January 2007
550 words
For Margarks.
* * *
"Xander?"
The world spun when Xander tried to stand, so he stayed down and rubbed his forehead. "Ow." He hadn't seen it coming. At all. Considering Giles had been the reason Xander had been distracted, it was only fair that Giles was the one who saved him. Was still saving him.
Xander looked up, wincing when his head protested the movement, and gulped at the sight of Giles, standing there, looking so damn protective and hot. All his muscles were tense, and he was holding up the crossbow, eyes cold, but calculating. "I'm okay," Xander said, clearing his throat when what came out sounded more like a croak. "I'm okay."
The demon thing that had snuck up on them was still growling behind him, but Xander couldn't bring himself to look. He tried to stand again, and ended up crawling behind Giles. "Why don't you shoot it?" he whispered from below, his hand on Giles' knee.
Giles didn't answer, just pushed into Xander's touch, and then fired. Right into the demon's left arm. "You missed."
"I certainly did not," Giles finally said, a grin spreading across his lips when the demon fell to the ground, definitely dead looking.
"Maybe not."
"It's a Derturi demon," Giles said, grunting as he helped Xander up and to the closest chair. "Their heart is in their sleeve, so to speak. The tricky part is figuring out whether it's a female or a male."
"Why?" Xander frowned, a hand on his stomach, trying not to think too much, because that was painful too.
"Male have their heart on the left side, female on the right." Giles pulled a chair closer and gently brushed his fingers against Xander's forehead, where a bruise was definitely growing now, Xander could feel it.
"Ow." He licked his lips when Giles' eyes drifted down to look into his. "That explains the whole waiting thing."
"Yes." Giles touched Xander's knee, his thumb rubbing circles on the jeans-clad skin. "This looks like it'll leave a nasty bruise, but I don't think it warrants a visit to the hospital. Perhaps we should refrain from--er--distracting each other in the library for the foreseeable future?"
Xander gave Giles a weak smile, and nodded. "Yeah. Good idea."
"Come on," Giles said, standing and helping Xander to his feet. "I'll take you home, where you can lie down and get some rest."
Xander sighed and held on to Giles' shoulder until the room stopped spinning. "I don't really want to go back to my place right now." There had been teasing. Lots of it. And Xander really didn't want it to stop. He actually wanted it to move beyond teasing.
"I don't believe I mentionned your place, have I?" There was uncertainty in Giles' eyes when he spoke.
"Oh!" Xander said, a grin spreading on his face, and he couldn't stop it even with the pain. "No, you didn't."
"Come on, then." Giles wrapped an arm around Xander's torso and led him out of the library, barely glancing at the demon's body on the floor.
"Maybe we should call the girls so they can come and clean this up?" Xander asked. Giles helped him into the passenger seat, and Xander leaned his head against the headrest.
"As soon as I get you settled, I will."
Xander loved coming first.