Author's Notes: I'm starting a collection where I can put all my Buffy one-shots and drabbles, so they'll be in one neat place. They'll be in a range of genres from romance or friendship to comedy or angst. None of the stories will exceed T. As for pairings, I'll write a variety of them. Length will differ as well with stories shorter than this and stories longer than this.

Characters: Willow, Xander

Pairing: Willow/Xander (though it's more friendship than romance)

Setting: Pre-series

Warnings: None

Notes: Inspired by the conversation between Buffy and Willow in 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' about Willow dating Xander.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy. I'm just playing with the characters. I also don't own Barbie.

Barbie Thief

"Do you want to go out?" Xander asked.

"We can't." The smile dropped off the boy's face, but reappeared as Willow continued, "We're already outside." She gestured around the green yard.

"No, I meant: do you want to go out? With me?"

"Oh… Oh!" Willow's cheeks flushed momentarily. Then she nodded with a beaming smile. "Okay! I'll go out with you."

Xander smiled back.

"So what do people who are going out do?"

"That's an easy one." Willow waited for him expectantly. Xander frowned. "Okay, maybe not so easy..."

They sat together quietly, trying to remember everything they had ever seen a couple do, both in movies and in reality. Willow started first, "Well, I see boys and girls kissing in the mall sometimes. Except it kinda looks like they're trying to suck each other's faces off."

Xander touched his cheek, frowning. "I don't want my face sucked off."

Willow nodded in agreement. She happened to like her face very much and if that's what dating was about, then she would skip. They fell back into silence.

"Couples go on dates!" Xander exclaimed. "Like to restaurants or movies."

"Well, neither of us can drive and I don't think my mom would want to drive us either…"

"We could make our own restaurant!" Willow watched him curiously as he continued to outline his plan, "We just need a table and some chairs and a waitress and some food…"

"And some candles! Nice restaurants always have candles."

"Right. Let's get to it."

Together, they went inside. Willow's mom was upstairs, working, so they weren't bothered by anyone as they quickly put together an impressive array of snack foods. They set plates out, but before Xander could start pouring chips on to the plate, Willow stopped him.

"We have to order our food first."

Xander nodded his head and put the chip bag to the side. "Who's going to be our waitress?"

Willow frowned. If Jesse had been here, he might have played along. But he wasn't here and they needed to get on with their date. Her eyes brightened. "I have an idea!"

The redhead ran off and soon returned with a Barbie. She smoothed the Barbie's hair back before placing her on the table. They stared at the inanimate doll. Willow sighed.

Xander said, "Well, we could just say we ordered before we came to the restaurant, so they had everything all set up when we got here."

It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would have to do since the Barbie couldn't actually fulfill any of their orders. They went back to placing the food out. Since they couldn't use the oven (Xander was for trying the microwave, but Willow was strict about the kitchen rules), they wound up only having chips, untoasted bread slices, Twinkies, and a juice box each.

Xander surveyed their layout and nodded his head; at the same time, Willow was shaking hers. The boy frowned. "What's wrong?"

"We forgot the candles."

"Do you have any?"

"Some birthday candles, but I don't think we have any nice candles."

He shrugged. "That's okay. We don't need candles. It's only a first date and we can pretend anyway."

"Okay…" Willow still looked concerned, but she brightened when Xander grabbed her hand.

"Well, here we are. The nicest and most expensive restaurant Sunnydale has to offer…" Xander faltered, face screwing up as he tried to come up with a name.

"Think of something French-y." Willow muttered under her breath. "The nicest restaurants always have French-y sounding names."

"Uh… Bon Appetite."

Willow gave him an incredulous look, but went along with it. "It's beautiful."

"Our table awaits!" Xander did an exaggerated bow, causing Willow to giggle.

They clambered up on to the chairs, Xander doing his best to push Willow's in (he managed to budge it an inch before giving up in pushing her in the entire way).

"We should bump our drinks. People are always doing that when eating out." Willow murmured as Xander grabbed a chip off his plate.

"Right." He grabbed his juice box, inserted the straw, and then bumped it with Willow's juice box. "To us."

She smiled and echoed, "To us."

- Later –

"Give me back my Barbie!" Willow shrieked, charging after Xander.

"Never!" He ran off, clutching the aforementioned doll in his hand.

Willow put an extra burst of speed on, barreling into Xander. She knocked into him, sending the two of them to the ground. They wrestled briefly and then Xander managed to squirm away. He ran a few steps away and then looked back. Willow was still on the ground where he had left her, trembling.

The excited smile faded from Xander's face. "Willow?"

"We're over!" Willow yelled.

"What?"

"Was I not clear enough? I am not your girlfriend anymore and I will never be your girlfriend again."

Silence fell. Willow continued to sit, silent tears dripping down her cheeks. Xander stood dumbfounded. He glanced down at the Barbie in his hand, feeling rather hollow. She had used her resolved voice; there was no way he was going to get her back.

Xander walked over and knelt beside her. He placed the doll down beside her and offered her a small smile. "Could we still be friends?"

Willow glanced down at the Barbie and then at his smile. She sniffed. "Fine." It was too hard to stay disdainful, so she grinned and said,

"We can still be friends."