Title: No Matter What (Willow's Tale)
Author: Harikari
Characters/Pairing: Very Young Xander & Willow
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own em'.
Summary: Xander makes a promise to Willow.
Warnings: Fluff, possible BtVS spoilers and a tiny bit of angst.
AN: Written for 5trueloves. I wrote this fic over a year ago. Posted it on LJ, but forgot to post it here. Hope you enjoy!

--

"I love you," Xander told Willow. His mouth was full of popcorn though, so it came out sounding funny and muffled - some of the fluffy, buttery popcorn even fell right out of his mouth and onto Willow's Strawberry Shortcake bedspread. Xander snorted. Willow giggled.

"I love you too, Xander," she said.

They were five and it was Saturday night and Willow had invited Xander over for a sleepover. Well, really, Xander's parents had rushed out of town in a hurry that morning (something about Uncle Rory being in trouble again) and had dumped their son off at the neighbor's house for the weekend. Xander didn't care - it felt like it was one of those times Willow had invited him to stay the night; he was having fun. His best friend's mom had given him peanut butter and jelly for lunch and spaghetti for dinner and had even let he and Willow drag the heavy blanket from the redhead's bed all the way downstairs so that they could cuddle on the living room couch while they watched Bambi.

Xander leaned forward to grab another handful of popcorn from the bowl sitting on the coffee table before once again leaning back into the sofa and tucking the Strawberry Shortcake comforter carefully over and around his legs. "We should get married then, right?" He wrinkled his nose. He loved Wills, yeah, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to marry her. Xander's parents were married and all they did was fight all the time. He didn't want to fight with Willow. Maybe there was some way he could love Willow and she could love him without them having to get married?

Willow made a face. It looked like she didn't want to get married, either.

"We could go out," the girl suggested a long moment later. Xander was a little surprised at the answer; it had seemed for a second there like Willow wasn't going to reply because she'd been too busy watching Thumper get into trouble with his mom.

"What's that?" asked Xander.

"It's like...girlfriend and boyfriend, I think."

"Oh." Xander smiled. Willow was so smart - he should've known she would find a way around marriage. "Okay."

Xander wasn't sure exactly what being girlfriend and boyfriend would mean, but it had to be better than getting married.

Suddenly, Willow wiggled out from under the blanket and hopped off of the couch. She extended her arms so that her hands were right in front of Xander's face and wiggled her fingers. "Buttery," she declared. "Eeeew. I'm gonna' go wash my hands."

Xander grinned at his best friend, stuck out his own arms, wiggled his own fingers - and then promptly wiped his hands off on his shirt. Greasy, buttery trails were left all down the front of his shirt. But that was okay. Xander was already dressed for bed. He was wearing his old Transformers shirt that was torn under the left arm.

Willow sighed and shook her head. "Boys," was all she said, before disappearing into the kitchen where her mom was still busy washing dishes.

Xander shook his head, too. Willow was wearing her own pajamas. She could've saved herself a hand washing if she'd done what he had done. Oh well. Girls were crazy like that sometimes.

Xander let out an exaggerated sigh and settled back into the cushions. He eyed the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table, the animated woodland animals frolicking across the television screen in front of him, Willow's Barbie sitting on the arm of the couch...

Fifteen minutes later Willow and Xander were no longer a couple and Xander was crying. He was sorry about kidnapping and hiding Willow's favorite doll, he hadn't meant to hurt his friend's feelings - he'd already apologized a bajillion times to both Willow and Willow's mom (he was sorry he'd been bad), but Willow was mad and was refusing to try and make their romantic relationship work.

She stayed angry - her little face scrunched up into an awful expression and her skin flushed and red enough to match her hair - until Xander started hiccuping.

She must have noticed that Xander wasn't crying the fake I-don't-wanna-be-in-trouble-so-I'll-make-everyone-feel-sorry-for-me-instead tears he had been crying at first because she said, suddenly, "We can still be friends, Xanny."

Xander took note of Willow's mom, who had been supervising their argument from the kitchen doorway, smiling and slipping out of sight at this point.

Xander sniffed and looked up at his friend with red, swelling eyes. "What?"

"We can still be friends. I think friends can love each other." She sighed heavily. "I forgive you for taking my Barbie."

"Yeah?" Xander sniffed again; tried to rub away some of the dampness from his cheeks.

"Yes," Willow said. And she scooted over from the very corner of the couch (where she had moved in her anger) to sit right up close to Xander again. "But only if you promise to be my best friend no matter what, too."

Xander spread the Strawberry Shortcake blanket carefully over his and Willow's legs again. "What does that mean?"

"It means - I'm still your friend after you took my Barbie. So if I ever do something bad you have to forgive me and still be my friend."

"Oh," said Xander. "Okay."

But Willow didn't look convinced. She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "No matter what," she stressed. "Like - say I get super powers some day and I turn evil and I try to destroy the world. Will you still be my friend then, Xander?"

Xander smiled - because his best friend wasn't mad at him anymore, and he didn't have to marry anyone, and he still loved Wills and she still loved him and everything was okay after all. "Yes," he answered. "Even then."

Willow smiled, too.