Shacking Up, 6
By
EntreNous

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Chapter Twelve: Roommates and Relationships

Showered, scrubbed, clad in baggy jeans and a baseball style t-shirt, Xander paused at the door of the apartment. He had a little time before he had to leave, and maybe now would be a good time to see what was up with Davy.

Xander wasn’t really sure what being a roommate entailed, but he wanted to do a good job. Willow had convinced him he was practically morally obligated to find out what was going on with Davy. He didn’t want to be some asshole that was so self-absorbed he ignored someone else’s problems, especially if he lived with the someone else.

“Hey, uh, you busy in there?” he called into Davy’s room.

“No -- hang on,” and Davy opened the door and poked his head out. “What’s up?”

“Wanna sit down out here for a second?”

“Sure,” Davy agreed. He looked a little uneasy.

“I just wanted to . . . I just figured I’d ask how you were doing.”

“I’m fine. Just a little busy with this drafting project, but -- ”

“No, Davy. I mean . . . how you’re doing with . . . other stuff? Relationshippy stuff? Was that guy who was here the one you, uh, were living with?”

“Oh,” Davy said. “Yeah, that was Michael, the guy I’d been seeing. He came over to get his keys.” He looked quickly at Xander, but Xander’s face seemed more concerned than anything else. “I don’t know why I was holding on to them, really. I guess I just . . . ”

“Maybe you thought you might need them again?” Xander inquired.

“Yeah, more like I hoped I would . . . but he’s back together with his old boyfriend. The guy he was seeing before we started messing around. None of it ever should have happened.”

Xander nodded, then opened his mouth to ask something, then stopped.

“What?” Davy asked softly.

“Um, you said before . . . relationship, but then . . . just now, I mean -- ”

“Right. Well, I thought it was a relationship, he thought it was messing around. I wanted something more, but it was just an in-between thing for him, just something to fill the time,” Davy observed bitterly.

“Well, that bites,” Xander replied sincerely.

“That it does,” Davy answered, and then smiled at Xander. “I shouldn’t let it get to me -- I guess I’m drawn to people like that, you know? People who don’t really want me, or, you know, people that will hurt me.”

“Huh.” Xander pulled a neutral face to cover his confusion. Boy, where was Willow when you needed her? She was the one taking first-year psych, after all.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other again. I can’t tell if that’s good or not. I guess you think that’s pretty fucked up, right?” Davy sighed.

“No,” Xander said. He shrugged. “I’ve been in some relationships that have, well, been a little weird. Maybe more about physical stuff than anything else. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what you want in a case like that.”

“Oh,” Davy said, and then glanced at Xander. “Like with Spike?” he asked.

“With Spike?” Xander repeated the question back. “I’m not really sure what he would say to that question. I mean, in terms of me, I was talking about Cordelia, my high school girlfriend. Lots of making out, not so much with the relationship part. Oh, and my last girlfriend, Anya -- I thought we cared for each other, but it was the sex, mainly.”

“How long did it last before you figured out it was just sex?” Davy asked guardedly.

“What? Oh, I don’t think I figured that part out until it was long over. I mean, there was lots and lots of sex. Kind of hard to take stock in the middle of all that,” Xander grinned at him.

Davy smiled back, and then paused before trying again. “I mean, sometimes it can be hard, too, if you live with someone and you’re both attracted to each other. I mean, there they are, there you are. Stuff happens. Do you know what I mean? Has that ever happened to you?”

Xander laughed. “I don’t know about that. But all my relationships did just sorta happen. Maybe it’s good to remember that. Try to make more deliberate choices next time, you know? Hey, maybe we could form a support group. The careful-planning, non-spontaneous-relationship promotion group?”

“Maybe,” Davy replied. It was hard to tell from Xander’s responses whether his questions about the relationship with Spike were grounded in anything or not. The answers didn’t clear up much. “Well, I appreciate you asking about all this. It’s been a tough day.”

“Hey, no problem,” Xander said, spreading his arms magnanimously. “You want to talk about stuff, I’m your man.”

“Thanks,” Davy said softly. “I’ll remember that.”

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Chapter Thirteen: Rectangle-y Thingies

“Now, Xander, now!” Willow shrieked.

Xander scrambled to drop the horglis root into the glowing bowl in front of Willow, almost knocking her down in the process.

“Back to your station, Xan,” Buffy gasped, pulling his arm to replace him at his corner of the rectangle.

Giles waved his hands at them frantically from the corner across from Xander. “You’ll want to brace yourselves for -- ” Giles shouted, but the warning was a little late. The mixture in front of Willow glowed strongly, and a putrid smell filled the room just before a large *bang* knocked the four of them on their feet.

“Tell me again, why do I shower before I do *anything* with *any* of you?” Xander complained as he tried to shake off the debris that was now raining down from Giles’s ceiling.

“ ‘Cause we don’t want you to smell?” Buffy replied as she darted away from a nasty chunk of something icky falling to the floor.

“Huh. That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Willow’s voice called out meekly. The glowing had stopped, the debris had settled, and Buffy was pulling Xander up while Giles groped at the floor for his glasses.

“Good work with the warning, Giles,” Buffy groused without much animosity.

“Well, of course you know there’s always the risk of something going -- ”

“Horribly, dreadfully wrong?” Willow and Xander finished in chorus.

“Yes, well . . . Despite the debris, I would call this a success. Is everyone alright for the most part?”

Buffy shook the plaster dust out of her hair, and brushed some of the bits of the ceiling off of Willow’s sweater. “I think we’re good, but I’d say we need yummy desserts to make it all better. Right guys?”

“Oh, yummy desserts! We need them stat!” Willow cried out.

“Giles, you up for Bronzing it with us? We can procure all kinds of chocolaty deliciousness there.” Xander flopped his dusty self onto Giles’s clean couch.

“No, no . . . I’d like to stay here and catch up on my notes about the incident, and check on that prophecy that might come due in two months.”

“Oh, well, if your plans are as exciting as *that*,” Buffy offered, and then shrank a little from Giles’s frustrated look.

Willow was shaking out Xander’s coat, which for some reason had gotten the most of the dirt from the icky shower. “Leave Giles alone,” she said in her best Willow-knows-best voice. “If he wants to stay here and do something really dull, we shouldn’t give him grief.”

“Why, thank you Willow,” Giles said dryly. He smoothly shoved a twenty-dollar bill into Xander’s hand to contribute towards the buying of the sweets.

“C’mon, you guys,” Buffy called, already halfway out the door.

“Wait,” Xander yelled, “I’m supposed to call Nathan so that he can come and play pool with us.”

Buffy stopped and looked back blankly.

“Remember? Seven-of-Nine Nathan? With the roommate interviews, and the Weezer whistling Nathan? Nathan of the pilly green sweater?” Willow asked.

“Oh, that *sweater*--right. Have you guys hung out at all since then, Xan?”

“Yeah, he’s a cool guy, Buff. We met once before to hear a band at the Bronze, and one time I went to see his place and we watched a bunch of Alias episodes.”

“Woman-power super-spy show? I approve.” Buffy nodded. “If you’re going to call, make it quick, Xander. It’s getting late, and I want to get a prime people-watching and vamp-spotting table across from the mirror.”

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Chapter Fourteen: Male Friendship Rituals

Nathan once again earned favoring nods from Willow and Buffy, and bantered easily with Xander about the badness of the new Jackie Chan film. Once they had arrived unanimously at the decision that nothing could ever surpass Drunken Master, they headed over to the left of the dance floor to play pool.

“We playing for cash?” Xander asked apprehensively. “Because that’s something I don’t have a hell of a lot of right now. Get paid next week.”

“Oh, no way, dude. I have enough for the new apartment, but it doesn’t leave much left over for other stuff, like high-stakes betting with a pool-shark such as yourself,” Nathan said with a grin.

“That’s too bad about the rent -- looks like you should have taken up my offer after all,” Xander said a little smugly. He’d been a tiny bit put out by Nathan’s decision, though he was just mostly glad they could hang out now.

“You might be right at that. How’s the new one working out for you?” Nathan asked as he sank a sweet shot.

“Good thing we’re not betting,” Xander observed as Nathan put away two more primo shots. “The new roommate, Davy? He’s fine. He’s getting over some relationship with some guy, so he’s a little down, I guess.”

“Uh huh.” Nathan replied. “Country-music listening, crying into his beer down?”

“Maybe not that bad,” Xander allowed. He noticed the guy-guy relationship thing didn’t seem to faze Nathan, but then not much did.

“Well, that’s good. And you catch up with your old roommate -- what’s his name, uh --Spike? What’s he up to these days?”

“Oh, he’s okay, I think. It was a little weird after he moved out, but he came by yesterday. We actually got into an argument, but then it transformed into a tickle fight, so I’m guessing we’re cool now.” Xander cast a sidelong glance at Nathan, who chalked unperturbed.

“Important question here—you the tickler or the ticklee?”

“Ticklee, pretty much. That’s usually how it goes with me and tickling. And you’re curious about this why?”

Nathan took a swallow of his coke and set up another shot.

“You look kinda tickle-able,” Nathan observed seriously.

“Uh, that’s what Will said, too.” Xander scowled a little. Looked like he’d hardly get a turn at this game. And since when did everyone go around talking about his tickle-appeal? Not that it wasn’t flattering, but what was up with that?

Nathan leaned over to line up the cue, but Buffy shrieked in laughter in the background at that moment, and he fumbled the shot.

“Aha!” Xander exclaimed as he took over the table triumphantly.

Nathan moved to lean against the wall, waited for Xander to take aim, and then asked casually yet with perfect timing, “So . . . he a good tickler?”

Xander lurched a little, and laughed slightly when he sunk the cue ball. “Tickling is just tickling, right?”

“Nah, though you might think so,” Nathan responded, shaking his head. “Some people are really pokey,” he jabbed his finger into the air for emphasis, “and just go for fast and furious, but some people go for all the right spots and take their time.”

“I guess . . . Spike falls into the latter category?”

“Sure, he sounds like that kind of guy,” Nathan remarked. He rolled the cue ball in his hand for a moment, and then placed it strategically.

Xander sent another prayer of thanks that there were no bets on the table as Nathan quickly finished off the game.

“What happened after?” Nathan asked, waving back at Willow who was frantically waving at him.

“Uh, after. Well, Davy came in, and he seemed kind of uncomfortable, and Spike took off.”

“That’s funny,” Nathan said. He was shaking his head at Willow, smiling as she gestured for him and Xander to join her and Buffy on the dance floor. “So it just ended like that? And you didn’t go see what was up with him after?”

“ ‘What was up with him’ -- I was supposed to do something else?” Xander looked slightly alarmed, and a little red.

“I just mean, hey, you’re on bad terms with the guy, he takes a chance, comes over and reduces you to helpless giggles, but then when he runs off you leave things hanging?” Nathan eyed Xander with curiosity as he wrapped up his question.

“Not seeing where you’re headed with this, pal.” Xander said lightly, but frowned to himself. Maybe he had done something wrong, had messed up some important post-tickling male-friendship ritual of which he wasn’t aware. Because, hey, until recently? Not so much with the guy friends after Jesse.

“I’m just saying, he crossed the gap, and now it’s up to you to reaffirm the gesture. Go to his house and get out the Xbox or Playstation, spark up together, watch monster movies. You know. Solidify the bonds of friendship.” Nathan shrugged, but then looked bemused as he realized that Willow was headed over to them.

“You guys! You’re not even playing anymore, and we need to dance, and you need to help us!” Willow yanked at Nathan’s arm unmercifully.

“Down, Willow,” Xander said absently. Looks like he’d be paying a visit to Spike soon.

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