Exchange

"talking"
/thinking/


Chapter Three

Xander sits in the corner with Severus watching Sirius flirt and dance with a few of the Cordetts. The 'Dingos' are playing and he sees Buffy and Willow sitting at a near by table talking. Lucius Rabastan, and Rodulphus have disappeared somewhere on the dance floor, hopefully staying out of trouble.

Silently he gets up heading over to Buffy and Willow, hopeing to patch things up for the millionth time. He approaches the table and before he can even reach it they both glare at him as if he's something they stepped on. Just as quietly he moves back to his table staring at the table top, unaware that Severus and Lucius have both seen what happened. After a moment of a pity party he looks up at Severus who is glaring at anyone approaching the table.

Xander sips his drink and disappears in to his thoughts. Severus sits across from him, studying the room and himself as he is lost in his thoughts. Taking in the fresh bruise on his jaw and the small, barely noticable scar on his cheek. Severus can't figure out why no matter how nasty they are to him he smiles and does whatever they say. He never looks any of them in the eye and stares off to the side or at the floor. He had seen him try to speak to blonde and red head before quickly retreating and knows there's a story behind it. Lucius slides in to the seat beside him, a little tipsy, closely followed by Rabstan and Rodulphus.

"Where'd you run off to?" Xander asks eying them.

"None of your business," Lucius growls. "Ask again and I'll make sure you know your rightful place. Right on the ground."

"Okay," he mumbles staring at his drink.

Severus raises a brow at Lucius who just shoves a flask in his hand. Severus sips from it, enjoying the taste of warm Scotch. Sirius joins them for a few moment before walking off with a blonde who Xander reconizes as Harmony. Xander remains quiet watching the four friends joke and talk.

/Look at them/ Xander's inner voice teases curely. /You'll never have that again. Jesse died because of you. Willow abandoned you for greener pastures. She realized what a worthless piece of human space you really are./

/SHUT UP!/ Xander snaps at the voice. /I'm not listening to you./

/No one wants anything to do with you. Tony's right, you should have been killed at birth. Save everyone the pain of having to look at the eye sore that is you./

Xander shakes his head trying to shut the voice up and looks at the other teens. They are laughing and carrying on. An hour later they head home buzzed and ready to sleep.

The next few weeks go by quickly and in a somewhat normal routine. Loucius competes with Cordilla with popularity and Ice Queen/Kin statis. Severus easily knocks Willow and several other smart teens out of their top spots (secretly he hadn't even known what half the shit was). Sirius easily slides through the groups completely adaptable and known as a horn dog. Rabstan and Rodulphus slide through everything; good at sports, good at glass, good with fashion. (don't really know where to put them)

And Xander stopped having so many meetings with fists, walls and the ground. Seeing how he hangs out with the five teens, he's gained a little popularity, if only to stop many of the beatings. But even so, he still feels alone. The group didn't acknowledge him unless to ask a question or be little him about something. None of them even trying to hide their contempt. He has even stopped trying to reconnect with Buffy and Willow after Buffy slammed him in to the lockers making them dent and leaving him extremely sore.

It is a quiet night as he follows behind the group after another night of partying at the Bronze. The group of guys tipsy from stealing flasks from older guys looking for dates there. They liked going there to tear in to people and flirt shamelessly. Xander freezes as he hears a deep growl behind him. He stares up at the large demon. It looks like a large igauana standing on it's hide legs like a person with a mouthful of razor sharp teeth and claws. Before anyone can move, the demon spins around hitting Xander with it's tail and sending him in to the ground.

"What the hell is that thing!" Sirius yells.

"Got me," Rodulphus snaps as the creature moves for them.

"MOVE YOU IDIOTS!" Xander yells shoving them together as the creature brings it's claws down.

They dig in to his back, tearing down to his hip and Xander screams in pain. This sets the boys in motion as they take off. Severus is dragging Xander as he struggles to run through the pain and ignore the blood soaking in to his clothes. They reach the house as the creature takes off in another directions. Xander collasps on the floor panting for breath and moaning in pain.

"Why'd you save us?" Rabstan asks sitting by his head.

"Couldn't let the only people who talk to me die," he chuckles weakly. "Who would I talk to then?"

"But why?" Lucius asks. "We've done nothing but treat you horribly. Me above the others."

Xander just smiles before passing out from the pain. Severus looks at the others before going to get his hidden healing potion. Rodulphus tears the ruined shirt off and watches the blood ooze free. Lucius goes to gather a bowl of water and rags. Rodulphus and Rabstan holds his arms down as Lucius cleans the wounds, Xander jerking under their hands. Once the wounds stop bleeding, Severus drips the potion in to the wounds. They close slowly and they look over at Sirius who has kept looking out the window for the creature.

"What now?" Rodulphus asks. "He risked his life for us even after everything we've done."

"That wasn't the first time he's seen something like that," Sirius comments.

"He's got some explaining to do once he wakes up," Lucius comments standing. "Let's just get some sleep and deal with this later."

They nod and go to bed leaving Xander on the floor to sleep. Xander wakes confused and feeling like something ran him over. He remembers the demon, then pain and then blessed darkness. He stretches and sits up looking around, wondering why he's on the floor. The others are still a sleep and the bloody towels are beside him. He gathers them up and heads over to the washer, throwing them in and turning it on.

"You owe us an explination," Lucius says from his bed.

He jumps and turns to look at them with wide brown eyes. Rabstan is watching him with a guarded expression, Rodulphus looks ready to shake him until he gets the answers he wants, Sirius is glaring like he stole his cookies, Severus' dark gaze makes him fidget and Lucius is stretched out like he doesn't have a care in the world, just watching him.

"Um...how much do you believe in the paranormal?" he asks shifting around nervously.

The tension in the room sky rockets as Xander fidgets and the boys look at each other.