the awkward silence thing

PAGE ONE OF THREE

Warning: This is a Willow/Oz fancomic. If you ship Willow/Kennedy (if there really is *anyone* who does that), this comic is probably not for you.

Disclaimer: Willow, Oz, and Xander (as well as I think five of the names on the "Slaycount" chart) belong to Joss Whedon.

(Oz is tuning the guitar in the last panel, if that wasn't obvious.)

and page two is done now! [link]
and three! yay! [link]
or, view the whole thing at once: [link]

Background info: Set post-season 7, around like October of 2003 or something. This is actually a scene from the horrendously long fanfic I'm writing, in which the scoobies (plus noob Slayers) go to deal with the Cleveland hellmouth. Oz is my favorite character, and Willow/Oz is my favorite ship, so in this, Oz has been living in Cleveland since he left at the end of "New Moon Rising" back in season 4. Naturally, when the gang comes over, they run in to him. There started to be renewed "sparkage" between him and Willow, and eventually Kennedy got so fed up with it that she left for Europe to recruit new Slayers with Faith, Wood, and Andrew. Willow has been trying to ignore the feelings for Oz, which is hard considering that he definitely still loves her. Majorly awkward. This comic involves the scene in which that's all resolved. Currently there are twenty-seven Slayers living in one apartment complex (which Angel funded via W&H) that also serves as the sort of headquarters type thing. From which Willow, Oz, Xander, and Giles (who in the comic is absent due to needing to do research elsewhere) map out patrolling routes and coordinate stuff--just general logistics type things that don't have to involve fighting and death, and the Slayers all go patrolling in rotating squads of roughly four.

And if you aren't bored stupid already from the deeply longwinded background info bit, here's the chunk of fanfic that corresponds to this page of the comic:

"Bathroom," said Xander, then stood, stretched, and left the room.
Which left only Willow and Oz sitting on opposite ends of the couch. Willow fidgeted, trying not to look at him. This was insane. She was insane. She couldn't let this happen! Not after more than three years! He wasn't allowed to affect her anymore. She tried to wish she had never opened the trunk, that she hadn't been carrying PEZ-witch with her ever since, but she couldn't.
Oz felt as though the cushion Xander had just vacated was a mile wide. Would this ever stop? The past few months of her presence had been a bittersweet heaven to him, but how much longer was he going to be able to stand it? He automatically picked up the guitar leaning against the side of the couch and began to strum absentmindedly to chase away the dreadful silence.