"Oh, uhm�Bathroom?" Willow glanced down either end of the hallway. "Bathroom."
"Great." Buffy turned around after taking a few steps, rubbed her nose into the sleeve of her sweatshirt, and smiled at Willow. "Come with? I need to ask you something. In sort-of private."
Walking toward Buffy, Willow pretended to look at her watch and decide if she had time or not. Like I'm gonna say no; but Buffy doesn�t need to know that. "Okay, then we can go down to lunch together." She returned the smile Buffy gave her after a vague, sniffly sound of agreement, books hugged close to her chest.
It wasn't like they could help, but with a binder, two textbooks and a notebook in front of her, it almost felt like Willow's heart wouldn't pound out of her chest. The feeling was wild and heavy, as if she had just run the track for gym class and had an oral presentation next period, which, although she had prepared for it, still filled her with anxiety. It was like that, but not like that, because the anxiety was there, but the dread wasn't. No track, no oral presentation, just Buffy.
Buffy.
Willow sighed. The memory of a series of comments scrawled in pencil at the edge of a page in her French notebook brought a smile to her face and a tightness to her chest. In rounded, hurried handwriting Buffy had explained that yes, she had been late to school, and that her mom was out of town on museum business, and that she'd overslept with nobody to awake her from the cold-medicine induced deep sleep. When Willow, pretending to write out the conjugation of the irregular verb venir, had asked why she even came to school, Buffy scribbled four words Willow could still see in her mind. "Need to see you." Four words and the little smile on Buffy's face before she ducked her head and muffled a quiet sneeze into a tissue.
Having Buffy in class with her was distracting. Having Buffy in class writing her notes was more distracting. Having Buffy sitting next to her, writing notes and wearing that sweatshirt that barely reached the waistline of her jeans and telling Willow she needed to see her, not for slay-duty or homework, just to see her, was more than distracting.
The constant sniffling and sneezing from Buffy throughout class hadn't helped, either. Having a cold made her softer, more delicate, more like somebody that Willow could take care of instead of someone would who have to protect Willow. Besides, Willow thought it was kind of cute the way Buffy would rub her nose and sniff a little before she sneezed. The Buffy-sneezes were cute, too, the way they came in fits and made Buffy rub her nose again and shiver afterwards. If she had her arms around Buffy, Willow thought, instead of around her books, if would feel a lot warmer and less pointy in places and much, much nicer. Willow sighed again, smiling, as she walked toward the bathroom.
"Hey! Daydream girl, over here."
Past the bathroom� "Oh, sorry. I guess I was distracted, thinking about something."
"Yeah? About what?" Buffy pushed the door open to the ladies' room and almost immediately dumped her books on the floor. "Not Internet Stalker�"
"No! So not� He's expunged from my mind. All romantic notions gone for good." Willow bit her lip, then tried for a resolute smile. Not as quick to put her books down as Buffy had been, she leaned against one of the sinks. "Just� thinking. About French class."
"Oh� yeah, real daydreamy stuff." A rummage though her pockets got Buffy a few clean tissues and a container of lip-gloss. She rubbed her nose into one of the tissues, sniffling wetly, and then sighing as she looked in the mirror. "Ugh� I look terrible. This head cold does nothing for my complexion."
"I think you look all right. I mean, a bit pale, but all right."
"Yeah? Not too ick?"
"Not too ick." And the sweatshirt that shows off your navel is pretty cute, just like the tendrils of hair that fall over you neck from your ponytail, not that I'm going to tell you or anything. Willow took a step closer to Buffy. She ignored the soft, pale skin revealed when Buffy leaned up to look closer into the mirror; instead, she concentrated on the frown that deepened on Buffy's forehead. "Not ick at all� Buffy? You� are you all right?"
"Uh-huh�" She frowned harder into the mirror, wrinkled her nose, and then blinked. "I just� oh," Buffy gasped softly as she turned from the mirror to Willow. Her mouth opened to continue the sentence, but when her nose twitched, she blinked again and brought a tissue to her nose. "ah�h'chssh! oh, need to sneeze again."
"Bless you." Reluctantly, as if she were scared all the hidden feeling would spill from her heart, Willow put her books down on the floor. "And again?" she asked, rubbing Buffy's arm softly.
"Agehh�. ehChish! Again." Buffy sniffled wetly, her nose starting to turn pink from the sneezes and twitching when she pressed it to the tissue. "chissh, ch'ssh, ihChishoo!"
"Bless you! Here, take another tissue�" Willow's hand tightened on Buffy's arm, the other one reaching over and pulling a clean tissue from the handful Buffy had taken from her jeans' pocket. "Do you still feel sneezy?"
"tshoo!" Buffy sneezed suddenly in reply, tissue halfway to her nose. "Sorry, I think I'm finished�" Little sniffles got muffled into the tissue. Buffy made an uncertain, thoughtful sound. "Wait, one more time�" She inhaled slowly, little ticklish sounding sniffles and pre-sneeze breaths again muffled into her tissue. "h'chssff! chssh, ch'Sssh, huh�uhh, Chishoo!" With a relieve sigh, Buffy gave her head a shake and then leaned into Willow's touch. "Now I'm done. I really needed to sneeze."
"Sounded like it. And bless you, again." Her fingers relaxed, but everything else inside Willow tensed when Buffy leaned a little closer. The warmth of her body and the light, sweet scent of perfume made Willow want to be closer, but more anxious about being closer to Buffy. She tried rubbing Buffy's arm, to be comforting, but that just made Willow more nervous. "Feel better now?"
"Hmm�" Buffy nudged herself gently closer. "Yeah, better. Hey, Will? That thing about needing to see you?"
"Yeah? You wanted to study, right? Cause I have time, and if you need help, I can �"
"No, I don't� all right, wait, yes, I need help in French, but no, that's not what I wanted to ask you about." Buffy gave her nose one last rub with the tissue. She rested her head against Willow's shoulder and smiled. "Did you want� you and me� you know."
"Oh� Yeah. I want�" Willow tried moving away, but Buffy felt too warm and her arm felt too right around Buffy. "Are you� are you sure?"
"Hey. Would I kill a demon robot for any girl? Besides, I need you to stay with me tonight, this whole being sick thing is weird for me. And..." A little smile curved Buffy's lips. "I've been thinking. A lot. About you, and me, and us, and� I think it could be really good."
"Oh." Her heart was going to burst. Green eyes, the sweetest smile, and warm perfume and Buffy and Willow's heart was going to burst. "Me, too. I've been thinking, too, and now I thinking, and I think, like you, that this is good."
"Come over tonight? We can do French, and then I can distract you from homework and you can distract me from my cold."
"That's good, too."
Her chest hurt from her heart thudding in it, her mouth hurt from smiling so hard and for a second her hand hurt from Buffy holding it so tightly, and there was only one thought in her mind besides how very good everything seemed.
Willow smiled. She was going to spend the rest of the school day pleasantly distracted.
* * * * *
The few periods left after lunch crawled by for Willow. She kept thinking of the soft feel of Buffy's hair tickling her skin when she leaned in close to talk to Buffy. Or how Buffy's hand seemed small and delicate, yet her grip was the strongest Willow had ever felt. Mostly, however, she remembered how warm and right Buffy felt standing close to Willow, with her head on Willow's shoulder. The half-sighing, half-sniffling sound she made when Willow pulled her near touched Willow each time she recalled it throughout the day. She spent the short time in the library after school wanting to stroke Buffy's hair each time she had to muffle a cough or fit of the sneezes into a tissue. Luckily, that time in the library and the time she had to spend at home before meeting Buffy went by more quickly. Not quickly enough, though, to prevent the anxious feeling from tightening in side her once more.
Willow stood in front of the door to the Summers' house wishing she had the pile of books to clutch to her chest once again. Stuffing all the books she needed that night for homework, some pajamas and a change of clothing into a backpack had left her hands empty. Her mind, on the other hand was full. Or maybe that was her heart. It felt like someplace in between the two and it was making Willow's hands shake as she knocked on the door. A few seconds of silence nearly convinced Willow that she had been mistaken and that Buffy, delirious from too much Nyquil, hadn't meant for her to come over at all.
"Will?" Buffy looked a little confused as she opened the door, but the look was soon replaced with a smile. "I thought I heard the door� I think I fell asleep. Come in." She ushered Willow in, closing the door and then scrubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand. "I didn't abandon you out there, did I?"
"Nope. No abandoning on doorsteps whatsoever." Willow placed her bag down, took her coat off, and approached the couch, all hesitantly. "Buffy�. are you doing all right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah�" Rubbing her eyes again, and then her nose, Buffy nodded briefly. "I was feeling all sleepy and stuffy before, but not so bad now, at least with the sleepy." Her nose had turned a pinkish color and her voice sounded more congested than it did earlier. When Buffy flopped down onto the couch, she grabbed her tissue box, and then pushed a blanket aside to make room for Willow.
Usually when Willow saw Buffy, she looked confident, capable and really well dressed, even for slayage. Not that Buffy looked bad now, just different. That same softness Willow had envisioned when first thinking about the difference the head cold had made came to mind again. The sweatshirt she wore to school was now matched with a pair of pink sweatpants. The couch had a few blankets and pillows on it, and a pile of used tissues that Buffy quickly shoved out of the way. It all made for a nice, warm, soft sort of place where Willow could easily curl up with Buffy and share that warmth.
"I thought, maybe we could do some homework first, then have dinner and relax?" Willow smiled. The couch felt just as warm as she thought it would. "I did most of my assignments during study hall � but I saved my French to do with you."
"Cool. Though, I was mostly thinking, think�" Buffy paused to rub the tip of her nose into the back of her hand. A few strands of hair fell into her face that she tried to shrug out between rubbing her nose and sniffling stuffily. As soon as she pulled her hand away, Buffy's eyes snapped shut and she gasped softly. "he-eh! ehCHishh!" The quick, wet sneeze got directed toward her shoulder. Buffy snagged a couple tissues from the box to rub her nose again.
"Bless you!"
"hitChff!" Sneezy expression still on her face Buffy waived away the second blessing Willow started to give her. "ihchssh! Chshhih!" She sneezed quickly again, this time into the tissues, and rubbed her nose until the tickle had her taking tiny, anticipatory breaths. "h'h'chssh, Chishh, heh�ch'shoo! oh�" The tissues muffled a soft nose-blow and a second sigh of relief.
This time, when Buffy's hair fell into her face, Willow scooted closer to brush it away. Touching Buffy's hair, she petted it gently. "Your cold sounds pretty intense."
"Special slayer variety," Buffy mumbled into the tissues, "lots of sneezies," she added quickly, leaning forward into the tissues with a "chishih!" followed by a series of smaller, rapid sneezes. "h'chih, chish, chish, ihchishhih!" A shiver passed through Buffy's body, curling her closer in on herself as she blew her nose again. Uncurling, Buffy leaned into the petting and glanced up to where Willow's fingers stroked her hair. "That's nice�"
"Yeah? Helps with the sneezies?" Willow suddenly felt self-conscious; Buffy's notice had made touch more cautious.
"Yeah. Lots," she replied and smiled when Willow stroked her hair again. "But, uhm, not as much as you do."
