Rating: PG13

Pairing: Cordelia/Faith

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor do I make any money from writing about them.

Summary: Written for the Femslash Minis ficathon during the Cordelia round. When it comes to the possible social stigma of being seen hanging out with Faith, Cordelia realizes some exceptions need to be made.

Cordelia wasn't sure when she and Faith had fallen into this pattern and honestly, she didn't really care. Thinking about it would cause her to overanalyze and possibly regret, and as much as she knew that this wasn't exactly a good thing for her reputation, she felt like it was a good thing for her. Once she'd gotten past her first impression - and second, third, and fourth impressions, too – she finally realized that Faith was actually pretty fun to be around. They weren't exactly Paris and Nicole, but they seemed to click when they were one-on-one.

She guessed that they got to drop their acts around each other and just . . . be.

She couldn't remember the last time in her life when she'd had as much fun and had been as carefree, but she figured that had something to do with Faith. Maybe that was the reason they'd started hanging out every Monday and Thursday night at The Velvet Rope, the only club in Sunnydale that was completely devoid of any Sunnydale High School students - including the Scoobies.

And that was just one of its many, many plusses.

Another perk? No one ever checked ID's at the door and the bartender seemed to have a thing for hot brunettes. Between the two of them, they held a monopoly on the hot brunette scene.

"It's your turn."

"No it's not, I did it last time."

"You're wasting your breath, slay-girl. My memory is as good as my complexion and I clearly remember that I went last."

"Your complexion ain't all that, Cor." Seeing Cordelia's playful smile morph into a glare that made even a slayer flinch, Faith quickly changed her song. "Alright fine, it's perfect. Happy now? But I know what I know, and I remember you connin' me into thinking it was my turn Monday."

"Faith, grow a pair and just do it already."

"You'd like me better if I had a pair, wouldn't ya?" Faith asked, smirking. It was her attempt to distract Cordelia and make her give in, but Cordelia wasn't having any of that.

"If you did I'd sell you off to the nearest traveling freakshow and make a small fortune."

"Maybe then you'd finally pony up for drinks and we wouldn't have to go through this in the first place," Faith said, still smirking.

"Cordelia Chase doesn't pay for drinks," Cordelia replied, flashing her dazzling smile.

"And we both know I ain't exactly rolling in cash."

"Then you better get to it, huh."

The tone of Cordelia's voice nearly made Faith snarl, but instead Faith just grumbled and tore her gaze away from the girl to look down the bar. She knew that it was a losing battle, so she let Cordelia have this one.

This time, anyway. No way was Faith gonna let her get used to winning.

The bartender was leaning back against some wooden shelving, watching them with a look of longing that they'd creepily become accustomed to. Seeing as that the bar was pretty much deserted with the exception of Cordelia, Faith, and one other couple in a booth near the dance floor, he had nothing but time on his hands to leer and . . . leer.

Taking a second to psych herself up, Faith ran her fingers through her hair and made sure it was appropriately sexy and tussled. Sliding her hands down her chest and over the sides of her full breasts, she gave them a quick push up - not that they needed it - and bit lightly on her lower lip. She was ready.

Leaning up onto the bar and giving the bartender a nice look at her ample cleavage, she grinned at him and showed off her dimples. He smiled excitedly.

Oh yeah, she totally had this.

"Hey Ray," Faith flirted, pushing her elbows almost to the edge of the bar and resting her chin on one of her hands.

"Hey Fai," he said back with a huge smile, his eyes fixed on her cleavage.

"We're a bit parched over here. Think the house can spare a drink or two?"

"That can be arranged."

He tried to move his gaze back to her eyes as he walked over to the area just in front of them but he didn't seem to have the will to do so. Eyes transfixed on her breasts now that they were practically right in front of him, he bent down unnecessarily to fetch a bottle from under the counter, his face coming precariously close.

Faith grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut. If she heard so much as a single motorboat noise, she was gonna unleash hell on the guy, free drinks or none.

Thankfully Ray stood tall again after a moment, a half-full bottle of tequila in his hand and two shot glasses in the other. Faith sighed with relief when she realized he wasn't going to take his perving any further. Instead he slid over a bowl of lemon wedges and a shaker of salt, then poured the two shot glasses full of the clear liquid. He leered over at a smiling Cordelia as he did so, giving her a wink which only made her chuckle with amusement. When he began to move the bottle away, a firm hand on his wrists stopped him. He looked at the hand and then up to Faith who was holding him just a bit too tightly than a girl her age should've been able to it.

"Leave the bottle?" she asked, trying to smile as innocently as possible.

Ray just nodded excitedly, almost forgetting to move away and back to his leer-post across the bar when Faith finally let go of him. He rubbed his sore wrist a few times before settling back for the show.

Letting her smile fall now that she had the goods secured, Faith slid one of the shot glasses over to Cordelia and flomped back onto her stool.

"Bravo, tiger," Cordelia said with a grin from beside her.

"Yeah, yeah," Faith easily dismissed her as she pulled the salt shaker over and licked her own wrist. "Now use that sparkling memory to take a mental snapshot cos next time your tits are the bait."

"Done and done," Cordelia replied, then dabbed her tongue over the back of her hand as Faith had done a moment before.

When Faith was done shaking the salt on her own wrist, she shook it over Cordelia's waiting hand, earning a smile from the girl.

"So chivalrous," Cordelia teased.

"Bite me."

"Not unless you're a lemon."

"Har-dee-har, Cor," Faith said, trying to hide her grin. "Now shut up and drink."

Cordelia bit back the string of sarcastic replies that wanted to tumble out of her mouth and instead held up her shot glass, clinking it gently against Faith's. They simultaneously licked the salt off their hands, then downed the shots in one quick go. Faith hissed at the warm burn and Cordelia made a distinctive 'blah!' sound before biting down into one of the lemon wedges and sucking.

"Mmphh," Cordelia mumbled as she pulled the lemon from between her lips and dropped it down on a napkin between them. "That has to be the cheapest bottle of tequila in the history of cheap bottles of tequila. Remind me again why we come here?"

"Because the drinks are free and the company is decent?" Faith said, already refilling their glasses.

"That last part is debatable," Cordelia said playfully, hiding her grin behind her hand as she gave it another lick to prep it for the salt.

Faith simply popped her the finger while she was pouring, ignoring Cordelia's grin. Cordelia knew that Faith realized she was kidding. After all, why would they keep coming back here two times a week if they didn't actually like each other at least a little? Faith was fun and pretty easy-going, nothing like the other uptight slayer she'd come to know first. Besides, why would Faith go through all of the trouble of putting her chest on display just to get Cordelia a free drink if she didn't find her at least mutually likable?

Pushing back an unexplainable swoony feeling - it couldn't have been from just one shot of alcohol - Cordelia grabbed her shot glass from Faith and braced herself for another mouthful of badness.

Two hours and several Tequila shots later, Faith and Cordelia made their way out of the bar without so much as a stumble. The alcohol had loosened them up but Faith was too cool to be clumsy and Cordelia didn't do sloppy drunk.

It wasn't her style.

Ready to make her way home, Cordelia watched as Faith raised her arms over her head and stretched her stiff back. This was the point where Faith should have been headed off toward her cheap motel on her own, not wanting to be seen with the prom queen, but for some reason the last few times they'd been out together she'd taken it upon herself to make sure Cordelia made the five-minute walk home safely.

Being as that they were in Sunnydale, home of the evil bad of evil badness, Cordelia didn't see a reason to turn down the silent offer. They walked silently down the road and into what appeared to be one of the more affluent communities in the town. Faith jumped up and grabbed a few leaves when they'd passed under a towering maple tree but the walk was otherwise uneventful.

They finally approached the iron fence and Cordelia made her way to the security pad, quickly entering her code. The heavy gate lumbered back slowly with a quick groan and Cordelia turned around to find Faith standing a few feet back, hands deep in her pockets while she kicked a small stone around with the toe of her boot.

"Well . . . thanks," she said a bit awkwardly.

Faith had never hung around long enough for goodbyes so this was completely new territory for Cordelia. She liked spending time with Faith; in fact, she wouldn't mind spending a bit more with her if she was being completely honest. She wasn't going to fawn after her like Xander did though. No way was she that pathetic.

"Yup. See ya Monday," Faith said just as awkwardly and turned around to walk away. She didn't get more than ten steps before Cordelia called out to her.

"You know, it's not like my social calendar is exactly booming now that I've taken to hanging around with the Buffy Band of Ragtag Rejects. I'm sure we could make other arrangements if Monday is busy with the slaying or . . . something."

Cordelia grimaced internally. Could she be any lamer? God, the Scoobies were having way too much of a negative effect on her social skills!

"So you wanna like, meet up on Saturday or something?" Faith asked with a shrug, completely unfazed. "Ain't like I got any other plans either."

Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god Faith hadn't made a big deal of it. "Yeah. Usual time?"

"Five by five," Faith said, this time flashing Cordelia one of her dimpled smiles. She turned to walk away again and Cordelia realized something.

That was Faith's flirty smile from the bar!

"Oh my god, you're flirting with me! Openly!" Cordelia called after her, making Faith turn around and take a few steps back toward her.

"I'm just flirting back, princess. You started it by asking me out," Faith said with a smirk.

"I did not ask you out!"

"Totally did, Cor. Hey, don't worry; it's awkward for everyone when they ask out a hot chick like me. You'll get better at it."

Cordelia went to reply but her mouth snapped shut as something dawned on her. A familiar look of righteous disbelief and anger popped up on her face then.

"I was not bad at it! I'm not bad at anything, except maybe calculus but that's only because Professor Fish is totally playing favorites with Willow!"

"Ya don't gotta try to convince me. I already told ya not to worry about it," Faith said with a grin as she continued stepping closer, knowing exactly what effect her words were having on the girl.

"Oh, you watch yourself, bub," Cordelia said, narrowing her eyes at Faith. "Keep your misplaced pity for someone else!"

Faith couldn't help but laugh as she walked the last few steps closer until she was just a foot or two away from Cordelia. She looked down at her boots, then up into Cordelia's face, the moon reflecting in her eyes.

"Fine, no pity for ya, Cor," she said, the smallest of a grin lingering on her full lips. "Guess I won't have to feel bad for ya when I do this then."

She closed the distance between them and brushed her lips over Cordelia's, smiling at the little surprised noise Cordelia made in the back of her throat.

The kiss was soft and fleeting and over before Cordelia could properly respond. That is, if she'd wanted to. Which she didn't. She didn't just go around kissing girls in the middle of the night. She had rules; she required wining and dining and, well . . . usually a man.

But as she watched Faith walk away down the darkened street with her hands in her pockets, seeing her jump up to snatch some leaves from the maple tree a few houses down, she knew that she was willing to make an exception.

Sometimes rules were made to be broken.