Getting On...

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PART 20

Oddly enough, it wasn’t Rupert Giles’ very sensible words that William chose to follow the next day.

Oh, the man’s advice had been entirely reasonable… and likely to do nothing more than have William and his lover sitting down to have a chat about their relationship over a cup of tea.

That would be all well and good, William figured, but Ethan’s idea—the one the older man had whispered to him after his ‘audience’ with the reigning royalty of GSI, meaning Rupert Giles and ‘Uncle Ethan’—was far better.

“Just appear,” the man had said. “Have Willow take you to your mate. Then take him to bed. Everything you have to tell him will be easier for him to grasp once you’ve been together again. And as I know Xander rather well, he’s less likely to become stubborn and intractable if he’s sated. Or being done so well that his brain is close to leaking out of whichever ear is lower. He’s a very… ‘in the now’ sort, you know.”

He’d laughed at that, but in all honesty, Xander did tend towards being more accepting when he was still buzzing from an orgasm.

Fortunately for William, it wasn’t hard to find Willow, though this time she was wearing an emerald green dress that brought out her eyes and made her hair look that much brighter.

“I’m amazed that boyfriend of yours lets you out in public looking so very sexy, pet,” he murmured, grinning when she blushed.

“I… he… I mean… and it’s just a gown, right? I mean it’s not like I’m naked or anything… and maybe it shows a little too much cleavage but I don’t have much and I’m not being all ‘oh, look at me, look at me… or am I? I mean, maybe I just don’t know I am and…”

William laughed and on impulse hugged the girl hard.

“Sorry, Willow. I was teasing. Honestly.” He smiled as he pulled away. “And I was wondering if you might be willing to do me a favor…”

He spoke softly and quietly, entirely sure that their conversation needed to be private… and when the girl grinned and agreed, he gave himself over into her hands with a very sincere “Thank you… and if it all works out the way I hope it will, I’ll talk him around to being happy for you and your bloke.”

Willow blushed deeply, even as she took William’s hand and started to repeat her action of the night before, dragging him out amongst the throngs in attendance.

“He will be anyway,” she admitted reluctantly, “eventually. I mean, we’ve known Oz since… forever. It’s just… hard for him, what with being the big brother, and…”

William laughed. “I’ll take care of it anyway.”

Then he actually caught a glimpse of the object of his affections.

His mouth went dry and he found himself shaking slightly, the redheaded girl by his side forgotten.

And the crowd shifted, blocking his view.

Willow laughed, shaking her head. “Um, I think my work here is done. Go for it, Will. Just don’t take him out to the tennis courts. They’re always wall-to-wall with the kids of the shareholders playing tonsil-hockey… or having ‘service’ parties.” She shuddered at the memory as she walked away.

William didn’t even hear her. In fact, he only knew she was gone when his hand became empty.

Of course, he didn’t much mind that. Not when he was hoping for an entirely different hand to be wrapped around his own.

Xander had promised him that, after all.

At some point he would have to tell his love exactly who he was, but… that could wait. It could wait until morning at the very least, he hoped.

He wandered through the crowd, always circling towards where he thought his bloke was, but never taking the direct route.

There were people there who recognized him, after all, and William wasn’t entirely sure of just how ‘out’ his Xan was in Sunnydale.

Of course, that wouldn’t stop him from getting what he wanted. His time with Xander’s Uncle Ethan had convinced him that faint-heartedness had never accomplished anything.

* * * * *

If Buffy had been holding on to any illusions of her brother and her lover becoming fast friends right off the bat, she would have been disappointed.

As it was, though, she’d expected a certain amount of distrust from her ‘anything Aurelius is evil’ brother and her ‘I know he hates me so why should I even try’ boyfriend.

The issue was, of course, how to get them both to stop being so defensive and just talk to each other, because… if they did, she just knew they’d get along.

“Um…” she said, sandwiched between the two tense bodies, “You both like football… the American kind, I mean.”

Xander smiled slightly at the hopeful tone to Buffy’s voice. “I’m a Redskins fan, myself. Even with growing up in California.”

Angel snorted at that, his arm pulling his girl closer against his side although the other man’s hold kept the grip from being as demanding as it might have been otherwise.

“Redskins?” he demanded, everything in his voice announcing his disgust. “We beat them every time! Hell, you live in Dallas now, right? You should be a Cowboys fan!”

And just like that, Xander found himself laughing.

“What can I say? I guess it’s just a Cowboys and Indians thing.”

Angel smirked and leaned down to press a soft, slow kiss to Buffy’s cheek.

“Yeah, well… we all know how that turned out, don’t we?”

And sadly, Xander had to admit more than one thing. Firstly that Liam Aurelius was possibly not as bad as he’d assumed… and secondly that the man had a point.

“If you hurt her,” he said in reply, his voice pleasant and even, “I’ll destroy you. You, your company… everything that matters to you. And just to be clear, Liam… that’s not a threat or me bragging. I will end you if you hurt my sister.” Xander cleared his throat thoughtfully. “Deliberately hurt her, I mean. I know there’s gonna be pain and stuff between you. It’s life, right? But if you ever go out of your way to cause her even the smallest amount of pain…? I will break you. Understood?”

“Xander!” Buffy nearly shrieked, her face glowing bright red as her older brother’s words shamed her deeper and deeper still. “It’s not up to you to…”

Angel merely smiled and pulled Buffy tighter against him. “Understood,” he agreed, hearing his girl’s words but ignoring them, “and when I have this same conversation with you, I’ll be expecting your agreement, too. Deal?”

While the man’s words didn’t make a whole lot of sense to Xander at that moment, he still found himself nodding.

“I still can’t say that I trust you,” he added, “but Buffy does, and… I trust her judgment. I’m not quite sure of what she sees in…” his voice trailed off as he caught a glimpse of wheaten blond hair and Xander shook himself. “Will…?”

It wasn’t Will. He knew it wasn’t Will. After all, Will had no reason to be there; especially since Xander had never said exactly where he was going. To see his Dad and so on, sure, but not really where. And yet…

His eyes fastened onto the barely seen movements of the body attached to that hair, and…

He knew that gait. Knew the way that body moved, and…

‘God, let it be him… I miss him so much; need him so much! I should have brought him with me, no matter what he would have thought about me lying to him for so long, and… Jesus-fuck, he’d have forgiven me; I know he would have, and I want it to be Will but it can’t be Will, and…’

And that form moved closer, the slightly uneven gait pressing through the crowd, and Xander was… lost.

“She doesn’t see anything in Will that matters, Xander. And this would be the part where I tell you that if you hurt him, I’ll hurt you,” Angel said smugly, even knowing that Xander wasn’t hearing him right then. “But we’ll talk about that later.” And with that, he gave his girl a speaking grin and pulled her away to dance… and ask her a question that was very important to him; and possibly to the futures of their companies, as well, although that wasn’t even remotely foremost in his mind.

* * * * *

It wasn’t until he was nearly to his bloke that he noticed the weight of hot, dark eyes on him… and even then, he had to pay far too much attention to the people milling about to be able to respond in kind, no matter how much he wanted to.

Xander couldn’t help staring. He just couldn’t.

He’d been missing Will like he’d never have believed possible until he’d been away from him, and now…

Now, William was right there. Right in front of him.

That blond hair was disordered, and Xander knew it was because his lover had been in so much of a hurry to see him that he hadn’t stopped to even look in a mirror; Will’s face was slightly flushed, the blue eyes bright and hopeful in that pinkish mien.

Hell, William was almost to him and had yet to look at him fully, and… and that would never do, Xander decided with a soft chuckle.

He shifted a bit then slid between random bodies, hands itching and aching to touch the man he’d been away from for almost four days… and when he reached him, he wrapped his arms lightly—due to the spectators—around William’s waist.

“Is it… is it really you, baby?” Xander murmured, his heart thudding away as though it had been ordered to do the samba, “Because if it’s not, I… I don’t want to fucking know, okay? I need it to be you…”

William couldn’t keep the smile that split his lips from showing, even as he leaned closer to the strength that promised to envelop him.

“ ‘s me, Xan… ran into your sister and couldn’t tell her no when she invited me, and… need to talk, I guess, but Xander… not now, yeah…? Just want you, pet.” His eyes burned hot sapphire into deep, wicked topaz-limned brown. “Can wait if I must, luv… or can we escape?”

William felt uncommonly bold at the suggestion, but… he meant it. He truly needed to get Xander away and to somewhere private.

He needed to remind his love of what Cordelia had said, after all, and show him, too. And hopefully prove that the young woman had been right, as well. But not until after Xander kept the promise lurking right there in his hot, brown eyes.

It was the pleading look on William’s face that had Xander nodding quickly and ignoring his sudden confusion at what Will had said. Something about it bothered him, but he’d be damned if he knew what. He couldn’t think when Will was just there and begging him with that needy gaze.

That and the heat in those same cerulean orbs… the heat he was sure mirrored the swamped sense of need within him that matched William’s so clearly.

“Come on,” he murmured, wishing he could just pick the blond up and carry him off, but… Travers was watching them, not to mention that… hauling off your gay lover just wasn’t quite the thing in this crowd. Unless your name was Rupert Giles, anyway… or Ethan Rayne.

Hands locked, fingers tangling happily… and William found himself being pulled out of the throng Willow had dragged him into so recently.

Of course, he didn’t much care because Xander was moving slowly enough that Will’s not-so-bad leg wasn’t even whispering an iota of pain, and… long, thick fingers were wrapped around his own slender ones and he could nearly hear what his bloke was thinking.

Fortunately, William didn’t have any problem with the idea of ‘room, shag, talk’. In that order.

He gave his brother a quick nod when he passed him dancing with Buffy, then returned all of his attention to the brunette dragging him along.

“You know, I’m not exactly resisting, Xander… and I’ve missed you too.”

Xander groaned, and while he truly wanted to pull his blond along faster, he forced himself to slow down a bit. “Sorry, baby. I just… fuck, I want us to be in my bed and naked, already!”

Will chuckled, even while he did his best to move more quickly.

“There is nothing that I desire more, Xander… and I believe you will understand even better when I display the meaning of Cordelia’s words. To you, I mean. Still, breaking one or both of my legs in our haste could be considered a… bad thing, yes?”

Xander groaned again but slowed down. “Never want to break you, baby… ever.” His brow furrowed for a moment before he stopped and laughed. “Unless it’s by breaking you in a way that makes you need and want only me forever, Will. Because that kind of breaking…? Oh, I am so on board.”

It would have been easy to lie to the younger man. Easy to try and play it all off.

But William didn’t have that in him and so he answered honestly.

“Can’t imagine even being interested in anyone else, Xander. Haven’t since that night we met, yeah?” He blushed. “Had a route straight into my heart even then. And once I knew how you felt inside me…?” William grinned and waggled his eyebrows, which had the entirely desired effect of making Xander pull him faster from the truly huge ballroom, chances of bodily injury be damned.

He wasn’t even slightly surprised when the brunette led him up the staircase he’d passed on the way in… and he couldn’t help the smug grin that crossed his lips when the butler simply arched one brow at seeing him and Xander so obviously together.

It was fine, William figured, that a member of the house staff knew whose he was… and he had no doubt that the entire group of them would know by morning.

Until then, though… “I am fairly certain that nobody can see us now, Xanderrrrrr…!” He yelped the last as he was scooped up effortlessly and hauled up the remaining stairs and down halls, around corners, through doorways… and was finally deposited on a large, soft mattress. “Bloody hell,” he whispered.

A deep, dark gaze met William’s and Xander nodded as he stripped himself more quickly than he’d ever even imagined doing. “That about sums it up, baby… but I need you to be naked if this is gonna work, okay?”

And what could William do other than smirk and strip, as well?

After all, if Xander was so worked up that he needed Will’s ass right then, well… that was fine. It had been days since he’d known the bliss of his lover splitting him wide.

But after that…

Oh, after that entirely welcome experience, he was going to tell Xander exactly what Cordelia had said, and… with any luck, neither of them would be returning to the Gala before the following day, if then.

His good leg ended up over Xander’s shoulder while the other wrapped wickedly around the bloke’s solid waist… and if William gasped a purely happy sigh when the thick shaft of hard flesh pressed deep, well… he couldn’t help it.

Xander always did him so good.

Hell, if he hadn’t already been in love with the young man, the way Xander was taking him would have done it.

“Yessss…”

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tbc...