Title: The End of Everything You Thought You Knew About "Normal"
Series: Closet
Author: Vashti
Character(s): Buffy, Oz
Rating: PG
Summary: Immediately following the events of It Already Is, Oz treats Buffy to a friendly meal.
Length: ~1800
Disclaimer: Only the words are mine, and that's probably up for philosophical debate.
Dedication: It's been almost 2 years since I posted a story for this series. If you're still reading, give yourself not only a gold star but a cookie of your choice, too!
Notes: This was written for the fanfic100 challenge. Please note that this is a non-linear AU set after Oz returns to Sunnydale for the second time. These stories are not always chronological.

The End of Everything You Thought You Knew About 'Normal'
by Vashti

"So where do you wanna go?" Buffy asked. She was, once again, several steps ahead of him and walking backwards.

Oz shrugged. "Up to you."

"Yeah, but you're treating so, like, your choice."

"I dunno, Buff. I think the treated gets to make all the hard decisions."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him and he smiled. "I'm the one who's been unconscious for...for..." She worried her lower lip with her teeth. "How long was I out?"

Oz shrugged again. "At least 24 hours."

Buffy swore softly under her breath, pausing long enough for Oz to catch up to her and then get a few steps ahead himself. He stopped—waited for her to turn around and come back to his side.

When she didn't, he went to stand by her. "You okay?"

"Yeah...yeah. It's just, y'know, really weird. Slayers don't exactly do out-of-commission you know."

Oz nodded as they began walking again.

"Thanks for everything, by the way," she said. Oz could see her looking at him in his peripheral vision. He shrugged and nodded.

"Giles didn't give me a lot of details and junk, but, y'know, 24 hours under... Wow."

Oz caught her hand in his and gave it a brief squeeze. "Everything's okay. Me and Willow handled it."

"For which I am seriously grateful." Looking at him sideways, she said, "Maybe I should be the one getting you snackage."

When he didn't answer, she said, "Is that the silence of 'Heck yeah you should!' or the silence of 'Are you seriously asking me about this.'?"

"Latter."

"Ah. Okay. Yeah, I am asking you why you're taking me out when you did all the hard work."

Oz shrugged. "It's been rough lately. I want to."

Buffy's face lit with a grin. "Works for me." The street they'd been walking along switched quickly from residential to commercial within two blocks. Buffy hadn't noticed the change. Or even where they were headed, for that matter.
"Oz, where are we going?"

"Thought you might like some anonymity for a little while."

Buffy smiled. "Couldn't hurt."

Buffy looked around, studying the décor of the place that Oz had surreptitiously led her to. "Wait...we're here?"

Silence had been holding sway between them since they'd given their orders to the waiter, even though Buffy could feel Oz's eyes on her. She didn't mind. He didn't want anything from her, not even for her to respond. Buffy hadn't realized how much she'd relied on the comfortable space Oz made for her—for everyone really—until he'd left. Not that he hadn't called on her in crisis. Consulting the Slayer was pretty much standard operating procedure in an apocalypse. But during the downtime...

The thing about being the Slayer was there wasn't a whole lot of downtime. She'd railed against the responsibility in LA. She'd tried to escape it when she and her mother had first moved to Sunnydale. And now she had a new almost-grown-up baby sister, a sick mom, a grade point average and the fate of the world to be concerned about.

Buffy stretched her arms across the table, invading Oz's half of it. "This is so nice."

"Worth the price of admission?"

"Um..." Buffy gnawed on her lip, trying to remember exactly how she'd come to be at the very swank cafe in the first place. "Hey, why here?"

Oz eyed her, but didn't mention her topic change. "Why not here?"

"It's kinda...a lot."

Oz shrugged. "I like it. It's different."

With a sly smile, Buffy asked, "Sooo, was this, like, yours and Will's fave place?"

"No."

His answer was so sharp, she winced. "Sorry."

Oz shook his head. "That's not it, no worries. It just...this wasn't her Willow's kind of place."

Buffy frowned. "Really? It looks Willow-y enough." She twisted in her seat, taking in the décor. "I mean, yeah, fancy-pants, but Willow isn't anti-fancy."

"But it made her uncomfortable."

"I could see that." Buffy nodded. "And you didn't think I'd mind?"

"Do you?"

Buffy gnawed on her lower lip. "I feel bad for saying I don't, because I do mind that you're spending muy money on me. But, uh..." She rolled her eyes around, taking in the décor again without moving her head. "Yeah. This is the style of outing that I used to be accustomed to. Which is so out my budget and time range. Is this what happens when people have kids?"

"First couple of years, I would imagine," Oz said.

Buffy grinned. "Been thinking about it?"

"Maybe."

Buffy waggled her brows. "With Willow?"

"Not everything revolves around Willow, Buffy."

She colored. "Sorry."

"S'okay." He shifted in his seat. "Admittedly, a lot revolves around her still..." Oz trailed off as the waiter returned with their drinks and warm pastries. "...but not everything."

Buffy nodded. She pulled at her warm low-fat cinnamon roll, unwinding it from itself. Busy looking around the cafe, she hadn't paid much attention when Oz had ordered, but she looked up now. "Now who's the California girl?"

Oz looked up from his bowl of fruit, yogurt and granola to catch her eye. He grinned. "Want some?"

"Really?"

He nodded. Buffy tore off a hunk of her cinnamon roll and dipped it in a particularly yogurty section of his treat, leaving behind a smear of cinnamon.

"Wait."

Buffy raised her eyes. "Huh?"

Oz fished out a couple of blueberries with his spoon and dropped them on top of her yogurt-and-cinnamon roll slice. "There, now you're healthy, too."

Grinning herself, Buffy gingerly lifted her "healthy" snack to her mouth, trying to take a bite before the warm bread before the yogurt could slip away. She ultimately had to get under it as the yogurt began to run along her fingertips.

"Good?"

Buffy looked up to see Oz watching her, looking as if he actually cared about her answer. Knowing Oz, he probably did. Grinning broadly, Buffy nodded. Tucking the treat into her cheek, she licked at her fingertips. She flushed, remembering herself. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Lip quirked in his signature half-smile, Oz shrugged and went back to his own food. He looked up again after she swallowed (Buffy decided it was coincidental, and not because he could hear her throat working, because, whoa, inadvertent TMI). "That was surprisingly yummy. Thanks!"

"Happy to help. Want some more?"

She almost dove right into his bowl before remembering her manners.

Oz chuckled. "Seriously, it's fine."

Making a sound of delight that reminded her of Dawn presented with a fresh stack of pancakes, Buffy dipped another section of her cooling cinnamon roll into Oz's yogurt. With the two of them working at it, the yogurt was soon gone. Buffy presented a piece of her cinnamon roll to Oz. "You want?"

"Nah, it's okay. I'm looking after my girlish figure."

She smiled. "Come on."

"It's no big. The cinnamon in the yogurt was pretty good. Besides, that's your last piece."

Buffy looked down, then shrugged. "Come on, Oz." She knew that she was whining, knew that she was even pouting, but she couldn't help it. "You're already treating me and everything. The least you could do is have some of my cinnamon roll."

He gave her a funny look, then shrugged himself. "Fine."

Buffy shrieked, surprised when he swooped down to snag the last piece of roll with his teeth. The shriek turned into a giggle as he tossed it up into the air and caught it in his mouth. She cheered.

"Thank you, thank you." Oz "bowed" from the waist.

"Xander would be proud."

"You know, I think he would." They shared a moment of mutual agreement, until Oz said, "You really should smile more. It looks good on you."

Buffy sighed. "Yeah, well...doesn't feel like there's a lot to smile about anymore, what with mom and all, and Dawn. The way things are going, I'm probably going to have to move in back home."

"Still, I bet your mom would like it. If you smiled more. I doubt she wants her issues to, y'know, drag you down."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I've got my own issues for that. Apocalypti, midterms, evil teachers trying to steal my life essence."

"See."

Ducking her head, Buffy smiled. "Maybe I'll just hang out around you more often," she said, looking Oz in the eye again. "You're not half bad at the making-a-girl smile thing."

He lifted a shoulder. "What can I say, it's a gift."

Buffy's smile widened.

Signaling for their waiter with one hand and pulling out his wallet with the other, Oz said, "Wanna go back down to the club? The rest of the band was pretty worried about you when you passed out the other night."

"Omigosh! They must think I'm a totally dweeb!"

"Or seriously dehydrated. At least that's what I told them. I'll give them the update regardless, but I bet seeing you in person would be better."

Wrinkling her nose, Buffy thought about Dawn, still under the watchful eye of a former demon and a neutered vampire.

"I'm sure Willow and Tara have checked in on Dawn by now. They'll call you if there's an issue."

"Am I that obvious?" she asked.

"Just a good big sister."

"Yeah, well...that depends on the day," she said as the waiter handed Oz the check. She tried to finagle it from his hands, but he was more dextrous than he looked.

Oz snorted. He pulled a couple of bills from his wallet, folding them so that Buffy couldn't easily see the denominations, and left them under the nearly full sugar dispenser. Standing, he held his hand out to her. "C'mon, Buffy. Would I steer you wrong? On purpose?" he quickly added.

Buffy made a face. "I guess not. I mean what's the wo-" She stuttered over the words. "-wonderful thing about having musicians for friends? The live music," she said instead. "Whew, almost unleashed the apocalypse early."

Chuckling, Oz took her hand. Buffy bounced to her feet under his surprising strength, almost bumping into him. The moment left her a little breathless and flushed. She'd forgotten about his werewolf-related strength. But suddenly she remembered the way his muscles moved under his skin when he played his bass guitar. Not all that strength came from his supernatural side. Some of it was just him.

"Earth to Buffy, you there?"

"Yeah...sorry. Just thinking thinky-thoughts."

"Sorry, thinky-thoughts not on the menu for today," Oz said as he gently but determinedly maneuvered her toward the entrance of the cafe. "You'll have to stop by some other time for those."

Chuckling, Buffy chose to ignore the little zing that ran through her from the places where Oz's hands rested warm on her shoulders.

Fin[ite]