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Full Moon
October 3, 2006
1,178 words

Written for slash_100, prompt: 016 - Family
Follows directly after Enjoy
A big huge thank you to Mireille for the beta.

***

Xander sat and watched, a smile playing on his lips. Fred and Charles had brought Emily with them, and Dawn couldn't stop fussing over her. Buffy was in the middle of an intense conversation with Charles about self-defence classes; Buffy was a kickboxing champion, and Charles had participated in more than one competition. If Xander knew Buffy at all, she was going to ask Charles to work for her at the self-defence centre she wanted to open, before the evening was out.

Xander knew what Willow and Fred were talking about from just looking at them, their eyes fixed on Emily. And Tara, sweet Tara, who was sitting between Rupert and Willow, she was quiet, as always, but her eyes met Xander's and she smiled brightly. Xander answered her with a smile of his own, and turned to Wesley, squeezing his hand.

Xander couldn't have dreamed of a better family.

The clinking sound of a spoon tapped against a glass was heard in the room, and Xander looked up to find Charles standing, the spoon in his hand. "About two weeks ago, I got a phone call," he started, looking at Wesley, then at the rest of the table. "Some of you might not know, but Fred, Wesley and I met while working for a detective agency. Wesley left when he got his degree, because he figured a bookshop was more interesting than tracking down cheating husbands. I can't say I blame him. Life went on, we lost track of the other people who were working with us. Then I got this phone call." He stood and went to open the door. "I got the okay from your boyfriends," Charles added for Wesley's benefit. "And I invited a couple more people to your party."

Wesley was standing, his hand still in Xander's, squeezing tightly. Xander saw a head poke from behind the door, look for Wesley, then smile. Xander let out a relieved sigh; these must be the friends of Wesley's they had been waiting for. Xander and Rupert hadn't met them, but Charles had assured them they were once very good friends, and they trusted him. One more surprise for Wesley; that was a very good thing in Xander's book.

"Angel," Wesley said.

Xander turned to Rupert swiftly. He remembered that name. There couldn't be more than one guy named 'Angel'. The head became a full body, and Angel walked into the room. And yeah, William was right, Angel was handsome. Broad shoulders, dark hair, and a really nice smile; Xander would have been drooling all over him if Rupert and Wesley hadn't been standing right there, and if he hadn't been going home with both of them.

Wesley left Xander's side, and Xander noticed that Rupert was standing too, and he was smiling, his face twisted like he was just about to laugh. But not at Wesley; he was looking straight at Xander. Because Angel wasn't alone, and the head behind him was blond, and-

"William!" Dawn was the one who recognized him first. She leapt to her feet, holding Emily with one arm as she embraced him with the other.

Wesley gave Angel a quick hug, beaming, but Xander didn't notice much, because he was too busy looking at Rupert. "You knew." Rupert laughed then, not able to stop, and Xander remembered just an hour ago when Rupert and William had been laughing in the living room. "He told you?"

Rupert nodded. "He asked where we were going, and when I answered, he said-"

"You've got to be kidding," William said from behind Xander, and Xander twirled around.

Dawn was still pretty much attached to William's hip, and both of them were beaming. "You didn't tell me you were still talking!" Dawn said, mock-pouting at Xander. She had been devastated when William and Xander had broken up, and William had stopped coming around. She'd always liked William, and Xander sometimes suspected that she had a crush on him that could rival the crush Xander had on Rupert when he was still Rupert's student. And he really didn't want to think about Dawnie having that kind of thoughts, not her. She was like a little sister to him, and that's just a subject he never wanted to have to think about again.

"We weren't! I would have told you, Dawnie. Will just appeared on my doorstep this afternoon-"

"My fault!" Willow said, waving from where she was still sitting down at the table, holding Tara's hand.

"I was still invited tonight, though, so I would have turned up sooner or later. Still, good thing we got everything out of the way first," William said, giving Xander a quick hug and shaking Rupert's hand.

"Did you know whose birthday it was?"

"Just that it was an old friend of the poof's, and that he was in a 'polyamorous' relationship," William replied, using the air quotes.

"That's a weird word coming from your mouth." Xander chuckled, sitting back down, and watching as Angel was introduced. William sat on one side of Xander, and Wesley came back to his original seat.

"What? Polyamory?" William looked offended. "I do know big words."

Angel came closer, and put his hands on William's shoulder. "You do, but most of the time, we can't tell," he said, his eyes crinkling up at the corner as he laughed.

William rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever. Remember I told you about Xander?" William asked, looking up, and Angel nodded. "That's him."

Xander shook hands with Angel and smiled. "Nice to meet you. Will told me a lot of things about you just a couple of hours ago."

"Don't believe everything he says," Angel replied, sitting down.

"Trust me, I know."

"You guys know each other?" Charles asked, waving at William and Xander.

"We used to go out," William answered.

"Like-together?"

William and Xander both laughed. "Yes," Xander said. "William was my first boyfriend. It was a long time ago."

"A year and a half, pet, not that long." William picked up the menu.

Xander shook his head. "Feels like a lifetime." He looked at Giles and Wesley, and smiled, remembering how they'd woken up tangled on the bed that morning, Xander unsure where he ended and where they began. Sometimes, he felt like he had been with them for a lot longer than just seven months.

The food started to come in, and everything calmed down for a while, the conversations quieter. Wesley leaned towards Xander and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Thank you."

Xander turned to him, and touched his cheek. "I'm so the luckiest man on Earth," he said. He had two wonderful men in his life, who cared for him, loved him in way he had never thought he deserved. And he had some really good friends; old and new, it didn't matter.

Family wasn't necessarily the one you were born into. Sometimes-actually most of the time--it was the one you made for yourself. And all his friends, everyone who was here tonight-

They were family.