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The first few nights of November in Sunnydale were usually cool but not cold, clear-skied, not too many fallen leaves around, generally great slaying weather. In this case, however, Buffy wasn’t thinking about the weather or even slayage. Or Faith, for that matter, which was staring to annoy the other girl just a little.
“I’m going to fail,” she proclaimed in her best ‘The end is near’ voice while holding an SAT study book at arm’s length as if it examining its treacherous angles for weapons. “This book is telling me that I’m going to fail. It’s full of hundreds of words I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve gotten one stupid math problem right so far. And the reading comprehension, don’t get me started on that.” She scowled at the book. Nothing happened.
“And they keep telling us to take this seriously , that our college career will be impacted by our scores, which is completely reassuring. I already know I’m going to fail, so I know can’t get into a good college. I’m going to fail this stupid test, and without a good college I won’t get a good internship, and without a good internship I won’t get a good job, and pretty soon I’ll be a bag lady asking for handouts at the on-ramps.” The book was only just holding together under her twisting death grip. With a grimace she threw the paperbound volume at the ground. “Okay, a super-powered bag lady, but still.”
Faith fielded the book out of the air, juggling it with a careless disregard for the status of its spine, and threw Buffy a smile in return. “Guess I’ll just have to pick you up on the on-ramp with my sexy black motorcycle and take you bumming around, slaying demons and looting them for pizza money. Sounds like a fate worse than death to me, B.”
It was annoying when someone interrupted a perfectly good pity-party, but Buffy couldn’t help smiling at Faith’s words. “Oh, fine, I know I’m overreacting.” She sighed. “It’s really hard not to freak. Willow’s been driving me nuts with her offers to help. If she gives me another one I’m going to think she doesn’t trust my ability to tie my own shoes.” In a couple of steps she was in front of Faith, hands up and ready to re-intercept the book. Faith snipped it away again, and she started working up to a good glare.
“Trouble with Will is, she doesn’t know when to say stop. Head full of books, mouth like an overstuffed freeway.” Still juggling the book back and forth in her hands, Faith glanced down at it and then grinned at Buffy. “See, I figure you’ve just been doin’ it wrong. You wanna study, you got to have the right incentives.”
With a raised eyebrow and lips curled at the corner of her mouth, Buffy crossed her arms. “Incentives?”
Faith’s grin just widened. “Pull up a tombstone, B.”
Curious, Buffy picked one of her favorite seats in the graveyard, a wide marble slab the size and general shape of a coffee table. Crossing her legs in front of her, she looked expectantly up at Faith, waiting. “You gonna be my tutor?”
“Somethin’ like that.” Faith bounced up behind her, shoving her forward enough so both their legs were dangling off the slab and Buffy was firmly anchored in the taller Slayer’s lap by an arm around her waist. With her free hand, Faith flipped the book open and ran a finger down the page. “Math, boring. Reading Comprehension... eh, fuck it. Vocabulary. They want you to learn a bunch of crazy words nobody cares about?”
Leaning back into Faith’s arms suddenly made the whole ordeal seem much less stressful.
“Yeah. Well, probably people like Giles or Willow care about them, but nobody else. Dunno why they think I’ll need it for psychology.” She rested her head on Faith’s shoulder, enjoying her closeness.
“Crazy. Guess we’ll start there.” Faith’s lips brushed her jaw, and warm breath caressed her throat. “I read, you guess. Right answers, bonus. Wrong answer, penalty points. Simple.”
Buffy’s eyes fluttered closed and she let her hands settle somewhere on Faith’s legs. She smiled. “Mmmkay. Go for it.”
“Mmmm...” She could hear Faith’s nails on the paper of the page, the distant crinkle of leaves in the breeze. Cold air kissed her cheeks. Faith chuckled, sounding out the word under her breath before trying it for real. “Variegate.”
A slight frown creased Buffy’s brow as she chewed on her lip. “Um...A gate, but not just a normal gate, a very -gate.” She sighed. “I can already tell I lost that one.”
“With flying colors, B.” Faith laughed softly, and her nails scraped a hot, thin line of pain over the sensitive skin of Buffy’s belly, leaving a burning red mark that lingered a good minute before starting to fade. “‘To mark with different shades or colors.’ Kinda like Will with one of her stupid binder thingies.”
Whole body pressed tightly into Faith’s, Buffy shuddered, let out a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding, and nodded. “Okay, variegate, to make like Lisa Frank. Got it.” It was a conscious effort to loosen her grip on the other girl’s thighs from ‘crushing’ to ‘tense.’ “Ready for the next one.”
“Decamp,” Faith breathed, her hand flattening against the hot skin of Buffy’s stomach as she seared the word into the blonde's ear. Flash-fire need danced between those two points, hand and voice, setting Buffy’s pulse thumping. She pulled in a breath.
“To...pack up all your camping stuff and go home. I think?” If the scratching had been the penalty--and who was she kidding, they had both enjoyed it--she found herself greedily anticipating the reward.
“Mmm... close enough. ‘To leave suddenly or unexpectedly.’ You know, like the vampires when we show up.” Buffy heard the button on her jeans pop, then felt the roughness of Faith’s fingers slipping inside her waistband. The hot shock of pleasure from contact beat her comprehension of the situation to her brain by a good thirty seconds and a very long gasp.
A tiny “oh” slipped past pink-glossed lips. “Incentives. Right. I suddenly find vocabulary very interesting.”
Faith’s low, husky laugh vibrated right through her. “Thought you might. Next one’s easy - ‘resuscitate.’”
With an expectant flush to her cheeks, Buffy smiled. “To revive, bring back to life, etc., often with use of CPR and/or magic spells.”
Faith laughed huskily, and those long fingers moved. The world flared white behind Buffy’s eyes for a second or two. When she got her breath back, Faith almost purred. “You’re never gonna believe the next one, B. ‘Corpse.’ I mean, do people really not know that shit?”
Breathing heavily, Buffy blinked a few times. Hey, look, world. Things. A world with things.
“You’d be surprised,” she eventually murmured. “I think some of the jocks have an emergency plan for what to do in case they ever accidentally learn something.” A pause, and she remembered. “Oh, right, dead body.” With a wiggle, she turned wide eyes up to her lover.
“Eyes closed, B.” Faith smirked down at her, all gloriously sharp cheekbones and wicked dark eyes. “Wouldn’t want you peeking. Peaking, on the other hand...” Those fingers moved again - slowly this time, and deliciously teasing. “That’ll have to wait a little bit.”
A little moan, eyes obediently closed, and then Buffy pouted. “I guess you’d be a bad tutor if you let me--heh--get off after only five minutes.”
Faith made a sound down in her throat, and her voice turned to smoke and fire as she got in on the joke. “Don’t worry, B. I’ll be sure you get a complete education.” Her hand stayed perfectly, maddeningly still as she turned the page. “Ab... Abs.... Abstruse.”
Eyes screwed shut, Buffy winced. This was not going to go well. “Uh...crap. Abstract strusel?”
Faith laughed again, and there was the kind of bite to it that could have been cruel if it wasn’t so warm. “Not even close. ‘Dealing with matters difficult to understand.’ Probably why it sounds so weird.” Her voice dropped another half octave. “Penalty time, B.” It took a second to register that Faith hadn’t moved her hand. All of Buffy’s soft parts tried to retreat deeper into her body, to no avail. Faith cupped her, almost tenderly, and then dug her nails in.
If there was any mercy in it, it was that she kept her fingers spread while she did.
Pain flashed bright through everything. A strange, multi-tonal, high-pitched scream got stuck in Buffy’s throat. Then, it was over. Her whole body slumped in Faith’s embrace, wrung-out, her brain soaking in the happy chemicals. It was a while before she was able to exert her will on her body again.
“Fuck.” She spat it out with deep enthusiasm. “Shit fuck damn, Faith. Ow.”
“Told you, penalty points.” Faith just about purred with satisfaction. “Bet you’re taking it seriously now, huh? Don’t worry, though... sure you’ll get the next one.” The way she said it, it sounded like something between a tease and anticipation of the chance to put those nails to work again. “Vulgarity.”
“Damn you, you sadistic bitch.” Her voice shifted from vehement to matter-of-fact. “Which is an example of vulgarity.”
“Fuck, B.” Faith laughed hard enough that her breasts ground against Buffy’s back in a way that set her body right back over the line from protective nervousness to hunger. “Way to go. Guess I’d better give you a good reward for that one.” Then her lips slid down to Buffy’s pulse, lingering on the throb of heat there, and her fingers curled together.
This time, she didn’t use her nails.
Mouth open in an almost silent moan, Buffy’s fingers curled open and shut on the other girl’s leather pants, her hips arching up to meet Faith’s hand. A succession of vowel sounds flowed from her throat. When Faith’s fingers finally stilled, she was trembling with need so hard it was only Faith’s grip on her that kept her from falling off the slab.
“Next question,” Faith breathed hungrily. “Supplicant, double or nothing.”
Writhing, Buffy whimpered. “Jesus, Faith, please,” she pleaded, hips trying to find friction against the other Slayer’s frustratingly avoidant fingers.
“‘One who asks humbly and earnestly.’” Faith gave it a beat, fingers dancing just out of reach, then nipped Buffy hard enough to still her whole body. “Guess that’s close enough, huh?”
Faith’s fingers drove into her, not even pretending to be playing anymore, and the only thing she had left to do was clutch her lover’s thighs hard enough to bruise and ride out the waves of ecstasy crashing through her.
She came to in almost the same position, boneless and spent in the other Slayer’s arms. Faith was whispering into her ear, a languid mix of encouragement and endearments, then broke off when she saw Buffy’s eyes start to flutter open. Chuckled, deeply. “Next word is insensible, B.”
A disbelieving laugh escaped Buffy’s half-smile. She stroked Faith’s legs to try to center herself. “Me, right now. I am totally insensible.”
“Huh. ‘ Without one's mental faculties, typically as a result of violence or intoxication; unconscious .’ Close enough.” Faith settled for giving her a very long kiss, though the fingers still pressed against her stirred provocatively. “You know, B, this vocab list goes on for, like, twenty pages.”
Burying her face into Faith’s shoulder, Buffy whined. “Mercy?”
“Apparently, merciless is a word. Means not having any of that.” Faith’s lips, pressed to the warmth of Buffy’s hair, parted in a laugh that rocked them both. “Think that’s me?”
Still mumbling into her lover’s jacket, Buffy’s shoulders slumped. “Shit.”
Faith’s wicked smile flashed in the dark. “I love vocabulary.”