Dawnslash, yay!
Dawn/Amanda, originally written for buffyverse1000, so it's titleless -- gasp! And also, like, PG.
Whirlwind review: Amanda was the Potential who also went to Sunnydale High.
"This is *so* not fair," says Amanda, slamming her chemistry book closed. "Why does everyone else get to sit around doing nothing while I'm expected to pass chem *and* develop the perfect roundhouse kick?"
Beside her on the grass Dawn makes a sympathetic noise. She's lying on her back looking up through the bleachers at blue strips of sky, shredding a blade of grass between her thumbnails. It's Friday, which means Buffy is stuck in an after-school staff meeting so she and Amanda have to hang out and wait around for her to finish. Which is completely ridiculous, 'cause what's going to jump out at them at them at three o'clock in the afternoon between here and home? But Buffy was adamant, like she is about everything nowadays, so here they wait.
Dawn flips over on her stomach and glances at Amanda, who's viciously tearing all the little jagged-edge doohickeys off the side of her piece of notebook paper. She knows Amanda's not so much pissed off at being the only potential who still has to go to school as because Buffy made her quit swing choir. There was a long, not-quite-inspirational lecture on needing to dedicate herself to her training with a rambling side trajectory on the hidden Hellmouthy dangers of afterschool programs. Amanda still sits with the choir crowd at lunch and all but already Dawn can tell she's getting left out of the in-jokes, getting pushed out of the circle.
"M&M?" Dawn offers. They've already spent the obligatory amount of time bitching about how long Kennedy takes in the bathroom and how dinner is perpetually gross so she's mostly tapped out as far as we're-in-this-together chatter goes. Amanda sighs and takes one.
"Thanks," she says, and rolls over to lie on her back too.
Dawn's no good at friends. Something always messes it up -- vampires or her mom dying or her sister being a bitca or lovespell letter jackets or her sudden decision to be the poster child for self-harming or the generally high turnover of Sunnydale residents. She's jealous of Amanda for it -- lame as the choir kids are, it must be nice to be part of a group like that. She used to be so jealous of Buffy and the Scoobies, too, sure when she got to highschool she'd have her own clique of best friends forever and all that junk.
"Hey, so, do you ever think about dying?" Amanda asks.
"Well, yeah," Dawn says. "I mean, it's the Hellmouth and all. There's always mayhem."
"Like, do you worry that if these Bringer guys show up and finish you off you won't be able to get through all the stuff on your to-do-before-you-die list?"
Dawn glances over.
"You have a list? What's on it?"
"Oh--" Amanda shrugs, still looking up at the sky and the used gum stuck to the underside of the bleachers. "Go to the all-state choir finals. Get better than a C on a chem test. See a Broadway play." She's quiet for a minute. "Kiss a boy. Kiss a girl. Travel across Europe with only the clothes on my back. You know. Stuff."
Dawn fiddles with the zipper on her hoodie, resolutely focusing on a cloud that looks sort of like that creepy Donnie Darko rabbit.
"Kiss a girl, huh?"
"Well, not like in a oh it's so trendy to be bi kind of way," Amanda says. "Just. To see what all the fuss is about."
Dawn's quiet for a minute. Way across the field the cheerleading squad is practicing -- she winces inwardly at memories -- and the sound of their cheers drifts across. Nervousness is jittering in her stomach but before she can focus on it too much she screws up her courage, rolls on her side, and kisses Amanda, right where she's lying.
After a second Amanda starts kissing back, which is a relief, and it's not a hugely long or sloppy thing, but it's definitely there. Amanda tastes like Dr. Pepper and her lips are soft and a little wet. When Dawn pulls back she's sure she's blushing like crazy. Her hair's sort of falling in Amanda's face so she picks it up and pushes it over her shoulder.
"Well, there you go," she says, trying to sound braver than she feels. "You can check that one off now."
"... huh," says Amanda. "Well, that didn't suck."
Dawn giggles and is instantly ashamed. She sits up and Amanda follows her. She sort of pokes at Dawn's hand where it's resting on her knee and Dawn pokes back and then their fingers are touching and twining together and Dawn has that swoopy feeling in her stomach again, but it's far from bad.
"How long 'til Buffy gets out of her meeting, do you think?" Amanda asks, not looking at her.
"Uh, like a million years, I'm sure," Dawn says, running the pad of her thumb over one of Amanda's fingernails. "They *always* run over, and then Buffy has to bitch the whole way home about how boring teachers are and who *cares* about the regulations concerning, like, gum chewing in the halls, and --"
"Good," Amanda interrupts her, and this time Dawn's on the receiving end of the kissage, and nope, this doesn't suck at *all*.
Whirlwind review: Amanda was the Potential who also went to Sunnydale High.
"This is *so* not fair," says Amanda, slamming her chemistry book closed. "Why does everyone else get to sit around doing nothing while I'm expected to pass chem *and* develop the perfect roundhouse kick?"
Beside her on the grass Dawn makes a sympathetic noise. She's lying on her back looking up through the bleachers at blue strips of sky, shredding a blade of grass between her thumbnails. It's Friday, which means Buffy is stuck in an after-school staff meeting so she and Amanda have to hang out and wait around for her to finish. Which is completely ridiculous, 'cause what's going to jump out at them at them at three o'clock in the afternoon between here and home? But Buffy was adamant, like she is about everything nowadays, so here they wait.
Dawn flips over on her stomach and glances at Amanda, who's viciously tearing all the little jagged-edge doohickeys off the side of her piece of notebook paper. She knows Amanda's not so much pissed off at being the only potential who still has to go to school as because Buffy made her quit swing choir. There was a long, not-quite-inspirational lecture on needing to dedicate herself to her training with a rambling side trajectory on the hidden Hellmouthy dangers of afterschool programs. Amanda still sits with the choir crowd at lunch and all but already Dawn can tell she's getting left out of the in-jokes, getting pushed out of the circle.
"M&M?" Dawn offers. They've already spent the obligatory amount of time bitching about how long Kennedy takes in the bathroom and how dinner is perpetually gross so she's mostly tapped out as far as we're-in-this-together chatter goes. Amanda sighs and takes one.
"Thanks," she says, and rolls over to lie on her back too.
Dawn's no good at friends. Something always messes it up -- vampires or her mom dying or her sister being a bitca or lovespell letter jackets or her sudden decision to be the poster child for self-harming or the generally high turnover of Sunnydale residents. She's jealous of Amanda for it -- lame as the choir kids are, it must be nice to be part of a group like that. She used to be so jealous of Buffy and the Scoobies, too, sure when she got to highschool she'd have her own clique of best friends forever and all that junk.
"Hey, so, do you ever think about dying?" Amanda asks.
"Well, yeah," Dawn says. "I mean, it's the Hellmouth and all. There's always mayhem."
"Like, do you worry that if these Bringer guys show up and finish you off you won't be able to get through all the stuff on your to-do-before-you-die list?"
Dawn glances over.
"You have a list? What's on it?"
"Oh--" Amanda shrugs, still looking up at the sky and the used gum stuck to the underside of the bleachers. "Go to the all-state choir finals. Get better than a C on a chem test. See a Broadway play." She's quiet for a minute. "Kiss a boy. Kiss a girl. Travel across Europe with only the clothes on my back. You know. Stuff."
Dawn fiddles with the zipper on her hoodie, resolutely focusing on a cloud that looks sort of like that creepy Donnie Darko rabbit.
"Kiss a girl, huh?"
"Well, not like in a oh it's so trendy to be bi kind of way," Amanda says. "Just. To see what all the fuss is about."
Dawn's quiet for a minute. Way across the field the cheerleading squad is practicing -- she winces inwardly at memories -- and the sound of their cheers drifts across. Nervousness is jittering in her stomach but before she can focus on it too much she screws up her courage, rolls on her side, and kisses Amanda, right where she's lying.
After a second Amanda starts kissing back, which is a relief, and it's not a hugely long or sloppy thing, but it's definitely there. Amanda tastes like Dr. Pepper and her lips are soft and a little wet. When Dawn pulls back she's sure she's blushing like crazy. Her hair's sort of falling in Amanda's face so she picks it up and pushes it over her shoulder.
"Well, there you go," she says, trying to sound braver than she feels. "You can check that one off now."
"... huh," says Amanda. "Well, that didn't suck."
Dawn giggles and is instantly ashamed. She sits up and Amanda follows her. She sort of pokes at Dawn's hand where it's resting on her knee and Dawn pokes back and then their fingers are touching and twining together and Dawn has that swoopy feeling in her stomach again, but it's far from bad.
"How long 'til Buffy gets out of her meeting, do you think?" Amanda asks, not looking at her.
"Uh, like a million years, I'm sure," Dawn says, running the pad of her thumb over one of Amanda's fingernails. "They *always* run over, and then Buffy has to bitch the whole way home about how boring teachers are and who *cares* about the regulations concerning, like, gum chewing in the halls, and --"
"Good," Amanda interrupts her, and this time Dawn's on the receiving end of the kissage, and nope, this doesn't suck at *all*.