There's Always a Silver Lining
Title: There's Always a Silver Lining
Rating: PG
Summary: Dawn flopped face-down on the couch, her face set in a semi-permanent pout. It’d been over two weeks since they’d moved to Sunnydale, and Dawn hated it.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and related characters; I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Written for dance-the-dance as a much belated entry for the 2011 WISHLIST_FIC challenge. The prompt was "Young Dawn develops the crush on Xander. (One of her fake memories, of course.)" Hope you like it and sorry it took so long!
Dawn flopped face-down on the couch, her face set in a semi-permanent pout. It’d been over two weeks since they’d moved to Sunnydale, and Dawn hated it. Hated the stupid town with the stupid name and the stupid kids in her class who kept giving her weird looks. Hated that she’d had to leave everything in Los Angeles behind because of the divorce and Buffy getting expelled. Hated that she was being dragged along because of the screw-ups her sister’d done.
“Ugh, I hate this” Dawn screamed into the pillow. She didn’t know why. Buffy was still doing whatever she did and Mom was still at work. It was just her, by her lonesome self. Fun, not so much.
Sulking, Dawn turned over and grabbed the remote control. She didn’t want to do her homework. She wouldn’t do it unless her mom asked her, but that probably wouldn’t happen. She was too busy worrying about everything else. Who knew setting up an art gallery in some small town would be such a pain in the butt?
She had just settled on a rerun of X-Men when Dawn heard the front door open.
“Give me a minute, and then we can head over to Willow’s house,” she heard Buffy say to whoever she was with. “I just need to get a few things.” Huh. Maybe Buffy hadn’t been lying to Mom when she said that she’d made some new friends.
“Alrighty. I’ll just wait down here.”
Dawn straightened up and turned around to peer into the entryway. That voice was definitely of the male variety, not what she was expecting. Other than Pike, she couldn’t remember the last time Buffy had a guy friend. He was average looking, definitely a change from Buffy’s normal taste, with baggy clothes and a loud colored shirt that Dawn was near positive belonged in a museum of fashion regrets somewhere.
“Oh, hi there,” he waved awkwardly when he realized she was staring at them.
“Hey,” Dawn replied with a jerk of her head, before turning her attention back to the TV.
“So what are you watching, if you don’t mind me asking?” he asked, walking over to the doorway and peering in.
“Just some cartoon,” Dawn mumbled, silently bracing herself for ridicule. Sure, Buffy’s been different lately (if by different you mean jumping at noises and freaking out over inviting people inside and burning down gyms), but Dawn knows the drill. She’s the little sister, the one who gets either ignored or teased.
“X-Men. Quality choice,” the boy said instead, perching on the arm of the sofa and balancing his backpack on his knees. “Although I’m more of a Batman fan myself.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Dawn agreed, doing her best to sound casual and not freak out, because nobody ever tells her that her shows are good. Especially not people Buffy hung out with.
“You ready to go, Xander?” Buffy’s voice floated down the stairs.
“Yeah, just a sec!” he called back. “See you around... what’s your name? Sorry, I forgot to ask.”
“It’s Dawn,” she told him. “Buffy’s not an only child, despite what she may have told you.”
“Nice to meet you, Dawn. Keep up the good taste in TV,” Xander replied with a smile.
Dawn watched Xander and Buffy leave, before turning her attention back to the show. Well, that was interesting. A friend of Buffy’s that didn’t make with the condescension or ignoring. She wasn’t sure what to do with that. It was probably a phase or whatever it was Mom used to describe Buffy’s recent changes in behavior. That was the only logical explanation.
A week or so later, after a big blowout at the Bronze which had Buffy dodging questions and Mom looking resigned, Dawn sat on the bench outside Mom’s new gallery people watching. They were supposed to go furniture shopping, but there was a delay with a supplier for an opening party she was hosting over the weekend, leaving Dawn to entertain herself. That’s fine. She was used to it by now.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Buffy’s friend, Xander, walking towards her, chatting with red-headed girl. Feeling stupid, she gave him a little half-hearted wave when he looked her way. To her surprise, he smiled and walked towards her.
“Hey Dawn!” Xander greeted her when he got closer. “What’s shaking?”
“Dawn!” the girl exclaimed, the puzzled expression on her face fading. “Dawn as in Buffy’s little sister, right? Willow. I mean, I’m Willow, Willow is me.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dawn answered giving Willow a small smile. “Where’s Buffy?”
“She’s doing something sl-scholarly. Something of the scholarly sort,” Xander replied, stumbling slightly over that word.
“That’s a new one for Buffy,” Dawn snorted, choosing to ignore the slip. She’d look into it later. “She never did that back in LA.”
“She’s all with the turning over a new leaf,” Willow said solemnly. “It’s a new start for her.”
“I’m sure Mom will be glad to hear that.”
“Oh, before I forget, Dawn-meister--it’s ok if I call you that?” Xander asked, stopping up short, his backpack hanging off of his his arm mid-shrug. “You don’t mind?”
“It’s fine,” Dawn mumbled, feeling self-conscious and resisting the urge to blush.
“Well, anyways, I thought you might be interested in these,” he continued, fishing something out of his backpack and handing a stack of X-Men comics to Dawn. “I was going to give them to Buffy to give to you, but this way is easier. Just some stuff from my collection, since you’re a fan of the show and all.”
“Thanks,” Dawn said, feeling her cheeks turn bright red. “I really appreciate this.”
“Let me know what you think of ‘em,” he replied with a grin. “See you around, OK?”
“Yeah, see you around,” Dawn replied, doing her best to sound cool.
She watched the two teenagers walk off before looking back down at the comics in her hand. A small smile bloomed across her face. With everything that was going on, she’d always felt like the afterthought, the one shoved to the side. It was... it was nice to have somebody think about her like Xander apparently had.
Hearing the door open behind her, Dawn looked over her shoulder to see her mom exiting the gallery.
“Sorry about that, sweetie,” she apologized, giving Dawn a brief kiss on the head. “You ready to go?”
“Yep,” Dawn answered, getting to her feet and hugging the comics to her chest. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad here after all.
Rating: PG
Summary: Dawn flopped face-down on the couch, her face set in a semi-permanent pout. It’d been over two weeks since they’d moved to Sunnydale, and Dawn hated it.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and related characters; I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Written for dance-the-dance as a much belated entry for the 2011 WISHLIST_FIC challenge. The prompt was "Young Dawn develops the crush on Xander. (One of her fake memories, of course.)" Hope you like it and sorry it took so long!
Dawn flopped face-down on the couch, her face set in a semi-permanent pout. It’d been over two weeks since they’d moved to Sunnydale, and Dawn hated it. Hated the stupid town with the stupid name and the stupid kids in her class who kept giving her weird looks. Hated that she’d had to leave everything in Los Angeles behind because of the divorce and Buffy getting expelled. Hated that she was being dragged along because of the screw-ups her sister’d done.
“Ugh, I hate this” Dawn screamed into the pillow. She didn’t know why. Buffy was still doing whatever she did and Mom was still at work. It was just her, by her lonesome self. Fun, not so much.
Sulking, Dawn turned over and grabbed the remote control. She didn’t want to do her homework. She wouldn’t do it unless her mom asked her, but that probably wouldn’t happen. She was too busy worrying about everything else. Who knew setting up an art gallery in some small town would be such a pain in the butt?
She had just settled on a rerun of X-Men when Dawn heard the front door open.
“Give me a minute, and then we can head over to Willow’s house,” she heard Buffy say to whoever she was with. “I just need to get a few things.” Huh. Maybe Buffy hadn’t been lying to Mom when she said that she’d made some new friends.
“Alrighty. I’ll just wait down here.”
Dawn straightened up and turned around to peer into the entryway. That voice was definitely of the male variety, not what she was expecting. Other than Pike, she couldn’t remember the last time Buffy had a guy friend. He was average looking, definitely a change from Buffy’s normal taste, with baggy clothes and a loud colored shirt that Dawn was near positive belonged in a museum of fashion regrets somewhere.
“Oh, hi there,” he waved awkwardly when he realized she was staring at them.
“Hey,” Dawn replied with a jerk of her head, before turning her attention back to the TV.
“So what are you watching, if you don’t mind me asking?” he asked, walking over to the doorway and peering in.
“Just some cartoon,” Dawn mumbled, silently bracing herself for ridicule. Sure, Buffy’s been different lately (if by different you mean jumping at noises and freaking out over inviting people inside and burning down gyms), but Dawn knows the drill. She’s the little sister, the one who gets either ignored or teased.
“X-Men. Quality choice,” the boy said instead, perching on the arm of the sofa and balancing his backpack on his knees. “Although I’m more of a Batman fan myself.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Dawn agreed, doing her best to sound casual and not freak out, because nobody ever tells her that her shows are good. Especially not people Buffy hung out with.
“You ready to go, Xander?” Buffy’s voice floated down the stairs.
“Yeah, just a sec!” he called back. “See you around... what’s your name? Sorry, I forgot to ask.”
“It’s Dawn,” she told him. “Buffy’s not an only child, despite what she may have told you.”
“Nice to meet you, Dawn. Keep up the good taste in TV,” Xander replied with a smile.
Dawn watched Xander and Buffy leave, before turning her attention back to the show. Well, that was interesting. A friend of Buffy’s that didn’t make with the condescension or ignoring. She wasn’t sure what to do with that. It was probably a phase or whatever it was Mom used to describe Buffy’s recent changes in behavior. That was the only logical explanation.
A week or so later, after a big blowout at the Bronze which had Buffy dodging questions and Mom looking resigned, Dawn sat on the bench outside Mom’s new gallery people watching. They were supposed to go furniture shopping, but there was a delay with a supplier for an opening party she was hosting over the weekend, leaving Dawn to entertain herself. That’s fine. She was used to it by now.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Buffy’s friend, Xander, walking towards her, chatting with red-headed girl. Feeling stupid, she gave him a little half-hearted wave when he looked her way. To her surprise, he smiled and walked towards her.
“Hey Dawn!” Xander greeted her when he got closer. “What’s shaking?”
“Dawn!” the girl exclaimed, the puzzled expression on her face fading. “Dawn as in Buffy’s little sister, right? Willow. I mean, I’m Willow, Willow is me.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dawn answered giving Willow a small smile. “Where’s Buffy?”
“She’s doing something sl-scholarly. Something of the scholarly sort,” Xander replied, stumbling slightly over that word.
“That’s a new one for Buffy,” Dawn snorted, choosing to ignore the slip. She’d look into it later. “She never did that back in LA.”
“She’s all with the turning over a new leaf,” Willow said solemnly. “It’s a new start for her.”
“I’m sure Mom will be glad to hear that.”
“Oh, before I forget, Dawn-meister--it’s ok if I call you that?” Xander asked, stopping up short, his backpack hanging off of his his arm mid-shrug. “You don’t mind?”
“It’s fine,” Dawn mumbled, feeling self-conscious and resisting the urge to blush.
“Well, anyways, I thought you might be interested in these,” he continued, fishing something out of his backpack and handing a stack of X-Men comics to Dawn. “I was going to give them to Buffy to give to you, but this way is easier. Just some stuff from my collection, since you’re a fan of the show and all.”
“Thanks,” Dawn said, feeling her cheeks turn bright red. “I really appreciate this.”
“Let me know what you think of ‘em,” he replied with a grin. “See you around, OK?”
“Yeah, see you around,” Dawn replied, doing her best to sound cool.
She watched the two teenagers walk off before looking back down at the comics in her hand. A small smile bloomed across her face. With everything that was going on, she’d always felt like the afterthought, the one shoved to the side. It was... it was nice to have somebody think about her like Xander apparently had.
Hearing the door open behind her, Dawn looked over her shoulder to see her mom exiting the gallery.
“Sorry about that, sweetie,” she apologized, giving Dawn a brief kiss on the head. “You ready to go?”
“Yep,” Dawn answered, getting to her feet and hugging the comics to her chest. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad here after all.