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punch_kicker15Title: Between Past and Present Tense
Author: punch_kicker15
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Relationships: Willow/Oz
Summary: Set in Season 6 after Gone. Sparks fly when Oz returns to Sunnydale and offers to help Willow with her magic addiction. Can Oz and Willow rekindle their old feelings, or will their past wounds get in the way?
Word count: 7835
Notes: Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
nekid_spike minibang. Title is from the Weakerthans song "Aside". Plot bunny courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tiny_white_hats , a terrific Willow/Oz author who is greatly missed. Super-duper art byemmatheslayer and rbfvid
Gone
Willow sat on the sidewalk, staring at the ground, trying to force her brain to come up with something, anything, to say to Buffy. But her brain had been hard at work all day. It had come up with solutions for discovering invisible items. It had tracked down the mystery van. It had figured out how the particle ionization in Warren’s invisibility ray gun worked. And hardest of all, it had reminded her not to do any magic. Now it felt like every thought had to swim across a vast ocean just to get to the speech part of her brain.
A shadow crossed over them, and she looked up to see a familiar-but-unexpected face. "Oz." Her voice sounded flat, but she couldn't seem to summon even false cheer tonight. Was it a full moon tonight? She hadn't really paid attention.
"Hey," Oz replied. Taciturn as always. And on the bright side, he wasn’t wolfing-out,
Buffy asked, "Oz, what are you doing here?"
Oz sat down next to Buffy. "I came for my cousin's wedding."
That sparked curiosity in Willow's tired brain. "Your little cousin Jordy? The itty-bitty werewolf?"
Oz shook his head. "Different cousin. Are you ok? You look a little freaked."
Willow could feel a twitch start under her right eye; she was sure she'd have another jittery and sleepless night ahead of her, despite her exhaustion. "Pretty tired, actually. It was nice to see you, but I think we'd better get back home."
Just the thought of explaining everything that had happened since Oz left was exhausting.
***
The Bronze hadn't changed at all. Oz half-expected to see Devon and the rest of Dingoes on stage at any minute.
Xander hadn't changed much either, which meant he was the best person to ask what had happened in the last year and half. As Xander explained the desperate fight against a Hellgod, and everything else that followed, Oz felt pangs of guilt. He hadn't been there to help. He'd had good reasons for leaving, but it still cut to the quick to hear about how badly Buffy and Willow and the other Scoobies had suffered, and without much in the way of support.
"--and then those jerks kidnapped Willow and tried to kill Buffy, and now I think we're all caught up with current events." Xander swiveled on his barstool to face Oz. "So why are you here? ‘Cause if you heard that Will was single again and thought you'd just swoop in, now's not really a good time."
"It's coincidence. I'm here for a family wedding." But even as he said it, Oz wondered if there might be some good that might come of this coincidence. Maybe what he'd learned could help Willow.
***
Willow closed her eyes and rested her head on the pages of her textbook. When she’d signed up for the Mythological Creatures course, it had seemed like a clever way to combine her academic and Hellmouth-defender duties. Even after five years of researching mythological demons, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of new ones showing up in Sunnydale every week.
Right now, reading about grindilows, okubis, and lindworms made her think about magical defenses against them, and that led down the path to desperately wanting to use magic again. She drummed her fingers against the kitchen table, trying to figure out a way to pass this class without breaking her magic sobriety.
The knock on the door set her heart racing. Maybe it was Tara. Maybe they could work things out.
When she flung open the door it was Oz. He said, "Xander filled me in on what was going on, and I have a suggestion to make."
They were talking about her behind her back? Of course they were. That's what people did to addicts.
Oz said, "I've been working with a coven in San Luis Obispo to help me handle the wolf. They might be able to help you with your magic. If you wanna come down this weekend, I can drive you there."
A change of scene sounded wonderful right about now. But a worry niggled at her mind. "Would I have to stay at the coven? Because being surrounded by practicing witches might not be so hot for my recovery."
Oz said, super-tentatively, "You could stay with me."
***
In the moments after he made the offer, Oz saw the slight tremor under Willow’s eye before she schooled her face into a more neutral expression.
"Oz, not that I don't appreciate you offering, but are you sure that's--safe? I mean, I was the one thing that set you off the last time."
Of course she'd worry about that--it was the last time she'd seen him. "I don't think that would be a problem this time. I really do have it under control this time."
"No offense, but that's what you said--"
"Yeah, I thought I had it under control back then. But later, when I started working with the coven, they helped me see that I'd been approaching it the wrong way.” He looked her in the eyes, hoping that she’d see the certainty he felt. “I was trying to repress the wolf completely, and that was always going to break down under stress. What I needed to was embrace it, in a controlled way."
She tilted her head slightly, but didn't break eye contact. "So you wolf out on purpose now?"
"A couple times a month, yeah. But I'm in the driver's seat when I do it. No risk of eating innocent bystanders anymore."
Her gaze on him remained skeptical, but she asked, "Are you still mad at me about--Tara?"
It would be so easy to pretend that everything was fine. It would certainly make convincing her to come with him to the coven a lot easier. But she deserved the truth. Nothing good could come from convincing her to visit the coven under false pretenses.
He took a long, measured breath, and said, "It still hurts sometimes. I just--if it were me, I would have waited for you."
She asked, "Forever? Because I had no idea if you were ever coming back, or if you wanted anything to do with me if you did. When you sent for your stuff without telling me--"
It wasn't anything he hadn't told himself in the months after his return to Sunnydale, but somehow coming from her, the words still stung. "And it really bothered me that you didn't tell me about Tara right away, even though we talked for hours--"
"Gosh, Oz, that must have been terrible, me going a whole twelve hours without communicating something important to you." And he was almost grateful for her anger and sarcasm, because she looked more animated, more alive than she had these last few days.
Willow continued, "But it was perfectly ok for you to go months without letting me know if you were even alive!" Her voice shook on the last part. It seemed he wasn't the only one scarred by this.
He said, "I know. I wish I'd tried harder to let you know what I felt."
She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed, and the anger seemed to drain away. "I wish I'd handled it better, too. It was just so hard to talk about. It was so new that I hadn't even told Buffy or Xander about Tara back then. I honestly thought you'd moved on, and it was so confusing to find out that you hadn’t. I didn’t know how to explain things without hurting you."
He nodded. "So, I guess we both were kinda mad at each other. I understand if you don't want to stay with me, but I think you should still give the coven a shot--"
Willow gave him a sheepish smile. "These days, I'm kind of an expert on living with people who are mad at me. So why not?"
CHAPTER TWO
Author: punch_kicker15
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Relationships: Willow/Oz
Summary: Set in Season 6 after Gone. Sparks fly when Oz returns to Sunnydale and offers to help Willow with her magic addiction. Can Oz and Willow rekindle their old feelings, or will their past wounds get in the way?
Word count: 7835
Notes: Written for the
nekid_spike minibang. Title is from the Weakerthans song "Aside". Plot bunny courtesy of tiny_white_hats , a terrific Willow/Oz author who is greatly missed. Super-duper art byemmatheslayer and rbfvidGone
Willow sat on the sidewalk, staring at the ground, trying to force her brain to come up with something, anything, to say to Buffy. But her brain had been hard at work all day. It had come up with solutions for discovering invisible items. It had tracked down the mystery van. It had figured out how the particle ionization in Warren’s invisibility ray gun worked. And hardest of all, it had reminded her not to do any magic. Now it felt like every thought had to swim across a vast ocean just to get to the speech part of her brain.
A shadow crossed over them, and she looked up to see a familiar-but-unexpected face. "Oz." Her voice sounded flat, but she couldn't seem to summon even false cheer tonight. Was it a full moon tonight? She hadn't really paid attention.
"Hey," Oz replied. Taciturn as always. And on the bright side, he wasn’t wolfing-out,
Buffy asked, "Oz, what are you doing here?"
Oz sat down next to Buffy. "I came for my cousin's wedding."
That sparked curiosity in Willow's tired brain. "Your little cousin Jordy? The itty-bitty werewolf?"
Oz shook his head. "Different cousin. Are you ok? You look a little freaked."
Willow could feel a twitch start under her right eye; she was sure she'd have another jittery and sleepless night ahead of her, despite her exhaustion. "Pretty tired, actually. It was nice to see you, but I think we'd better get back home."
Just the thought of explaining everything that had happened since Oz left was exhausting.
***
The Bronze hadn't changed at all. Oz half-expected to see Devon and the rest of Dingoes on stage at any minute.
Xander hadn't changed much either, which meant he was the best person to ask what had happened in the last year and half. As Xander explained the desperate fight against a Hellgod, and everything else that followed, Oz felt pangs of guilt. He hadn't been there to help. He'd had good reasons for leaving, but it still cut to the quick to hear about how badly Buffy and Willow and the other Scoobies had suffered, and without much in the way of support.
"--and then those jerks kidnapped Willow and tried to kill Buffy, and now I think we're all caught up with current events." Xander swiveled on his barstool to face Oz. "So why are you here? ‘Cause if you heard that Will was single again and thought you'd just swoop in, now's not really a good time."
"It's coincidence. I'm here for a family wedding." But even as he said it, Oz wondered if there might be some good that might come of this coincidence. Maybe what he'd learned could help Willow.
***
Willow closed her eyes and rested her head on the pages of her textbook. When she’d signed up for the Mythological Creatures course, it had seemed like a clever way to combine her academic and Hellmouth-defender duties. Even after five years of researching mythological demons, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of new ones showing up in Sunnydale every week.
Right now, reading about grindilows, okubis, and lindworms made her think about magical defenses against them, and that led down the path to desperately wanting to use magic again. She drummed her fingers against the kitchen table, trying to figure out a way to pass this class without breaking her magic sobriety.
The knock on the door set her heart racing. Maybe it was Tara. Maybe they could work things out.
When she flung open the door it was Oz. He said, "Xander filled me in on what was going on, and I have a suggestion to make."
They were talking about her behind her back? Of course they were. That's what people did to addicts.
Oz said, "I've been working with a coven in San Luis Obispo to help me handle the wolf. They might be able to help you with your magic. If you wanna come down this weekend, I can drive you there."
A change of scene sounded wonderful right about now. But a worry niggled at her mind. "Would I have to stay at the coven? Because being surrounded by practicing witches might not be so hot for my recovery."
Oz said, super-tentatively, "You could stay with me."
***
In the moments after he made the offer, Oz saw the slight tremor under Willow’s eye before she schooled her face into a more neutral expression.
"Oz, not that I don't appreciate you offering, but are you sure that's--safe? I mean, I was the one thing that set you off the last time."
Of course she'd worry about that--it was the last time she'd seen him. "I don't think that would be a problem this time. I really do have it under control this time."
"No offense, but that's what you said--"
"Yeah, I thought I had it under control back then. But later, when I started working with the coven, they helped me see that I'd been approaching it the wrong way.” He looked her in the eyes, hoping that she’d see the certainty he felt. “I was trying to repress the wolf completely, and that was always going to break down under stress. What I needed to was embrace it, in a controlled way."
She tilted her head slightly, but didn't break eye contact. "So you wolf out on purpose now?"
"A couple times a month, yeah. But I'm in the driver's seat when I do it. No risk of eating innocent bystanders anymore."
Her gaze on him remained skeptical, but she asked, "Are you still mad at me about--Tara?"
It would be so easy to pretend that everything was fine. It would certainly make convincing her to come with him to the coven a lot easier. But she deserved the truth. Nothing good could come from convincing her to visit the coven under false pretenses.
He took a long, measured breath, and said, "It still hurts sometimes. I just--if it were me, I would have waited for you."
She asked, "Forever? Because I had no idea if you were ever coming back, or if you wanted anything to do with me if you did. When you sent for your stuff without telling me--"
It wasn't anything he hadn't told himself in the months after his return to Sunnydale, but somehow coming from her, the words still stung. "And it really bothered me that you didn't tell me about Tara right away, even though we talked for hours--"
"Gosh, Oz, that must have been terrible, me going a whole twelve hours without communicating something important to you." And he was almost grateful for her anger and sarcasm, because she looked more animated, more alive than she had these last few days.
Willow continued, "But it was perfectly ok for you to go months without letting me know if you were even alive!" Her voice shook on the last part. It seemed he wasn't the only one scarred by this.
He said, "I know. I wish I'd tried harder to let you know what I felt."
She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed, and the anger seemed to drain away. "I wish I'd handled it better, too. It was just so hard to talk about. It was so new that I hadn't even told Buffy or Xander about Tara back then. I honestly thought you'd moved on, and it was so confusing to find out that you hadn’t. I didn’t know how to explain things without hurting you."
He nodded. "So, I guess we both were kinda mad at each other. I understand if you don't want to stay with me, but I think you should still give the coven a shot--"
Willow gave him a sheepish smile. "These days, I'm kind of an expert on living with people who are mad at me. So why not?"
CHAPTER TWO
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Mini-bang banner: "Between Past and Present Tense" (Willow/Oz)
Date: 2016-04-30 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 06:59 pm (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2016-05-01 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-04 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-02 01:51 pm (UTC)I'm so excited that you wrote an Oz/Willow fic!
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Date: 2016-05-04 03:26 am (UTC)