Title: Masquerade

Author: Emily

E-mail: emnorth2002@yahoo.com

Pairing: W/S

Rating: R

Dedication: To Inell, my fabulous, wonderful goddess, for her anniversary. I wish I could get you something more, but I couldn't afford the diamonds you deserve.

Distribution: Angelic Vamps, Soulmates, Near Her Always, and Bite Me, Please? Anyone else, if you want it, just ask. I always say yes

Disclaimer: The basic premise and characters belong to lots of people who aren't me.

Spoilers: It’s set on Halloween in season 5, but I changed some canon from the beginning of that season to suit my own nefarious purposes. Just read carefully and it should all make sense.

Summary: A party gives Spike and Willow the chance to show their true feelings.

Willow collapsed, exhausted, into the chair at the mall food court. She had been shopping with Buffy since the mall opened that morning and it was already dinnertime. Even with three trips to the car to drop off bags, she was still holding enough to make her fingers go numb. Plus, she was starving. Once Buffy got into super-shopping mode, she tended to forget things like food. With a sigh of relief, Willow dropped the bags she’d been struggling with, and whimpered slightly as she started flexing her fingers several times to get circulation back into them. Working her face into the most pitiful expression she could manage, she looked up at Buffy.

“Feed me?” she asked, hopefully.

Buffy laughed. “Cholesterol-filled goodness, coming right up.” She left Willow at the table to guard the bags and came back five minutes later with a pair of large, greasy, wonderfully fattening slices of pizza. She smirked as she seated herself across from her friend, scanning her eyes over the bags. “Not that I’m not impressed, but do you think you might have gone just a little bit overboard, Wills?”

Willow groaned. “Overboard? Shipwrecked, is more like it. I don’t know how you do this marathon shopping thing.”

“Sweetie, when I said I’d take you marathon shopping, I didn’t mean that you *had* to buy absolutely everything in the mall. It is alright to leave some things for the people who want to shop tomorrow, you know.”

Willow shrugged. “Alright, I admit I might have gotten a little carried away. But really, how long have you been telling me that we needed to go shopping? How can you blame me if I finally decided to seize the day?” Willow looked up at the mall’s skylight ceiling and noted how dark it was outside. “Correction: seize the night.”

Buffy grinned and dug into her pizza. “Yeah, but you seized your parents credit cards while you were at it. I know they don’t pay much attention to the bills but don’t you think you’re tempting fate, going on a spree like this?”

“I didn’t use my credit card,” Willow explained. “I used my check card. My parents deposited $1000 in my checking account last week for my twenty first birthday.”

Buffy looked confused. “But your birthday was two months ago. And you turned twenty, not twenty one.”

“I know,” Willow sighed. “Last week was their wedding anniversary. I think they got the dates mixed up.”

“And thinking you’re twenty one instead of twenty?”

Willow shrugged again. “Survival lesson number one of living with my parents: if they send a gift, for whatever reason, take it and enjoy it. It could be five years before they remember to send me a birthday present again.”

“Ouch.” Buffy was sorry she had brought it up. She knew that Willow didn’t like talking about her parents. It was no secret that Willow had been pretty thoroughly neglected as a child, but Willow had to be pretty angry with her parents before she’d talk about it. The birthday mix-up must have upset her more than she was letting on.

“No, ouch was when I was five years old and came home from my first day of kindergarten to discover both my parents had gone out of town that morning, and wouldn’t be back for two weeks. That was my ‘end of innocence’ experience with my parents. After that, nothing else hurt so much.”

“What did you do?” Buffy asked softly.

“I went to Xander’s,” she answered with a smile. “He had saved me that morning, giving me his yellow crayon after mine broke, so I figured he could save me again. His parents weren’t home, either, so we raided the cabinets, eating all the things we knew we weren’t supposed to eat. I think dinner consisted of popcorn, ice cream, Coco puffs, and gummi bears. Then we collapsed on the couch and watched that old Hitchcock movie ‘Strangers on a Train’ and he told me that it didn’t matter where my parents were, because he’d always be there for me.”

“That’s sweet.”

Willow’s smile grew. “That’s Xander. Things happen, things change, but Xander stays the same.” The grin faded. “So do my parents.” She tried to shrug it off, forcing a smile back on to her face. “But hey, at least my parents send money. Nothing that involves large quantities of money could be all bad, could it?”

“Willow!” Buffy gasped, pretending to be shocked.

“What? After all, we’re living in a material world, and I am a material girl!” she grinned.

“Yes, Madonna,” Buffy rolled her eyes.

Willow stuck her tongue out at Buffy, and then gobbled down her pizza. When it was finished, she sighed with satisfaction and smiled again at her friend. “Okay, now that I’ve been revitalized, are we ready to head home?”

“Home? We can’t go home. We haven’t gotten the costumes yet.”

Willow groaned. “Buffy, don’t start on this again. Didn’t I already tell you that I don’t want to go to the stupid party?”

“You told me, and I ignored you. You’re going. End of story.”

“But Buuuuuffffffy—”

“Don’t whine. And stop pouting.”

“Can’t stop,” Willow replied, continuing to pout. She knew it was childish, but she didn’t care. “*Won’t* stop. And I won’t go the party, either. You know I *hate* costume parties. I have awful luck with them. Does the word Ampata mean anything to you? Hmm? How about Ethan’s costume shop? No, we put on costumes and bad things happen. Besides, Halloween parties are silly.”

“This one won’t be. Come on, Wills, you know that Xander had to pull a lot of strings to get all of us tickets. Giles even agreed to give us all the night off. He’d be coming himself if I hadn’t asked him to stay with Mom and Dawn. It’s *the* event in Sunnydale for the year! Half the town will be there! Great food, live band, the works. But it won’t be any fun if you’re not there.”

“Why not?” Willow challenged. “It’s a dance, Buffy. So you’ll dance with Riley. Xander will dance with Anya. Tara will dance with Shannon. Fun times for all! Where would I fit in, in that picture?”

“Does it bother you that Tara will be there with Shannon?” Buffy asked, tentatively. She’d been looking for an opening to ask that question. Tara had been with Shannon for a few months now, and both girls had become members of the gang. Willow didn’t *seem* to mind, but Buffy knew it couldn’t be easy for her to see her ex with someone else when Willow was still alone.

“No, of course not. I’m the one who introduced them, and I’m happy that things are going so well for them. My problem is that everyone there will be part of a happy couple except me.”

“You could dance with Spike?” Buffy suggested weakly. Willow had a point, she had to admit. They did tend to pair up when they went dancing, leaving Willow as the odd man out, especially since Tara had gotten a new girlfriend. But Buffy was still determined to get Willow to the dance, and she wouldn’t let a little thing like logic change her mind.

“Oh yeah, because he’d so *love* to dance with me,” Willow muttered. “Anyway, you know he’s only going because Tara’s making him. He’ll probably duck out as soon as he can. And even if he stuck around, it’s not like the two of us have anything in common other than the fact that we both have no one to be with. What would the two of us talk about? Drusilla? Oz? Tara? Harmony? The way he’s lonely and miserable or my—”

“Your… what?”

“Nothing.”

“Your crush?”

“Yes,” Willow answered shortly, looking away from her friend, her tone clearly indicating that she didn’t want the conversation to continue.

“The one you refuse to talk to me about, other than to say that your feelings aren’t returned, and that it’s the reason why you called things off with Tara?”

“That’s the one,” Willow replied, still avoiding eye contact.

“Don’t you trust me anymore, Willow?” Buffy asked, very quietly.

Willow softened. “You know I do, Buffy, it’s just… something I’m not comfortable talking about, okay? You know that thing called love never works well for me, especially when it’s unrequited. And this crush stands absolutely no chance of going anywhere. Honestly, I just want to forget about it.”comfortable talking about, okay? You know that thing called love never works well for me, especially when it’s unrequited. And this crush stands absolutely no chance of going anywhere. Honestly, I just want to forget about it.”comfortable talking about, okay? You know that thing called love never works well for me, especially when it’s unrequited. And this crush stands absolutely no chance of going anywhere. Honestly, I just want to forget about it.”

“Maybe this party could help?” Buffy suggested, almost timidly. She hated seeing her friend in pain and knew that this unreciprocated crush was hurting her more than she was letting on. She wanted to see Willow move on with her life and have some fun again. Parties were supposed to be good for that, weren’t they?

“I doubt it.”

“Will you try? Please? Just this once?”

“I don’t know, Buffy…”

“If you go to this party, I promise not to try to play matchmaker with you!” Buffy bargained.

Willow paused. “You promise?”

Buffy brightened, sensing victory. “I promise! No matchmaking.”

“Ever again?”

“Well… how about no matchmaking for the rest of the year?”

Willow sighed. “You’re not going to give up on this, are you?”

Buffy grinned and shook her head.

Willow rolled her eyes and sighed again. “Fine. Let’s go get costumes.”

Buffy bounced up and down, doing the chair version of her happy dance. Willow smiled weakly in reply, and tried to think positive thoughts. Maybe Buffy was right. Maybe she could go to this dance, get seduced by a stranger, and get completely over her hopeless crush. Maybe this dance was the one thing she needed to finally drive Spike out of her mind and her heart.

Maybe.

End Section 1