This Is How It Goes

"Don't go putting yourself on a pedestal just `cause you're marching in your own denial parade," Faith said angrily. "I know what you want, B."

Faith moved fluidly into Buffy's space, putting one hand on her hip.

"Slaying gets you hot. I get you hot. And no amount of pretending is gonna make that go away." Faith cocked her head at Buffy, sneering slightly. "You know what your problem is? You think too much. Pull that stick out of your ass and loosen up. Or, better yet," she grinned dangerously, "take that stick and shove it somewhere else. See how good it feels." Faith emphasized the last part by moving closer.

Buffy shoved Faith away angrily, trying to ignore how her pulse began racing with something distinctly different from anger. "I would call you crude but that would be the understatement of the century."

Faith held up her hands in mock surrender and grinned, dimples flashing. "Fine. We gonna slay some vamps tonight, or do you just wanna keep being a self-righteous bitch?"

Before she even knew what had happened to her right arm, Buffy hauled off and punched Faith in the jaw.

"Fuck you," she spat, suddenly furious.

Faith, whose head had been snapped to the side from Buffy's punch, rubbed her chin, touched her lip and brought the tip of her finger away red. She laughed mirthlessly, gave Buffy a twisted grin.

"There's my girl."

Buffy didn't want to respond to that, so she punched her again. Faith, expecting it this time, blocked it with her forearm and let loose with a sharp left hook. Buffy stumbled back and Faith followed up by sweeping Buffy's legs out from beneath her.

Faith moved quickly, straddling Buffy and pinning her arms with her knees before Buffy had even realized she was on the ground. She looked at Buffy, still smirking confidently, and very deliberately ground her hips down against Buffy's pelvis. Buffy bit her lip and tried unsuccessfully to stop the deep groan that escaped her. Faith leaned over, her face inches from Buffy's.

"Don't play, B," Faith said quietly, her eyes bright and her face hard. "You want this as much as I do. Saying you don't isn't gonna do shit when those nasty little desires come out."

Buffy wrenched one of her arms free, shoved Faith off of her and flipped them over, reversing their positions. Faith looked unsurprised and annoyingly content to have Buffy straddling her. She placed her hands on Buffy's thighs and slowly tilted her own hips upward. Buffy glared down at her, breathing heavily, anger and desire and frustration all vying for dominance in her body.

"Why are you doing this?" she gritted out.

"Why aren't you?" Faith shot back. The other Slayer suddenly sat up, arms snaking around Buffy's waist, her face abruptly inches away. Buffy, despite her anger, felt her breath hitch.

"What are you waiting for, B?" Faith whispered. She was staring intensely at Buffy, her smile gone.

Buffy realized the answers she had for that question became irrelevant when Faith was looking at her like that.

She leaned forward and met Faith's eager mouth, hard and bruising in her anger. A clash of tongues and lips and teeth as they wrapped around each other, as Buffy's body began humming with every brush of bare skin. Faith's arms were holding her impossibly close, pressing them together as though the centimeter between them was one too many. The other Slayer's arms moved down, hands spread on the small of Buffy's back and pulled in, firm and fast. Buffy felt the pressure of Faith's lower stomach, rubbing against her through her jeans, and she groaned helplessly. They rocked against each other, searching for more friction, moaning breathlessly as they slid through each other's mouths.

Buffy abruptly recognized that the ache she felt between her legs was nothing compared to the need to make Faith feel what she had felt yesterday. It was a pure, instinctive urge — she needed to touch her.

Buffy moved her hands onto Faith's shoulders and pushed forward, lowering them down onto the ground. She stretched out, spreading her body between Faith's thighs and letting herself lie fully on top of the brunette. Faith let out a surprised huff of air as her back hit the grass, as Buffy moved her mouth to the line of Faith's jaw and tasted sweat and sweetness, as she moved her hips forward into the warm center between Faith's legs. She slid her hand down the trembling plane of Faith's stomach and snapped open the buttons of her leather pants, drinking in the other girl's small gasp. Fingers slipped into the tight space between pants and the soft fabric of Faith's underwear, stroking her gently, feeling the moisture seeping through, how damp they were already. And then Buffy froze, fully realizing what was happening.

She stopped moving her hand completely, raising her head from the comfortable dip between Faith's neck and shoulder.

Faith twisted her head to look at her, confused.

"B?" she asked, slightly breathlessly.

"I've never done this before," Buffy said in a quick rush of words, feeling her face flush with embarrassment and a thick twisting in her stomach. Great. This is fucking great. Insult her, physically abuse her, straddle her, begin to have sex with her and then, then, back off because of raging insecurities.

The lines in Faith's face smoothed out in comprehension. One of the corners of her mouth was curling up and Buffy averted her eyes, not wanting to see that contemptuous smirk.

"I want to, but ..." Buffy whispered anxiously. "I — I don't know what to do."

Faith cupped Buffy's face, turning it towards her. There was no contemptuous smirk, just a slow, easy smile. She brought their mouths together, soft lips pressed against each other in reassurance. Faith moved her hand down Buffy's arm, fingers slowly brushing against the inside of her forearm and grasped her wrist lightly, pulling it out.

"Yes, you do," Faith whispered huskily back against Buffy's mouth. Faith put her hand over Buffy's, fingers intertwining, and guided it under the elastic of her own underwear. Buffy's fingers slipped effortlessly into wet folds and they both gasped with the feeling. God, Buffy thought, almost astonished. Her fingers felt as if they were sliding into molten liquid. The sheer heat of it, the searing moisture, was pulling her in like some kind of magnetism. She slipped into Faith like a perfect pair of jeans. And she never wanted it to end.

Faith shut her eyes and tilted her head back as a shuddering growl went through her. Buffy began moving her fingers slowly, letting Faith's body lead her. She slipped a fingertip over Faith's clit and the brunette let out a whimpering moan, her legs bending and curling up around the other girl. Buffy felt the warmth of Faith's thighs around her, felt the way she was moving desperately against her palm, and experienced a roaring surge of desire. Becoming bolder, she grazed her teeth along Faith's collarbone, biting down roughly, and felt Faith's sharp intake of breath.

"Fuck, Buffy," Faith hissed, her voice cracking.

Buffy continued kissing her way up Faith's neck, biting more as she realized that Faith grew wetter when she did it. She felt the same rush she had felt in the library, that fierce revelation that she was making Faith make those noises, that she was the cause of the wet heat she was currently moving through. Faith was right — she did know how to do this. The other Slayer was losing control under Buffy's hands and mouth, and it made her feel strong, made her feel proud. She couldn't comprehend how satisfied, how aroused it made her.

Buffy followed her instincts and slid a finger inside, reaching deep, savoring the warmth and tightness that drew her in. She pushed another in and began moving in and out of Faith, drawing shuddering moans each time she thrust in, palm pressing into Faith's clit. She took her other hand and slid it underneath Faith's tight tank top, raking fingernails across her stomach muscles and sliding up to cup her breast. Faith gasped and bucked her hips violently, colliding with Buffy and causing her to moan into Faith's neck. She felt Faith's entire body shaking underneath hers, felt her shallow, ragged breathing and her hips rocking back and forth, hitting the ground.

Buffy leaned back and looked at her. She suddenly realized, and it was shocking because it was so obvious, how beautiful Faith was. Faith herself knew, probably a little too well, how hot she was, how sexy, but Buffy looked and saw a soft and vulnerable beauty that she just hadn't noticed before. Underneath her hands, Faith was just a girl, no liquid predatory gaze, no swagger, no cynical smirk, just a girl who was, by the way her gasps had become moans and her hips were rolling, reaching a happy place.

Faith snapped her eyes open as she began that steep ascent, as Buffy moved insider of her harder and quicker, and Buffy saw a soft and tender urgency in her deep brown eyes that made her heart constrict. She thrust into her one more time, her hand surrounded in that exquisite heat, and then rubbed Faith's clit between her thumb and forefinger. The brunette came swiftly with a soft, uneven cry, her eyes screwed tightly shut, her body shuddering around Buffy's fingers and her hands clutching the other Slayer's arms as if she was clinging to her. Buffy let her ride it out, still gazing at her with a profound and uncertain fascination.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She had been furious with Faith just minutes ago — this was supposed to be angry, rough, emotionless sex, not the cause of some Faith-related epiphany. As Faith slumped limply to the ground, eyes closed, Buffy slowly took her hand out of Faith's jeans. She took her other hand and cupped Faith's cheek, moving her thumb gently over her mouth and jaw, causing the brunette's eyes to open again. Buffy leaned down and looked at her briefly, before kissing her tenderly, slowly, trying to tell her something she didn't even know herself. Mouths met and there was no battling, no urgency, just softness and warmth. When she drew back, she found Faith looking at her with an expression she couldn't place.

"B, don't," Faith said softly, jaggedly.

There was a brightness in her eyes, her tone and face almost pleading. Buffy felt something twist in the pit of her stomach.

Buffy opened her mouth to respond with something, she honestly didn't know what, and then promptly closed it as she felt that unwelcome tingle running down her spine. She snapped her head around just in time to feel a steel boot connect uncomfortably with her face. She was thrown off Faith and smashed into a nearby headstone. Buffy heard her name being called in the distance and tried to regain her bearings, ears ringing and stomach lurching. Thank God for Slayer perks, she thought, as she stood up and found her legs stable.

She saw Faith fighting viciously (look away, she thought, look away now) with one vampire, another one rapidly closing, and then turned to her right and saw another attempting to sneak up on her. He was large and distinctly smelly, blonde mullet and Kenny Chesney t-shirt barely covering his stomach.

"Sorry to interrupt your little sexcapade, sweetheart," he leered.

"Fortunately for all involved, our little sexcapade was just ending. If you wanted to have some alone time with Mr. Chesney, though, I'm sure we could take a breather," Buffy said cheerfully.

He drew up, indignant. "Kenny's got more talent in his pinky finger than you do in your entire body, Slayer."

"Oh? Can he do this?" Buffy asked innocently, and twisted her body into a roundhouse kick that sent the vampire into a tree. "`Cause I kinda doubt it. Country singers nowadays just don't have the same kung-fu moves they used to."

The vampire scrambled to his feet inelegantly, smirking. He looked inappropriately cocky for just having been thrown across the cemetery. "So, Slayer, I bet you haven't been bagging as many vamps as you used to, huh? They all seem to be running from you and your girlfriend?"

Buffy stared. "You got any useful information, or are you just babbling `cause you think your voice is pretty? Which, FYI, it's not."

"If I did, you really think I'd tell you about it? You want answers, you're gonna have to talk to the man of the town. I'm just the ignorant messenger, girly."

Buffy paused at the mention of someone pulling the strings, frowning, but then realized that the vampire really wasn't going to tell her anything.

"Yeah, well, you're about to be the ignorant pile of dust messenger," Buffy said, and let loose with another kick to the stomach.

He responded with a backhand, stronger than Buffy had expected. He was also unexpectedly fast, Buffy realized with a sinking feeling. She was barely blocking his punches. That's the last time I underestimate an overweight, mullet-sporting sleaze, Buffy thought.

She dodged a kick and took advantage of his lack of balance by slamming into him and sending him careening into a gravestone. Buffy didn't give him a chance to get up, kicking him in the face and placing her foot on his neck, pinning him. She swooped down with her stake, and was abruptly sent flying back by a well-aimed cowboy boot. Buffy pushed herself off the ground and looked wildly around for the other Slayer.

"Faith!" she yelled, and realized with no small amount of anxiety that she was completely alone with the vampire. "Dammit," Buffy hissed angrily.

She glanced around, looking for available weapons, and picked up a hefty tree branch.

"Come on, Beavis," Buffy said, keeping her voice light and swinging the branch threateningly at the leering vamp. "Let's you and me continue the vamp population's downward spiral."

Several minutes later, Buffy limped away from a considerable pile of dust. Her shoulder was stinging and her ankle had twisted trying to dodge one of his punches.

"Oh hey, Faith, let's have sex in the middle of a cemetery and then you can run off and leave me to get impaled on my own branch after an awkward moment," she mumbled irritably. "God, I wish I had normal people problems."

Chapter 6: The Stuff of Bad Indian Soap Operas

Author's Notes: Very short and possibly frustrating chapter here. But I promise that the next one will be both longer and juicier.

Buffy entered the library the next day, still limping slightly, to find Willow staring at a history textbook.

"Hey, Wil," she said tiredly.

Willow glanced up and flinched. "Wow, Buffy, you look horrible." Buffy gave her a look. "Um, okay, not the most flattering greeting, maybe. But points for candor," she said sheepishly.

Buffy sighed. "Had a rough night. Faith decided to split in the middle of a fight `cause, hey, she just wasn't being a big enough flaky ho bag."

Willow blinked at Buffy's sudden vitriol, looking at her curiously as she sat down across the table.