TITLE: Magical Interlude

AUTHOR: Angelina

EMAIL: angelina2006@hotmail.com

DISCLAIMER: They're not mine they're Joss's. Don't give me any credit whatsoever.

SUMMARY: Buffy tries her hand at spell-casting, with interesting results

SPOILERS: None really, set in Season 4

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is in response to the challenge issued by Quin AGES ago. I have only just got round to writing it. Hope you enjoy it.


It was a Friday night and the gang was all at Giles' house. A false alarm regarding an impending Armageddon situation made then feel a little better about having no plans to go out. Xander and Anya were seated on the couch flicking through channels looking for something remotely interesting to watch. Buffy and Willow were in the kitchen indulging in a little smooch-fest to pass the time. Giles had disappeared, saying something about the shower.

Remembering why they'd gone into the kitchen in the first place, Buffy and Willow quickly rustled up some snacks and headed back into the living-room before a ravenous Xander came and interrupted them. Xander and Anya took the food offered to them without removing their eyes from the TV set. As the couch was taken Buffy and Willow had to make do with sharing a single chair. Not that they were complaining as Willow wiggled into a comfortable position on Buffy's lap. She leaned her head against Buffy's shoulder and reached for the bowl of popcorn sitting precariously on the arm of the chair. She misjudged the distance and ended up knocking the bowl to the floor and scattering the contents everywhere.

"Now, that wouldn't have happened if you could freeze time." Buffy said as Willow sighed and got up to clean up the mess. "You could have frozen the popcorn in mid-air then moved the bowl to catch it. Why don't you learn how to do that?"

Willow had finished clearing up and looked at Buffy with a knowing expression. "You've been watching 'Charmed' again haven't you?" Buffy nodded. "Buffy, I told you, I'm not that kind of witch, I'm not even sure that kind of witch exists."

"Sure it does, you can do telekinesis!" Buffy protested.

"Yeah, with pencils and stakes. It's hardly the same as what goes on on that show."

"Pity, freezing time would be a really cool power," said Buffy. She thought for a moment before continuing. "So, would you say the Charmed witches are more realistic than...say…Sabrina?"

"Oh God, not Sabrina too?" Willow was disgusted. "Next you'll be telling me that you like Bewitched." Buffy looked sheepish. "Oh dear!" said Willow in despair. "Well, out of that lot I'd say that Charmed is preferable - at least they seem to know about the basics of Wiccan principles." she admitted.

"Oh, wait, wait, I know this…harm no-one and don't do spells for personal gain!" Buffy looked pleased with herself.

"Yeah, but they only seem to adhere to that when it suits them. That older one, who used to be in 90210, she's always moving stuff to save herself getting up. And the middle one freezes time constantly…didn't she get a job in the first episode by freezing time?"

"Her name is Piper, and you seem to know an awful lot about the show for someone who doesn't watch it."

"I watch it so I can criticise it - just like you do with Xena: 'Oh yeah, like it's possible to get your body into that position and kick 3 guys at the same time…this show is sooo unrealistic'" Willow mimicked Buffy's voice.

"Anyway, I'd much rather have Sabrina or Samantha's powers. They could do anything just by wiggling a finger or a nose."

"I thought Samantha was cute." Xander joined in the conversation. "But I don't know why you watch all those fantasy shows. You should watch something educational…like game-shows."

"Game-shows?" asked Buffy and Willow together.

"Don't scoff, I've learned some of my best useless trivia from Jeopardy and Millionaire." Xander protested. "And the best catch-phrases come from game-shows - 'Is that your final answer?' - classic!"

"I like those Japanese game-shows where they torture the people until they cry or give-up. They put them in tubs of ice and then make them drink gallons of beer. It's fun." The others looked at Anya, not really surprised that she liked this sort of entertainment. Just then, Buffy's sensitive hearing picked up on something and she gestured to Xander to mute the TV.

"~ And we sang shangalang
~ and we ran with the gang
~ singing doowopedoobeedowah"

All TV talk was forgotten as the Scoobies dissolved in laughter at Giles' less than impressive singing voice and his dubious taste in music.

 

~*~*~*~

Later that night Buffy and Willow were walking home together through the park. The subject of magic had cropped up again.

"So, can anyone do magic?" asked Buffy.

"Well…I guess so. It's a matter of having the correct ingredients and the correct incantations for whatever you want to do."

"Doesn't sound too hard…do you think I could do it?" Buffy asked casually.

"Do you want to?" Willow was surprised. Buffy stopped walking.

"I don't know, it's just…you're so interested in magic and I want to be able to share that with you." Buffy shuffled her feet, embarrassed.

"That's so sweet," said Willow, slipping her arms around Buffy's waist and rubbing noses with her. "Tell you what, we'll try floating a pencil when we get in OK?"

"Really? Cool!" exclaimed Buffy, hugging Willow enthusiastically. She released her and was about to start walking but paused, captivated. Willow turned to see what she was staring at.

"It's so beautiful, lit up by the moon like that," Buffy whispered. "What kind is it?"

Willow smiled and took Buffy's hand. She leaned in close to her ear. "It's a Willow tree."

Buffy looked at her solemnly. "Well, no wonder it's weeping, it doesn't hold a candle to you." She kissed Willow slowly and thoroughly. They parted, both still tingling from their encounter and continued on their way.

~*~*~*~

Later on, in their room, Willow attempted to teach Buffy how to float a pencil. Being the slayer meant her focus and concentration were sharper than those of mere mortals so it was easier than Willow had feared. After an hour she was able to lift the pencil and hold it for a millisecond before it fell back down.

"God! I'm exhausted now," said Buffy. "I feel like I've been training for a week!"

"It takes a lot of mental effort," said Willow. "You did really well, I'm so proud of you, you little witch!" And she rewarded Buffy with a kiss on the nose. Buffy glowed under Willow's praise.

They both got ready for bed. Once they were under the covers and comfortable Willow brought up something that had occurred to her earlier in the evening.

"Do you think that Xander and Anya will last?"

"Who knows?" said Buffy, yawning.

"I mean, she's so emotionally closed off and weird and kind of bitchy."

"Oh, coz he's had such a string of warm, well adjusted relationships."

"Ahem!"

"You of course are the exception to that rule." Buffy added diplomatically.

"Thank you, but I suppose you're right. Not even counting super-natural encounters - Faith and Cordelia aren't shining examples of …anything really."

"I wouldn't say he had a relationship with Faith."

"True…I just wish that they'd admit that they do actually like each other." Willow snuggled into Buffy's arms and they drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~

The next evening, Willow was returning from her wicca group with her new friend Tara. She was taking her to Giles' to show her a book she knew he had. Plus she knew Buffy would be there training. Willow had been in classes all day then the wicca group so she was looking forward to seeing Buffy. But not to seeing quite as much as she did when she opened Giles' front door. For there, in all her glorious nakedness, stood Buffy. Holding a book.

"Fucking holy God bloody Jesus hell!!!!" exclaimed Willow before she could stop herself. Buffy was about to approach her when she realised they were not alone. Tara stood in the doorway, open-mouthed, gaping at Buffy. Buffy quickly covered her chest with an arm and her nether regions with the large book she'd been holding. Willow looked frantically from Buffy to Tara - realising that she really should say something here.

"Ummm, Buffy this is Tara from my group. Tara this is my Buffy, I mean, this is my girlfriend Buffy. She's not usually so…so…"

"N…n…naked?" asked Tara, practically drooling.

Buffy almost waved 'Hi' to Tara then realised she'd be uncovering something if she did so decided against it.

"Yes, naked, she usually has more clothes than this." Willow did not like the way Tara was looking appreciatively at Buffy's body one little bit. "Look, maybe you should go, I'll bring that book for you next week," she said as she bundled Tara physically out of the door and closed it.

"Bye!" called Buffy. "It was nice meeting you."

Willow looked at her, incredulous. "What the hell is going on? Why are you wearing no clothes in Giles' living-room?"

Buffy held up the book, apprehensively. "I was trying to cast a spell."

"What!?!"

"I was bored, Giles went to the store so I started flicking through this book and I found this spell about uncovering somebody's true feelings and I thought about what you were saying last night so I thought I'd just read it through and…"

"And 'poof' all your clothes disappeared?" Buffy nodded. "Buffy," Willow said with a sigh, "You have to be really careful when you're casting spells - instead of uncovering Xander's feelings you uncovered yourself…completely!"

"Yes Willow, I am aware of that." Buffy said, testily. "Can you fix it?" She turned on her best puppy-dog eyes.

"Maybe I don't want to fix it." Willow looked at her suggestively. "Maybe I like you this way."

"But do you think Giles will?"

"You have a point." said Willow. "Don't you have a change of clothes here?"

"I took them all home last week to wash them" Buffy whined. "Can't you magic my clothes back?"

"I have no idea where you sent them…or how. So I can't get them back." Willow smirked. "You'll just have to wear something of Giles' until we get home."

"No way! I'm allergic to tweed."

"Do you want to walk all the way home with just a book to cover your dignity?"

"Come on then." Buffy grumbled heading for the stairs.

 

~*~*~*~

In Giles' bedroom, Willow was rifling through his drawers, throwing garments at Buffy.

"I am NOT wearing these!"

Willow turned to see Buffy holding up the pair of blue Y-Fronts she'd picked out.

"Well, I'm sorry, but Giles doesn't have any bikini briefs…thankfully."

Buffy sighed and climbed into the underwear, trying not to think of Giles doing the same thing. She pulled on a white Oxford shirt and rolled up the sleeves. She started to do up the buttons when she caught Willow staring at her.

"What?" she demanded, expecting some jibe about the underwear.

"You look so damn sexy in that shirt." Willow growled, grabbing a handful of said shirt and yanking Buffy toward her for a kiss. Buffy was surprised but didn't object. The sound of the front door brought them back to reality. Buffy quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and rolled about a foot of material up at the bottom.

"I won't bother with shoes, we'll get Giles to drive us home."

After a quick, and edited version of events, Giles did just that. The sight of Buffy in his clothes was a bit disturbing.

Once they were safely back in their room, Buffy discovered that Willow seemed to really like the Huckleberry Finn look on her. Although, the clothes didn't stay on for long. After a game of Tom and Huck they showered together and decided to have an early night for a change. As they lay spooned together they discussed the day's events.

"I think I'll leave the magic to you in future, Will."

"I think that's wise," said Willow sleepily.

"And I'll stick to watching Xena - there's not much that could get me into trouble on that show."

"Unless you start throwing a metal ring at people and cutting off the blood to their brain…the outfit might look good on you though…" Willow's voice tailed off. Buffy decided to let her sleep. She kissed her shoulder.

"Goodnight babe."

"Mmmm, night." Willow's breathing became slow and even. Buffy lay awake, still turning the day over in her head. She wondered where her clothes had ended up. Willow shifted and started mumbling. Buffy's ears pricked up - this was usually entertaining.

"Mmmm…Buffy…blue underpants…yeah…sexy….ohhh…."

Buffy's eyebrows were practically in her hair. Hmmm, maybe when she returned Giles' clothes there would be one item missing. She smiled and settled down to sleep, dreaming of blue underpants and skirts made from bookmarks…and Willow of course.

The End


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