Title: Everybody Loves You
Author: meagan <nutmeg@serv.net>
Summary: Too short for a summary, really. But if you must have one, I guess it would be that Xander says the wrong name at the wrong time, and a confrontation happens.
Distribution: Please ask.
Spoiler: Um, no, I don't think so.
Rating: PGish. No swearing, but there's some adult situation.
Disclaimer: Of *course* they belong to someone else. If they were mine, things would be different. Specifically, they belong to Mutant Enemy, Fox, WB (even though they *really* don't deserve these guys after what they did to us in May), and anyone else I forgot. Living Colour owns the lyric snippet.
Feedback: Oh, yes, please.
Notes: I was listening to Living Colour (specifically the song "Bi" -- "Everybody loves you when you're bi" -- from the album _Stain_) when this little scenario popped into my mind. But I'm not sure where it should go from here or *if* it should go from here. As always, this hasn't been beta-read (I have some reasons, but I don't feel like explaining those right now), and, no, as a matter of fact, my email program does *not* have a spellchecker on it.

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"Oh, Willow..." As soon as the name was out of his mouth, Xander realized he had moaned it out loud. His companion drew away from Xander's body.

"Willow."

Xander's heart sank. "I can explain."

"Really." Oh, boy. The sarcastic voice. Not a good thing.

Xander sighed. "Well, no, not really. I'm sorry. Really, really sorry." He swung his feet to the floor, gathering his clothes and searching for his keys.

"Where are you going?"

"Away." Xander turned to face the body still tangled in the sheets. "Why? Don't you want me to leave?"

"No." Hands pulled him back to the bed, fingers dancing across his chest, as the word settled in his mind. "I want to talk about where we go from here."

~~~~

"He knows, Will."

Her head jerked up to face Xander, settling in the booth across from her. "What are you doing here? And *what*? How does he know?"

He shifted uncomfortably in the seat. "You know that I see other people, right?" She nodded, stirring her coffee and avoiding his eyes. She knew. She didn't like it, but she had to accept it given the circumstances. "The other day, I said your name while, um, in an intimate situation." Her eyes flew to his face, but his eyes were now firmly fixed on her coffee cup. "I have a feeling that word got back to him about it."

She sighed, glancing around the restaurant, casting her eyes over the breakfast crowd. "At least that explains why he wanted to meet me here. Public place. No scene. Xander, I'm sorry. I know you guys have become friends, and now this happens. He's never going to trust either of us again. I'll consider myself lucky if he even speaks to me again."

His gaze fell on the reflection in the mirror over Willow's head. A short redhead making his way to their booth. "Well, it's showdown time. It would be bad if I was here. If you feel up to it, maybe we could talk later?"

She nodded. The fact that he phrased it as a question made it clear to her that he was as unsure about the events about to unfold as she was. "I hope so."

~~~~

"I promised myself I wouldn't do this. It's just too cheesy."

"Do what?" Cheesy? An odd word considering what she expected his next move to be. An angry confrontation and a declaration that he was never going to speak to her again. Then he would hunt Xander down and make sure that everyone knew just how displeased the laidback guitarist could be.

"There's this song. By Living Colour. See, I've recently realized that I'm not attracted to just you. I mean to just females. Well, not really *recently*. I've had a feeling for a long time. It's just never been specific -- defined, I guess -- before."

She stared. Gaped, really. Of all the things he could have possibly said to her, the declaration that he was bisexual had not even occurred to her. "Oh."

"There's more. I kind of found... a boyfriend, I guess you'd call him."

"Oh." Ever-so-eloquent, but it was the only thing she could say. There was something here she was missing, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. How to put it together with the rest of his news. She carefully rearranged her flatware while digesting the information.

If he had been a smoker, this would have been where he would have inhaled deeply, deliberately, before carefully expelling the smoke in a stream over her head, delaying the bombshell as long as possible. He was finding great satisfaction in her discomfort. "And here's where the song comes in. A bit of a song. 'Baby, baby, don't you cry/ 'Cause the one I am with/ You've been seeing on the side.'"

She dropped her spoon. He couldn't mean --

"Oz, is everything okay?" Xander's voice. Suddenly a few things made sense. Like why Xander had been at the restaurant that morning. She hadn't remembered telling him that she was going to be there, but he had been waiting when she had arrived. And he hadn't actually left the restaurant when Oz had shown up. She had been ambushed. She was seized with the sudden desire to be upset with someone, but she had no idea who that should be. Oz? She had been cheating on him with Xander, and turnabout's fair play. Xander? She wasn't even supposed to be with him to begin with, and she had assumed that he saw other people. She just hadn't expected "other people" to include her own boyfriend. Herself? Well, the guys were doing it, too. No sense beating yourself up over something everyone else involved was guilty of.

"Yeah. It's fine." Oz reached out to pull Xander down next to him. Willow stared across the table at the two guys. Oz looked very comfortable with his right arm wrapped around Xander's waist, and Xander didn't look very unhappy about it. A bit uneasy when his eyes met Willow's -- part embarrassment about being revealed as sexually attracted to guys in this manner, part guilt for having an affair with his best friend's boyfriend at the same time he was having an affair with the aforementioned best friend -- but he was clearly content to sit with Oz's arm around him for as long as possible. And Oz was displaying none of the anger she had expected. True, he had never been known for his emotional outbursts, but he actually looked even calmer and more peaceful than usual. Of course, he no longer had a secret to hide from her.

Finally, Willow decided to trust her voice. "So, what are we going to do? I mean, you two look happy. Together. Well, maybe happy is the wrong word. But you don't look sad about it. I should leave you two alone." She dug through her purse and pulled out money to cover her food.

Oz surprised her by reaching across the table and taking her right hand in his left. "We could share. You and I share Xander, he and I share you, and the two of you share me."

Her eyes were stuck on his hand holding hers. "I don't know, Oz. I mean, it's a good idea in theory, but I need some time to think things over. I understand that you didn't tell me about sleeping with Xander. After all, he and I were doing the same thing. But you didn't even tell me that you were attracted to guys." She pulled her hand from his. "I'm going to go think about this. Xander, I'm going to hold you to that talk you promised earlier. Just not right now."

They did not watch her leave. They just sat there, Oz's arm around Xander's waist, both staring at the tabletop until Xander broke the silence. "Oz, I'm really sorry --"

"Stop that. Just stop." At Xander's hurt expression, Oz softened his tone. "It's done. We can't change it. There's no use feeling sorry about it now." The waitress arrived at the table with Willow's previously-ordered breakfast and, observing the lack of Willow at the table, sighed and began to turn back to the kitchen. "Oh, hey, we'll take that. No sense letting perfectly good food go to waste." She eyed the pair for a moment, trying to decide whether they would end up refusing to pay the tab, before she finally relented and placed the plate in front of them. Pecan waffles. Definitely edible. Oz pulled away from Xander, turning and leaning against the wall, allowing Xander full possession of the food.

"What?" Xander's voice was muffled by a mouthful of waffle, syrup dripping down the side of his chin.

Oz smiled. "Nothing. Just watching you."

Xander swallowed his -- well, Willow's, but it was his now -- breakfast uneasily and wiped the syrup from his chin. "Why?"

"Because I like to watch you." Oz sighed. "Xander, look. If you're having second thoughts, just tell me."

"Who would you pick?"

"What?"

"If you had to pick between Will and me. Right now."

"Xand --"

"No, Oz. I need to know. I need to know where I stand here. This isn't an ultimatum -- her or me. I'm not going to run screaming out of here if I don't like your answer, but I do need to know what to allow myself to feel."

It was an odd choice of words, but it made Oz realize what his answer was. "You." He waited until Xander's eyes were on his face before continuing. "I'm not just saying that because you're the one sitting here. Honestly, Xander, I feel like you *need* me. *Me*, not just someone to sit beside you and listen to you talk about whatever has caught your attention on any given day."

"But Willow --"

"Has grown into a beautiful, confident woman who has no need for a sidekick also known as a boyfriend. I feel like... a distraction sometimes. Or an afterthought. Unnecessary." He watched Xander drag his fork through the puddle of syrup on his plate. "But you. You're different. It's like, if I walked away, you would collapse. Like you haven't learned how to stand on your own yet. And it's up to me to teach you. And I need to be there for you. I want to see you become a person. An adult. You can do it. You just have to have confidence in yourself. I'm here for that since you haven't figured things out yet."

Xander laughed suddenly. "Do you realize how strange this is?" Oz frowned and shook his head, confused. "You're basically asking me to stay. *You* are asking *me*. Didn't you get your 'Communicating with Xander' handbook? You're supposed to talk down to me and humor me. And patronize me. Let's not forget that. You're not supposed to treat me as an equal, you're not supposed to *want* me to be an equal, and you're definitely not supposed to need me. Unless we're talking about needing me to be the comic relief."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Oz reached across the table and picked up Willow's coffee cup, taking a swig of it before smirking and continuing. "Actually, I'm not. Sorry, that is. You need to be disappointed like this once in a while." He pointed to the plate. "Share?"

Xander smiled, moving the plate closer to Oz. "Yeah." He handed his fork to Oz and moved to the other end of the booth. At Oz's look of surprise -- and disappointment -- Xander shrugged. "I want to watch."

The disappointment faded and was replaced by delight.

~~~ maybe the end, maybe not ~~~