Summary: It's a bit silly, a lot sappy, and revolves around Willow and
Xander. :)
Spoilers: Very minor through the fourth season.
Disclaimer: Joss made the characters. I like to think he did it so that I
could mess with them on occasion.
Rating: PG13
Feedback: Yummy stuff.
Tracy and Laura, both goddesses in their own rights, thanks for beta-ing.
Written for Tracy, because I haven't really written her a fic in a while. :)
And thanks to Palaskar, who's a great guy, for all of your ego-raising
writing compliments.

"So, are you saying you want to get involved?" Willow intoned deeply,
staring into the mirror.

She nodded to herself, letting her voice relax. "Yes," she murmured
reasonably. "We're almost nineteen, Xander, and I feel like this game has
gone on a little too long."

Her voice deepened. "What game do you mean?"

She sighed. "The game that we play! Buffy would explain it better. It's
something about us being best friends and not wanting to ruin it with
romance. But Oz and I have been broken up for a while, and Anya hasn't
contacted you since she left Sunnydale, so I think we should give the romance
thing a shot. Yes, I want to get involved with you." Willow smiled.
"Deeply involved."

Nodding her head resolutely, Willow turned away from the mirror to gather her
things before class, and gasped in shock to see Buffy standing there.

A wicked grin lifted Buffy's face. "Deeply involved?" she giggled.

Willow sank onto her mattress sadly. "You hate it. He'll hate it."

Buffy worked at getting her giggles under control for a moment, and then she
shook her head. "I just think that it's not worthwhile to practice. It's
going to come out the way it's supposed to come out, if you just leave it to
fate. But, if you don't... It might come out like... that." She laughed
again, quieter this time.

Willow looked at Buffy pleadingly. "You were the one who told me that he has
feelings for me! So was I not supposed to run through what I was going to
say?"

Buffy walked over to her and sat down on the bed, slinging her arm over her
best friend's shoulders. "I don't think you need to worry that much. And
it's totally obvious that he's in love with you, Wills. I mean, did you see
the way he jumped up to get you something to drink last night when you said
you were thirsty? Even Giles commented on it."

"Giles?" Willow asked, bewildered.

Buffy smiled. "It's no wonder that you didn't notice. You were too busy
staring after Xander like he was pennies from heaven. Or..." her brow
wrinkled. "Something like that. Anyway, Giles was pretty cool. I think he
notices a lot more about us than we give him credit for."

"What did Giles say?" Willow pressed.

"Just that Xander was certainly being 'ambitious in attaining his goals' or
something grown-up-y like that. And he smiled when he said it, with a direct
look at you," Buffy pointed out.

"You're basing this all on him getting me a drink?" Willow asked
incredulously. "Xander does that sort of thing for me all the time."

"Think, Will. Okay, ruling out getting something for *both* of you to drink,
or something for you to drink that he was planning on sharing with you, and
maybe some times when you were sick when you were little or something else
that I don't know about, when was the last time Xander volunteered to get you
something when it wouldn't profit him anything?" Buffy asked.

Willow sighed. Then, with a triumphant smile she said, "During our senior
year! He just got a lot more mature then." Her smile fled. "Though I don't
know why I'm bragging that I'm right. I wanted *you* to be right. The
mind-numbing fear keeps making me forget that."

"Uh, Willow?"

"Yeah?" Willow asked miserably.

"Did he start doing things for you before or *after* Homecoming?" Buffy
asked pointedly, standing up.

Willow opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. She exhaled
heavily. It was just as well.

She didn't know what she would have said.
* * * * * *

"Hey, Xand!" Buffy greeted, walking carefully down the decaying steps that
led to his 'basement palace.' He smiled up at her, shoving the magazine he
was reading under the covers and gesturing to the chair across from the bed.
She peered at him with a grin. "Whatcha got hiding there, Xander?"

"It's a naked girly magazine," he said quickly, turning red.

Buffy eyed him suspiciously. "You wouldn't have told me if it was. What is
it?"

"Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue?" he tried.

"Nope. Care to try again, for all the points?" she asked.

His hands fidgeted nervously. "What do I give you if I lose?"

"Nothing," Buffy assured him casually. When he relaxed, she smiled. "Except
that you're giving me permission to hold you down and retrieve it myself,
possibly injuring you in the process."

With a defeated sigh, he lifted the magazine up for her to see. She raised
her eyebrows.

"Computer Monthly?"

"I just look at the pictures," he muttered, embarrassed. "I don't look at
the articles."

"That's what you're supposed to say if you were holding Playboy," she
corrected.

"And it's what I *would* have said, if you had let me say I was holding
Playboy," he said with a playful glare. "But no, you just had to know the
*truth*. Like the truth is going to set you free or something. Please,
Buffy...."

"Where are you going with this?" she asked, interrupting his babblings.

"I don't know." Xander shrugged. "I just hoped that if I kept talking, you
wouldn't ask me why I was reading it."

"Too bad, because nothing could stop me from doing that." She nodded. "Why
were you reading the magazine?"

"I just wanted to learn more about computers, that's all," he rushed to
explain, a note of defensiveness creeping into his tone.

Buffy lifted her head. "Ah."

"Ah what?" Xander demanded. "Look, Buff, if you're not going to the dentist,
would you mind letting me know what you're "ah"ing for?"

"It's no big deal that you want to impress her, Xander," Buffy smiled.

Xander's eyes twitched down. "It's not..."

"It's not worth denying, you're right." She laughed quietly. "You're already
too deeply involved for that. Hey, I wanted to ask you to come Giles's
tonight. Around nine. He says that there's some pretty heavy-duty thing
going on, and we all need to band together or something," she told him.

Xander nodded, perking up. "Scooby Gang?" he asked hopefully.

Buffy laughed, tousling his hair as though he were a child. "Scooby Gang,"
she agreed. She hesitated, and then looked at him seriously.

"Be yourself, Xander, no matter what. Okay? ...Oh, and wear those black
jeans you got a few months ago."
* * * * * *

"Giles, I need a favor," Buffy said as soon as he opened the door.

He left the door open and walked further into his apartment. "Hello to you
too, Buffy."

"No, it's really important," she insisted.

"I'm waiting to hear how important it is," he assured her.

She stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Do you ever think about
true love, meant to be... things like that?"

Giles took off his glasses. "Buffy, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with where
this might be leading..."

Buffy laughed. "Not me! It's not about me! Oh, God... It's not about you
either!" Her nose wrinkled. "And ew."

He smirked, putting on his glasses again. "But I assume that this isn't
about how decrepit and unattractive I've become in my old age, so would you
mind getting to the point?"

"Not that you're gross, really," Buffy hastily amended, backtracking as
quickly as possible. "Just, you know... You're sort of like the dad, and
that in itself would be gross, and can I stop talking about this now?"

"Please," Giles said with a smile. "Now. What is it that you needed?"

"I need your apartment."

His mouth opened wordlessly. "...Do you mind my asking for what reason?"

"To make true love happen?" she asked in a small voice, wondering if it
sounded plausible.

"Buffy, I'm really not sure how I feel about you bringing a date here,
either," Giles started.

"No!" She sighed, frustrated. "Willow and Xander. I'm fixing them up
because they're too... confused about how to do it themselves."

"So you deem yourself matchmaker in this situation?"

"Yes," she said confidently.

"And you do realize that the matchmaker is the one who inevitably gets the
blame if the relationship doesn't work out, don't you?" he asked.

"Yes," she mumbled, a little less confidently. A pause stilled the room, and
she pierced him with a smile. "But I'm pretty sure it won't come to that."

Giles sighed. "No, I do believe you're right. Well, in the name of true
love, I suppose I have no other choice, do I?"

Buffy squealed. "Nope!"

"And what time do I need to leave?" he asked, checking his watch.

Buffy shifted from foot to foot. "Well... sort of... right now?"

He stared at her, refusing to allow the smile that was trying to itch past
his lips to lift his mouth. Amused as he was, he managed indignance. "You
don't think you could have told me sooner?"

"I was busy," she defended weakly. Then she charmed him with a grin.
"Besides, I thought that... it would be nice to treat you to ice cream! Yes!
Do you want to go out and get some ice cream?"

Giles nodded, turning to lift his coat from the rack. He grinned, his back
to her "I think that sounds reasonable."

Buffy hooked her arm through his gratefully as they left the apartment. As
they walked away, Buffy suddenly stopped. "Hold on a sec."

She walked quickly back to the door, placing a note, tagged with a piece of
tape, against it. With that, she went back to her Watcher. "Done now."

"What was that?" he asked as they made their way to his car.

Buffy smiled sheepishly. "An apology. And an explanation. ...Um, sort of."
* * * * * *

Willow detached the note with worry, stepping inside Giles's warm apartment.
Shrugging off her coat, she walked over to the lamp to read the note under
better light.

"Willow," she read aloud, "Sorry to leave you alone like this. Giles had
something to do, and so did I. But you'll have plenty of company. The kind
of company you need. Lots of hugs, Buffy."

"That's it," Willow said simply. "I have to kill her."

Willow knew exactly what the note meant. It meant that Buffy was speeding
things along far too quickly, when she had said that very morning to give it
the time it needed and to let Fate do the work. It meant that Buffy thought
her name was also Fate. And it meant that Xander was coming over, and Willow
had very little time to prepare the speech she was going to say.

She walked over to a mirror, brushing her hair out of her face and trying to
smile as naturally as possible. It came out as a grimace. "Xander," she
started, "I care about you. And I think you care about me. So I think that
we should do something about it."

"Are you saying that we should get involved?" she asked, lowering her voice.
Pausing, she rubbed her throat. She was going to be sore by the time she
stopped doing a poor imitation of Xander's voice.

"*Is* that what you're saying?" Xander asked from the doorway.

Willow twirled around to face him, her eyes growing large. She reddened, her
mind going blank. "Um," she squeaked, backing against the wall in an effort
to disappear and erase the complications from her life.

"Will?" Xander steadily approached her, a slow smile taking over his face.

She tried to grasp her thoughts. "Games... And romance. And I'm not seeing
Oz because he's not to be seen by me," she mumbled, the words adding to her
confusion. "And no Anya. We're friends. Deep friends. I mean, involved
friends. Deeply involved friends. And... god, you look... sex."

Xander halted, mid-step, as his eyes darkened.

Willow sputtered, trying to pull herself out of the hole she was about to be
buried in. Panicking, she turned and faced the wall, clutching it with the
hope that it had all been a nightmare; one of those horrible nightmares that
she had, like the ones where she was performing something in front of
thousands of people. Only perhaps twenty times worse.

Breathing in deeply, Willow reminded herself that she wasn't a child. And
that she *was* in the presence of one of her best friends. And that the fact
that he was wearing tight black jeans and a black T-shirt-- where in the
world did he get that outfit?!-- wasn't affecting her at all.

Turning slowly back around, she sighed. "I'm sorry," she said, more evenly.
"This didn't... It all took me by surprise, and I had to plan very fast."

"Are you saying you want to get involved?" he repeated, his eyes hot and on
her.

Willow looked at him. "What if I said yes? Would you say that it would ruin
our friendship?"

"No."

"What about... everything?" she asked softly, their gazes locked. Xander
resumed his approach; slow and steady winning the race.

"Everything will work out fine." His mouth curved into a delicious grin. "I
see neither Buffy or Giles is here."

"No... Buffy left me a note. This was a set-up. She gets too involved,"
Willow mumbled, looking away.

"Like we're going to be?" Xander suggested confidently.

A smile broke over Willow's face. "If you like."

"I like."

He pulled her away from the wall and close to him pressing her tightly
against the line of his body. Willow trembled in his arms, waiting.

She didn't need to wait long.

His mouth touched hers lightly, almost casually at first. And then, in an
instant, the kiss became neither light, or casual. Willow melted against him
as he plied her lips with his own, creating the feel of the Fourth of July;
hot, explosive, colorful. His tongue gently touched her lips and she opened
them for him. He sank his tongue into her mouth, and it was Xander and
Willow, as intimate as they had ever been, connected and close as they were
supposed to be.

Willow finally gasped, breaking the kiss.

And then she lifted her mouth for another.

In unison, they smiled against each other's mouths. They were pretty damn
deeply involved, and both of them knew it.

And it was where they wanted to be.

The End

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