"An Interesting Concept" - Part One, "Halloween"
By TrinityLast
E-mail:
trinitylast@wambtac.com
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I live with my parents. If you sue me, I’d have to
live with you. Something tells me you won’tlike that.
Rating - NC-17, just to be safe
Feedback: *ahem* I am officially begging: "Please, please, please!!"
Note: I see lots of Halloween fic, but none that does what I want it to do. This
is just for my own happiness. Lots of B/G goodness, some X/A goodness, and some
W/O goodness.
Don’t try to actually fit this into the timeline. I started this between season
3 and 4, so it’s running on the following rumors:
Oh, and, and!
[this] shows thoughts. *this* shows italics.
* * * * * * * * * *
Note2: I know, I know. Here we are, done with Season 6. I didn’t even know there were B/G sites when I wrote this, I just wrote it for me, and the other day I was cleaning out my files and I found it. It was still fun for me to read, and I started working on it again...and then I wondered if I should finish it, but I wasn’t sure. So, I’m sharing, and if *you* think I should finish it, I will. And if you hate it, I’ll stick it back in the drawer for another year. :p
Willow’s still witchy, though stronger than she was that season, because I liked the whole magic angle. And Xander is still running on the whole bomb/hellbeast concept, so he’s confident in a fight. He and Anya are both attending college too, because I didn’t know any better.
This fic is based on Cordelia’s comment, season one: "I thought you might be in a gang or something."
It just hit me... "I bet that’d be *fun* to write!"
So I did. :p No, it isn’t AU. Just read it.
Chapter One
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"So, what are *you* going as?"
Willow groaned and flopped onto her bed. She glared at Buffy. "I have no idea. Oz and I want to match, but everything we come up with sounds dumb out loud."
"Hey! At least you have someone to do this with." Buffy pouted and threw the catalog she’d been flipping through across the room. "Me? Solo girl. Xander has Anya, you have Oz. I have...hey! I could borrow Xander’s ‘sock puppet of love’!" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Well, Giles doesn’t have anyone to go with either, you know. So, it’s not like you’ll be the only one in the group without a date. Spike, either."
Buffy started to say something but was cut off by Xander bursting into the room, Anya on his heels. She sat down on Buffy’s bed and glared at Xander, who just stood in the middle of the room looking panicked.
"Help!"
Buffy and Willow exchanged a look, then glanced at Anya for help who just shook her head in annoyance.
Buffy sighed. [Ok, I’ll bite.] "With....?"
Xander dropped onto Buffy’s desk chair, straddling it. "We can’t agree on a costume idea, and we’ve been working on it all day."
"Yeah? Well, you won’t get help here. Oz and I haven’t clue. Buffy either."
Anya huffed. "Well, we can’t show up at this thing without costumes. It’s hard enough to get invitations."
"Yeah." Xander personified glum. "When I talked to Cordy in LA, she actually squealed. Said it was the most exclusive country club around, and she’d always wanted to go."
Willow bit her lip. "Anyone know what Giles is doing? Maybe that would help, we could go from there?"
"No idea, but we could ask. He wants us all to go over tonight anyway. Weekly update."
"What time?"
Buffy glanced at her clock and her eyes widened. "Um...right about now."
The four students exchanged glances, then bolted for the door as one.
Chapter Two
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"None of you has any ideas at all?" Giles looked over his glasses at them, watching them each shake their heads.
"Nope."
"Nada."
"Zip."
"Less than that, even."
Giles sighed. "And I had asked you here to help me come up with something. I seem to be at a loss for ideas. I’ve never really done this holiday before." He sank into a chair and they all looked at each other glumly.
"Hey! What’s with the long faces?" Spike slammed the door and looked around the room. "Please tell me this isn’t another bloody apocalypse. I just got my costume!"
Everyone looked up at that, but only Giles spoke.
"What are you going as?"
Spike grinned. "I’m goin’ as a street thug."
Buffy’s eyebrows furrowed. "And this will be different than your regular look, how?"
Spike pulled out a large bag and dumped the contents on the coffee table.
Faded blue jeans, white tank, and an oversized flannel shirt could be seen, along with odds and ends of jewelry.
"I’m breakin’ with my ‘big bad’ style and goin’ with the normal street look. I might even blend a bit, don’t you think?"
Everyone nodded, and as Spike put the clothes back in the bag, Willow’s face lit.
"Hey!"
Everyone turned to her.
"Why don’t we all do that?"
Anya raised her eyebrows. "Do what? Put things away? I’m not cleaning Giles’ house. No offence, Giles."
Giles snickered. "None taken, though you lot are the ones to mess it, most of the time."
"No!" Willow was practically bouncing, and Oz shifted her off his lap before she caused a problem. A big problem. "No, I mean, we all go as street thugs. But as a group. Because we are. A group, that is." Willow stopped and turned to Oz. "You’re supposed to stop me when I do that." He just smiled.
Xander blinked twice, then frowned as he deciphered what she’d said. "You mean, we go as a gang? Like, a street gang?"
Buffy suddenly giggled. "It’s perfect. What was it Cordy said when she first came to us for help? ‘I was hoping you were in a gang’? And, it’s easy. We all have stuff that fits that, we wouldn’t even have to buy anything. Just make sure we all match." She turned to Giles. "Also, lets not forget our history with holidays. This’ll make it easier for us to all be armed, since it’ll be part of our costumes. So, we’ll be ready for anything Hellmouthy." She smiled deviously. "And...it’s an excuse to let our inner Rippers run wild."
Giles eyes lit at that idea, but only Buffy caught it.
"Y-yes, well.." He looked around. "Do we all agree that we go as this...what did you call it?" He turned back to Xander.
"A gang. We go as a gang."
"Yes. Right. Do we all agree?"
Everyone nodded, the girls all looking excited at the idea. Xander looked thoughtful, and Oz was...Oz.
"Right then. Why don’t you all run home and see what you have that would work, and we’ll meet back here in an hour to try it out."
Everyone agreed and left except Spike, who had his, and so promptly went into the kitchen to steal a beer, while Giles headed to his loft to look through his clothes.
Chapter Three
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When the gang gathered back together an hour later, they were all carrying large bags of clothes and jewelry. It was decided that the guys would change in the living room and the girls upstairs.
When they all gathered in the living room to check each other out, there were many grins exchanged, but no surprised looks. After fighting alongside each other for so long, the idea that they could all look tough was no shock. The main focus was immediately that they all match.
They decided to take turns, each person standing while the others fixed and critiqued the costume.
Willow stood first, wearing a black leather miniskirt and an oversized flannel shirt over a white tee. The flannel was unbuttoned and tied at the waist. She was wearing a large silver charm around her neck that lay against her breasts which were accentuated by the wonderbra she wore. The ensemble was topped with black combat boots. Her hair was swept into a loose bun, with pieces hanging down.
"Well?" She spun nervously and waited.
Spike was the first to speak.
"Shit, red, if you always dressed like that, I’d’v turned you in high school, just to get a taste."
Oz shot him a deadly look, but Spike just grinned at him.
"Uh...thanks, I guess." Willow looked around. "Well? Do I need to change anything?"
Buffy looked her over with a critical eye. "Looks good, but that skirt is pretty tight. Where are your weapons?"
Willow smiled and reached into her right boot, pulling out a streamlined silver dagger. Then reached into the left side of her flannel and pulled out two thin stakes and a vial of holy water. Finally she reached into her hair and pulled out what had looked like a hair stick, but was really a very thin glass vial, filled with some sort of green liquid. At the questioning glances, she smiled. "It’s a kind of supernatural flashlight. No batteries necessary."
Buffy chuckled and Giles, as her mentor, smiled supportively.
Xander nodded. "Ok, I think yours is a winner. Who’s with me?" All hands went up.
Anya looked around. "Ok! Next!"
Giles stood, and Buffy had to catch her breath. The jeans were just a little tight, and the gray T-shirt set off his green eyes. Add a red button down shirt worn open and Buffy was trying not to drool. [Something I seem to be trying not to do a lot around him these days.] He was also wearing black combat boots...in fact, Buffy realized, looking around, they all were. It made sense, really. Black blended with night, and they’d all learned from experience that combat boots were good for cemetery work. Kept the dirt out, never slipped, and made no sound outside. And since they’d all wanted to match....
"Well?"
Buffy snapped back into focus. [Giles’ costume. Pay attention.] Her eyes wandered down. [No, not that much attention. Stop it! Bad Slayer!]
"I think it’s perfect. I won’t even ask where your weapons are." She made a point to focus on his face and noticed the silver crucifix in his ear. [Augh! Just kill me now.] She bit her lip.
Giles smiled at her and looked around. Everyone else nodded their agreement, and he sat.
Xander stood and closed his eyes. "Ok, give it to me straight. How bad is it?"
Willow giggled and Spike just grinned. Then they all took a serious look.
Black pants, dark red t-shirt. Denim jacket and a silver cross completed the simple look, along with his boots.
"Actually, it’s very good." Spike raised an eyebrow. "I’m impressed."
Xander’s eyes got very big. "Did *Spike* just compliment me?" He looked around at the nodding heads. "He did, didn’t he?" Xander looked at Giles. "Is the world ending?"
Giles chuckled and shook his head as Xander sat back down. Anya stood, wearing a pair of skin-tight blue jeans, a low-cut red tank top and a denim jacket that matched Xander’s. The sides of her hair were pulled back with a few pieces falling into her face, and she wore an ornate jeweled cross around her neck. Around the left ankle of her combat boot, just below her jeans cuff, was a small silver anklet with little dangling charms.
Buffy eyed the jeans and raised an eyebrow. "Weapons, remember? Where on earth would you put them?"
Anya smiled slyly. She reached into her jacket and produced a stake. Then she glanced at the guys and reached into her cleavage, pulling out a vial of holy water. She winked at Spike, who was eyeing her appreciatively, and then pulled a thin wooden cross from under her right jean cuff, along with another stake.
Buffy grinned at her. "I think the guys’ll like that." She glanced at Xander who was shooting murderous looks at Spike.
Anya grinned and sat down on Xander’s lap. He turned his attention back to her, shooting glares at Spike every few minutes.
Oz stood and turned in a slow circle. He was wearing jeans and a forest green shirt with a black jean jacket. His combat boots were thicker, making him a bit taller so that he stood even with Willow. His hair was yellow again, and he wore a small gold hoop in his left ear.
"Oz! I didn’t know you wore an earring!" Buffy stared at it and decided she liked it. It fit with his personality. Quiet, but always there.
"What do we think?" Giles looked around the group at the approving faces. "Yes, Oz, I believe that will be fine." Oz nodded and sat down, his facial expression never changing until he glanced at Willow and smiled. Just a little one, but it was there.
"Ok, do we really need to check Spike’s?" Buffy’s
question was met with a chorus of no’s, so she stood up. "So...last, but not
least." She looked down at herself. "At least, I hope not."
Her hair was in a bun with a few pieces out in what seemed to be the theme for the girls. She was wearing black leather pants, a very low-cut cropped blue silk T-shirt and a leather jacket...though she took it off after a second so they could see her silver metal-loop belt. Her cross was ornate and heavy, antiqued silver with intricate carvings. It lay in her cleavage, sparkling and drawing attention. Her boots were also thick soled, giving her another inch, and were much more stylish than the others, since she owned several pairs. Her’s had small silver catches for the laces which stood out and made the boots look a bit more ‘petite’ than they were.
Giles tried very hard not to look at her cross. [‘Hard’ being the operative word. Down, old man!] He checked over the rest of the outfit and inwardly groaned. [If she wears that, I’ll never make it through the party. Those pants are worse than her most revealing skirts.] She turned and he got an view of her ass. [Yea gods.]
"Well?" Giles snapped out of his reverie to see Buffy looking down at him expectantly. "Do you think it works?"
[Yes, I believe that we have just proven, once again, that ‘it’ works fine, thank you.] He bit down another groan and simply nodded, not trusting his voice.
"Good. So, we’re all set!" Everyone nodded and Willow stood up. "What time do we want to meet here?"
"Here?" Anya frowned. "I thought we were meeting at the party?"
"Well, we should all go together, since we’re all dressing alike, don’t you think?" Willow looked around, and the others all agreed. "So..."
Oz slipped his arm around Willow’s waist. "I can drive in my van." Buffy nodded, and shot a glance at Giles, who seemed to be staring at her. "Ok, so...the party starts at seven. How do we feel about six thirty?" Another chorus of ‘sure’ and everyone left to go home.
Chapter Four
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Thursday night was Halloween and everyone gathered at Giles’. They were on their way by six forty-five, and were at the party half an hour outside of town at the country club by seven-thirty due to traffic. Oz parked and the Scoobies stood in the parking lot for another ten minutes, checking over costumes and making sure they all were armed with invitations and weapons. They’d decided on the way over to call themselves the "Slayer’s Circle", since it would be easy to remember and less ‘goody-goody’, as Spike called it, than the "Scooby Gang".
As they headed across the large parking lot, they coupled off, Xander with Anya, Willow with Oz. Buffy hovered near Giles but made sure to stay behind him. She wanted to admire the view...of his ass in those jeans. Spike walked next to her.
"So, pet. You look nice tonight."
Buffy grinned up at him. "Thank you. You look..." Buffy gave him a once over. "You know, you look just as evil as always."
Spike put a hand over his heart in mock solemnity, and pretended to wipe a tear from his eyes. "Why pet, what nice thing to say!"
Buffy chuckled.
Willow and Oz were the first ones to the door, but waited for the others, as they’d decided to all go inside together. As they all waited for Xander and Anya, who had fallen behind the rest, Giles noticed a few guys checking Buffy out, their stares raking down her body like she was so much meat. He frowned, and in what he’d call later ‘a moment of madness’, he put his arm around her waist possessively and kissed her head.
Buffy’s eyes closed when she felt his hand on her hip, then shot open when she realized she wasn’t daydreaming. She looked up at him, a question in her eyes.
Giles looked down at her and gave the only reason he could think of, thanking Willow a million times in his head. "Willow said you were upset about not having a date for the evening. Thought I might be of service."
Buffy stared into his eyes, wondering if this was a trick, but there was nothing there that wasn’t sincere. She spoke carefully. "Are you asking me to be your date?"
Giles took a deep breath and hesitantly searched *her* eyes before answering. Once he crossed this line, it was over, and he knew he couldn’t stand to lose what they had. So he looked. And saw fear. But also love. And....desire?
"Yes."
Buffy’s smile lit the night. "I’d like that."
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*
After several tries, Xander finally managed to free his mouth. "Ahn, we have to go. Everyone’s waiting for us."
Anya grabbed his head and shoved her tongue back in his mouth. After several seconds she let go. "We do not. They’ll eventually get that we’re busy and go in without us." She started kissing down his neck.
Xander closed his eyes tightly and pushed her off. "They’re waiting. And you’ve been looking forward to this party all month." He opened his eyes to see her pouting. "Ahn, later. Ok?"
She bit her lip for a second, then got a dangerous glint in her eye and nodded. "Later." Then she slipped her arm around his waist and stuck it in his back pocket. Xander groaned and looped his arm around her shoulders as they walked. This was going to be a long night.
Chapter Five
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When they got to the doors the others were still waiting for them. Xander noticed Giles’ arm around Buffy and raised his eyebrow at her, to which she just grinned. Xander shook his head and grinned back, pulling out his invitation. "We ready?"
Everyone nodded and moved towards the entrance.
The bouncer took one look at the group and demanded their invitations. When they had them, his eyebrows almost raised off his face. That’s when it occurred to Giles that their costumes may not be coming off as such. He gave a feral grin. He wasn’t sure how the others would take that, but he was going to enjoy this night.
[And it’s not as if we can’t hold up to the image if we need to.] As Buffy had said, most people figured they *were* a gang already. Perhaps this would make it easier for them to work...keep the innocents out of their way, so to speak?
Buffy caught Giles grin as they walked into the building and frowned until she looked back at the bouncer. Her eyes lit up when she figured it out. She snuck looks at the others to see if they had noticed, and was not surprised to find that they all had cat-ate-the-canary smiles. She made a snap decision and herded them all into a small corner of the foyer.
"Ok, I’m just going to say this, and don’t one of you pretend you don’t know what I mean. Who here wants to just go with it?" She looked around. They were all smiling like they’d been given hundred dollar bills for Christmas.
Xander cleared his throat. "I think I speak for us all when I say that, seeing as how most of our high school class will be here tonight, and how they treated us, not including the Prom..." He paused and grinned at a blushing Buffy. "I think we should go with it, and, just maybe...scare the crap out of them."
Willow shot another glance into the room. "But...but...there are a lot of kids from UC Sunnydale too...I mean, do we want them to think..."
"Think what?" Xander cut her off. "What do they think now, Will, whenever they catch us ‘strolling’ around campus at three A.M., carrying crossbows and stakes?"
Willow smiled sheepishly. "Good point."
"This could even serve as a cover...we just let their own imaginations do the work. I’m not saying we should turn into a gang, but..." Buffy’s sentence was cut off by Spike.
"Why not?"
Everyone turned to him in shock.
"Well? Why not? Being in a gang isn’t illegal, and it *is* a good cover. Breaking the law, that’s illegal." He smirked. "So, we don’t do that. I’m fairly sure we were going to avoid that anyway."
Buffy looked at Giles, who was gazing past her into the main room. Buffy followed his eyes and saw a few former teachers from the school that she knew for a fact had liked to call him ‘stuffy’ and ‘rigid’.
"I’m thinkin’ we’re all in for this, for tonight, anyway? We talk about later tomorrow."
Many smiles and nods.
"Ok. Just so we’re clear." Buffy wrapped her arm around Giles waist, and his arm immediately came to cup her hip. He started, realizing what he was doing, and looked down to see her smiling impishly. "Hey, they thought we were, but there wasn’t any proof. Now, here we are, on a date no less..." she paused, and when he smiled she continued, "And I say we make the most of it."
Giles chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. The rest of the group, now in very high spirits, followed them into the ballroom.
Tonight, if nothing else, would be interesting.
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