The two quotes that started all this off:
You know, I'm Canadian, and it *really* bothers me when people mistake me for American. I'm also gay, and it *really* bothers me when people mistake me for straight. Hmmm. Ten percent of the population of North America is Canadian. And ten percent of the population of North America is gay... Think about it.
Scott Thompson as Buddy Cole, the Kids in the Hall. (CBC)

"Maybe she's Canadian."
Graham (referring to Buffy being 'peculiar'), BtVS: the Initiative [the key thing for me being that Graham seemed to know that "Canadian" is, in some circles, a jokey code word for, uh, 'peculiar']

*****

Xander was walking across campus, taking a short cut home. He was feeling dejected after getting fired from *yet* another job. He'd lasted almost 15 days with this one -- almost a record. But the worst of it was the stuff he had accidentally broken was gonna be deducted from his paycheck, which was not even going to leave him enough for a hot chocolate at the Bronze after he paid his parents the rent on the dank smelly basement he called home.

Buffy and Willow had pretty much stopped being supporto-gals after about the tenth job (well, after the 15th job for Willow, she always cut him more slack), so there was no use in calling them up for a little comfort. Besides, Willow was spending most of her waking hours -- as well as her sleeping hours -- hanging out with Tara, doing spells. Buffy and Biff Laternjaw seemed to be joined at the ... hip. Xander was definitely tired of a social life that alternated between being the third wheel and the fifth wheel.

And following the masacre of the final battle with Adam, the remaining demons and vampire types had been avoiding Sunndydale like, well, like a non-hellmouth. Buffy was still doing her patrolling thing, but she always took Riley along. And since they often returned with, ahem, 'battle scars' on their necks, Xander assumed that more smooching than actual patrolling was going on. So, there hadn't been a real scooby meeting in weeks, no 'avengers assemble!', not even random research assignments.

At their last meeting, Giles had assured everyone that the demons and their buddies would slowly return as the word got around the literal underworld that things had returned to non-normal in Sunnydale. Giles, after searching the Chronicles, estimated that this should happen by the first week of October, at the latest. "Of course," he had said, with his usual British guy, school-master like over-precision, "One can never predict with absolute certitude how the denizens of the nether regions will react to these sorts of interferences with what they regard as the natural order of things."

Xander had said to Willow, "His lips move, but the sounds they make are not normal human sounds." Willow smiled and nodded mock-seriously at Xander. Seeing the bemused faces of the Scooby gang, Giles repeated, exasperated, "Oh, anything can bloody well happen. So just stay alert, all of you."

Buffy replied, "I promise to be alert. Riley will be alert, too. We promise to be two lerts." And as Giles scowled at them, the two practically lept for the door. Tara and Willow smiled at each other and got up and headed for the door as well. They both made cute little waves at Giles and Xander. Giles looked at the still not-standing Xander, who was looking at the still not-eaten Scooby meeting snacks.

Giles scowled at him. "Just take them with you, Xander." And Xander had grabbed the bags of chips and pretzels and left. And since then, no scooby meetings, no vampire slayage, no demon hunting, no prophesies, no nothing. The yawn-worthiness of the summer, vampire-wise, only made the lack of a social life all the more apparent.

Xander was carefully studying the sidewalk as he walked, barely noticing the big jock type doing a run, heading towards him. With shades of high school jock bullies playing in his subconscious mind, Xander stepped out of the way, barely looking up at the guy as he ran past. The jock, wearing a tank top and shorts ran by Xander, then came to a screeching halt and turned and said,

"Harris, Xander Harris?"

Xander looked back at him, the dude was totally familiar. Xander couldn't place him immediately. Wait a minute: big guy, all muscle, military hair cut:

"You're one of the commando guys, huh?"

"Yeah". The guy gave Xander a friendly nod. Graham tried hard not to show his slight embarrassment: he'd never been embarrassed by his unit before. But his guy and his friends had been the ones who had saved the day in the end. No thanks to Graham and the Initiative. In spite of the Initiative, in fact. It wasn't right somehow. Graham's face maintained an almost stone-like stoic look. He wanted to make it right. He needed to make it right, especially with this Xander guy. "We almost met at the Bronze a while back." He put out a hand, "Graham, Graham Miller."

Xander shook the offered hand. Graham looked straight at Xander. Graham's face was his patented stoic, expressionless look. That always happened when he was nervous. He bent forward a bit and rested his hands on his upper thighs, breathing deeply -- he had just run a bit more than 12 k.

"I wanted to thank you, for what you did against Adam." Graham's voice was deep, steady. He clearly meant what he said.

Xander shrugged and cracked a smile, happy to being thanked rather than being dissed..."No problem."

"You saved my ass, all our asses." Graham still half bent over, looked up into Xander's eyes.

"It really was mainly the Buffster." Xander protested, but more than a little pleased at Graham's gratitude.

"Way Riley tells it, it was the four of you. Team effort."

Xander shrugged again, but this time his smile was more genuine. "Well, yeah, in a mystical union of the souls / the whole is greater than the sum of the parts kind of way."

Graham chuckled, "Gestalt heroics, huh?"

"You know," Xander said brightly, "I'm pretty sure I'd agree with you if I had a clue as to what you just said." But Xander really liked the sound of the 'heroics' part.

Graham thought Damn!. Last thing he wanted was to put this guy down. "Sorry, Psych-speak, occupational hazard of the grad student cover."

Xander grinned lopsidedly, "Hey, I gained ten pounds when I was ice-cream truck guy. Talk about your occupational hazards."

Graham laughed. He started to jog in place a bit, clearly anxious to finish his run. Or maybe just anxious.

"Xander, Can I buy you a beer later on?" Graham had been mentally practicing that line since he had first recognized Xander.

Xander thought to himself: I cannot stress enough how much I *don't* have other plans for tonight. He smiled and said: "Yeah, sure."

"Great. The Pub at like 8?"

A nod, "OK".

"Great!" Graham gave Xander a quick pat on the shoulder. " Later!" he said, and jogged off, breaking into full run after a couple of seconds.

Xander grinned. He couldn't help but feel better. It was the first time that anybody had actually thanked him for what he had gone through fighting Adam. And it came from one of the commando guys -- not the corner he would have predicted. Xander watched the guy run off for a good five seconds. He stopped and looked around real fast, making sure nobody had caught him staring at the commando guy's ass. Even if, as this Graham guy had pointed out, it was an ass that Xander had saved.

Graham hit his stride. That went well, he decided. He was glad he finally actually met this guy. Riley had described him as being a good guy, but with an off-beat sense of humor -- Graham thought that that probably meant that Riley didn't get a lot of his jokes. He liked Riley, but the guy was sometimes oblivious to the obvious. Actually, his friendship with Graham was kind of proof of that. All the hints that Riley had available about Graham's extracurricular activities, and Riley didn't have a clue. Graham had always liked that about Riley.

Graham thought Xander was pretty funny. Good at the banter. Maybe a slightly peculiar sense of humor. Maybe, thought Graham with a grin, maybe he's Canadian.

*****