Tara-bear (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Title: Tara-bear
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Prompt: Pillows or soft toys
Medium: Fanfiction
Size/length: 737
Summary: Willow helps Tara with some volunteer work. Tara rewards her.
Rating: G
Pairing: Willow/Tara
Content Notes: None.
AO3
“I’m home!”
Willow heard Dawn slam the door and almost stabbed herself in the finger with the needle, again. She really wasn’t good at all this needlework, it was more Tara’s field of expertise. She heard Dawn stomping around the kitchen and then she came into the living room with a cookie and the carton of milk.
“Really?” Willow asked when Dawn took a swig from the container.
Dawn shrugged. “Tastes better this way.” She flopped down on the couch next to Willow and this time when the needle slipped, it did find it’s way into one of Willow’s fingers.
“Ow, damn! I mean, oops.” Willow pulled it out and thumbed over the drop of blood. She was hopeless at this.
“Whatca doing?” Dawn asked, biting into the cookie and getting crumbs everywhere.
Willow sighed and put the mess of thread and fabric down. “It’s for a club at school.”
“You don’t have to do it? Why don’t you stop?”
“It’s for Tara.” Willow explained. Tara had a late class on Thursdays, she wasn’t going to get home for another two hours at least. “She’s a part of this club that makes teddy bears and animals for children.”
“Like sick kids?” Dawn crunched on the cookie again and crumbs seemed to fly through the air.
Willow shrugged. “I guess. I think it’s more poor kids, and shelters. Things like that, it’s more about moral support.”
“So you get stuck sewing them? Bummer.”
“I’m happy to help. I just wish it was working.” Willow picked up the carton of milk. “Do you have homework?”
“Yeah. . .”
“I’ll start supper. Any requests?” Willow glanced back but Dawn just shrugged. “Okay.” It was no secret that her cooking wasn’t exactly any good at all. But Tara was always tired when she came back from class and after that one disastrous night, Dawn was not allowed back near the stove.
Noodles. Willow could handle noodles. The tomato sauce in the fridge had something green and fuzzy growing in the lid so she tossed it and found a new can. She went fancy and poured it out into a pan to make the sauce warm and fire a few extra chunks of garlic into it, Tara liked garlic.
A key scraped in the lock when she took two plates out of the cupboard. The front door squeaked open.
“Hi!” Tara called out, stepping into the kitchen. “Oh, hi Willow.”
Willow released the breath she’d been holding and put the butcher knife back in its drawer. “I didn’t know it was you.” She explained. “Supper’s ready.”
They ate quickly and quietly. Dawn had a few choice words about the math homework her teacher had assigned and Tara explained her TA had gotten sick and cancelled the discussion group.
“I’ll get the dishes.” Dawn said, bouncing up once her plate was empty.
“Um, I worked on the frog a little.” Willow pointed towards the living room. “I could use some help.”
“Sure.” Tara smiled and followed her in, sitting down gently beside her on the couch. “How far did you get?”
Willow picked up the green cloth and the few stitches she’d managed to get in fell out. “No where.” She slumped back against the couch. “This is hard.”
Tara arranged the fabric and took some of the pins out of her sewing box. She worked on the fabric, pulling and pinning it. “What do you think?” She handed it over and started threading a needle from a matching green spool.
“It almost looks like a frog now.” Willow turned it around in hands. It still needed stuffing, but she could see the frog taking shape now.
“Here.” Tara gave her the thread, a much shorter length than she’d tried to use before. “Which one do you want?”
“To do next? I think I’ll stick with one for now.” Willow glanced at the plastic tub full of fabric pieces cut out to create animals. She’d seen the box full once, one of the first times she’d been to Tara’s dorm room.
“No silly, I’m making you one.” Tara smiled and pulled out different coloured fabric scraps. “So, a frog? Or a bear? I could probably do one of the fishy ones if you’d like.”
“Tara-bear.” Willow said. “The blond one.” She picked out the scrap of fabric she liked.
“One Tara-bear coming up.” Tara found another needle and started matching the thread. “Want to race?”