Snail Tale 1/1 Xander/Riley

[drsquidlove]

Snail Tale
by Dr Squidlove
drsquidlove@livejournal.com

No archiving, thank you.

Riley catches up with Xander, and it turns out there's some important catching-up to do.

Xander/Riley, mild angst

Written for allyndra for the minor characters round of maleslashminis. She wanted Xander/Riley, a crossbow, wonder, a joke.

(I just kind of pretended Riley never married Sam. Sorry, Sam.)

Post-Chosen.
Rated G. Nothing to warn for.

Wordcount: 1649

Feedback always welcome.

Xander, Riley and all the Buffy world are property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Snail Tale

Xander looked out the motel room's peephole, and then looked again, and threw the door open. "Riley? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"Me?"

Riley gave him that 'you're a crazy man' look. "Well, any of you, but you were the first to show up on the radar, so, Xander - what the hell happened in Sunnydale?"

Oh. Shit. They hadn't told Riley.

"Where is everyone? I got back from Quilaco and it turns out the place is a crater and it's the army's best guess that you're all buried down there. I've had flags up everywhere looking for any of you, and there's been nothing for three months, until Alexander Harris shows up flying Cleveland to Oregon."

"I can't be the only Alexander Harris on a plane these days."

"You're the only one who checked a crossbow."

"Oh. Right." Suddenly Xander realised they were still standing in the doorway, so he pulled the crucifix out of his back pocket and tossed it to him.

Riley caught it and waved his not-smoking hand, and Xander backed up to let him in.

"What the hell are you doing in Portland?"

"There was a news story- which doesn't matter. Giles thought there might be a new slayer here, so I came to check it out." Xander dropped on his bed and that's when he saw how sickened Riley looked.

"New slayer," Riley choked out. "You didn't... How could you not-"

"No, not - Buffy's fine."

It would have been comical to watch the relief, if Xander hadn't understood how he felt. Then his face fell again. "Faith."

"No- Look, this is going to be a long one. Pull up a bed." Xander gestured at the other mattress, waited for Riley to sit down.

He did, like his legs just gave out from under him. "I'm guessing this all comes down to another apocalypse."

'Another apocalypse' wasn't enough to describe what happened in May. "We need a new word for apocalyptic." Xander tried to explain the bullet points, the return of Spike and the first evil and Giles delivering all the potentials and the Turok-Han and the Hellmouth all over again.

In the end, it all boiled down to "Anyway, Willow went all white magic, and now it's less of a 'one girl in all the world', and more of a 'collect the whole set'."

"How many?"

Xander shrugged. That was the question that had had them arguing every night they had the energy to bother. "We don't know. There might have been records at the Council to give us an idea, but that's gone. Maybe hundreds."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Now we have to try to find them."

They sat in silence for a long time.

Riley hadn't asked about his eye, yet. He wanted to; Xander could see it in the way he kept glancing at it, moving his lips like he was searching for the words, and besides, who wouldn't? But Xander didn't have the heart to help him. It wasn't what mattered most. "Anya's dead."

Shock and then sympathy and then Riley was switching over to sit beside Xander, on his good side. "Damn. I'm sorry."

Xander nodded, proud of himself for saying it without his voice cracking. "Spike, too."

There was a beat of quiet, then, "I don't mind that so much."

"He saved the world."

Riley grunted, and it made Xander smile a little. Nice to have someone else hate Spike as much as him. Riley didn't even know about Buffy and Spike; Xander wondered what he'd say to that. "Kinda takes the shine off that time I saved it."

"Taking the chip out wasn't a mistake, then."

"There was some debate about that." Riley looked at him hard. "Nah. It was right." He didn't have to like it. "It was bad, Ri. I didn't think any of us were going to make it, this time. We could've all ended up at the bottom of that crater."

"You could've called me."

They should have. They owed him that. "Sorry. We've been kind of preoccupied."

He made a frustrated noise. "That's not what I meant. I'm just saying. I would've helped."

"Weren't any more rooms at the inn."

Riley frowned, but Xander didn't elaborate. Angel could've come too. A house full of slayers, and Riley and Angel could share a couch, while Buffy slept nights downstairs with Spike. Great idea.

In the gap, Xander realised Riley's hand was on his knee. It had landed there back with the offer to help, but it was still there. And Riley was staring at his own hand, like no power in the universe was going to get him to meet Xander's gaze as he did it.

Xander hadn't seen this coming. But seconds ticked by, and Xander hadn't pulled away or stuttered out any kind of excuse, and now Riley was leaning in, and Xander wondered how it would feel, kissing a guy. Riley. Buffy had seemed to like it.

His eye closed as dry lips touched his. Broader than Anya's. More hesitant than Anya's had ever been. The hand on Xander's leg was nothing like Anya's: heavy, huge, still.

Xander wanted to kiss him back. So he just did, let his lips part and close around Riley's, tasted the smooth, soft mouth. Something warmed, deep in his stomach.

He pulled back, lips tingling. "I wasn't expecting that."

Riley took a deep breath. "I wasn't planning it."

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

"So... were you hitting on me, or..."

"I really didn't have a plan." Riley pulled in, looking like he wanted to disappear. "You kissed back, right?"

"Yeah. I guess."

So what happened now? This didn't seem like the start of some great love affair. Of course, Anya hadn't seemed like that at the start, either. Xander looked over. Riley as the new love of his life? Probably not.

Fingers slid over Xander's cheek, skimming the patch. Finally. "Did this happen in the battle?"

"Nah. Before that. Message for Buffy."

Riley's eyes darkened, staring into Xander's. "A message?"

"More of a taunt, really."

The gentle hand drifted away, and from his one eye, Xander saw it make a fist. "Something did this to you to hurt her."

Xander shrugged. No one had ever said it that way, before, that emphasis.

"Will you get your sight back?"

"It's gone." One more hollow place.

Riley leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Everything you've given up, Xander. You ever feel like you get anything back?"

Depended on the moment, how self-pitying Xander felt. How much stuff he'd bumped into that day, with the whole new added dimension to his clumsiness. But he'd pondered that one pretty hard, and he knew the answer. "The world. I'm pretty fond of the world not ending."

"Yeah," Riley said, not sounding totally convinced. "Thanks for that."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It wasn't hard to find Riley. With all the Council resources, the hardest part was skirting Giles, who thought the search was some sort of mission to annoy Buffy's new guy. It turned out Riley still had tabs on him, so all he'd really had to do was get a flight to Des Moines, and wait for Riley to show up at baggage claim.

Riley was waiting, like this was just another airport pick-up, not the first time they'd seen each other since 2003. They didn't speak as the luggage trundled past, until Xander grabbed his duffle and turned to him. He looked tired.

"My truck's in the lot." When they headed out, Xander noticed Riley's cane.

It was an old Ford that was equal parts rust and dents, the front seat filled with scraps of paper and tools. When they reached the exit from the lot, Riley asked, "You got a place to stay?"

"Nah."

Riley nodded, and headed right. It was just past sunset, still enough light to see the scenery pass, airport buildings then suburbs then bare Iowa countryside gradually giving way to darkness. It was just Riley and Xander in their own dark bubble.

Half an hour had passed, before Riley said, "I heard you spent some time in Africa."

"Yeah. Searching for slayers. You been there?" He could have been, Xander realised. Have dog tags, will travel.

"No. Not Africa. Spent some time in Asia."

Xander wondered if he was being general, like Xander always was about Africa, because he'd been pretty much all over, or if it was a classified thing. Or maybe he didn't want to talk about it. The cane rested on the seat between them, unmentioned. Xander wondered if Riley was going to be able to stay in the army. Who Riley would be without it.

Gravel crackled under the tyres as the truck slowed, and Xander perked up. But they weren't, well, anywhere. Riley turned off the ignition, and it was quieter than ever. Xander hadn't planned this part. He ran his sweaty palms over his jeans.

But Riley didn't say anything, and the hot engine ticked, and the headlights shone on a whole lot of nothing.

"So a snail walks into a bar."

Riley looked over. "Walks?"

"Slides."

"You're telling a joke?"

Yeah, he was telling a joke. "The snail slides into a bar, and asks for a beer. Barman says, 'We don't serve your kind 'round here,' and kicks him right out of the bar." Xander's leg swung, as well as it could in the footwell.

Riley just looked at him.

"Two years later, same snail slides back into the bar."

Riley rubbed a hand through his hair. "Snail says, 'What'd you do that for?'"

Xander wet his lips. "Yeah."

Riley stared out into the darkness for a minute, then at Xander, eyes gleaming with an intensity Xander had seen once before. And then Riley slid over and they were kissing, and this time Riley was inside him, and his hands weren't still.