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"So there's a Halloween party tonight."
Tara looked up at Willow like she'd suggested they try sky diving. "Um ..."
"Hear me out," Willow said, sitting down cross-legged on her bed and dropping her bag of costume stuff next to her. "I know you're new to the whole going out thing, what with your family being ..."
"Overprotective," Tara said, saving Willow from figuring out how to put it diplomatically herself.
"Yeah, that. But this is a totally low-key costume party at this all ages place back in my hometown. Buffy's little sister'll be there and everything. It'll be like a beginners level party. To see if you like it."
She could see Tara mulling it over, which was progress. They'd met in their Intro to Women's Literature course last semester and it had taken six weeks before Tara had said more than two words to her, even though they were assigned to the same study group. She was basically the physical embodiment of the phrase 'painfully shy.' But once they did start talking, Willow had quickly found out how kind and funny she was, and how much they had in common, from a love of science to matching childhood dreams of being a witch, spawned from an obsession with Charmed, the early seasons with Prue in particular. So when Buffy decided to live at home for junior year to help her mom with some health stuff, she'd asked Tara to room together.
The problem was, Tara was still too nervous to do almost anything besides going to class and dining hall. From the little she told Willow about her family, how they'd expected her to do most of the work around the house and isolated her from other kids her age, Willow couldn't blame her. But it didn't stop her for wanting more for Tara. She'd been a social outcast herself back in high school before she met Buffy, and she wanted to give Tara the same push Buffy had given her. Or, maybe not a push, exactly. More like a gentle, loving nudge to leave their dorm room once in a while.
"C'mon, I want you to meet everybody," she said encouragingly. Buffy had gotten to know Tara the couple times they hung out in the dorms, but she hadn't met anyone else from Willow's friend group yet. She hadn't wanted to overwhelm her roomie by bringing too many people by, but she really did want her to meet the rest of her friends, and she was hoping tonight would be the right opportunity.
Tara looked longingly down at her laptop. "But I have that essay due on Monday, and I don't even have a costume ..."
"Sure you do!" Willow pulled a witch's hat out of her bag. "We're going as, like, modern witches."
"And what's the difference between modern witches and the normal ones?"
"Comfortable dark clothes and no green skin, I guess. You could at least try on the costume and see you like it," Willow wheedled. "Please?"
Tara smiled her sweet half-smile and said, "Help me pick something out?"
*
"Are you sure about this? It doesn't feel very ... costume-y."
"That's why it's perfect," Willow insisted, adjusting her own black dress as she waited for Tara to come out from behind the folding screen they had set up in the corner. "Modern witches, remember?"
"Still not sure what that means."
It mostly meant that Willow didn't want to overwhelm Tara with too much too fast, and asking her to go all out with her costume had seemed like a bad idea. And that maybe she didn't mind her and Tara looking like they were a unit.
"Alright. I'm ... I'm coming out now."
That wasn't exactly true - it was another twenty seconds or so before she actually walked out - but when she did, for the first time Willow was the one who didn't know what to say.
Buffy had warned her about rooming with the girl she had a crush on. At the time, at the end of last semester when it was barely a whisper of an infatuation, Willow had dismissed her concern. Two months into living with Tara and it turned out Buffy was right; her infatuation had grown into serious feelings, which she was already having trouble keeping a handle on.
Which was not helped by Tara in her black sweater and purple maxi skirt and witch hat looking like young Willow's crush fantasies come to life. Like Piper from Charmed and Sarah from The Craft all in one.
Oh, this was such a bad idea.
"Is it o-okay?" Tara asked nervously, smoothing out her skirt, avoiding Willow's eyes.
"Uh-huh," Willow said, not quite ready to be verbal yet.
"I like your dress."
"Thanks. I borrowed it from Buffy," she said, adjusting it again, feeling awkward. It had seemed like a good idea at the time because the people Buffy liked always liked her back, and having her dress felt like a good luck charm. Now it felt like she was trying to pull off something that wasn't her. Although that was the point of the costume, she supposed. "I'm not sure if fits right."
"You're beautiful," Tara said seriously.
She could feel herself blush. "You, too." Then she swallowed heavily and pasted a smile on her face. "So are you ready to go?"
Tara was staring at her strangely, almost determinedly, but she stumbled over her words more than usual. "I'm not, um ... I don't ..."
"Hey," Willow said gently, stepping closer to her, "it's okay if you don't want to. I understand. I just want you to be happy."
"No, Willow, I'm saying ... I'm saying I want to do this first."
Then Tara kissed her.
Like everything else with Tara, it was soft - the light pressure, her fingers barely grazing Willow's chin, her lips. And then she did it again, and it was bolder, her mouth catching Willows bottom lip between hers, her hand pulling Willow closer. And she went, putting her own hands on Tara's waist, pressing closer still. At some point they both knocked the witch hats off of each other's heads.
When they broke away Willow giggled, feeling stupidly giddy. "Wow."
"Yeah," Tara said, laughing, her eyes a little glazed over.
"So ... maybe we don't have to go to the party," Willow said, playing with the hem of Tara's sweater. "Maybe you can meet my friends another time."
"I want to meet your friends," Tara insisted, but her eyes flicked down to Willow's mouth again. "But ... maybe we can be a little late?"
"I like that plan."
They only showed up to the party for an hour. But instead of introducing her roommate Tara to her friends, she got to introduce her girlfriend, Tara.
Tara stayed close to her, not just to hold hands, which they did, but pretty clearly to avoid other people. Aside from Willow, the only person she said more than a sentence to was Buffy, so she didn't exactly get to know anyone. But she stayed until the party started winding down, and the longer she was there, the more she smiled.
Maybe the modern witch costume was something Willow had made up. But this night felt like magic all the same.