**********

Xander watched, transfixed, as a few errant water droplets slowly made their way down the bare, well muscled back in front of him.  With a swipe of the sponge he caught them at the top of Graham?s buttocks, before they could moisten the sheet underneath.  Xander?s hand traveled back up the Marine?s spine, but his gaze lingered on the beginning swell of what he was sure was the epitome of perfectly shaped asses.

He licked his lips and managed to somehow get his mind to return to the task at hand.  After wetting the sponge again, he moved on to wash broad shoulders.  Xander?s hand slowly progressed across Graham?s collarbone, taking special care with the tender skin around his throat.  He leaned in to reach Graham?s other side, and immediately knew that action was a mistake.  He was so close.  Too close.  He could feel hot breath against his cheek, and then, a pair of equally heated lips.

Xander jumped back, unsure what that not unwelcome contact meant.  Azure eyes stared up at him unabashedly, immediately clearing up any confusion.  Graham wanted him, wanted him badly.

Deciding not to question this strange turn of events, Xander let the sponge fall from his fingers and then moved his hand to the back of Graham?s neck.  He leaned back in, and they kissed.  Xander?s free hand dropped down and slowly trailed across the Marine?s chest, rubbing against an already hardened nipple.  Graham moaned into Xander?s mouth.

Somehow Xander managed to tear himself away from those intoxicating lips.  The kiss had put fire into his veins, but now he wanted to see what he had been so careful to ignore.  Xander watched his own hand abandon the peaked nub and drift down Graham?s torso, feeling the groves of his abdomen.  His fingers ghosted over tangled curls, and boldly encircled the older man?s erection.  Graham let out a soft gasp as Xander lightly pumped a few times, and groaned in disappointment when that warm hand left him.

Xander smiled at the frustrated sound, but he had other things to explore, and for that he wanted a better position.  Unfortunately, the cast wasn?t going to make things easy...

{{Fuck.  How the hell... Okay.  Lose the cast.}}

Xander climbed onto the bed and stationed himself between Graham?s open thighs, helping to ease the Marine?s unencumbered legs onto his shoulders.  He resumed his exploration, all the while watching Graham?s face for signs of displeasure, or distress, though, those seemed to be the furthest thing from the Marine?s mind as his balls were cupped in a warm hand.

After a moment, Xander?s fingers continued their quest and  moved lower.  The touches were still soft, teasing, even after they found the indentation marking Graham?s entrance.  Xander was hard and aching, but thought there was no need to rush things when this alone was making the Marine?s face flush, his breath quicken.  They had time.  They had all the time in the world.

He grinned as he gazed down into the passion filled face beneath him.  Graham opened his mouth to speak...

?Xander... What the hell do you think you?re doing?!?

?GAAAH!?  Xander?s head shot up, which, considering it was situated under a rather heavy piece of wood, wasn?t a good thing.  ?OW!  Dammit, Anya!?  He carefully eased out from under the new equipment shelf he was building and glared at the ex-demon standing over him.

?You hadn?t moved for the past ten minutes.  I?ve been timing it.?  She stated, unmoved by the way he was gingerly rubbing his injured head.  ?We?re not paying you to sleep, you know??

Xander carefully picked himself up off the floor.  ?You?re not paying me at all.  This is what?s called a *favor*, remember?  I?m sure that at least once during the time we dated we discussed the premise of a favor.?

?Oh, I know what a favor is.  In fact, I consider our whole relationship to have been me doing you a *huge* favor.?  Anya smirked.

?That is the kind of talk that leaves shelves half finished.?  Xander announced and left the room.

Anya followed him out onto the main floor of the Magic Shop.  She yelled in the general direction of the proprietor.  ?Giles, Xander?s slacking off!?

?Xander, stop slacking off.?

Xander glared at his ex-girlfriend.  ?Giles, Anya?s being mean to me.?

?Anya, stop being mean to Xander.?

Buffy looked up from the perusal of her nails and smiled fondly at the Brit.  ?It?s nice to know that after five years you?ve finally gotten the hand of parenting.?

?What, who, what??  Giles finally pulled his nose out of his latest copy of ?Warlock Monthly? and looked around at his charges.  ?I?m not sure what just happened, but I?m positive it contained quite a bit of sarcasm directed at me.?  He blinked at Xander.  ?Done with the shelves, are we??

Xander shook his head.  ?Just-?

?Slacking off!?

?Taking a *break*.?  He stuck his tongue out at Anya, who responded in kind.

?Oh, good.  Then you can help with research.?  Giles nodded towards the considerably sized stacks of books covering the round table.

?Oh yeah, the apocalypse thing.  Don?t we still have four or five days for that??

Buffy looked up from her nails again.  ?Four days.  It?s on Thursday.  But, Thursday?s also season finale night for ?Must See T.V.?, and I?m not going to miss ER because some old demonic cult isn?t considerate enough to schedule its rituals around prime time.?  She jabbed at the air with her nail file.

?Then how come you aren?t doing research??  Xander asked.

?Um... I?m getting ready for the fight.  You can?t do hand to hand combat with scraggly nails, Xander.?

?Okay, then how come Giles isn?t doing any research??

?I will!  It?s just, I, well...?  He held up his magazine.  ?It just came.  And, besides, I?m the one who?s delegating, and I have delegated you to research.  Go on.?  Giles made a shooing motion before he went back to reading.

Anya looked up from her place at the cash register and arched an eyebrow which completed a look that practically screamed ?I dare you?.

Xander rolled his eyes and settled down at the table.  He picked a random book and opened it.  ?What are we looking for again??

Buffy wrinkled her nose.  ?Something about ass kissy fish.?

?Ashk?kesiphess!?  Giles' glared irritably at his Slayer, and spelled the name.  ?Look for anything referring to the tribe of Ashk?kesiphess.?

Xander nodded and started to peruse his tome.  {{Okay, looking for... Ashkesf... Ashkesp... Asskissyfish.  Asskissyfish.  Asskissyfish.}}

He chewed on his bottom lip and peered down at the page, trying, really, to be a good little Slayerette and find a way to prevent the extinction of humanity.

{{Asskissyfish.  Asskissyfish...}}

But, despite his good intentions, his treacherous, lecherous mind inevitably wandered.

{{Asskissyfish.  Asskissyfish.  Ass... Ass... I bet Graham has a great ass.}}

Xander closed his eyes and resisted the urge to beat his head against the table.  It was getting ridiculous.  The fantasies and thoughts seemed to be appearing at the drop of a hat, like the one under the shelf, and it wasn?t good.  Well, *it* was good, but it shouldn?t have happened.  And, it along with the others definitely shouldn?t have been happening at the alarming alacrity they were.

The more he thought about Graham in that particular way, the more Xander knew he was likely to make some kind of verbal mistake around him.  It was one thing to slip up in front of Buffy or Willow.  He knew the girls simply filed such moments into their mental ?Xander?s such a doof? file, and thought no more about them.  Even Oz had been impassive when Xander had once asked ?You lick me, right?  Uh, Like!  LIKE me!?

But somehow he had a feeling Graham would not so easily forgive and forget something like that.  And Xander knew it was going happen sooner or later.  The wires between his mouth and his brain had been running much too smoothly lately, it was way past time for a major meltdown.

He needed to figure out a way to handle this problem *without* Graham finding out about his proclivities towards him.  Besides the chance of getting his ass kicked, Xander didn?t want to lose whatever kind of friendship the two of them might be able to have.  He hadn?t been kidding when he had mentioned liking the fact there were more guys around.

So, he was faced with a dilemma, however, unlike the elusive Asskissyfishes, the answer to this problem was fairly simple.  He would just have to stop the visits.  It had proved too hard, er, difficult, night after night, to watch Graham lie there in that bed.  To see those quick, bright blue eyes, that huge, rarely witnessed grin, that one long, bare expanse of leg...

Yes, Xander resolutely told himself, the visits were going to have to end.  Tonight, if possible.  But Graham was expecting someone, it wouldn?t be right to leave him hanging.  Xander needed to find a replacement.

He began to silently go over the available list of people.  Willow?  No, he liked Graham too much to have him subjugated to that particular brand of torture again.  So, ditto that no for Anya.  Giles was a *possibility*.  A definite long shot for compatibility, but desperate times...

Tara and Graham.  Now, that would be an interesting conversation to see.  Of course, there was always Buffy... er, no, that probably wouldn?t be such a good idea.  But, what about... Aha!

Xander lifted his eyes, looked across the table, and had to pinch himself to keep from grinning.  Riley.  Perfect.

The Farmboy?s face was serious, his mouth fixed in a firm line, his eyes intently scanning his assigned demonic reading material.  For all intents and purposes he looked the very part of a studious, knowledgeable, component young scholar, except... he wasn?t.  In his high school career Xander had simulated reading enough to be able to spot a faker a mile away.  Riley?s eyes might have been focused on the page, but his mind was off shucking corn or something.

With his mouth curving up into a slightly devilish grin, Xander leaned across the table and spoke, his voice just shy of a whisper.  ?You know, the whole pretending to research thing would be a lot more convincing if you were holding the book right side up.?

Riley started, and casting a guilty glance in Giles direction, began to flip his book around, but stopped, actually looked at the pages, and frowned.  ?Hey, it is right side... That wasn?t funny.?

?It was from this angle.?  Xander decided to plunge right in.  ?Why haven?t you visited Graham in the hospital??

Riley?s eyebrows rose.  ?What??

?I was just wondering,?  Xander shrugged.  ?I mean, he is your friend and everything.?

?I have visited him, but, it?s been about a week.?  He admitted.

?Why??

?Well, the last time I went he threw his plastic water pitcher at me.?  Riley flushed.  ?I guess he still hasn?t quite gotten over...?  His eyes darted towards Buffy, and his voice lowered.  ?What happened,  And since Buffy?s my girlfriend...?

?Oh.?  Xander thought quickly, and under the table he crossed the fingers on his right hand.  ?You know, his medication?s been upped since then.  He?s much more mellow now.?

?Really??

?Oh yeah.  And, I bet he?d love to see you.?

Riley?s eyes lit up.  He really did want to get back into his friend?s good graces.  ?Did he say that??

?Uh.?  Xander crossed the fingers on his other hand.  ?Not in so many words, but he definitely implied it.?

?Huh.?  Riley smiled.  ?Well, when are you planning on going again?  Maybe I?ll just tag along-?

?Actually, I was thinking about taking tonight off.?  He tried not to look too hopeful.

?Oh.  I?ll just swing by there anyway.?  Riley smiled.  ?Since you?re taking some R&R time.?

Xander resisted the urge to jump up and down in glee.  Instead he issued a noncommittal,  ?Cool?  He shut his unread book, got up from the table, and stretched.  ?Finishing the shelves now.?  He headed back to the work out room, ignoring a muttered remark from Anya, but well aware of the person following him.

When he got to the shelf Xander turned expectantly.

Buffy looked up at him.  ?So, you?re not doing Graham-duty tonight??

?Nope.?  Xander let out a breath.  ?I?m free.?

?Want to Bronze it??

?Yeah, okay.  Haven?t done that in a while.?

?Not since you went all Xander Nightingale on us.?  Buffy paused for a moment.  Her next words came out in a rush.  ?He is okay, right??

?Who, Graham??

Buffy?s eyes lowered.  ?Yeah.?

?Well, he?s not great, but relatively speaking, he?s doing good.?

?Good.?

?You haven?t talked to him at all since-?

?Oh, God, no!?  Buffy shook her head.  ?No.  And, you know, he probably wouldn't want...  But, as long as he?s getting better... So, anyway, The Bronze.  Want to meet there, say sevenish??

Xander knew he ought to say something nice and comforting, but no enlightenments came to mind.  So, instead he simply said,  ?Sure.?  The Bronze.  Yeah, that might be exactly what he needed.  A distraction.  A big, loud, sweaty, gyrating people filled distraction.  There wouldn?t be any time to think about a certain Marine, and that was good, because Xander was determined to keep Graham Miller out of his head, and for the moment at least, out of his life as well.

**********

the end