Title: Looking into the Mirror
Author: Lostgirl
Pairing: Giles/Xander, implied Giles/Ethan
Rating: R-ish
Summary: Ethan is ambivalent about what he sees
Spoilers: Set between Halloween and the Dark Age, no real spoilers.
Warnings: None
Feedback and Concrit adored: lostgirlslair @ yahoo.com
Disclaimer: All things BtVS and AtS belong to Joss Whedon and various corporate entities.  I am neither.

Big, huge thanks to malnpudl for the beta magic!  And a huge happy birthday to mireille719!  You wanted Giles/Xander or Giles/Ethan, I came up with this, and I actually finished it on time!  :-D  I hope you like it, sweetie!


He'd seen the way Ripper looked at that boy, the way Rupert's eyes would linger for just a little too long on the curve of the kid's arse or the arch of a shoulder.  Not that Ethan was surprised.  Dark hair, dark eyes, completely unaware that he was being appraised, the lad--Xander, Ethan thought he'd heard him called--was right up Ripper's alley, must really call to the predator in the old boy, whether he'd admit it to himself or not.  Likely not.  What a prig Ripper had become.

Ethan watched them sometimes, waiting for his chance to break into the library and do some snooping.  If he were lucky, Ripper's books would help him find some means of getting rid of Eyghon, but while he waited, Ethan watched.  He always watched Rupert, but he liked it when Xander would join him in the library, which Ripper seemed to leave rarely enough.  Usually everyone but Ripper would be gone, a few hours would pass and, just before dark, Xander would duck his head in.  Rupert never seemed surprised, but always pretended to be.

Ethan didn't need to follow Xander home to find out why the boy was willing to spend his nights with Rupert.  He could see it in every line of the boy's face, in every self-deprecating gesture.  He knew all too well why Xander didn't want to go home.  Ethan was willing to bet that what Xander found in the library was safety, in the library, and in Rupert.  Xander certainly wouldn't be the first.

He thought them funny, really, the way they were both watching one another and unaware of being watched in return.  Ripper should know better by now, but Xander didn't feel it when Rupert's eyes would stray and turn hungry and hot.

Ethan knew that look.  There had been nights long ago when he'd lain under it, basked in the heat of it, nights when he'd enjoyed being the prey.  Xander was oblivious, however, and Ethan had to wonder if so much of his Ripper was gone that Rupert actually wouldn't make a move.  Perhaps he should solve that little problem for them.

Ethan chuckled at the thought.  He could always show up on Rupert's doorstep.  A simple glamour would change his appearance more than adequately.  Making Rupert feel what he wanted to when touching Ethan was just a matter of confusing his senses, which would be slightly more difficult, but still within Ethan's capabilities.  He wouldn't have to talk.  After watching that boy for so long, Rupert would likely pounce once he was sure of his welcome.

Beginning to warm to the idea, Ethan let himself picture how it would go.  He imagined Rupert's hands and lips pressing against him, hot and eager from being so long denied, and his cock twitched and began to harden.  The thought of Rupert pressing him down onto a bed had him gasping, his cock straining inside his trousers.  Ethan turned his eyes back to the library in his scrying mirror, his eyes fixed on Rupert, bent over his books and notes.  Ethan focused on those big hands, remembering how they would rub and skim and bruise his flesh.  He could have it again.

Then he imagined Rupert pressing into him, that well-loved and well-remembered cock splitting him open and someone else's name on Rupert's lips.  Not just someone else.  A dark-haired, dark-eyed boy, smooth and new in the way Ethan no longer was, never would be again, no matter the glamour he used.  A boy seeking safety and stability, someone who needed Rupert, but one who would never disregard Rupert's precious views of morality.  One who wouldn't even try to bring fun and disorder to Ripper's cozy little life.

Ethan blinked away the haze before his eyes, turning them back to the scrying mirror in time to see Xander come in.  He was different, his walk slower given his limp.  Ethan could see the bruises on the boy's arms, but it was impossible to see his face with the way he hung his head.  Ethan raised an eyebrow, natural curiosity leading him to wonder whether it was life on the hellmouth or life at home that had bruised the boy.  Rupert saw it, too, and suddenly he was up, out of his chair and by Xander's side, speaking rapidly though Ethan couldn't hear what he was saying.  Xander replied, answering questions it seemed, though he didn't actually raise his head.

Rupert did that, fingers firmly pushing on the boy's chin until he could examine the damage.  Ethan was watching so hard that even he could almost feel the shift.  That moment when Rupert stopped looking at the scrapes and bruises and thinking what he'd need to get from the first aid kit.  Even Ethan felt it when Rupert began looking at Xander and not his bruises.

Ripper swallowed hard and his fingers slid up Xander's cheek, fingertip tracing the outline of the largest bruise.  He saw their eyes meet and the clicking between them was almost audible even to him.  When they began kissing, Ethan motioned with his hand and the picture in the mirror evaporated, leaving him gazing only at his own reflection.  He stood, looking around his room for that bottle of gin he hadn't quite finished.