgeting, looking uncomfortable.
“You okay?” she asked, seeing Buffy wince.
“Ahh,” Buffy muttered before gritting her teeth a bit. “This is painful to watch.” She groaned.
Veronica raised an eyebrow, turning back to the screen. The fight raged on and Buffy kept wincing at intervals.
“What? Too fake? Not up to your high Chan standards?” Veronica prodded.
Buffy grinned briefly, turning to look at her companion, “More like too real,” she laughed, shaking her bangs into her eyes. “I’m having sympathy pains.”
“What d’ya mean?” Veronica looked closer at the screen – not really seeing the difference.
“Thai fighting,” Buffy said, pointing to the screen, “look at how they kick.” Veronica did. She didn’t see it.
“What?”
Buffy eyes widened. “They don’t kick with the heels of their feet or the flat of their toes – they use their shins.” Veronica’s eyes snapped back to the screen. Moments later, when another kick landed, she let out a sympathetic groan when a man had been spin-kicked in the head.”
“Ow.” The younger girl muttered, gritting her own teeth.
Buffy nodded. “Yeah, it’s hard-core stuff… I couldn’t do it.”
“What do you do?”
“What do I do what?” Buffy asked back, confused.
“Fighting?”
Buffy just stared back at her blankly.
“That night on campus, when you… saved me, from that cheap knock-off security worker. You had some moves on you.” Veronica hated admitting she’d been saved. Buffy actually blushed shyly at this, like she was flattered.
“I didn’t…” she tried to deny, quietly.
Veronica reached out a hand, laying it over Buffy’s as it fiddled with the hem of her shirt nervously. “You did.” She said quietly. Buffy just shrugged in response.
“It’s just a mix of a little bit of everything, I guess. The guy who taught me knew a lot and I guess you could say he was formally trained... I just use what works, what’s useful, what I know.” She chuckled here, smiling at Veronica, “I admit I make up a lot of it on the fly.”
“Gotta respect a girl with her own style.” Veronica vowed, smiling broadly. The movie was forgotten.
“Satsu taught me some stuff about Samurai… but that was mostly philosophy, I guess you’d call it.” Veronica’s smile became slightly tighter than it’d been before this statement. Buffy’s grin just grew. “…Jealous.” Buffy sing-songed at her quietly.
“Excuse me?” Veronica could hardly believe the accusation,
“Isn’t that what you asked for, on this very couch?” Buffy countered, “More honesty?” she joked playfully.
“I’m starting to think I’m getting all the raw ends of this deal.” She muttered, turning so her back was against the armrest, pulling her feet under her. Buffy laughed and scooted closer.
“There are a few upsides,” Buffy reminded, extending her arm over the back of the couch towards the younger girl. Veronica couldn’t help but notice the very deliberate movement. She smiled.
“Oh yeah? And what are they?” She countered, tilting her head to the side, baiting. Buffy’s eyes settled on her neck.
Veronica’s bite had healed for the most part, but this was the first day she’d left it uncovered. The skin had patched, but was still pink as a fresh scar. She’d worn a jacket over here but made a point to have it exposed in the older girl’s presence… Her plan had worked.
The hand slid from the back of the couch and those fingers trailed over Veronica’s neck with such a light touch it almost tickled. As they brushed the slightly raised skin of the two, narrow-lined scars, Veronica watched closely as Buffy’s vision became focused on her completely.
“Value of declarative statements? Rarely have to repeat yourself.” Buffy said quietly, here eyes finally reconnecting with the younger woman’s. “You’re not gonna ask me to stop again are you?” she half joked, letting her fingers gently stroke the back of the girl’s neck just as she had on the night they’d kissed. Veronica’s eyes drifted shut briefly as she steadied herself.
“So, I get you, and in some small measure I get to ‘have’ you – but I don’t get to know anything about you?” Her voice was still kind of breathy, but she knew her point came across. Buffy’s face saddened, her touches became slower – almost a little mournful. Buffy nodded.
“I won’t lie to you, Veronica,” The older girl said honestly, “Sometimes it’s just easier to skip over the details – makes it easier not to dwell on them.” Her hand slid up into the base of Veronica’s hair and she sighed when the younger girl seemed to involuntarily lean into the touch. “Why is this so hard?” Buffy asked, sounding like she really wanted an answer. But Veronica knew she wasn’t the one being asked.
“Wasn’t the whole point we were doing this was because it was so easy?” Veronica asked the same no-one. Buffy chuckled.
“I guess nothing’s ever easy, for anyone.” Buffy chuckled, sounding at least somewhat genuinely amused. Veronica smiled and leaned further into the hand in her hair.
They kissed, slowly at first, and it was nice but brief. When they pulled back, Buffy pressed Veronica’s forehead against her own. Her eyes were sad, but her posture was a forced sort of playful, her next words somewhat hollow.
“They should call me Buffy the Mood-Killer.”
Wrapping her arms around Buffy’s shoulders, Veronica laced her finger together at the back of the other girl’s neck. “You’ve always brought my bad-moods to an untimely end.” Veronica countered with a small but genuine grin. Buffy chuckled. It seemed Veronica could achieve the same. Buffy suddenly sat up straighter, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“How many older guys?” Buffy asked, her tone displeased, “How older?” Veronica just laughed, wondering what made her think of that, now!
“None as old as you.”
“Good.” Buffy nodded once, pleased – though only briefly. “Eww.” She grimaced, “But still.., I guess that’s a good previous record…”
Veronica started laughing uproariously at this, though she didn’t know entirely why. She just felt so relieved, she guessed. Burying her face in older girl’s shoulder Veronica tried to stifle her laughter against the woman’s warm, bare skin. She smelled so girly… but it was nice, clean and subtle, and her skin was smooth and soft and…
“What’s this?” Veronica asked, suddenly pulling back.
“Uhh, the run to first base? Which, I hear – not being a baseball fan myself – is usually the hardest.”
Veronica let out one single chuckle through her nose, quickly followed by an eye-roll and a head-shake. “No, I meant here on your neck.” Veronica clarified. Buffy blushed profusely.
“I knew that cheap cover-up was just… well, cheap.” She grumbled. Buffy reached up and ran the tips of her fingers over the raised skin. Veronica drew back a bit.
“Uhh, not to sound stupid if I am but – are you …” she trailed off, realizing how senseless the words were as soon as they were coming out of her mouth. Buffy just smiled reassuringly as she tilted her head the right way, showing the mark under her makeup.
“Proof of purchase for this sorta life, I guess. But then again – those are multiple bites, so it’s a multi-layered scar.” Veronica brushed her fingers over the marks as the older girl spoke, all-too-calmly, “Trust me, yours would only look this bad if you’re one of those people who poke bruises and make them worse rather than better… assuming I’d still been there in time to save you.” Buffy tacked on, sounding regretful again.
Her expression serious, Buffy thrust a finger into the younger girl’s face, “But I won’t always be around! So promise me that you won’t go looking for those things again – ‘cause, these scars? So – Not – Sexy!”
Something about the whole delivery made Veronica want to laugh again, so she did. But her hands still lingered. Veronica maneuvered herself so she was crouching over the older girl’s lap, fingers once again laced behind her head, and pulled her up into a kiss. Buffy did not need much encouraging.
(To Be Continued…)