Shacking Up, 18
by
EntreNous

******

“Howdy Wills,” a morose voice greeted her when she picked up the phone.

“Hey Xander!” She gave the phone an affectionate little squeeze. “You okay? You sound sort of blue.”

“Nah, I’m fine. Just thought I’d have work to distract me today, but what with the rain and all . . . Say, are you free tonight? Could we get together and hang? C’mon Willow, be a bud.”

“Oh, wish I could! I haven’t gotten to hang out with just you in a while. But Oz already left a message on the machine saying he wanted to discuss some stuff tonight.” She frowned into the receiver. “He sounded all serious too. Do you think that’s weird?”

“Oz? Serious? Got to tell you, Will, not so much of a shocker.”

“I guess so . . . still, there was something more serious than his usual seriousness . . . ” she trailed off but then re-focused back on the conversation. “But weren’t you going to patrol again with Spike tonight? Buffy seemed set on having you guys work together this week.”

“I don’t know,” Xander said, sounding uncomfortable. “The other night . . . there was kind of a thing.”

“What sort of thing?”

Xander laughed nervously. “Just some weirdness here . . . Davy and Spike having the fireworks of unexplained anger. Haven’t really seen either of them since then.”

“That’s odd.” Willow shifted the phone from one ear to the other. “Something must have happened to set them off.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “It all went down kind of quickly. I left them there arguing and went to bed.”

“Well, it’s too bad that Spike has to go around picking fights with your roommate,” Willow offered in sympathy.

“Yeah, but that’s just it. Davy came in and started yelling at Spike about what he did to me . . . Willow, he acted like he thought Spike beat me up or something.” Xander took a deep breath. “And of course I can’t explain about the patrol thing, so maybe it’s a logical for him to jump to that . . . ”

“No way,” Willow said firmly. “Spike’s your friend. I mean, I kind of think that even with the chip out he wouldn’t beat you up just because he could. And just because Spike was there when you were beat up, why would Davy assume that Spike was the one responsible? Even if he doesn’t like Spike, that idea seems pretty harsh.”

“Davy’s probably just trying to look out for me,” Xander said after considering. “I mean, what would it look like to you?”

“Call me crazy Willow Rosenberg, but I’m from the school of asking questions first,” she said gently. “Why’d he rush to that conclusion . . . do you think he’s got some issue with Spike?”

“Why would he have an issue with Spike?” Xander asked in a reasonable tone.

“You know, Davy does seem kind of invested in how you spend your time,” Willow said almost to herself. “He was a lot friendlier to me and Buffy at the beginning when he’d just moved in, but now it seems like he’d rather not see us around the apartment.” Her brow furrowed as she started to consider the situation with Davy. “Oh, and that time at the Bronze! He really didn’t want to hang out with all of us -- seemed like he’d rather see you on your own. I wonder . . . Xander, do you think that Davy, um . . . likes you?”

“Great, Will. That’s just great. Between you and Spike, I’m going to be so paranoid about Davy lusting after me that I won’t even feel comfortable in my own apartment any more,” Xander complained.

“Hey, wait a second here,” Willow said. “Spike and I aren’t the ones who are making you . . . hang on. Spike thinks that Davy’s interested in you too?”

“Geez, Will -- you know Spike! He’s always coming to weird conclusions.”

Willow was silent.

“He’s not. Davy’s not interested in me,” Xander said.

“Well, you can be a little oblivious, Xander,” Willow reminded him. “Remember Anya asked you to run away with her before graduation, and you sure didn’t see that one coming. Or what about -- ”

“Why are you just automatically siding with Spike on this one?” Xander demanded.

“Xander, why are you getting upset with me?” Willow asked in confusion. “And siding with Spike . . . I’m just . . . are you upset with Spike? Are you mad at him because of how he interprets what Davy’s up to? Because of how he fought with Davy? Or are you freaked out about something else that Spike did?”

“Look at the time,” Xander said suddenly. “I’ve really got to go. See you later, Wills.”

“Bye,” Willow said in a soft voice to the dial tone. She hung up the phone and rubbed her head a little. It was almost time to get ready to meet Oz. As much as she wanted to know what was going on with Xander, it would have to wait until tomorrow.

*************************

Just after sunset, Buffy sat on the steps leading up to a small crypt, cracking her grape-flavored gum and scanning the graveyard.

“Nasty habit, that,” she heard, and just barely held back from going into attack mode when she saw who it was.

“Spike,” she said with a nod. “Yeah, like much nastier than drinking . . .” He gave her an exasperated look and she grinned. “Nah, forget it. It’s too easy.”

He settled down next to her. After some companionable staring out into the night for demons and vampires, she looked at him slyly out of the corner of her eye.

“You look particularly dead tonight. What’s up?”

Spike just sneered at her and continued surveying the area.

“Don’t want to talk about it, huh?” Buffy asked. She plunked her hands on the steps and hauled herself up. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Let’s go where?” Spike asked with a scowl.

“Let’s go. As in put up your dukes. You’re all pissy about something, and if you don’t want me to talk to you about it, at least let me help you out by beating you up.”

“Yeah, real fun for me,” Spike commented. “I’m sure that’d help a great deal.”

“Fine then,” Buffy said, blowing a stray hair out of her face. “We’ll find some demons, since they don’t seem keen on finding us, and you can cheer up by cracking some otherworldly skulls.”

“That does sound nice,” Spike allowed reluctantly.

“See? You can decide to be positive!” Buffy nodded emphatically. She smiled encouragingly at him.

Spike smiled back, almost shyly, but then looked alarmed. “Behind you,” he got out, before there was a bevy of vampires upon them all at once.

After much round-house kicking, a thorough dusting, and a few volleys of light banter, the vamps were taken care of, and Buffy was bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking pleased. Spike looked much more relaxed now, and maybe she could finally get something out of him about his feelings about Xander.

She’d done her part, deciding that if she wasn’t going to hinder Xander’s crush then at least she could help things along by pairing the two of them off for patrolling. But she hadn’t heard boo about it from either of them, and it looked like the only way she’d get an update would be to pry. Buffy smiled a little wider. Prying was one of her specialties.

“So,” she said casually. She even whistled a little to throw him off. “What’s up with Xander these days? I haven’t seen him as much as you have. What’s the scoop?”

Spike glanced at her sharply. “Nothing.”

“Hmmm,” Buffy said with a knowing look on her face. “I see.”

Spike shook his head in irritation. “Nothing to see.”

“Uh huh,” Buffy said skeptically. “Well, you seem awfully touchy about it.”

He sighed dramatically and sank back down onto the crypt step. “I don’t know what’s going on. So nothing.”

“But there’s something that could be going on? I mean, you’re wanting to go on with the going on . . . Or at least you want to know what’s going on with . . . going on.” Buffy paused, considering the syntax, then shrugged and raised her eyebrows, waiting for Spike to respond.

“What the bloody hell are you talking about?” Spike asked with his voice raised.

“Well, what are you talking about?” Buffy asked triumphantly, turning the tables. She’d get him to talk about his feelings for Xander yet.

“That git, Davy.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it . . . what do you mean, Davy? I thought we were talking about Xander.” Buffy grabbed Spike’s shoulder and shook him a little, as if that would make him answer more clearly. Spike looked hard at her and waited.

“Uh oh,” Buffy said. “What did you do?”

“Me?” Spike said indignantly. “Me??? I’m not the one who goes around accusing innocent bystanders and barges in on important moments just when they’re finally happening!”

“What happened?” Buffy asked with wide eyes.

“Fancies him,” Spike said shortly.

“You mean you . . .”

“I mean Davy. Are you paying attention?”

“Davy,” Buffy said and stopped. “Davy and Xander. Xander and Davy.”

“Getting it now, love?” Spike said with some bitterness.

“Huh,” Buffy said, genuinely confused. “Why didn’t I see that one coming?”

Spike rolled his eyes and lit a cigarette.

“But . . . but you . . . but Xander . . . ” Buffy gaped at him, unsure of what to say next.

“Right then. I’m off.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Buffy called out. “You still haven’t told me . . . ”

“Told you all I’m going to tell you,” Spike muttered.

“Xander and Spike and Davy and . . . ” Buffy shook her head. Too confusing. Time to regroup and go right to the source. She looked around the graveyard one last time, then headed off to Xander’s apartment.

*****

“So then you just told him straight out?” Xander asked in awe.

“Well, pretty much,” Nathan replied with a shrug.

“I’ve got to hand it to you,” Xander said. “I would have hemmed and hawed and stuffed myself full of pancakes without saying a damn thing.”

“The jury’s still out, so we’ll have to see.” Nathan tilted his head to the side and smiled at Xander. “So . . . now that you’re getting a little more comfortable with your own alternative lifestyle . . . when are you going to have some good news on your front?”

“No news,” Xander said glumly.

“Hmmm. I guess I’m a little surprised. Listen, Xander, I don’t mean to pry . . . but I think you realize that your interest in Spike is kind of obvious.”

Xander laughed. “What, I thought I had the best poker face on the planet!” Then he shook his head, a sober expression on his face. “I think . . . I think that there’s something going on. Or there would have been. Kind of. Almost. Maybe.”

“Okay then,” Nathan said expansively. “If you’re sure.”

Xander cracked a grin at that. “It’s just that . . . should it be this hard?”

“I don’t know,” Nathan said thoughtfully. “But it’s not like everyone gets attracted to someone and falls into bed with them right away. I mean, that happens too, but not when there are a bunch of issues standing in the way. Would it have been better if things started happening before you figured out for yourself what was going on in your head?”

“The jury’s out on that one too,” Xander said with a slight smile. “On what’s going on in my head I mean. But you know, I am getting it. I am. I’m . . . attracted to him, and I think maybe he does like me. It’s just . . . oh, who knows.” Xander threw his hands up into the air. “Maybe it’ll all work out.”

“That’s really great,” Nathan said. “Seriously.”

“Yeah,” Xander said softly. “And you know, who cares that he’s a vampire, because -- ”

“Whoa, whoa whoa!” Nathan held out his hand in a gesture of emergency interruption. Who’s a what now?”