Website: http://www.geocities.com/dragonydreams
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Willow/Angel
Summary: Angel offers to help Willow overcome some insecurities.
Spoilers/Timeline: Takes place during "Phases" except Angel still has his soul.
Author's Note: This is in response to Wic's Kissing Quotes challenge. Quote (1) is from Ingrid Bergman. Quote (2) is from Gregory Maguire.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Joss et al.
Distribution: My site, the usual lists, anyone with previous permission. Anyone else - please ask.
Feedback: Yes please! I'm a greedy little writer.
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"Angel, you really don't have to do this," Willow insisted as she and Angel entered the park.
"As I told you the first five times, it's not problem," Angel teased. "It's just a walk home."
"I know, but you could be walking Buffy home instead of me."
"Buffy is the slayer and can fend for herself. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you walking around so late at night," Angel insisted.
"Buffy put you up to this didn't she?" Willow asked, sitting on a swing.
"Put me up to what?" Angel innocently asked while thinking, 'Oh crap. I knew this was a bad idea.'
"I knew it would be either you or Xander, I just wasn't sure which," Willow said, more to herself than to Angel. She began to rise to the balls of her sneakered feet, hoping the rocking of the swing would calm her enough to have this conversation.
"I'm still not sure what you're talking about, Willow." Angel moved in next to the redhead as she began to pump her legs, swinging in low arcs. He took a moment to admire the way her body moved as she arched her back, using her whole body to gain momentum.
"Oz," she succinctly stated. "This is about me getting close to Oz."
"Exactly how close are the two of you getting?" Angel asked as calmly as possible, an odd feeling of jealously creeping in on him.
"Not close enough," Willow sighed. Her eyes were closed, thinking that it would be easier to talk about this if she didn't have to look at the gorgeous vampire standing next to her. This also meant that she missed the tension that entered said vampire's body at her complaint.
"I mean," Willow continued, "I really like Oz. And I think he likes me too. It's kind of hard to tell 'cause I've never really had a guy like me before, except for Malcolm..." She shook her head, not wanting to think about how bad that had turned out. "He's smart, and funny, and all he seems to want to do is hold my hand. Which is nice, don't get me wrong, I like the hand holding, but I'm ready for smoochies."
"Smoochies?" Angel choked out, not entirely sure what the slang meant.
"You know, kissing," Willow explained, feeling her cheeks begin to flush.
"Ah," Angel said with an inward sigh of relief. Noticing the blush, and how beautifully she did it, Angel cautiously asked, "Willow, have you ever been kissed before?"
"W-what?" she stuttered, stopping her movements as she opened her eyes to look nervously at Angel.
Angel caught the swing in his hand, holding it steady as he moved in front of the redhead. "Have you ever been kissed by someone you cared about? Someone you desired?"
Willow's could feel her face turning redder as she shook her head, looking down at her lap.
Angel caught her chin with a finger and raised it so that she could see the sincerity in his face as he spoke before he placed his hands over hers on the swing's chains. "There's nothing to be ashamed about, little one."
"Yes there is. Oz has probably kissed dozens of girls. He's probably some kind of kissing expert. And then he meets shy, geeky Willow who couldn't get Xander to notice her if her life depended on it. It's really no wonder he's never tried to kiss me. He probably figures that I'm going to be really bad at it. I mean lets face it, I'm sure I will, having never done it before..."
Willow's babble was cut off by the soft press of Angel's lips against hers. Her eyes opened wide at the sensation, a shock of pleasure rippling down her spine.
The contact was brief and Angel look pleased with himself at the dazed look on the girl's face when he pulled back.
"Wh-what was that?" Willow asked in a half-dreamy, half confused voice.
"A kiss," Angel sexily grinned. "...a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. Now was that so terrible?" (1)
"You tell me," she timidly answered, waiting for him to tell her that it was awful and Oz had every right to avoid kissing her.
Instead she was met with an even bigger sexy-as-sin grin as Angel leaned closer to say, "In all honesty, it was too brief to make any kind of educated decision. Allow me to try again?"
Willow had barely begun to nod when Angel's lips were against hers again. This time he applied a bit more pressure. Instinctively she moved her lips against his, exerting the same amount of pressure.
'Mmm, this is nice. So this is kissing,' she thought to herself. 'Look at me, I'm kissing. I'm having smoochies. With Angel!?!'
Willow pulled back, nervously looking around to see if anyone had caught her kissing Angel. Her sudden movement moved the swing away from Angel, but as these things work, she was then propelled back into him, bumping against his knees.
With an amused chuckle, he asked, "What's wrong, kitten?"
"You kissed me!" she accused.
"And you kissed me back," he countered.
"But what about Buffy?" Willow quietly asked, completely confused by the situation.
"What about Buffy?" Angel asked, now equally confused.
"Why did you kiss me if you're with Buffy?"
Angel had to stop and think about that for a moment. In all honesty, he hadn't been thinking about the blonde at all. All that he could think about was how adorable Willow had looked as she fretted about being a bad kisser. As if she could ever not do anything perfectly. The vampire could hardly believe that that had been her first kiss. He was very relieved to see that she was glaring at his face, otherwise she would have seen how much he had enjoyed their kiss. Just to be on the safe side he lowered himself to his knees so that he was at eye level with her.
"Did you not enjoy it?" he finally asked and was answered with a blush. "To be honest, I couldn't help myself. You just looked so cute, worrying about not being a good kisser. And you babble beautifully, has anyone ever told you that?" Willow shook her head. "Do you want me to apologize?" Willow cocked her head to the side, considering for a moment, before looking back down and shaking her head no. "Then what is the problem?"
"This is cheating, isn't it?" she asked in a small voice.
"No, it's not," he tried to reassure her. "You don't want a relationship with me, you want one with Oz, right?" When Willow nodded he continued. "Exactly. Just as I am in a relationship with Buffy, and will continuing to be."
"Then what..."
Angel silenced her with another brief kiss. "Let's just call this an impromptu tutoring session. You needed someone to practice with, and I was here." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he finished.
"So tell me oh tutor of mine," she impishly started, warming to the explanation. "How did I do?"
Matching the gleam in her eyes, Angel told her, "Let me put it this way... You won't be needing a tutor after tonight."
"Really?" the redhead asked, bouncing slightly on the swing, a toothy grin gracing her face.
"Really," Angel honestly told her.
"Well, I've always been a fast learner," Willow proudly said. "But just in case, maybe you could show me again." Angel wordlessly leaned forward to meet her lips halfway.
This time Angel cupped her face in his large hands, guiding the kiss, showing her how to move her head in sync with his. He trailed his lips along her jaw to kiss and nipped at that sensitive place behind her ear, eliciting a startled moan from Willow. He grinned against her neck, savoring the warmth of her skin and her arousing scent. Willow's hands wove their way into his hair and she was massaging his scalp in time with his actions. At her pleasured whimpering, Angel kissed his way back to her waiting lips.
The two were so wrapped up in the kiss that they didn't notice the cigarette being lit near the edge of the trees. Spike had watched the exchange between his sire and the redhead he recognized as the mousy friend of the slayer.
Cigarette dangling from his lips, Spike walked out of the shadows, clapping slowly, "...and he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her, little by little by little." (2)
The pair broke apart as they realized they now had an audience. Angel stood and turned to glare at Spike.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here," Spike smirked, taking the cigarette back between his fingers. "It looks like the slayer's little lap dog isn't quite as loyal as we thought."
"What do you want Spike?" Angel ground out, standing protectively in front of Willow.
"Now isn't that sweet, protectin' the mistress from the big bad vampire."
"Run along Spike," Angel growled in warning. Spike merely raised an eyebrow. "There's nothing going on here," Angel added.
"That's not what it looked like from where I was standing, mate." Spike wolfishly grinned.
"A-angel's right," Willow said, moving to stand next to Angel. "He was just trying to prove a point to me, which I got, and we'll be going now." She grabbed Angel's sleeve and tried to pull him out of the park. Spike's taunting words stopped her in her tracks.
"Right, you run along and I'll just go find the slayer and tell her what you two have been up to."
"Go right ahead," Angel offered. "I'm sure she'll believe it when you approach her to say that you thought I was cheating on her. She'd never believe that I'd cheat on her with her best friend."
"But that's what you're doing," Spike pointed out.
"No, no it's not," Willow rushed to say. "A-Angel was just helping me get through some insecurities I have. That's all that was happening."
Angel squeezed her hand as he said, "Besides, this was Buffy's idea."
"What?" Willow bewilderedly asked him.
Turning his full attention to the redhead, Angel sheepishly explained. "You were right earlier. Buffy did ask me to speak with you. She had a feeling that one of the reasons Oz hadn't tried to take things further was because he could sense your insecurities. She told me to do whatever it took to convince you that he wants to be with you. And being your best friend, she knew that it was probably your lack of experience with, as you say, smoochies, that was probably causing your tension."
"So that's the only reason you kissed me?" Willow asked, eyes filling with tears, cursing her stupidity to think that maybe Angel wanted her, even a little.
"Oh great, bring on the waterworks," Spike dryly commented. "Well, that's just a buzz-kill. I wonder what Dru's doing." He sauntered off to find his dark goddess to cleanse himself of the emotional scene he was leaving behind.
Ignoring Spike's retreat, Angel tried to clarify his actions. "No, Willow. I truly did want to kiss you. It's not the first time I've wanted to, but I've always tampered down the pull because it wasn't proper. But tonight you looked so vulnerable; it was the only thing I could think of to comfort you. And it helped, right?"
"Yeah, it did," she admitted. "It was really nice. Thank you," she whispered.
"You're welcome," he quietly responded. "Let's get you home."
Willow nodded her head and they continued the walk to her house in silence. When they reached her front door, Willow turned to Angel.
"Hey Angel, do you think that... if I ever need it... do you think we could have another tutoring session?"
Angel chuckled. "Yes, Willow. I think that can be arranged." He stepped closer and brushed his palm against her cheek before softly kissing her. "Good night," he murmured against her lips.
"Good night Angel." Willow turned and quickly opened her door and rushed into the house, suddenly afraid that if she stayed on the porch any longer she would have tried to prolong the kisses.
Angel waited outside until he saw the light turn on in Willow's room. Once certain that she was safe in her home he turned on his heel and walked back towards his home, removing himself from the temptation to jump onto her balcony and knock on her French doors for one last kiss. He silently prayed that Willow would decide that she needed a lot more tutoring.
The End