First Date, part 2: The Movies
Learning to Love
Circa 2003
Cowritten with Michelle. Third in the series; follows First Date, part 1. To Belle, to try to help her feel better.
* * *
"No!" Buffy's voice
echoed in the room. "He's not getting out of the house, Xander, no
way."
Xander rolled his
eyes. "Look, it's not like he's escaping, right? He's gonna be with me the whole
time. I'm just taking him out so you and the potentials can actually train in
peace without having to worry about bystanders. Besides, I need to get out of
here; it's getting unbearable."
Andrew just nodded,
scared that Buffy would completely shoot the idea down if he spoke up. Xander
had a much better chance of convincing the Slayer to let them
go.
Buffy sighed.
"Xander, he's a hostage; hostages are not supposed to go out for a
movie."
"He's a hostage
that's never tried to escape since he's been captured and hasn't made any moves
to kill us or anything. Since he's been confined to the house, he's been nothing
if not nice and helpful. Come on, Buffy, let us have a break. And I don't even
know why I'm asking you. I'm taking him out, it's not the end of the world, is
it?"
"Nice and helpful?"
Buffy shook her head. "I don't know what's gotten into you. Maybe you really do
need to get out of here. But why do you want to take
Andrew?"
"Look Buffy, I need
some male to male time, ok? All those hormones in the house are making me crazy
and I know better than to go out alone at night." Xander replied harshly.
"Andrew is the best solution here." He cringed at the lie, hoping Andrew
wouldn't take his words seriously.
Andrew bit his lip
and cast a sideways glance at Xander. It was just a lie, he told himself. Xander
needed to tell Buffy something, and the truth wasn't acceptable, not yet. The
other man's words didn't mean anything . . . right?
Taking a deep
breath, he pushed the doubts out of his head. This wasn't the time for
questioning. This was the time for getting out of the house, by any means
necessary.
"It's completely out
of the question, Xander, end of discussion," Buffy said. She turned to walk out
of the kitchen.
"Oh, come on!"
Andrew exclaimed, unable to help himself. "Don't you trust
Xander?"
"I haven't asked you
anything Andrew,” Buffy snarled. “Just keep out of it."
Xander grabbed
Buffy's arm. "Look Buffy, I'll keep an eye on him, but we're going out. End of
discussion." He took his hand off Buffy and walked to the front door. "Coming,
Andrew?" he called over his shoulder.
Andrew looked at a
seething Buffy, then an impatient Xander, then back at Buffy. "Um, okay," he
said, and took off after Xander.
Xander was waiting
in his car for Andrew, who carefully closed the front door before climbing into
the passenger seat of the car. He managed to wait a few seconds before
unleashing his curiosity.
"So . . . what're we
gonna do about Buffy? 'Cause she seemed really mad at us."
Xander sighed. "I'm
not sure Andrew, but for now, I just want to enjoy a nice quiet evening with
you, away from all the estrogen."
He licked his lips
before continuing. "I'm sorry for what I said to Buffy, by the way. You're not
just here because I need to get out. We're going out, on a date you and I, by
ourselves without potentials that can interrupt us."
Xander finished with
a smile and started the engine, pulling the car out of the
driveway.
Andrew turned to
look out the window so that Xander wouldn't be able to see the relief on his
face. "Uh, yeah, I knew that," he said in his most confident voice. "It was all
just a cunning ruse to slip past the Slayer."
Xander glanced at
him, then back to the road. His right hand came to rest on Andrew's thigh. "I
know you were scared, Andrew, I saw it in your eyes." he said very gently. "I'm
sorry I had to say that, I really didn't mean it. You forgive
me?"
The feel of Xander's
hand on his thigh was almost enough to completely undo Andrew. Tentatively, he
reached out his own hand and placed it on top of Xander's work-hardened one.
"There's nothing to forgive. Sometimes stuff like that's necessary." He
tightened his grip on Xander's hand. "So, can we get
popcorn?"
Xander grinned and
turned his hand to grip Andrew's. "Of course, we'll get popcorn. It's not a
movie if there's not popcorn, is it?"
Sighing happily,
Andrew shifted to better look at Xander. "I know! You can't see a movie in the
theater without popcorn, but my brother would never let me get any when we went.
It was so annoying. I was so happy when Buffy kicked his
ass."
Xander laughed as he
turned into the theater's parking lot. "Well, I must say I was happy when she
kicked his ass, too, seeing as the prom was a success and all that." He parked
the car and turned back to Andrew. "Here we are. Ready for our first
date?"
Andrew glanced at
the movie theater, then back at Xander. "Almost." He then leaned forward and
kissed Xander, holding the other man's head still for better access. Once he was
satisfied, he pulled back. "Now I'm ready. Let's go. I want to get good
seats."
Xander licked his
lip as he got out of the car, smiling. "Don't forget to lock your door." He said
to Andrew as he locked and closed his door.
They got in line and
bought their tickets, then got in line and got their refreshments. Xander made
sure to get the big tub of popcorn for the two of them, plus a large Coke with
two straws. Andrew was practically vibrating by they time they made it into the
theater and claimed some seats toward the back.
"This is so great,"
Andrew said as he grabbed a handful of popcorn. "I thought I'd never get to see
this movie."
Xander smiled at
him. "Same here. It promises to be great." He grabbed some popcorn and leaned
over to whisper in Andrew's ear. "And I can't wait to see Affleck in leather."
He chuckled and ate his popcorn, sitting comfortably in the
chair.
Andrew shuddered at
the feel of Xander's breath on his ear. How could he think about Ben Affleck in
leather when Xander insisted on doing that? In an effort to gather some control,
he reached for some more popcorn. Instead of grabbing buttery popped goodness,
however, he grabbed a hand. A hand connected to an arm that was connected to
Xander.
They looked at each
other, their eyes locking as the theater and everyone else faded away. Xander
pulled Andrew's hand out of the popcorn tub and brought it to his mouth, licking
butter off of their hands. His eyes never left Andrew's.
"That better?" he
asked roughly.
"Y-yeah," Andrew
stuttered.
After another moment
they broke eye contact and moved so they were both facing the screen. Each man's
face was red with embarrassment and shock, but they couldn't stop sneaking
glances at each other. Finally, Xander lifted his arm and draped it across the
back of Andrew's seat while reaching for popcorn with his other hand. Andrew
followed his and relaxed, although he didn't know how he was going to be able to
pay attention to the movie.
"Hey look! It's
Xander and Andrew!" a voice called out from behind them.
Xander's head shot
up and he looked back. "Oh fuck!" He muttered, snatching his arm away from the
back of Andrew's chair. "What are they doing here?" he asked Andrew as he
delivered a fake smiled and waved back at the three potentials that had just
entered the theater.
Andrew turned in his
chair to look at the potentials. "I have no idea," he said. "They're supposed to
be training. Buffy's gonna loose it when she finds out they're
here."
He watched with
rising disappointment as the potentials sat in the row behind them. He and
Xander had finally managed to get out of the house to have some time to
themselves, but the chaos had just followed them.
Xander sighed and
looked back at the screen as the lights went off.
"Oh, look! It's the
previews!" one of the girls said out loud.
"My favorite!"
another replied, giggling.
Xander gritted his
teeth as the girls began their running commentary. It was going to take all his
will not to kill the potentials before the night was over.
*** Two hours later
***
"That was
fantastic!" Andrew exclaimed as he and Xander made their way out of the theater
with the three potentials trailing behind them.
Xander opened his
mouth to reply. "Oh yea..."
"Effin'
brilliant, that was!" Jade said, as she gripped Andrew's arm. "That Affleck
bloke is quite the choice!" She turned to her friends. "Don't you
think?"
"Oh yeah! And in
leather!" Drew was practically drooling. "It was a very interesting movie. I'm
glad we sneaked out, girls."
Xander took a deep
breath. "Yeah, about that..."
"You won't tell
Buffy, will you?” Lee asked shyly. “We were supposed to train but, I mean, we
needed a night out..."
"That's no reason to
sneak out," Andrew said. "It’s dangerous. Besides, Buffy has her ways of finding
out stuff."
Xander
nodded. "If we don't tell her, one of the other girls probably will. And anyway,
she was staying home tonight to train with all of you, so she probably knows
already."
Xander and Andrew
exchanged a glanced and smiled evilly. It felt like they were getting revenge,
and it was oh so sweet.
All three had the decency to look miserable
and ashamed. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble,” Lee groaned. “She's
probably going to make us train twice as hard."
Xander grinned.
"Probably. Maybe she'll even have you train in hand-to-hand combat with Spike."
He knew that was what the potentials hated the most - they could never get the
better of Spike.
Andrew nodded,
though he tried his best to hide his smile and look stern. "You three think
about that, and head straight back. If you don't, we'll make sure Buffy knows
everything."
"Aren't you coming
with us?" Drew asked.
"No," Andrew
said. "We're . . . giving you a chance to fix this yourselves. Yeah. Now off
with you." He made a shooing motion with his hands for
emphasis.
Dejectedly, the potentials headed off in the
direction of the Summers' house, while Andrew and Xander walked to the
car.
Xander laughed as he
unlocked the car. "Nice. Hopefully, Buffy will waste all her anger on them and
leave us alone.”
"That was the plan," Andrew said. In
reality, he really wanted to have some alone time with the other man, but if
Xander wanted to think he planned it he wasn't going to argue. "Still, we should
wait a little longer before going back, so we don't get caught in the
crossfire."
Xander grinned. "I like the way you think. I
know the perfect place to go." He got in the car and started the engine, waiting
for Andrew to be safely inside, before driving out of the theater's parking
lot.
Andrew
fidgeted on his seat. "Where are we going?"
Xander took hold of his hand. "You'll
see."
After a few minutes
of driving, they arrived at a hill that overlooked Sunnydale. It was a little
known spot, and as such was deserted.
"So, you like?"
Xander asked nervously, his hand still in Andrew's.
Andrew nodded. "This is nice. Some peace and
quiet and alone time."
>Xander looked at him and raised his hand to caress the soft flesh of
Andrew's cheek. "Definitely alone here." He whispered before
leaning in and capturing Andrew's lips in a soft, tender kiss.
"So, was this a good first date?" Andrew
asked after several minutes of kissing.
"Mmm." Xander
moaned. "More kissing and less potentials would have made it perfect." He smiled
tenderly. "Just going out with you is wonderful, Andrew. I think, overall, it
was a great first date. We'll just make sure not to go where the girls can
follow us next time, okay?"
Not waiting for
Andrew's answer, Xander leaned over and brought their lips together once more. Andrew made a sound of affirmation before he forgot to
think about anything but Xander and how those lips felt on his.
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