Title: First Move
Author: Lily
Spoilers: Halfway through phases
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Rating: G
Summary: short AU Phases fic: what if it wasn't Oz who was the
wolf?
For Karen cuz she's stressed, even if this isn't her challenge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Buffy told me that sometimes what a girl makes has to be
the first move..."
~Willow, "Phases"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was getting dark, and Willow clutched the cross in her
pocket. This
was way too scary.
Who was she to be making the first move? What if he didn't
like girls who
were first move-makers? What if he just didn't like her and he
was just going
out with her so her could dump her and laugh at her and that was
why there
had been no smoochies?
But no. She should be calm Willow. Oz liked her for sure,
and Buffy had
said that she should do this, and Buffy wouldn't be wrong about
something
like this. She was doing something new and exciting, and even
fairly
spontaneous, considering she hadn't even brought the written version
with
her. Oh God. What if the written version was what she needed?
And there was his house. She'd never been inside before,
and she felt
very small and scared standing on his porch. Maybe she should
go home, she
thought. No no no.
"Take a deep breath," she whispered to herself, "and knock..."
"I'll get it," Oz's mother said as she pushed her
chair back from the
dinner table.
Halfway between the dining room and the door, whoever it
was knocked
again. She opened the door, to see a *very* nervous looking girl
in bright
overalls. Ah. This must be the famous Willow.
"Hi, is Oz here? I'm..."
"Willow?" The woman who Willow guessed was Oz's
mom smiled. In response
to Willow's startled expression, she explained, "I'm a good
guesser. Come in.
I'll get him."
Oz's mom knew her name? Did that mean he talked about her?
She stood in
the foyer, alternating between playing with her hair and wringing
her hands
for the extremely long minute while she waited.
And there he was.
"Willow. Hi. Is something the matter?" Oz looked concerned.
"I...I need to talk to you. I had it written down,
but then it didn't
make any sense when I was reading it back and now I'm starting
to think that
the written version sounded better." Willow took a deep breath.
"Okay, Buffy
told me that sometimes what a girl makes has to be the first move
and..."
"Do you want to talk outside? On the porch?" Oz cut her off.
"Yeah. Okay."
Oz opened the door for her and they went outside. Willow
looked around
the front of the house and the porch before looking at him for
a second,
after which she started pacing.
"Okay. So I don't really get you. First you bought
me popcorn, and you
were glad that I didn't get bit, and you put the tag back in my
shirt! But
then you didn't want to spend time with me and half the time we
talk you end
up running off and I understand if you had to have dinner with
your family or
something tonight, it's just...you're so on and off, and I'm really
confused,
so I thought maybe I should follow Buffy's advice, and, you know..."
"Willow." Oz put his hand on her arm, halting her pacing and her rant.
And then he kissed her.
Wow.
"...sometimes what a girl makes has to be the...second
move?"
**fin**