No Such Thing as Heroes
by Palaskar([email protected])

My life is such a mess.

I mean, things between me and Xander were going so well, and then he nearly gets himself killed.

We were walking in the park at night, eating ice cream. I got some ice cream on my nose, and he got closer to lick it off, and then...we got mugged.

It's crazy. Sunnydale's the most peaceful town I've heard of. Smallville, USA. Only without Clark Kent.

Of course, to listen to Xander, that's not how it is.

Back in the hospital, I talked to him.

"What were you thinking?!" I screamed at him. "You got yourself knifed! You could have been killed if the police hadn't heard me screaming."

He looked at me, kinda sad, kinda confused. "I didn't think, Will. I couldn't let you get hurt. I mean, I thought you'd be happy that I saved your life. I mean, I'm the big hero..." his voice trailed off, uncertain. "Right?" He looked at me with those puppy-dog eyes of his.

"Don't you get it?" I said. "There's no such thing as heroes. There's only people, the live kind and the dead kind." I stormed out of the room, thinking about how crazy he had been.

All he had to do was hand over his wallet. It's not like Sunnydale even -has- a murder rate.

But no, he has to play the White Knight.

Because he loves me so.

"Penny for your thoughts," says a voice behind me.

Xander.

I don't turn around. "I...." I don't really know what to say. "I used to wonder what our lives would be like if, I dunno, we were some other people. Action heroes, maybe, fighting the forces of evil, the only thing standing between the world and total doom....'Cause you know Sunnydale is just the center of the universe for adventure."

I turn around. "But seeing you at the hospital like that...I can't bear to think that you'll do something stupid and dangerous because of me," I say.

"Well, you know, that's me, dangerously stupid," he quips.

I giggle. "Seriously. I don't know what I'd do without you."

He smiles lopsidedly at me. "I think you'd do fine, Will."

"No, I wouldn't!" I insist. "After mooning after you for years, I was so surprised when you started to notice me." I look down, shake my head. "It's like Jesse reached from beyond the grave, and said, 'Hey! Wake up!' you know? All of a sudden, my life was, is, just perfect. And, and I don't want it to end."

He springs to sit down beside me on the wall. "It won't end. I promise."

"But how do you know?"

"I don't," he says. "But I gotta believe in something better. Better than this sleeply little burg, or my pathetic little life. Better than me. And that's you. And me. Us." He looks me in the eye. "And frankly my dear, I believe that even if we were spending every day dodging death and destruction, we'd still fall in love and live happily ever after." So he grins. "So what's a little real-life trouble here or there? I -laugh- at life or death situations! HAHA!" He stands up, assumes a mock-heroic pose. "Hey Death, this is me, Xander Harris, laughing at you!"

"Xander, sit down, people are starting to stare."

"Let them," he says.

Suddenly, he grabs me and hoists me up by his side like I'm some comic-boo