Work Text:
Tara Mcclay rolled over in bed, groaning as she saw it was just past seven in the morning. 'Any minute now,' she thought before giving a smile as the yowling of her neighbor's cat and clawing of the front door began. She'd lived in this apartment for months and her new neighbor, a cute redhead, had moved in only a few weeks back. She seemed nice enough; quiet, like herself; but her cat was another thing entirely. Every morning, without fail, as soon as the owner left the house the cat would seem to go stir-crazy. The yowling and patting at the door would go on for about twenty minutes before the feline would give up and all would be quiet enough for Tara to get the last hour and a half of sleep before she needed to be up. At around ten, the cat would start on the screen door that lead to the small balcony each of the back apartments had, followed by anywhere from twenty to forty-five minutes of thundering back and forth from one end of the apartment to the other. If it didn't interfere with her sleep, Tara would have loved that little cat. As it was, it still intrigued her. With that in mind, Tara rolled over and fell back to sleep as the cat wound down it's pitiful cries.
-0-0-0-
Ten A.M. found Tara showered and dressed, munching some toast as she finished up some of her homework before her afternoon classes. She was seated on her balcony, enjoying the warm morning and beautiful sunshine as she fought with a few of her calculus problems. She really wished she could have avoided math all together, but her general education credits required it. Brushing her hands together to empty the crumbs from them she looked up momentarily at the movement from the neighboring balcony. The blinds twitched again and she smiled as she saw a flicker of a long black tail. Seemed it was screen scratching time.
Sure enough, she heard the scritch, scritch, clang of the cat's claws batting the screen and pulling away. She smiled at the black ball of fur before focusing back on her math problems. She could do this.
Soon after, she'd zoned the cat out completely and finally finished the problems. Putting away her papers and folders into her bag, she swung it over her shoulder and headed back into her own apartment with her plate and mug from breakfast. She began rinsing them off in the sink before letting out a chuckle at the sound of the furball next door running from one end of the house to the other. She'd been so used to her old neighbors that made almost no noise at all except for the TV playing the six o'clock news in the evening; but this was somehow comforting.
Drying her hands, she made sure everything was shut off and she had all her books before grabbing her jacket off the hook by the door and locking up behind her. Spotting a black paw sticking out from her neighbor's door, she gave it a poke.
"Catch ya later, fuzzball," she said softly. Somehow, she didn't stutter near so much with animals. Perhaps a pet wasn't such a bad idea.
-0-0-0-
Willow trudged up the stairs to her apartment slowly. She had been done with classes for hours but then she'd been called down to the Magic Box with the news of a new baddie. She'd helped patrol for a few hours with Buffy before they'd finally cornered the demon and were able to send him back to his own demension. She was exhausted and dying to curl up on the couch with her book, a microwave dinner, and Binx. Turning off the stairwell and to her hall, however, she paused. Sitting outside her apartment was a pretty sandy haired girl. Wondering what she was doing, Willow watched for a few moments before she saw the little black paw poke out from beneath the door and the girl wiggled her fingers over it before jerking her hand away at just the right time.
"Careful," Willow warned, finally moving forward again with a smile on her face. "He's got claws and he's not afraid to use them."
Tara jumped at the sound of Willow's voice. She'd planned on going straight to her own apartment but had gotten distracted by the cat's yowling. Normally her neighbor was home and he wasn't prone to doing such at night.
"S-sorry," Tara said, standing and ducking her head as she tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear, hiding behind the rest. "He-he normally only does this in the mornings and afternoons. I go-got worried when I s-saw him pawing at the d-door tonight."
"He claws at the door?" Willow asked with wide eyes.
"And meows. Really l-loud," Tara added. Noticing the panic in the redhead's eyes, she quickly added, "He stops after about twenty minutes. It's no big deal."
"I'm so sorry!" Willow exclaimed. "I had no idea he was so noisy."
"It's no-no big deal. R-really," Tara said. "I kind of like the noise he makes. Kind of comforting." She gave a shrug that had her hurrying to grab the strap to keep her bag from falling off her shoulder.
"Really? Are you sure?"
Tara nodded emphatically. She hadn't meant to be caught playing with her neighbor's cat... she just felt bad for it being alone.
"Would you... that is... cou-could I meet him?" Tara asked. Her cheeks burst with heat and she knew she was turning bright red. She didn't know where the courage came from, but the words just blurted from her mouth before she could call them back. Before she could apologize and retract the question, however, the redhead was digging out her keys.
"Sure. I'm Willow by the way. And this," she paused as the door slowly opened and the black cat ran off to the couch, "is Binx."
"I-I'm Tara," the brunette replied, following Willow into her apartment. It was set up similar to her own with her own personal touches hear and there. Books and papers covered the small coffee table and a mug sat on the countertop, spoon still in it.
"Sorry about the mess," Willow said, piling the papers and books to one side and tossing the afghan over the back of her couch before heading into the kitchen to move the mug to the sink and grab the can opener.
Binx had wound himself between Tara's legs a few times before she knelt to pet him but quickly darted to the kitchen at the sound of the metal can opening. After placing the dish on the floor for her cat, Willow peeked out into the living area.
"I was just gonna make some dinner, you hungry?" she asked.
"Oh, I di-didn't mean to impose," Tara began, backing away.
"Nonsense," Willow said reaching out and grabbing Tara's arm, pulling her to the counter and seating her at one of the stools. "Gives me a chance to make a pizza. No sense in making it for myself, is there?"
"If you're sure," Tara hedged, still sitting at the edge of the stool.
"Positive. Sausage and pepperoni, supreme, or cheese?"
"Er, supreme?"
"Perfect! No one else likes veggies on their pizzas. Where has the bravery of the world gone?"
Willow kept up some casual conversation as she opened the pizza and preheat the oven, Tara slowly easing into more than just fragments and short sentences. Soon, they were seated on the couch with a paper plate of pizza each and some sitcom playing as they continued talking. They laughed as Binx began running back and forth before settling on the back of the couch by Tara.
"He normally doesn't warm up to strangers this quickly," Willow remarked, wiping her greasy fingers on a napkin before grabbing her bottle of water. "Xander's been over so many times and he still gets used as a scratching post."
"I-is Xander your boyfriend then?" Tara asked, trying to hide the hurt she didn't understand from her voice. Willow's laugh had her shoulders relaxing quickly enough though that she didn't think much of it.
"No, oh my gosh. That's a good one though. We've known each other since I can remember, just friends though. He's been with Anya for ages and they're the real deal."
Pizza finished and Binx extracted from Tara's lap, they finally stood. Tara spotted the clock and started.
"I'm so-sorry for keeping you," she said. "I know y-you get up early."
"Ho-" Willow began before looking at the cat winding his way around Tara's legs. "Binx."
"Binx," Tara replied with a small chuckle, blushing when Willow joined in and she realized how cute she looked when she laughed.
"This may seem a bit forward," Willow began, tucking some of her red hair behind her ear as her hands fiddled with something. "But sometimes I'm out late. Binx doesn't get on this well with most people and, well, you seem to like him. If you ever want to pop by and play with him; maybe feed him if I'm late like this..." she trailed off and her cheeks turned pink as she looked at the black cat flopped on his back at her really cute neighbor's feet.
"No!" Tara began sharply, before blushing and continuing hurriedly. "I mean no, it's n-not forward; I'd be happy to. Yes."
"Really?" Willow asked, finally meeting Tara's eyes, her smile so big it made her cheeks hurt.
"Y-yeah, why not?"
"Great!" Willow said, handing the key over. "And maybe we could do this again sometime? Pizza? Or... something?"
Tara felt her face heat up and her tongue swell; unable to speak she merely smiled and nodded.
"Great," the redhead sighed in relief, nodding herself.
And that was how Tara got to know her neighbor's cat, and by extension, her neighbor.