The Guy Thing 8/18:   Spy Stuff.

Xander sat on his couch, staring at the phone on the coffee table.  That
phone number from Riley's answering machine stuck in his head for some
reason, which was weird, because phone numbers usually went in one ear and
out the other.

It could have been the concern for Riley which came through in the guy's
voice; the same concern about Riley that Xander was having.  He'd never
really met this Graham guy, but he knew him from the Initiative and Lowell
House.

He picked up the phone and dialed.  555-867-5309.  The phone was answered on
the second ring.

"Miller."  The voice was all business.

"Uh . . .   Graham?"

"Yeah. . . Graham Miller, here."  His voice was gentler, and curious.

"Uh, look, I sort of need to talk to you about Ri . . . "

Graham cut him off quickly, voice suddenly all military and official.
"Sorry, sir.  I can't talk right now.  Can you call me back in an hour?  Let
me give you a number."

Xander grabbed a pen and scribbled down the number.

Graham continued in his official voice, "Yes, sir.  You've got to get out of
the house and run some errands, I understand."

There was a sense of urgency just underneath Graham's voice.  Xander got the
message.   "Uh, yeah, I gotta get going, I'll call you back later."

There was some relief in Graham's voice.  "Understood.  Call me back."

"OK.  Will do."

"Bye."

And the line went dead.  'OK!'  thought Xander.  'Secret agent stuff.'   He
finished getting dressed and turned off the television.  He looked at his
watch.  Damn, he felt like shit.  Maybe whiskey after beer wasn't the best
idea.  There was only one course of action possible:  serious caffeine.

Xander left his apartment and headed over to the Espresso Pump.

He walked over to the counter and found himself leaning against it.  He
looked at the coffee guy and started to shout out his order to him, but
decided against making more noise than necessary.  The coffee guy gave him a
knowing smile and came over.  Xander ordered a double shot.  The guy nodded.

Xander watched the coffee guy go to work making it.  It seemed to make a lot
more noise this morning than it usually did.  As the guy came back and
handed him the cup, Xander nodded gratefully.  He pulled the money out of
his wallet and put a fiver on the counter.

Xander didn't hesitate, he lifted the cup and took a serious swig of the
burning hot bitterness.   The coffee guy picked up the bill and made change.
  Xander picked up the saucer and waved away the change.  One of the
advantages of being gainfully employed was being able to make the occasional
grand gesture.

"Thanks!"  grinned the coffee guy.

Xander nodded in reply, and carried the cup to the nearest table and sat.
He stared vacantly out the windows onto the street, trying to think what he
was gonna say to Graham.  He really barely knew the guy.  But Riley clearly
thought of him as a friend, and Riley needed friends right now.

Xander finished the coffee.  He put the cup down and heaved a sigh.  Xander
was pretty sure he was doing the right thing.  Riley seemed to be spiralling
down.  Going out for a drink every night was one thing, but now Riley was
drinking every afternoon.

While it was fun hanging out with Riley, having a few beers, doing guy
stuff, Xander knew from his experience at home that the drinking could exact
a heavy toll.    Riley needed help.  More help than Xander could give him.
And, more importantly,  Riley needed someone he could trust.  Which pretty
much left everyone in Sunnydale out.   OK.  Nothing about this felt really
wrong.

He looked at his watch.  It was time.  He walked over to the pay phone,
fishing out the quarters from his pocket, and putting the pile on top of the
phone.  He picked up the receiver and held it between head and shoulder as
he dialed the number.  He listened as the digitized voice gave him the
charges, and he put the quarters in.

The phone was picked up on the first ring.

"Hey."  Graham was less formal, more urgent.  "Where you calling from?"

"Phone booth."

"Good.  Sorry about the whole spy-versus-spy thing." Graham heaved a weary
sigh.

"Is everybody's phone tapped?"

"I don't know.  Ri's is for sure.  Pretty sure mine is.  Part of the deal.
Who is this?"

"Xander.  Friend of Buffy's."

"Yeah.  Harris.  I got your dossier on my desk."

"*I've* got a dossier?"

"Not officially, but yeah.  You did break into a government installation,
twice."

"Twice?  Oops, forget I said that."

"Done."  He could hear Graham's smile on the other end.

Graham's voice got serious.  "How's Ri doing?"

"Not so good."

"Damn!   The Doc thought we got to him in time."

"No, No . . .  he's recovering from the operation just fine.  He's just . .
. "

There was a silence.

"He's kinda drinking a lot."

There was another sigh from Graham's end.  "Look, Harris, I gotta get back
to the office before I'm missed.  I really can't get away today.  How's
tomorrow?"

"I get off work at five."

"OK, that works for me.   Better not meet at your place . . .  Where's
work?"

"Construction site, right on the county line on the coast highway south of
town."

"OK.  I'll be there at five.  We'll go for a beer."

Xander held the phone as it went dead.

===============================

Xander grinned as he saw the jeep waiting on the edge of the construction
site.  Even though it was unmarked, it screamed military.  He checked out
the guy in the front seat, playing with the radio, waiting.   Graham
suddenly reminded him every football jock who had every pushed Xander around
in High School.

He yelled at the new kid on the crew telling him to pick up the rest of the
wood scraps from around the saw horse, softening the order with a smile,
which got returned with an easy-going "You got it, jefe."

Xander glanced over at the jeep and saw Graham staring at him.   He checked
his watch and gave him a nod to tell him he'd be right there.

The whistle blew, and guys started to put their tools away.  Xander did it
slowly, methodically, taking care of his tools like a craftsman.  He took
his toolbox to the lock-up shed, then put his hardhat back on the rack, and
jogged over to the jeep.

Graham leaned across and shoved oper the passenger door for him.  He swung
himself into the jeep, giving Graham a nod.  "I'm ready for that beer."

"Where?"

"You pick the place, you're buying."  Xander flashed him a grin.

Graham nodded, and started her up, pulling a U-turn to head cross-town.
"There's this little bar, just a hole in the wall, where we used to hang
out."

Xander nodded.  "Sounds good."  He looked at Graham as they drove.  The
guy's jaw was set;  Xander could feel the tension.  He suddenly felt a stab
of apprehension.  Maybe calling in the cavalry wasn't his best idea, maybe
this could blow up in all their faces.  Riley could lose it at Xander for
ratting him out to his Initiative buddies, and just get driven further away,
even more by himself.

Xander sighed.

Graham glanced over at him, "What's up?"

"Just worried about Ri.  How he's gonna take this."

Graham nodded.  "Yeah.  Me, too."

Graham pulled into a gravel parking lot next to a run-down old-style tavern,
with ancient Pabst Blue Ribbon neon signs in the windows.

Graham shut off the Jeep and got out.  Xander followed him into the bar.
They had arrived before after-work crowd, so they were able to grab a table
in the corner where they could talk.  Xander started to get up to go for the
beers, but Graham stopped him.
"I'm buying, remember."

Xander nodded "OK. But, next round's mine."

Graham got two longnecks from the bartender, who recognized Graham from too
many nights here, too long ago.  He brought them back, handed Xander one,
and sat, leaning back and taking a long draught.

"You gonna go see him?"  Xander asked.

Graham hesitated and then shook his head.  "Not tonight.  Last time I showed
up unexpected, he pretty much knocked me cold."

"Ri packs a mean right."

"You say that as though you knew first hand."

"Yeah, I do. Long story."

"I got time."

"I was under the thrall of a vampire,  I got in Riley's way, he decked me."
Xander considered, "OK, not so long a story."

"That happen to you a lot?"

"The thrall thing or the getting decked thing?"

Graham chuckled.  "Both, I guess."

"Uh, thralled only the once, decked -- that seems to happen a lot." Xander
grinned, maybe a bit sheepishly, as he said it.
 

It took more than a couple of rounds of beers before Xander concluded that
Graham was an OK guy.   More importantly, he saw a look of real concern show
through the poker face whenever he mentioned Riley.  Xander sighed and
started to recount what he knew about what was happening with Riley.

Graham watched him intently, those eyes never wavering from Xander's face as
he let Xander tell the story uninterrupted.

". . . So I think he's kinda tearing himself apart over this 'does she love
me or not' thing."  Xander sat back and took a long drink from the bottle.
He finished it off, and put it next to the now impressive collection of
empty bottles on the table.

"So, does she?"

Xander shrugged.  "He doesn't think so."

"He oughta know."

"Women!"  Xander said softly, trying to make a macho joke out of it, but
knowing that his heart wasn't in it.

Graham smiled at him, but Xander caught a bit of disappointment on his face.
  "You got the girlfriend thing going on, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Trouble in babeland?"

Xander grinned at the man-to-man tone, and nodded.

"What's up with that?"

"It's sort of weird,  I always thought that having your girlfriend be
totally into, you know, getting together with you would be great . . ."

"She can't get enough of you, huh?"  Graham kidded with a bit of a knowing
leer.

Xander blushed as he nodded slightly.   "How about you?  Got the girlfriend
thing happening?"

A sly grin, a shake of the head.  "Not really."

Xander caught the grin, and the too-casualness of the reply.  He had noticed
earlier how Graham's eyes had followed a hunky young waiter across the room.
  Added to the way Graham had been looking at him at the worksite, Xander
realizd that Graham had been reminding him all night of one particular
football player from High School.  A light came on.

"Graham?"

"Yeah?"

"Answer me one question."

"Shoot."

"You got a thing for Riley?"

Graham looked at Xander like deer caught in the headlights.  Then he looked
down at the table.

"You gonna give me an answer?"

Graham sighed, but didn't look up.  "Yeah."

"And I'm guessing he doesn't have a clue, right?"

Graham slowly shook his head.

"It's ok.  Been there."

Graham looked up, "Yeah?"

"Not with Riley, with Buffy."

"Gotcha."   Graham nodded.

"You want another beer?"

"Yeah, thanks."

-------------------------------------

"Give me the keys, Graham."

"I can drive, buddy.  No problem."

"You've had, what, eight beers?  You're gonna have to go through me to get
to that jeep, Graham."

"Xander, I'm pretty sure I can take you."

"Uh, I'm pretty much counting on you not actually wanting to beat me up."

Xander's loopy grin completely disarmed him.  Graham laughed, and handed
Xander his keys.

"You can crash on my couch, if you want."

"Thanks.  Yeah."

Xander went over to the bar, and asked for a cab.  The bartender nodded and
dialed.

They left the jeep in the parking lot and waited for the cab on the curb.
Not much got said in the short cab ride to Xander's new digs.   Xander was
trying to wrap his mind around the whole thing.  Riley's best bud in the
Initiative played for the other team, so maybe that explained why Riley had
said . . .  what he had said to Xander the other night.  If you've got a gay
best friend, maybe you can't help but think, every once in a while, about
being with another guy.

Those kinds of thoughts had crossed his mind after he and Larry had had
their little talk in the locker room.  No more than crossed his mind,
though, Xander quickly reassured himself.

Xander glanced over at Graham, who was leaning against the far door of the
cab.  The guy was definitely buff, and attractive in a macho jock kind of
way, the way Xander had always wished he was attractive.   He hadn't really
noticed that before.  But the last time Xander had seen him, Graham had been
holding a gun on him and Buffy.

Graham insisted on paying for the cab.  They got out and headed in.  As they
climbed the stairs, Graham was a little wobbly, so Xander put a steadying
hand on Graham's arm.  Graham gave him a questioning glance.  Xander gave
him his best 'hey, we're just buddies, here'  smile.

At the door, Xander fumbled a bit with the lock, still not used to how it
kind of stuck, and you had to pull the door in slightly to slide the
deadbolt.   He felt Graham's hand on his shoulder -- a very light touch but
very much there.  Xander decided to ignore it, even if it was having a bit
of an effect on him.   They entered

"Whoa!  Nice place!"

"Yeah.  Still sort of new.  Just moved in, still getting used to it."

"Uhhh. . . "

Xander smiled and pointed, "The bathroom's over there. . . "

"Thanks."

Xander went to the hall closet, grabbed a pillow and a blanket, and came
back out and  tossed them on the couch.

Graham came back out, and looked at Xand and grinned.  "Thanks."

Graham threw himself on the couch.

"Need anything else?"

Graham hesitated, looking slowly Xander up and down before answering, "Guess
I'm set."

"Cool.  I'm going to crash."

Graham nodded at Xander and swallowed as their eyes met.
"You're a really good guy, you know.  I can see why Riley talks to you."

"He doesn't really talk to me all that much."

"Just when he's got something big to say."

"Yeah, maybe."

Graham shrugged and grinned.  "Maybe he only hits the ones he loves."

Xander smiled at that  . . .  compliment .

"He's lucky to have you, Xander."

"You, too."

Graham looked straight at him.  And blinked.  "You wanna . . . ?"

"Wanna what?"  Then Xander got it and blushed . . .  He shook his head.
"Hey, but if I was gonna do it with a guy, you'd pretty much be the guy.
You are pretty much the hot guy."

"Nice rejection."  Graham was smiling.

"Lots of practice."  Xander grinned sheepishly,  " . . .  at the getting
rejected, I mean.  I've heard all the good lines."

Graham stood up slowly, deliberately,  and ran his hands along Xander's
shoulders.  He held Xander's upper arms firmly yet gently.  "So if I did
this,  he leaned in and licked Xander's ear, "or this," Graham smiled and
ran his tongue along Xander's jaw line, "That wouldn't have any effect on
you?"

Xander moaned, and shifted his weight.

As Graham kissed his neck, Xander slowly put his arms around Graham's waist.
  Graham's right hand went down slowly to Xander's crotch and ran his
fingers along the outline of Xander's stiffening rod.

Xander pulled back slightly and asked kiddingly.  "You've done this before,
haven't you?"

"Once or twice."   Graham's fingers kept teasing.  "I don't take rejection
well."  Graham whispered.

"So I see,"  and Xander moved his head back in and let Graham kiss him.