Roomies

Disclaimer: The characters of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series Universes (Angel, Cordelia, Spike, Xander, Doyle, etc…) are the creation of Joss Whedon and are, therefore, the property of him, Mutant Enemy (Grr, Arg), and 20th Century Fox (and all other affiliated parties). No money is gained from this work as it is created purely for the enjoyment of others. Please do not sue.

AN: Constructive criticism and friendly fedback are always appreciated. Flames will be used to warm my toes.


~Part 15: Visions of a Butt-Monkey~


The situation that Xander had managed to get himself into seemed somewhat surreal. He couldn’t remember what had convinced him to accept the offer to dance with the dark haired man. There was something about him that made Xander wonder. Suddenly he realized that a complete stranger – a *male* complete stranger – was attempting to kiss him.

Xander firmly placed his hand on the chest of the man and started to apply pressure. When Doyle didn’t move away at first, Xander forcibly pushed the man away. “Okay, I think I’ve already voiced my opinion about the kissing of me by you. Maybe it wasn’t all that clear to you but what I said came along the lines of a ‘Hell no!’ You are starting to freak me out and I think that you may have some kind of thrall working on me ‘cause before I met you I was thinking about the greatness that is the female body. In fact I was getting a very nice visual of B – uh… some very good-looking females that would make me have to come up with an excuse for not dancing, which I always do.

“I don’t enjoy having a sudden urges to be someone’s butt-monkey. I think this is all some kind of evil scheme to get to either Buffy or Angel. At the moment I’m leaning towards Buffy ‘cause Angel really doesn’t like me all that much. Now what kind of demon are you and what have you done to mess with my mind!?!” By this time Xander had Doyle pressed against the opposite wall from where he had been pinned only moments before.

A pout graced Doyle’s features and he sighed. There was no convincing this man that his was desirable by not only females but males as well. The fact that he was half demon had nothing to do with it. “Yah prob’ly already answered this bu’: why da yah think ’m a demon again?”

~~~

Angel knew that both Buffy and Willow understood what he was doing. He was as closely attuned to the Soldier-boys across from him as it was possible in the overcrowded club but his eyes stayed with the girls. Willow was keeping her head bowed over her drink while her eyes flickered about the group of people surrounding her trying her best not to erupt into a babble fit. Buffy, on the other hand, was outright staring at her friends. He was starting to think that they would never speak up when Riley cleared his throat in a thoughtful manner.

“I dunno. Between all the rumors throughout the college community and what I’ve actually witnessed it’s really hard to believe why anyone would want to maintain the idea of soldiers of any kind on campus,” he stated coolly. He was sitting in a way that to the naked eye it would seem that he was completely relaxed but, on closer inspection, Angel could see that he was nervously fingering the tablecloth.

~~~

“One: only demons or psycho slayers or ex-demons have *ever* been interested in me. Kissage and the giving of phone numbers equals badness and sometimes – well, more times then considered healthy – the threat of death, which I explained – earlier… I think.” Xander sighed and dropped his hand from where it had been pointing into Doyle’s chest. He had been serious for too long – it was beginning to affect what little constructive thought processing he had after spending the last few days researching the latest and greatest evil that had decided to try and take over the world, starting with the Hell-mouth.

He looked into Doyle’s eyes and saw a guarded look that overlaid what looked like both desire and questioning. “I think I should be getting back to my table. Since you refuse to tell what kind of demon you are – since I’m positive that you are, in fact a demon – I guess my number won’t be finding its way into your possession.”

He turned to leave then something he said struck him and he quickly turned back. “Not that I planned to give it too you in the first place! ‘Cause I’m not into guys, even though I don’t mind that you are – I just might act uncomfortable around you. I mean I could live with a few guy friends that would just like to hang out and shoot pool or something but guys and the liking of other guys isn’t something I do.”

Doyle titled his head slightly at the boy’s actions. Things weren’t exactly going as smoothly as he had hoped. The boy refused to stay anywhere near him unless he agreed to reveal his entire life’s story – or at least what kind of blood he had pumping through his veins. “Okay, promise ta hear me out b’fore yah go runnin’ ta yer Slayer?”

~~~

Growling sub vocally, Angel stood. The lack of any physiological change in the boy that he could detect other then his nervous fiddling was starting to annoy him. If he didn’t cool down and fast things would get ugly. “Well, I guess that makes every single person in Sunnydale I know that I’ve talked to recently – some of whom I have known for most of my lifetime – plus both Buffy and Willow liars. *You’ve* never seen it so there’s no way that it could be real.” On the last bit his every word dripped with sarcasm. His distaste of the boy’s opinion was painfully obvious. “Well listen closely *Boy,* if over half my friends in this town are running scared because of *rumors* then the story teller must be one *hell* of a good liar.

“Now let’s see. There’s Willow; she couldn’t lie to save her life and she even admits it. I know this because she needed to lie for me one time and – well technically I simply asked her not to mention something to Buffy. She turned into a wreck – of which both Buffy and Xander attest to. Now, onto another point. Why would Willow tell Buffy that some Soldiers broke into her dorm? Why would she tell me? Hmmm?”

~~~

There was no way for Doyle to sugarcoat what the boy wanted to hear so he sighed and began. “I am human jes… not entirely. I work fer th’Powers – Higher Beings tha’ make ev’rythen work out th’way tha’ they do. I was sent ta LA ta contac’ their champion a few mon’s back. So now I work wi’h Angel, Cordy an’ Sp… ah… ‘nother friend a Angel’s.”

Xander sighed and his shoulders slumped. He knew that to think someone could possibly like him just because they saw him in a club and thought he was cute was too much to ask for. Not that he wanted guys to ask him to dance regularly – because, so not gay – he just thought it would be nice to be noticed. “So once again I am just the demon magnet. Damn I wish that…” he trailed off and looked around warily. “Wishing won’t change anything so I’ll stop there. So… what have I done to earn the intervention of these higher beings?”

~~~

Both Riley and Graham had looked increasingly uncomfortable as Angel had gone on. They kept on glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes. In the end, Riley was the one to speak. “I didn’t say that Willow or Buffy were lying. What I meant was that since I’ve never seen any of these Soldier guys I can’t really believe the rumors. I respect that both Willow and Buffy believe these rumors but I would like to see it for myself before I go and start telling people that the rumors are true. I’m not amazed in the least that this college rumor has found its way to you – since you do know a couple of the students at Sunnydale U. What astounds me is that your other ‘friends’ seem to be telling you the same thing.”

Angel was doing his best to keep from vamping out. The boy was worse then Spike had been all those years ago when he had first come to Sunnydale. He had to think happy thoughts of Cordelia and Spike to stop from snapping Soldier-boy’s neck.

“Now if you’ll excuse us,” Graham said, standing, “we need to be going.”

~~~

“Th’vision i'self was mainly centered on my seein’ yer face an’ th’face of a coupla Soldier-boys,” Doyle began slowly. “I got th’jist tha’ one a ‘em were gunna set yah up th’n shoot yah down. It’s all tied in ta wha’s happenin’ wi’h Spike and – "

“Whoa, stop right the fuck there!” Xander exploded, ignoring any stares that his words caused. “Spike!?! What the hell do you mean Spike? Spike is evil and tends to try and kill me and mine on a regular basis!”

Doyle winced visibly and ran a slightly nervous hand through his hair. “Well, yah see, I had a vision ‘bout this More-aff demon tha’ ‘appened ta lead us – well, Angel – ta rescuin’ Spike. Now if a vision leads ta people tha’ means they’re needed or need ta be rescued. I can’t pick en choose who gets ta be saved, it’s up ta th’Powers.”

Xander seemed to slump further under this new news. He ran a hand through his hair, mimicking Doyle’s actions from seconds before. He sighed and met Doyle’s eyes, confusion warring with a strange kind of acceptance displayed in the rawest form Doyle had ever seen were in the boy’s eyes. Unknowingly, Xander’s eyes had gone wide and slightly watery and his lower lip had slipped forward into a perfect pout, treating Doyle with an unadulterated version of the boy’s ‘puppy dog face.’ After a moment Xander spoke again, “What does any of this have to do with me? You have no idea how many times I’ve been humiliated in my short lifetime. The situation that you described reminds me of a million different instances in high school. Why the fuck am I so important to the Powers?”

~~~

The tension that had been flowing between Angel and the Soldier-boys went out the door with Riley and Graham. Angel slumped into his chair and dragged a weary hand across his face. He knew what was coming and he really didn’t want to have to deal with it right now.

“Okay Angel, what the hell is going on!?!”

Oh and there it is. With a sigh he faced Buffy and squared his shoulders. “My friend had a vision. I told you that already but what I didn’t tell you because LoverBoy showed up was that it gave me a face to a couple of Soldier-boys. I know who some of them are and I know that one of them is going to do *something* to affect you. Maybe not directly but it will still devastate you if I let it happen.”

The glare on the Slayer’s face made it clear to Angel that she really didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t giving her a straight answer. “So yet again evil is trying to get at me through my friends. Who is it this time, Angel? Which one of my friends do I have to protect because my job is putting them in danger?”

“None of them,” he answered truthfully. At the look of horror on her face he grimaced. “I received the vision. I’m the one that has to take care of it. If you had any part it I would ask your help but you weren’t. The Powers trust that I do my job and that means doing it on my own.”

~~~

All Doyle could do was give a simple shrug. He knew that the boy deserved more then that but he didn’t have any answers. “When I fig’er out ‘sactly why th’Powers send us ta save th’people tha’ they do I’ll let yah know bu’ fer me ta do tha’ ‘m gunna need yer number.”

Xander couldn’t hold back the dry chuckled that Doyle’s statement caused. They were pretty much right back where they had started. He couldn’t believe that he had gone from pissed that yet another demon had been attracted to him to playful in about five minutes. There wasn’t much he could think to say other then a noncommittal, “Hmmm.”

“Yah know…” Doyle started, “It’s too bad I cou’na met yah under better terms.” He grinned in what he hoped was a wolfish manor but the smile disappeared as the pain gripped him and images flashed through his mind. He grabbed his head and moaned, glad that the boy had gotten him up against a wall. “Hell,” he managed to gasp out.

Xander caught Doyle before he started to slide down the wall. When people started to stare, he chuckled. “C’mon Doyle. No more drinking for you. I don’t want to have to put up with your constant blubbering. Hey, next time let’s just say that you got shitfaced instead of actually getting you drunk.” He sighed in relief when the people turned away. “I’m guessing that this is you having one of your visions,” he said as he began to drag Doyle in the direction of his abandoned friends.

When the table came into view Doyle was walking again and Xander was happy to see that Riley was gone. He really hated the guy – maybe one day he would have a reason to back up his hatred. Hell, it had worked with Angel. Maybe Riley would turn out to be psychopath – hey look, big word, Willow would be proud – with killing on the mind as well.

“Hey Deadboy, got a mo?” Xander asked when he and Doyle reached the table. He frowned when Doyle pulled away from him. With a concerned look at the older man, he let go of him and watched as Doyle attempted to stand straight on his own.

Angel cocked an eyebrow at Xander and threw a slightly concerned look at Doyle. He considered telling the boy to fuck off but he knew that Buffy would pull out Mr. Pointy if he so much as looked at Xander the wrong way in her eyes. “Why would you want to –?"

Doyle cleared his throat. “Angel, man…” he didn’t bother to finish his sentence; instead he just gave him a look.

Immediately Angel clued in to Doyle’s woozy state and swore softly. He grabbed both Doyle’s and Xander’s arms and dragged them away, ignoring the girls’ protests. As soon as they were at a safe distance from anyone that could possibly want to eavesdrop he asked softly, “What did you see?”