The hand that was on Faith’s shoulder -- originally there to push her away -- was now tangled up in her dark tresses. Her other hand was still intertwined with Faith’s, trapped in the space between their two bodies that was slowly but surely getting smaller and smaller.

Somehow, their legs had become intertwined and they were getting closer and closer without even realizing it. Neither girl seemed to protest.

Faith, for her part, was exploring every part of Buffy that she could reach. Her free hand roamed from Buffy’s ass, to the small of her back, up to her neck pulling her even deeper into the kiss, and finally back down to rest at the small of her back again.

Feeling more than a little bold, she reached under the hem of Buffy’s shirt and slowly ran her hand along the skin of her back. She traced little circles and patterns, loving the feel of the soft skin on her fingertips.

Buffy audibly moaned into Faith’s mouth at the feather-light touches on her back, and Faith couldn’t help but smile into the kiss.

Finally, the two slayers broke apart, breathing hard while looking into one another’s eyes.

“That was . . . wow,” Buffy said breathlessly, wriggling her hand out of Faith’s. She brushed away a stray piece of hair from Faith’s face before cupping it in both hands and leaning in to place a kiss on her full bottom lip.

“Mmmm,” Faith replied, finally pulling back a little so she could talk. “Hell yeah it was. I could definitely get used to you lettin’ me take charge like that.”

Buffy giggled.

“Yeah. I guess we both know who wears the pants in this so-called relationship.”

With her infamous smirk planted on her face, Faith raised an eyebrow and answered,

“Well, if it’s up to me, neither of us are gonna be wearing pants all that much.” She leaned in and kissed Buffy’s forehead. “Or shirts.” She kissed the tip of her nose. “Or much of anything else.”

She leaned in to engage Buffy in another steamy kiss, lightly tugging at the hem of her shirt. But Buffy put her hand on Faith’s shoulder to stop her movement. She raised an eyebrow and gave Faith questioning look.

“Anxious much, Faith? Please. You don’t really think that I’m gonna hop into bed with you this quickly, do you? According to my calculations . . . we haven’t even had a first date.” She put on a pleased smile knowing that she had the upper hand.

“B . . . you already hopped into bed with me. In fact . . . here we still are. In bed. With the closeness. Besides . . . I’ve known you for almost two years. And already live together! Now, according to my calculations, that practically makes us married. So give it up, girlfriend.”

She leaned in for another kiss only to come into contact with Buffy’s hand yet again.

“Buffy, you gotta be fuckin kiddin’ me here! Is this about you wantin’ to punk outta the challenge?” She asked, knowing that Buffy would want to prove herself.

Buffy scoffed in response.

“I’m all about the challenge, Faith. But challenge or not . . . I don’t put out on the first date.”

“Oh yeah? What about Parker, B?” Faith asked, knowing right away that she should’ve never opened her mouth. She knew it was the one thing she could say that would hurt the other girl, and for some reason, it had accidentally come out.

Buffy just glared at her, a hurt look on her face. She didn’t bother to say anything. After blinking hard a few times, she simply got up from the bed and walked across the room, heading for the door.

Before she could reach it, she felt a pair of arms encircle her waist from behind, stopping her from moving any further. She immediately tensed up.

“I’m sorry,” Faith whispered against her ear. “That was stupid. I shoulda kept my mouth shut; it’s none of my business. Please . . . don’t leave like that.” She nuzzled into Buffy’s neck, placing several small kisses along her neck and shoulder.

Buffy relaxed and covered Faith’s arms with her own.

“That’s still a really sore subject for me. You know that, Faith. If you’re trying to get on my good side, why would you even bring that up?” She asked, her back still to Faith

“What can I say? I’m an asshole, B. Coulda told you that a long time ago. Sometimes stuff like that gets past my internal censor, but I’ll try and work on it, ‘kay?”

Buffy quickly turned in Faith’s arms, a big smile on her face.

“Hah. Now look who’s wearing the pants, Faithy. A whole five minutes after our first intimate kiss and I have you apologizing, calling yourself and asshole and trying to reform yourself. Damn, I’m good.”

Faith laughed.

“Suuuuuuure. Use the guilt trip and the wounded puppy look to get me groveling. That’s a nice trick. But you realize now that this is war, right?”

Buffy furrowed her eyebrows. “War?”

“Oh yeah. War. It’s on now, B,” Faith replied with a devilish grin.

“Uh, Faith? I’m not quite riding on your thought train here. What exactly are you talking ab . . .” she said, not able to finish her sentence as the brunette began a tickle attack on her.

“Faith, no!!!!!” she screamed between laughs, trying desperately to squirm out of Faith’s grasp. She finally managed to wriggle free and ran across the room, throwing herself onto her bed.

“I’m sorry, B, but this is the way it’s gotta be,” Faith said with a smile, happily chasing after the other girl.

She was momentarily halted by the barrage of pillows and stuffed animals that Buffy threw at her from the bed, but quickly regained her footing as the other girl ran out of things to throw.

“Whatcha gonna do now, B? Looks to me like your arsenal is empty . . . nothing left to throw at me.” Faith said, creeping towards the bed.

“Oh, I’ve got one more thing to throw your way, Faithy.” Buffy replied, pulling herself up on her knees and bracing herself for the brunette’s approach.

Faith advanced on the bed in a predatory fashion and was now only about a foot away from the older girl. She dropped her hands to her sides and cocked her head to the side, an amused look on her face.

“Oh yeah? What’s that, twinkie?”

“This,” Buffy said, grabbing Faith by the shirt and pulling her into a heated kiss. She immediately ran her tongue along the Faith’s lower lip and was granted access into her mouth.

There was nothing soft or gentle about the kiss as lips, teeth, and tongues came into contact. Both girls groaned into the kiss as Buffy fell back onto the bed, pulling Faith down on top of her.

Immediately, Faith crawled up Buffy’s body, her thigh finding its way between Buffy’s thighs. She began rocking forward, applying just the right amount of pressure to the Buffy’s center to make the girl moan.

“Mmmmm, Faith,” Buffy groaned, unconsciously raising her own thigh so that it was having the same effect on Faith.

She wrapped her hands around Faith’s back and her hands quickly found themselves on the her ass. She pulled Faith down even harder onto her, increasing the pressure on both of their centers.

“Fuck, B,” Faith groaned into Buffy’s mouth. Their kissing had never halted, neither girl wanting to lose the warm contact of each other’s mouth.

Faith took the hands on her ass as a sign that it was okay to go further, so without hesitation, she ran her hands freely over Buffy’s body, exploring as she went.

When her hands finally reached Buffy’s breasts, she felt the girl freeze under her. She halted all of her movement as well, waiting for Buffy to do or say something. After a moment or so passed and nothing happened, she lifted her head up to gaze down at Buffy.

“B?” She asked, eyebrows furrowed and a worried look on her face.

“Faith . . .” Buffy said breathlessly, blinking hard a few times to regain her senses, “Too fast. This is all just a bit fast for me. I . . . I’m sorry, I can’t do this yet.”

Faith growled and rolled her eyes, letting her entire weight fall on Buffy.

“I’m sorry, Faith. I just got caught up in the moment. But, on a good note . . . at least I know how to get you to stop tickling me,” she beamed.

Faith, for her part, just laid there, her head in the crook of Buffy’s neck, enjoying the scent of the other girl . . . vanilla and pears, thanks to her shampoo.

Finally, she managed to groan out a few words.

“You . . . are . . . a complete . . . and total . . . cock-tease.” She heard Buffy scoff, so she corrected herself, “I’m sorry . . . I mean poon-tease. A complete and total poon-tease.”

Buffy laughed.

“Okay, I’m a poon-tease, and you’re dead weight. Get off me, I can’t breathe,” she said, rolling Faith off of her.

They now lay side to side on the small bed staring up at the ceiling, both girls breathing hard. Faith grabbed Buffy’s hand and brought it up to her lips, placing a small kiss on it.

“Buffy . . . honey, sugar, baby, peaches, love bug, sweetie . . . how long until we can make with the lovin?” She asked, a small whine in her voice.

Buffy laughed again.

“I see that patience is not a virtue to you.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “I just need to get used to this. Give me a couple days.”

Faith rolled onto her side to face Buffy.

“A couple days? Buffy, I only have ten days to break you. Ten days to convince you that this,” she pointed back and forth between the two of them, “is what you want. If you won’t let me show you, how can I make you want it?” she pleaded.

Buffy rolled onto her side and gently smiled at the brunette.

“Here’s the thing, Faith. I think that I may already want this,” she pointed back and forth between the two of them. “And not just since the kissing thing a few minutes ago. Since always. We can’t deny that we have some sort of a connection. Be it Slayer connection or otherwise, I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I accepted the challenge . . . to finally figure out exactly what it is between us.”

Faith sighed. “So, what’s the problem then? It is the social stigma thing? Cos I already told ya, B. No one cares. It’s all old hat to everyone.”

“The problem is this, Faith: What happens if we do the relationship thing and the sex thing for ten days and we decide we don’t want it any more? What happens to our friendship, Faith? I value your friendship too much to have it all go to hell over something like this.”

She lowered her head and waited for Faith’s response.

After a minute, Faith finally responded.

“Listen, B. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. That’s why it’s a challenge . . . we don’t know the outcome. I say . . . we let things happen as we feel and as we see fit. After ten days, if you don’t want it . . . well, we go back to our old ways. I’m a slayer, you’re a slayer, we’re both college students, and we’re friends. So, c’mon. What d’ya say?”

Buffy thought about it for a few moments and then smiled.

“Alright. I say let’s do it.”

She closed her eyes and leaned in towards Faith to give her another kiss, but his time, she felt Faith’s hands stop her.

She opened her eyes to see a grinning Faith staring back at her.

“Hold that thought for a while, B, I’ve got some business to take care of,” she said as she got up from the bed and straightened herself out.

Buffy pouted from the bed, watching Faith as she moved across the room.

“But . . . I though maybe we could do a little more of what we started before,” she said sheepishly, looking up at Faith through her eyelashes. “I’m a little hot and bothered after that little game we were playing.”

Faith smiled, loving the fact that she had the upper-hand.

“Sorry, B. Like I said . . . business.”

Buffy pouted again. “Business? What’s more important than impromptu kissage with your quasi-girlfriend?”

Faith laughed.

“Well, sugar-pie honeybunch snookums . . . I . . . am going to tell your friends about our little set-up. This way, they won’t be shocked when they see us all over each other.”

Buffy was about to protest, but then she realized that Faith probably had the right idea. Also, this way, she wouldn’t have to tell them herself.

“Just don’t tell my mom . . . or Giles. That would be all sorts of new levels of weird and awkward,” she said. “But . . . baby . . . don’t you think it could wait a little while? I think I need a little more attention over here,” she said innocently. She sat up seductively on the bed, trying to lull the other girl over to her.

Faith just laughed.

“Sorry, twinks. Gotta get this outta the way. Just . . . put it on the back-burner for a while,” she said as she opened the door and began to make her way out.

Just before she was about to close the door behind her, she leaned back in and blew a kiss to Buffy, winking her eye as she did so. Before Buffy could respond, Faith slipped back out and closed the door behind her.