Title: Brownies Are For Everyone

Summary: Someone has to stand up for Xander. Pre series ficlet inspired by something <lj user=druinsanity> wrote in an rpg that she plays Xander Harris in. Xander and Willow are 8 years old.

Rating: G

 

 

 

Willow opened her door surprised to see Xander Harris standing there looking so dejected.

 

“They kicked me out of cub scouts,” he mumbled.

 

The redhead eight year old immediately stiffened. “They can’t do that! You just went to sign ups! Were you even an official cub scout yet? They have to let you in. Cub Scouts are for everyone!”

 

Xander shook his head. “Nope. I was at sign up playing with my bubble gun. It’s not my fault I blinded the cub scout director with soap bubbles. He fell on the table, broke it and sign ups were over.”

 

Willow grabbed Xander’s hand and pulled him inside the house. “Come on. Mom is at work but we can have hot chocolate until she comes home.”

 

The little boy sat on the barstool and watched his best friend make hot chocolate. Willow brought them both mugs with ice cubes in them. “So you don’t burn your tongue,” she explained as she slid Xander’s mug toward him.

 

“Thanks, Will.”

 

Willow’s small forehead furrowed in a frown. She wasn’t used to seeing Xander like this, even when she’d broke up with him for stealing her Barbie he hadn’t gotten all morose.

 

“Hey, wanna walk up to the store before it gets dark and get some of those Little Debbie Brownies?” Xander asked as a smile lit his face.

 

Willow smiled back in return. “Nope, but I think I know how to make this better.”

 

*

 

“I’m sorry, Willow. We can’t allow your friend in Brownies.” The director smiled kindly at the red head and then glanced down at her paper work, sure she had dismissed the eight year old.

 

Willow’s small fist hit the desk. The woman looked up surprised.

 

“Brownies are for everyone. Why can’t he be in it?” Willow demanded.

 

“He’s a boy, Sweetheart. Brownies are for girls. He needs to join the cub scouts,” the director explained and then looked back down at what she was working on.

 

“He tried. They wouldn’t let him sign up,” Willow said. It was a small lie, but a necessary one in her opinion. This was Xander Harris, her best friend and the boy she was going to marry when she grew up.

 

The director drew her eyebrows together, folded her hands in front of her and smiled at Willow and Xander. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to talk to cub scouts. Brownies are for girls.”

 

“That’s not fair. That’s sexual discrimination. It’s against the constitution.” Willow put her hands on her hips, clearly showing that she would brook no argument over this. “I know about these things. My mom is an activist and she wants me to be one when I grow up too.”

 

The director sighed and sat back in her chair. “Honey, I’m sorry. We just can’t allow your friend, Alexander, to be in the brownies. I can talk to the director of cub scouts for you and see if perhaps they’d give him another chance.”

 

“No. That’s not good enough. He wants to be in Brownies with me,” Willow demanded putting on her resolve face.

 

“I can sell cookies…in theory. I can actually eat a lot of them which means I’d have to buy them,” Xander offered. It was his first contribution to Willow’s tirade. He knew how Willow was when she was on a mission. It was better he sit back and let her do the talking. She had a head for these things.

 

“He can eat an entire box of girl scout cookies in under five minutes. I’ve seen him, but that’s not the point,” Willow continued. “We can take this to the Supreme Court. My Mom knows lawyers who do that for activist issues all the time.”

 

The director sighed. She had known Willow Rosenberg for several years and while the red head was usually quiet and incredibly intelligent, she was also stubborn when she got her mind made up.

 

“Alright. I suppose he can wear jeans with the brownie’s shirt.”