Title: Down From Twenty (1/1)
Author: Queena
E-mail: thessulah@aol.com
Rating: PG-13 I believe
Summary: Uh, this is a little a response to my own challenge. I know, it's lame, but I was bored. That would explain the challenge.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Joss does.

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Buffy grinned at Oz's mostly naked form. "Cute boxers," she teased. Most guys would have blushed at her playful words and open leers, but this was Oz. He didn't flap easily. Plus, he was in no joking mood right now. In fact, he was in a downright horrid mood. Of course, no one else would have been able to tell, because he was a pro at keeping his emotions concealed.

"Come on, Oz. What's wrong?" Buffy asked, searching his eyes with her own. Of course, he should have known that the Slayer would be able to tell. She had all those supernatural senses. He knew that she couldn't read thoughts or anything, but maybe she could read eyes. Or maybe she could just read him.

"Nothing," he stated simply.

"Liar," she accused. Oz was taken aback by that. No one had ever come out and said anything like that to him before. Well, his mom had, but she had every right. What right did Buffy have? None, really, but Oz didn't seem to mind. He felt a strange kinship for the Slayer. Maybe it was because they both shared a curse that could not be lifted.

"Oh, you know, just everything," he finally admitted. His life was totally sucky lately. And it was starting to get to him. Willow was off to college, having left him behind, his mom was ragging him to go to college, and Devon was ragging him about everything. As if that wasn't enough, he had *this* to deal with every month.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, she broke out in a large grin and that mischievous glint came to her eyes. Oz had begun recognizing this lately. He had recognized a lot about her. But that was to be expected with all of the time they had been spending together. "At least we have each other," she said, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively. Oz shook his head, knowing that she was joking and completely serious at the same time.

Buffy moved to the middle of the room and started pacing, tossing a stake in the air and catching it as it came down again. "How much longer do we have?" she asked absently.

"Twenty minutes," he answered.

"You didn't even look at your watch. How can you be sure?" she said, tilting her head to the side as though trying to figure out a very difficult puzzle.

"Internal clock," Oz answered with a pained look. It was too hot in here. And he was only wearing his boxer shorts. Maybe he should take those off too. Naw, that would definitely wig Buffy, even though she wasn't far from naked either, in her daisy dukes and cropped tank top. Oz tilted his head and checked out Buffy's legs, then her nice flat stomach, then the swell of her breasts just above the top of her shirt. His eyes scanned down again to rest on her bare feet, her toenails painted a creamy white. For some reason Oz had a thing about feet. He hated it when girls had ugly or big feet. Buffy had great feet, no corns or anything, very tiny, no nasty veins popping out. Finally, he brought his eyes back up and just looked at her, all of her. Yeah, she was definitely very hot, in a look-but-don't-touch kind of way.

Buffy's eyes brightened a bit. "Hey, do you want to play 'Anywhere But Here'?"

"I can think of about twenty places I would rather be," Oz said.

"Well, good, now pick the best and don't spare me the details," she said sitting on the table next to his propped up feet.

Oz took a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess I'd have to say.....I'd want to be....in Seattle, in one of the many coffee houses, drinking an Italian soda and reading Kurt Vonnegut. Or something like that."

"Why Seattle? What's so cool about Seattle?" Buffy prodded, looking very serious.

"Well, I was there once," Oz began with a look of remembrance. "It rained the whole time I was there. I like the rain. It's simple."

"When did ya go to Seattle?" she asked, looking at him intently. Oz noticed the way that she was leaning back on her hands. Her feet where dangling in the air next to him. On impulse, he reached out and grabbed her right foot. At first, he just looked at it. He thought that Buffy's feet were about twenty times more pretty than Willow's. He saw her leg muscles tense as he started rubbing circles on the arch.

Still massaging her foot, he looked back up to her. "You're just full of questions today, aren't you?" he asked casually. He was pretending that she was shocked by this sudden moment of physical contact. He used his hands to lightly caress the bottom of her foot, smiling when she giggled and wiggled her foot a bit. "That tickles," she said, trying to be serious, but failing.

Oz bit his lip and dropped her foot on to his lap. Buffy almost looked disappointed for a minute, then he picked up her other foot and went to work on it. She let out a sigh of pleasure as his skilled hands worked over the ball of her foot. Letting her head fall back and closing her eyes, she said, "So, you still haven't told me when you went to Seattle."

"Does it matter?" he asked, one hand had ventured further up to cradle her dainty ankle in the palm of his hand. Curling his fingers in he caressed her skin, watching carefully for a reaction on Buffy's face. There was none, it was as if this was an everyday thing between them. That was when he felt Buffy's free foot start moving over his bare thigh, where he had earlier dropped it. Slowly it moved back and forth over his skin, inching closer and closer toward his crotch.

She still hadn't answered his question. He was glad. He didn't like too much talking and it was a pointless question. Right now he was too focused on his actions to worried about words. Lifting her foot to his face, he blew out across her foot, all the while staring at Buffy to gauge her reaction. Her eyes flew open when she felt his warm breath, but she made no other movement. Oz took this as his permission to continue. Licking his lips first, he bent his head and laid a soft kiss on her big toe. Buffy caught her lower lip between her teeth, but closed her eyes again. Encouraged, Oz opened his mouth to take her toe into his mouth, but something cut him off.

Buffy snapped to attention when she heard Oz scream out in agony. He threw himself out of his chair to the floor. He was trying to crawl over to the cage, but wasn't making it very far. Quickly, Buffy bent over and picked him up around the waist. He was changing more and more, it seemed quicker than she could carry him. Finally, she got him to the cage, dropped him to the ground and ran out slamming the door behind her. Mere seconds later, Ozwolf jumped at the grate of the cage, slamming his body against it with great force.

Buffy didn't know what had just happened between her and Oz. She didn't really care to dissect it, it would just ruin it. What she did know for sure was; as soon as Oz had grabbed her foot, her whole body jumped with excitement. It seemed like it had been twenty years she had felt the touch of a man.

Pushing herself up on the table and laying back, Buffy tried to ignore the feral growls coming from the cage. He certainly left her in an uncomfortable state. God, it had definitely been too long if a little foot massage and an innocent kiss could do this to her. The moisture between her legs was almost humiliating to her. She took her a deep breath and started counting down from twenty to calm herself.
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The End