Amnesty Is Granted

“I am not putting anything called Goobers in my mouth.”

Angel rolled his eyes and fought off his grin as Xander snickered at him. While it was true he was unused to eating human food for his own amusement, right now he was mainly protesting just to amuse his date. He had encouraged Xander to buy whatever he wanted at the concession stand and wasn't surprised when Xander came away with a huge tub of popcorn, a box filled with more candy than some human children would see on Halloween and a drink large enough to drown a lap dog.

He made a mental note to buy the movie they were going to see on DVD, because if Xander drank even half of that he'd be in the bathroom for the entire second half.

Angel led the way into the theater on the right side of the stand. The movie they were going to see was Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and it was playing at one of the older theaters. So old it only had two screens. The scent of faded fabrics and popcorn nearly overwhelmed the place but the floor wasn't sticky and Angel didn't smell anything...odd coming from the seats. The Second Street Theater boasted showing old classics from the owner's own stock of favorite movies, and it was obvious to Angel that, while the theater had seen better days, the people who ran the place loved it and loved movies.

Angel had vague memories of coming to the same place to watch Harvey, but he wasn't sure.

Xander's head was swiveling around as he followed Angel and Angel put an arm out to guide him so the younger man wouldn't trip and roll down the aisle. “Wow. This place is ancient! Look at the movie posters! Some of these I have no clue about but that's one of the real posters from the first Star Wars!”

Angel permitted himself a small smile. He knew Xander would like it here.

They finally chose seats somewhere in the middle and Angel let Xander have the aisle seat, considering the size of the drink. There were a few other people in the theater, couples and a small family, but they were all spaced out so there was a feeling of privacy.

For a moment Angel was lost. He wasn't sure exactly what to do. Buffy would expect hand holding, possibly an arm around her shoulder. Not that he and Buffy had had many traditional “dates”. But Buffy had always expected certain things, and Angel wasn't sure how “out” Xander wanted to be.

Something hit him in the side of the head. “We're on a date, Deadboy. Stop brooding.”

“Ow! What was that?”

“Don't be such a baby vamp, Angel. It was just a Milk Dud, and it barely had enough space to gain any velocity. You really want to scream, move down about four rows; it'll flatten out when it hits you and leave a crater.”

Angel chuckled. “Sounds like you have experience.”

“Yep, both ways.” Xander was quiet for a few moments and then changed the subject. “So, Rear Window, huh? I've seen parts of it but not all of it. It has that guy from It's A Wonderful Life in it, right?”

“Right. Jimmy Stewart was one of the greatest actors of his time. Harvey, Bell, Book and Candle, and he did several Hitchcock movies, including this one and Vertigo. He was a good guy, too. Well, not that I met him, but from what I heard he was a nice person.”

“Cool.” Xander fidgeted in his seat for a moment, playing with A box of candy. “So, when are they gonna start the trivia stuff for while we're waiting.”

Angel had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “Xan, they didn't used to do that. You just...sit here and look at the blank screen until the picture starts. I doubt if there will be any trailers, even, or if so they’ll be for fifty year old movies.”

“Huh. That's weird.” Xander put the bucket of popcorn between them and picked up a handful. “Feel free to have some popcorn, Angel. I asked for the special kind that wasn't made with holy water so it won't actually hurt you.”

Angel snorted. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

The lights in the theater dimmed as Xander sighed. Angel tried not to flinch because it was Xander's “Angel is being thick” sigh.

“Angel. If you eat popcorn and I eat popcorn, there is a distinct possibility that we will both reach for popcorn at the same time and our fingers will brush against each other while covered in butter. And while neither of us can go past first base yet, that is expected on a first date at the movies. So eat the damned popcorn.”

“Oh.” Angel kept his face still but it was an effort. It was nice to know that while Xander knew they couldn't do much, thanks to the curse, he wasn't avoiding Angel either. Buffy had done that at times, figuring that if they couldn't have sex they couldn't do anything else. That was probably why when they did touch it had always been so tempting to do more.

Angel watched as an animated bucket of popcorn and a candy bar danced on screen. He waited until Xander reached for another handful of popcorn and reached for a kernel himself. He timed it just right, and the back of his hand pressed against Xander's for just a moment. Xander grinned at him and Angel found himself actually eating the popcorn.

There were worse things to do on a weekday night.

*****

“Uh-huh, yeah, right. Listen, Buffy...” Xander rolled his eyes at Angel and the other man just shrugged. They had both agreed not to tell the Sunnydale crew right away about them dating, or whatever the hell it was they were doing. For one thing, their relationship was too new and, for another, they really didn't want to see Buffy lose it.

Still, Xander had planned to try to at least work into the conversation the fact that he liked guys now. Well, at least more than he liked girls. Something like that, at any rate. He figured, and Angel agreed, that the easier he broke the news about him and Angel doing whatever, the better.

Which would have been a good idea if only he hadn't called home during “All Men Are Pigs” week.

“Uh-huh. Yeah. Buffy, I could have told you that too much beer was evil. It's not a new thing...” He had ample proof. All Xander needed to do to prove that was let Buffy visit his house on the Friday his Dad got paid. Better yet, early Saturday morning while he was still passed out in a puddle of body fluids and corn chips. Not that he was going to do that.

Still, the image of Cave Buffy running around Sunnydale and sniffing Giles was just too funny for words. Without him meaning to, a giggle slipped out.

“XANDER! It's not funny!! Stupid Parker and stupid fantasies and stupid beer! What's really bad is that Willow said I slammed him upside the head with a branch and I don't remember it.”

“Come on, Buff, you've got to admit that's a little funny. I would have paid good money to see you with a unibrow like Angel's!”

Angel huffed behind his desk and Xander stuck his tongue out at him. Xander could no more stop teasing Angel than he could stop breathing. Besides, it kept the vampire from taking himself too seriously.

“Xander, I sniffed Giles! Do you know how wrong that is? GILES!” Buffy whimpered. “I'm not sure what was worse, the two day hangover or the fact that I thought Giles smelled good. I think some of my brain cells may have died, either way.”

“Sorry, Buffy.” Xander knew he didn't sound sorry. Then he thought for a moment. This might be a good opportunity to reveal his attraction to the same sex. “But, you know, for an older guy Giles isn't that bad. You know, to be sniffing. It's not like he's the Elephant Man or something.”

Even as he said it, he shuddered. Not that Giles wasn't good looking for an older man; he was being truthful about that. It was just that Buffy was right, it was Giles.

“XANDER! That would be like sniffing my father, for god's sake!! That is one mutant away from a bad X-Files episode!”

“Right. Ewww. Never mind. So, you said there was something weird going on with Wills. Spill.”

Buffy sighed on the other end of the line and Xander could just imagine her lying down on her bed with her head hanging off the edge. Once that would have sent him off into a series of fantasies, but not any more. “I don't know. She and Oz are having trouble. If I didn't know better I'd say she thinks he's cheating on her. Or maybe she's just being jealous. I don't know. There's this odd girl and her band playing at the Bronze and they've been bonding over woofers and tweeters or Fender guitars. I dunno, all that music technical stuff goes over my head.”

Xander settled back in his seat. “Well, maybe that's it. I mean, Willow doesn't get all of it either. She's not your typical groupie. Maybe Oz just needs someone around to talk to. You know, compare the size of their drum sets...and I'm really not helping, am I?”

“No. You're not.”

They spent the next few minutes catching up on their week. Buffy was already hating school but, from what she could tell, Willow was loving it. Xander talked about their latest case and what demons he'd killed. The one good thing about Buffy was the fact that she wasn't trying to shove Anya at him like Willow was, although it did feel weird to be sitting in the same room as Angel and talking to Angel's ex-girlfriend who just happened to be his best friend. Xander figured if he found out he was really adopted and that Giles was really his Dad he could try to write it out as a gay soap opera for BRAVO.

There were worse ideas for TV shows.

Finally they hung up and Xander just sat there for a moment.

“You okay?”

Xander shrugged. “Yeah. Mostly. It's just...I have this really good thing happening to me and I really want to tell Buffy about it and Willow and, well, everyone. But just blurting out 'sorry to hear about Parker being a prick and oh, by the way, I'm gay and I'm dating your ex' seems like a bad idea.”

Angel chuckled. “True. And doing it while both Buffy and Willow are having relationship problems is rather gauche. If you like, I'll call Giles and sound him out...”

“God, no. He'd be convinced you were Angelus again or something. He may have forgiven the whole torture thing but he hasn't forgotten. Oh! Stop that!” Xander picked up one of the large pink paper clips that Cordelia had left on the desk and threw it at Angel. “I'm not gonna say it wasn't your fault, ‘cause you did it, but you're not doing the torture stuff nowadays so stop angsting. I'm sure if you’d had a choice you would have kept your soul.”

“You're right.”

“Can I get that in writing?”

“No. And what's with you throwing things at me all the time, anyway?”

Xander grinned unrepentantly. “It's better than actually getting up to walk over there and smacking you upside the head.”

Angel just shook his head. “Get up anyway. I promised Doyle we'd meet him at some club.”

Xander frowned but got up and grabbed his jacket and a stake for his pockets. “Vision?”

Angel shook his head. “No, but he wouldn't say what it was about, either. He was being mysterious. Said something about an answer to a problem. I'm not sure.”

Xander started out the door and waited for Angel to lock up behind him before falling into step, walking beside the older man. “Who knows? Where is it we're supposed to meet, anyway?”

“A demon club called Caritas.”

*****