Shacking Up, 21
By
EntreNous

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

Twenty-One: “Drinks and Disclosures”

“I’ve heard of a third wheel, and a fifth wheel . . . I don’t know if this stretches the whole concept, but is there such a thing as a fourth wheel?” Buffy asked plaintively. “Is that like the tricycle model of tagging along on a date of three people?”

“Oh! Buffy, we don’t mean to make you feel left out.” Willow’s gaze drifted over to Nathan and Oz where they stood, their shoulders brushing together slightly as they waited to pay the check.

It had seemed like a great idea to invite Buffy to have brunch with all of them, but maybe it might have been better to tell Buffy what had been going on first off. Not that it had taken too long to figure out the situation, what with Nathan kissing Willow whenever she said something funny, and Oz’s arm draped across the back of Nathan’s chair, his thumb stroking the nape of Nathan’s neck. “Sorry if we’re all,” Willow waved her arm around, “goofy and touchy and stroke-y and . . .”

“Hey! Watch the details. Fourth wheel here,” Buffy reminded her with a smile. “No, don’t apologize. It’s cool. It’s just a little . . . unexpected. Here I was wondering if you and Oz would try seeing other people after the last conversation we had . . . ”

“Well, we are seeing other people,” Willow pointed out. “Except that it’s one person, and we’re both seeing him.”

“You know, that’s the part I’m still wrapping my head around,” Buffy explained. Her expression softened as she looked at Willow. “It’s good though?”

“It’s very good,” Willow assured her with a wide grin.

“And it seems pretty serious already,” Buffy said.

“I guess . . . we’ll have to see, but yeah, it feels like that right now. Maybe it’s because Oz and I have been together for so long. It’s kind of like we just added Nathan to the mix of seriousness.”

“Well, I think we can all get used to it as long as you’re happy,” Buffy said. She paused as she regarded the guys now making their way back to the table. “Just means there are two boys I’ll have to beat up if they do anything stupid.”

“Not us,” Oz said. He kissed the top of Willow’s head gently, and helped her with her coat.

“Well, you’d better not,” Buffy said as she stood. “We’re talking about my Willow here. And I don’t want to get in the middle of all of you, but if I have to, I will.”

“You’re not offering, are you?” Nathan asked as he drained the rest of his coffee. “Joke, I’m joking,” he said when Willow turned to him with a mock look of shock on her face.

“You’d better be joking,” Willow said hotly, landing a soft punch on Nathan’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed, throwing out a punch of her own.

“Ow,” Nathan complained. “That’s a mean right hook you’ve got there, Buff.”

“Sorry!” Buffy said quickly. She patted Nathan’s arm gently. “I just haven’t had anyone to punch lately with Xander working long hours at his job and being all stressed out over the Spike situation. Not to mention the Davy situation.”

“Yeah, what’s the what on that front?” Oz asked.

“Last time I talked to Xander he was pretty grumpy about some stuff Spike said,” Willow replied. “I thought it would be good if they talked things out, but now I’m starting to think that they should stop talking if they ever want anything to happen.”

“It’s been tough for Xander,” Nathan said. “Figuring out how he feels about being with guys even without the added element of Spikiness is adjustment enough. From where I stand, Davy seems like kind of an asshole, but Xander’s the one who has to make the decisions. My money’s on Spike, though.”

“I bet something dramatic happens between them pretty soon,” Willow observed.

“Probably,” Buffy said with a smile. “There seems to be a lot of that dramatic resolution stuff going on around here lately.”

********

Xander stopped in the hallway outside his apartment door and listened for any sound or movement. When he heard nothing, he let out a sigh of relief and fumbled around for his keys.

It wasn’t like he was trying to steer clear of his roommate, he reasoned. More like since Spike and Willow had been putting ideas in his head about Davy’s supposed interest in him, Xander had just thought it’d be cool if he and Davy had more of their own space. After a quick check of the new site, he hoped that he’d have the place alone for a little while.

So Xander opened the door easily, and gave a little jump when he saw that Davy was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper on the couch.

“Hi there, Davy,” Xander said brightly as he entered. He paused uncertainly, taking his jacket off and then started to put it back on again. It looked like Davy was pretty settled in, so if Xander stayed conversation would be inevitable. But if Xander left right away, that’d probably seem odd, and might lead to other uncomfortable talking type stuff.

None of it was Davy’s fault, but being around him made things seem more confusing for some reason. It was mind-boggling enough that grope-y things had been starting and stopping with Spike. And since Spike had acted like a jerk at the crypt, demanding that Xander practically throw Davy out onto the street, Xander wasn’t sure how to act around his roommate. It didn’t have anything to do with Davy -- Davy was his friend. Just maybe, though, a friend he really didn’t want to be around at this very moment.

Making up his mind, Xander shrugged his jacket back on completely. “Look at you! Here. Reading the paper. Just stopped by to get . . . ” Xander’s eyes darted around as he frantically looked for something to grab on his way out. He triumphantly settled on a spare key chain with a bottle opener attached. “This! This thing . . . I’m always forgetting to bring it with me! Say, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Hey, Xander, you just got here . . . where are you off to now?” Davy asked as he started to straighten up on the couch.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Xander said hastily, making little air patting motions with his palms, “Don’t get up, and I’ll just see you later, and I’ll bring you up to speed on the whole lot of nothing that’s been happening with me lately.” He laughed nervously and started backing towards the door.

“Xander, hang on, would you?” Davy began. “I haven’t really seen much of you lately, and I’m just wondering . . . did I do something to upset you?”

“What? You? What could you possibly have done?” Xander asked incredulously. Then he took a deep breath. “I know I haven’t been around much lately. I don’t mean to be avoidy guy, it’s just that . . . I’m trying to work out some stuff on my own, and it really hasn’t been easy.”

“Why am I guessing that this is Spike-related?” Davy asked with a pointed look.

“That’s just crazy talk,” Xander said weakly. Davy kept on looking like he could see right through Xander’s bluff. “Well, maybe some of it is . . . ”

“Xander, you can keep avoiding me, but if you’re having problems because you’re getting back together with Spike, you won’t be able to avoid those issues forever.” Davy crossed the room, ending up standing at arm’s length from Xander. “Wouldn’t it be better to have a friend to talk it out with?”

“Avoiding . . . Spike . . . what? I’m not with Spike -- I haven’t been with him in the first place, much less gotten back together with him. And I’m not . . . ” Xander paused, realizing that the “I’m not gay” speech was one he was pretty much disqualified from performing at this point. What with the making out with Spike, and the obsessing about Spike, and the naked sexy dreams about Spike . . . um, naked sexy dreams about Spike and Davy.

“You’re not gay?” Davy said gently. He looked at Xander fondly, as though Xander was the cutest thing he’d ever come across. “I’m not trying to label you, Xander . . . but at some point you’re going to have to figure out what you want.”

Xander raised a finger, lowered it, and then cleared his throat. “How come you think I don’t know what I want?” He tried hard to keep the squeak out of his voice.

Davy smiled. “It’s pretty obvious that you’re sussing out the . . . possibilities.” Then his expression seemed to go blank for a second before shifting back to one of concern. “I just . . . I don’t want you to get hurt while you’re thinking it through, okay? I’m worried about Spike, and the kind of person he is . . . the way he might treat you.”

“Oh.” Xander decided to drop the pretence of leaving the apartment, and took off his jacket for good. “I don’t know . . . we haven’t really settled . . . I’m not sure what I . . . I guess I’m not sure what the right decision is,” he finished.

Davy put his hand on Xander’s shoulder and looked into Xander’s eyes. “Hey. You don’t have to work it all out on your own, alright? How about we hang out for a while -- just the two of us? Come on -- I’ll buy the drinks.”

“That sounds okay,” Xander said, letting out a sigh. “Let me just change really quickly, and we can go now if you want.”

“Definitely,” Davy said, smiling. “I definitely want to go now.”

********

Spike flicked his lighter off, on, off, on, before the flame stopped catching altogether. “Stupid . . .” he muttered, pulling it apart to check the flint.

He’d made it as far as their . . . Xander’s apartment building, but then he’d decided to wait outside. Just getting his bearings, really. He could do this, he could tell Xander that he had to stay the hell away from Davy. He could also just tell Davy to piss off, but Xander might not like that very much.

It had been so frustrating, though, knowing that he was the only one that really saw Davy as a threat. And as long as things were unsettled between him and Xander . . . wouldn’t be right to just leave the two of them alone, now would it?

He had just succeeded in sparking the flame when he saw Xander and Davy emerge from the building. Spike felt a low growl building up in his throat, and tried to calm down. Didn’t mean they were going somewhere together. Maybe they were just leaving the apartment at the same time? That would be fine with him. That way he could catch up to Xander, try to make him listen to reason again -- only slightly more sensitive-like this go ‘round.

But the two of them weren’t separating. In fact, they were headed over to Davy’s car, Davy not quite touching Xander, but his hand hovering at Xander’s back. It seemed like he was holding back, wanting to guide Xander to the car physically, but keeping the impulse in check.

Spike snapped off the lighter abruptly. Going out, just the two of them, then? Looked like he’d better tag along.

********

“That’s hilarious,” Xander burst out.

Davy smiled. It had been a really fun night so far. Xander was much more relaxed when he was drinking, and since they were on round . . . well, not like they’d really been counting the rounds after a certain point. He wasn’t quite certain exactly which part of his story Xander was laughing at, but who cared? He felt like things were finally getting somewhere -- Xander laughing at his jokes, sitting closer to him -- maybe tonight would be the night that this whole thing finally started up.

“See?” Xander asked rhetorically, jabbing his finger into Davy’s chest. “Isn’t this fun? Aren’t you glad I asked you to go out for drinks?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I’m the one that asked you . . . ” Davy began.

“Oh, I would’ve probably asked you eventually,” Xander scoffed. He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again quickly. Then he opened it again.

“Davy? You’d tell me if you were trying to jump my bones, right?”

Davy almost did a double-take; he couldn’t believe Xander was asking him this so directly. Then again, they had had a great deal to drink.

“Why do you ask that?” He slid his drink off the coaster and took a quick sip.

“Well, it seems like everyone else thinks you are,” Xander observed.

Davy almost spit out the swallow he’d just taken. “Everyone meaning who?”

“Oh, you know!” Xander waved his hand. “Willow. Spike.”

“Spike thinks so, huh?” Davy asked. His hand tightened around his glass. Clearly Spike had been trying to warn Xander away from him. Sure, like he was the threat, and Spike was the one who wanted to play nice. But it wasn’t worth getting upset about it -- after all, he was the one here with Xander, wasn’t he? And Spike was . . . here?

“Spike!” Xander almost shrieked. “There you are!” He nodded quickly, as though he’d expected this arrival all along, then jumped in his seat as if he was thoroughly shocked. “What are you doing here?”

“I think you’d better leave,” Davy said formally, getting to his feet.

“You know, somehow I feel like staying,” Spike said to Davy. He turned to Xander, who had tilted his head at the two of them as though he was trying to make up his mind about something. “I’m here, for fuck’s sake, to make sure you don’t do something stupid,” Spike said through gritted teeth.

“You know, that’s just rude,” Xander said sadly. He shrugged, as though he’d long ago given up on Spike’s company manners but was nonetheless disappointed by this recent incident. “I’m not doing anything stupid. I’m just having a drink. With Davy!” Xander rose unevenly, and slung an arm around Davy’s shoulders in a friendly manner.

“I think you can see that you’re not wanted here,” Davy said, glaring at Spike. “Xander is doing just fine without you. And just because you don’t want someone else to get close to him doesn’t mean you get to make his decisions for him, okay?”

“Not wanted . . . that seems kind of harsh, maybe. . . I mean, it’s not that you’re not wanted,” Xander told Spike earnestly. His eyes widened as Spike gripped his shoulders. Davy gasped loudly when Spike shook Xander hard.

“Listen to me!” Spike shouted. “Stay away from him! You think that he’s alright, that he’s your friend. But he doesn’t give a fuck about you -- he wants you, yeah, but he doesn’t care what you want or what you need. And it’s not him you need. It’s me.”

The entire bar fell silent. “Hey, you better take that outside,” the bartender said warily.

“Go on then,” Davy hissed. “Get out of here. And get your hands off of him. I won’t let you hurt him again.”

“Hurt me? Spike never . . . Wait, I need you? It’s you?” Xander asked in confusion. He peered at Spike’s face, trying to get a read on what he was thinking, but he felt so wobbly, and Spike was so mad . . . maybe this wasn’t the best time to talk to Spike about everything. And Spike couldn’t be right about Davy, who’d been really great and understanding the whole time.

Yet all at once Xander felt compelled to cross towards Spike and say something, anything, just to keep Spike there and make him explain what he meant about what he meant about being what Xander wanted and needed until Xander understood it the right way.

“I’m calling the cops . . .” the bartender warned, holding up the receiver.

“No need,” Spike said gruffly. He looked disdainfully at Davy, and then turned his gaze to Xander. He seemed about to say something else, but he shook his head and left without another word.

**********