Somehow by the time the class had finished Faith already knew about Tara. She turned up outside their class, dressed in one of Buffy's oversized jumpers and a pair of white cotton shorts. Her hair was tied up messily but she still wore her classic eyeliner. I'm tired but I'm dedicated to the gossip, she said placing a small kiss on Buffy's face, before turning to Willow.
"So Buffy said you've joined the gay squad," Faith grinned, causing Willow to nearly spit out the water she wasn't drinking, the tip of her ears going bright red as she tried to hide behind her sleeve. "Welcome kiddo," Faith said, messing up Willow's hair with the hand she wasn't using to hold Buffy's.
"Thanks, I guess," Willow said, blushing and trying to straighten up her hair once more, pushing it behind her ear as they made their way towards the cafeteria. Buffy attempted to get all of her food without letting go of Faith's hand, endeavouring to get an extra large portion on her catering card so that Faith could share (the woman always raised her eyebrows but usually let them get away with it, if that wasn't ally culture Willow didn't know what was.)
They sat around the table, Faith talking about how her friend last night punched some dude in the face and they got kicked out and had to go three towns over in the middle of the night just to get to another club. And Willow was sure it was a fascinating story but she was only half listening because Tara had walked in, her long hair falling across her face. She seemed to be talking to another girl, a tall girl with short black hair that was half-tied up, a long blue cardigan falling from her shoulders, god I hope she doesn't have a girlfriend, Willow thought, her eyes lingering over Tara and the way her mouth twitched into a smile.
"Hey earth to Willow," Buffy said, nudging Willow out of her staring, "You went awful quiet," Buffy said, following Willow's eye line, she squealed, squeezing Faith's hand, "Hey is that her!"
"Yes," Willow whispered under her breath, "but don't draw attention to us," she said, turning red.
"She's cute," Faith said, "you know in like that quiet, ethereal kind of way," she said,
"Definitely," Buffy smiled,
Tara payed for her lunch and started heading towards another table,
"Hey you!" Faith shouted towards Tara, causing her to jump a little, "Tara right?" Faith said as Willow turned a red deeper than Buffy had ever before seen, practically matching the tomatoes on her plate.
"Umm y-yeah" Tara said, and Willow could see her tray shaking a little.
"I'm Faith, Willow's friend," Faith said, letting go of Buffy's hand in order to gesture towards a (now crimson) Willow.
"Oh h-hey," Tara said, a small smile creeping over her face, as she looked down, her hair falling across her face. "I-I was hoping to see you around," she said, her cheeks becoming pink. And Willow couldn't help but grin, she was so cute.
"Well here I am, around," she smiled, very aware of both Buffy and Faith staring at her. There was a beat of silence,
"Well I umm better go," Tara said, smiling towards Willow before turning around,
"Hey wait –"Willow said, "are you going to this Wicca group? Tonight?"
Tara smiled, "I w-wasn't planning on doing - but sure," she smiled softly, looking over at her friend, who was watching her with raised eyebrows, "I-I have to go, but see you there?"
"It's a date," Willow smiled, "w-well urm not a date, but you know?" Willow trailed off, looking down at her feet.
"I know," Tara said softly, "See you there."
And then she disappeared through the open door, into the secondary cafeteria room, her long, blonde hair glimmering in the grey flickering light.
Willow turned her head, "Faith I am going to kill you,"
Faith grinned, "Worked didn't it?" she said, tilting her head, "I got you a date, didn't I?"
"It's not a date," Willow muttered but she couldn't help but smile.
"She's for sure gay though," Buffy said, and Willow turned to her, smiling softly, "I know these things," she grinned, patting Willow's shoulder as she blushed.
"To the power gay squad," Faith said, holding up her glass in cheers as Buffy rolled her eyes,
"Someone's gonna have to tell Xander." Buffy laughed.
Faith turned her head, as Willow picked her fork back up, pushing around the (over congealed) cheese pasta that passed for food at the cafeteria.
"That guy's looking at you again, Buffy." Faith said in a sing-song voice, before stealing a whole handful of chips from Buffy's plate. Willow looked across the cafeteria and sure enough, there was Riley, surrounded by a whole table of guys who looked the exact same as him, impossibly tall habitants of the gym with a tan as if they just stepped off a (private) plane. And sure enough he was looking at Buffy, his little face lit up like a puppy. He grinned and waved and Willow swore she saw one of the other guys roll his eyes, (Moss? Woody? Frances? Something like that).
"I told you," Buffy said, waving back, "he's just my psychology assistant."
"I know that," Faith grinned, "But does he?"
"Faaaith," Buffy groaned, "He's sweet I promise,"
"Oblivious more like," Faith said, sitting upwards to catch Buffy's mouth with her own, proceeding to make out with her ferociously, in a manner that was not respectable for a public location (they'd been burned before.) Faith pulled away, grinning, watching Riley blush and turn away, "Do you think he's got the message yet?"
Buffy grinned, "I do like jealous Faith," she said, moving closer to kiss Faith again.
"Dudes, boundaries." Willow groaned, "It's bad enough I have to vacate my room every other night, now I can't even eat my mash potatoes in peace?"
Buffy laughed, "It's us who'll have to leave the room soon enough," she grinned, shaking Willow's shoulder until she turned a brighter red than even Riley.
The day wore on, Willow went to all her classes, her backpack seeming to grow heavier with every turn of the clock. Buffy was markedly absent from their psychology 101 class, and Willow made a mental note to talk to her about responsibilities and balance. Giles had gone soft since the engagement, and Buffy was starting to get away with murder. Then again maybe she was just trying to avoid Riley after the lunch time fiasco. Besides, Willow could hardly blame her for skipping a class here and there, what with her being the only one who could stop the apocalypse and all, but still, school was important.
It was dark by the time Willow made it back to the room, a full moon shining through the window like an omen. The hanging chalice. She threw her backpack on the bed, turning the light on.
"Ow, don't do that." Faith said, throwing an arm over her face. She seemed to have gotten changed back into pyjamas (or at least an oversized slipknot t-shirt, which was as close to pyjamas as Faith got.)
"Hangover hit you?" Willow said, turning out the main light and putting on her small, bedside lamp.
"Something like that." She said, rolling over to look at Willow. "So…" she said, grinning, "you looking forward to seeing Tara tonight? Need me to vacate the room?" she said, raising her eyebrows.
Willow blushed, "it's not like that."
"But you want it to be."
"Faith!"
"Just saying, let it be Will, there's no shame," Willow sat down on the bed, from this angle she could see Faith's (fifth? sixth?) tattoo, a small one just inside her wrist. She remembered the day Faith got it, acting hard, but Buffy swore she had seen a small tear escape, and that she'd gripped her hand a little too tight to be considered loving.
It's an infinity sign, that's like fractured in the middle you know, to remind me that not everything has a higher purpose; that sometimes things break down and that's okay.
I think that's the most genuine thing I've ever heard you say.
Well don't expect it to last.
"I know," Willow said softly, "Thanks Faith,"
"It's okay," Faith smiled softly, "Now let me sleep, the Advil should kick in any second."
"Buffy on patrol?"
"Yep," Faith said, her voice laced with sleep and Willow smiled, sometimes Faith was so brazen and hard and larger than life that Willow forgot about her soft edges, forgot that she cared about things so deeply. She didn't glimpse it all that often, but every once in a while that hardened exterior disappeared and she got to see what Faith would be like if she hadn't put up so many walls, got to see her softer side. The moonlight spilled through the cracked window, intertwining with Faith's hair as it spilled across the pillow and Willow walked over to the bed, pulling a small blanket from the bottom of the bed, tucking it over her shoulders.
"Night Faith." She said, grabbing her keys before leaving the room.
Willow pulled her sleeves over her hands as she walked down the corridor. She suddenly felt very nervous, as if the carpet were twitching, trying to throw off her balance. She knew from her discussion with eager flyer girl that she wasn't gonna gain anything magically from this class. But deep down she knew that the magic element had nothing to do with why she was going. Tara. Hair as bright as the sun, her smile softer than daisies. Shake it off. She remembered the early days of Buffy and Faith all sickly sweet smiles and long looks, she'd promised herself then and there she would never be that insufferable. But maybe she was finally starting to understand it.
She turned the corner,
"Hi Willow! Good to see you!" Eager flyer girl, of course. Willow blinked quickly, fuck what was her name, Mandy? Molly? Katherine? Willow couldn't remember for the life of her.
"Yeah!" Willow said, summoning up her best fake smile, "Good to see you too!"
"We were just discussing our bake sale next week," Eager flyer girl, said, but Willow was no longer listening because there Tara was, smiling at her from the other side of the room, Willow swore there was a small halo forming around her head.
"Sounds good," Willow said absentmindedly, and Eager flyer girl (Millie? Quinn?) got back to leading the group, while people chipped in about how they could raise money, Willow supposed to buy some kind of spice rack or something ridiculous. The meeting dragged on as her and Tara took turns peeking small glances at each other. Willow wanted nothing more than for Eager flyer girl (Rachel? Kelly?) to stop talking so she could walk over, talk to Tara, make her smile.
The group finally came to a close and Willow made a beeline for Tara,
"Hey!" she said softly, "You made it!"
"O-of course!" Tara said, and they began to walk together through the hallways,
"What do you think of the group?" Willow said smiling,
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
"I t-think if they ever saw a real witch they'd run screaming." Tara said, grinning.
"They're pretty awful, that main girl, she's so smiley."
"Mandy?"
"Probably, wait what's her name, Mandy? I'm never going to remember that."
Tara laughed, "she's been trying to get me to come for ages, it's just not my cup of tea though, if I'm honest," she smiled.
"So how come you came today?" Willow said, very aware of how close they were walking, very aware that if she moved just a little closer, she could brush Tara's hand, reach out and hold it… she shook her head. Focus.
"Honestly, I-I wanted to see you," Tara blushed, looking down at the floor.
Willow lit up, "I wanted to see you too." She could see a small grin fall across Tara's face from behind her hair.
Tara slowed down, turning, "Well this is me," she said, motioning to the door behind them, 311. "I really enjoyed talking to you,"
"Maybe we could do this again sometime," Willow said, blushing slightly, she wasn't usually so forward, "you know some time where we don't have to listen to an hour of bullshit first," she stopped, feeling herself starting to ramble,
"Definitely," Tara said, clutching her bag a little tighter, "do you want to give me your number, I can r-ring you with a time?"
Willow grinned, "Of course," she said, pulling a pen out of her bag, and writing her number across Tara's hand. "Don't forget," she said, smiling, watching as Tara lingered a little longer than usual at the door, her eyes lingering over Willow in a way that made her smile and blush all at once. Willow watched her go inside, before turning around to go the other way. (Tara would find out Willow had walked the wrong way just to see her some weeks later, at which point she would smile and shake her head, saying it was cute.)
The moon shone bright outside the window, and Willow grinned, something at least in her life was falling into place.
I feel like I've not quite hit my stride with writing Tara/Willow so I hope this is okay I didn't know if this final scene seemed a bit rushed or not quite right idk. I'm loving writing the scooby gang dynamic though can't wait to do some more of that! Please leave a comment if you can it's really what keeps me going! Thanks for reading and have a nice day!